USA Tour Autumn 2012 #3



Mountain backdrop of Indian Wells

After his close loss in the qualifying at Indian Wells, Greg was back on the training court but his left leg was still giving him a lot of pain. After consultation with the tournament physios Greg had an MRI scan done on the troublesome knee last Friday, which indicated that he probably had inflammation on the tendon where it inserts into bone below the knee but there was no evidence of any damage to the bone. So good news and bad news. The prognosis is that, in order to improve, the leg needs complete rest and then some physio to restore strength and fitness.

Melbourne on the Yarra River

So Greg has stopped training and has withdrawn from the Challenger tournament in Mexico. He is flying back to Melbourne for a couple of weeks of rest and physio. If the leg repairs, and after suitable tests, he will then be able to resume tennis and fitness training to get his fitness and form back before he re-commences tournament play.
Good luck Greg. We hope the leg gets better and that it is only a small blip in your career. Enjoy the break from tennis.

USA Tour Autumn 2012 #2

After more rest and a few days hitting Greg decided to contest the Qualifying for the Indian Wells ATP 500 tournament. He was not lucky in the draw though, getting matched up against the No.2 seed in qualifying, 25 year-old German Tobias Kamke, currently ranked 88. Greg recently played against Kamke, going down in straight sets to the German in the final round of qualifying in Brisbane in early January. A tough match for his first encounter for three weeks.
Greg served first in the 1st set, in gusty wind conditions, and it was he who was playing better in the first set, creating a break point opportunity at 3-2. He was not able to convert and Kamke held serve, games going with serve to 5-4, Greg leading. Greg then pressurised Kamke and forced a break point opportunity to win the set. Kamke's nerve held but two more break-point opportunities saw Greg win the game, and the 1st set 6-4.
Greg could not maintain the intensity and Kamke came storming back, breaking Greg's serve at 1-1, then holding, before breaking again to take a decisive 4-1 lead. Greg was not able to make any in-roads into Kamke's serve in the 2nd set, and Kamke held again to go 5-1 up. Greg forced Kamke to serve out the set at 2-5, which he duly did, winning the set 6-2 and levelling the match at 4-4.

German Tobias Kamke

Both players were struggling to serve in the windy conditions and at 1-1 Kamke again forced Greg to save a break pint opportunity, then converted another opportunity to go a brrak-up at 2-1. Greg hit back in the bery next game, breaking Kamke to level at 2-2, then held serve, games going with serve to 4-4. It was the business end of the match and Greg felt the pressure of not having any matches under the belt for the past three weeks, fitness lacking as well. Kamke upped the ante and forced Greg to break-point, converting to go 5-4 up. Greg was unable to break Kamke as he served for the match and Kamke won the 3rd set 6-4 and a closely fought tussel 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Whilst bitterly disappointed with the loss, Greg can take a lot from the match. He had improved vastly on his last showing against Kamke, when not having played or trained properly for three weeks. Hopefully his leg held up well and he will recover quickly from the match.

USA Tour Autumn 2012 #1

It has been a frustrating three weeks for Greg who has been struggling to recover from an annoying injury to to his left leg. After the Caloundra Challenger tournament, where he played with the injury, an inflammation of a tendon where it inserts into the bone just below his left knee, Greg received a cortisone injection in the area of the injury and had a few days of rest to let the cortisone take effect. After a week off he then headed for Jacksonville, Florida for a training session under the guidance of ex-tour player, former No.4 ranked Todd Martin. Greg was accompanied by fellow Australian Marinko Matosevic, who hit with Greg while Todd provided coaching.

During those four days Greg's injury flared up again and he did not get as much on court training as he would have liked. He and Marinko then went to Delray Beach in Florida for the qualifying of an ATP250 tour event. Seeded No.6 in the qualifying, Greg had a favourable draw but was not able to compete, withdrawing due to the injury. Greg was then forced to watch from the sidelines the whole week while he treated the injury with ice-packs, inflammatories and rest. 

Marinko Matosevic

On the Friday of the third week Greg then left for Indian Wells where he had made the cut for qualifying for the ATP500 tournament, which commences on Tuesday (USA time). He will be joined by Tennis Australia coach Joshua Eagle, with a decision still to be made whether Greg's leg has recovered enough, and also whether he had enough hitting behind him and is fit enough to compete at that level. Otherwise he might just give his leg more time to heal, before a tournament in Mexico next week or return home for more treatment.

Marinko wins semi-final

While Greg was resting up in Delray Beach, his mate Marinko was having the best tournament of his life, qualifying for the Main Draw, then recording victories over big serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, No.6 seed Alex Bogomolov, last years winner Ernest Gulbis and Israeli Dudi Sela to reach his first ATP tour final. Marinko was on a 12 match winning streak, having won the Caloundra Challenger, qualifying and reaching the final. In a great fighting match Marinko was not able to extend the streak, losing a close final 46, 67 to big serving South African Kevin Anderson. Well done Marinko, who rises to his best ranking at 129.
Let's hope Greg's leg responds to treatment and rest and is able to continue playing this session in America.