The 19 year old Slovak is currently at a career high of 288, having made the semis of Bratislava last week - knocking out Stakhovsky, Starace and Zib before losing to eventual champion Mertinak.
In July he won 3 successive futures titles and also reached 2 finals in the first half of the year.
Cervenak is a stylish player, he relies a lot on his serve though. He's good at the net and has a solid forehand, his backhand is not so much of a weapon - he hits either slice or a double-hander. His weakness is his returning and also he tends to be a bit kamikaze on his opponent's service games, goes for a lot of flashy shots and either hits a string of clean winners or concedes the game with a load of wild unforced errors flying wide and long.
I think Jonny will have a chance against him, Cervenak isn't comfortable playing against guys who attack the net a lot as Mertinak showed last week. He's more comfortably outrallying opponents from the baseline.
Looking ahead to the match Jonny said "I am really looking forward to the first round, the draw has been good to me, I saw him play last week and he got to the semi's in Bratislava, so I know he's playing well, but so am I."
Not about this match - but I couldn't help giggling at this report on the Challenger's site, about one of Jonny's earlier matches:
Today in Dnepropetrovsk all four matches of qualification were played in which permittions to the the main draw were played In one of them met Ilya Marchenko and Jonathan Marray. As a director of Donetsk club " Vikkort " Alena Svetovaya admitted that her player , unfortunately, had no chance to win. British tennisist constantly approached to net where operated very variously,and systematically leading Ilya down. As a result, an easy victory of Scottish tennisist - 6:2,6:3.
I bet Jonny is a bit surprised to find himself suddenly Scottish!
Madeline wrote: Not about this match - but I couldn't help giggling at this report on the Challenger's site, about one of Jonny's earlier matches:
Today in Dnepropetrovsk all four matches of qualification were played in which permittions to the the main draw were played In one of them met Ilya Marchenko and Jonathan Marray. As a director of Donetsk club " Vikkort " Alena Svetovaya admitted that her player , unfortunately, had no chance to win. British tennisist constantly approached to net where operated very variously,and systematically leading Ilya down. As a result, an easy victory of Scottish tennisist - 6:2,6:3.
I bet Jonny is a bit surprised to find himself suddenly Scottish!
lol don't you love dodgy translations. love the word "tennisist" though read it as terrorist at first!
thats a real chance for jonny if he can quell the home support - i imagine a young player like bubka won't be used to jonny's style so may struggle. hopefully he can pole vault into the quarters... then a potential chance for revenge vs starace - its all mapped out!
goldenboy wrote: thats a real chance for jonny if he can quell the home support - i imagine a young player like bubka won't be used to jonny's style so may struggle. hopefully he can pole vault into the quarters... then a potential chance for revenge vs starace - its all mapped out!
-- Edited by goldenboy at 15:01, 2006-11-14
Hmm- not wishing to put a downer on it, but I seem to remember that Bubka spend a few months doing the British futures circuit either earlier this year or at the end of last year - so he's probably met a few british serve volleyers before.....
Madeline wrote: Not about this match - but I couldn't help giggling at this report on the Challenger's site, about one of Jonny's earlier matches:
Today in Dnepropetrovsk all four matches of qualification were played in which permittions to the the main draw were played In one of them met Ilya Marchenko and Jonathan Marray. As a director of Donetsk club " Vikkort " Alena Svetovaya admitted that her player , unfortunately, had no chance to win. British tennisist constantly approached to net where operated very variously,and systematically leading Ilya down. As a result, an easy victory of Scottish tennisist - 6:2,6:3.
I bet Jonny is a bit surprised to find himself suddenly Scottish!
lol don't you love dodgy translations. love the word "tennisist" though read it as terrorist at first!
Also, there's a slightly dodgy bit further down the report about Johansson "examining" Ledovskikh
What a performance against such an on-form player I believe he gains 12 points for reaching rd2 [9 + 3 for qualifying] and that will take him back into the top 300 !!!! He's certain to move up to at least 289, so he's secured his place in AO qualies at the start of 2007.
Great opportunity to make the quarters though Bubka will be tough to beat on home soil and he must have been playing well to beat Bracciali, what was the score in that match ?
24 points for Jonny if he makes the quarters so a lot at stake. Bubka is ranked 426, the win over Bracciali came out of the blue to be honest, he lost in qualifying for the Aachen and Eckental challengers in the last couple of weeks. Just shows what home support can do. This autumn, his best results have been making the quarters and semis of two 15Ks in France. In challengers this year, his best result came in a weak tournament in Uzbekistan where he qualified and made the quarters.
Against serve-volleyers earlier this year: He lost to Fleming, has a 1-1 record v Goodall, beat Bamford. He's probably played a lot more though.
ultimateshedman wrote: Great opportunity to make the quarters though Bubka will be tough to beat on home soil and he must have been playing well to beat Bracciali, what was the score in that match ?
7-6 7-5, the same as the score in Jonny's match.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!