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Post by The Chloe on Feb 20, 2011 17:50:41 GMT -5
Did we know that Ancic retired, or is this new?
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Post by Grarliner on Feb 21, 2011 17:46:54 GMT -5
He did? Sad. Yes, that's new.
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Post by Brinyi on Feb 22, 2011 8:05:05 GMT -5
Good luck to him. Looks like he is now a full-time law student.
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Post by janie on May 5, 2011 19:58:02 GMT -5
May 5, 2011, 5:58 PM ET Stefan Koubek ends tennis career
Associated Press
VIENNA -- Austrian tennis player Stefan Koubek, who was ranked a career-high No. 20 in 2000, has announced his retirement.
Currently ranked No. 261, Koubek will end his career with an exhibition match July 30.
"I wanted to play Roland Garros and Wimbledon one more time but I won't make it," he said. "Once you've decided to quit, you lose your motivation."
Kitzbuehel tournament organizers say the 34-year-old Koubek turned down a wild card for their ATP tour event in August.
Koubek won three ATP titles and has been part of Austria's Davis Cup team for 13 seasons.
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Post by Brinyi on Dec 12, 2011 10:50:24 GMT -5
The Chilean press is reporting that Fernando Gonzalez has told those close to him that he will retire after the Viña del Mar tournament in February. El Gorila has tweeted that the reports are incorrect, and he has not yet made a definitive decision about his retirement.
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Post by janie on Dec 20, 2011 13:04:44 GMT -5
Gaston Gaudio ret.
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Post by Brinyi on Dec 21, 2011 7:33:09 GMT -5
Best wishes to Gaudio post-retirement.
Last loss: Pablo ANDUJAR (ESP) 0-6 2-6, Kitzbuehel Challenger, 2010/08
Last win: Inigo CERVANTES-HUEGUN (ESP) 6-2 6-2, Marburg Challenger, 2010/06
Last ATP main draw win: Diego JUNQUEIRA (ARG) 6-4 3-6 6-4, Barcelona, 2009/04
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Post by DBBN on Feb 16, 2012 21:54:39 GMT -5
Gonzalez To Retire In Miami Former World No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez will retire from professional tennis following the Sony Ericsson Open next month. The 31-year-old Chilean has won 11 ATP World Tour titles and reached the 2007 Australian Open final. He also enjoyed success on the Olympic stage.
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Post by Grarliner on Feb 17, 2012 15:58:46 GMT -5
How soon 'til we get Roddick in this thread?
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Post by janie on Feb 17, 2012 19:11:05 GMT -5
Gonzalez To Retire In Miami Former World No. 5 Fernando Gonzalez will retire from professional tennis following the Sony Ericsson Open next month. The 31-year-old Chilean has won 11 ATP World Tour titles and reached the 2007 Australian Open final. He also enjoyed success on the Olympic stage.
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Post by janie on Mar 8, 2012 8:24:02 GMT -5
Ljubicic to wind up tennis career
08 March 2012 | 09:43:03 PM| Source: AAP
Croatian Ivan Ljubicic has announced he will retire from tennis after the Monte Carlo Masters in April.
The 32-year-old told the ATP website it wasn't an easy decision to quit the sport but that he plans to "continue to stay involved and contribute in some ways".
Since turning professional in 1998, Ljubicic has won 10 ATP titles and reached a career-high ranking of No.3 in May 2006.
His biggest title win came at Indian Wells in 2010 when he beat Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick.
He was also part of Croatia's Davis Cup-winning team in 2005 and won an Olympic bronze medal in doubles with Mario Ancic at the 2004 Athens Games.
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Post by Brinyi on Mar 8, 2012 9:48:19 GMT -5
That IW title in 2010 was one of the classic out-of-nowhere titles in recent years. To me, the highlight of his career was his feud with Roddick. Otherwise I was never really a fan. Still, he seems like a good guy and I raise a glass to toast his success. ~~~~~~~~~ clink ~~~~~~~~~
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Post by DBBN on Mar 8, 2012 12:56:28 GMT -5
Worst World #3
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Post by DBBN on Mar 8, 2012 12:56:56 GMT -5
Sorry, that's in the men's division. Tauzita leads the ladies.
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Post by lexpretend on Mar 8, 2012 18:39:40 GMT -5
Ljuba was always one of those guys you could easily be happy for, as long as you didn't have to watch him. Which you mostly didn't, thanks to his habit of chumping up at Slams. Glad he got a Slam SF at least.
Surely there were worse top 3 players, back in the days of COSTASLAM et al.
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Post by Grarliner on Mar 11, 2012 14:22:37 GMT -5
I don't really think so, Lex. His GS record would be hard to underperform for a #3.
He had a feud with Roddick?
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Post by lexpretend on Mar 11, 2012 14:45:17 GMT -5
I had guys like Kiefer, Bjorkman, Novak, Schuettler and Blake in mind. None of them got as high as #3 though, just top 5.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 11, 2012 15:04:44 GMT -5
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Post by lexpretend on Mar 11, 2012 15:22:13 GMT -5
Haas as well. He ranks above Ljubicic too though.
Magnus Norman strikes me as a particularly weak Top 3er too. He got the Slam final but overall only made one more QF than Ljubicic and, IIRC, the time he spent as an elite player was very brief.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 11, 2012 15:33:52 GMT -5
I forgot Haas never got one Worst World #2 I think Norman was pretty good, but his problem is once he was gone, he was GONE. Hingis Curse!
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Post by lexpretend on Mar 11, 2012 15:46:09 GMT -5
See, despite the Slam final, I'd argue that Norman was a Worse World #2 than Haas. I don't know the stats offhand, but surely Haas leads on longevity, head-to-head against the elite and title count/title quality. Those stats would probably show Ljubicic in a better light than his Slam record, too.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 11, 2012 16:17:41 GMT -5
I don't agree about Norman. He went 10-1 in finals in 1999 and 2000 alone (one of those being Rome and the sole loss being the French) and also had a SF at the Australian that year. He has 12 titles total - same amount as Haas has accumulated in a much longer period of time - and that kind of proves my point: had his career tapered off rather than abruptly ended, his reputation would be much higher because, at the very least, he would have been...around.
Ljubicic has 10 titles, fell into the IW win during his lean years, has a losing record at two of the four Slams (and ~.500 at a third). Just no, he's awful. He is the ultimate rankings beneficiary of the Federer-Nadal duopoly at its peak.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 11, 2012 16:25:19 GMT -5
Also, this is an extremely nerdy discussion. Like Star Trek-level geekiness.
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Post by Grarliner on Mar 12, 2012 0:30:38 GMT -5
Yes, it is. So I'll join it.
I don't think you could say he "fell into" the IW title, though. I like me some Ljub-bashing but that is going too far. He beat Rafa, Novak and Andy for that one and Andy was still good back then.
It's Ljub's Slam record which really makes him terrible. I think he has but two appearances in Slam QFs. There are reams of players who never got anywhere near #3 with better Grand Slam results than Ljubicic. He just won an awful lot indoors when he was good, didn't he?
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Post by lexpretend on Mar 12, 2012 2:56:59 GMT -5
Compared to some of our Hidden World posts, this discussion is normal!
When Ljubicic was top 3 everyone said he underperformed at Slams, which he most certainly did. His Slam record was terrible but it doesn't follow that he was a terrible player. It's a knock on him but not the be all and end all. You could discredit Norman, who only ever reached three Slam QFs but was World No 2, in a similar way.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 12, 2012 7:04:51 GMT -5
Except he reached a final.
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Post by lexpretend on Mar 12, 2012 7:31:24 GMT -5
It's the paucity of his deep Slam runs that's a knock on him, not how deep they were. Like, Verkerk reached a final too, but that doesn't make him better than final-less Haas or Grosjean.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 12, 2012 9:48:01 GMT -5
But...but...he is equal in all other areas, PLUS that.
I'm...not with you here at all.
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Post by DBBN on Mar 12, 2012 9:57:39 GMT -5
I mean...
Slam finals: Norman 1, Haas 0, Ljubicic 0...Verkerk 1. Fine.
But then, singles titles: Norman 12, Haas 12, Ljubicic 10. Masters Series titles: Norman 1, Haas 1, Ljubicic 1.
Haas has 7 quality finishes in Slams to Norman's 3? Fine, I'll give you that, but I'd argue Haas would trade his four QFs for Norman's final.
Anyway, this is dumb. Who cares. Haas is sexier so he wins the overall competition anyway.
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Post by Brinyi on Mar 12, 2012 11:39:36 GMT -5
Grarliner, allow me to step back in time to explain the Roddick feud reference.
Ljubicic refuses to apologise to Roddick Updated August 31, 2003 17:44:00
Ivan Ljubicic has backtracked but refused to back down, offering no apology for comments he made about the antics of Andy Roddick during their emotionally-charged second-round match at the US Open.
"Why should I apologise?", Ljubicic asked reporters at a news conference called in an effort to diffuse the controversy.
"I am not going to apologise to anyone."
Stinging from his 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 defeat in the early hours of Saturday morning (local time), Ljubicic had few kind words for the American on his 21st birthday.
The Croatian bitterly complained that Roddick's demonstrative behaviour on court influenced the decisions of the linesmen, including an important call in the fourth-set tiebreak.
Ljubicic, known as "The Beast", had said after the match,"nobody in the locker room likes his (Roddick's) acting on court," and that "every single player" wished him good luck and to "kick his ass".
He conceded that not "every" player hated Roddick, but said there were many who felt the same way he did about the American.
"I'm not excluding that maybe I said things [during the match] without really thinking," Ljubicic said.
"But I repeat, I don't really think that I said something really bad about Andy.
"I'm telling you, I don't really like his attitude on the court and I talked with some people about that.
"For sure, there are some people who don't like it and some people like it. I'm sure some players came to him and said, "kick his butt".
Roddick dismissed Ljubicic's after-match comments as "sour grapes", but said there was a "possibility" he might discuss the situation with the Croat.
An unimpressed Roddick wasted no time contacting Ljubicic, ringing him at his hotel at 1:30 in the morning to wake him up and seek an explanation.
"He wanted to hear from me what it was all about," Ljubicic said.
"He thought that I had some problems with him personally, so he asked me in the future to tell him first instead of going to the press.
"I responded that I had nothing against him personally. I really feel that I didn't say anything bad about him as a person.
"So he didn't ask for an apology and I didn't feel like doing it.
"We cleared things, we talked last night and I told him this morning ... I asked 'is everything OK?' and he said 'it's fine'."
Roddick refused to answer questions about the incident when he returned for a training session at Flushing Meadows on Saturday afternoon, but later issued a statement indicating the pair had cleared the air.
"I had a good conversation with Ivan, both last night and again today," Roddick said.
"I think we both had the chance to clear the air and I know that last night's incident is behind us.
"I look forward to continuing in this tournament and hopefully playing Ivan for many years to come."
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