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THE OFFICIAL--- Fritz Wolmarans (RSA) ---- Thread

9K views 71 replies 5 participants last post by  VolandriFan 
#1 · (Edited)
Anyone here a fan of Fritz? He's a young South African player (born in 1986).

He cracked the top 500 near the end of '05, and is still sitting around the mark. Fritz was pretty outstanding as a junior, but it still has yet to translate to his professional game. His biggest weapon is his serve, which is decent even by top 100 standard.

I met him in 2004 while he was still on the junior tour.

Here's a photo so you can all see who I'm talking about. He's not so bad looking, is he? ;)

 

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#32 ·
He's in the New Orleans draw, playing Kuznetsov in the first round. A solid, but beatable opponent for Fritz. It would be a confidence boosting win if he could make it through that match.
 
#34 ·
Great job, Fritzy - let's hope he can continue this good form.
 
#37 ·
Yet another win, this time over Ram 7-6 3-6 7-5. It's so great to see him coming through these tight sets and matches now, it's impressive that his mental strength is improving so drastically. He will play Smeets in the semis.
 
#38 ·
Here's an article I found after the New Orleans Challenger event.

Rain wreaks havoc with tennis tourney
Kuznetsov's match tied at a set apiece before weather delay

Wednesday, September 12, 2007
By Kyle Whitfield


Mother Nature had a different plan for 12 matches scheduled for Tuesday at the Bruno & Bruno Trial Lawyers Men's $50,000 Challenger.

Two rain delays at the University Tennis Center at UNO forced officials to postpone the matches, which will resume today at 10 a.m.

Three matches were finished Tuesday, but one of the most competitive matches, between Russian Fritz Wolmarans and Alex Kuznetsov of the United States, was suspended.

Wolmarans, the tournament's No. 7 seed, and No. 8 Kuznetsov were tied at one set apiece before the rain arrived. Kuznetsov is the No. 186-ranked player in the world.

"Today's been just really difficult just with the lightning, the weather and the wind going on and off all the time," Wolmarans said. "It's tough to get a good rhythm going, but it's the same for both players."

Wolmarans said neither player has any distinct advantage because of the rain. Before the match was suspended, Wolmarans won the first set 7-5 and dropped the second 4-6.

"The only good thing is if you're losing and you have time to reflect on the match," he said. "But we're tied, so it's basically the same for both guys."

Wolmarans' visit to New Orleans for the tournament is his first, but he maintains he will not fall for the party atmosphere just yet.

"Tonight we'll take it easy -- just rest up and make sure I'm ready and fresh for tomorrow," he said. "Hopefully when the tournament is done we can go party."

Wolmarans described his opponent, Kuznetsov, as "a good baseliner" who also has a strong return game.

"I've just got to focus on my strengths and not worry too much what he does," Wolmarans said. "My strengths are serving well and looking to attack the short ball."

To make up for lost time because of rain, promoter Leif Olsson said the tournament will change in two ways.

"One is we'll expand the number of courts we had initially planned to use," he said. "Then we're going to also play later on in the evening."

Tuesday's matches were officially called off around 5:20 p.m.

"The rain started probably around noon today, and it took us about an hour to get the rain over with and about 45 minutes to dry the courts," Olsson said. "We got probably about 40 minutes of play in, and then the next shower came in."

The tournament is scheduled to continue through Sunday. Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova will play an exhibition Friday at New Orleans Arena at 7:30 p.m. Singer Theresa Andersson will perform after the match. Tickets for the exhibition start at $30 and include entrance to the concert.
 
#39 · (Edited)
New career high ranking this week- 401 in singles and one off his best doubles ranking at 439.

Interesting fact is that in ATP matches, Fritz is:
4-1 in singles
4-0 in doubles

He needs to qualify for some tour events soon ;)
 
#45 ·
Career high ranking of 361 this week. He has some futures points to defend in November, but should be able to better them in challengers, which he'll have direct entry into all now.
 
#46 ·
I'm going to watch Fritz play a qualifying match in Sacramento on Sunday. I'll try to take some pictures for you. :)
 
#47 ·
Enjoy, Fee :)
 
#48 ·
Thanks. :) I got there very late today (just not moving in a hurry at all, it's Sunday) and I missed Fritz completely. He won his match today, so I have another chance to see him tomorrow. I promise I'll move faster. ;)
 
#50 ·
I am so far. Spoke to Fritz after his match and he thanked me for the support. He was on the worst possible court, no place for spectators. I stood by the gate and watched through the fence, I could only see half the match, but I said something positive almost every time he was at my end of the court (when he wasn't screwing up, that match was kind of ugly).
 
#51 ·
That's good that you got to talk to him. Did he have anything to say worth a mention? Well, it looks like your support worked yesterday anyway, because he lost today and I wasn't prepared for that at all. :rolleyes:
 
#53 ·
It's hard work having to qualify every time, I'm sure he would be much better ranked by now with direct entries. But he has shown enough to suggest that can achieve a decent ranking next year.

This week he is playing in Australia (direct entry), where the field is beatable, although ranking and money wise he may regret not chosing Kuala Lumpur where the depth of the field is hardly better than here despite $125K vs $25K.
 
#59 ·
And rightly so!
 
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