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In the past year, since his shock Wimbledon loss to x.doublea, John Edelstein has struggled with his form due to fitness reasons and his ageing body. Thoughts of retirement have constantly entered his mind. On a few occasions he has produced his best tennis, but he hasen't kept it up and his ranking dropped out of the top 10 to a lowly 17. He has begun to get things going again, at least for now. At the French Open, he overcame x.doublea in a tough match 6-3 4-6 6-4, and pushed claycourt specialist NEA to the limit. He then went to Austin in Texas for the Roddick Open, one of his favourite stops on the tour. Once again, Edelstein played his best tennis here. He won the tier 1 title for the third time and has now reached the final for four consecutive years. This was his first title of the year. His road to the title started with a 6-2 6-4 routing of grasscourt specialist PSALT. He then beat 3rd seed Bizet 6-3 3-6 6-3 and avenged his French Open loss to NEA with another convincing win. In the final, a re-match of last year's, he got his own back on Jennacourt. The match was a marathon, lasting over two hours. Edelstein fought back from losing the first set, and won 3-6 6-4 7-5. This is a very encouraging win for Edelstein and should restore some confidence. He will go to Wimbledon and look to become the first player to achieve a Career Grand Slam. He narrowly missed out on the title in Season 1, when he lost a classic final 7-6 to Vanessa Child. Despite his poor year so far, he comes in fresh with a title, his game suits the grass, and he still holds two tier 1 titles.
Edelstein gave a short interview after his win in Austin:
Q. You have been playing better tennis recently after a long slump in form. How have you picked up you game, what has inspired you?
John Edelstein:
I just felt in better shape. In the past year playing tough matches in a row was very difficult for me. At the Roddick Open I just felt much better.
Q. What are your expectations for Wimbledon?
John Edelstein:
I hope I can win it and complete a career slam. This will be my last Wimbledon, so my last chance.
Also during the grasscourt season, another player claimed their first title of the year. World number 5 and Wimbledon finalist for the last two years Bizet won the prestigous Johansson Cup. Like Edelstein, he showed glimpses of his very best form on the way to the title. He had convincing wins over x.doublea, NEA, and top seed Yodavitch.
At the Sprem Summer Lawns, Ying-Chang also won her first title of the year, beating Valkyrie 6-2 6-7 6-4. Phobe defended the Grosjean Grasscourt Classic, winning a re-match of last year's final over Mollusk. She also won the title in Season 1, and this is her first title since the New Zealand International at the start of the year.
At Wimbledon, heavy favourite Vanessa Child is the top seed, and has 16th seed Jbors47 set up for the third round, and a possible QF meeting with Tricatrina or 8th seed dav6789. There is an exciting quarter of the draw with 5th seed Yodavitch, in-form John Edelstein and NEA, aswell as leftys_rock and Phobe. On the other half of the draw, 3rd seed Bizet could have an early-round test against either J-man or 14th seed Agassi2000, followed by x.doublea or 6th seed Mollusk. 7th seed PSALT and 2nd seed Jennacourt headline the bottom quarter.
