Australian Open Buzz

As play gets underway on Day 6 (Saturday), the big news is the fall of Svetlana Kutnetsova to Agnieszka Radwanksa of Poland.


Kuznetsova
The big news of the day on this side of the International Date Line was Philipp Kolhschreiber defeating Andy Roddick in what has been billed "a thriller," 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 8-6.

Sean Randall at the X-Blog writes:

Time and time again we’ve seen Andy hit his backhand reply crosscourt, and in this case that very response goes right into Kolhschreiber’s preferred weapon of choice. That’s why I gave the German a chance in this match. Until Andy can make a serious impression with his backhand down the line shot, he’s going to keep struggling with guys like Kohlschrieber, Richard Gasquet, Tommy Haas and Roger Federer who can consistently fire winners off that backhand wing.

Kohlschreiber also made liberal use of an excellent dropshot, which I don’t recall him ever really missing. Again, a great tactic by the 24-year-old since Roddick was perched around the “Melbourne” lettering, which looks to be about four feet behind the baseline on Rod Laver.

That backhand isn't just a problem when Andy is pinned behind the baseline. Hitting approach shots crosscourt is another one of his problems, because it makes him easier to pass.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's performance so far isn't such a big surprise. Some were picking him as a dark horse before the tournament began.

Peter Bodo over at Tennis World writes:

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - JoWilly has now played three fine matches in a row, which could be a personal best. Did you see how his beaten opponent Guillermo Garcia-Lopez quit at the end of that match, even though he was dressed in some weird all-red costume that, presumably, was supposed to suggest aggression and passion? JoWilly fears no man - least of all some sympathy dude with a hyphenated name who appears to be angling for a contract with Red Hots candy. JoWilly plays Reeshard Gasquet next - unless Reeshard comes down with a sniffle or hangnail or something and calls it off. You can take all that "Baby Federer" stuff and stick it, as far as I'm concerned. I prefer JoWilly's game.

It's an all-out attack style game, something rarely seen these days. I like it too.

We saw Pete Sampras's attacking game take a match off Roger Federer recently. I think the reason players like Andy Roddick have tough luck with it is because they don't have good enough approach shots, not because rackets today have made the attacking game too difficult. You won't get by with so-so approach shots as you could in the past. Gone are the days when you could get by with crosscourt approach shots, when you could blindly follow conventional wisdom and just push every approach with underspin, thus missing quite a few and having many more land a bit short.

For more on that great match between Marat Safin and Marcos Baghdatis, hop over to the Tennis Diary, where Nina Rota has an interesting take on it.

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