great play bay alex this week, doesnt look like he has dropped serve once, he has had a bit of luck on the draw (although not in the 2 weeks b4 so evens), but has also done a great job under pressure of last years win.

none of the 6 sets have even really been close, the sf points really help him keeping a decent year end ranking , of cousre he and we will want more, but he can be hopefully he can feel some of the pressure is off.  

 

Wow, that's a fantastic result ! I never expected it to be that emphatic, in their previous two matches it's been really close. Alex won 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 in Helsinki last year and 6-7[7], 6-4, 6-2 in Lanzarote earlier this year. I thought there'd be at least one breaker if Alex was going to win, possibly two. Ryderstedt has such a massive leftie serve and he's a serve-volleyer, very tough to break on a fast surface and Alex did it 4 times !!! Ryderstedt's currently ranked 368 but that's due to injuries after he reached his peak of 130 in summer 2005.

Alex tends to do well against serve-volleyers, one of Alex's big strengths is his hand skills which is useful against on-rushing players as it means he can create superb angles on the passing shots. Also useful against serve-volleyers is Alex's cool demeanour on court, you never ever see him getting flustered, he always looks very calm. This means that he's able to concentrate on the shot rather than feeling the pressure of the opponent coming in, which is vital as it's all too easy to rush the pass and mis hit it.

In his match against Henman in Bangkok, he passed Tim so many times and forced him to stop coming to the net.

Alex was very confident when I spoke to him last night he says he's been returning extremely well and dominating the rallies from start. He's never let anyone of his opponents this week get into the match and that's why the scorelines have been so convincing.

I mentioned about Peter Lundgren working with the Brits in January. Alex is hoping to get the chance to link up, he says that Lundgren's a really nice guy and great to have around. Lundgren's been speaking to lots of the players this week, Alex was hoping to have a chat on Tuesday but apparently there was this 6ft6 blond guy who spent the afternoon gasing to Lundgren and Alex didn't get the chance

Like me, he wishes that Man U could show similar ruthlessness in finishing off opponents, especially in the champions league

goldenboy wrote:

---

good stuff by al, he should reach the final now!

his performance this week just makes me think if only he's reached, say, a quarter and semi of the challengers he got knocked out early in and he'd be knocking on the door of the top 100 and v prob a DA into the aussie open. 

---

You're right, obviously, but that's always going to be the case, if only.......

The guys who are in the top 100 are there because they were fit enough to not have periods off injured and consistent enough to win enough of those if only's.

For all the close games Boggo's lost he's won a lot too. There's all the players he beat at Mons saying... if only, Chiudinelli in particular, and he's had good draws and bad ones same as the rest.

Boggo will reach the top 100 when he's good enough, consistent enough & fit enough.

That's why there's so many more who have nearly made the top 100 as have actually made it, Martin lee is the only player apart from tim, greg and andy to have made it in the last 10 years, and he got to 94 for a fairly short period of time, that's why I keep saying it will be a big achievement if/ when alex makes it and shouldnt be taken for granted.

 

ultimateshedman wrote:

---

Wow, that's a fantastic result ! I never expected it to be that emphatic, in their previous two matches it's been really close. Alex won 7-5, 6-7, 7-6 in Helsinki last year and 6-7[7], 6-4, 6-2 in Lanzarote earlier this year. I thought there'd be at least one breaker if Alex was going to win, possibly two. Ryderstedt has such a massive leftie serve and he's a serve-volleyer, very tough to break on a fast surface and Alex did it 4 times !!! Ryderstedt's currently ranked 368 but that's due to injuries after he reached his peak of 130 in summer 2005.

Alex tends to do well against serve-volleyers, one of Alex's big strengths is his hand skills which is useful against on-rushing players as it means he can create superb angles on the passing shots. Also useful against serve-volleyers is Alex's cool demeanour on court, you never ever see him getting flustered, he always looks very calm. This means that he's able to concentrate on the shot rather than feeling the pressure of the opponent coming in, which is vital as it's all too easy to rush the pass and mis hit it.

In his match against Henman in Bangkok, he passed Tim so many times and forced him to stop coming to the net.

Alex was very confident when I spoke to him last night he says he's been returning extremely well and dominating the rallies from start. He's never let anyone of his opponents this week get into the match and that's why the scorelines have been so convincing.

I mentioned about Peter Lundgren working with the Brits in January. Alex is hoping to get the chance to link up, he says that Lundgren's a really nice guy and great to have around. Lundgren's been speaking to lots of the players this week, Alex was hoping to have a chat on Tuesday but apparently there was this 6ft6 blond guy who spent the afternoon gasing to Lundgren and Alex didn't get the chance

Like me, he wishes that Man U could show similar ruthlessness in finishing off opponents, especially in the champions league

---

Very emphatic and a great week for alex so far, keep it going fella, seems to like these courts. There not actually all that fast, medium for indoor hard I'd say. But seem to suit alex whatever.

Think Peter's here the week of the first week of the aussie open so hopefully alex might miss him, but if not it's a good consolation prize.

 

i think alex has improved his patience which helps against the 'hackers'. He is now much more prepared to rally it out rather then go for a rash winner. Sometimes he gets criticised for not being agressive enough, but surely thats better than going for lots of low % shots like he used to 

-- Edited by Count Zero at 13:36, 2006-11-23

Much better chance against Meffert than Berrer I think!