Umag, Sweden Among Tennis's Winners and Losers to End July 2015

While the superstars of tennis gear up for August, there was plenty of action this past week at Umag, Sweden and Bogota. For a change, young players got their hands on trophies, while a couple of No. 1 seeds were ousted early.

There are also curious stories about Ana Ivanovic, Bernard Tomic’s ups and downs and the demise of Hamburg’s fine tournament. The former two can control their own destinies, but can something still be done about the latter?

This is the week’s “Winners and Losers” of tennis where we add commentaries to the happenings in our favorite professional sport. We will also dust off the old “Burnt Bagel” award and controversially give it to one of our winners. Read on for the sordid details.

Loser: David Goffin

LUC CLAESSEN/Getty Images

David Goffin is doing his best to become the next David Ferrer, but he has a long way to go. He was the No. 1 seed at the Swedish Open in Bastad, but he was ousted in his first match 6-2, 6-3 by the occasionally dangerous Benoit Paire.

In fairness to Goffin, ranked No. 14 in the world, he was coming off the emotional high of home country Belgium’s Davis Cup win last week. Then again, Goffin only had to win his first match as Belgium cruised to a five to zero shutout of Canada. He also did not look exactly himself and might have nagging injuries or fatigue.

Goffin will get a mulligan as the No. 1 seed next week at Gstaad, Switzerland. These are the minor tournaments that he needs to win in order to make a bid for the top 10.

If Goffin is to follow the Ferrer model, he will have to travel well, win the little tournaments and consistently crack quarterfinals at Masters 1000 and majors. It’s a tough act to follow.

Winner: Benoit Paire

Bjorn Larsson Rosvall/Associated Press

It’s really about time that Benoit Paire raised a winner’s trophy. He’s had injury problems for the better part of a year, but it’s still hard to believe that the 26-year-old Frenchman just won his first ATP title, this week’s Sweden Open over veteran Tommy Robredo.

He’s too talented not to be a bigger threat on the ATP tour. He has an excellent backhand and quick reflexes. He’s the kind of player who should be able to compete on all surfaces—grass, hard courts and clay.

Maybe the biggest question is whether he can keep his composure. There are times he has become volatile and temperamental, so for him to become a bigger winner, he must keep this under control.

Loser: Venus Williams

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

We’re scrutinizing No. 1 seeds this week, but our standard is not too tough. Venus Williams, like David Goffin, could not win her first match. She was sent packing in Turkey’s Istanbul Cup 6-4, 7-6(4) by qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko. Ouch.

Venus is not exactly ready to make noise at the U.S. Open series with this kind of result. Last year, she was one of the most impressive stories at Canada’s Rogers Cup, where she defeated sister Serena on her way to the final.

However, Venus can be very patient with her results. It may do her good to get some rest and give a little extra attention to focusing on her training. It’s harder for her to recover the consistent play she once had, but she is capable of being an excellent spoiler and occasional title winner.

Winner: Dominic Thiem

STR/Getty Images

Maybe Dominic Thiem is learning what it takes to fight through his struggles and persevere with success. Like many of the young ATP players, Thiem has been erratic with his promising talent, sometimes posting big wins and at other times losing to unheralded opponents.

Take last week’s Davis Cup disaster, when Thiem’s Austrian team was bounced by the Netherlands in four of five rubbers to miss out on being promoted to the World Cup playoffs. Thiemo De Bakker (ranked No. 137) and Robin Haase (ranked No. 74) defeated Thiem, not exactly murderers’ row.

Maybe other young players would feel devastated to feel the weight of their nation come crashing down on their shoulders, but Thiem responded with a great week in winning Umag’s clay-court title.

The semifinal match against Gael Monfils was key. Thiem dropped the first set but kept his head and aggressiveness, providing awesome, powerful forehands that had him turning nearly his entire body into the stroke. His pace and fitness seemed to overwhelm Monfils who was slumping his shoulders by the third set.

Thiem polished off the final against Joao Sousa, 6-4, 6-1 in just over one hour. Is he temporarily the favorite of the young players hovering near their 20th birthday range? Thiem will be 22 in September.

He’s up to a career-high No. 23 ranking, so let’s see how he does in North America.

Loser: Ana Ivanovic's Coaching Carousel

JUSTIN TALLIS/Getty Images

Ana Ivanovic changes coaches about as often as she changes her socks. OK, not quite, but after taking nearly three months to find a permanent replacement for former coach Dejan Petrovic, it was a little strange that she would recycle coach Nigel Sears.

Sears is the eighth coaching appointment since Ivanovic won the 2008 French Open, so that works out to about one coach a year. Even more perplexing, it’s not like Sears did anything special in 2011-13 to help Ivanovic’s career reach a special level.

What about Ivanovic’s serve, improved movement, fitness and a more consistent forehand? Until these changes occur on a regular basis, it might not really matter at all who attempts coaching. Sears or not, Ivanovic has her work cut out for her. She will need a stable commitment from herself most of all.

Winner: Bernard Tomic

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Well, he’s back.

A week after one of the most disgraced weeks of his career, Bernard Tomic is proving to be a pesky alley cat. It would seem few care to take him in, but he survives by clawing back and proving he does indeed have multiple lives.

Tomic was left off Australia’s Davis Cup team amid his clashes with Patrick Rafter, former team captain and now Tennis Australia’s player-performance director.

Following Tomic’s comments on Tennis Australia during his post-match Wimbledon press conference, president Steve Healy said in the Daily Mail, “We are trying to build a strong culture underpinned by a philosophy of opportunity, not entitlement. This behaviour is just not on.” Tennis Australia CEO and tournament director Craig Tiley added, “If he (Tomic) chooses one path that is destructive, that’ll be unfortunate, and it’s not going to benefit him.”

The drama did not end there. While Team Australia fought back last week for a rousing Davis Cup quarterfinals win aganist Kazakhstan, Tomic was arrested in Miami for reportedly trespassing and resisting arrest after noisy complaints about his hotel room, according to the New York Daily News’ Nina Golgowski.

Of course this meant that No. 2 seed Tomic would break out for a good week of tennis to retain his Claro Open (Bogota, Colombia) title. He was shaky at times, but he was able to close out the final against No. 3 seed Adrian Mannarino, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

Tomic’s third career title puts him ahead of Dominic Thiem’s effort earlier in the day to capture the Umag title, but of course he’s likely to go diving before resurfacing for air once again.

But this all still feels off. Do we really give Tomic a “winner” label because he is lifting up a trophy? OK, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be chewing on our defunct “Burnt Bagel” award. He’s going to have to prove his character in spite of a winning week.

Loser: BB&T Atlanta Open

Dave Tulis/Associated Press

In the next two weeks, the eastern United States will warm up its U.S. Open series with ATP small tournaments in Atlanta and Washington D.C.

It will be a showcase of American tennis without the tennis’ global superstars. Yes, center stage for America.

Excuse the world if it decides to yawn, change the channel or tune into a tiddlywinks contest.

The draw will feature No. 1 seed John Isner, No. 3 seed Jack Sock, Steve Johnson and soon-to-be-retired Mardy Fish. Canadian Vasek Pospisil will deign to come on down to the southeast American corner for a chance at a title sans European baseliners, unless of course No. 5 seed Marcos Baghdatis turns back the clock or Alexandr Dolgopolov entertains the crowd.

While the rest of the tennis world will find more quality in Hamburg or Gstaad, other sports fans might find that baseball and preseason American football will be front and center. Or they might get out the winks and squidger for another kind of competition.

Maybe Donald Young or Ryan Harrison can make a run at the title. Are you not compelled?

Winner: Hamburg Tennis

JOERG SARBACH/Associated Press

Maybe you heard that Rafael Nadal is returning to Hamburg’s clay courts for the first time since 2008. It will feature other strong clay-court players, including Nadal’s first-round opponent Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Robredo, Fabio Fognini, Pablo Cuevas and Roberto Bautista Agut. Other fine players are scattered throughout the draw.

But once again we can’t help but lament that Germany’s most important tournament was once a Masters 1000 stop before it was displaced by quirky Madrid. And that’s a tragedy.

This is the home country that built up superstars Boris Becker and Steffi Graf in the 1980s and 90s. It has a strong economy, a great sports tradition (see Germany’s sparkling new World Cup soccer trophy) and loyal supporters. Although it is only a level-500 tournament, it’s still able to occasionally attract stars such as Nadal, Federer (2013), local hero Tommy Haas and German native Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Why not drop Paris (Bercy) and Madrid and give Germany back Hamburg and (grass courts) Halle for two Masters 1000 tournaments?

Here’s hoping for a good tournament at Hamburg. We remember its glorious tennis past, with Nadal, Federer, Guillermo Coria and Gustavo Kuerten. The decades past have also produced winners such as Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Guillermo Vilas and Rod Laver.

The German Open has handed out trophies since 1892, but apparently that was trumped by only seven years of Madrid’s indoor hard courts, which somehow paid its way into hosting the past seven years on clay (2012 could hardly be called clay, but I digress).