MercedesCup / Stuttgart
Saturday 17 June
Semifinal Loss
Schuettler and Youzhny fell to Aspelin and Perry today, 46 26, ending their run for a doubles title.
This unrelated tennis news of note that just came out... Marion Jones pulls out of 200m qualifying heats and will hold a press conference later today. I really don't know what to make of Marion and this whole BALCO deal... guilty by association, you have to go with yes - but guilty with actual proof, no. I wonder if she's going to pull out of the Games completely - or maybe even admit to something in today's presser. She is the defending Olympic champion in the 100m (not going to Athens for that) and the 200m (just quit that) and the reigning bronze medalist in the long jump (would only be going for that, had the 2nd best jump of the year {and her best since 1998} this week). I really hope that it turns out she isn't on drugs - she is a phenomenal athlete, which goes back to high school in the early 1990s. I highly doubt she was on drugs then, and then at Chapel Hill she won an NCAA basketball title her freshman year before doing just track - so the goods are/were always there. As a person she has always been polite and approachable, always done a lot for numerous charities - and as is the case in sports, those aren't widely reported. I will be anxiously awaiting that press conference...
Friday 16 June
Semifinals Set
Thursday 15 June
Doubles Win
Mikhail Youzhny and Rainer Schuettler scored a straight set win over Nadal and Robredo today to move into the weekend semifinals. They won 63 64 and next face the Hood/Prieto v Aspelin/Perry winner. Both of these tandems reached the quarters with three-sets-with-a-tiebreak-win. That half of the doubles draw is on the Grandstand as the first match, with play starting at 11:30am, while the other portion (Dam/Suk v Arnold/Garcia) will be the last match on Centre Court on Friday.
Wednesday 14 July
Schuettler Singles Loss
A singles trophy on home soil will not happen here at the Mercedes Cup as Rainer Schuettler was defeated by Radek Stepanek in three sets, 76(6) 36 26. However, a quarterfinals doubles match with Youzhny still awaits as they face Nadal and Robredo.
Stepanek on the win: “This is a perfect start to the tournament for me. I had one more match in my legs and I think that was to my advantage today. It was Rainer's first match of the tournament. It's always tough to play Rainer, he is fighting all the time. It was very important for me to break him in the first set and turn the match to my advantage. I played him many times so I knew what I had to do on court and it worked again today.”
Schuettler's quotes: "“I had a some chances in the second set after having won the first set having several break points."
“After the first set I tried to put more pressure on him but he was serving very well. I let the match slip away from me and that shouldn't happen. I've lost three times in a row to him in the past, he's an awkward player for me to play. I played great last week in Gstaad and I was hoping to build on that form this week but this was definitely not the case today.”
The match is on Thursday, the last one on Center Court (play begins at noon). The Nadal v Iggy Chela doesn't start before 5pm, then the doubles match is to follow. Nadal could be tired, but Youzhny will also have a singles match (v Novak) on Thursday as the second match of the day. Best quote so far, Youzhny after defeating Popp, “I have good memories from here in Stuttgart. But I'm a little bit tired of playing Germans all the time... I will try to play a little bit better than I did today in my next match.” (Audio link)
Before the match, Rainer took part in an on-court ceremony, here is the site's recap:
Schüttler Made Member of International Tennis Club of Germany
Rainer Schüttler, No. 1 seed at the 26th MercedesCup, will be honored in a very special way before his match against Radek Stepanek (CZE) on the Center Court - he will be made a member of the International Tennis Club of Germany. The two vice-presidents of this international club, Bodo Nitsche and Alex Kurucz, will present him with the club tie.
Members of the club are players who have taken part in a competition abroad as part of a German tennis team and have rendered outstanding services to tennis in Germany. It is the task of the Club to promote a close sporting attitude between the players with social and sporting events and also to keep up and promote their contacts to their foreign partners. There are 34 nations with an International Club worldwide. The German club was founded in 1967 by Gottfried von Cramm and his tennis friends Wolfgang Hofer and Franz Feldbausch. The most renowned members include Steffi Graf, Anke Huber, Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Wilhelm Bungert, Christian Kuhnke, Carl-Uwe Steeb and Patrik Kühnen. The president is Franz Feldbausch and the honorary president Dr. Richard von Weizsäcker.
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Schuettler Shots... Photos
Tuesday 13 July
Doubles Advance
Rainer Schuettler and Mikhail Youzhny advanced to the quarterfinal round of the doubles today after Paes and Rikl had to retire in the first set. Down 3-5 and playing for 38 minutes, the 4th seed could not continue due to a shoulder injury of Rikl's.
Next up in the quarterfinals are Tommy Robredo and Rafael Nadal - who also advanced due to an injury to their first round opponents (Knowle and Pavel).
In 2004, the team of Nadal and Robredo won Chennai and were semifinalists at Dubai. Robredo also was a semifinalist at Rotterdam with Clement. In singles, both players have had good showings so far this season.
Schedule: Schuettler v Stepanek, Wednesday's Center Court 3rd match of the day, not to start before 5pm. Doubles probably on Thursday.
Weekend photos are now up under Monday's entry.
German word of the week: zwischenzeitlich
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Monday 12 July
Schuettler and Youzhny are the first match of the day on Tuesday (11am start, Center Court) as they take on Paes and Rikl. In singles, Stepanek defeated Guzman 76(4) 63, meaning he will be Rainer's opponent in the 2nd round (probably a Wed match).
Schuettler Shots... Photos
Sunday 11 July
Schuettler Top Seed
Rainer Schuetter is the top seed for the MercedesCup as he continues his dream of winning a German ATP singles tournament. He has a first round bye and will face the Radek Stepanek/Juan-Pablo Guzman winner.
In doubles, Rainer is playing again with Mikhail Youzhny (2002 singles champ) and they take on 4th seeded Leander Paes and David Rikl.
(No Rainer matches scheduled for Monday.)
Schuettler's only career doubles title came here in 2001 with Guillermo Canas.
Against Stepanek, Rainer is 2-3 lifetime - winning their first meeting in 2002 and their most recent this year. In 2003, Stepanek won all three matches against Rainer. Here are their results:
2004 Rotterdam Hard R16 Schuettler 63 64; 2003 Gstaad Clay Q Stepanek 46 26; 2003 Halle Grass R16 Stepanek 46 76(6) 36; 2003 Miami TMS Hard R32 Stepanek 46 46; and 2002 Munich Clay S Schuettler 64 63.
Schuettler and Guzman have not played one another before.
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Semifinal Loss
Schuettler and Youzhny fell to Aspelin and Perry today, 46 26, ending their run for a doubles title.
This unrelated tennis news of note that just came out... Marion Jones pulls out of 200m qualifying heats and will hold a press conference later today. I really don't know what to make of Marion and this whole BALCO deal... guilty by association, you have to go with yes - but guilty with actual proof, no. I wonder if she's going to pull out of the Games completely - or maybe even admit to something in today's presser. She is the defending Olympic champion in the 100m (not going to Athens for that) and the 200m (just quit that) and the reigning bronze medalist in the long jump (would only be going for that, had the 2nd best jump of the year {and her best since 1998} this week). I really hope that it turns out she isn't on drugs - she is a phenomenal athlete, which goes back to high school in the early 1990s. I highly doubt she was on drugs then, and then at Chapel Hill she won an NCAA basketball title her freshman year before doing just track - so the goods are/were always there. As a person she has always been polite and approachable, always done a lot for numerous charities - and as is the case in sports, those aren't widely reported. I will be anxiously awaiting that press conference...
Friday 16 June
Semifinals Set
The duo of Rainer Schuettler and Mikhail Youzhny will play Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry on Saturday in the semifinals. They are the third and last match of the day on Center Court, play begins at 1pm.
Aspelin and Perry advanced after their 75 46 62 win in the quarters over Hood and Prieto today. This year they were finalists in Bastad while Aspelin was also a finalist at Furth (w/ Oliver) and semifinalist at Weiden (w/Lindstedt) and Perry won Dallas (w/ Kerr) and reached the semifinals in Munich (w/Johansson) and San Luis Potosi (w/Thomas).
Thursday 15 June
Doubles Win
Mikhail Youzhny and Rainer Schuettler scored a straight set win over Nadal and Robredo today to move into the weekend semifinals. They won 63 64 and next face the Hood/Prieto v Aspelin/Perry winner. Both of these tandems reached the quarters with three-sets-with-a-tiebreak-win. That half of the doubles draw is on the Grandstand as the first match, with play starting at 11:30am, while the other portion (Dam/Suk v Arnold/Garcia) will be the last match on Centre Court on Friday.
Wednesday 14 July
Schuettler Singles Loss
A singles trophy on home soil will not happen here at the Mercedes Cup as Rainer Schuettler was defeated by Radek Stepanek in three sets, 76(6) 36 26. However, a quarterfinals doubles match with Youzhny still awaits as they face Nadal and Robredo.
Stepanek on the win: “This is a perfect start to the tournament for me. I had one more match in my legs and I think that was to my advantage today. It was Rainer's first match of the tournament. It's always tough to play Rainer, he is fighting all the time. It was very important for me to break him in the first set and turn the match to my advantage. I played him many times so I knew what I had to do on court and it worked again today.”
Schuettler's quotes: "“I had a some chances in the second set after having won the first set having several break points."
“After the first set I tried to put more pressure on him but he was serving very well. I let the match slip away from me and that shouldn't happen. I've lost three times in a row to him in the past, he's an awkward player for me to play. I played great last week in Gstaad and I was hoping to build on that form this week but this was definitely not the case today.”
The match is on Thursday, the last one on Center Court (play begins at noon). The Nadal v Iggy Chela doesn't start before 5pm, then the doubles match is to follow. Nadal could be tired, but Youzhny will also have a singles match (v Novak) on Thursday as the second match of the day. Best quote so far, Youzhny after defeating Popp, “I have good memories from here in Stuttgart. But I'm a little bit tired of playing Germans all the time... I will try to play a little bit better than I did today in my next match.” (Audio link)
Before the match, Rainer took part in an on-court ceremony, here is the site's recap:
Schüttler Made Member of International Tennis Club of Germany
Rainer Schüttler, No. 1 seed at the 26th MercedesCup, will be honored in a very special way before his match against Radek Stepanek (CZE) on the Center Court - he will be made a member of the International Tennis Club of Germany. The two vice-presidents of this international club, Bodo Nitsche and Alex Kurucz, will present him with the club tie.
Members of the club are players who have taken part in a competition abroad as part of a German tennis team and have rendered outstanding services to tennis in Germany. It is the task of the Club to promote a close sporting attitude between the players with social and sporting events and also to keep up and promote their contacts to their foreign partners. There are 34 nations with an International Club worldwide. The German club was founded in 1967 by Gottfried von Cramm and his tennis friends Wolfgang Hofer and Franz Feldbausch. The most renowned members include Steffi Graf, Anke Huber, Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Wilhelm Bungert, Christian Kuhnke, Carl-Uwe Steeb and Patrik Kühnen. The president is Franz Feldbausch and the honorary president Dr. Richard von Weizsäcker.
- ESPN wire report on loss
- ATP's news recap of Wednesday
- ESPN's Greg Garber has this interview with Steffi Graf regarding induction... nice read, lots of quotes - for Steffi
Tuesday 13 July
Doubles Advance
Rainer Schuettler and Mikhail Youzhny advanced to the quarterfinal round of the doubles today after Paes and Rikl had to retire in the first set. Down 3-5 and playing for 38 minutes, the 4th seed could not continue due to a shoulder injury of Rikl's.
Next up in the quarterfinals are Tommy Robredo and Rafael Nadal - who also advanced due to an injury to their first round opponents (Knowle and Pavel).
In 2004, the team of Nadal and Robredo won Chennai and were semifinalists at Dubai. Robredo also was a semifinalist at Rotterdam with Clement. In singles, both players have had good showings so far this season.
Schedule: Schuettler v Stepanek, Wednesday's Center Court 3rd match of the day, not to start before 5pm. Doubles probably on Thursday.
Weekend photos are now up under Monday's entry.
German word of the week: zwischenzeitlich
- Rediff (India) blurb on doubles
- Netzeitung.de report on the German players
- TennisMagazin.de brief on early tourney news
- Sporting Life report from Day One
- BBC Sport mini report on tourney's first day
- Houston Chronicle report from first day
Monday 12 July
Schuettler and Youzhny are the first match of the day on Tuesday (11am start, Center Court) as they take on Paes and Rikl. In singles, Stepanek defeated Guzman 76(4) 63, meaning he will be Rainer's opponent in the 2nd round (probably a Wed match).
Sunday 11 July
Schuettler Top Seed
Rainer Schuetter is the top seed for the MercedesCup as he continues his dream of winning a German ATP singles tournament. He has a first round bye and will face the Radek Stepanek/Juan-Pablo Guzman winner.
In doubles, Rainer is playing again with Mikhail Youzhny (2002 singles champ) and they take on 4th seeded Leander Paes and David Rikl.
(No Rainer matches scheduled for Monday.)
Schuettler's only career doubles title came here in 2001 with Guillermo Canas.
Against Stepanek, Rainer is 2-3 lifetime - winning their first meeting in 2002 and their most recent this year. In 2003, Stepanek won all three matches against Rainer. Here are their results:
2004 Rotterdam Hard R16 Schuettler 63 64; 2003 Gstaad Clay Q Stepanek 46 26; 2003 Halle Grass R16 Stepanek 46 76(6) 36; 2003 Miami TMS Hard R32 Stepanek 46 46; and 2002 Munich Clay S Schuettler 64 63.
Schuettler and Guzman have not played one another before.
- Rainer visiting Mercedes with Youzhny
posted by Sprtswrtr @ 11:58 PM
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