2014 Rakuten Japan Open...ATP 500...Tokyo, Japan

[don_budge]

The "other" tournament being played in the "Land of the Rising Sun". The hometown Samurai Kid has come home to his adoring millions even though he was an also ran at the U. S. Open. He will open the flood gates in the copy culture of Japan as everyone rushes out to learn how to play tennis with their autographed Wilson Racquets and the line of clothing that "The Kid" is wearing.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/share/event-draws.aspx?year=2014&eventid=329&draw=ms

But all of that hype aside, to me one of the most compelling questions here is that of "The Other Swiss Maestro". His victory earlier in the year at the Australian Open has become yesterday's news and he has not really stepped up to the challenge to accrediting his victory there. He wears the huge bull's eye between his shoulder blades and he hasn't really stepped up to the challenge. Perhaps it was just a shot in the dark and he will be a one hit wonder Grand Slam wise. But that shouldn't stop him from dominating lesser venues where he is seeded number one like he is here.

Is it enough to possess arguably the biggest one handed backhand in the modern game and a fairly mediocre service motion? Maybe not, as the rest of the cast of characters gets used to perhaps a slightly different tactic against the Wawrinka game.

This is a lesser field than the one in Beijing and it contains two lesser Americans to boot. Look for them to disappear early as American tennis slips further into the abyss as if that were possible. It is amazing that all of the technology in the world doesn't seem to able to save American tennis given the technological resources available in America. If only a majority of them were not neatly invested in military adventures around the world...chasing the boogey man of the day. Where do they come up with this stuff?

The Rakuten Japan Open promises to be a sleeper of sorts with only little old Dominic Thiem able to rescue it from the doldrums. At least that is how I see it from the onset. I could be wrong...or could I? A rhetorical question.

[klacr]

Wawrinka is the top seed in this event. Let's hope he lives up to it and wins it all. He has a potential 2nd round match vs. The Fighting Finn Jarkko Nieminen.

Dominic Thiem needs to get past Kevin Anderson first before I start counting on him to make a run. But I will be rooting for him. Hope to see much more from him in the indoor season.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Somebody tell me otherwise...please

Dominic Thiem needs to get past Kevin Anderson first before I start counting on him to make a run. But I will be rooting for him. Hope to see much more from him in the indoor season.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

You and I can relax regarding Dominic Thiem...he didn't make it by Kevin Anderson. I watched some of it. In fact...all that I could stand. Dominic served for the first set but he could not convert. It's pretty boring with the same old...same old. Backcourt rallies. When someone goes to the net the announcers treat it as the second coming. They ooh and ahh...what a great volley!!!what a great this or that!!! When in fact it is all pretty mediocre stuff. Volleying hype doesn't fool me anymore than war propaganda does.

David Ferrer is gone also as he has lost two first round matches in a row. The first time that he has lost two matches in a row since 2009. Does the EveryReady Energizer Bunny need a charge? It seems that he has been struggling as of late.

I watched a bit of Marin Cilic as well. He won...more sleepy tennis. More backcourt tennis...more backcourt tennis...more backcourt tennis. Slugging it out from the baseline...it's too fast. Please somebody tell me otherwise.

[don_budge]

Announcers comments...

The commentators of the match between Jack Sock (currently ranked at #71) and Alexander Dolgopolov were lamenting the plight of American tennis. They made the observation that Steve Johnson is the number two behind John Isner and nobody has even heard of him.

Then they went on to mention the days of John McEnroe and Jimmy Conners...plus Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. I guess I am not the only one with a memory...not lobotomized or too young.

They discuss the possibility that young American players cannot deal with the pressure of having to live up to the expectations that the previous champions have set the table with. Then it was the discussion how many of the world's elite come to Florida tennis academies and emerge but the Americans do not.

Now they talk of the one dimensionality of the play of American men. Oh really? Strong serve and big forehand. Is that all there is? Then they mention Patrick McEnroe as someone with some ideas and some input. Well...I listened to what younger McEnroe had to say several years ago when he was touting Jose Higureas and I pegged his deal as a losing proposition. He recommends more clay court play. McEnroe is the wrong McEnroe for the job.

The announcers point out that the current players lack the guile of the older McEnroe and Connors. Never once do they mention how the game was overhauled...it is conveniently glossed over. Better to not ruffle the feathers of the powers that be...they can be awfully touchy too. More Orwellian speak...the problem is now too big to have any viable solution. I am considering sending my "Rooftops of Paris" post about the McEnroe/Borg final of 1980 at the U. S. Open to the two in the booth. Give 'em a little food for thought. Once more tennis metaphors life. Modern times and modern tennis.

Is it that the American Dream is now a nightmare? The United States of America has been at war for how many years? Have we killed "The Dream" in the process? Just a question.

Sock wins the first set against Dolgopolov...the Ukrainian. Dolgopolov loses 6-4, 6-1. It was his first match after knee surgery. I thought he was tanking but he has some other issues.

[stotty]

More backcourt tennis...more backcourt tennis...more backcourt tennis. Slugging it out from the baseline...it's too fast. Please somebody tell me otherwise.

The ATP 1000 events: 6 on hard (acrylic I think), 3 on clay.

The Slams: two on acrylic, one on clay, one on grass.

Totals: 8 on hard, 4 on clay, 1 on grass (slowed down)

Result: Heavy hitting baseline tennis with little scope for net play. Acrylic courts are soulless and kill artistry. Acrylic dominates the tour.

Prospect of Change: Zero. The boss is saying more of the same, please.

[don_budge]

The Announcers...the Wizard of Oz

I am watching the Simon Bautista-Agut match and you will never guess what the announcers have lapsed into a conversation of...you guessed it. The John McEnroe/Bjorn Borg Wimbledon final in 1980.

It was a tiebreak that Simon and Bautista-Agut played that provided the impetus. Among the comments...which were really lame of course...the shorts were so tight and the racquets looked like squash racquets. They did manage an utterance of some sense...they mentioned the shot making. Thirty years and more...there is nothing better to talk about in tennis than that match. The game was evolving on it's own...but at the same time the Wizard was working behind the curtain...engineering.

[don_budge]

Stan Wawrinka...done for the week

Tatsuma Ito defeats Stan Wawrinka 7-5, 6-2. It wasn't even close. Stan is not wearing his target very well. You have to be a man about it...my good friend Leon told me once.

This victory may just be as monumental for Japanese tennis as the Kei Nishikori performance at the U. S. Open was. Ito is ranked 103 in the world...5 places ahead of Ryan Harrison. He played with a lot of confidence but it is hard to understand how the Swiss man could be lacking in enough passion to not want it bad enough to come out and compete with heart.

If you cannot dominate on your service game against the number 103 ranked player in the world it is difficult to understand how you can expect to maintain your number four ranking in the world. Difficult to fanthom.

[don_budge]

The Soul of Tennis...gone but not forgotten. Yet.

Result: Heavy hitting baseline tennis with little scope for net play. Acrylic courts are soulless and kill artistry. Acrylic dominates the tour.

Prospect of Change: Zero. The boss is saying more of the same, please.

Soulless...what a perfect way of summing up the whole shebang.

[bottle]

Commentators or Commentatoes?

Commentatoes, one and all.

[don_budge]

Seeds...of disappearance

Five of the top eight seeded players have opted out of the second round. I wonder about the competitive efforts.

#1 seeded Stan Wawrinka gone to Tatsuma Ito. Never heard of him and watched some of the match. He was on top of Wawrinka from the very start and never let go. Stan for his part played rather passively. Not a very good performance from the world number four.

#8 seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated by Jack Sock. I was some of this as well...an uninspired performance by the Ukrainian. I thought that he was tanking and it turns out that he is coming back from a surgery. Perhaps too soon.

#5 seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated by the Polish Michal Przysiezny. A great performance by the Pole...less than stellar from Tsonga. Late in the third set tie-break Tsonga missed an absolute sitter of a smash in the net. Maybe one of the easiest overheads that I have ever seen missed by a professional tennis player. He was up by 4-1 or something in the tie-break and managed to blow it.

#6 seeded Roberto Bautista Agut defaulted to Gilles Simon in the third set. Couldn't answer the bell...he looked spent after the tie-break and decided to call it quits due to an leg injury.

#2 seeded David "Energizer Bunny" Ferrer ousted by Marcel Granollers...he with the odd service motion. David didn't look to have the usual tenacity.

Five out of the eight seeded players gone. It sort of leads the tournament wide open for a guy like Milos Raonic. A possible meeting with Kevin Anderson in the finals.

[don_budge]

A new all-time low...Commentatoes suck

Commentatoes, one and all.

I just watched Kei Nishikori and Ivan Dodig...Nishikori won in straight sets. The tennis? It was less than inspiring in my book. The net play is awkward yet every point concluded there is greeted with exclamation points from the talking heads...one of which is Robbie Koenig.

One of the clowns in the booth went so far as to suggest that Nishikori was playing so well that "he was walking on water". The last set was punctuated with such drivel every point along the way. It was nothing but backcourt tennis with Nishikori hitting harder than Dodig.

Hyping the game with such obvious nonsense in the end is counterproductive. You might as call it what it is. It's average at best. The entertainment value is minimal. The commentating is nauseous when it get's down to the level of this match that I just watched. Sometimes I watch a match with the sound off...this time I listened to the match while I was in the other room. It was sickening...at one point I just wanted to barf.

In a word...annoying.

[don_budge]

Jeremy Chardy...leave it to the French

Leave it to the French to defy conventional wisdom and add a much needed artistic license to the game. Jeremy takes his racquet "too far back behind him" on his forehand.

But he derailed yet another seed in the 2014 Rakuten Japan Open. Kevin Anderson lost 6-4, 6-4 as he watched forehand after forehand go by him. It was a rather amazing display by Jeremy Chardy, yet another Frenchman that has his own unique take on the game. The game of modern tennis.

Even though the French have yet to develop a true premier player they have a rather interesting and extensive group of players...Chardy being one of them. The funny thing there doesn't seem to be anything uniquely "French" about them. No single characteristic that they all share.

I remember calling Marion Bartolli unconventional or what was the word...unorthodox. bottle then opined that she was "quirky" which was a great way of putting it. So if there is one thing that the French seem to share it might be this avant-garde attitude of artistic license. Absence of "stroke" police.

Viva la France!

I thought that Donald Young looked really good going down to Kei Nishikori 6-4, 7-6. He used his left-handedness to a good advantage as he had the Japanese star on his heels when he was serving. Mixing it up with spin, speed and placement. He's got a pretty darned nice motion and he looked fitter than I have seen him in the past. He looks awkward at the net which is too bad because here is where he can use his left-handedness to make him more effective. A combination of serving savvy and opposite wing approach shots can be a tough combination. Just like you know who...

Just two seeds remaining now...Nishikori and his nemesis Milos Raonic.

[bottle]

Learning How to Win

Donald Young has people in Winston-Salem. I remember listening to an in-depth interview of him by Denise, the main interviewer on public radio there.

Donald proved to be an extremely sensitive man perhaps with the slightest of confidence problems. What takes a person from knowing how to lose at the last moment to how to win at the last moment?

Not much. But something.

[klacr]

Tokyo, an amazing city. Overwhelming from the sheer number of people. The lights. The sounds. The smells. Makes NYC seem tame. Also, some great sushi. I however was not a fan of the close quarters and slim doorways. A man of my size was not built for Japanese design and architecture. Hitting my head on arches, ceilings and lights. Passing through doorways with broad shoulders was equivalent of trespassing onto a private property through narrow gaps between the fence. I was a physical giant stuck in a petite world. Felt like Gulliver being surrounded by Lilliputians, But there was one great thing that happened in Tokyo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-ScDz4Vj98

As for the tennis, with Wawrinka being eliminated and Berdych playing in Beijing, This Tokyo event is struggling to capture my interest. Looks like this could just be a homecoming week for Nishikori as he wins it in front of his adoring home crowd. Milos Raonic is still in the draw, with his big serve and growing penchant for serve and volley could make things interesting if he met Nishikori in the finals.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

What does it take...? What's it gonna take...Donald!

Donald proved to be an extremely sensitive man perhaps with the slightest of confidence problems. What takes a person from knowing how to lose at the last moment to how to win at the last moment?

Not much. But something.

What does it take John? It's an existential question isn't it? A beauty.

What does it take? I ask myself sitting here alone in my office overlooking the fields of autumn gold...in the autumn of my life. What does it take?

In the case of Donald Young it is a matter of exactly what he has accomplished in the last months. Hard work. It is the only thing that this old world understands. People feel that they want to be understood...I got that from my experience of managing a quality control laboratory for the Ford Motor Company. The people belonged to a union...there is safety in numbers you know. Unless you are the odd man out...then it only works against you. Donald Young has undoubtably figured all of this out, or if not, he is on the road to find out. What most people dearly need is a good kick in the ass.

For Donald it is a matter of "Being There"...coincidentally the title of a Peter Sellers film. Film noire. Donald Young put himself in position to defeat the Japanese Golden Boy on his home turf but didn't pull it off. It is a matter of getting the horse in the barn. You get to the position of getting the animal into his stall and then you meet resistance and you don't know quite how to react. In the case of a horse it varies...depending upon his or her temperament. The same can be said about tennis opponents.

It's a matter of being there and getting yourself into that position and then you fail. And then you fail again. And again and again. Until you get so fucking mad you do one of two things...you steel yourself and get it done. Or you quit. Ryan Harrison appears to have quit...he got close but with his own limitations imposed on himself or by the power of God he seems to have reached the end of his rope. His tether.

Donald Young has gone through the trials and tribulations and he has hung around. It's been tough...mentally. I mean, after all, he could have a real job. But he put himself in position against Kei Nishikori and he is going to have to do it again and again. Until he gets it right. Largely it is mental and getting accustomed to that feeling of being on the cusp of winning...or sinking back again in disappointment. Once he gains the experience of getting there a number of times he will find out if he has what it takes to get the infernal horse in the barn.

Think of the golfer. He starts at the beginning of the game. Learning all of the facets. He goes out on the course and shoots a 100 and something. But undaunted he goes out again and shoots 98. Again and again he goes out...struggling, working, beating himself to the point of suicide. Incrementally improving. Baby steps. Until he arrives at a point where he is standing on the tenth tee and lo and behold he is even par. But he starts to think...can I get it home in the clubhouse even par. For the first time! It's the maiden voyage. The kiss of death...he is thinking. The doubts start to creep in. So he starts to "push" the ball instead of swinging for the fence. The result...triple bogey on ten. Shit!

But again and again he goes out struggling to get himself into position. Twenty five times after the first time he gets to number ten even par. He remembers the first time and learns...don't think. Just do. Just do what it took to get there. So he proceeds with a calmness and gets to hole 16...even par. Now the excitement begins to get to him and once again...he fucks it up. Ok...what does it take? You start over. Back to the first hole. Here we go again. Another twenty five rounds and you are standing on 18 and you are even par. But this time you remember...you remember to swing and swing out. Without fear. Without doubt. And you are rewarded...you get it home. You birdie 18 and finish under par. Exceeding expectations. The horse in the barn.

What does it take? It takes everything a man is made of. Be it tennis or golf. Or life. It takes everything. If you are not prepared to pay the price then it isn't going to happen. You have to put yourself out there and dare to take the chance. Dare to fail. Dare to be Donald Young. Dare to be a loser...without feeling like a loser. You gotta feel like you deserve to win...when you are position to do so.

It's an exhausting struggle. For most of us and impossible proposition. Once we get there we are too tired. We need understanding or so we think...but the reality is that we need just one more good kick in the ass to get us over the hump. It is hard to reach your own ass with your own foot. Which brings us back to your question...what does it take? It's a great question and I don't even pretend to have answered it.

Developing an effective serve motion and complementary tactics is a big step.