[Hypnotize]

Interesting news. What is the 2nd best player in Bulgaria like?

[kr1s71an]

Originally Posted by Hypnotize

Interesting news. What is the 2nd best player in Bulgaria like?

At the beginning of the year that was Dimitar Kutrovsky (he reached #312 in March, now he is #707). He took a set from Baghdatis in the tie with Cyprus in 2011, plays two-handed from both sides. In March he reached the QF at the San Jose ATP tournament after having a dream draw, before losing to Harrison. Later he was banned because of doping and can't play until may 2013.

Now the second best bulgarian is Alexander Lazov - #500 at the moment. He is playing mostly on the Futures circuit, where he won a title and played a final in July.

It doesn't matter that much who is our second best player, because in almost every match in the 2nd group - we need 3 wins from Grigor. Kutrovsky can help, but now he can't play. It will be hard for Lazov and Kuzmanov (out third best - #569) to score a win.

Finland has a good team, so we will probably need 3 wins from Grigor. He will definatelly beat their second player, the match with Nieminen will be tough and I think we can win the doubles as well.

[nadejda]

*** DISCLAIMER***

***DAVIS CUP OFF TOPIC***


LOL I think matching with Finland is almost mission impossible, especially if Mikka and Henry are fit and play! Henka Kontinent is an excellent serve and volley player and in a doubles match he will be a huge threat!
Both Lazov and Kuzmanov are nice young players Lazov is 22 and Kuzmanov 19-20 but none of them has a big serve. Alex Lazov, although I like him a lot is a kinda of total jerk - his style is unique, interesting and very thrilling to watch especially when he is on could have been a top 100 player, HOWEVER his serve is a soft WTA like version with ZERO power and consistency. Meh...His head is a huge issue too, sometimes he disappears for a whole set or 2 and plays like utter crap, like literally not being able to put the ball into play...With that said I love watching him play and would love to see him play for Davis cup for first time I believe?
You forgot to mention Toto Grozdanov, who IMO if in good shape would be the bigger aid for our team along with Grigor. I know Toto isn't playing a lot of tournaments per year and sometimes participate into beach tennis events heheh but he is the one who can make the difference both with his experience and game. He won a match vs Victor Hanescu last year, Vicotr was simply outplayed. Now when Todor Enev retired, and Kutrovski banned I would call these 4 if all are healthy and available.

[Hypnotize]

That may be true nadejda but Davis Cup can bring out the best in a player especially if there is good team spirit and they go into the tie believing they can win. I don't know any of these players but hopefully having a Bulgarian player in the top 50 for the first time ever might inspire them to greater things.

[kr1s71an]

Originally Posted by nadejda

*** DISCLAIMER***

***DAVIS CUP OFF TOPIC***


LOL I think matching with Finland is almost mission impossible, especially if Mikka and Henry are fit and play! Henka Kontinent is an excellent serve and volley player and in a doubles match he will be a huge threat!
Both Lazov and Kuzmanov are nice young players Lazov is 22 and Kuzmanov 19-20 but none of them has a big serve. Alex Lazov, although I like him a lot is a kinda of total jerk - his style is unique, interesting and very thrilling to watch especially when he is on could have been a top 100 player, HOWEVER his serve is a soft WTA like version with ZERO power and consistency. Meh...His head is a huge issue too, sometimes he disappears for a whole set or 2 and plays like utter crap, like literally not being able to put the ball into play...With that said I love watching him play and would love to see him play for Davis cup for first time I believe?
You forgot to mention Toto Grozdanov, who IMO if in good shape would be the bigger aid for our team along with Grigor. I know Toto isn't playing a lot of tournaments per year and sometimes participate into beach tennis events heheh but he is the one who can make the difference both with his experience and game. He won a match vs Victor Hanescu last year, Vicotr was simply outplayed. Now when Todor Enev retired, and Kutrovski banned I would call these 4 if all are healthy and available.

Yeah, Nadejda you're right! Toto Grozdanov should be our 4th player along with Grigor, Lazov and Kuzmanov. After Ognyan Iliev is no longer our coach, I think it's possible that Toto will return to the team. Both of them had some problems with each other and Toto said that he won't play Davis if Iliev is the coach. Now that he is out, I think Toto may return. BTW, we still don't know who will be our new coach. I think they will put Grigor's father on that posision if not permanent, just until they find someone else. I think it will be a good move to put him as a coach, because that way Grigor will probably play every time when he can

[Marto]

So for sure I will visit Bulgaria - Finland

[xavihernandez]

After Davis Cup the next tournament will be Zagreb
Very good Tournament to gain some points (only Cilic from Top 20 at the moment), but until now Grigor has entered a tournament every week in 2013; he shouldn't play too much

[kr1s71an]

Originally Posted by xavihernandez

After Davis Cup the next tournament will be Zagreb
Very good Tournament to gain some points (only Cilic from Top 20 at the moment), but until now Grigor has entered a tournament every week in 2013; he shouldn't play too much

Yeah, but I don't think he will play a semifinal or a final at the Australian Open, so he will probably have the second week off and then in the week after that his first Davis cup match will be on Friday

[rargeyy]

Grigor will face Brian Baker in the 1st round in Brisbane. After that,it will be Raonic C'MON

[Emiliq]

C'mon,Grisho!

[Hypnotize]

Interesting draw and it will be good to see how he does after the off-season. He is also playing doubles with Nishikori against Elgin and Istomin. I'm glad he's started to play more doubles as it helps improve your volleying and return game.

[kr1s71an]

Originally Posted by Hypnotize

Interesting draw and it will be good to see how he does after the off-season. He is also playing doubles with Nishikori against Elgin and Istomin. I'm glad he's started to play more doubles as it helps improve your volleying and return game.

Interesting draw Can't wait

BTW I think we should make a new thread - about his matches in Australia or about 2013

[Emiliq]

Yayyyy,Dimikori match will be streamed http://www.streamhunter.eu/tennis-li...ing-video.html

[Hypnotize]

Grigor and Kei won their doubles match 7-6, 4-6, 10-7 and Grigor was the best player on the court.

I really liked the way he was constantly moving forward and he volleyed well. He hit an incredible backhand volley at 2-3 in the 2nd set that was down at his feet and it was beautiful to watch. His return is still a bit unreliable but I hope he plays such attacking tennis in his R1 match. It looks like he won't be playing until Tuesday.

[kr1s71an]

Rotterdam entry list - http://www.tennisalternative.com/for...&thread_id=350

Here's a list of Grigor's schedule for now:
31/12-06/01: Brisbane Intenational (Brisbane, Australia)
07/01-13/01: Apia International Sydney (Sydney, Australia)
14/01-27/01: Australian Open (Melbourne, Australia)
01/02-03/02: Davis Cup (Sofia, Bulgaria)
04/02-10/02: PBZ Zagreb Indoors (Zagreb, Croatia)
11/02-17/02: ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (Rotterdam, The Netherlands)