Left field

Has ‘Bubba golf’ got the legs for world domination?

Inspired by Bubba Watson’s brilliance, beautifully encapsulated in that wedge from the pine needles on Augusta’s feared 10th hole en route to winning the Masters on Sunday, I took to the range for a good old clout of the golf ball rather than worrying about a textbook swing.

Ugly noise. Ball darts off right. Left-handed kid receiving a lesson two bays away, who when asked who his favourite player was replies “Bubba Watson”, hits it better with the same club (7 iron).

Try again. Legs and body sway violently. My wrists, better suited for short game artistry (well, escaping from behind trees and the like), bend like rubber while my head is about as stationary as a last-day Masters crowd galloping up the side of the fairway to glimpse a view of the winning putt.

The result of my second shot, or the next 168 balls I hit, is irrelevant. The point is that the unorthodox genius of Watson is unrivalled in the world of golf. Long may it continue.

Any instructor would tell you to ‘Look away now’ as the newly crowned Masters champion larrups another tee shot with his legs moving all over the place or bends a sand wedge into a tricky pin from 170 yards.  No one was averting their eyes on Sunday.

Can it last though? Watson’s first PGA Tour title, in June 2010, was four and a half years in the making after his debut in 2006 and his form has always been sporadic, until this year. So far in 2012 he has chalked up one win at the Masters, three top-fives and a worst finish of tied-18th.

Whether his current run of form can continue for years and years in the same vein as Tiger Woods is a tough question. Less than a year ago Louis Oosthuizen, defeated by Watson in the Masters playoff on Sunday, said to me he simply “wasn’t swinging it well” when I asked him the reasons behind missing the cut at the European Tour’s flagship event, the PGA Championship.

Miami courts too slow – Rusedski

By Greg Rusedski

All the talk at the Miami Masters Series was again about the top four and if Roger Federer would be able to continue his amazing run. Miami is a tough event to win immediately after Indian Wells due to its slower conditions, heavy humidity and at times; strong winds.

Federer was trying to win Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back for the third time in his career. Federer has been on an amazing run since losing in the semi-finals of the US Open. He has won 6 of his last 8 events and has amassed the most points of any player since mid-September of last year. Unfortunately for Roger, he lost to Andy Roddick in the third round when he ran out of gas with Roddick playing well. This will hurt Roger because he owns Roddick and had beaten him in 24 out of 26 matches up until this match.

Nadal looked great all week to get to the semi-finals but had to pull out against Murray with a re-occurring knee problem before the match started. This was such a shame because he was playing so well. Everyone in the tennis business has always had question marks over whether Nadal could hold together physically because of the way he plays and moves; it is not efficient and is extremely physical. I hope this is more of a precaution for Rafa than a serious injury.

Murray on the other hand has had everything go his way with a default in the third round against the dangerous Canadian Milo Raonic and then in the semi-finals against Rafa Nadal to be back in the Miami finals.

Novak Djokovic played great all week and beat surprise semi-finalist Juan Monaco to meet Andy Murray in the finals. Andy vs. Novak is always an interesting proposition. They grew up playing junior tennis together so they know one another inside and out, this always adds an extra dimension. Novak didn’t play his best nor did Andy, but Novak showed why he is world number one by winning 6-1 7-6. Novak does everything a little better than Andy and looks like he is going to continue to dominate men’s tennis. The match lasted over two hours for two sets because the balls and courts were too slow.

Federer makes it 19

By Greg Rusedski

The Indian Wells masters series is always a difficult event for the players. They have to get used to playing in the desert air as the ball travels a little quicker and further than you expect. Thus they have to move quicker, tighten their racquet strings, or put more top spin on the ball to bring it into court. That is why the top players like to arrive as early as possible.

Roger Federer came into the event in great form having won Rotterdam and Dubai. Rafael Nadal on the other hand hadn’t played a match in 40 days and it would be interesting to see if he was rusty. Novak Djokovic had been playing well all year, even though he lost in the semi-finals in Dubai to Andy Murray. Djokovic looks very confident, he is not as concerned about winning every event as he was last year. He is comfortable being world number 1 and looks more focused on winning majors. This year expect him to balance out his schedule more and play a little less tennis.

Murray went out again for the third straight year in his first match. He lost to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, the world number 23. Garcia-Lopez played great and Murray couldn’t do much about it. Murray thought he did not move as well as he would have liked but that is also in part adjusting to the conditions. I expect Murray to have a good run next week in Miami. Lendl is back in the camp to make sure Murray is going to be back on top form.

Nadal and Federer both looked sublime all week and set up a rematch of the Australian Open semi-finals, which Nadal won. Federer dominated Nadal 6-3 6-4. The conditions in Dubai and Indian Wells are perfect for Federer with the ball flying through the air that much quicker. I still believe that Rafa has the advantage against Federer in five set matches, even with Federer playing so well since that loss at the Australian Open.

Federer at his sublime best in Paris

By Greg Rusedski

The Paris Masters was going to determine who was going to be the last players to qualify for the ATP world finals in London. The last few places were up for grabs and all the players that were in pole position ended up qualifying. The top eight for the field ended up being Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish.

The other story of the week concerned Djokovic and whether he would play after shoulder problems in Basel. If he didn’t play he would have missed his commitments for the master series events and it would have cost him over 1 million pounds in bonus pool money. He did play!

Could Murray continue his unbeaten run since the U.S. Open and win his fourth event in a row?

Also worth noting that Nadal pulled out the week before the event to concentrate on the ATP world finals and the Davis Cup final. With all the other big names playing it wasn’t a big loss. This was a smart thing for Nadal to do because he needs the rest.

In the quarter finals against Tsonga, Djokovic pulled out the night before with shoulder problems. This is starting to become an issue but hopefully he can have his shoulder fully fit for the ATP world finals in a weeks time.

After 18 straight wins following the U.S. Open Murray lost in the quarter-finals to Berdych, who played a really great game.

McIlroy and Woods still have reasons to be positive

One of the most riveting final rounds at the Masters left Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy dealing with bitter disappointment, although they each appear to have bright prospects going forward.

Woods, without a tournament win for nearly 17 months, looked like the Tiger of old as he charged into contention over the front nine at Augusta National on Sunday, banishing any thought he might be a spent force.

He may have stalled in his title bid after the turn as his putter cooled but his inspired form from tee to green, which sparked trademark Tiger roars across the course, suggested a 15th major victory could be on the immediate horizon.

Britain’s McIlroy will almost certainly take longer to come to terms with his major heartache, having suffered one of the worst final-round collapses of all time in a grand slam event.

The 21-year-old, touted as a future world number one, led by four strokes going into the last day at Augusta National before tumbling out of contention with an eight-over-par 80 that was almost unbearable to watch.

Having produced remarkably mature golf well beyond his years over the first three rounds, McIlroy let a first green jacket slip through his hands as he missed several short putts early on before succumbing to a snap left hook.

Yet the brave and honest way in which the Northern Irish prodigy faced up to the media after enduring one of his worst days on a golf course suggested he is a characterful player who will rebound.

Tales from tennis’ fifth major

Greg Rusedski writes exclusively for Reuters thanks to Thomson Reuters’ sponsorship of the Lawn Tennis Association.

The Sony Ericsson Open tournament is considered the fifth major by most of the tennis fraternity. It became a week with many story lines:

- Could Andy Murray regain form? - Would Juan Martin del Potro continue his great comeback form? - Would there be a new American number 1? - Would Roger Federer be in the mix for his 2nd title this year? - Could Rafael Nadal win Miami for the first time? - And finally could Novak Djokovic continue his unbeaten season?

Murray was even worse than last week and lost to Alex Bogomolov Jr. in straight sets in his first match. This is now two weeks in a row losing to players outside the top 100. Following his defeat he parted company with his part time coach Alex Corretja. He said by Monte Carlo there would be a new coach appointed who has won a major or coached a player to a major. There has been lots of speculation from Lendl to Connors to Wilander, nobody knows. Also on April fool’s day Murray announced on twitter that his friend and doubles specialist Ross Hutchins would be his new coach. Sky Sports, BBC and the world press ran with the story and were not impressed by his Aprils fool’s joke because of the proximity to his parting of company with his coach. I believe he needs to stay away from these sorts of games and appoint a top coach or top psychologist to get back to his best. This is turning out to be a very difficult period in his career. It is only going to get more difficult with clay court season about to start. He needs to just concentrate on his tennis.

Juan Martin del Potro continued his great comeback form this week by defeating world number 4 Robin Soderling. It is great to see one of the best strikers of a tennis ball and former US Open Champion getting back in the mix. He will only continue to get better with Clay court season about to begin, having grown up on clay in Argentina. Unfortunately he lost a very tight match to Mardy Fish in the 4th round, but is getting better each week. This is great for men’s tennis because we need more players in the mix at the top with Djokovic and Nadal dominating.

From the American point of view with defending Champion Andy Roddick going out early, Mardy Fish would become the new American number 1 if he could get to the semi-finals. It would be a first for the American. Mardy Fish made it to the semi-finals and at 5-3 down in the first set to Djokovic he had 2 break points and should have broken. Djokovic looked tired for the first time in his incredible run at 5-3 up, but managed to hold the game to win the set 6-3 and then mentally he ignored his fatigue from there to win 6-1 and win his 23rd match in a row this year to make the finals. Fish had a great week and became the American number 1 for the first time in his career which is a great accomplishment. It is great to see a player attacking and coming to the net. A style I miss seeing on tour.

So many story lines at Indian Wells

The first Masters Series event of the year in Indian Wells, California was absolutely brilliant: so many story lines. How would Rafael Nadal play in his first ATP event after his injury in the Australian Open? Could Novak Djokovic continue his unbeatable form this year having won in Australia and Dubai? How would Andy Murray play after his 1st round loss in Rotterdam? Could Juan Martin Del Potro get back to his best form again after winning Delray Beach earlier this year? Would Roger Federer win Indian Wells for a record 4th time?

Murray played poorly and lost his first match to American qualifier and world number 143, Donald Young. He didn’t seem into the match and played very passively to lose in straight sets. This sort of performance asks more questions about his mental state after losing again in the finals of the Australian Open in January. He needs to get back on track in Miami because he is in danger of losing his world number 4 ranking. This means he could face Nadal, Federer, or Djokovic in the quarter-finals of events instead of the semi-finals. Let’s hope for a good run in Miami because this could set the tone for the rest of the year for Murray. He needs to play more proactively. Also a change of direction with either a new coach who has worked with the very best or a mentor who has won majors. He needs some freshness brought to his tennis. It has to be fun again.

On the other hand Juan Martin Del Potro has made great strides in the last few weeks and is starting to regain his form after a long layoff from wrist surgery. He plays aggressive tennis and played great this week to make the semi-finals against Nadal. He is not yet ready to beat the very best but in 2 or 3 months he will, if he can stay healthy.

Nadal did not play great this week but with each match he got better and found a way to win. The quarter final match against Ivo Karlovic showed how much tenacity he has to win in a final set tie breaker, in a match were he had no rhythm. He has probably got the greatest mental strength of any tennis player I have ever seen. In the semi-finals versus Del Potro he was down 1-4 and fought back to win 5 games in a row to win the set 6-4 and started to play his best tennis of the week to make the finals.

Djokovic, on the other hand was sensational all week having destroyed all his opponents until he set up a semi-final match with Roger Federer. Djokovic has beaten Federer twice this year in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and finals of Dubai. There was an added motivation for both players because whoever won the match would be world number 2. They both talked that down but both players want to be ahead of each other in the rankings. It was the match of the tournament with Djokovic winning the 1st set and then Federer hit back to win the 2nd set. Djokovic showed us why he has not lost this year and raised his level to win convincingly 6-2 in the final set. He really took advantage of Federer’s one handed backhand and served so well on the big points. Also Djokovic’s movement, defence, attack and mental state make him look like a world number 1 in the making. Only one more place to go.