Tag: Feliciano Lopez

Wimbledon First Round: Feli Grabs Roger’s Record, Keeps Going… and Going… and Going…

ATP Majors Tactical Analysis 2 Comments

Feliciano Lopez def. Federico Delbonis 6-3 6-4 6-2

“It means a lot to me. As I said before, it’s not about reaching this number of the most consecutive Grand Slams played. It’s about being 15 years or more playing at the top level.”

This quote, by the 36-year-old Feliciano Lopez, essentially sums up the man’s accomplishments over the last 21 years. Yes, he turned pro 21 years ago, in 1997.

His was referring to the fact that he broke Roger Federer’s record of consecutive Majors played with his 66th appearance in a row in Majors this morning, when he stepped on to Court 7 to face Federico Delbonis at Wimbledon.

The last time Feliciano Lopez did not play a Major, in the 2002 Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt was the number one player and Pete Sampras, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Gustavo Kuerten, Patrick Rafter, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Andre Agassi were some of the names found in the top 10 of the ATP rankings.

Throughout his streak of 66-straight participations in Majors, Lopez has not acted as a tourist either. He has reached fourth round or better seven times (four-time quarterfinalist) and has consistently been a player that other top players would prefer to avoid in the early rounds. As for his record in five-set matches, Feliciano is 21-10 in Majors and 3-1 in Davis Cup, for a career record of 24-11. This is an athlete who knows what it takes to win, even when he is having a bad day at the office.

The Spaniard is the iron man of tennis. If and when you see him up close, you can judge for yourself. He is a specimen.

Granted, playing Delbonis on grass does not represent the highest order of challenge, but that should not diminish what Lopez put on display today. Unfortunately for Delbonis, Feli had a wonderful day at the office. In fact, everything clicked on all cylinders, except for one game from which he immediately recuperated.

Lopez started the match with an ace, finished the first set with another, and the match with his 19th one. His serve was so effective that, on top of his 18 aces (vs one double fault), he won 93% of points started with his first serve and Delbonis could not return 36 out of 65 of his serves back in the court. Two second-serve aces and a winning percentage of 58% on points started with his second serve were the icing on the cake.

The stats will tell you that he served and volleyed seven times in the match. The reality is that he did it a lot more. It’s just that he did not have to volley. He “approached” the net 20 times, winning 14 of those points.

Impressed yet? That is only half of the story.

He won the majority of baseline rallies, including a 20+-shot rally early in the second set that would have been the envy of most clay-court specialists. He kept Delbonis in check with his deep backhand slices and flat forehands, never allowing the Argentine to dictate rallies with his forehand like he usually prefers to do. Lopez made 21 unforced errors in total, only one more than his opponent who is, by nature, a baseliner. Most of those were on his forehand (16), usually his weaker side.

Beyond the numbers, his forehand was an important part of his win today. He accelerated balls with it whenever he got the chance, earning five direct winners and a ton of low drives that either ended with him winning the point at the net, or forcing Delbonis into errors due to the worry that the Spaniard may follow them up to the net.

Delbonis, for a while, tried to work Feli’s backhand side knowing that, at least, Feli cannot produce winners from that side (he did not, zero for the match). However, that meant Delbonis, being a lefty himself, had to strike down-the-line forehands instead of his preferred sharp, cross-court topspin ones. That also allowed Lopez to use his lefty slice to glide balls deep into corners, making Delbonis add mileage to his legs.

Lopez bided his time during those rallies until the Argentine either went for a risky shot and missed or landed a ball short so that Feliciano could take it on the rise and approach the net with a slice. It worked to perfection. Delbonis was all but resigned in the third set. Lopez, liberated, put on a show. The nightmare ended for Delbonis in a matter of one hour and 29 minutes, by a score of 6-3 6-4 6-2.

I mentioned “one bad game” earlier for Feliciano. It happened when he was serving at 1-0 in the second set, the only game in which he did not put a single first serve in (0 for 5). He also committed his only double fault in it and made three forehand unforced errors. It was a glitch in an otherwise five-star performance. The irony is that Lopez was a perfect 14 for 14 on first-serve points won in that second set. Yet the set included the only break against him in the match. It’s just that he did not get to start any points with his first serve in that game. Stats can be tricky folks.

Let me finish by adding to Feli’s post-match conference quotes. He agreed that the quality of his serves played a key role in his high-level of performance in this match and went on to make enlightening comments about longevity and success on the ATP tour. Here are some highlights:

— On his longevity:

“I think the way I play maybe also. I think I don’t play so many rallies. Also my technique. I play quite easy, so I don’t make a huge effort in every single shot that I play. That’s also important. […] I haven’t, you know, suffered any big injuries in my career. This is the most important thing. And also mentally, I have the strength enough to be, you know, playing so many years (smiling).”

— On breaking Federer’s record of 65 consecutive Majors played:

“Well, when I was [thinking] about breaking the record, I thought, wow, I’m going to beat Federer at something, which is a lot already (laughter).”

— On what the streak represents to him: Lopez said the quote I used to begin this article and added this:

“For me, after 30 years always so important to be competitive and to challenge the best players in the world. This is what I thought at this stage of my career was the most important thing, to stay healthy and to be able to compete against these monsters, because for me I played in the past against other monsters, but after the 30s it was so important for me to stay fresh and healthy, just to challenge these animals, because they are very — the level overall is getting higher and higher in the last decade.” – Only Feli can call his peers “monsters” and “animals” and make it sound as a compliment.

— As to why players today suffer so many injuries, Lopez had an interesting take:

“I don’t know that much about specific things and technique, and probably the twohanded backhand guys have more injuries in the last years. This is something that I realize. I don’t know why. Maybe a doctor can tell you (smiling). But it is true that the two-handed backhand guys have been struggling with injuries lately more than one-handed backhand guys.”

— He also emphasized the idea of mental stress that players experience bleeding into the physicality of the game:

“Also, the stress that these guys they have every single day they compete, because they have to win every day. Also, the mental part is so important that it might be affected, you know, on your body when you step in the court and you have to win every single day […] because they have a lot of, you know, stress. They need to win every day. It’s also something that, I think, something to consider, also.”

— On the evolution of tennis over the course of his career:

“There is no players now that they specialize in one particular surface. I think the game has become more, you know, from the baseline in most of the courts. So when I started playing, it was the clay court players and the grass court and the hard court players. Now everybody plays, you know, more or less the same style, I will say. But the most important, for me, the bigger change was the power in the game.”

Lopez will face the fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro, another Argentine. Without a doubt, it will be a much tougher challenge for Lopez, although Juan Martin, for his part, may experience some of that stress that Feli noted above.

Until next time…

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Marsel Ilhan Makes History Again

ATP 2 Comments

As you read the title, you may ask “Who is Marsel Ilhan?” He is a professional tennis player, currently ranked No. 104 in the ATP. He hails from Turkey, a country that neither had a male player ranked in the top 100, nor one that won a match in the Majors, until Ilhan.

Ilhan came into the pro scene in 2006 at the age of 19 and slowly began working his way up in the rankings, shattering record after record in his home country. In 2010, he finally became the first Turkish male player to earn a top-100 ranking. He did not stop there and went on to become the first Turkish male player to qualify for the main draw of majors. He even won a round in both the Australian Open and Wimbledon, breaking his own record for his country. In 2011, he reached a career-high ranking of 87. Since then, he has been out of the top 100 but continued competing in ATP events and challengers.

2014 was the year that marked his second surge. He qualified again for the main draw of Wimbledon and began recording quality wins and started making his climb back to top-100 ranking. In this year’s Australian Open, after qualifying for the main draw, he became the first Turkish player to face a top-five player in the majors when he drew Stan Wawrinka in the first round. The match was played in the Rod Laver Arena and Wawrinka won in straight sets. Ilhan admitted to having the jitters afterwards.

SAM_2249Ilhan practicing prior to Wimbledon 2014 with his coach Alberto Lopez Nunez standing behind

In this week’s ATP Dubai Open, Ilhan yet again made history. After going through the qualifying draw and defeating Alexandr Zverev in the first round of the main draw, he faced the world No. 13 Feliciano Lopez. After a thrilling match, he came back from a set down to defeat the Spaniard 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. To put things into perspective, Lopez is not just any top-20 player. He is one of the feared players on the circuit, left-handed and mostly a serve-and-volleyer with an arsenal of awkward baseline strokes. He is known as a competitor who knows how to win close matches. Just look at his recent run to the round of 16 in the Australian Open. After winning two matches from match points down, only Milos Raonic could stop him after a nail biter that went five set, in which Lopez also saved match points in the fourth to extend the match.

Ilhan’s win over Lopez marked the first time ever a male Turkish player defeated a top -15 player and the first time one reached the quarters of an ATP 500-level tournament. Later in the day, Ilhan connected via telephone with the Turkish television channel SportsTV. The excitement in his voice was bursting through the line. He said that he knew one day he was going to record a big win, but just did not know when and where. He then added “apparently, Dubai was it!” He was happy about the core group of Turkish tennis fans who support him wherever he goes: “Federer was playing at the same time, so there weren’t many spectators, but I had great support. I am serving well, too, so that helps.”

Next, he faced the world number one Novak Djokovic. Ilhan modestly said that playing Djokovic would be a great experience. After continuously making history for his home country, nothing could have topped a win over the best player in the world. It turned out to be a routine win for the latter, as most expected. Yet, it mattered little because the match was broadcast live on Turkish TV. Nothing motivates a younger generation of tennis players more than watching one of their own play against the best player in the world, especially if the country never produced a top-100 men’s player before, let alone one that took the court against high-profile names in the game. The broadcast also added to the interest that tennis has generated for the last decade in the country. Istanbul has hosted the year-ending WTA Tour Championships three years in a row and also hosts a yearly WTA International Tier Tour event in July. Furthermore, it will begin hosting the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open, an ATP 250 event, for the first time this year, featuring none other than Roger Federer.

As to Ilhan, he is already guaranteed to have his name on another category in the history of men’s tennis in his home country: that of the first Turkish male player to break the top-80 barrier when the new rankings come out next week. More importantly, the impact that he has already had, and continues to have, on Turkish tennis is not measurable in numbers.

Ilhan-DjokovicThis picture was retweeted endlessly by Turkish followers on the day Ilhan faced Djokovic (via @TennisTV)

How to Play Piss-Poor and Still Reach the Third Round at a Major 101- Course taught by Feliciano Lopez

ATP & WTA 1 Comment

We have reached the third round stage at the Australian Open, and although the surge in the number of surprise winners in the first days of competition emerged as a major topic of conversation, the title contenders on both women’s and men’s draws have moved forward. Only two of those players, Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal, have been in legitimate danger of being ousted by their “lesser” opponents, but both showed why they belong to the elite group of genii in our sport who rise above challenges in ways that others can only imagine. Down a match point twice, Sharapova hit two forehands winners that most other players would only dare to attempt if they were up 5-0 30-0. Nadal overcame violent stomach pains, vomiting on the court, and still found an extra supply of his interminable fighting spirit somewhere deep within him to come back from two-sets-to-one down to win in a battle that lasted over four hours.

This is how these genii operate and that is why they are likely to be there when late next week arrives instead of the emerging group of great players such as Madison Keys, Zarina Diyas, and Caroline Garcia on the women’s side, and Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, and Nick Kyrgios on the men’s.

The gap between these players and the elite has narrowed, but is still far from disappearing. Even for Eugenie Bouchard and Kei Nishikori, both reaching the finals of one Major each in 2014, the road still seems long before they can step on the same pedestal as the elite few. But this article belongs to one player on the men’s draw who is neither a genius, nor a great up-and-comer. It is about Feliciano Lopez, the veteran who has been around the top 20 for a long time while remaining a nightmare for most top players, and why he is the most unlikely player to still be in the tournament.

First of all, let’s make it very clear: it is not just the four match points saved by Lopez in his first two rounds combined against Denis Kudla and Adrian Mannarino that make his presence in the third round spectacular. It is rather how poorly he has played in those matches and still managed to turn them into victories.

Against Kudla, his first serve, which is usually the driving force for the rest of his game, hovered around the 55% mark throughout the match. It was also only in the mid-portion of the fifth set that (10-8) that the numbers of his winners surpassed that of his unforced errors; and even then, he still had to save three match points in the final stages of the match to survive. He was constantly having to catch up with Kudla’s rhythm, getting outplayed from the baseline, and having to chase the American’s balls down and committing silly errors in his attempts to dig out of that pattern and take charge during the points. Nevertheless, he survived and it could not get any worse for Lopez right? Wrong!

The level of his play dropped even lower against Mannarino. His first serve percentage was this time well below 50% (46% and 43% in the first two sets, respectively) for most of the match. Despite an opponent who kept throwing in double faults at the most inopportune moments, and who did nothing more than return low and bunt the ball back in play, Lopez made mistake after mistake and constantly complained to his corner, in search of answers for the shockingly low quality of shots coming out of his racket. Yes, Lopez did save a match point at 4-6 4-6 4-5, but alone, that does not reflect how lop-sided the match was at times in Mannarino’s favor. The Frenchman was actually up 4-0 in that third set and serving, then 5-3 and 30-0, and finally 3-0 up in the tiebreaker before losing seven points successively to lose the third set, and melting away in the fourth due to illness (he retired down 0-4 in the fourth set, unable to move the last few games).

So how did Lopez do it? Blaming Mannarino’s illness for the Frenchman’s exit from the tournament would be nothing more than telling a tall tale, because he did everything possible in the third set when he had the match in his hands, short of rolling the red carpet for Lopez and inviting him back in the match, to not cross the finish line.

At 4-0 down in the third, Lopez looked like he was ready to get in the locker room and playing terrible, except that Mannarino served a succession of double faults and committed a number of errors on shots that challenged him no more than the five-minute warm-up balls coming from the opponent. To be clear, it is not as if Mannarino led Lopez 6-4 6-4 4-0 because he was outplaying his opponent. He was up because he could not lower the quality of his game as much as Lopez did during that period. This match did not feature a world-class level of tennis, both players serving so poorly that there were a number of consecutive breaks in three and a half sets of play. Although the first sentence of the paragraph asked for an explanation of how Lopez “did it,” the more appropriate question for this particular match would have been “how did Mannarino do it?”

Yet, there must be a reason why, in Majors, Lopez has a 16-8 record in five-setters (win against Mannarino does not count because technically, Lopez did not win in five sets) and has won his last seven five-setters, dating back to Wimbledon 2009.

The Spaniard never loses hope no matter the score, and he does not link the level of his play to his will to win. In Lopez’s world, “playing bad” or “sucking” does not equal a loss. A very common phrase in tennis players’ language, “I can’t win playing like this,” does not exist for Lopez. As far as Lopez is concerned, he can play “like this,” and still win playing “like this.” In this edition of the Australian Open, he is easily the worst performer to reach the third round.

Lopez will face Jerzy Janowicz next round. In order to win, Lopez will desperately need to raise the level of his play against an opponent who has more power and shot-making capability than him. But wait! That is probably not how Lopez thinks. He probably thinks “I can win, but what can I do anyway in order to raise the level of my play?”

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Of the Importance of 2nd Serves…

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Back in my college coaching days, my ex-roommate and life-long friend named Michael Kreider originally from Buffalo, NY, and a current tennis pro in Atlanta, said to me one time “you are only as good as your second serve.” At the time, I would make my team practice second serves as part of our daily serving routine. However, after Michael’s reminder, I began designing drills specifically geared towards making my players feel under pressure, and force them to serve second serves under those circumstances. Eventually, I got on the same page with Michael and began believing that second serves were just as important as any other single shot in tennis, if not more. You may have even read one of my pieces where I praise Raonic, Federer, and Isner for being, in my opinion, the best second-serve hitters in the game.

Let’s take a quick look at the Wimbledon Men’s Draw from the perspective of second serves.

2nd serve

There is a stat called “2nd serve points won” and you can find it on Wimbledon’s website. Three of the quarter-finalists are in the top 8 of that list (see picture above). At number 1, there is Tatsuma Ito whose percentage is based on one match only since he lost in the first round, thus not very indicative of the overall second-serve effectiveness. At number 2, 3, and 4, we have Roger Federer (68%), Feliciano Lopez who lost today (66%), and Milos Raonic (65%). At number 7, there is the guy who took Lopez out, Stan Wawrinka (62%). I will also add as a side note that, on the women’s list in the same category, after Kristina Pliskova, who also played only one round, you can find Petra Kvitova at #2 with 64%, and Simona Halep at #3 with 63%.

But wait! It does not end there.

It is generally accepted that the serve is an essential factor in playing successful tiebreaks. Until today, Lopez was 6 out of 7 in tiebreakers in his first three rounds. Today he lost two tiebreakers to Wawrinka who is third on the list among the players still alive in the tournament. Additionally, Federer is the leader of the career tiebreak winning percentage category on the ATP Tour.

No, it still does not end there.

Here is an incredible stat from today: against Tommy Robredo, Federer lost only one – yes, ONE – point on his second-serve points in the first two sets combined! Furthermore, since second serve is the shot that determines if you double fault or not, I should add that Federer had 0 – yes, zero! – double faults today, despite hitting them well enough to serve-and-volley on several of them. In fact, today’s four quarterfinal winners had a total of only 8 double faults between them. Half of those came from Nick Kyrgios who more than made up for that with his 37 aces against Rafael Nadal.

Is it becoming clear how important second serves are yet? If not, here is one last tidbit…

Out of all 8 men left in the singles draw, Dimitrov and Kyrgios have the highest number of double faults per match. They both average just below four double faults a match. They also average 10 aces (Dimitrov) and 26 aces (Kyrgios) per match. Next, there is Marin Cilic at less than 3 double faults per match and he is averaging 24,5 aces per match. The other five quarterfinalists are averaging less than two double faults per match.

Three of them are still in the tournament in the men’s draw. Watch Raonic, Wawrinka, and Federer, on their second serves, and you will see the variation on the spin, slice, speed, and placement. That is why these three players love the pattern of putting the next shot away with their big forehands (or even volleys in Federer’s case who serves-and-volleys on second serve occasionally), because they get a number of returns back from their second serves that are placed exactly where they want them for the winning shot.

Does all this mean that a tour player cannot win without a terrific second serve? No, but it does mean that if a player wants to succeed at the highest level, second serves will have to be incorporated into his/her practice routine, just like any other shot in tennis. Not just “serves,” but specifically “second serves”.

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