Interview: Steph Cornish

Steph Cornish is the No.3 ranked female junior in the country. I caught up with Steph to ask her a few questions about her tennis, and how she thinks British tennis is developing as a whole.

Q. Your the third ranked junior in the country, could you give me a brief description of your training regime?
A. I train from about 8.30 am to around 5pm Monday to Saturday and sometimes on Sundays. I play two 2 hour sessions of tennis and one or two fitness sessions each day. Obviously it changes if I have a tournament etc.

Q. Do you think you have got what it takes to break into the top ranks of womens tennis?
A. Yes. It’s tough to get good results consistently at the top end of the game, but it’s encouraging to see the older British women doing a bit better and nearing the top hundred so there’s no reason why I can’t do well.

Q. It’s been a long time since Britain had a woman at the top end of the game. What do you think the reasons are for British tennis not being able to achieve the results that a similar sized nation like France seem able to produce regularly?
A. I think there has always been a pretty negative attitude towards tennis in Britain, especially in the women’s side, and the press etc. have been too quick to criticize anything. Plus the LTA keep changing their plans and their staff and nothing has really stuck for long enough to produce results. It could be fair to say that in the past we haven’t trained hard enough or we don’t want it enough, but the new National training centre has provided a more professional environment and hopefully results will follow.

Q. Do you think your training and coaching matches up to what juniors from other nations are recieving?
A. Yes the facilities and coaching are just as good if not better than any other nation, and the players are all working hard to improve. I don’t think there is a massive issue in terms of effort during training. Since the press has been slating the players for lack of desire and being spoiled, everyone has definately started putting in that extra bit of effort so it shouldn’t be long before we have a woman in the top hundred.

Q. Lastly, do you agree with the LTA’s policy of bringing in outside coaches, like Brad Gilbert and Paul Annacone? Is their experience worth the price the LTA have to pay? Paul Annacone and Brad Gilbert have so much experience and it can only benefit the players they are working with. The guys all have a lot of respect for them which makes them want to do better so yes I think it is worth it.

Finals day at Estoril

Roger Federer has defeated Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 1-2 (Davydnko retired hurt).

The match looked to be producing the blockbuster finish to an exciting weeks tennis, but Davydenko was struck down untimely with a strain in his left leg at the end of the first set. The Russian tried to continue playing, and even managed to break Federer, but then decided that the pain was not worth the gain.

Whilst this is a relatively small title, it will mean a lot more to Federer, seeing as it his first of a troubled year so far. He did not play anywhere near his best tennis, but in truth never looked in any real danger of losing in Estoril.

In winning his 54th ATP title, Federer extended his record to 12-0 over his Russian counterpart, and should solidfy his slightly shaky grasp on the world No.1 spot.

In the doubles final, Brit Jamie Murray and Zimbabwean Kevin Ullyett went down fighting to top seedsWesley Moodie and Jeff Coetzee 6-2 4-6 10-8. The South African pair exploited Ullyett’s serve, breaking it twice in the first set to take it easily. However Murray and Ullyett fought back in the second, breaking Coetzee’s serve at 4-3 and forcing the match into a nailbiting champions tie break. But it was Coetzee’s quick reflexes which would seal the win, some excellent net play at 8-8 was truly gutsy.

It’s back to regular partner Max Mirnyi for Murray at the Monte Carlo Masters Series, where he will be hoping to add to his already impressive record this season.

Estoril Open Update

It is semi-final time here at the Estoril Open,after Roger Federer eased past local favourite Frederico Gil 6-4 6-1.

Portugese wild-card Gil has had an excellent week, but Federer was simply too good for the world No. 146, and apart from the two rain delays, it was a comfortable victory for the Swiss.

He now goes on to play German Denis Gremelmayr, who has reached his first ever ATP semi final with a hard fought victory over Jiri Vanek (6-2 3-6 6-2)

In the other half of the draw, second seed and world No.4 Nikolay Davydenko extended his winning streak to ten matches, with a gutsy win over Marc Gicquel of France. Davdydenko was runner up here in 2006, and was victorious in 2003, so he knows the courts well. Next up for him is another Frenchman, Florent Serra, who defeated Flavio Cippola easily 6-1 6-1.

In the doubles it is good news for Britain, as Jamie Murray made it through to the final with new partner Kevin Ullyett. The number two seeds recovered from a set down to defeat third seeds Frantisek Cermak and Jordan Kerr 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. Murray is up to a career best ranking of 34, and will be looking to improve on that when he and Ullyett face top seeds Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the final.

Davis Cup Quarter Finals

Four tennis superpowers – Russia, U.S.A, Spain and Argentina have all advanced to this years semi-finals of the Davis Cup.

On paper, Argentina had the easiest task, at home on slow courts against Sweden, who (Bjorn Borg aside) are not renowned for having the best clay court players. However they came up against an inspired force in Swedish number one Robin Soderling, who was determined not to let the Argentines have it all their own way.

After David Nalbandian defeated Jonas Bjorkman in the opening rubber, Soderling stormed back, beating Acasuso 6-0 6-4 6-1. The home nation clinched the doubles, but the deciding rubber was the third singles, as Nalbandian was stretched to his absolute limit in defeating Soderling 9-7 late into the fifth set.

Spain had the simplest passage through, as Nadal and Ferrer both notched up singles wins over Kiefer and Kohlschreiber respectively.The only worry for them came in the doubles, as Germans Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner put up a terrific fight, only to succumb 12-10 in the fifth set to Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez (pictured right).

The U.S.A overcame a weakened France side 3-2, and in truth it was down to blistering form of world no.6 Andy Roddick who beat Michael Llodra, before crushing Paul-Henri Mathieu. James Blake also overcame Mathieu, this time in five sets to send the US 2-0 up, before France pulled one back in the doubles, as the much vaunted Bryan brothers were beaten by Llodra and Arnaud Clement. But Roddick was on hand to clean up the mess and seal the tie, before Blake put the icing on the cake, defeating Gasquet over three tight sets.

The most dramatic of the ties was to be found in Moscow though, as Russia had to pull out all the stops to defeat Czech Republic 3-2. The mercurial Marat Safin, who has a 1-5 win/loss record this season, found his true colours in the opening match as he battled his way past world no.10 Tomas Berdych in five sets.

Radek Stepanek tied the match by defeating Igor Andreev in straight sets, only for Russia to take the lead again by winning the doubles. With the home nation 2-1 up, the crucial match was Nikolay Davydenko vs. Berdych in the third singles match, and the 26 year-old Russian was gifted the match, as Berdych was forced to retire early in the fifth set with an ankle injury.

Russia now face a tough away tie to Argentina, who have only lost four of the last 60 matches on home soil. Spain host the USA, who will be hoping to bounce back, following their loss to the Spanish team in the 2004 Davis Cup final.

Click here for more information on the Davis Cup draw and all of the teams.

Davis Cup to count towards rankings

As the quarter finals of this years Davis Cup gets underway, it has been announced that from 2009 ATP ranking points will be awarded to players for their participation in Davis Cup matches.

The points can be attained from the four rounds of Davis Cup, and also the play off stage. The accumulated points then count as one result, which can be eligble as one of the players best results from the year.

Up to 500 points are on offer, with an additional 125 bonus points for any player who manages to win all eight live singles rubbers as well as lifting the trophy at the end. To find out more about how the rankings work, look here.

In my opinion this should have been introduced a long time ago. Over recent years we have seen a decrease in competitive Davis Cup play from the top players,mainly because they simply do not want to risk their health by competing in matches which have no bearing on the world standings.

This was shown clearly when Andy Murray opted out of Great Britains crucial away tie against Argentina because he didnt want to risk injury, much to the dismay of British tennis fans. This new set-up should re-ignite many players desire to compete for their countrys and could take Davis Cup back to its deserved stage as one of the most imporant tournaments in the tennis year.

Murray slips out of the top 20

With the latest update of ATP Rankings, Britains Andy Murray has found himself outside the world’s top 20 players for the first time since August 2006.

Murray had made his best ever start to a season (10-1 win/loss) but has since struggled, winning only four out of his last eight matches.He has slipped nine places to 22nd, and along with Guillermo Canas also dropping nine places, it has allowed Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya back inside the top 20.

However the Murray camp (Andy now has an entourage to rival Jennifer Lopez) will not be overly worried with the situation. Coming up next is the clay court season, and whilst this may not be Murray’s best surface, he should be able to move back up the rankings. This is because he has no points at all to defend, having missed the whole clay and grass court season last year with a wrist injury.

This should see a swift march back up the table for Murray, and as long as he can stay injury free up to Wimbledon, and play to the standard we know he can, it is not unrealistic for him to be challenging for a place in the top 5 by the time the tour reaches the All England Club again.

Davydenko the Master in Miami

Nikolay Davydenko today became the first Russian in 24 years to win the Miami Masters, as he defeated Rafael Nadal 6-4 6-2 to clinch the title.

The scoreline makes it appear a routine victory, and in truth it was for the world no.4, who as I predicted stood way inside the baseline and dictated play to Nadal. It was an unrelenting assault from the Russian, and once he had broken to go 5-3 up in the first set, the result never looked in any real doubt.

Gone were the nerves that have plagued him over the past year, and he has rediscovered his second serve, which prevented Nadal from gaining the upper hand off the return. When a bit of tension did start to show, double faulting when serving for the match, Davydenko quickly dispelled it the very next point, with some devastating groundstrokes from both wings.

It is not a total disaster for Nadal however; he will look back at this week and take a lot of positives. His hardcourt game is almost there, it just needs some fine tweaking, and not to come up against opponents playing the best tennis of their lives.

For Davydenko, he will be hoping of course to take this excellent form into the clay court season, where he will find Nadal to be somewhat tougher man to beat than he was today.

Davydenko to meet Nadal in final

Nikolay Davydenko produced one of the performances of his career so far as he outplayed home favourite Andy Roddick 7-6 6-2 to make it to his first Miami Masters final.

The Russian was congratulated by Roddick at the hand shake, who told him he was just “too good” on the night. Indeed it was a real eye opener for many tennis fans who have not really paid much notice to the Davydenko in the past.

As Roddick remarked, his style is similar to Andre Agassi in the way he stands inside the baseline and takes the ball very early, making his opponents do much of the running. It was his first victory over Roddick in six meetings, and he now meets Rafael Nadal who overcame Tomas Berdych 7-6 6-2.

Despite the tight nature of the first set, there was always the feeling that Berdych did not quite believe he could overcome Nadal on the biggest stage. Indeed it was the Czech’s nerve which let him down in the tie-break, as he double faulted to lose the set.

Nadal proceeded to steamroll over Berdych in the second set, confusing him with a mixture of high bouncing topspin shots and ankle high slice shots.

It makes for an interesting final, and although Davydenko has never beaten Nadal, I fancy the Russian to turn the tables on him. In the form he is in at the moment, he should be able to step inside the baseline often, and take Nadals high bouncing forehand early before it gets too high. If he can do that, I can see Davydenko winning his second Masters Series title.

Roddick topples Federer to meet Davydenko in the semi finals

After an enthralling match, this years second semi-final is as follows: Andy Roddick vs. Nikolay Davydenko.

World No. 6 Roddick forced a set off of the Roger Federer for the first time since the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai as he clinched the opening set tie-break with an ace down the line. Federer then levelled the match by converting on his third break point chance at 4-4 and holding serve to close out the second set.

But two errors by the Swiss in the eighth game of the third set set up triple break point for Roddick, and Federer returned a forehand into the net to give his opponent the crucial break. Roddick closed out the match in one hour and 55 minutes on his third match point with Federer unable to return his serve.

On the other hand Davydenko (beat Tipsarevic 6-2 6-1) had a comfortable route into the semi’s, and should be fresh for his next match. Davydenko looked in imperious form as he dismantled the 23 year old Tipsarevic, who only won 23% of his second serves, not an enviable stat by any means. He now meets Roddick who snapped an 11 match losing streak against Federer to beat the world number one 7-6 4-6 6-3.

It is the first time since 1988 that all four semi finalists are inside the worlds top ten, and my money is on Davydenko to be lifting the trophy above his head come Sunday evening.

Nadal grinds down Blake

Rafael Nadal will meet Tomas Berdych in the first of the semi-finals.

Nadal defeated James Blake for the second time in a week (3-6 6-3 6-1) to make it through to his second straight Masters Series semi. The American looked to have Rafa’s number in the first set, playing some scintilating tennis.

But, almost with a sense of inevitability about it, he could not keep to that level, and the Spaniard gradually wore him down. By the final few games of the third set, Blake looked as though he had fought, and lost, a war on the court; he simply had nothing left to fight Nadal with.

Tomas Berdych had a much simpler path through, as he defeated Russian Igor Andreev 6-4 6-4. Berdych, who is yet to drop a set in Miami this week, has made himself the first Czech player since 1993 to make it to the semi-finals. He only needed two break points, one in each set, to make the match a formality, and make light of a potentially dangerous opponent in Andreev.

However big match composure is something that many critics have felt Berdych is lacking in, and that could be his downfall against a player as tough as Nadal.

He has a respectable 3-3 lifetime record with the Spaniard however, and will go into this match believing he has every chance of making the final, even if nobody else does!