Physical strength rules French Open<\/p>\n
By Russell Barlow<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The French Open, like all the Grand Slam tennis
\ntournaments, possess its own special qualities.<\/p>\n
The huge crowds which throng to Rolland Garros every year and
\nthe well-planned maze of outside courts in a huge park setting,
\nare conductive to a nonchalant, carnival atmosphere.<\/p>\n
It is enthusiastic Parisian crowds and great tennis matches
\nthat I recollect from my days as a player at Rolland Garros and
\ntoday as a visitor to Paris in my capacity as a Tournament
\nDirector with the ATP Tour. The fans are very different from the
\nstaid, polite ones you find at Wimbledon or the ebullient Native
\nNew Yorkers at the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n
The French crowds are very emotive and always intensely
\ninvolved in the matches, pulling for the underdogs and willing
\nFrench hopefuls to victory. Probably the most emotional moment in
\nrecent years was when Frenchman Yannick Noah, a great personality
\nand talented player, fought brilliantly to defeat defending
\nchampion Mats Wilander of Sweden for the title in 1983.<\/p>\n
Spectators see chess on a tennis court at Rolland Garros. One
\ncould almost see the tactical minds of the great claycourters --
\nBjorn Bjorg, Guilermo Villas, Adriano Panatta, and, today, Sergei
\nBruguera -- as they cat-and-mouse with their befuddled opponents
\nbefore pouncing for a kill.<\/p>\n
Graveyard<\/p>\n
Can a serve-and-volleyer win at the French Open? Sure, but it
\nrequires someone who is patient, waits for the right
\nopportunities and is a good tactician.<\/p>\n
People point to John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and
\nnow Pete Sampras as examples of great all-court or serve-and-
\nvolley players who couldn't win at the Rolland Garros
\n\"graveyard\". There are different reasons why each of these top
\nmale players failed to win the French Open.<\/p>\n
McEnroe and Becker never really learned the fundamentals of
\nplaying the clay court game. Becker can go through to the final
\nrounds on clay, but comes up short when more patience is required
\nagainst the clay court experts like Bruguera and Thomas Muster.<\/p>\n
The same is true of McEnroe, but I saw him play two of the
\ngreat sets of the clay court game against Ivan Lendl in the 1984
\nfinal. McEnroe was prudent and tactical with his shots, and
\nattacked only when Lendl hit a short ball. But McEnroe was not
\nfit enough to sustain the high standard of play over five sets
\nand Lendl, who had made physical fitness his greatness strength,
\ntook the title.<\/p>\n
Edberg is still one of the most stylish, elegant players on
\nthe ATP Tour. His game is ideally suited for grass or hard
\ncourts, but he lacks the weight of shot to win on slow clay. The
\nformer world number one and a losing finalist in Paris in 1989,
\nlost to Michael Stich in Thursday's second round.<\/p>\n
Sampras was sent packing in the first round and there was a
\nchorus of naysayers who said he cannot win on clay. Some
\npertinent facts were overlooked; Gilbert Schaller is ranked 24 in
\nthe world; he is coming off a great clay court season where he
\nbeat world number nine Yevgeny Kafelnikov in Hamburg and Karel
\nNovacek in Munich; and Sampras lost 4-6 in the fifth set after a
\nnearly four-hour match.<\/p>\n
Sampras is still young and has such immense talent that he can
\nlearn the game required to win the French Open. He can rally from
\nthe baseline with his flowing ground strokes and, most
\nimportantly, has the self-confidence to shrug off any questions
\nabout his clay court game.<\/p>\n
I have read several articles over the past few days about
\nIndonesia's Yayuk Basuki and her \"shocking\" defeat in the first
\nround of the French Open to a Belgian qualifier ranked 100 places
\nbelow her.<\/p>\n
Yayuk is a very talented player, with a pounding forehand and
\na sliced backhand which is great for grass and hard courts, but I
\ncan see how she would have problems at Rolland Garros.<\/p>\n
The clay at Rolland Garros becomes fast when the weather is
\nhot and dry, but extremely slow after rain when the balls pick up
\nto the powder. It is not as slow as the clay courts at the
\nItalian Open, but it is nothing like the clay courts at the
\nSenayan tennis complex here.<\/p>\n
The Senayan tennis courts are very fast and the balls skid,
\nespecially when hit with a heavy slice. Yayuk developed her
\nsliced backhand because it is a weapon on these courts, but it
\ndoes not have the same effect at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n
I am hedging on who will come through as the men's champion
\nthis week.<\/p>\n
Bruguera has the heavy topspin strokes which are so difficult
\nfor opponents to handle at Rolland Garros, as well as the huge
\nmental advantage of having won two years in a row. Muster, of
\ncourse, has had and amazing year and has the stamina to win the
\nlong five-set matches.<\/p>\n
Agassi and Chang should not be forgotten and either of them
\ncould make 1995 the year of the American in Paris.<\/p>\n
Russell Barlow is the ATP Tour Consultant for the ATP Tour
\nWorld Doubles Championship in Jakarta this November.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/physical-strength-rules-french-open-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}