A decade of great tennis by Fernando Verdasco

[jimlosaltos]

A decade of great tennis by Fernando Verdasco, now 40 yo and attempting a comeback, are in this month's tour portrait. Photos from 3 tournaments: San Jose 2010's finals where he came from behind to beat Andy Roddick 36 64 64, San Jose 2011, where he beat Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals before losing a pair of tiebreaks to young Milos Raonic, and the premiere Golden Gate Open, where Verdasco was coming back from a two month suspension for forgetting to renew a long-term TUE for ADHC meds. Looked as if he could still bomb serves at up to 150 mph, and forehands seemingly almost as fast. They just weren't going in as often. Yet. He'll be sorely missed by the tennis world when he retires.

Please check out December's Tour Portrait of Fernando Verdasco at this link:
https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ando_verdasco/

Photo: Look at his left bicep, it's as if an alien creature burrowed in there. I recall Darren Cahill saying that when Verdasco worked out with (Gil Reyas? ) and Cahill in an Adidas program that Verdasco was doing leg presses "at the level of NFL linemen."

Sidebar: As I was taking this photo, Fernando's wife, Ana Boyer was yelling encouragement from just a couple of seats away in the coaches box. Boyer is the daughter of former Spanish politician Miguel Boyer & socialite Isabel Preysler Arrasta, and her half-brothers are Spanish singers Enrique and Julio Iglesias. This socialite was 'off duty' in a tee-shirt and very distressed jeans. I was tempted to take a photo of her but didn't want to intrude.

P.S. Early in the Golden Gate Open, I was sitting between a couple of guys discussing photography because they saw me totting a large lens.

One guy follows and photographs rock musicians much like I do with tennis. He was showing me his photos via his phone of Eric Burton of the Animals, the Monterray Jazz Festival and the like, and I called up Tennisplayer.net to reciprocate. The second guy (shown later/ here in the background as a line judge, in orange) said "Tennisplayer is the best, particularly for the serve. The serve is the toughest thing in sports. Tennisplayer is great on serving. I've been reading it forever."

Ahh, gee. Unsolicited testimonials are the best.

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[jimlosaltos]

Here are 2 takes on 1 other photo of Verdasco I hope you like.

Original photo. I like Fernando's concentration and how he is leaning toward the ball -- and at the viewer -- and airborne at impact.

Many of these were difficult photographs to capture. To get close, I was right on the South service line, but the sun was often directly behind the players,
as you can see from his shadow extended toward the viewer.

It's the old cliche', don't photograph someone with the sun behind them. So, I was basically trying to resuscitate the players' images from the shadows. And the background was cluttered, so I put it as out of focus as possible.

A different crop next.

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[jimlosaltos]

Here's the same photo, cropped in more tightly.

By the way, his hair isn't very grey, that's mainly the bright highlights from the direct sun contrasted with the dark shadows.

P.S. Fernando is named after an Abba song. <g>

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[stotty]

A decade of great tennis by Fernando Verdasco, now 40 yo and attempting a comeback, are in this month's tour portrait. Photos from 3 tournaments: San Jose 2010's finals where he came from behind to beat Andy Roddick 36 64 64, San Jose 2011, where he beat Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals before losing a pair of tiebreaks to young Milos Raonic, and the premiere Golden Gate Open, where Verdasco was coming back from a two month suspension for forgetting to renew a long-term TUE for ADHC meds. Looked as if he could still bomb serves at up to 150 mph, and forehands seemingly almost as fast. They just weren't going in as often. Yet. He'll be sorely missed by the tennis world when he retires.

Please check out December's Tour Portrait of Fernando Verdasco at this link:
https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ando_verdasco/

Photo: Look at his left bicep, it's as if an alien creature burrowed in there. I recall Darren Cahill saying that when Verdasco worked out with (Gil Reyas? ) and Cahill in an Adidas program that Verdasco was doing leg presses "at the level of NFL linemen."

Sidebar: As I was taking this photo, Fernando's wife, Ana Boyer was yelling encouragement from just a couple of seats away in the coaches box. Boyer is the daughter of former Spanish politician Miguel Boyer & socialite Isabel Preysler Arrasta, and her half-brothers are Spanish singers Enrique and Julio Iglesias. This socialite was 'off duty' in a tee-shirt and very distressed jeans. I was tempted to take a photo of her but didn't want to intrude.

P.S. Early in the Golden Gate Open, I was sitting between a couple of guys discussing photography because they saw me totting a large lens.

One guy follows and photographs rock musicians much like I do with tennis. He was showing me his photos via his phone of Eric Burton of the Animals, the Monterray Jazz Festival and the like, and I called up Tennisplayer.net to reciprocate. The second guy (shown later/ here in the background as a line judge, in orange) said "Tennisplayer is the best, particularly for the serve. The serve is the toughest thing in sports. Tennisplayer is great on serving. I've been reading it forever."

Ahh, gee. Unsolicited testimonials are the best.

filedata/fetch?id=102886&d=1701624365&type=thumb

Amazing photos of an amazing player. One of my all time favourite forehands for sure...one of the best sights in tennis. He always missed more than Roger or Rafa but then he was going for more most of the time. You should have taken a photo of Boyer. Sometimes what's going on in the background is better than the tennis. Her jeans sound interesting.

[jimlosaltos]

Amazing photos of an amazing player. One of my all time favourite forehands for sure...one of the best sights in tennis. He always missed more than Roger or Rafa but then he was going for more most of the time. You should have taken a photo of Boyer. Sometimes what's going on in the background is better than the tennis. Her jeans sound interesting.

Thank you! And, yes, great forehand.

[jimlosaltos]

Ran across these rejects (the photos not the players) from the 2010 Roddick-Verdasco final.

Again, Verdasco was behind, then turned up the heat.

I still remember the look on Andy's face when he saw this read out on the radar gun screen from a Fernando service.
This one was called out, but I suspect the linesperson couldn't see it



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Out of focus but captures the memory.

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[stotty]

Jim, do you have any close ups of Verdasco's forehand grip? I looked at his Tour Portrait but couldn't glean enough about where his hand sits exactly. I wonder if you had any other snaps you hadn't used for the portrait that might give a clearer look?

[jimlosaltos]

Jim, do you have any close ups of Verdasco's forehand grip? I looked at his Tour Portrait but couldn't glean enough about where his hand sits exactly. I wonder if you had any other snaps you hadn't used for the portrait that might give a clearer look?

Glad I checked the forum before lunch, stotty !

Hmmmm. I pulled these together. Since he was a lefty I was mainly shooting on the wrong side or from the other end but these might work. If they don't, I'll look some more later.

What do you think? Two different angles

1 of 2
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[stotty]

That's great. I really wanted to see where his heel pad sat. He has such a lovely grip. The hand sits so perfectly.

Thank you!

[jimlosaltos]

That's great. I really wanted to see where his heel pad sat. He has such a lovely grip. The hand sits so perfectly.

Thank you!

Glad I could help !

P.S. Also great extension. Another of the straight-arm forehand school.