Percy896's Tennis Forum

PSALT

While a non-Slam draw doesn’t look like it will stack up to Las Vegas for some time, there is still an interesting draw in Belgium. Red-hot Yodavitch is seeded first, he looks to continue his fine form, and solidify himself as a favorite, if not the favorite for the US Open crown. NEA is seeded second; he has been in fine form as well. Excluding a small blip in Laguna Beach, he has been consistent in challenging for titles throughout the hardcourt season. American PSALT is seeded 3rd, after having his best season to date last season, with two Major finals and a YEC final, he has struggled all season. He finally seems to be finding some form here on hardcourts, with semis in all his three events so far (Petrova, Davenport, and Agassi). He will look to continue that with a, should be at least, simple draw to the semis. He screws draws like this up often though. Finally, quickly crashing star Jennacourt round out the top four seeds. Ranked No.2 in the world not to long ago, she has slipped to No.6 extremely quickly. British No.2 and Aussie finalist Dave was expected to play here, but pulled for undisclosed reasons earlier today to the outrage of fans. Lucky Loser Valkryie is replacing him.

Matches to Watch

Doublea-Stevos: H2H-1-1

This will be the second time these two Canadian Stars face off this hardcourt season. Doublea has been the No.1 Canadian for some time now; Stevos seemed to have closed the gap mentally with a big win over Doublea a few weeks ago. Not only will they both need great form to knock off each other, they will need to play some amazing tennis to get out of an extremely difficult part of the draw. I would love to talk about a big rivalry, unfortunately however, they are quite friendly to each other. We have yet to have words exchanged like NEA-Dave or Child-Tricatrina. The most that has happened so far is Stevos calling Doublea’s game old-fashioned, a comment Doublea, like one would expect, never replied to. God, he is boring. On to the match, of course, Doublea will look to keep Stevos off-balance and take control of points. Stevos will look to keep Doublea moving, and tire him.

NEA-Leftys: H2H 2-5

At one time this was complete domination, it still is looking at the stats. NEA has however taken away the mental edge Leftys once had over him. NEA has in hot for though, something Leftys can’t claim to as well. With NEA playing like he is now, I can’t see Leftys just being able to grind and watch NEA self-destruct like he used to. She will need to take some chances and maybe get to net some. Both have a good chance to make the semis if they win this match.

I have interviews with Stroganoff and Dave. I am quite pleased to say I was the one who found out about the Dave pulling out incident first.

Q. What has happened to you this year? You finally made a Slam final, people thought you would be a force throughout the year, after that however; you are struggling just to win matches? Pressure?

Dave. I am not entirely sure what has happened. It's just been something this year that I have felt. I have had some inconsistency and some patches where I just feel tired. I think it is because I have always been defending points after a great season last year. I just haven't played near as well as I can. The Australian Open final was huge, and getting to the latter stages of the French Open and Wimbledon were decent, but I just haven't been playing my best tennis so far. I still haven't won a title this year and am currently having my worst streak ever, in my favorite part of the season as well. I just hope I can find my form again at the US Open. That is my aim for now.

Q. What are your thoughts on the British rivalry? Early in your careers, you both brushed it off, saying there was no rivalry. What now? How do you two compare?

Dave. We have both had success on different levels at different times in our career. There hasn’t been a huge rivalry, but we have had our good times and our bad times. Our H2H is 4-4, so you can't take too much from that. We have achieved around the same amounts on the tour as well. I still don't think there is too much of a rivalry, but it is certainly stronger than it was 4 years ago.

Q. You open against Phobe, so many times people have said she is mediocre, ect., ect. Is she finally proving their beliefs? She had been quite bad since a heartbreaking No.9 finish last season, excluding her from the YEC.

Dave. I have actually pulled out of the Clijsters Classic and the Pierce Grand Prix, so I will next play at the US Open.

Q. Who do you think will win the USO? What do you think your chances are?

Dave. I think it is still all about Child and Yodavitch. They have been the top two players pretty much the whole year. It is hard to look past them. I am hoping to find my best form again and look for a strong indoor season after. I hope to get to the quarters at least.

Strog next.

Q. You have had one of the best years of your career, what had made the difference for you this year?

Stroganoff:
I think because all the expectations came so fast after my U.S. Open final and I was so young; I just wasn't able to deal with all the pressure. I don't know, I guess things have just been settling into place.

Q. You shocked the world 3 years ago, with a charmed run to the USO final. Since then people have knocked your run, saying it was luck, and you will never repeat it, let alone with a Slam. Your thoughts?

Stroganoff:
Well as I said I didn't deal with the pressure all that well afterwards. The points kept me in the top 10 for a while but after I lost them I never really stepped up. I have worked hard this year and I hope I can repeat that great run again this year, and maybe take it a step futher.

Q. Much had been made of your record against PSALT, why do you think you almost always beat him?

Stroganoff:
I don't know...there are some people I just play well against. I guess when you have a good record against someone you just play better. I usually play well against Vanessa Child and PSALT for some reason. Maybe they tighten up when playing me.

Q. You are in an extremely difficult part of the draw, opening against Jbors, then playing either NEA or Leftys. What will you have to do to get through to the semis?

Stroganoff:
I think as long as I play the way I've been playing I can do it. Jbors will be tough but as long as I'm consistent he will probably just miss. N_E_A will be a big challenge. One match at a time though.

Predictions

Yodavitch def Mollusk 6-4 6-3
Stevos def Doublea 5-7 6-3 6-3
Phobe def Valkryie 7-6 7-5
Jennacourt def J-man 6-2 6-4
PSALT def Edelstein 6-3 4-6 6-3
Bizet def Avolt 6-4 7-6
Stroganoff def Jbors 6-0 7-5
NEA def Leftys 4-6 6-4 6-2

Yodavitch def Stevos 7-5 4-6 6-4
Jennacourt def Phobe 6-4 6-4
PSALT def Bizet 7-6 6-3
NEA def Stroganoff 6-4 6-4

Yodavitch def Jennacourt 6-2 6-3
PSALT def NEA 3-6 7-5 6-4

Yodavitch def PSALT 6-3 6-1

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