3/27 Miami 一些外電 - 網球 Tennis

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/28/2718031/andy-murray-gets-help-from-ivan
.html

Andy Murray gets help from Ivan Lendl

Part-time Miami resident Andy Murray turned to legend Ivan Lendl for help in
winning his first Grand Slam title.

BY SANDRA HARWITT

Special to The Miami Herald

Andy Murray is ranked fourth in the world, but that still leaves him, at
least for now, as an addendum to the trio fronting the game.

While Murray, 24, is seeking his first Grand Slam title, top-ranked Novak
Djokovic has five, second-ranked Rafael Nadal has 10 and third-ranked Roger
Federer has a record 16.

Murray has won 22 career titles, including Brisbane this year. Eight of his
victories were at Masters 1000-level events just under the Grand Slams in
importance.

On Tuesday, Murray moved closer to the possibility of winning a second Sony
Ericsson Open title when he beat Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-4 to move on
to the quarterfinals.

Murray has come close a few times. He has played in three Grand Slam finals —
the 2010 (lost to Federer) and 2011 (lost to Djokovic) Australian opens and
the 2008 U.S. Open (lost to Federer).

Until this year (except for a brief earlier stint with Brad Gilbert) Murray
preferred to work with virtually unknown coaches.

At the end of 2011 Murray turned to someone who had never coached and lived
fairly close to his Miami second home. He called up former eight-time Grand
Slam champion Ivan Lendl, who resides most of the year in Vero Beach, and cut
a deal for him to travel part-time and work out in Florida with him.

“That’s what kind of attracted me to working with him,” Murray said. “
When I met with him the first couple of times, he basically said he had never
coached before [and] he would need help. He wants to learn, which for someone
who’s been as good as him, is refreshing.”

Lendl appears a perfect choice. He not only knows what it takes to win Grand
Slam titles, but he understands the suffering that comes with losing — he
was an 11-time runner-up at the majors. In fact, his first four tries at a
Grand Slam title were failures.

“[He’s] been very open about talking about emotions that he had at certain
stages of his career and certain matches,” Murray said of Lendl.

While London remains his legal address, Miami has turned into Murray’s
oasis. The heat, humidity and wind, as well as proximity to Lendl, makes for
practices that toughen a player. He also likes escaping the celebrity fanfare
he always faces at home.

He frequently practices at the University of Miami courts where his traveling
coach, Daniel Valverdu, played tennis. After Murray was upset at Indian
Wells, Calif., in the first round by Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, he immediately
came to Miami to train for a better result at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Aside from a slow start against Simon — the opening game of the match took
17 minutes, 20 points and an average of 11 shots on every point to win —
Murray was efficient. The only three break points he faced all day came in
that first service game.

Murray’s quarterfinal opponent will be ninth seed Janko Tipsarevic of
Serbia, who he leads 4-3 in career meetings.


http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/28/2718146/serena-williams-andy-roddick-
bounced.html

Serena Williams, Andy Roddick bounced from Sony Ericsson

Serena Williams and Andy Roddick, both returning from injuries, were bounced
from the Sony Ericsson Open.

BY MICHELLE KAUFMAN

[email protected]

It was not the script American tennis fans would have written.

Less than 24 hours after Andy Roddick proved he’s still got game with a
stunning upset of nemesis Roger Federer, he lost 7-5, 6-0 to Juan “Pico”
Monaco in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open. Argentine fans in
soccer jerseys waved flags and sang “Ole-Ole-Ole!” as dusk set in while
Roddick trudged dejectedly into the tunnel.

Later Tuesday night, a frustrated Serena Williams rushed off Stadium Court
after being bounced 6-4, 6-4 by Caroline Wozniacki in a battle of former No.
1s. Williams was aiming to win a record sixth title in Key Biscayne, but the
relentless Dane — cheered on by golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy — derailed
her.

“There is no script in sports,” Roddick had said after beating Federer. “
That’s what makes it the best entertainment in the world.”

Roddick and Williams were both coming off injuries, and their lack of match
time seemed to have caught up with them.

“There’s no real way around it, when you have to make a quick recovery, it
will expose you if you’re not in shape,” said Roddick, who is getting over
a torn hamstring. “Most people can play a match and it’s fine. It’s the
recovery where it kind of defines you. … I just didn’t have it physically.
I got to 4-all, and I’m out of shape. That’s it.’’

Williams said she played “at 20 percent” and blamed her loss on 36 unforced
errors and Wozniacki’s elevated game: “Everyone I play always plays the
match of the year. It’s no surprise. I think she knew that she had to play
really well to hang in there. I didn’t step up to the plate. … I just made
a tremendous amount of errors. I’m older, and I shouldn’t do that. There’s
no excuse. I just gotta stop that. It’s silly.’’

Roddick shot down the suggestion that he might have been emotionally drained
after his gutsy three-set win over Federer — only the third time he had
beaten him in 24 tries.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m professional enough to take care of
that. But you can’t lie to your body.”

Monaco sensed Roddick was physically spent and tried to capitalize. He said
his strategy was to run the American from side to side.

“I was exhausted from my match against [Gael] Monfils, but it seemed Roddick
was even more tired,” Monaco said. “I wanted to make him move a lot to wear
him out, because I knew he has such a dominant serve. When I won the first
set, it gave me confidence.’’

Monaco, the 21st-ranked Argentine, calls Madrid, Tokyo, Miami and his
hometown of Tandil his favorite four cities in the world. He surely will like
Miami even more after this week.

Had Roddick won, he would have faced close friend and eighth-ranked Mardy
Fish in what he called “a popcorn match’’ quarterfinal. Fish played his
best tennis of the season to get past Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-3.

Roddick and Fish attended high school together in Boca Raton, and Roddick’s
supermodel wife, Brooklyn Decker, was texting Fish from Germany on Monday
night asking how to watch the Roddick-Federer match online.

“[Playing Fish] would have been a little bit more intriguing now because the
tables have turned a little bit and he’s a top guy and I’m not,’’ Roddick
said.

Fish was also rooting for an All-American quarterfinal. “It would be nice to
play a relevant match against each other again.” Instead, he will play
Monaco. Fish has been relegated to the Grandstand Court all three matches so
far and was looking forward to a Stadium Court showdown with Roddick.

“I certainly want to play on Stadium Court,” Fish said. “But they’ve got
to put someone out on the grandstand, and who’s that going to be? Are you
going to put Federer out there, or Djokovic, or Nadal or Serena? I’m not
going to go ahead of those guys as far as people coming to watch them play.
You’ve got to go where you’ve got to go.”

But he’s not complaining. Fish is happy to still be in the hunt for the
title.

In other Tuesday matches, top-ranked Novak Djokovic beat Richard Gasquet 7-5,
6-3 and No. 2 Rafael Nadal, a three-time runner-up here, got past Kei
Nishikori 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic will next play fifth-seeded David Ferrer, who
beat 11th-seeded Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets.

Nadal was tested by the upstart Japanese player and called for a trainer to
wrap his left knee late in the opening set.

“I am not probably in perfect condition [Tuesday] with the left knee,”
Nadal said. “But the important thing is to try to win as many matches as
possible. For me this is an important tournament, and every victory has very,
very big value for me, especially without being perfect.”

Nadal’s next opponent is Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Florian
Mayer 6-3, 6-2. Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia advanced with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win
over Grigor Dimitrov. He plays Andy Murray in the quarterfinal. Murray
eliminated Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 6-4.

Maria Sharapova had little trouble with Li Na of China, winning 6-3, 6-0 in
just over an hour. She cleaned up her game, had no double faults and only 14
unforced errors compared with 11 double faults and 52 unforced errors in the
previous round. Sharapova plays Wozniacki in the semifinal.

“It’s definitely special to win against a great champion like Serena,”
Wozniacki said. “I knew I had to close it out because she wasn’t going to
give it to me.”

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