US TENNIS OPEN DAY 7

A little better with the selections yesterday 13 out of 16 up.Hope I can maintain that form for today's selections.


Ana Ivanovic Vs Kim Clijsters - Ana has had three wins I refuse to tip her on past performance beat Kimmy and I will have to rethink!!!


Shahar Peer Vs Venus Williams - Great another Venus designed outfit ...really the only interest I will have in this match!


Mikhail Youzhny Vs John Isner - This is a tricky contest ,I'm going with the Russian for his versatility.


Samantha Stosur Vs Elena Dementieva - This will be a great match if Stosur can produce her form from last round .Australia on a roll with the rugby and the netball so will stick with Grandslam Sam.


Rafael Nadal Vs Giles Simon - Another test for Rafa , if he is a serious contender he has to beat a player like Simon. Will be tough.


Sam Querrey Vs Nicolas Almagro - Another tough one , could go either way, despite home ground advantage I will pick the Spaniard


Francesca Schiavone Vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - C'mon Franny beat this alphabet .


David Nalbandian Vs Fernando Verdasco - Toss a coin for this one! I think Nalbandian if he has the desire.


Andy Murray Vs Stan Wawrinka - Murray seems to always get over Stan the Man...I tip Murray but won't be disappointed  if Stan gets there.


Feliciano Lopez Vs Sergiy Stakhosvky - Dare I go for the unseeded Ukrainian or the seed . Will throw caution to the wind! 


Tommy Robredo Vs Michael Llodra - Ok I will pick the french man this time!


David Ferrer Vs Daniel Gimeno-Traver - Ferrer should get the money.


The first round of the Juniors get under way with Local New Zealander Ben Mclachlan competing. Look for plenty of upsets in the juniors.American Jack Sock played in the Men's going down in 4 sets and will be hard to beat.He is unseeded , as I have said before many Juniors have inflated points and when quality players come into the draw are found wanting.Sock is ranked 651 ATP whilst many players in the Juniors Draw have only had Junior experience .One can waste too much time playing the Junior Tour and at the end of the day lots of money spent and not much reward in transition to senior ranks.


Finally another clever photo Shop creation can you guess these all time greats .Only one can get that honour in my opinion because they have won each of the Grand Slam titles ....the other's in the picture have fell short of at least 1 grandslam title.One other is of course current.Leave me a comment on who are these players and which Grandslam they have not won.Of course 1 of these have won all four.!

EARTHQUAKE NEW ZEALAND AND DAY 6 US OPEN!

I won't forget the match between Daniela Hantuchova Vs Elena Dementieva for a long time not because of the great tennis but because that's when the earthquake hit during the match!First of all I thought it was wind, then after ten seconds I knew it was a quake,now I'm Australian and I have never experienced a tremor let alone a quake , since I've been in New Zealand there has been earthquakes but never near me or have never felt the ones that have occurred.Boy did I feel this one! The whole house started shaking and swaying and I could hear a rumbling noise, I stood not quite knowing what to do as other members of the household made their way to the lounge room where I was.It shook and swayed for a minute which seemed like eternity, I thought oh yeh 15 sec and its finished..........hahah it kept going on an on.Even some 12 hours as I write this post an aftershock just occurred and trembled my house a little!I am in Timaru but have coached in Darfield where the quake was centered!Wow its not something I thought I would experience and its something I don't want to again.I actually feel like I am sea sick and any slight movement or bump startles me! Anyhow above is some pictures of Christchurch where a lot of the damage occurred.We are all ok in Timaru but definitely shaken. 

Well ok here are my selections for play today.Hope watching is less eventful!


Jelena Jankovic Vs Kaia Kanepi - Jelena Jelly bean for the win.
Beatrice Capra Vs Maria Sharapova- The courts are alive with the sound of Maria
Paul-Henri Mathieu Vs Roger Federer-Will be a good test for Rodger!
James Blake Vs Novak Djokovic - The Djoker is playing with us he will let us think he is a contender then have a dizzy spell and lose! But not this round.


Svetlana Kutnetsova Vs Maria Kirilenko - Its Russian roulette 
Robert Soderling Vs Thiemo De Bakker -Soderling has not really impressed me so far but should get the job done.
Caroline Wozniacki Vs Yung Jan Cheng - The top seed to get through.
Arnaud Clement Vs Mardy Fish - The Frenchman wont be catching any Fish here.


Alexandra Dulgheru Vs Vera Zvonareva - Vera to get there may be tight.
Gail Monfils Vs Janko Tipsaravic- I would never put money on either of these in a grandslam tournament.Monfils just.
Patty Schnyder Vs Yanina Wickmayer - So Long Patty
Jurgen Melzer Vs Juan Carlos Ferrero - I'm think Juan Carlos


Albert Montanes Vs Kei Nishikori- Could go either way. Will go with the higher seed.
Richard Gasquet Vs Kevin Anderson - The Frenchman
Shuai Peng Vs Andrea Petkovik - Peng maybe
Dominika Cibulkova Vs Lourdes Lino - Anyone's guess


Competition players still needing to pick for Round 3 use this post.


Finally Venus Williams Outfit of the round

Federer Photo Shopped

I drop in from time to time to a message board that has the above thread, there are some very clever people that create funny pictures.Thought I would post a few for you to enjoy and get a laugh at.

And a couple more! Some people have gone to a lot of effort to make these.!

And the last one , lots of players in this picture can you guess? ATP University.!

Help With Your Tennis Game

With all the technology it makes it easier to help advise tennis players not just locally but to all parts of the Tennis World.So for advice on technique, what tournaments should you be playing ,the mental side or just about anything tennis you can email me.You can even upload your technique on video to YOUTUBE and send me the link for an honest analysis of your game.I look forward to hearing from you.

Stephen Dries has coached many Juniors to National Titles, ATP and WTA Players and has been Head coach at several World Academy's.He is with out a doubt one of the most Knowledgeable coaches around not just with the elite players but at grass route levels also.He has lead many junior players on oversea's tours with remarkable success.Team wise has won Gold,Silver and Bronze as Team coach at many National events.