Roger Federer listening to his body more than ever
The birthday boy continues to use his listening ears.
Roger Federer, who turns 34 years old Saturday, is paying special attention to his physical state more than ever -- a commitment that he hopes will propel him to his first US Open title since 2008.
To ensure he will be in the best possible shape for Flushing Meadows, Federer withdrew from next week's warm-up tournament in Montreal and will now play only one warm-up event (Cincinnati) before the final Grand Slam of the year.
"Roger is very strong at listening to his body and then telling his coaches and those around him, including me, how he feels," Federer's fitness trainer, Pierre Paganini, told ESPN. "I've never known another player who has been so able to tell you exactly how he feels. And that's very important for being able to anticipate any possible injuries. That helps me so much that Roger gives me that information and that we can anticipate a lot. There's a lot of talking, and saying the right things at the right moments, and Roger is unbelievable at that."
If Federer wants to give himself the best possible chance of success, Paganini said, the world No. 2 must put a great deal of thought into organizing his tournament schedule and playing the right amount of tennis.
"You cannot be in good shape 365 days of the year," said Paganini, who uses some of the time between tournaments to strengthen any weaker parts of Federer's body. "But you can identify the most important periods of the year when you would like to be in the best possible shape.
"It's important to have times when you work hard and also times when you are resting and recovering, and of course there are going to be lots of times when you are playing. Roger can see the difference between what is important now and what is important in the long term. He is great at planning." As he demonstrated once again at Wimbledon this summer, where he was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic, Federer's game is built around his excellent movement. He wouldn't be able to hit the ball with such poise and purpose if his body wasn't in good condition.
"You need endurance and also need explosive power and speed and acceleration," Paganini said. "You can play for one hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, and you might play 70 or 80 matches in a year. You might play five or six matches in a week.
"The reactions are important, because you never run a long way in tennis. You do a lot of stop and go. In tennis, you have to push again and again as you stop and go. In the end, what matters is not how fast you are, but how you use that speed. And it's not about how strong you are, but about the strength that you need and how you use that strength.
Summer history suggests better things in store for Murray
Andy Murray entered this hard-court summer season eager to get on with the business of finishing the year ranked No. 2 in the world (behind all-but-certain No. 1 Novak Djokovic) for the first time in his career.
He let everyone know he was committed to the task when he showed up in Washington, D.C., about a week early, more like some eager beaver wild card than an elite player and the ATP 500 tournament's top seed.
"I haven't hit a ball on a hard court since Miami," Murray told the ATP media last week. "That's in March, so it's been four or five months. That's a while, especially coming from grass [at Wimbledon]. The conditions are humid [in Washington D.C.]. It takes a long time to get used to it, which is why I arrived on Tuesday. It's the earliest I've arrived for any event the whole year."
As if Murray needed any extra incentive, about a week ago, current No. 2 Roger Federer pulled out of the Canada Masters 1,000 in Montreal. Given Federer will lose 600 points when that tournament ends, Murray was looking at a net gain of 1,100 points with a win in Washington. He trails Federer by 1,825.
But the master plan took a shocking hit Wednesday night, as Murray was upset by the ATP's No. 53 player, an on-fire Teymuraz Gabashvili. The Georgian slugger played with reckless -- but flawless -- abandon in the critical late stages of the match. He won 85 percent of his first serves. Television commentator Jim Courier described Gabashvili as a "poor man's Marat Safin," but there was nothing impoverished about the game that eliminated the top seed.
And it wasn't even humid.
But never mind. Murray has plenty of time to recover from this false start and all kinds of reasons to feel good about his chances to finish the year in second place in the Big Four pecking order.
Let's start with one that Murray fans would rather not spend a lot of time on. Federer himself couldn't care less about this particular race.
No. 2? You've got to be kidding. Been there, done that.
For Federer, it's all about the majors. He practically counted out those 1,100 points by hand and placed them in Murray's palm by pulling out of Montreal, and he did it without a second thought, because Roger Federer cares about one thing only this summer: doing whatever it takes to improve his chances to win the US Open.
Federer's attitude doesn't diminish Murray's effort or his talents, which take on a special glow at this time of year. Perhaps it's because once Wimbledon is over, Murray's life becomes much less stressful. How could it not, given the pressures he deals with so successfully -- and uncomplainingly -- during Wimbledon?
Murray is clearly the junior member of the vaunted Big Four. His combined record against the trio he's in with is 25-47. More to the point, he's lost four straight to Federer and his past eight to Djokovic. Murray is 3-3 in his past six matches against the floundering Rafael Nadal. Yet if you look just at Murray's summer Masters 1000 record, he seems the equal of all but Federer.
Murray has won Cincinnati and Canada twice each. Nadal has three wins in Canada and one in Ohio. Djokovic also won Canada three times, but he's winless in Cincinnati despite making four finals. Federer has six in Cincinnati and two in Canada, but at 33, he's got about five years on Murray.
Also, Murray is just warming up at about the time that most of his cronies are winding down. He habitually does some of his best work in the fall. Murray has won more than a quarter of his 34 singles titles in the fall -- a disproportionate number for an elite player. But it's unlikely he'll outdo his performance of 2014 anytime soon.
Desperate to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals last year, Murray barnstormed through seven events in five countries in the post-US Open period. He achieved his goal, but he was so gassed for the London grand finale that Federer was able to pulverize him in the round-robin portion, 6-0, 6-1.
On Wednesday, Murray must have felt frustrated, seeing 500 potential points slip through his fingers. But surely he'll remind himself that, if the past is any indication, there's plenty more where they came from.
Philipp Kohlschreiber, Paul-Henri Mathieu advance to final in Kitzbuehel
KITZBUEHEL, Austria -- Philipp Kohlschreiber ended top-seeded Dominic Thiem's 10-match winning streak on Friday, setting up a final against Paul-Henri Mathieu of France at the Generali Open.
The sixth-seeded German defeated Thiem 6-0, 7-6 (6) in the semifinal of the season's last clay-court event. The 21st-ranked Austrian was coming off back-to-back tournament wins in Umag, Croatia, and Gstaad, Switzerland.
Earlier, qualifier Mathieu defeated Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-4, 6-3 to reach his first ATP final in six years.
Kohlschreiber, who is 3-1 against Mathieu, also reached the final here in 2012 when he lost to Robin Haase of the Netherlands. Kohlschreiber is aiming for the sixth title of his career, Mathieu for his fifth.
Kohlschreiber avoided break points the entire match against Thiem. He missed four chances on the Austrian's serve in the second set and saved a set point in the tiebreaker before converting his first match point.
"I had a fantastic start; I succeeded with everything I tried," Kohlschreiber said. "In the second set, I made some unforced errors. That helped him back into the match."
Mathieu played his last of eight finals in Hamburg in 2009, two years after winning his last title in Gstaad. He is the first qualifier in the Open era to reach the final of the clay-court event in Kitzbuehel.
"I've been working very hard to come back after my injury," said the formerly 12th-ranked Mathieu, who missed the entire 2011 season because of left knee problems.
Almagro dropped his serve for a second time at 5-4 in the opening set after a dispute with a ball boy, who he judged too slow. He then lost the first four games of the second set. Mathieu converted his first point with his sixth ace.
Daniele Bracciali, Potito Starace get lifetime bans for fixing matches
ROME -- The Italian tennis federation has banned Daniele Bracciali and Potito Starace for life for match-fixing.
The federation performed its own investigation after a probe by judicial authorities in Cremona that used intercepted phone and Internet conversations to show the players fixed matches.
They face charges of criminal association.
In a 2007 conversation between Bracciali and an accountant who was arrested in 2011, Bracciali allegedly discussed fixing a match in Newport, Rhode Island.
In 2011, an owner of a betting parlor later arrested was allegedly heard saying Starace agreed to sell the result of a final in Casablanca.
While acknowledging that the duo represented Italy "with passion" in Davis Cup for many years, president Angelo Binaghi said the federation may sue the players for damages if they're convicted.
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