Juan Carlos Ferrero opuści początek 2011 roku, nie zagra w Australian Open.

http://www.livetennis.it/post/64095/aus … ificazioni

jaccol55 napisał:

Hiszpanowi dalej dokucza nadgarstek, że nie zagrał w tym sezonie (w zasadzie to od USO) ani jednego spotkania? Orientuje się ktoś?

Ponoć już trenuje. Zrezygnował ze startu w IW, by móc korzystać z rankingu chronionego podczas clay court swing w Europie (w połowie marca mija 6 miesięcy od ostatniego rozegranego turnieju). Nie znam planów JCF, ale wydaje mi się, że jak na rasowego południowca przystało odpuści on Miami, by wrócić na początek sezonu wiosennego na europejskiej mączce.

A history lesson courtesy of King Juan Carlos



Should you find yourself outside a court where Juan Carlos Ferrero is playing, then sit down and start watching. First of all, the Spaniard is now 31 years old and his appearances and Roland Garros will not continue indefinitely. And secondly, we should not forget that at the turn of the millennium, he it was who wrote his name in the annals of the tournament alongside Gustavo Kuerten.

The latter half of his career has seen him fly under most people's radars, but the man who shares his name with his country's monarch also enjoyed a time when he reigned supreme on red clay. Back then, the question was not: "Will he win Roland Garros?" but "How many times?"

The answer turned out to be just once, almost a crime when you consider the potential he had as a teenager who, despite a slim physique, had a powerful forehand and a real eye for the angles of the court. People first sat up and took notice when he won the Majorca Open in 1999, bagging an ATP title in his first season up with the pros, no less.

2000 saw him continue where 1999 left off and start to fulfil his potential. At his first French Open, he defeated Mark Philippoussis and Alex Corretja before locking horns with Kuerten in the semi-final in a match which observers still remember to this day. Five sets of ultra-high intensity, with the young upstart coming oh so close to ousting the Brazilian who was en route his second of three French Open titles (7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3). People were hoping that this would be the first of many battles between the two…

"Juanqui" became a national hero in December of that year by helping Spain capture its first ever Davis Cup, but by the time the 2001 clay season rolled around, the terrible twosome were soon at it again. Kuerten won in Monte Carlo, Ferrero in Barcelona. Rome saw them face off in the final, with the Spaniard coming out on top in another five-set thriller (3-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2). The draw at Roland Garros pitted them together in the semi-final, and the spectators settled in for another battle which everyone expected to go the distance.

The match was indeed a classic, but in a different way. Kuerten, who had looked out-of-sorts all fortnight, pulled out one of the best performances of his career and booked a final berth on the back of a 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win.

We did not realise it at the time, but we had witnessed the grand finale between those two, as "Guga's" hip was already beginning to cry foul. And despite the fact that a painful groin cut short his progress the following year, Ferrero won the French Open crown that he so richly deserved in 2003. A few months later after making the final of the US Open, "King" Juan Carlos became world No.1.

Noah: "Don't stop at one title like I did"

"Don't stop at one title like I did!" joked Yannick Noah as he handed over the Coupe des Mousquetaires to Ferrero, but his words would turn out to be hauntingly prophetic. Ferrero was only 23 at the time, but his best years were already behind him, and his fall from the pinnacle of the sport would be one of the big surprises of the decade. 2004 saw him suffer from chicken pox and then rib and wrist injuries which all conspired to keep him out of action. When he returned, he found that things had changed: Roger Federer had become the undisputed No.1, while a young Rafael Nadal had already laid down a marker when it came to clay.

Ferrero soon realised the enormity of the task which lay ahead of him and by his own admission, struggled to find his motivation. After all, with a Roland Garros trophy and a Davis Cup in his cabinet, he had already achieved everything that he had dreamt of as a young player…

The Spaniard has continued to struggle with his fitness and had many an up-and-down year, though he has added another two Davis Cups to his already impressive resume. His head-to-heads against the players in the top 10 are more than respectable, proving that while form is temporary, class is permanent.

What is perhaps a little sad is that Ferrero has never managed to recapture his form at Roland Garros, and what fans would give to see him involved in another French Open epic like the ones he enjoyed against Kuerten, his good friend Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and even Andre Agassi towards the end of the latter's career.

He is unlikely to go deep at many tournaments nowadays, but true fans know exactly how much Ferrero contributed to clay-court tennis in general and Roland Garros in particular. So if you see his name on the order of play this year, you can be sure that a healthy crowd with gather to watch him, even if he is plying his trade on one of the outside courts. Grab a seat, and find out whether the world No.73 is capable of turning back the clock to 2003…

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/news/ … 27784.html

#16) Stuttgart 2011



R32    Bastian Knittel (GER) 6-2 6-4
R16    Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-7(6) 6-2 6-2
Q    Marcel Granollers (ESP) 6-4 6-3
S    Federico Delbonis (ARG) 3-6 6-4 6-4
W    Pablo Andujar (ESP) 6-4 6-0