Federer or Murray

Finally Murray will get a tough match.What a draw he has had.My Heart says Federer but on paper Murray will win.Coach Ivan the terrible has been working to get Andy to attack more.And Ivan I am not fooled by the fact you are buying a size too small of a shirt so Andy looks like a Buffed Spiderman...without the mask of course.....some wish he would wear a mask! We know Fed can attack and he has to be at his brilliant best tonight......but remember Murray has youth on his side..Fed has two children that comes under distractions...the biggest distraction Murray has is his mother jumping up and down and showing the fist..in the players box. Fed must finish off at the net especially when he works Murray into the corners. Fed must attack Murray's second serve..Murray defense is the best on tour, Fed cannot give too many cheap points .. He has to bury Murray with his attack.The crowd of course will be behind Rodger , no doubt a few Englishman will infiltrate Rod Laver.Why is Andy so angry under pressure...Why is Andy so Angry when he's not under pressure?Tonight I am tipping with my Heart , will we witness the magic of Rodger or will Andy continue his Grandslam winning way. I just hope there's life in the old dog yet.

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Could This comment not be truer

You come across a lot of interesting posts on tennis forums I had to post this comment re coaching and juniors.The topic was addressing American Junior tennis and coaches.

 I think it truly is the lack of proper instruction. From all I've observed US coaches are not correcting kids enough at all, and if they are correcting they do it once in a while and talk about it after. That is not how you do it imo. My son has trained in Europe and in any small club the coach will stand in the middle during match play and direct them constantly, demands corrections, power, even gets a bit angry if they seem to be losing attention or hitting poorly. During drills you need to be constantly correcting the technique, "elbow, up, elbow up, if you don't want to hit the net get that elbow up!" I know you shouldn't think all the time while training, but this becomes a reflex after a while with kids, and they no longer think about it, they do it. Here in the States, my son will play an hour without a coach saying anything(at a very good academy), likely not even watching. Why is this? Coddling the children(customer), afraid of confrontation, lazy, different teaching styles? I believe that complete difference in parenting is the reason, parents in Europe are not upset with the coach doing his job and usually will ask the kid, well what did you do wrong and here many parents will take the kid's side.

This is alive an well in this country and is a huge problem, technique is important but coaches all too well take an easy option , correct technique must be repeated over and over and over before it becomes natural , Parents look for other answers ..maybe a change of coach..coaches like to spin the yarn you need to do this it will come, you must be attacking ...well yes but if you have not the technique then your attack will turn to points ....for your opponent that is......Discipline is a huge factor and practising and repeating the correct technique is so very important!

Kiwis Win Inaugural AATC Challenge Cup

5 young Kiwi's from the South Island took on Aussie counterparts recently in Melbourne.The Kiwis came out on top with 434 points from Aussie Gold 413 with Aussie Green 368.Taylor and Mitchell Sizemore(Dunedin) Anna Cochrane(Christchurch) Josh Eckhold(Oamaru) and Keidah Bungard(Oamaru) made up the Kiwi team with Steve Dries (Coach) .After the match the Young Players spent 5 days at the Aussie Open.All up a great experience and a return match is planned in New Zealand later this year.

Paper report from Aussie AATC Challenge Cup

Kiwi Winning Juniors Taylor and Mitchell Sizemore (Dunedin) Keidah Bungard(Oamaru) Josh Eckhold(Oamaru) Anna Cochrane(Christchurch) Coach Steve Dries

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Shafted ....Rubin Statham Withdraws from Davis Cup

Welcome to the New Zealand shafted club Rubin. First of all let me say you being the Number 1 New Zealand ranked player you deserved the Wild Card for the Auckland event. I listened to to interviews today on Radio Sport, the First being Steve Johns CEO of NZ tennis. He continued the policy of the "I know nothing spin" on many of the questions put forward, yes he used all of his tennis background to waffle out answers with no substance. Mr Johns I challenge you to research the top 100 men tennis players and tell me how many are coached by the same coach! I know the answer by the way. You need to come to terms that tennis is an individual sport the sooner you stop herding players into the same sheep pen then you may have a path to get New Zealand players into the top 100.I agree some what with Statham that he has over achieved with the resources provided by TNZ to reach 340 or there abouts. Marcel Vos is not Statham's coach so its silly to employ and expect this guy to mentor Rubin outside Davis Cup. Support for any player should include there personal coach.I do not think Vos wiill produce a top 100 player.
Listening to Statham his relationship with Vos is poor .What was touched in the interview ,what is the correct pathway, should you play the weaker events to build your rankings or do you chase the harder events.He said this was some of the advice he is looking for.For my two cents worth chase the harder events, thats were the players will come from..chasing the weaker events you are surrounded by guys with the same goal and unfortunately same mentality.
Johns said how close TNZ and Tennis Australia were getting ...hey short memories we had Tennis Australia hold the top jobs before Johns! Clay courts ..ha no thats not the answer..match toughness is what you need by hiding at weaker tournaments and inflating your ranking and then only to find out your short..cmon look at your juniors playing ITF s yes good accumulation at lower end tournaments but they cannot cut it at the Grade 1 and Slam events. Its not because they do not get to play on clay,,its because of their mental games are fostered in a poor environment Yes good thinking we will have a base in Holland , well lets test these players closer to home like Australia and then if dominating there , look further a field.The trouble with players they are being led up the garden path by coaches who choose the easy path the cheap points path!
Rubin Good on you for standing up to the establishment ! what you need is support but we have to many coaches who do not have the "guts" to come out and have a say.The game is being run by tired Administrators some escaping their wife's at home making the state of the game worse than better.We have a TNZ board that has made some terrible decisions and implemented the wrong pathway.We have inexperienced people holding well paid positions,..Yes Rubin they make more than you do a year and do not work as hard.Now we have two Davis CUP coaches ...what a waste.If you care to read the recent job description you would make these assumptions "Note their is no requirement for a formal qualification in the description ie High Performance.So much for their accreditation system and mandatory complianceThere is no requirement for previous experience in this area. There appears also to be very little opportunity for the successful person to influence policy or make changes to a broken system. It appears the policy and structures are set and non negotiable.Did they canvas the players about this?The job description reads as if Tennis NZ have a "monopoly" on all junior tennis players in NZ no room for academies or independent coaches?There is only one path or oblivion which is where Rubin is right now or Australia like Sasha Jones..what was that TNZ and Tennis Australia are working close...well how did Sasha defect!Finally the successful applicant answers directly to Steve Johns CEO who has absolutely no experience or understanding from his surf life saving background. So who is ultimately making the calls here Sport NZ? My guess is Steve would not have a clue what an eastern backhand grip is let alone make calls on High Performance matters.
Rubin I have followed your tournament play and I believe you have done the best to your ability to what resources you have had...Yes Rubin you have been let down and I hope more people like you come to the fore to show how broke this game is in this country. I wish you luck as you continue to strive for personal best.

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Happy New Year

Hey Tennis World.Happy 2013 , a little late but Ive been busy with Family In Australia.Ive been keeping and eye on tennis events in New Zealand as well as here in Australia.You can keep updated with my twitter posts so to get the latest hard hitting ,, tell it how it is , so give me a follow on twitter. Yes readers I saw that the New Zealand Fed cup team has been named,, apart from Marina who hasn't been setting the world on fire, the team just shows the depth of women's tennis in NZ made up of juniors and good solid club players. And what about NZ number 1 man Statham pulling out of the Davis Cup team...He did not even get a live singles rubber last match. Stay reading the "eye" will get to the bottom of this latest debacle. The women's Auckland event has come and gone and now the Men's event has started, one NZ newspaper said this about the NZ men "There will be three New Zealanders in the second round of Heineken Open qualifying in Auckland today, the best effort in recent years participation..." well that comment does not fool the eye , this tournament is not huge and I don't think byes should count as a win. Of course no one progressed to the main draw.Dan King Turner who won the NZ champs and received a wild card to the event and plays qualifier Jesse Levine who thrashed NZ Davis cupper Michael Venus 3 and 0.If I was a betting man Id back Levine to win this match.Oh I believe that NZ tennis is close to naming the other half of the Davis Cup duo the HP coach or what ever.this new position is.. Vos moves to Davis cup coach really! I mean how is this going to work, anyhow you may be able to work out who is going to get this position by singing a few lines of south of the border down Queenstown way.Let me say this is not official....YET

Ok Remember Tomic the Tank engine, well he beat world number 1 Novak Djokovic in the Hopman Cup. He has been the talk of Australian Tennis..have the public forgiven his past attitude, he says he is heading for the top 10 Oh c'mon Bernie the Hopman Cup is an exhibition event.Tomorow Tomic takes on Marinko Matosevic Aussie number 1 in Sydney,last time they met Bernie's father pulled him off the court citing the umpire was cheating and Marinko allowed to foot fault at will.I am sure this match will be the real deal and not exhibition! Impressed with Aussie John "the milkman" Millman when he took on Andy Murray, I hope it was the real deal and not just a one off performance .Nothing new here Sam Stosur is still losing...Coach must change Sammy.A couple of young Aussie males may make a few older players sit up and take note, more about these guys soon, I have written about them before but I believe they show promise.Apart from Stosur really no one to make headlines this year ,with young Ashley Barty the standout.

Just to let you know plenty more to come as I head to Melbourne for the first week of the Aussie Open.

PS. Sasha Jones has been rewarded for becoming an Aussie a Wildcard to the Main draw of the Aussie Open.

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Dear Santa

Dear Santa

Tennis in this country needs some help, could you please find room in your workshop for some of the old tired administrators ,those with very little to do that think they own the game of tennis. Quite honestly SANTA these people need to go and maybe you could keep them at your North Pole workshop for a few years ..probably about 10 years that should give the nation time to get sorted.

Recently Santa the NZ nationals were held Below I make some valid observations.

1. The mens title was won by Dan King Turner who is 29 next birthday, he was top seed and played the 2nd Seed Artem Sitak he is 27 next Feb ,Turner was fortunate he did grow up in a competitive junior background in New Zealand as a junior.We cant claim Sitak progressed through the local junior program basically he came from Russia.I had hoped the younger generation could of stood up and placed a claim to come to the fore for New Zealand Men's tennis.It did not happen they were all beaten by the two old stagers that hover around the 350 mark plus ATP.So with the current generation I certainly have doubts that they will achieve higher rankings than the current Davis Cup SQUAD.Time will tell , I HOPE I am wrong.

2. Congratulations to Imogen Golder who took out the Ladies titles from Paige Hourigan (15). Imogen is at college in the states but does not figure in the top 100 girls national College individual rankings.It was a substandard field and really showed the weakness in women's tennis in this country.Imogen is not planning a pro career...the eye applauds your vision .Emily Fanning withdrew from the event..although winning NZ Junior player of the year she plummeted out of the top 50 ITF junior rankings to around 95 this year as she tried to mix it with the best in the World. And lets get the record straight the WTA doubles title at an event in Mexico was weaker than a Grade 1 Junior event.The women's singles was won by a junior.

NZ Fed cup Captain had this to say about Hourigan " is the most talented player this country has produced since Marina Erakovic."I would say so, I would say so, and especially, she has got a really good game, but what really she stands out with is her mentality on the court - she does know how to play points."

Thats a big call Pavlina. Let's start exposing the youngster to quality opposition and work really needs to be done with her mental side, the footage used for a recent news Item on TV was to say embarrassing at the least, intimidation might work on the local scene but not on the Pro Tour.She is way too young for FED CUP.Beating the top Aussie juniors for her age would be an indication where she sits potential wise and that needs More exposure.Again Time will tell.The longer a good junior stays in the local environment the less chance of really making it.Grade 4 ITF junior tournaments are a waste of money and time.

Santa in your sack this year please have some presents that will help tennis go forward in this country big changes are needed in all areas until this can be fixed we will continue to be a tennis minnow.

*this blog is views and personal opinions , you may not agree on some of my blogs but then again you keep coming back to read

MERRY CHRISTMAS

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The Eye Previews the Nz Nationals Men's Draw...Main Draw Starts Today

 

The NZ Nationals gets under way today.I am sure over the next few days some interesting results and match ups will occur.

Top Seed Davis Cup Stalwart Dan King Turner at 375 ATP should start favorite for the Wild Card prize at next year’s Heineken Open.He will come up against Jaden Grinter in his first match... who will defeat Victor Klintcharov...I will bet my house on it ..but no one will take the bet that's the problem.Grinter 19 one of New Zealand's top rated juniors ...has not set the world on fire with average results at Futures in Austria earlier this year.He has pushed King Turner in their last two head to heads.The field has many former and present New Zealander's who have or are on college scholarships at American University's.Seeded to meet King Turner is Ben McLachlan who is from Queenstown and plays for the California Golden Bears-CAL.Ben has played some future events in the UK and USA and has had some great results.This will be a very interesting match up should it eventuate ...the old brigade vs the new brigade.4th Seed is Sebastian Lavie the same age as McLachlan 20.Lavie has been based in France for his junior training and has been playing Futures he is 794 ATP ranked.The good thing about this tournament is to see where the players sit amongst their fellow countryman.Cameron Norrie is 64 ITF junior ranked and it will be good to see how he steps up against the more experienced players. The one thing that irks me is that New Zealand Juniors spend far too much time and money playing ITF junior tournaments , if good enough get into the tough tournaments early I say.. Norrie has no senior ATP activity as yet. Lavie looks to have a good run to the semi's.

The Bottom half should be very interesting also.The third seed Sean Berman is an interesting entry. Berman is well known to many here commencing his junior tournament days with Coach Chris Lewis and then followed Chris to the states.He split from Lewis and had some USTA backing before arriving in Australia where they also helped him out.He is still listed as a USA player on the ITF players site. Berman has a 731 ATP ranking and has been playing futures with some reasonable results in the country's not on everyones preferred holiday list. So is this the start of Sean becoming a New Zealander again? or does he think he has a chance of the Wild Card. Finn Tearney an outstanding player for Pepperdine University will be seeded to meet Berman. College vs Tour I get excited when these type of matches happen in a local event. It gives the eye a good look at the different paths players take and then measure the success tennis wise.At the end of the Day the college players have a degree and something they can fall back on if the tennis tour does not work out. I RECOMMEND that tennis coaching is not an option for the smart ones.The bottom quarter looks like a cake walk for second seed Artem Sitak. Is 557 ATP ranking and he is coming off a futures win in Cambodia recently.In fact Sitak has beaten Dan King-Turner a couple of weeks ago at a local tournament. Also in this section is CAL's Ricky McLachlan,another player to watch out for is 18s National finalist Kyle Butters 15 who was defeated by Connor Heap also 15 ...not taking anything away from these two boys but really TNZ two 15 year olds fighting out the 18s final!!!On top of two 15 year olds who also fought out the girls 18s national titles.Great effort from these younger players , but the eye reads more into these results than the scoreline.There are some noticeable players that have not entered or pulled out, such is the climate for local tournaments, sometimes its better to keep with the hype than have a reality check.Over the next few days I will keep readers posted and no doubt my candid comments which are just my opinions but obviously a lot regard highly to keep coming back to the blog to read : ).

 

 

 

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You have heard the saying too many cooks....

Its with interest I read the new advertised position for a High Performance tennis coach by  Tennis New Zealand . This position will take in the role of New Zealand Davis Cup Captain and Marcel Voss will become the Davis Cup Coach. "Due to a staff restructure within its High Performance team, Tennis New Zealand has created a new position of High Performance Coach with a primary emphasis on talent ID and development but who will also act as the Davis Cup Captain working in partnership with incumbent High Performance Coach Marcel Vos who will take on the new role as Davis Cup Coach." With tennis in dire straights in this country is this logical? Yeh sure! these two positions will work in partnership! ...time will tell but history tells us past appointments have been a failure, do we need a Davis Cup Coach?" For me the money is better spent on the younger juniors and more help for their private coach whoever that is. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

Tennis on the Move with Coach Clem

Piako Tennis Coach Clem Apted has a new Toyota from Waikato Toyota to carry all his equipment. Pictured is Clem and some of his ‘crazy’ kids at Ohinewai Tennis Club, a small Club with an amazing 60 children. Clem says this Club is a breath of fresh air, well run with a full programme of activities for all the members. The sub for a senior is an amazing $35 !! They have 3 pro grass courts and if it rains Clem can coach at an adjoining hall for coaching. The shame is in the Huntly area this is the only Club, Apted spends a lot of time and money trying to develop Tennis in poorer less fashionable areas, he lives in the hope that one day NZ Tennis will do the same. People see tennis as an elitist sport and many Clubs make it impossible for kids to play the sport, not so Ohinewai Tennis Club

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TENNIS IN TWIZEL

What a great location, and some great kids to work with.Today and tomorrow the eye is taking tennis to twizel.

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Happy Kurow Tennis Kids

Today I worked with Juniors from Kurow a Small Town in the South Island of New Zealand.It is always great to work with keen and enthusiastic tennis players.Did the kids have fun YES!

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Merry Xmas Rodger ......from Rafa

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16 year old Aussie beats New Zealand Davis Cup Team

I've been following a couple of younger Aussie Junior players pictured above.Nick Kyrgios 17 who hails from Canberra ACT and Thansasi Kokkinakis 16 .Two weeks ago Kokkinakis defeated  New Zealand Number 1 Jose Statham and then Michael Venus in the Bendigo Futures.The young Aussie has played more Future events on the Pro Circuit than the ITF junior Circuit.Gaining results on the bigger stage for me is a clearer picture how that junior will transgress to the Pro Tour.Far too many juniors play way to many ITF junior tournaments. The high performance program locally must take a close look re funding and results and the amount of ITF tournaments juniors are playing and where they have accumulated points, I mean if your not making it on the Junior scene then how the heck will you make it on the Pro tour?Most New Zealand juniors can gain a US college scholarship with a decent ITF junior ranking , I question this pathway if you want to make it at pro tennis, College Tennis Life is pretty good...is it tough enough to develop into a top 100 player for New Zealanders I think not. However in saying that it does add security and players come out of it with a degree and I think it  is the best option for most New Zealand junior tennis players.If you want to look up Thanasi's activity click HERE. Nick Kyrgios is the 4th ranked ITF junior in the world , he has been rising up the junior rankings with some great results including a narrow loss to World Number 1 Junior Filip Peliwo from Canada recently at the US OPEN JUNIORS.Some of my recent articles about ITF junior rankings are made relevant in this stat Kokkinakis has a  Junior Ranking of 1252!Kyrgios is 4.Thanasi on the Pro tour is ranked 754 Kyrgios is 831 on the Pro men's tour.Let me say that the team that is looking after these guys are making sure that they out there playing their fair share of Futures and for me thats the right way to go after all the only points that matter and effects your bank balance are points earned on the Pro Tour. Kyrgios playing activity can be found HERE