I was back at the tennis centre today and basically all the people I hoped to see win - like Paul Capdeville, Gregory Carraz, and Rajeev Ram - lost. But just before I left, I saw the last few games of a very interesting match between Go Soeda and Cecil Mamit. Soeda, about whom I knew nothing, dominated the first set; Mamit had a short run late in the second but Soeda closed it out. Marco Chiudinelli (he beat Carraz) and the fiery & noisy Thiego Alves were both very impressive.
Soeda and Alejandro Falla were my "discoveries" this year; we'll see if they make it thru to the actual tournament. The photo shows Go Soeda after his match. Click to enlarge.
I almost literally bumped into Bjorn Phau going from court to court. He and my favorite player, Paradorn Scrichaphan, are in the same quarter of the draw and there are some tough customers there as well: Jose Acasuso, Xavier Malisse and the excellent Jarkko Nieminen. So it won't be easy going for Bjorn or P'dorn. But I will look forward to seeing them play.
I never heard of any of these people!
Posted by: petipafan | August 26, 2006 at 11:14 PM
Well, these people don't get much media coverage. But they play some really hot tennis!
Posted by: philip | August 27, 2006 at 09:08 AM