2015 Stockholm Open…ATP 250…Stockholm, Sweden

[don_budge]

Tomas Berdych to meet Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals. Both past winners of this quaint ATP 250 venue? The "new and improved" ATP website took a couple of steps backwards in my opinion…the draw history of previous years and past champions is unavailable…for me at least. At any rate…a big match for both players. At least it would seem to be but I wonder…how much do either of these two really care?

Berdych defeated Alexander Zverev in the second round after Zverev defeated Micheal Ymer who is the younger brother of Elias Ymer in three tough sets. The Ymer brothers are Sweden's hope for the future. Interestingly enough they don't look anything like Swedish…traditional Swedish that is. They are of Ethiopian descent and they are the best Sweden has to offer in terms of tennis these days. Speaking of changing fortunes.

Bernard Tomic was in the draw but he had his ass handed to him by Marcos Baghdatis…another former champion of the tournament. Richard Gasquet and Jeremy Chardy at the very bottom of the draw are set to slug it out. It looks like a good chance for Gasquet to enhance his resume.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/stockholm/429/draws

[klacr]

Great tournament. The buzz. The acoustics. The wooden bleachers. Love the Stockholm event. The stoic swedes giving polite but not raucous applause.

Berdych-Dimitrov in the quarters of a 250 event is a bit absurd but lucky for fans with Friday tickets. Dimitrov, by his own admission has not had the best year.

More important to note...
Jarkko Nieminen played his final tournament of his career. The Fighting Finn announced in June of this year that he would retire and his last event would be Stockholm. Love Jarkko. He will be missed. Well respected by all in the locker room and on court. True Professional.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

Berdych with a nice win over Dimitrov. Faces Baghdatis-Muller winner in semis.
Dimitrov a shell of himself, both physically and mentally. Looks disinterested and lacks physicality that he once had.

Berdych the thoroughbred to beat at this tourney.

They showed the legend Bjorn Borg watching from the box. No doubt he was appreciative of the players skill level, but deep down inside you could tell he wanted to get out there and show them what he could do.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

Berdych vs. Sock in the Stockholm final. You know who I'm rooting for.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

A Bit of a Dud…The Last American

Berdych vs. Sock in the Stockholm final. You know who I'm rooting for.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

It's only a 250 event…even so it turns out to be a bit of dud. Jack Sock with a big chance to make some noise. Some more noise. Convincing wins over a couple of the French contingent. He dominated Richard Gasquet yesterday. It wasn't even worth watching. The first three points of the match were decided at the net with less than convincing efficiency.

Tomas Berdych for his part had his hands tied with regards to injecting some interest in the proceedings. Marcos Baghdadis retiring before things even began to heat up. Unsure what his problem was. Once he threw in the towel…so did I. It was tough enough trying to stay interested. I opted for a nap halfway through Gasquet/Sock. Snooze effect. Maybe it's me…not.

High hopes for the final…ever the optimist. Berdych over Sock…klacr? Where's your sense of patriotism? Just kidding…of course. It's a free country. At least it used to be.

[stroke]

Who knows who is going to win this match. Should be a very good match. Db is right, I watched the Gasquet/Sock match, and even though the scoreline was close, the match really was not. Gasquet really was motivated to win the match as he needed the win to keep up his slim hopes of making the Final 8 tournament. Sock just absolutely hammered him with that forehand of his. It looked better, more of a weapon, than even Roger or Nadal's in that match, the ultimate compliment.

[don_budge]

The Finals…Jack Sock versus Tomas Berdych

Who knows who is going to win this match. Should be a very good match. Db is right, I watched the Gasquet/Sock match, and even though the scoreline was close, the match really was not. Gasquet really was motivated to win the match as he needed the win to keep up his slim hopes of making the Final 8 tournament. Sock just absolutely hammered him with that forehand of his. It looked better, more of a weapon, than even Roger or Nadal's in that match, the ultimate compliment.

I deleted my post picking Jack Sock based on "hunger". Gasquet looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was "hammer time" courtesy of Jack. Tomas had the "misfortune" of a walkover when what he really needed was a competitive match. Well he sort of had one with Grigor Dimitrov…at least we are assuming that the Bulgarian Playboy is properly motivated these days.

It would appear that Berdych has his work cut out for him though. Sock is on the way up…young and motivated. Berdych seems to have hit some sort of plateau and doesn't seem to be on fire with motivation these days. The walkover suited him just fine yesterday.

[stroke]

I deleted my post picking Jack Sock based on "hunger". Gasquet looked like a deer caught in the headlights. It was "hammer time" courtesy of Jack. Tomas had the "misfortune" of a walkover when what he really needed was a competitive match. Well he sort of had one with Grigor Dimitrov…at least we are assuming that the Bulgarian Playboy is properly motivated these days.

It would appear that Berdych has his work cut out for him though. Sock is on the way up…young and motivated. Berdych seems to have hit some sort of plateau and doesn't seem to be on fire with motivation these days. The walkover suited him just fine yesterday.

Deer in headlights is spot on. It is one thing to play a Karlovic and being hammered by unreturnable serves, another to watch those brutal forehands, over and over, game after game, hammer you. He hit some forehand clean winners that I really could not remember ever seen hit before. I mentioned to John over in his "ask" thread about putting up Jack's forehand in the Interactive Forum and John said he is going to, he had in fact been "puzzling over it" himself.

[stroke]

Berdych won the first set. Both played very well. Sock had early break, served for it at 5-4, got broken. Went to tiebreak, won by Berdych showing why he is 5 in the world. 2nd set, Sock is going a little Fognini. Berdych has really been solid and fully engaged.

[klacr]

Berdych is the Champion. Sure, Sock had chances, but Berdych capitalized on his.

I have no issues rooting for USA. But sorry, against my Berdych, no chance in hell.Berdych is a 3 time champion in Stockholm. A Great champion for a great tournament. My work is done for this week.

Berdych has won 2 titles in past 4 tournaments (won last month in Shenzhen) and is heating u. Sure, they may both be 250 events, buts as Bruce Springsteen once sang "You can't start a fire without a spark"
Tomas the Tank is picking up steam. Watch out Paris. Watch out London.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

The Name of the Game…is Preparation

Berdych has won 2 titles in past 4 tournaments (won last month in Shenzhen) and is heating u. Sure, they may both be 250 events...Watch out Paris. Watch out London.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Absolutely…250 event or whatever. He is the champion…he beat the field. This is great preparation. A great confidence booster. Trophies build confidence. Leading into these bigger venues what better way to tune up than win a couple of tourneys.

I wish that I could have tried to watch some of this match but I have a feeling that this highlight clip will suffice. I had to "play" tennis yesterday…even the teacher needs to play once a week.

Interesting that Sock chose to lose the beard that he was sporting…players don't usually make changes like this before a big match.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjL43K5xb0

Best of luck to your man Tomas Berdych. One can only admire your loyalty when lesser patient men would be heading for the exits. Congratulations to the both of you. I think you would make a great corner man for Tomas…one of the prerequisites for a good corner man is belief in your player and yours is undaunting and unwavering.

[klacr]

Best of luck to your man Tomas Berdych. One can only admire your loyalty when lesser patient men would be heading for the exits. Congratulations to the both of you. I think you would make a great corner man for Tomas…one of the prerequisites for a good corner man is belief in your player and yours is undaunting and unwavering.

Regarding being the corner man: I'm working on it.

I believe in him immensely. He gets some flak from many critics and the arguments are fair. But I know his best is yet to come. And when it does....watch out world.

Czechs develop and play their best a bit older than most. Korda was 30 when he won the Aussie Open. Jiri Novak had his best results later in his career. Lendl was dominant, but took him longer than most people expected to. Radek Stepanek had his best results after having been on tour for nearly a decade. The flat precise ground strokes and relative all court game(use that term loosely) takes a bit of getting used to and finding your voice. Berdych will find his soon. 2010 Wimbledon was just a tease. Berdych's footwork has improved as well as the mechanism between his ears. Berdych is due and he will be collecting soon.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton