Gastón seems to have played well against Korolev, but he was dissatisfied, of course. I hope that when he cooled down he realized how far he´s improved. The match was played to Court 6´s full capacity, watchers including Nadal´s temporary coach Francisco Roig and lots of Argentine players.
For those who like to collect Gaudio quotes there was a good crop of juicy sayings (how on earth am I going to translate them???) which of course mustn´t be taken literally! (I´ve completed those quoted in Clarín with others taken from different sources). Here goes:
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/03...d-01883468.htm
GAUDIO PLAYED LIKE GAUDIO IN MIAMI, BUT IT WASN´T ENOUGH
Showing interesting flashes of his tennis, he was just a point away from beating Korolev, who defeated him in three sets.
By: Hernán Sartori
PLAYING TENNIS WITH HIS TYPICAL HALLMARK.
GAUDIO DISPLAYED HIS TALENT AND HIS SAYINGS IN MIAMI.
“It looks as if the match next door isn´t much fun, doesn´t it?”. Agustín Calleri´s “Cordobés” witticism was well founded. With their backs to Court No. 2, standing in the last row and leaning over the tubular structure,
dozens of tennis admirers were observing what was happening on Court No. 6. Gastón Gaudio was playing a match on cement after two years in which he only tried to rediscover his tennis soul on clay.
The Gato lost in the first round of the Miami Masters 1000 (4.500.000 dollars; cement), but during the two hours and 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 score, playing against the Russian Evgeny Korolev,
he proved to himself that he can win, that his talent is still there, that his backhand stings and that sometimes his self-recriminations can be motivating.
Gaudio didn´t feel like talking when he left carrying his bag. And it´s understandable. He´d just finished a forgettable third set, when even the electronic scoreboard was about to fall. And
he´d earned the only ovations heard on that windy afternoon in Key Biscayne.
With Gaudio it´s a case of “love him or leave him”, and there were 300 spectators rooting for the 2004 Roland Garros champion. Who regaled them with his usual show of phrases:
- “I´m winning with such little tennis! It´s incredible!” (said laughingly to his team);
- “What a ball-breaker, calling foot faults!” (to a lineswoman, after his umpteenth foot fault);
and the memorable
- “My problem isn´t that I don´t want to play – I don´t want to live! To climb up from there... do the maths!”
- “So are you going to call it now? Are you going to call it now?” (to a lineswoman)
- “Blublu(?) what, blublu what... Just do what you have to do!” (making fun of the umpire).
Gaudio also offered an exhibition of down-the-line backhands and slices to dismantle the rigid Korolev´s game, who gave the Gato a match point at 5-4 in the final set. But his lob went out and after that he was unable to force a tie break in spite of having two break points.
When he played like Gaudio, he attacked and was master of the court, causing a non-stop “Andale Gaudio!” from a Mexican. When he lost his concentration, the match escaped him by a hair´s breadth.
Gastón Gaudio won´t be in the Miami Masters 1000, but at least
the cat has sharpened his claws.
http://www.fuebuena.com.ar/?p=3900#more-3900
VINTAGE GAUDIO
Even when Gastón Gaudio was losing 5-0 in the first set, I was planning to write that
I was pleasantly surprised at his speed and how well he was hitting the ball (comparing him to the Gaudio who lost to Gimeno Traver in Buenos Aires). Even more so after the 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 score with which Evgeny Korolev left him out of the Miami qualy.
Court No. 6 is behind the Grandstand. It has an electronic scoreboard that doesn´t work well, that switches on and off; one linesman for each line (this means that they have to watch the line on the other side of the net as well), and a stand that seats 300 people.
This stand was filled by Juan Martín del Potro (ice on his right hand), Franco Davin, Agustín Calleri, Horacio Zeballos, Brian Dabul... also Francisco Roig, Rafael Nadal´s coach (he usually travels when Toni doesn´t, he was with him in Indian Wells), the ex Olympic tennis player Arnaud di Pasquale, also Andrei Chesnokov...
At the start Gaudio was being overcome by Kournikova´s cousin, a sort of mini-Safin, but he began to realize that the machine could falter and miss. “I´m winning with such little tennis...”, the Gato said laughingly to his team, Alejandro Lombardo and the PT Claudio Galzagori, who kept calling out
“Very good, Turbo!”. I repeat,
Gastón was surprisingly fast on his legs.
During the second set the single hand backhand, the varying height of his shots and the most attractive points (drop shot, lob, and the rival slips) appeared in full, even though the foot faults and the double faults persisted (12 in all). Korolev was hitting every ball out and the first victory on cement in two years seemed possible.
At 5-4 he had a match point on his rival´s serve, but a good attack by the Russian ended in a winner. There was another chance when Korolev was 6-5 and serving 15-40, but Gaudio couldn´t close it. A drive DTL was barely out (he had 4/15 breaks in the whole match) and the qualy finally won´t take any Argentines into the main draw, because Dabul, Mayer and Zeballos also lost.
His performance wasn´t sufficient to satisfy Gaudio... He was angry when he left and wouldn´t speak...
Mind you, he spoke plenty on court... (but please don´t take these phrases seriously!)
And here are some excerpts from other articles:
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1111593
GAUDIO AND HIS SHOW RETURNED TO KEY BISCAYNE... BUT HE LOST
Gaudio returned to the cement of Key Biscayne, with
fast legs, the will to win and hilarious phrases.
http://www.lacapital.com.ar/contenid...icia_0055.html
THE “GATO” GAUDIO IS BACK: HE LOST IN MIAMI AND LEFT US SOME MORE HISTORIC PHRASES
He lost, but there is cause to be optimistic.
The player not only showed touches of his exquisite game, he also went in for his public self-recriminations and his phrases will go down in history. 
Gaston News, Information & Articles (Exhibition Matches as well)
Re: Gaston News, Information & Articles (Copa Argentina tenis exho news)
Novak Đoković | Roger Federer | Marcos Baghdatis | Viktor Troicki | Mikhail Youzhny | Fernando Gonzalez 
He was close...
