Grand Prix Hasan II Casablanca

[herios]

Guillermo Garcia Lopez def. Marcel Granollers 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

I am happy he won, whenever I am not involved, I want the older guy to win, just because they have left less time in their career.
So Congrats to him!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Looks like it does not matter in which part of the world, a clay tournament is being
held, and what level it is (250, 500 etc), only Spaniards end up remaining at the end.

In Houston, it is two Spaniards and so it is in Casablanca. All of this happens when
many Spaniards are not even playing this week.

There is so much dirt in Spain. Something needs to be done about this.
I don't know what.

Perhaps the rest of the world learn how to play better on this surface?

Agreed, herios. I don't know why GSM thinks something should "be done about" it…like limiting the number of Spaniards who can reach the SFs of a given tournament? Emilio Sanchez Vicario says that in Spain, they teach children to move their feet on a tennis court before they let them hit the ball, which he is now bringing to his tennis academy in FL. Perhaps that will help.

You are misunderstanding me. I did not mean that some rules should be changed so
that this does not happen. Basically, the rest of the players should make a determination
not to let this happen. If I say that explicitly, it looks bland and pedantic. So, I left it
hanging with a sarcastic tone.

 

[herios]

Looks like it does not matter in which part of the world, a clay tournament is being
held, and what level it is (250, 500 etc), only Spaniards end up remaining at the end.

In Houston, it is two Spaniards and so it is in Casablanca. All of this happens when
many Spaniards are not even playing this week.

There is so much dirt in Spain. Something needs to be done about this.
I don't know what.

Perhaps the rest of the world learn how to play better on this surface?

Agreed, herios. I don't know why GSM thinks something should "be done about" it…like limiting the number of Spaniards who can reach the SFs of a given tournament? Emilio Sanchez Vicario says that in Spain, they teach children to move their feet on a tennis court before they let them hit the ball, which he is now bringing to his tennis academy in FL. Perhaps that will help.

You are misunderstanding me. I did not mean that some rules should be changed so
that this does not happen. Basically, the rest of the players should make a determination
not to let this happen. If I say that explicitly, it looks bland and pedantic. So, I left it
hanging with a sarcastic tone.

Beside the fact that in both finals today there were 2 Spaniards involved, there were other very interesting similarities in these matches:
1. Their age, in each final a 30y old player met a 28y player;
2. In each match the older guy won
3. Both Verdasco and GG Lopez have less titles than those who they have defeated today
Verdasco 6 (including Houston)
Lopez 3 (including Casablanca)
Almagro 12
Granollers 4

 

[askh]

[/quote]

Beside the fact that in both finals today there were 2 Spaniards involved, there were other very interesting similarities in these matches:
1. Their age, in each final a 30y old player met a 28y player;
2. In each match the older guy won
3. Both Verdasco and GG Lopez have less titles than those who they have defeated today
Verdasco 6 (including Houston)
Lopez 3 (including Casablanca)
Almagro 12
Granollers 4
[/quote]

There is one more similarity: for both GGL and Verdasco, their previous title came in 2010 (Bangkok and Barcelona, respectively).

 

[Moxie]

Looks like it does not matter in which part of the world, a clay tournament is being
held, and what level it is (250, 500 etc), only Spaniards end up remaining at the end.

In Houston, it is two Spaniards and so it is in Casablanca. All of this happens when
many Spaniards are not even playing this week.

There is so much dirt in Spain. Something needs to be done about this.
I don't know what.

Perhaps the rest of the world learn how to play better on this surface?

Agreed, herios. I don't know why GSM thinks something should "be done about" it…like limiting the number of Spaniards who can reach the SFs of a given tournament? Emilio Sanchez Vicario says that in Spain, they teach children to move their feet on a tennis court before they let them hit the ball, which he is now bringing to his tennis academy in FL. Perhaps that will help.

You are misunderstanding me. I did not mean that some rules should be changed so
that this does not happen. Basically, the rest of the players should make a determination
not to let this happen. If I say that explicitly, it looks bland and pedantic. So, I left it
hanging with a sarcastic tone.

I was also teasing you about the notion of changing rules. The answer is what herios and I suggest: that the rest of the world needs to get better on clay. As you see above, I also mentioned that effort is being made.

But if you put together the fact that Spain is one of the countries that is notably strong on clay, and that Spain has had the most players in the top 100 (and usually the top 50) for some years now, you're going to get a lot of Spanish players competing in late rounds of lots of tournaments, which gets amplified on clay. Argentina is another one. This tournament came down to 3 Spaniards and an Argentine. Tennis is bigger is Spain and Argentina than in some other countries, and clay is a surface they cut their teeth on. I'm not sure how to make that different, in terms of results, except by emphasizing clay experience, and footwork, at an early age. Some academies seem to be getting the idea.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Granollers seems to have made rather short work of Delbonis: 6-1, 6-4. but GG Lopez needed three to take out young Carballes Baena. Looking forward to finding out how this new Spaniard develops.

Roberto C.B. has gained 86 ranking positions this week, jumping up to 187. I hope they gave him a WC in Barcelona.

They heard you herios. Carballes got a WC in Barcelona (along with two other Spanish
players and one Argentinian).

 

[herios]

Granollers seems to have made rather short work of Delbonis: 6-1, 6-4. but GG Lopez needed three to take out young Carballes Baena. Looking forward to finding out how this new Spaniard develops.

Roberto C.B. has gained 86 ranking positions this week, jumping up to 187. I hope they gave him a WC in Barcelona.

They heard you herios. Carballes got a WC in Barcelona (along with two other Spanish
players and one Argentinian).

Thanks GSM, I see that. It made a lot of sense to me, to bive a young up and comer talented guy sucj a chance, in their true clay event. Last year they gave it to Busta this year to Baena.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Looks like it does not matter in which part of the world, a clay tournament is being
held, and what level it is (250, 500 etc), only Spaniards end up remaining at the end.

In Houston, it is two Spaniards and so it is in Casablanca. All of this happens when
many Spaniards are not even playing this week.

There is so much dirt in Spain. Something needs to be done about this.
I don't know what.

Finally, the rest of the world heard me. In the last 3 clay court events,
no Spaniard was to be seen on court on sundays. Way to go rest of the world.
Kudos.

Monte Carlo: Swiss vs. Swiss
Barcelona: Japan vs. Columbia
Bucharest: Czech vs. Bulgaria.