Roger Federer will kick off his Gstaad campaign on Thursday against familiar foe Daniel Brands. Janko Tipsarevic and Robin Haase are also looking for a spot in the quarterfinals. Chris Skelton previews the action.
Roger Federer vs. Daniel Brands
Welcome to Part 2 of this home-and-home series between the Swiss superstar and the German journeyman. Despite his lowly status, Brands often has risen to the occasion against elite opponents. He took a set from Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros this spring, for example, and just last week he won a set from Federer at Hamburg in their only meeting to date.
Federer’s morale must languish at its lowest ebb in many months after he sustained two losses in two tournaments to opponents outside the Top 100. The upsets secured by Sergiy Stakhovsky and Federico Delbonis will have emboldened underdogs like Brands. And the relatively fast, slippery clay in the mountainous setting of Gstaad will not help a player searching for rhythm, as Federer is this week. Home-court advantage may boost his confidence, but he must serve more impressively than he did in Hamburg, where a back injury may have troubled him again.
But Federer will know what to expect from Brands this time. He should enter their rematch more on guard, aware of the massive serve and fearlessness of his opponent. Federer also may know what to expect from his own racket. Testing a larger, more powerful Wilson frame at Hamburg, he struggled at times with control. The additional time to practice with it should smoothen the transition as Federer looks to give his home fans something to cheer.
Skelton pick: Federer in 2
Dimon pick: Federer in 2
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Robin Haase vs. (3) Janko Tipsarevic
Like Federer and Brands, Haase and Tipsarevic have met only once before. Both men probably would rate clay as their least favorite surface, so they may battle the court as much as each other—and themselves.
Tipsarevic has watched his ranking plummet outside the Top 10 this year as he has suffered seven opening-round losses. Playing smaller tournaments like Gstaad usually helps top players emerge from slumps, but he has crashed out of such events just as ignominiously. The top seed at a 250 in Bogota last week, Tipsarevic lost his second match to unseeded Alejandro Falla. Now he faces a rapid transition from hard courts to clay, a strange decision considering his preference for hard courts and the additional travel involved.
Never a threat of Tipsarevic’s quality, Haase earned himself some attention this year of the dubious variety. He set the ATP record for consecutive tiebreaks lost, and he long has been one of the worst players in the Top 100 at closing out matches after he wins the first set. Staying in Europe after Wimbledon, Haase took the much more formidable Jerzy Janowicz to a final-set tiebreak in Hamburg (which, of course, he lost). One round before, though, he went to 7-5 in the third set against the anonymous Diego Sebastian Schwartzman. That pair of results shows how much Haase’s mind and game can fluctuate from one day to another.
Considering the generally unreliable form of both men all season, one can expect a match of modest quality in which both men struggle to capitalize on opportunities. Haase probably owns the superior serve, which may give him an edge at this altitude. But it’s nearly impossible to choose between two slumping, enigmatic competitors too fond of low-percentage tennis.
Skelton pick: Haase in 3
Dimon pick: Haase in 3
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“How many games will Brands win?” lol! Brands 5-2 up in first set and roger looking really out of sorts.
Way to go the ‘journeyman’;) Serves out the first set without fuss.
Poor roger, hard to watch the mighty in apparent freefall. 2-0 in set 2 and looking forlorn.
honestly i felt bad for federer..it was his home tournament :/ he has the cow at least though
and that’s that, a routine straight sets win to the journeyman. no doubt folk will blame the racquet but some of roger’s misses could have been nailed with a beach bat. I felt for him, looking disconsolate on court, even the home crowd couldn’t lift him.
Federer will regret taking a WC for Hamburg and Gstaad, These losses will just dampen his confidence.
I don’t think so. I highly doubt he cares. Just wanted some practice with the new racket. If he cared enough he probably wouldn’t have lost those matches.
wc0206, if you believe that, you’ll believe anything. Why would he lose in the 1st round if he needed to practice with the new racket? He was trying to win points to avoid going into the USO ranked #5 in the world. At least he got 180 points with his SF appearance in Hamburg.
his seed for the US Open is the least of his concerns.
Yeah, why not bring Mirkka and his devoted home fans out for the day to see him try out his new racquet? Right! 😉
No doubt he’ll put a positive spin on things in the presser, but he’s now set a pattern of defeat against outsiders in 3 tournaments in a row and this has to be troubling for ro.ger
Roger was Danielled.
Fed thinks the rivalry between him and Rafa isn’t over.
— To sum it up, he [Fed] says: “There will never be a rivalry like ours. Not even that between Borg and McEnroe, despite their different personalities and one being left-handed and the other right-handed. Murray and Djokovic are very similar. Rafa and I are extreme opposites and that’s what the fans like so much. Our rivalry isn’t over, I’m sure it will be back, I miss it”. —
Article: “There will never be a rivalry like that between me [Fed] and Nadal”
JOAN SOLSONA. GSTAAD 07/25/2013
http://www.marca.com/2013/07/25/en/more_sports/1374734398.html
it’s over alright. they will probably play each other a few more times. But obviously it will never be the same. Even Federer knows that.
As a muzz fan, I have to concede that the wimbie final 2008 was the highest height I’ve seen any rivalry come to. That said, the rivalry was very brief and, it has to be added, pretty one-sided in rafa’s favour as the h2h shows. If rafa had appeared 3-4 years earlier, then wow! The rivalry would have been so good, roger, that in terms of slams won (if that’s measure folks want to use, although I’m not convinced), rafa’s nose would be out in front of both you and sampras as the leading contender for GOAT.
Agree with alex, the rivalry was at its height 2007-10, peaking 2008, and very exciting it was too. Then Nole cut through it and changed the dynamic and now our very own Andy has at last stepped up.
At least when those two play each other, you really don’t know who will win….;)
deucey!
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I think Fed is definitely in some serious trouble. I think it’s all caught up with him. He’s going to be 32 and even this new racket may not help. It’s not a tragedy to get old in this sport. It’s been happening with Fed little by little over the years. His rivalry with Rafa is a thing of the past. I don’t see Fed being competitive with the top four anymore.
He has had a bad year. The worst was that second round exit at Wimbledon. Fed has always been able to bounce back, but that one had to really hurt.
Ricky believes Fed has better chances at USO than Rafa? On what basis?
I thought I already discussed this? Do you know their US Open history? Nadal is not good on fast hard courts, especially not at this point in his career. Fed’s recent slump can be attributed in no small part to a bad back and a new racket. Those won’t be factors the entire rest of his career. Nadal’s generally being bad on hard courts and general knee issues WILL always be a factor the rest of his career–including this summer.
“Nadal’s generally being bad on hard courts”
IW is a hard court. Australian Open is a hard court.
Four career major hard court finals (including two titles) and a Gold medal on hard court.
Poor Muzz must be brutal on HC then, no?
#YouCannotBeSerious.
fast and indoors. Indian Wells and Australian Open are entirely different settings/conditions.
Fed blamed a back injury after losing to Daniel Brands. His participation at Montreal Masters is now in doubt
—“I’ve had serious problems with the back, I had to get some anti-inflammatories last week in Hamburg due to the back pain,” Federer said after his shock loss to Daniel Brands.
“My back felt ok enough, but not enough to play at 100 percent. I knew coming into the match that it would be a tough one. I didn’t decide to play until after the warm-up in the afternoon, that’s what a close call it was. I thought I had a chance to win at least one round.”
“Some members of the team thought I shouldn’t play. I’m relieved I played more or less correctly without making it worse. It was so tough to play and move out there today. I’ll just have to take treatment and see how it all goes.”
His first US Open build-up event, the Montreal Masters from August 5, could now be in doubt.
“I will have to do a lot of exercises and see how it all feels. My main priority now is to fix my back. I would love to be able to train at 100 percent,” said the former world number one.
“I’ll have to see if the rehab is enough to let me play in Montreal. If it is, I’ll go; if not, then it gives me another week.”
“I will give myself three, four days time and will discuss with the team. We’ll take it from there,” Roger added in regard to his participation in Canada.—
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jOHSqznJL9SgQWSvMI8QCnRshcHA?docId=CNG.b97653fdf0e3d17173443eca99f9ab5a.a1&hl=en
[and other sources]
Hope Roger plays Montreal but it’s sounding unlikely.
threw up a news article about Troicki so we can discuss it – https://tenngrand.com/2013/07/26/troicki-suspended-18-months-for-skipped-blood-test/
Cheers Augusta, seems OK now. Perhaps a temporary blip?
what was the deal?
Nadal bad on hard courts? US open is not fast and not indoors. It is medium fast. So on what basis Rafa has no chance? He won in 2010 and lost narrowly in 2011. He beat Muzz in the semis in 2011. This year he won at IW. He won AO 2009 and went to the final in 2012.
Not clear on what basis you rule out Rafa and put him behind Fed. Rafa has been ahead of Fed in both AO and USO in the last 2 years. He beat Fed twice at AO since 2009.
Fed did not get past semis in 2010, 2011 and 2012 at USO despite getting favorable schedule i.e. starting first irrespective of whether he is in top half or bottom half.
So?????
I didn’t say Rafa has no chance. The only people who have a better chance than Rafa at the US Open are Djokovic, Murray, Federer, and Del Potro.
In your opinion.
Ricky,
Are you going to do your previews the way you did on TT? Your Approach Shots and analysis of the draws for Montreal, Cincy and the USO?
yes.
Ricky you said Nadal is bad on hard courts. That is an amazing statement..
its a relative statement (compared to grass and clay)
federer does not have a better chance than rafa, fed is the 5th favourite 😀
fed is a LOT more vulnerable to getting out before the semis ..thats not hard to see…