articles

from Tennis Week by Richard Pagliaro
21 May 2004

Defending Roland Garros champion Juan Carlos Ferrero faces a tough first-round opponent in Tommy Haas, but reaching the opening round may be even tougher. The fourth-ranked Spaniard is suffering from wrist and rib injuries that could hamper his hopes of defending his Roland Garros championship.

The season’s second Grand Slam begins on Monday and Ferrero’s injuries prevented him from practicing on Tuesday and Wednesday though he did participate in a light practice yesterday.

The injuries are the latest setback for the former No. 1, who contracted the chicken pox at Indian Wells in March and sat out the entire month. Ferrero has been limited to just five ATP Tour clay-court matches this year and has not played since suffering a 6-2, 6-3 setback to compatriot Alex Corretja in the opening round of the Tennis Masters Series-Monte Carlo last month.

Ferrero’s coach, Antonio Martinez Cascales, said he was “optimistic” Ferrero will play Roland Garros though his injuries — and lack of recent match play — is clearly a concern.

from Tennis Week by Douglas Robson
12 May 2004
There are two things you can say about Juan Carlos Ferrero without hesitation. First, he is the greatest clay court player of his generation and arguably the best since Bjorn Borg a quarter-century ago. Second, almost nobody on this side of the Atlantic seems to care.
Not since Czechoslovakian chainsaw Ivan Lendl mowed down opponents with metronomic precision has a player been so successful — and so unappreciated.
“He doesn’t seem to inspire excitement,” says TV commentator Cliff Drysdale, “and I’m not sure it’s just the American public.”
Call it the Spanish Paradox — of which Ferrero is the current incarnation. Somehow Latin flair doesn’t translate well inside the 27-by-78 dimensions of a tennis court. To be sure, the U.S. public has always been slow to embrace outsiders. Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Steffi Graf were not instant stars in America. But Spaniards, for whatever reason, have been particularly hardpressed to gain major star status stateside. Even if Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and Roger Federer are not yet household names on these shores, these under-24 foreign stars with credentials similar to Ferrero — at least one major and a No. 1 ranking — would almost certainly score higher Q ratings than their Spanish contemporary.
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from the official Roland Garros website by Eric Salliot
29 April 2004
Juan Carlos Ferrero will soon return to the site of the sweetest success of his career. Since winning at Roland Garros last year, El Mosquito has soared to unprecedented heights, but there are signs that he is starting to fall back down to Earth just at the wrong time. Will the reigning champion be able to recover and hang on to his title?
If Juan Carlos Ferrero seemed to coast to victory in last year’s French Open Final, it was perhaps because he had already played that match many times before in his dreams – lifting the Musketeer’s Cup had always been his greatest ambition, and inexperienced Dutchman Martin Verkerk could do little to stop the Spaniard claiming it in straight sets (6-1, 6-3, 6-2).
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from tennis.com.cn (roughly summarised by kat)
21 April 2004

The article talks about his defeat against Alex Corretja in Monte Carlo. It mentions that JC’s playing style has changed – putting more top spin on his ground strokes, meaning he hit many balls out of the court. This new style puts a lot more risk into his game, but didn’t threaten Corretja at all. So he made 28 unforced errors in 68 minutes.

The article also mentions JC used to play pretty safely – being patient at the baseline and chase down every ball. This persistance allows for his opponents to get frustrated and hit more errors. But his game has changed, even though in most occasions change is good, but on clay it takes patience. JC isn’t a big guy and doesn’t have a powerful serve, his strengths are his patience and persistance against his opponents. Now that he lost this attribute, it has become very difficult for him.

The article ended in a positive note, since the alarm bells have already sounded, maybe JC and his coach can review what happened and make more improvements.

from Tennis Week
20 April 2004
The top seed bottomed out in Monte Carlo today. Two-time defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero fell in the first round of the first Masters Series clay-court event to compatriot Alex Corretja, who scored a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
A wild card entrant into this event, Corretja advanced to a second-round meeting with Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, who defeated Mariano Zabaleta, 6-2, 6-4.
It was only the second time in six matches Corretja conquered Ferrero. He previously beat his former Davis Cup teammate in the 2002 Kitzbuhel final on clay.
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from the official Valencia tournament website
17 April 2004
In the first semifinal of the II Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, 20-year-old Fernando Verdasco needed only 60 minutes to stun top-seed and defending champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2, 6-1, reaching his second career ATP-level final in the process.
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