Young man's goal: Break into the tennis elite

IMG, the sports and entertainment management giant, conducts strength training for its elite athletes in a hangar-like gymnasium here nine miles off I-75. It's a spectacle of freakish sport-specific variety: refrigerator-sized linebackers and seven-foot forwards, six-foot pony-tailed baseliners with legs thick as tree trunks.

Jesse Levine, who at 20 is the 163rd-best men's tennis player in the world, enters this forest. He is short and well-built but has the look of a man who's never dunked in his life. Never benched 225 30 times, or any time. Just a guy. He talks with one of the baseliners about her new puppy. It is the size of a water bottle, apparently.

End of conversation. It is time to work. The Sony Ericsson Open on Key Biscayne, one of the biggest tournaments in Levine's young career, is days away.

For the next hour his heart rate will hover between 157 and 180 beats per minute (about 2 ½ times a resting heart rate). He will run on the treadmill, then switch to an exercise circuit that builds strength, agility and anaerobic capacity.

Levine has done something like this almost every day for the last four years. The goal: Break into the world's tennis elite -- the 100 top-ranked players -- by the end of 2008, when he turns 21.

SPARRING PARTNER

His practice partner for the day is Xavier Malisse, the former world No. 19 in 2002, who is now at 350.

Malisse arrives, beautiful blonde in tow. She sits courtside in giant sunglasses. The weather is very sunny and very windy. The players greet each other and commence hitting metronomically down the middle, slowly at first, then when they are warm and fluid, faster, until they are hitting well and truly hard, each stringbed to ball contact a heavy percussive thwock the phenoms hear from three courts over.

They drift over until there are 20 of them outside the fence. Inside the fence, three coaches whisper tactics when the rally breaks.

Malisse is taller and heavier and hits a flatter ball than Levine but Levine swings very, very fast. His stroke is a coiling and uncoiling that starts at his knees, runs through the hips and ends with the tip of the racquet almost over his shoulder. This is serious torque.

He does not ''make it look easy.'' He is grunting and sweating too much for that. But he does make it look almost slow. In the two thirds of a second it takes the ball to travel from baseline to baseline he has already turned and drawn his racquet back. He is already waiting.

His balls are heavy and deep and seem to be jamming Malisse, which frustrates the bigger man. The Ericsson is just days off for him, too, and soon his racquet flies spinning into the windscreen. Later, after a miss, he pulls his shorts down. The girlfriend laughs, seeing his underwear.

Gabriel Jaramillo, the tennis director, walks over. He likes what he sees from Levine, likes working with him day after day. ''If I didn't think the guy had it in him to be top 10 in the world, I wouldn't do it,'' he says. ``I'd find someone else.''

Source : Miami Herald

Defending champion Malisse and 2nd seed Haas upset at Delray Beach

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Defending champion Xavier Malisse and No. 2 seed Tommy Haas were each ousted in the first round of the Delray Beach International on Monday. Both Haas and Malisse arrived at the tournament coming off medical issues.

The No. 27-ranked Haas, who lost to Diego Hartfield of Argentina 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, was playing in his first match of the year after having a third surgical procedure on his right shoulder in mid-November.

"When you have surgery you hope it goes well," Haas said. "Overall, it feels pretty good. This is my first test. I started playing a lot more tennis the last 10 days and overall, I'm kind of happy with how I played."

The No. 351-ranked Malisse, who played in only five tournaments last year because of a right wrist injury, was ousted by American Bobby Reynolds 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

For the 29-year-old Haas, there seems to be a possibility that his playing days might be nearing an end.

"It's a tough game, but I love it so I'm trying to come back and see how it goes," Haas said. "Many times I want to throw in the towel and maybe retire. I consider myself pretty young, so I'm going to try and see what this game brings to me."

Haas couldn't find his competitive edge in the opening set, but managed to muddle his way through to win a tough second set where the games were long and difficult.

Despite taking that set, Haas knew his shoulder was not going to have the power needed to play at an optimum level to get him through the third set in which he fell behind 4-1.

"Unfortunately, the shoulder kind of left me a little bit after the second set and I just didn't have the power that I needed," Haas said.

Malisse, who reached the quarterfinals in Chennai last month, has won this tournament twice and has been in the final five times since 1999. The Belgian was only able to take advantage of two of 17 break points in the match.

Reynolds, who won his first ATP match of the year with the victory over Malisse, took advantage of four of eight break points.

"I tried to battle but I didn't have much confidence," Malisse said. "The wind made it even tougher. I played bad and made some bad decisions on the court. I don't mind losing if I'm playing well."

Source : Yahoo Sports

Chennai Open: Malisse, Youzhny in last eight

Chennai: Unseeded Belgian Xavier Malisse kept himself on course for defending the title as he shrugged off initial threats before disposing of sixth seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (3) 6-2 to enter the quarter-finals of the Chennai Open ATP tennis championship on Wednesday night.

Fourth seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and Florent Serra of France also entered the quarter-finals scoring hard fought wins in their respective second round matches.

The third day proceedings saw both Malisse and Youzny going through some frightening moments before their progress to the last eight stage as their rivals forced the more experienced stars to sweat for their wins.

The quarter-final match between Youzhny and Malisse on Friday promises to be one of the best matches as both of them are known for their power packed play and forehands.

Malisse, who has the rare feat of having won a double crown in the event last year but went out of action for next six months due to a wrist injury, would have been stretched to extra points in the first set, but he was never broken literally all through the match.

Known for his enormous right-hand forehand and great power, the Belgian was perhaps assessing his rival in the first set which went on serves before he closed out in the tie-breaker for the vital lead.

The defending champion, who had said that he has nothing to lose since he is able to serve well and pick the right balls for winners, was confident personified in the second set.

Leading 3-1, Malisse showed sympathy to Melzer in the sixth game allowing the latter to win a game on his serve. The Belgian was relaxed having worn down the Austrian and won the last three games in a row without much ado.

As for the statistics, Malisse's abilities to score more winners on return of serve helped him to earn more points than his rival and had a 73 per cent and 50 per cent success on total service points won and return points won as against 50 and 27 per cent of his rival.

Source : Google news

Malisse sails into 2nd round of Chennai Open

CHENNAI, India (AP) -- Xavier Malisse of Belgium began the defense of his Chennai Open title Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Malisse, who won both the singles and doubles title last year in the ATP Tour's first week, was returning to competition after a wrist injury limited him to two matches during the past 10 months.

"It was really nice to be back," he said. "Starting the new year with a victory helps in regaining the confidence."

Source : Yahoo Sports

Wrist Injury Sidelines Malisse

Fifth seed Xavier Malisse was leading Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 2-2 when he injured his right wrist and was forced to retire from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Monday. The Belgian, a two-time title winner on the ATP circuit this year, went to a local Memphis hospital after the match for examination.

“I hit a backhand and kind of snapped my wrist a little bit," Malisse said. "It started hurting pretty bad on the next shot; I could barely hit a backhand. I took a timeout and it didn’t get better. I think I just kind of snapped something. I’ve got to see what it is. I hope it’s not too bad but today it’s not possible to play on because I couldn’t hold my racquet.”

Source: rmkchampionships.com

No Manic Monday for Malisse in Delray

Xavier Malisse claimed his 200th career match win and second Delray Beach title in three years when he showed up sharper than James Blake when the rain-delayed final resumed Monday morning.

Appearing in his fifth Delray Beach final, Malisse trailed Blake 5-7, 3-3 when rain halted the match Sunday afternoon, leaving the players to watch the Super Bowl on TV before play was officially suspended for the day.

When play resumed Monday, Malisse broke Blake in the first game and quickly closed out the second set. He then broke Blake in the third game of the third set en route to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory, which added to the 2005 title he won in Delray Beach.

By also winning the doubles final (with Hugo Armando), Malisse has won the singles and doubles titles at the same event twice in the same year (Chennai). That feat was last achieved in 1996 by Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Prague and Roland Garros).

Malisse becomes the third two-time winner in Delray Beach, joining Jason Stoltenberg and Jan-Michael Gambill. The victory marks his 24th match win in Delray Beach, extending his lead as the all-time winningest player at the event. With 24 of his 200 match wins coming in Delray Beach, Malisse has won 12% of his career match wins at the event.

Earlier in the tournament Malisse lost his second round-robin match to Rainer Schuettler but still qualified for the quarterfinals due to a better percentage of sets won among the three players in his group, who all recorded one win. Malisse is the first player since David Nalbandian at the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup to win a title after losing a match in the round-robin stage.

Malisse, who won the Chennai title in the first week of the year, improved to 3-8 in career finals.

Blake, who registered his 200th career match win earlier in the tournament, was chasing his 10th career title and second title of 2007 (Sydney).

Blake was attempting to become the first top seed in the 15-year history of the tournament to win the title. Blake is the fourth No. 1 seed to lose in the final.

Blake will now scramble to get himself to the Czech Republic for the United States's first-round Davis Cup tie, which begins Friday.

Malisse, Belgium's top-ranked player, has been not been selected to play in his country's Davis Cup tie against Australia.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Malisse: "If we would have played yesterday, I probably would have lost. The wind slowed down his ball. The wind helped me a little bit today."

"The court is almost the perfect speed for me. I feel like I can get to every ball here when I'm fit. Also, you have that confidence because you've played a lot of times well here. There's just a level of comfort and confidence for me at this tournament."

Blake: "Tough conditions, but the same for both of us. Xavier just did better with it. Wind is the biggest equalizer in tennis. He did a better job of adjusting. He deserved to win today for sure."

Source : atptennis.com

Malisse earns record fifth Delray Beach Final

Delray Beach, FL (February 3, 2007)— Third seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium advanced to a record fifth final and his third in a row at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships with a 6-2, 6-2 thrashing over Boca Raton’s Vince Spadea.

Malisse, 26, will play the winner of tonight’s match between James Blake and Boris Becker for the title. Last year Malisse lost to Tommy Haas in the final. In 2005, he beat Jiri Novak for his first career crown.

The Belgian played nearly flawless tennis in his win. Spadea won only 48 percent of both his first- and second-serve points, while Malisse won 74 percent of his first-serve points and 69 percent of his second-serve points. Malisse broke Spadea five times and won 58 points overall to 37 for Spadea. “I struck the ball well from the first point,” Malisse said. He broke Spadea’s game in the first game of the match and was never threatened.

“I just got outplayed,” Spadea admitted.

Malisse credits his off season training for the fast start to his 2007 season, saying “I worked out really hard in December and it’s paying off now.”

He won both the singles and the doubles titles in Chennai last month, and could duplicate that accomplishment here in Delray. Malisse plays his doubles semifinal tonight with partner Hugo Armando against third seed Lukasz Kubot and Andrei Pavel.

The Belgian, who lives in Sarasota, across the state of Florida from Delray Beach, now has a career mark of 23-7 at the ITC. He was runner-up in 2001 to Jan-Michael Gambill and in 1999 to Lleyton Hewitt.

Malisse is 8-2 so far this year, with the Chennai singles title representing the second of his career after Delray in 2005.

Source: yellowtennisball.com

Malisse Crushes Koubek in Chennai Final

Third seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium beat Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-1, 6-3 to win the Chennai Open and claim his second career ATP title from 10 finals.

Malisse later teamed with countryman Dick Norman to claim the doubles title, defeating Rafael Nadal and Bartolome Salva-Vidal 7-6(4), 7-6(4) in the final. In all of 2006 just one player (Jose Acasuso in Vina del Mar) won the singles and doubles title at the same tournament.

Malisse kept his record against Koubek perfect at 4-0 in winning their first encounter since 2003. Malisse now sports a 5-0 mark for 2007, while Koubek is 4-1.

The match lasted one hour and one minute. Malisse converted five of seven break point opportunities, while Koubek was only able to cash in on one out of three. The victor out-aced Koubek six to zero.

Malisse, 26, earned the Chennai crown in his first appearance there. He now has a 2-8 career record in ATP finals. His first title came at Delray Beach in 2005 (d. Novak).

Last year he produced runner-up finishes at Adelaide in January (l. to Serra) and at Delray Beach in February (l. to Haas). His first ATP final came at Mexico City in 1998 (l. to Novak).

Malisse had his best year since 2002 last season, ending at 31-24. He closed the year with an ATP Ranking of No. 37, representing his fifth finish in the top 50 in six years. He ended in the top 40 for the first time since 2002, when he was No. 25.

Koubek, who turned 30 Tuesday, now has a 3-3 career record in ATP finals. He was runner-up at Zagreb in February (l. to Ljubicic), his first final since 2003, when he took home the trophy from Doha (d. Gambill). He also captured crowns at Atlanta in 1999 (d. Grosjean) and at Delray Beach in 2000 (d. Calatrava).

The Austrian was trying to become the first player 30 or older to win an ATP title since Thomas Johansson earned the crown at St. Petersburg in October at the age of 30.

In the semifinals, Malisse upset No. 1 seed Rafael Nadal. Koubek ousted No. 5 seed and two-time champion Carlos Moya in the semifinals. Koubek lost a total of only 10 games in upsetting No. 7 seed Paradorn Srichaphan in the second round, No. 4 seed Julien Benneteau in the quarterfinals and then Moya.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Malisse: "For me this is a dream start to the year. It's been a fantastic week. You always want to find your rhythm in the first week of the year. If I can keep playing like this, then I should have a good year. The whole week has come together great. It's been 10 years since I was here, but I promise it won't be another 10 before I come back again.”

On added confidence after beating Nadal win in the semifinals: "You're always going to have a lot of confidence after beating a player like Nadal. But you have to watch out as well. In the past I've beaten great players and kind of relaxed the next match. I think I've matured in that way, and I knew I had to be ready for the finals. Maybe Stefan didn't play his best today but I think I had a great start and that made him lose some of the momentum he's had all week.

"Some players mature quickly, and others it takes more time. Last year I think I played really well but just got unlucky with a lot of draws. I played some good matches but didn't win them. Yesterday I played a good match and finally won one. This year I'm going to try and reach my potential. I did a lot more work this off-season so I feel better. I have a good coach [David Felgate] now who knows me well, and if he can keep getting me better like he did this week, then I think I can win a lot of matches this year."

Koubek: "Xavier was playing unbelievable tennis from the beginning. He had a great start and kept on playing unbelievable tennis. I tried to play the tennis I had been playing in the last few days, but it didn't work out as good. I didn't have a chance until the last game when he gave me a chance, but I couldn't take it unfortunately. I wasn't able to turn the match around. He's a great winner. I started out playing aggressive, and then I tried to slow it down. But he had all the answers today."

Source : atptennis.com

Belgian Malisse wins Chennai Open

Belgian Xavier Malisse defeated Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-1 6-3 in the Chennai Open final on Sunday to win the second title of his career.

Third-seeded Malisse, who upset world number two Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, produced a dominating all-court display for the second day in succession to close the contest in 61 minutes.

World number 37 Malisse, a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2002, broke his left-handed opponent in the first, third, fifth and seventh games to clinch the first set.

The 30-year-Koubek, who beat former world number one Carlos Moya in the semi-finals, broke 26-year-old Malisse in the fourth game of the first set, but never quite managed to find his rhythm.

Malisse, who displayed a range of shots in the second set, broke his Austrian opponent in the fourth game to close out the match.

Source : Yahoo sports

Malisse Upends Top Seed Nadal to Reach Chennai Final

Rafael Nadal appeared poised to reach his first title match since Wimbledon last year, but Belgian Xavier Malisse had other plans in mind Saturday at the Chennai Open.

The third seed confidently defeated top seed Nadal 6-4, 7-6(4) in just over two hours to continue his impressive debut appearance in Chennai.

After dominant performances throughout the week, Nadal failed to provide a sufficient challenge to the third seed. Malisse relied on the match's only break of serve in the first set and a strong finish in the second set tie-break to vanquish the World No. 2.

Malisse recorded his first career victory over the Spaniard in his third attempt, previously falling victim to Nadal in the midst of his title runs two years ago in Monte-Carlo and at Roland Garros.

Malisse will be making his 10th career appearance in an ATP final, with his lone singles title coming in 2005 at Delray Beach. The 26-year-old also reached an ATP final in the first week of the 2006 season, finishing as the runner-up in Adelaide (l. to Serra), and turned in another finalist appearance February in Delray Beach (l. to Haas).

Malisse had his best year since 2002 last year, ending with a 31-24 match record and an ATP Ranking of No. 37.

Spain lost its other hope for a finalist in Chennai when two-time champion Carlos Moya bowed out to Austrian Stefan Koubek. The 30-year-old Moya was looking to reach his fourth consecutive Chennai final. He won consecutive titles in 2003 and 2004, and finished as runner-up last year.

Koubek blew past the Spaniard 6-3, 6-1 in 63 minutes, recording his third dominant victory over a seeded player in as many days. He defeated No. 7 Paradorn Srichaphan and No. 4 Julien Benneteau by identical 6-1, 6-2 sets in the second round and quarterfinals, respectively.

Koubek, who turned 30 Tuesday, was 15-10 last year, his first finish above .500 since 1999, when he was 32-26. He was runner-up in Zagreb last February (l. to Ljubicic), his first final appearance since 2003. His last title came in the first week of the 2003 season when he captured the Doha crown (d. Gambill).

Malisse owns a 3-0 head-to-head record against Koubek, last defeating him 8-6 in the fifth set at Roland Garros in 2003.

Source : ATP Tennis