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Post by choupi on Feb 6, 2010 4:21:57 GMT -5
After being injured at the Australian Open, Marcos will be back on the court next week in Rotterdam. Official site of the event: www.abnamrowtt.nl/main.cfm?lang=1Main singles draw: Novak Djokovic SRB [1] vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR Marco Chiudinelli SUI vs. Michael Llodra FRA Janko Tipsarevic SRB vs. Florian Mayer GER Robin Haase NED [WC] vs. Tommy Robredo ESP [5] Gaël Monfils FRA [4] vs. Olivier Rochus BEL Thiemo de Bakker NED [WC] vs. Evgeny Korolev KAZ Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP vs. Q Q vs. Mikhail Youzhny RUS [6] Ivan Ljubicic CRO [7] vs. Julien Benneteau FRA Michael Berrer GER vs. Arnaud Clément FRA Mischa Zverev GER vs. Q Florent Serra FRA vs. Robin Söderling SWE [3/WC] Viktor Troicki SRB [8] vs. Jürgen Melzer AUT Q vs. Andreas Seppi ITA Marcos Baghdatis CYP vs. James Blake USAFeliciano Lopez ESP vs. Nikolay Davydenko RUS [2] Good luck Marcos!
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Post by getta on Feb 6, 2010 8:29:33 GMT -5
Blake was in impressive form on the Australian courts. so opener is very demanding on Marcos' mental abilities, hopefully he won't put himself in potentially tricky situations.
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Post by christos on Feb 6, 2010 10:50:27 GMT -5
Quite unlucky...even in 2nd round Davydenko will be probably there. But we hope for the best of course!!
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Post by getta on Feb 9, 2010 10:24:35 GMT -5
Wednesday OoP
Matches Start At: 11:00 am Gael MONFILS (FRA) vs. Olivier ROCHUS (BEL)
followed by Igor SIJSLING (NED) vs. Robin SODERLING (SWE)
followed by Feliciano LOPEZ (ESP) vs. Nikolay DAVYDENKO (RUS)
followed by Simon ASPELIN (SWE) / Paul HANLEY (AUS) vs. Thiemo DE BAKKER (NED) / Robin HAASE (NED)
Not Before 7:30 pm Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP) vs. James BLAKE (USA)
followed by Florian MAYER (GER) vs. Tommy ROBREDO (ESP)
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Post by christos on Feb 9, 2010 10:45:07 GMT -5
Very good. We will watch it.
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Post by getta on Feb 10, 2010 14:27:53 GMT -5
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Post by christos on Feb 10, 2010 14:53:32 GMT -5
6-4 6-2! well done!
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Post by choupi on Feb 11, 2010 2:58:37 GMT -5
THURSDAY 11 FEBRUARY
Centre court starts 11.00 hrs
Ilhan - Youzhny followed by Monfils - De Bakker followed by Djokovic - Chiudinelli followed by Nestor/Zimonjic - Lopez/Robredo Court 1 13.00 hrs Benneteau - Berrer followed by Aspelin/Hanley - Kas/Norman Eveningsession Centre Court starts 19.30 hrs
Baghdatis - Davydenko followed by Melzer -Seppi
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Post by getta on Feb 11, 2010 13:26:58 GMT -5
match about to start…
and about getting butterflies in my tummy...
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Post by Ljubica on Feb 11, 2010 15:38:29 GMT -5
Hi - just quickly checking in from Rotterdam - just wanted to apologise that I haven't visited here before now this week despite my best intentions. Things have been very hectic here. Will go home tomorrow (Friday), so endeavour to write something up and post some photos then. Sorry for brief visit - using someone else's laptop.
Bye for now from Rotterdam.
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Post by getta on Feb 12, 2010 0:30:41 GMT -5
Hi - just quickly checking in from Rotterdam - just wanted to apologise that I haven't visited here before now this week despite my best intentions. Things have been very hectic here. Will go home tomorrow (Friday), so endeavour to write something up and post some photos then. Sorry for brief visit - using someone else's laptop. Bye for now from Rotterdam. Rose, no screening please… hope all comments are presented, good or bad. joking aside, first hand reports do fulfil an exclusively good purpose really. ;D
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Post by getta on Feb 12, 2010 1:20:02 GMT -5
Marcos failed to make an instant impression in his 2nd round match against Kolya and lost 3-6 2-6. he was fairly decent, yet outplayed in every department as Kolya’s sparkling form was, i'll try to keep this simple, … sparkling. Kolya was changing pace effectively, was using slice, was returning superbly, was moving forward to the net and volleying… and last but not least, he was doing all these magnificent things without any odd grimaces of triumph, just his standard undecipherable face, you know. bravo, Kolya! Marcos needs several months of physical and mental training to reach such high level. go, Marcos! and on a happier note, Choupi, forgot to say that Mohamed Lahyani was the chair umpire in Marcos’ 1st round match against Blake. gorgeous man, Mo is really. here is a small gift for you. that’s from the match between Robredo and Haase two days ago, in Rotterdam of course. not surprisingly though, when Mo overruled a call during Marcos’ match against Blake his facial expression was exactly identical to that… tough, tough game, oh well.
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Post by christos on Feb 12, 2010 6:39:49 GMT -5
He didn't play so bad...just unlucky to be against Davydenko in draw. See Melzer or Seppi for example would have been much better.
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Post by Choupi on Feb 12, 2010 10:20:14 GMT -5
I guess our Marcos knows that he's still got some way to go to reach the level he needs to reach if he wants to defeat guys like Davydenko. He's already gone a good way but he needs more... Rose, you know any infos coming from fans are ALWAYS appreciated. We're looking forward now for anything you can share with us here. Hope you've had a good time in Rotterdam, despite the hectic side of things. And Getta, thanks for the Mo pic. You know how deep my appreciation of the man is...and for having met him in real some years ago, I know I will never be disapointed
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Post by Ljubica on Feb 12, 2010 12:14:41 GMT -5
OK - well I will try my best, though those who know me, will know I'm more of the gossip-column/tabloid type of writer than a serious tennis reporter. ;D
Anyway - here goes................ I saw both of Marcos' matches against Blake and also against Davydenko. I was very impressed with Marcos' level in the Blake match, - he hit the ball very cleanly and focused well, though it has to be said that Blake was not at his best at all. The old "ball-basher" Blake was very much in evidence, - if it went in, then it was a brilliant shot, but, most of the time, it did not.
As for the Davydenko match - well those who have seen it on TV or livestream, will surely agree that this match was more a case of Kolya being awesome, than any fault with Marcos. The Russian was in supreme commanding form, he was confident, and moving well, especially at the net. Marcos did very little wrong, apart from perhaps not attacking Kolya's second serve as much as he could have done, - but mostly it was a case of being beaten by the better man on the day - no shame.
I was a little concerned with Marcos' serve throughout both matches. He seemed to have some kind of shoulder problem which became evident in the first practice sesion I saw of his on Monday, and I'm sure he was not serving at full power.
Off court, have to say I was impressed by Marcos' hard work and efforts on the practice courts - far more than I have seen him do in previous years. He was averaging two, hour-long practices each day, and they were vigrouous workouts, accompanied by coach Eduardo, Fitness Trainer Horacio, and a young sparring partner named Pancho (full name Juan-Francisco Spina from Argentina).
Marcos was up before 9.00am each day, at the venue by 11.00am, and rarely home til 10.00pm. He was also extremely gracious and accessible to fans, carrying out a question and answer session on Tuesday afternoon, compering a quiz with prizes, conducting on court interviews etc, and all with a smile on his face.
For those interested in such things, he still wears Adidas clothing - I understand the contract wth Adidas is to be renewed, though I know no further details.
Being a technophobe, I have no clue how to post photos here, but I posted a couple elsewhere, which I'm sure Getta will be able to copy over.
Hope this was at least somewhat enjoyable for some readers here.
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