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The Other Swiss Players Thread

18K views 515 replies 15 participants last post by  Doris Loeffel 
#1 ·
Hey, guys--

I just scanned the chat thread (hmm, they seem to be popping up everywhere ;)) to make sure I wouldn't be duplicating the idea here, but I thought it'd be nice to have a thread somewhere for all of the Swiss players. And what better place than to steal a corner of Rogi's forum? I hope you don't mind :eek:

I like Roger, but I like Michel Kratochvil more . . . I mean, not that you could tell from any of the other threads I've posted in, LOL ;) And I don't know much about the other boys (and girls) who play under the Swiss flag.

I'm looking forward to the reports from DC and Basel on all the boys :) Thanks for volunteering, guys! :)
 
#477 ·
http://www.copenhagen-open.com/cphopen2003/engelsk/newsarticle.asp?nyhedsId=9

22-02-03
Carlsen to meet Kratochvil
Pless against Mamiit in the first round

No. 5 seed, Kenneth Carlsen, ranked 60, was not overjoyed after Saturday’s draw for the Copenhagen Open tournament which put him up against Swiss Michel Kratochvil (82) in the first round.

“He plays very stable from the baseline. He can also serv and volley and doesn’t have any particular weaknesses. He was not the one I would have preferred to meet in the first round, but that’s the conditions,” said Dane Kenneth Carlsen, who admits his form has been better.

“But then again, that’s also how I felt before I played Tokyo (a tournament he eventually won last year),” said Carlsen.

Kristian Pless (96) was more pleased with his first round opponent, American Cecil Mamiit (116).

“That was a good draw for me. He’s fast, but his serv isn’t intimidating, which should give me the chance to play my game from the baseline,” said Pless, who has never met Mamiit but practiced with him shortly before the draw on Saturday.

Pless had to withdraw from the tournament in San Jose in California due to a wrist injury, but for the past two days the Dane has been able to practice without pain.

Top seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland plays Olivier Rochus is in his first round match, while seed No. 2, Australian Wayne Arthurs, plays Olivier Mutis from France. Last year’s winner, German Lars Burgsmüller, meets Austrian Jürgen Melzer in the first round.
 
#482 ·
Well, as I wrote in the live scores thread, Massimo Dell'Acqua has made his living on the futures circuit for the past five years. He has played a few challengers but never with any decent results, and the last futures tournament he won was in 2000 :eek: This was his first ATP match and I'm guessing it will be his last for awhile.

But, congrats to Marc & Michel for carrying the torch in Copenhagen. Perhaps my dream will come true after all! ;)
 
#483 ·
Woohoo, Michel is into the quarters in Copenhagen after winning two tight tiebreakers! :)

Article:

27-02-03
Kucera in quarterfinals

Third seed Karol Kucera, ranked number 53 in the world, reached the quarterfinals after defeating Swiss Marc Rosset in two sets with the score 7-6(5), 6-3.

The 28 year old Kucera has twice before participated in Copenhagen Open, in 1995 and 1997. At both occasions he reached the semifinals – this year he is on his way after defeating Marc Rosset aged 32.

Kucera won the first set after long rallys and several long games. The second set went quicker; in the seventh and nine game Kucera broke Rosset’s serve and did not give away any balls in the last two games.

Rosset and Kucera has met twice before, and with Kucera’s win today the head-to-head score is 2-1 in Kucera’s favour.

In the quarter final Kucera will meet another Swiss, Michel Kratochvil, who blow Dane Carlsen off the court in the first round and in his second round Thursday afternoon defeated Lisnard from France 7-6(5), 7-6(6).
 
#484 ·
Code:
Match Statistics:  Second Round, Kratochvil d. Lisnard 7-6(5), 7-6(6)


Aces/Double Faults
Kratochvil   3/5
Lisnard      3/3


First Serve Played
Kratochvil  50 / 87 = 57%
Lisnard     65 / 99 = 65%
   
First Serve Won
Kratochvil   39 / 50 = 78%
Lisnard      40 / 65 = 61%   
  
Second Serve Won
Kratochvil   18 / 37 = 48% 
Lisnard      19 / 34 = 55% 
  
Total Service Points Won
Kratochvil   57 / 87 = 65%
Lisnard      59 / 99 = 59%   
   

Return Points Won on First Serve
Kratochvil   25 / 65 = 38%
Lisnard      11 / 50 = 22%
   
Return Points Won on Second Serve
Kratochvil   15 / 34 = 44%
Lisnard      19 / 37 = 51%   
   
Total Return Points Won
Kratochvil   40 / 99 = 40%
Lisnard      30 / 87 = 34%   
   

Break Points Won
Kratochvil   3 / 7 = 42%
Lisnard      3/ 5 = 60%
   
   
Total Points Won
Kratochvil   97 / 186 = 52%
Lisnard      89 / 186 = 47%
 
#487 ·
He defeated Kucera easily in 2001 in Tokyo (first career final), in the semis he drubbed Kucera 6-0, 6-3. The last time they played was in Marseille when Michel retired with his toe (whatever the hell that was . . . .) so their head to head is tied.

I really hope Micha can string together some good wins. He needs some momentum again! But in the meantime, I'm just ecstatic that he's final in a quarterfinal again! It's been too long . . .
 
#488 ·
Arthurs, Norman Set for Quarterfinal Clash
Wayne Arthurs defeats wild card Andreas Vinciguerra and Magnus Norman ousts Kristian Pless.

Second-seed Wayne Arthurs reached his first quarterfinal of the season when he defeated wild card Andreas Vinciguerra 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(6) Thursday at the Copenhagen Open. The Australian, who plays in the Danish capital for the third time, hit as many as 35 aces in the match.

In the quarterfinals Arthurs faces 26-year-old Magnus Norman, who beat local favorite Kristian Pless 6-4, 7-6(6) to make it to his first quarterfinal since Tokyo last fall. The Swede has only played in Copenhagen once before, in 1997, when he encountered a second-round loss.

No. 3 seed Karol Kucera, who turns 29 next week, advanced by scoring a 7-6(5), 6-3 win over Swiss veteran Marc Rosset. His quarterfinal opponent is Michel Kratochvil, who defeated France's Jean-Rene Lisnard 7-6(5), 7-6(6).

Fourth-seed Radek Stepanek ousted 1992 Copenhagen champion Magnus Larsson 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 and will meet Karol Beck in the quarterfinals. Qualifier Tomas Behrend of Germany found himself among the last eight after defeating Jiri Vanek 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Kratochvil: "It was a very tight match. I had a couple of weak phases but I played well on the important points. I came back from 3-6 in the second tie-break, that was the key to the match."


Kucera: "It was a very tough match. I knew I had to make my points from the baseline. He was serving well, especially in the first set. I managed to break him three times in the second set because I was able to read his serve better."

Arthurs: "It's nice to win a close match and to get back some confidence. I don't think I faced a break point against me all match. I'm very pleased to be in the quarterfinals. I had never won a match in the main draw coming into Copenhagen this year."

Vinciguerra: "He served really well, that was the key for him. I think I won 99 per cent of all points from the baseline. I played well, served well and did everything well."

Norman: "It was a tough match. It's nice to win an even match. It gives you confidence. He played well, especially in the second set. I pretty much had the match under control. Maybe my routine was the decisive factor. I feel that I can still raise my level but I take one step at a time."

"I feel great to have reached the quarterfinal. I didn't expect to play as well as I am. I've playing well in San Jose, Memphis and here."

About playing Arthurs
"He has the best serve in the world. It will be difficult, there will not be too many rallies."

QUARTERFINAL PREVIEW

No. 2 seed Wayne Arthurs takes on Sweden's Magnus Norman in the Copenhagen Open quarterfinals. This marks their first encounter on the ATP circuit. Both players appear in their first quarterfinal of the year. Last season the Australian, who turns 32 next month, hit a career-high 807 aces and won 90% of his service games. Norman is working his way back after having undergone left knee surgery on two occasions in 2002.

Fourth-seed Radek Stepanek meets Slovak qualifier Karol Beck for a spot in the semifinals. The Czech reached the second round in his first Copenhagen appearance last year. In 2002 Stepanek qualified an ATP-best nine times and reached two semifinals (Munich and Gstaad). Beck has enjoyed success on the challenger circuit this season, winning in Heilbronn in January and advancing to the final in Andrezieux last week.

Third-seed Karol Kucera faces Switzerland's Michel Kratochvil. The Slovak advanced to the Chennai final in the beginning of the season as well as the semifinals in Marseille. Kucera is looking for his third semifinal in Copenhagen in as many appearances. In 1995 he lost to Andrei Olohskiy and in 1997 to Martin Damm. Kratochvil is in his first quarterfinal since Nottingham last year.
 
#489 ·
Out of context

4:0 Alinghi!!!
One more win and the Americas Cup is back in Europe!!

But to be honest I feel sorry for Team New Zealand. They had to retire once again becouse of a broken "Mast". So that's the second time their boat got damaged....

....still I'm happy for Alinghi!!
Come on make that 5:0 tonight!!
 
#490 ·
Team NZ must have dampen spirits by now...and that's not from the water that's filled their boats. ;)

I'm sure Alinghi will make it. I'm thrilled because if they'll win, the next Cup will take event back in Europe after so many many years, where it actually started.

--------

Sorry Krati! :(
 
#491 ·
I guess if anyone is a fan of Marco Chiudinelli I got a pic that I scanned of him from TMS Toronto. Sorry my scanner is a bit dull :(
 

Attachments

#492 ·
And this one of Michel stretching.
 

Attachments

#494 ·
Well not me technically but my friend I was with and who I asked to take those pictures, she was so percistent on taking pictures of Tim Henman :eek:
 
#496 ·
Ugh, the Delray Beach draw might put a cap on Micha's progress :(

(1) Andy Roddick (USA)
Mardy Fish (USA)

Fernando Meligeni (BRA)
Attila Savolt (HUN)

Alberto Martin (ESP)
Brian Vahaly (USA)

Iraki Labadze (GEO)
(6) Raemon Sluiter (NED)

(3/WC) Marcelo Rios (CHI)
Jeff Morrison (USA)

Martin Verkerk (NED)
QUALIFIER

Andre Sa (BRA)
Hyung-Taik Kee (KOR)

Michel Kratochvil (SUI)
(5) Arnaud Clement (FRA)

============================

(8) Vincent Spadea (USA)
QUALIFIER

Flavio Saretta (BRA)
QUALIFIER

(WC) Justin Gimelstob (USA)
QUALIFIER

Nicolas Kiefer (GER)
(4) Jan-Michael Gambill (USA)

(7) Stefan Koubek (AUT)
QUALIFIER

Jean-Rene Lisnard (FRA)
Lars Burgsmuller (GER)

Vladimir Voltchkov (BLR)
(WC) Alex Kim (USA)

Sargis Sargsian (ARM)
(2) Guillermo Coria (ARG)
 
#499 ·
Swiss breeze to America's Cup sweep

Switzerland's Alinghi won the America's Cup in 5-0 clean sweep of New Zealand. AP

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) -- Swiss biotech billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli grabbed the America's Cup and tossed it onto his shoulder, celebrating a remarkable win for a country without an ocean.

Landlocked Switzerland did what so many other European nations failed to do -- bring sailing's biggest prize to the continent for the first time in the silver trophy's 152-year history.

Alinghi clinched the five-race sweep with a 45-second victory Sunday over hard-luck Team New Zealand, the two-time defending champion. Dominating the series with a crew full of New Zealanders who'd been branded as traitors, skipper Russell Coutts took the cup away from the country he brought it to in 1995.

"Switzerland -- who would have thought, the America's Cup," said Bertarelli, the 37-year-old who funded Alinghi and sailed as its navigator.

"So if we can put it on top of the Matterhorn, we will do that."

He seemed to be only half-kidding.

Several European tycoons tried over 15 decades to take back the trophy that the yacht America won by beating a fleet of British schooners around the Isle of Wight in 1851. Bertarelli was the one who finally succeeded, after scooping up the best Kiwi sailors his money could buy.

With no coastline, the Swiss will have to defend the oldest trophy in international sports elsewhere in Europe, probably in 2007 and somewhere on the Mediterranean or Atlantic.

That's fine with Bertarelli. He's just ecstatic that his team will take home the old silver jug to the Geneva Nautical Society, a yacht club on Lake Geneva.

"For me, the fact that Switzerland wins the America's Cup is a sign of hope for a lot of people," Bertarelli said. "It really says to the world that the impossible doesn't exist."

On a perfect day on the Hauraki Gulf, between Rangitoto and Tiritiri Matangi islands, Coutts again outsailed his former protege, Dean Barker, and led the entire race to end the long, bitter regatta.

"I am a New Zealander. Make no bones about that," Coutts said during the champagne-splashed tow back to port. "But I am immensely proud of what we've achieved at Alinghi. It's been a lot of hard work for me, and as a professional sailor, frankly, I'm proud of what I've done."

Before a quiet crowd of New Zealanders at the waterfront presentation, Bertarelli was the first to hoist the America's Cup. He passed it around to his raucous crewmen while Coutts sprayed champagne. Coutts didn't touch the cup at the ceremony, but he shook hands with the Kiwi crew and later talked quietly with Team New Zealand executive director Ross Blackman. Later, Coutts was tossed into the water.

After winning Race 5, the normally pokerfaced Coutts smiled and waved to a support boat as the black sloop with red swirls crossed the line.

Bertarelli started the celebration a few hundred yards before the finish. He touched fists with tactician Brad Butterworth and shook hands with German-born strategist Jochen Schuemann, a three-time Olympic gold medalist.

The champagne arrived moments after the finish, and Alinghi's crew hoisted a banner showing the America's Cup atop the Matterhorn, with the saying: "We did it!!!" They also hoisted a broom to celebrate the sweep. Supporters clanged cowbells and waved red-and-white Swiss flags.

The Kiwis quietly drank beer as their boat, NZL-82, was towed into the harbor.

"They've been phenomenal," Barker said of Alinghi. "They've completely dominated us. They just put together a near-flawless performance."

Coutts, 41, capped a remarkable feat by sailing unbeaten through his third straight cup match. He has won a record 14 straight races, making the most dominant and one of the greatest skippers in the event's colorful history.

Sailing a fast boat, Coutts and his crew were flawless and unflappable through a series that was marred by wild weather swings, spectacular breakdowns on Team New Zealand's boat and an undercurrent of resentment over Kiwi defections to foreign syndicates three years ago.

"We really didn't have any big weaknesses," Coutts said. "If you had looked at us in November 2000, you would have said, 'There's no way Alinghi can win the cup.' But somehow we managed to come through. We worked very, very hard on this project."

With his longtime friend and tactician Butterworth calling the shots, Coutts hit the starting line right on time in his 80-foot sloop; Barker was a second late. Alinghi controlled the right side of the course in 15 knots of wind, and gained immediately from a wind shift.

When the yachts converged on opposite tacks for the first time, Coutts crossed ahead and immediately tacked in front of the Kiwis, a "slam dunk" that established control.

Team New Zealand had another mishap, this time snapping its carbon-fiber spinnaker pole after the sail wrapped around it on the downwind fourth leg. The frustrated crew tossed the broken spar overboard. They had a spare but still lost time and trailed by 31 seconds after four legs of the six-leg, 18.5-nautical mile course.

So dominant in the previous two cup regattas, Team New Zealand was weakened by the loss of one-third of its sailors and designers to other syndicates. Its boat was supposed to be fast, with a radical hull appendage called a "hula," but the sloop practically fell apart in two races that it couldn't finish.

New Zealanders felt betrayed by the defections, most notably by Coutts and Butterworth, and late last year Alinghi received letters threatening family members of some of its New Zealand crewmen.

Bertarelli, the navigator, was one of only three Swiss on the 16-man crew for the clinching win.

Seven Kiwis were aboard Alinghi, including six who helped Team New Zealand to five-race sweeps of Dennis Conner in 1995 off San Diego and Italy's Prada Challenge in a successful defense in 2000.

On the third anniversary of that win, it was Coutts and the "Kiwi Swiss" who again enjoyed a five-race sweep. It was also three years ago that Coutts, having staked Team New Zealand to a 4-0 lead over Prada, handed the wheel to Barker and watched the deciding win from a chase boat.

Alinghi's crew also included pitman Josh Belsky of Hood River, Ore., and grinder John Barnitt of Genoa, Nev., plus an Italian, a Canadian and a Dutchman.

Coutts became the first skipper to win the America's Cup for two countries. He set the record for overall wins in the America's Cup match with 14, breaking a tie with Conner.

Only Coutts, Harold Vanderbilt (1930, 1934, 1937) and Charlie Barr (1899, 1901, 1903) have won three straight America's Cup matches.

There were seven postponements in this America's Cup because of uncooperative weather, extending the series across 16 days. Race 4 was postponed six times, first by light wind and then by gales. By then, Alinghi's victory seemed inevitable.

When Race 4 finally got under way, the Kiwis endured the worst of their two breakdowns: Their 110-foot mast snapped in two, giving Alinghi an easy victory. After another postponement Saturday, the Kiwis competed in the final race using the mast from their backup boat.
 
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