Category: ITF

Great Britain Wins Davis Cup! Season Complete.

Julian KabatLeave a comment

With world number 2 Andy Murray leading the charge, Great Britain wins its first Davis Cup title in 79 years. Unlike the Czech team in the Fed Cup, the British Davis Cup team is not lined with the top stars in the game. Last year was the first year that Great Britain returned to World Group action in a long time with a win over the United States. They then competed in the first round this year with a repeat victory over the American team. After that they went on to beat France, Australia, and then Belgium in the Davis Cup final.

It started out well for Belgium with Goffin defeating Edmund in a five set bout. After that, it was all Andy Murray who competed in two singles matches, and the doubles match with brother Jamie as well. If it was not for the Murrays, especially Andy, the British team would not have been able to go this far. Andy Murray competed in both the singles and doubles throughout most of the year notching the crucial three points in order to gain victories in each tie.

29davisweb-master675
Andy Murray is victorious in the Davis Cup final

Murray was a elated with the victory and said:

“It feels amazing. I never thought we would have the opportunity to do this. I can’t believe we did it. It’s unbelievably tough. Tough year. We have to enjoy this because we may never have an opportunity to do this again as a team.”

It was a great day for Great Britain and their fans. Now the season is complete and the players will be able to get some rest after a long almost 11 month season. However, not all players will be vacationing or training until the tour resumes on January 4th. Some players will also compete in either the International Premier Tennis League or the Champions Tennis League, which are team tennis events. But the official season is now over.

Czech Out the Fed Cup Winners

Julian KabatLeave a comment

Over the weekend was the Fed Cup Finals between the Czech Republic and Russia. Leading the way for the Czech Republic was Petra Kvitova, and the anchor for the Russian team was Maria Sharapova. Sharapova won both of her matches for Team Russia, but it was not enough to defeat the Czech Republic team. The Czech team has been dominant in Fed Cup play winning the title four times in the past five years. They have many top players competing for them, which makes them a force in Fed Cup competition.

The Fed Cup is an annual women’s team-based tournament, where players represent their nation in the competition. It is divided into multiple divisions with the World Group being the top division. Only a team competing in the World Group can win the Fed Cup that year. The other teams work through the other divisions for a chance to eventually be promoted to the World Group and compete for the Fed Cup title. However, there are many countries that have never reached that level because of the lack of talent and resources to train top tennis players.

The Fed Cup often struggles to attract top players to compete, since it does not provide ranking points, unlike the Davis Cup. Top players only compete if the title is on the line to add to their list of accomplishments, but if their national team is in a lower division, it is less likely that they would want to compete. However, as they close into the olympics, players will increase their participation if Fed Cup since the ITF sets a minimum requirement to be allowed to participate in olympic competition.

It is likely that the Czech Republic will maintain dominance over the Fed Cup in years to come because of the strength of their team. The top players of the Czech Republic have great pride for representing their country in Fed Cup. They more regularly play Fed Cup ties than other top players, which is why the Czech Republic tends to do so well.

Tennis Brain: Previewing the Need to Stay Mentally Tough

Julian KabatLeave a comment

Tennis is a very physical sport, however, the mental part of tennis is what separates the top players from the rest of the crowd. In order to be able to compete, players must be mentally tough enough to deal with the ebbs and flows of competing at a high level. When competing, they want to win every point. However, it is nearly impossible to win every point given the calibre of players they are competing against. All players train, and spend endless hours perfecting their game. The issue then becomes whether or not they can hold up under the pressure of playing matches, and competing for titles.

Very few aspiring tennis players make it to no. 1 in the world, and win Grand Slam titles. Many hopefuls will never break through on the ATP or WTA tour, or even at lower level ITF pro circuit events. That is where it all starts for players start, either in the ITF professional circuit or ITF junior circuit. Before players can compete at the ATP World Tour (for men) or the WTA tour (for women), they must first prove themselves in smaller tournaments most people have no clue about. They need to win matches at those tournaments, and ideally win the tournaments themselves to rise in the rankings and bring them closer to tennis glory.

In order to compete at this tournaments, players must have a high degree of confidence in their game. If they lack the confidence, they will likely lose their matches. This year Eugenie Bouchard lost multiple matches in a row and according to tennis.com, Vince Spadea has the record of 21 losses in a row. Jelena Jankovic, former no. 1, also went on a 10 match losing streak after her success, and has rebounded since then.

The leading text on the mental side of tennis is The Inner Game of Tennis. Author W. Timothy Galley writes:

“Every game is composed of two parts, an outer game and an inner game.”

It’s hard to analyze what goes on inside players heads, and we can only speculate. While it is fun to analyze players, and say what makes them tick. The reality is that only they can really understand why they feel the way they do. It is easier for us to see their physical condition, or outer game. For example, if a player has their left ankle taped, there is probably something wrong with it, since tape is not usually an aesthetic decision. However, similar to the mental side, there can often be a lot of speculation around a player’s physical condition.

Due to human nature, we enjoy speculation. That’s why we enjoy gossip, and the tennis world is not short of that. It’s entertaining to follow the next engagement or breakup. And the life events of players can fuel speculation as to what is going on in their heads. I don’t want to engage in gossip, so I will do my best to keep my blog around the court and out of the home.

It’s a tough sport, and players must stay focused on the task at hand… winning.

Season Update: Serena Out, Tennis at Love Back

Julian KabatLeave a comment

It has been a while since I have posted to the blog. This blog when it began seemed to lack a direction. The original purpose of setting this blog up was my love of watching tennis. I wanted a place for myself to post my thoughts about what was going on in the tennis world. It then became an exercise of needing to post daily, and just became facts of what happened that day of interest to me. Unfortunately, due to school, work, and other events in life, it became neglected. Fortunately, however, as a part of a course on digital journalism, the blog is revived. The new purpose, to commentate more on the major news and events in the tennis from a personal pursuit of finding out what is happening, and why it is important. Right now it will be more personal, but I hope to reach out to people, and organizations to bring a greater perspective on the world I love.

Since I last left off the Davis Cup final has been set between Belgium and Great Britain. And in Fed Cup, the final will be contested between the Czech Republic and Russia, with Maria Sharapova expected to make a rare appearance in Fed Cup competition. Both of those competitions will take place after the season is over in November. Until then, there are still several weeks to go before the WTA Finals in Singapore, and the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Also since my last post, Serena Williams did not win the Grand Slam at the U.S. Open this year losing out in the semifinals to Roberta Vinci. All the commentators on TV used the same word to describe what happened: unbelievable. It seemed like a mortal lock at that point in the tournament. On September 30th, her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou told ESPNW she may not play again this season due to her disappointment. The next day she withdraws from both Beijing and Singapore. This leaves only two players qualified so far for the even, which is only three weeks away. Simona Halep and Maria Sharapova might have to wait a couple of weeks before finding out who will join them this year in the top 10.

In the U.S. Open championship matches, Novak Djokovic showed the world why he is number one in the world on the men’s side, with a victory over Roger Federer in the final. On the women’s side, Flavia Pennetta won and announced her retirement, but only after the season is over. With all the points she collected she has a great opportunity to join Halep and Sharapova in the finals.

The men have not had any tournaments since the U.S. Open with big name players due to the Davis Cup, and the women have had Tokyo and Wuhan. Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland won in Tokyo, while Venus Williams, Serena Williams sister, won in Wuhan. This week is the Premier Mandatory tournament for the women in Beijing. Some of the men will join them for the ATP 500 tournament there, while others will play in Tokyo. The season is almost over, but not done yet.

Laura Robson Wins First Match in Granby

Julian KabatLeave a comment

Laura Robson won the first match of her comeback in Granby, QC. She won 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 against Naomi Osaka. She was down a break in the first but came back to win 7-5 in the tiebreak. She was then down a break again in the second set and was able to tie it up to take it to a tiebreak, but lost 7-5. She then traded breaks with Osaka in the third set until she went up a break and held to close it out 6-3 in the third. Robson plays Ellie Halbauer (USA) not before noon tomorrow.