Tag: Roland Garros 2016

“The Finest Hour” – Cagla Buyukakcay’s 2015 Campaign

(Note: This is the English version of my article that was published in the May issue of Tenis Dunyasi, the largest publication in Turkey dedicated to tennis. It was written after her Istanbul Open title and before she qualified for the main draw and won a round at the French Open.)

It is March 9th, 2015 and I am at a dinner with Cagla Buyukakcay and her coach Can Uner in Indian Wells, California. Their hearts are heavy and their expressions gloomy. Silence reigns at the table. About six hours earlier, 15th-seeded Cagla lost 6-3 6-4 to Sesil Karatantcheva in the first qualifying round of the BNP Paribas Open Championships in Indian Wells. It was the first Premier-level tournament that Cagla entered based solely on her (then-) newly acquired career-high ranking. Yet, the excitement of that accomplishment was now replaced by the gloomy reality of having lost on the first day of competition. In an effort to cheer them up, I told them to leave it behind, that there would be many other challenges ahead, and that there would be disappointments as well as victories along the way. Can did not respond. Cagla, for her part, replied with her usual honesty, yet in a sullen tone “you are right Mert, but when you lose like this, it’s hard to find it in you to feel alive again.”

I regularly spend many weeks on the tour with Can and Cagla. We are close friends and we constantly share our thoughts and knowledge on the sport that we love. I have always admired their positive approach in such a competitive business. I confess that I had never managed to remain as cheerful and as positive as they have for extended periods of time during my years as a player. This added to my sense of helplessness toward my friends at that dinner. I have never seen them in such dismal mood. It saddened me.

Cagla and Can were upbeat during the couple of days leading up to the start of competition in Indian Wells, and with good reason.

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A month earlier in Fedcup, Cagla had recorded the best wins of her career (vs. Heather Watson and Elena Svitolina) and thanks to some terrific results in the previous few months, her WTA ranking had climbed up to a career-best no. 108. However, it was obvious that, deep down, she felt that she had failed the test at a higher “stage” like Indian Wells.

Little did we all know during that dinner that she was about to enter a long period of trials and tribulations, filled with frequent disappointments. Little did we know that between March and September, she was going to only win 6 matches and lose 19, exit every important tournament (including the qualifying rounds of Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open) after the first-round, and wait until the middle of September, a $25,000 tournament in Batum, Georgia, to remember what it felt like winning two matches in a row. Last but not the least, little did we know that evening, that her ranking was going to plummet from 108 to 192 during that six-month period.

Side note: Although Cagla reached the semifinal and final rounds of two other $25,000 tournaments later in September, it would not be until Dubai in November that Cagla would finally break free of this terrible downswing (more on these later). In other words, the overall focus of this article on an eight-month period rather than a six-month one.

Throughout this period, I remained in contact with Cagla and Can by phone regularly and in-person at a few other tournaments. I can say the following without a shred of doubt: only an exceptional player-coach duo could have survived this period that severely challenged their resolve and character. Usually, in similar situations, some type of deep-crisis moment arrives, necessitating a radical change either in the makeup of a player’s team or in the direction of her game. For example, the coach or the player, or both, could lose their belief in their partnership and decide to part ways at times. At others, they could decide that their methods are wrong, and thus, remodel their practice routines, in order to pursue new/other improvements in the player’s game. Only the partnership of a player like Cagla who represents the epitome of hard work, dedication, and possesses the ability to use her high-IQ to assess her performance during and after matches, and a coach like Can who can radiate his “positive vibes” to anyone standing within 100 feet of him could have overcome the anguish of that emotionally taxing eight-month-period, and ultimately get rewarded by the 2016 season that Cagla has had so far.

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None of the above is to say that they circumvented moments of crisis. There were plenty of them.

One such moment occurred when Cagla lost 6-1 7-6 to Naomi Broady in the first round of Roland Garros qualifying draw. This was a disappointing loss in that Cagla had just had a solid practice week in preparation for the French Open, and therefore, felt extremely upbeat about having found her game for the first time since March. However, as soon as she fell behind early in the match, she turned “passive with her game” as Can would later say. It was not until the second set that she recovered, but that was too little too late to score a come-back victory against a rising player like Broady. High performance in practice followed by an inability to transfer that level to matches often indicates that the player lacks confidence. Cagla would also later admit that during this period filled with disappointments, confidence was precisely what she desperately needed. This defeat was only going to add to the problem.

I immediately sensed the despair in her voice when we talked after the match that day. “Mert, this is so difficult” she said. “This bad period has gone on for too long now and I can’t stand it anymore that I can’t perform well in matches. I feel awful. I don’t know what else to do to turn this around.” When I spoke to Can, he did not sound much better: “I can’t even tell you how sad I am, my morale is below zero!” Simply put, they were depressed. Cagla needed some wins, and she needed them in a hurry! Anyone who played competitive sports can confirm that winning takes care of a number of issues at once. Even the problems to which you thought there was no solution can quickly get resolved as if a magic wand had touched them.

In the meantime, Cagla and Can had decided in 2014 to revamp and modify her game. It was a decision made after years of remaining in the 100-to-200 area in the rankings. The fact that she had been unable to enter the top 100 (she turned pro in 2006 and outside of a brief period in 2011-12, she had been ranked top 200 since 2010), and had never qualified for the main draw of a Major in her career, was beginning to weigh heavy in her mind. This is why Cagla and her coach had made, back then, the decision to go ahead with major modifications to her game. She began to work extensively on adding new shots to her repertoire, as well as adjusting the existing ones to enhance the aggressive dimension of her game. For example, they focused on increasing the variety on the placement of first serves. They committed to making the drop shot and the swing-volley regular components of her game. They began to pay particular attention to punishing any short balls that came Cagla’s way, and firmly decided that if the opportunity presented itself, she would not think twice about approaching the net. They had worked on these and more for the last several months, and Cagla was successfully starting to integrate them into her “A” game in practice. In matches, however, she was still apprehensive about using them, and would often revert back to her comfort zone, which was to rally from behind the baseline, remain consistent, and count on winning on her opponents’ errors.

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Side note: I neither have the space nor the time to get into the details of this process, but suffice it to say that it is an extremely testing time when a player who has been fairly successful with a particular game plan for an extended period of time attempts to introduce riskier elements to her game that are outside of her “comfort zone.” Here is a quick summary of what awaits a player who had made such decision. In order to accomplish this progress, the player must first work on the new (or modified) shots in practice to settle the technical details. Then, she must do it repetitively to gain enough confidence to use them in points. If she succeeds in those first two steps, then will arrive the toughest part of the process: she must integrate these shots in to her game plan in competition, with the understanding that she may, for a while, not be successful with them and lose matches that she may have won with her “older” game plan. Most players engaged in this process will, after a few disappointing results, revert back to their comfort zone because they will not be able to handle the lack of success in the short-term.

Cagla, for her part, was determined to move forward: “The losses are burning me inside but there is no place or time for negativity” she emphasized in our next conversation a few days later after our previous one (see above). Her coach Can never wavered in his commitment to help Cagla get to the next level. He would relentlessly encourage Cagla, clearly let her know that he firmly believed that she was going to get over this tough period. He would reiterate his belief to me in my conversations with him and was adamant that, despite the surmounting losses, he could already notice the progress in her game. I then reminded Cagla that a world in which a competitor did not reap the benefits of her hard work did not exist, and joined Can in encouraging her to stick with their progress plan. The problem was that during this period Cagla was playing higher-level tournaments than she had previously done, and thus, was having to play better, more experienced players. While trying to settle into a new, riskier game plan, a process which tested her patience, she was also having to deal with the psychological damage of suffering frequent (or consecutive) losses. At the time, it seemed like an impossible situation. That was how the summer of 2015 went.

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In the beginning of September, Can and Cagla were approaching another moment of crisis. Desired results had not materialized and their patience was wearing thin. I must point out that, to my amazement, Cagla had still not lost her belief and was continuing to search for solutions. Following yet another disappointing 1st-round exit in the qualifying of the U.S. Open, I feared a possible crack in her patience and optimism. She surprised me yet again. I could only listen to Cagla and admire her maturity and objectivity in assessing the reality of her situation. When I told her that she should not let the losses convince her that she had not improved, she calmly replied “I agree that I have improved my game. Yet, it does not mean a thing if my improvement does not translate into wins. That is what I want now. I hope, I must, begin to win more matches. I frankly despise the fact that my ranking has gone down at a time where I think I am playing the best tennis of my career. I don’t deserve these back-to-back losses. I need to be mentally stronger, because I feel better about my tennis, and show that in the turning points of matches. With a bit more confidence it will happen. The losses have taken their toll on me. I want to be a tough player again! Once I start winning more, I will feel better, I truly believe that!” After she finished that last sentence, I will never forget, I thought to myself that it takes a special kind of player and a special kind of character to be able to see the larger, the more optimist picture this clearly, in the middle of such a terrible downswing. My fears that she may begin to think that she is in the wrong path and revert back to her older game, or try something totally anew, were dissipated after that conversation. I also knew that Can completely believed in her ability to keep pursuing the goals that they set together. I had no doubt that his enthusiasm and optimism were contagious enough to pass on to Cagla.

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Therefore, it was not a total surprise when, one week after our conversation above, she began bearing the initial fruits of her labor in a $25,000-tournament in Batumi, Georgia. She won five matches in a row to claim the title, and went on to reach the semifinals in her next two tournaments (also $25K each). Cagla was, for the first time, beginning to consistently use the new shots that she had practiced for a year, and to apply her modified game plan to matches. This was proof that she had overcome the toughest part of the process.

She was not, however, overlooking the fact that these tournaments were below the level of those during which she had suffered multiple losses, earlier in the year. It was difficult to tell if, in Cagla’s head, the so-called “difficult period” was over or not. The doubt creeped back in when her results remained below expectations in October. Despite her deep disappointment, I detected an upbeat tone in her voice and in the content of what she said when we talked on October 23rd, after her loss to Robin Anderson in Florence, South Carolina: “My disappointment is different this time. I played the kind of tennis that I aimed for. The new me was out there, so to speak. That is why I am so disappointed that I lost. For example, when I played Leykina [a month earlier], I lost because I did not dare to use my new game, I did not use the shots that I added to my game. But in this match, I did, and they worked, and I still lost! What more can I do?” Yes, there was a hint of despair in that last question, but there was also the understanding that her improvements were legitimate. More importantly, they had become part of her game enough for Cagla to now contemplate on how she can build on them. I tried to remind her that she was not alone on the court, and that there was an opponent on the other side of the net who also exercised her influence on the final score. Anderson was an athletic and an intelligent player. This defeat did not need to deter Cagla away from pursuing her long-term goals. As long as she kept improving her game, better results were inevitable at this point. When I talked to Can later, he agreed and simply stated: “We decided long ago that there would be no U-turns on this road. We will continue to move forward!”

Land 2Pre-match talk.

Then came the $75,000 Dubai tournament in November, the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge, where everything seemed to fall into place. But this was not some magic wand arranging everything with a simple touch. That week was the product of a long period of hard work, the end of a tough several-month stretch marked by trials and tribulations. Cagla did utilize all the new shots in her arsenal, did remain committed to her revamped game plan in the important points, did keep her discipline regardless of the score. More importantly, with each point, set, and match won, what little doubt she still had slowly evaporated away. She concluded the best week of her career, winning the title. Now, she had concrete proof that her game had climbed a level or two above where she had started 2015. The year could not have had a better ending.

Let’s now fast forward to April 23rd, 2016…

Cagla was standing with the winner’s trophy at the center of the Koza World of Sports Arena, the center court of the WTA Istanbul Cup event. During her winner’s speech to the crowd, she did not refer to Can as her coach, but rather as the one “who stood by her during my worst times.” As someone who has witnessed their interactions and many of their coach-player dialogs, I can attest to the accuracy of that statement.

Yet, let’s give credit where credit is due…

Cagla has never been one to simply follow her coach’s instructions. She also evaluates his input, analyzes her own progress, accomplishes the difficult task of transferring the skills learned in practice to matches, and continuously makes the necessary tactical adjustments on her own during matches. This was her victory, her trophy. Anyone who knows Cagla closely can tell you that her work ethic, her sheer determination, and her on-court IQ have all contributed to her success more than her technique. Along with those, the added factor of confidence in 2016 propelled her to career-high ranking and that WTA title in her home country. It was a fairy-tale ending to a long, difficult journey.

There is a scene in the movie Apollo 13 in which Gene Kranz, the flight director at the mission control in Houston, played by Ed Harris, finds himself in the middle of a crisis. The mission has gone wrong and he is focused on getting Apollo 13 safely back to earth. The director of NASA, played by Joe Spano, is standing behind him with another man at his side. He turns to him and says “This could be the worst disaster NASA’s ever experienced.” Kranz hears this, turns around, and replies with conviction: “With all due respect, sir, I believe this is going to be our finest hour.”

Kranz’s quote represents the closest metaphor that I can think of when I look back at Cagla’s 2015 campaign, because I am certain that the word “disaster” has passed through everyone’s head in Cagla’s camp at some point during the 2015 season. One day in the future, after her tennis career has ended, she will likely look back at that disastrous period of eight months in the 2015 season and come to the realization that it was indeed her finest hour.

I always believed that the most fruitful periods in a player’s career are not the ones where everything is going well, his or her game is clicking on all cylinders, and positive results are coming one after another. The superior players (and coaches) are those who can turn a crisis situation to their advantage. Cagla and Can have passed that test with flying colors, in a way that should be a lesson to all other players and coaches. Of course, there will always be other challenges to overcome. However, what Cagla has proven, without a doubt, is that when a player concentrates on improving his/her game and not use results as the essential determinant of his/her success, the desired numbers also begin to eventually show up on the scoreboard.

In my talk with Cagla, two days after her Istanbul Cup victory, she was still in the euphoria of victory. It was not just that either: with that victory she also achieved her long-time goals of earning a top-100 WTA ranking, entering the main draw of a Major (due to her new ranking, she was guaranteed a spot in the upcoming Wimbledon main draw), and carved her name in stone into the record books as she became the first Turkish woman in history to win a WTA singles title. “It’s like I am in a dream Mert, how did this happen?” she said. “This morning when I woke up, I began crying in joy again as I lived the week all over again in my mind. How long I waited for this! What a wonderful feeling. I never experienced anything like this in my life, this must be what people truly refer to when they say ‘moment of bliss.’” In my mind, knowingly or unknowingly, she was trying describing her individual sense of accomplishment. It didn’t matter anyway what she was describing. It was the happiness that she was radiating that made it all worthwhile to listen to her. She became a champion and earned the right to be happy, at least for those few days.

Update on Cagla since this article appeared in Tenis Dunyasi: she had to play qualifying at the French Open and it turned out, after all, that she did not have to wait until Wimbledon to play in the main draw of a Major. She won three qualifying rounds and a round in the main draw in Paris, before losing to the 24th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3 4-6 6-1 in the second round. She also became the first Turkish tennis player to participate in the Olympic Games, losing to Ekaterina Makarova 3-6 6-0 7-6(6) in a terrific first-round match.

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She is currently ranked 77 (one below her career-high 76 last week) and has a chance at being selected to play in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio. She is right now in London, preparing for her first-round match at Wimbledon against the 30th-seeded Caroline Garcia.

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Roland Garros: Either Packed or Soaked

Pictures tell a thousand words, as the saying goes. Plenty has been written on the miserable weather conditions at this year’s French Open and the players’ woes when they were told to play on barely playable (not to say “unplayable”) courts in wet conditions. Sadly, the agony of the tennis fans who come to Roland Garros often gets relatively little coverage. If you have read, in the past, my articles on the only clay-court Major of the year, you probably know that I am, by now, “maxed out” on how insufficient the facilities are for regular ticket holders. Thus, in this update, pictures do the talking, with minimal commentary from me. Here they are…

One of the two main sidewalks leading to the gates of Roland Garros at 8 AM (notice how narrow)..22a

Now here is the other sidewalk when matches have started. This is still a good distance from the gates. Thank the security checks and lack of space movement..22

This one is a bit closer than the above spot, increasingly chaotic, because the space gets narrow again a bit later where there is another security check. In the first week, it was so disorganized that it took up to an hour or more, just to get in the venue. 23

Under the Cochet stands of the Philippe Chatrier court during rain, one of the few spaces where people can escape it. 24

And here is the other side of Chatrier, under the Borotra stands, also during rain. 31

Here is the main alley between Chatrier and Lenglen. This one is taken early in the morning before the public gets there.. 28a

Now, the same view when the matches are on, packed even though it’s cloudy and gray (i.e. on a sunny day, twice-more packed, see my previous-years posts if curious). 28

And now the same view when it’s raining !! 29

Believe me, on Monday and Tuesday of the second week, it took 15 minutes in heavy rain, just to walk those sidewalks and eventually get to transportation. Remember this is AFTER you get out of the venue, leaving to go elsewhere! 30

In case it was not raining, it was gray and cold! Check out these Lenglen stadium spectators. Not exactly cozy, hein? 33

Back to the overcrowding, the lack of space, and the agonies of pedestrian circulation… Here is the narrow walkway between courts 14-16-18 and 15-17. Somewhere in there are Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis (WTA’d top doubles tandem) trying to get to their match court, I am NOT kidding! 25

This is one side of the alley behind Suzanne Lenglen.. 26

And this is the other side of that alley around the same time.. 27

The line to get into Court 17, many of these people are likely to miss a set, more or less, before they can get in. 32

And this is the line to get into Court 2 which has more stands than most other outside courts. At this moment, the match on the court was at 1-1 in the third. I carefully watched, and less than a quarter of these people waiting got in the stands in time to see any of the match. Most waited just so they could get in for the next match. (Side note: the guy on the left bottom corner, asking someone leaving the premises for his ticket to get into Chatrier, LOL) 34

Until the next update… Vive Roland Garros!

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French Open 4th Round: Murray def. Isner 7-6 6-4 6-3

In this piece, I will only analyze the first set of this match, more particularly, Andy Murray’s brilliant strategy on first serves, because the set (and consequently the match) was essentially decided on it. Andy Murray was never in real danger after winning the thrilling tiebreaker 11-9.

Details often distinguish great champions from other top players. Murray is an elite champion, John Isner is not. This is not to say that Isner is not a successful tennis player. His career speaks for itself. He has occasionally recorded wins against the elites and won numerous tournaments. But there is usually something that separates the likes of Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer from the likes of Isner, Tsonga, Ferrer, and Berdych. The elite champions find something where most other players are not able to, and use that something to their advantage in the way that others do not. In 2013, in the post-match press conference the quarterfinal match in which Tsonga squandered four match points and lost to Djokovic in 5 sets, he was asked why the French players never seemed to get over the hump against top players. Tsonga admitted that there was “something lacking” in them that did not in the elite players. What he said could easily be applied to what I noted above. In this particular encounter between Murray and Isner, the difference was the high-IQ strategy employed by Murray on first serves.

Until the tiebreaker, Isner never faced a break point and was closer to breaking his opponent’s serve than Murray was to breaking his. John had his first break point at 2-1 up. Before I get to that, let me bring up Murray’s strategy on his first serves. For the most part of the first set, he surprisingly served to Isner’s forehand, which is the American’s stronger side. Often able to hit an aggressive return on that side, Isner possesses the ability to put himself in a commanding position from the beginning of the point. One would think that his backhand return being weaker, most player would choose to hit the majority of their serves to that side.

Not Murray, not on that gloomy, drizzly, late Sunday afternoon.

It must have surprised Isner too because he was expecting, especially early in the set, more serves to his backhand, and thus, found himself off balance on some forehand ones. Unfortunately, I did not keep up with the numbers but I feel certain that Isner had to return Murray’s serve with his forehand more often than with his backhand. I do know however that Murray won more points off his first serves when serving wide to Isner’s forehand (meaning wide on the deuce side, to the “T” on the ad side) than to any other spot (body-forehand, body-center, body-backhand, wide backhand) in the service box.

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Remember that this chart does not include the number of points in which Isner got the return in play. I would assume that the total number of serves would reflect a pattern of serving by Murray that favors Isner’s forehand returns.

With that said, now let’s get back to Isner’s first break point at 2-1 up, ad-out on Murray’s serve…

Murray chose to hit the serve to Isner’s backhand side, with a slight curve into his body. Isner missed the return out. Murray went back to mostly serving to Isner’s forehand (not to say that none of his serves went to the backhand, but certainly not the majority). Then came the second break point opportunity for the big American at 3-2, 30-40. This is where Murray got a bit lucky, at least at first. Isner returned back, got into the rally and hit a forehand on the line that would have put him into an advantageous position to win the point, except that the line judge called it out. The chair umpire corrected the call and asked for the point to be replayed. Murray hit an ace and got out of that jam. Yes, Isner got unlucky, but guess where Murray served that ace? Yes, wide to the Isner’s backhand side. After he held, Murray continued his pattern of mostly serving to Isner’s forehand side, whether aiming close to the body, or wide to the forehand.

There were no more break points and the tiebreaker was going to decide the first-set winner, a tiebreaker in which Murray, unlike the rest of the set, would relentlessly test Isner’s backhand side on returns. At 2-0 up, Andy aimed once again Isner’s backhand side and hit an ace to the “T.” At 3-2 up, he hit another big, flat serve to the outside corner, taking advantage of Isner’s short backhand return to put the next ball away for a winner. At 4-2 up, another hard, winning serve to the “T” ensued. In other words, after serving mostly to Isner’s strong side throughout the set, Murray was determined to test his opponent’s weaker side on crunch time.

After getting aced twice by Isner, at 5-4 up, Murray chose to serve to Isner’s forehand this time, probably trying to avoid being predictable, and he paid the price. Isner got the return back and Andy eventually missed. At 5-5, he had to serve a second serve to which Isner replied with an aggressive return and the American held a set point on his serve at 6-5. This was the only point where one can truly say that the American should have won, holding the set on his racket. He couldn’t deliver the big ace, as he so often does, and Murray ended up passing Isner at the net to get back to 6-6.

Later at 6-7, down another set point but this time on his serve, Murray served into Isner’s body, but forcing him to hit a backhand. Isner missed the return and they were at 7-7. As one might expect by now, it was another hard first serve to Isner’s backhand. It resulted in another backhand return error by the big guy, and now Murray held a set point at 8-7. Isner held both of his service points and went up 9-8 earning his third set point. Andy attacked Isner’s backhand in the rally and forced him into an error. At 9-9, Andy served big to Isner’s backhand (yes… again!) and saw the American’s return go in the net. He won the next point on a baseline error by John and took the first set 7-6.

At the end of it all, Murray reversed his service pattern, almost completely, when it mattered the most. One may question the wisdom of playing to your opponent’s strength during most of the set, but there is no doubt that it was planned so by Murray and his team, to keep Isner off balance when it truly counted. It is possible to work your opponent’s weak side so much that, by the time crucial points come about, they have found a way to deal with it and gained confidence. Furthermore, they expect you to test their weaknesses.

Andy did the opposite. He served to Isner’s stronger side for almost the whole set. That did not allow John to favor one side or the other, or to begin expecting most serves to his weak side. But when faced with break points earlier in the set, and when the tiebreaker began to determine the outcome of the set, Murray systematically went back to his opponent’s weaker side that did not get worked much previously. It was the difference, that “little something,” in the set that ultimately tilted the balance in the Brit’s favor. Not giving Isner the luxury of making an educated guess throughout the set on which side he would have to return was also why Murray won 80,6% of his first-serve points (25/31).

As it turned out, that first set went a long way to decide the winner of the match. Now, Murray is in the quarterfinals, preparing for an encounter with the local favorite, and the in-form, Richard Gasquet, while Isner will not be back to Roland Garros until next year. Murray had a terrific plan on his first serves, one that he executed to perfection. I am sure it was only a segment of his larger game plan to defeat the 17th-ranked American, and there is no denying that he did come close to losing the set. Ultimately, however, those are the intangibles that somehow seem to work in the favor of the elite players, and on Suzanne Lenglen court yesterday, that one particular intangible lifted the second-ranked player in the world to the next round of a Major.

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Tactical Analysis: Kuznetsova def. Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-4, French Open 3rd Round

This was a tough match-up for the 27th-ranked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from the moment she walked on the court 3, Roland Garros, to face the 15th-ranked and 2009 French Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova. The two Russians had previously played five times, all on hard courts. Pavlyuchenkova had only won once, and the four wins by her opponent were all comfortable, straight-set wins, except the match in Canada in 2010 (7-5 4-6 6-1). To make matters worse for Pavlyuchenkova, they were this time playing in Kuznetsova’s favorite Major, on her favorite surface.

Pavlyuchenkova is, for the most part, a hard, flat hitter. She seldom uses a backhand slice, and occasionally hit effective drops shots. She usually tends to put pressure on her opponents by taking the ball on the rise, stepping inside the baseline, and using her powerful forehand to either hit winners, or force her opponent into errors. Unfortunately for her, it all plays into Kuznetsova’s game plan. Sveta has a wide arsenal of shots at her disposal and thrives on scrambling in the back of the court, and getting as many balls back as possible. She can, when the opportunity arises, counterpunch and turn the rally in her favor. She can also hit flat or high topspin on both sides and change the pace efficiently with her backhand slice to take the pace off the ball. With a flick of her wrist she can hit angles at the most unexpected moments, or accelerate the ball and approach the net on whim. She has sound technique on her volleys and serve. I could comfortably say that her game is well-crafted to succeed on clay courts. Sveta usually performs well against (mostly) one-dimensional players, taking them out of their rhythm by giving them several different looks during rallies. Last but not the least, Kuznetsova is one of the smartest players on the WTA tour.

All of the above, as one would expect, worked in Kuznetsova’s favor as she put on a display of high-quality tennis that left the spectators in awe, at least until her lead at 6-1 3-1. If anyone wanted to make a case about why it is important for promising juniors to develop all facets of their game early in their tennis career, this would be the emblematic match to show them.

Pavlyuchenkova did not particularly play badly during that stretch. She stuck to her guns, applying pressure whenever she could, and hitting returns early (photo below) to take charge from the beginning of the point in her return games, which is what she does best.

Pavs

The problem was that Kuznetsova would not allow her to settle into that routine. Not only would she get those balls back, but she would dazzle the crowd, with how many weapons she possesses in her game. She finished the first game on an ace, the second game on a “sneak-in” swing volley winner when Pavlyuchenkova did not expect it, and the third game on a passing shot on the run, when Pavlyuchekova decided to attack because, up to that point, nothing else worked.

One particular point in the late stages of the first set summarized what was happening (see the sequence below). In that point, Kuznetsova remained on defense during the first part of the rally, starting with the return, then retrieving a couple of balls from deep behind the baseline. On one shot later in the rally, she found enough time to run around her backhand to hit a high, aggressive, inside-out forehand to pull Pavlyuchenkova wide on the ad side. Pavlyuchenkova, who found herself on defense for the first time in the rally (not part of her plan A), returned the ball a bit short on the court. It was the first short ball that Kuznetsova got in the rally, and unlike her opponent, it was all that she needed to put the ball away with a hard forehand to the open deuce corner.

SvetaSevta 2Sveta 3

Sveta would later say to me that she was playing “smart tennis” at that point. “I knew what I had to do and I completed it well.”

Then she let her guard down. She squandered a 30-0 lead in the 3-1 game, and a 40-0 lead in the next one. Pavlycuhenkova, with renewed confidence, played a great seventh game and took the lead 4-3 for the first time in the set. Unexpectedly losing those two consecutive games with 30-0 and 40-0 leads did not help Sveta who registered a string of errors for the first time in the match. Kuznetsova admitted later that she “got tense and started to do weird things.” She said the ease with which she got the 6-1 3-1 lead played a role in her let-down: “Really? I’m winning that good? And I just get a little bit nervous, I don’t know, I just got a little bit confused and I started playing short points, and it’s not really what I had to do against Anastasia, and then I started to get back to what I was doing [at 3-4 down]. But it was tricky you know, I had to make my plan to get back in the match, and it was a more difficult task to win then, instead of winning when I was 3-1 [up].” She added that she needed to “shut it down” in her memory when she was down 3-4 and say to herself “Look, you got to start over.” She finished her point saying “I’m better on clay and I have to focus on that.” She did just that, winning the next three games and the set 6-4.

Sveta 5

Pavlyuchenkova did have success when she attacked the net (8/10), but the problem is that she did not get to do that much as Kuznetsova kept her guessing and out of balance. One stat jumps out: as aggressive as Pavlyuchenkova plays, going often for winners, Sveta ended up hitting a dozen more winners than her (27 to 15). That is because when Sveta gets a chance to finish the point, she has already worked her opponent and set up the opening for a high-probability winner (remember the sequence above). It is an essential part of her game, to cleverly construct the point. However, not many players can do that unless they possess a variety of shot making skills. That is what sets Kuznetsova apart from most players. It is also the reason for which Sveta remains a daunting opponent on clay, especially at the French Open where she had the most of her success in Majors.

Her next opponent is the fourth seed Garbine Muguruza who also happens to base her game on powerful ground strokes. I cannot wait to see what Kuznetsova will have in store for that match.

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May 20, 2016, Court 8, Roland Garros, Paris: History Made

When I woke up Friday morning at the apartment that I rented with my daughter on the 16th arrondissement of Paris, it was drizzling outside and the sky looked gray. Yet, I was full of optimism for what had the potential to be a historic day for tennis in my native country of Turkey. With a population of almost 80 million, Turkey had yet to produce a female player that played in the main draw of a Major in the Open era, and Marsel Ilhan was the only one to do so among the men. Equally, never before had Turkey been represented by three players in the last round of singles’ qualifying in the same Major. Thus, Cagla Buyukakcay (WTA 85), Ipek Soylu (WTA 175), and Ilhan (ATP 198) did already make history by winning their matches on Thursday. Yet, that would be peanuts compared to the buzz that they would generate were they to win their matches and advance to the main draw.

That is what was on the line on that Friday, May 20, 2016: the rewriting of Turkish tennis history. All three players were scheduled to play on the same court, Court 8, a sensible decision by the organizers. In fact, those were the only matches scheduled on that court, meaning it could become one of the famous courts in a nation’s tennis history.

I arrived to the grounds around 9 AM, an hour before the first match, talked a bit to Cagla and her coach Can Uner, wished them good luck, then headed to Court 8 to wait for her match. She was scheduled first, followed by Ipek, and Marsel. Being the top player in Turkey for a couple of years some 25 or so years ago, I feel that I am qualified to say the following: if you told me back then that one day, I would stand on the grounds of Roland Garros on the last day of qualifying, waiting for a Turkish player’s match to begin, while watching another Turkish player (Ipek) warm-up on Court 6 for her match later, and seeing a third Turkish player (Marsel) walk by me with his coach, on his way to practice on another court, I would have told you that you had simply lost your mind.
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M1

Yet, that is precisely what happened. I realized that while still remaining far behind where it should be, the interest in tennis has indeed increased dramatically over the last decade in Turkey, thanks to some giant steps recently taken by the few top Turkish players.

Buyukakcay is definitely one of those. She won a WTA event last month (Istanbul Cup). Thanks to her successful results of late, she is ranked in the WTA’s top 100 for the first time in her career, and has become the only Turkish female player to ever do so in singles. As she entered Court 8 to face Klara Koukalova of Czech Republic, she knew very well the stakes at hand. She had a chance to overcome another hurdle, reaching the main draw of a Major, that has nagged her for years, and to become the first Turkish female player to do so. I made my way next to her coach and sat next to him. Cagla looked determined from the moment she entered the court. She got off the gates playing some top-quality tennis, and never looked back until 6-1 5-1 in the second set.
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As most tennis players know, finishing a match is not an easy thing to do, especially when so much is riding on one match (I should add that Cagla is also chasing the possibility of representing her country in the Olympic games in Rio). Not having anything to lose at that point in the match, Koukalova played freely and showed her high shot making skills. Buyukakcay got a bit tight and found her lead erode to 5-3 with Koukalova serving. But that was as far as the Czech player got. Cagla broke her serve on a double fault and immediately pumped her fist toward us in joy. Tears came flowing down her eyes before she even reached the net to shake her opponent’s hand.
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She approached us at once and gave heartfelt hugs to everyone and spent time with the Turkish fans (including a few people from the Turkish Consulate) who supported her. The celebration went on for so long that by the time Ipek Soylu came on the court with her opponent Kateryna Kozlova, Cagla still had not left the court. It was nonetheless 1-for-1 for Turkish tennis.

Soylu is twenty-year-old up-and-coming, talented player who has seen her ranking rapidly rise in the last couple of years. Just like Cagla did before her, Ipek began her match at a very high level and continued to do so until she had a 6-3 5-2 lead. She executed her plan A – which features aggressive returns and ground strokes – to perfection, complementing it with effective serving.
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She also needed one more game to finish the match, which, once again, is one of the harder things to do in matches at the Majors, mostly because there is more on the line in Majors than in any other individual tennis event. Kozlova played one solid game, letting her opponent know that she was not folding. Then, Soylu played three games filled with unforced errors before finding herself down 6-5 30-0, two points away from a third set. She showed her competitive spirit as she forced Kozlova into a backhand error, then played three terrific points in a row to carry the set into a tiebreaker. That helped her regain confidence and find her earlier form. She played an excellent tiebreaker and closed out the match winning the last 5 points in a row, 6-3 7-6(2). She brought her hand to her mouth in disbelief, looked at her corner where her coach and mother sat, and let her tears flow.
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Less than a minute later, a second celebration was underway on the same corner of Court 8 as the earlier one with Buyukakcay. A nation that has not seen one single female player reach the main draw in the Open era, now had two of them accomplish that goal in one day, on the same court. Could Marsel Ilhan also win and triple the joy of Turkish tennis fans? Barely had Ipek left the court that he arrived for his match against Guido Andreozzi, a clay-court specialist from Argentina.

Ilhan did not begin his match as well as the Turkish women did, losing the first set 6-3. He modified his game plan a bit in the beginning of the second set, broke early, and turned the match around by winning the set 6-2. He went up 4-1 in the third, only to see his lead evaporate because Andreozzi proved to be too pesky an opponent to let Ilhan roll over him for two sets in a row. He got the break back, and the match went into “overtime” because there are no tiebreaks in the deciding set at the French Open.
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Ilhan was clutch in the last two games, winning the match point on a skillful approach shot followed by a winning backhand volley which left Andreozzi meters away from the ball. The scoreboard read 3-6 6-2 8-6 in his favor. He lifted both hands to the packed stands of Court 8, and saluted his corner.

There was also something else that took place during most of Ilhan’s match that went unnoticed by most people present (not that it was they could have known). Buyukakcay arrived in the second set with his coach to support Ilhan (see pic below), and Soylu joined the support from the other side of the court around the mid-point of the third set.
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This was another amazing moment for someone like me who would have never guessed, not-so-long-ago, that such a scene could ever take place; a Turkish player battling to get into the main draw of a Major, being supported by two other Turkish players who have already guaranteed their spot in it. Are you kidding me?

Nope, this was no joke. The Turkish players went 3-for-3, which meant that the date and location of this accomplishment – May 20, 2016, Court 8, Roland Garros, Paris – were guaranteed to be etched in stone forever, in all future historiography about Turkish tennis.
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Spectators slowly left, but I stayed behind to take a few last pictures of this “soon-to-be-legendary” court to capture the last moments of the day. The maintenance crew came quickly and began watering the court to get it ready for more play the next day. Just like Buyukakcay, Soylu, and Ilhan needed some downtime to digest their success after the incredible day that Turkish tennis fans experienced thanks to them, the court on which they accomplished it also needed some recuperation.
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It was time to leave, but I was satisfied. What started out as a dreary day with gray skies turned into golden one in more ways than I could have imagined. I watched hours of terrific tennis, my favorite sport, and witnessed history being made in that very sport of my native nation. Thank you Cagla, thank you Ipek, thank you Marsel!

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Duckhee Lee: Making Himself Heard

Qualifying in the Majors often showcases young talents, surprise names, and a ton of quality matches that go unnoticed for the most part. In the first day of qualifying at the French Open, there was one match that featured little bit of all those things, and more. South Korean player Duckhee Lee (that is how ATP website spells his name, but also known as Lee Duck-Hee or Duck Hee Lee) played on Court 18, the furthest outside court, against the ex-NCAA player from the University of Alabama (2006-10), Saketh Myneni of India (ranked 125 in the ATP and seeded 28 in the qualifying draw).

Background information for those who may not know: Lee is a 17-year-old ATP player, currently ranked 225, who has been deaf from birth! He does not hear when the crowd claps, when the referee calls the score, or when the line judges call the ball out.

Lee

Lee won the first 6-1, remaining error-free for the most part, while Myneni, serving at 50% first serves (no aces), was unable to dictate play and racked up the errors (do not trust the Roland Garros official match stats that shows one unforced error for Myneni – it also shows no net points won for either player for the duration of the match). In the second set, Myneni found his powerful serve and started holding, sinking his teeth into the match.

Mynen

The American referee was having a bad day. At one point, he even called the wrong score and tried to argue that the players had it wrong for a while before realizing his error. Then, with Lee serving at 3-4 down, the referee truly “pooped”! There is no other way to say it.

On a deuce point in that game, Lee hit a shot during a rally that seemed to catch the back of the line. Myneni, unsure, stood still for half a second trying to see the mark in order to quickly decide if he should stop the point or not. He could not find it, thus he continued play. About four shots later, the referee – whose name escapes me at this moment – stopped the point himself, and went to check the mark. Both players were confused as to why the referee came down from his chair in the middle of the point. The referee walked to the baseline on Myneni’s side and wanted to confirm with the Indian player that he stopped play (remember, this is after Myneni went on to play the point, and hit another couple of shots). Myneni quickly pointed out that he did no such thing because he was not sure. The referee probably realized his mistake at this point – that he is the reason why a legitimate point is interrupted in the middle. However, he still went ahead and showed a mark that was out (I personally don’t believe it was the right mark). He turned toward Lee and pointed with his finger the “out” sign. Lee was rightfully flabbergasted, because nobody stopped play, nor asked him to check a mark in the middle of the point. Lee usually lip-reads and has an interpreter to help him communicate. However, the way he gesticulated and argued his case through facial expressions to the referee was just as efficient as anyone else who could speak.

First he tried to tell the referee, I believe, that two shots were already hit after that questionable ball, and that it was too late to stop the play.
Lee - Myneni - Referee 1

He argued correctly that his opponent neither stopped playing, nor challenged the call, which means that the referee had no reason to interrupt play, especially few shots later.
Lee - Myneni - Referee 2

By this time, the referee was also using his gestures, trying to appease the 17-year-old. Lee would not let it go, describing one-by-one each forehand and backhand hit, well after the “contested” shot that nobody on the court actually contested.
Lee - Myneni - Referee 1a

Lee was right. Unfortunately, having shown a mark that was out, the referee could not have the point replayed even though Lee made a case for playing the point over (thus, the “2 serves” sign with the hand). Myneni did not look comfortable at all with the decision either, but he knew replaying the point was not an option at this point. Lee, somehow gathered himself, found a way to save the break point, and held serve to equalize at 4-4. It would have been a tough pill to swallow had that point caused the crucial break to come on the eighth game of the set. It was almost a relief that the set was not decided on a terrible judgement call made by the referee.

It was nonetheless remarkable to see how well Lee made his argument despite his hearing impairment and limited speech. There have been several articles written about how Lee has been able to overcome barriers to become one of the best juniors in the world, and none other than Rafael Nadal hailed him as “inspirational” back in 2013. Lee may not hear but he is making himself heard in the world of tennis through his successful rise, and as in today’s case, even during an argument with an umpire. Others who know him directly have already told me wonderful things about the youngster’s character and determination. His Roland Garros adventure came to an end after losing the third set 6-4, but I have no doubt his fan club is growing by the week.

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