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Australian Open Update
It was business as usual for top seeds and World Number Ones Roger Federer and Serena Williams, as the both recorded straight sets victories in the finals of this year’s Australian Open.
Using his new Wilson Six.One Tour BLX racket Federer dropped only two sets on his way to the title, one of these to the man on the hottest streak going into Melbourne Park, Nikolay Davydenko. Although the racket was new, Federer’s hybrid string combination of Wilson Natural Gut mains and Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough crosses was the same as he’s used for a number of years now. Roger’s tension choice was 55/52lbs. Finalist Andy Murray played the Head YouTek Radical Pro racket, strung with a hybrid of Babolat VS Team/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough at 62lbs. It was interesting to see that Davydenko was playing with the strings of his Prince Ozone Tour stencilled with the Prince ‘P’, probably indicating that he has settled his dispute with his racket manufacturer.
Whilst Federer may be playing with a new racket, Serena Williams continues to play and win with the same Wilson [K] Blade team she used last year. The biggest story in the Ladies’ Singles, however, was undoubtedly the fantastic comeback run all the way to the final of Justine Henin. Henin did have a new racket, the Wilson BLX Tour, a racket from the same 2010 range as Roger Federer. Both players used all natural gut strings, continuing gut’s domination of Grand Slam titles on the ladies’ side. Only Ana Ivanovic’s win using Luxilon strings at the French Open in 2008 has broken an uninterrupted period of dominance by natural gut.
Serena used Wilson Natural Gut strung at 68lbs, whilst Justine was using Babolat VS Touch natural gut at 27kg, (59.5lbs). The use of Babolat was a departure from her string of choice before her short retirement. Before she left the game, Justine had been a devotee of Maillot Savarez natural gut, which she routinely strung at 26kg, (57.5lbs).
The black strings Rafael Nadal has been using in the early season tournaments were again a talking point, with both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Roddick also using them, (Roddick in a hybrid with Babolat natural gut). It’s now been revealed that the string is Babolat RPM Blast, a co-polymer polyester string, whose official launch in scheduled for end Feb/beginning March, when full details will be revealed. In the meantime, check out Babolat’s RPM Blast ad at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh2FSLeBBac. Tsonga seemed to enjoy its benefits, getting to the semi-finals before being overwhelmed by Federer.
There were a number of new player/racket combinations at Melbourne this year. The aforementioned Tsonga has switched from the Wilson [K]obra he was using last year to the same Babolat AeroPro Drive GT as Rafa Nadal. Both James Blake and Tomas Berdych playing without their usual Dunlop frames. Blake played the same Wilson Six.One Tour BLX as Roger Federer, whilst Berdych has move to Head. Both players stayed loyal to Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power strings. Blake played with no Wilson ‘W’ logo on his strings, so he’s either not under contract to Wilson, or maybe still under contract to Dunlop. Neither fared very well, Berdych going out in the first round, and Blake only making Round 2.
US Open champion Juan-Martin del Potro was wielding the new Wilson Pro Tour BLX frame, and last year’s US Open Ladies semi-finalist, Yanina Wickmayer, has moved from Babolat. Having played her first match with an all black frame, she then appeared with a Donnay racket and racket bag. Yanina is the first top line player to pick up a Donnay since Greg Rusedski almost 10 years ago, and there’s been no official announcement as to what the racket is.
Finally, official statistics issued after the Open showed that Wilson was the most popular brand of racket at the event, being chosen by 36% of competitors. Next most popular was Babolat with 26%, and then Head with 21%. With these three accounting for 83% of players, it doesn’t leave much room for the Princes, Dunlops, Yonexes, Tecnifibres, and other manufacturers around.
Doha (Men) and Brisbane (Men and Ladies)
Doha
Who says lightning doesn’t strike twice? Having beaten Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the last major event of 2009, Nicolay Davydenko repeated the feat in the first open event of 2010 at Doha in Qatar.
After taking our Federer in straight sets in the semi-final, Davydenko recovered from the loss of a 6-0 first set to take the match 6-4 in the third. Davydenko played with the Prince Ozone Tour racket, strung with Polystar Energy strings at55/53lbs. There was no ‘P’ logo on Davydenko’s Prince racket, an indication that, as in 2009, he is still to agree sponsorship terms with Prince. Davydenko is hot at the moment, and must be an outside bet for the upcoming Australian Open. His Polystar strings remain one of the most underrated on the market.
As in the exhibition event in Abu Dhabi the week before, Rafa Nadal played the Babolat AeroPro Drive racket strung with black strings at 55lbs. Still no word on what the strings are, but a black version of the Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour he’s used so successfully for the last few years remains the best bet.
Roger Federer’s semi-final loss has led him to withdraw from the eight man exhibition at Kooyong the week before the Australian Open. Problems with his new Wilson Six.One Tour BLX racket? Possibly, He’s using the same Wilson Natural Gut/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough hybrid stringing he’s used for the past four years, so there shouldn’t be any problems there. Perhaps it’s just early season rust.
Brisbane
Andy Roddick picked up the Men’s Singles title in Brisbane, with a straight sets, two-tie-break win over Radek Stepanek. A great result for Roddick, playing his first tournament since his return from injury. Roddick used the Babolat Pure Drive Roddick GT racket strung with a Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour/ Babolat VS Team hybrid at 73/61lbs. Radek Stepanek played with the Bosworth Custom racket and Pacific Prime Gut combination that served him so well last year, Radek’s chosen tension being 55/53lbs.
The men in Brisbane were overshadowed by the ladies, however, with the ‘dream final’ of Kim Clijsters v Justine Henin coming to fruition. Clijsters survived two match points to take the title in a third set tie-break, having let slip a lead of a set and 3-0, and 4-1. Kim used her usual Babolat Pure Drive racket, strung, as usual, with Babolat Pure Drive Team natural gut strings at 58lbs. Runner-up Justine was using the new Wilson Tour BLX racket. Justine remained faithful to the Maillot Savarez natural gut strings she used before her short retirement, and strung at her usual 57.5lbs. Natural gut strings continue to be the choice amongst the top women players, whilst polyesters and polyester hybrids lead the way on the men’s side.
Capitala World Tennis Championships – Abu Dhabi
2010 got underway with a men’s invitation exhibition event, where there was some new equipment on display. Roger Federer debuted the new Wilson Six.One Tour BLX racket he’ll be using this year in place of the Wilson [K] Factor Six.One Tour he’s used since 2006. His string choice remains the same – Wilson Natural Gut mains, and Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough crosses, strung at 50/47lbs.
Rafael Nadal pitched up with his new Babolat AeroPro Drive GT racket, the GT standing for ‘Graphite Tungsten’, materials incorporated in the frame. It’s an evolution of the AeroPro Drive he’s used so successfully for the last few years. Creating more interest, however, were the black strings Rafa was using. What were they? As he’s under a ten year contract to play with Babolat rackets and strings they’ll certainly be Babolat, but there are no black strings in the current Babolat string range. The smart money says they’re Babolat Pro Hurricane Tour in a black finish, and he was stringing at his usual tension of 55lbs. Whether this is the case or not, and whether Rafa uses them in the upcoming Australian Open, remains to be seen. As he won the event they can’t be playing too badly!
Lastly, David Ferrer, a late replacement for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, played with the Prince Ozone Tour rather than his usual Prince Vendetta DB. It could be that Ferrer was using the event to evaluate the Ozone in competitive play prior to making a decision on a possible switch, or he may already have decided. Again, the Australian Open, which begins on 18th January, will see.