Date: 4/11/2011
Result: Monte-Carlo R1, Jarkko Nieminen def. Julien Benneteau, 4-6 6-3 7-6
Why it matters:
- Since a severe wrist injury took Nieminen away from the game in mid-2009, he just hasn't been the same consistent performer on the tour that he had long proven himself to be. He gets enough quality wins mixed in with some poor losses nowadays, but his progress back seems to really have been slowed. Del Potro went through a severe wrist injury, but he has shown that his recovery can be mercurial. Now, of course I don't mean to suggest that Nieminen's talent matches that of Del Potro, a major winner, but it makes me wonder a bit about how the recovery process might work. I think the fact that Nieminen is the only "top" player from Finland may hamper his ability to recover. Del Potro has a strong contingent of Argentine buddies who were willing and able to practice with him when they were at home to help Del Potro remember what top-flight competition is like. Nieminen, while likeable enough, probably did not have his "pick of the litter" of top talent while home in Finland recuperating. It just makes Nieminen's career impressive as a whole that he had to be the single trend-setter in his nation to perform well on tour. I wonder if, but highly doubt, we'll see a crop of young Finns storming the tour in the next decade following in the footsteps of Jarkko.
- Benneteau probably should have won this match. Not just because he served for it, but because on paper he seemed more impressive. Although his year has been less than stellar, he's had some nice results on clay over his career and, as a qualifier, had positive momentum. But Benneteau seems to struggle with the players he should probably be beating. He plays the top guys tough - even gets wins at times - so he always is on the radar as a possible dark horse. Yet, if you look at his results, he goes three sets often against people ranked below him, and loses too many matches to those outside the top 100 (or gets taken to 3 or 5 sets by them and loses the next round due to fatigue). If Benneteau can stop putting pressure on himself to win the "easy" matches, the way he swings freely against the top guys, he still could stay a part of the main tour into his early 30s.
Honorable Mentions:
- Monte-Carlo R1, Robin Haase def. Nikolay Davydenko - 75 46 64 - I've said this numerous times, but I still can't believe Davydenko isn't making his push back to the top yet. With a history of solid results on clay, this is probably his last true chance to gain momentum before his nemesis - grass courts. For Haase, a good, grinding win to start the clay court season. Dutch players always seem to be fairly adept on all surfaces, but I would never pick clay as the perfect fit for Haase. That makes the result all the more impressive
- Monte-Carlo R1, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Juan Monaco - 46 63 62 - Tsonga's pounding groundstrokes should allow him to have similar success on clay as someone like Robin Soderling, but Tsonga always seems to lack the patience and picks inopportune times to go for a little something extra. If Tsonga can keep his composure like he did today and play more within himself, he may be able to thrill the home crowd in Paris next month. For Monaco, another winnable match slips by. With 5 three set losses on tour already this year, along with a four set loss against Haase in Australia, Monaco has put himself in reasonable positions over and over without closing; a worrying pattern for the Argentine who would want to put himself back in the top 20.
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