Fernando's Excellent Australian Adventure

Fernando Verdasco during his Australian Open quarterfinal match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Fernando Verdasco came into the 2009 Australian Open determined to improve his performance at this tournament. With a 4-5 career record in Melbourne and never having managed to get beyond the second round, there was a lot of room for improvement.

And improve he did. This year, Verdasco, who won the decisive match that gave Spain the Davis Cup in 2008, spent his off-season training with Gil Reyes, the man who turned Andre Agassi into a monument to fitness. Verdasco returned to the tour with more stamina and more confidence. He made it to the final of the warm-up tournament in Brisbane, where he lost to Radek Stepanek, and arrived in Melbourne to find that he had a very tough draw, possibly facing Stepanek again in the third round, 4th-ranked Andy Murray in the fourth, last year's Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters, and the number one ranked player in the world, Rafael Nadal, in the semifinals. But first he had to get past round two.

In fact, Verdasco breezed through the first three rounds of the Australian Open without dropping a set and handing his former nemesis Stepanek a double bagel in the final two sets of their match (6-4 6-0 6-0). But then came Andy Murray, who appears to be challenging Rafael Nadal for the title of the "beast" of tennis. Murray was one of the hottest players in men's tennis in 2008, winning 5 titles and making it to his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open (l. to Federer). Murray finished 2008 with his highest ATP ranking to date (number 4) and started 2009 by taking the title at Doha (Qatar Open), beating 2nd ranked Roger Federer in the semifinal and the 9th ranked and apparently revitalized Andy Roddick in the final. In fact, many people considered him to be the favorite to take the Australian Open title this year. I doubt if anyone but his mother thought Fernando Verdasco, a handsome, amiable good-time guy who up to now has been best known for partying, night-clubbing, dating Ana Ivanovic, and posing in the nude, had a prayer against Murray.

It was a taxing five-set match in brutal heat, but Verdasco beat Murray (2-6 6-1 1-6 6-3 6-4) to set up a quarterfinal showdown with Jo Wilfried Tsonga, who rode his appearance in the 2008 Australian Open final (l. Djokovic) and titles in Bangkok and the Master Series tournament in Paris to a current ranking of 8th in the world. This was Verdasco's first appearance in a Grand Slam quarterfinal, and he bounced back after his long match with Andy Murray to defeat Tsonga in 4 sets (7-6 3-6 6-2 6-2).

Now he was in his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal and had to face Rafael Nadal. Nadal, who won his first Grand Slam (and his first singles title!) at age 18 at Roland Garros, won his fourth Roland Garros title in a row in 2008, beating Roger Federer decisively in straight sets. From there, Nadal, no longer just the "King of Clay," went to Wimbledon and beat Federer again in a 5-set final that many people regard as one of the greatest matches of all time. Wimbledon championship in hand, Nadal continued his tear through the ATP with a total of 8 titles in 2008. He took over the number 1 ranking from Roger Federer just before the 2008 U.S. Open, where he lost in the semifinals to Andy Murray. Nadal finished 2008 ranked number one with a match record of 82-11.

Today, Fernando Verdasco lost to Rafael Nadal, but he made a real fight of it, going down in 5 sets (7-6 4-6 6-7 7-6 4-6) in the longest match in Australian Open history (5 hours and eleven minutes). In a battle of left-handers, Verdasco had 95 winners and 78 errors, but it wasn't enough to beat Nadal. He got down 0-40 in what turned out to be final game, then fought back to 30-40 before losing the match on a double-fault. After the match Verdasco said, "I need to be proud for the tournament I made and the level I played today also. I think it was unbelievable match. I [hit] 20 aces. I was serving 210, 215 a lot. So I cannot think about that I made two double-faults in one game, because tennis is like [that] sometimes." Thus ended the first all-Spanish semifinal at the Australian Open.

Despite what must be a disappointing loss, Fernando Verdasco made his Grand Slam breakthrough and will rise into the ATP top ten for the first time when the rankings come out on Monday. He apparently found a new seriousness of purpose through his pivotal role in the 2008 Davis Cup final, achieved a higher level of fitness by training with Gil Reyes in Las Vegas, and received much-needed self-confidence through a 2-hour private conversation with Andre Agassi on Christmas Eve 2008. Vardasco won't reveal any details of his talk with his childhood idol Agassi, but it seems to have given him a shot in the arm. On the eve of his match with Nadal Verdasco said, "Right now I'm believing so much about me and I just think that I can beat anyone." Let's hope he can keep hold of that belief. Vamos, Fernando!

Fernando Verdasco in 2009-- Rise or Fall?

Fernando Verdasco, Davis Cup hero against Argentina.

Fernando Verdasco ended 2008 on a high. He had lifted his ATP Tour ranking to 11th in the world, including a title in Umag (Croatia), and he beat Argentine Jose Acasuso in the last rubber of the Davis Cup Final to secure victory for Spain. Before the match, Verdasco had told Spain's Davis Cup coach Emilio Sanchez that he wanted to be a hero, and he delivered.

According to Deuce Magazine, Verdasco then did something that was for him uncharacteristic. Leaving his family behind in Spain, Verdasco flew to Las Vegas in December to work with Gil Reyes, the trainer who played a key role in making Andre Agassi a great tennis champion. Anyone who has seen Verdasco's sculpted body, and many have had the chance since he agreed to pose nude for the UK version of Cosmopolitan in 2008, might find it hard to believe that he needed to increase his fitness, but Verdasco wanted to start strong in 2009.

So far, it seems his plan is working. He made it to the final of the tournament in Brisbane, two weeks before the start of the Australian Open and is seeded 14th at the Open. Unfortunately, he will find himself in the quarter of the draw anchored by world number 4 Andy Murray, who turned into a powerhouse in 2008, winning 5 titles and making it to his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Roger Federer. Murray has already started 2009 with a roar, winning the title in Doha by beating Roger Federer in the semifinal and Andy Roddick in the final. Also in Verdasco's quarter are last year's Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, seeded 5th, 9th seeded James Blake, and 22nd seed Radek Stepanek, to whom Verdasco lost in the final at Brisbane.

Fernando Verdasco would have had a tough row to hoe at the Australian Open in any case, because his record there is a miserable 4-5, and he has lost in the second round the past three years. This year, if he makes it to the third round, he will be facing his Brisbane nemesis, Radek Stepanek. If he gets past Stepanek, he will have to face Andy Murray. If he were to beat Murray, he would have his countryman, number 1-ranked Rafael Nadal in his future. Frankly, his prospects are not good, but even making it past the third round would be a victory of sorts and a contribution to the fast start he is hoping for in 2009.

After the Australian Open comes the early clay court season in South America, where Verdasco has a chance to shine, followed by two Masters Series tournaments in the USA, then the important European clay court season leading to Roland Garros. If Fernando Verdasco wants to rise above his 2008 11th place ranking, he needs to keep his momentum going and become better known for celebrating victories than posing without his clothes.

What Do Tennis Players Do When They're Not Playing Tennis?

In this photo, Spanish tennis player Fernando Verdasco is advertising underwear. At least, that's one of the things he's showing off.

Admittedly, professional tennis players, with their eleven-month season, don't have a lot of spare time. But they know how to make good use of the spare time they do have. One of the things they do is appear in advertisements. Given their fitness and toned bodies, it's not unusual for tennis players to go shirtless in ads, as is the case with Fernando Verdasco (left). Of course, you can find just about anything on Youtube, and there is an almost 10-minute video there of shirtless tennis players, including Andy Roddick, Feliciano Lopez, Dmitri Tursunov, Tommy Haas, Robbie Ginepri, and Rafael Nadal. In fact, current number-one player Rafael Nadal goes shirtless in a commercial for Nike. On the other hand, he covers up for a Spanish commercial for a milk drink called Cola Cao. This is a bit more reminiscent of the many ads of tennis players, including Pete Sampras, Venus and Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, and, Ana Ivanovic (2008) sporting their milk mustaches in the highly popular "Got milk?" series of ads.

Although many tennis players take off their clothes in ads, some advertise other products while fully clothed. Top players, like Roger Federer, have many top of the line sponsors, such as Nike, Wilson, Rolex, and Mercedes Benz. For a couple of years now, Federer has been doing advertisements for Gillette with golfer Tiger Woods and French soccer player Thierry Henry. Recently, Gillette has replaced Henry with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, at least for the American market. This is not unusual. Rafael Nadal makes commercials for Nike in Europe, but up to now they have never aired on American television. Now that he is the number one tennis player in the world and the 2008 Olympic gold medalist, Nike will probably make an ad with Nadal for the American market. Based on this year's U.S. Open series "Road Trip" commercial with Nadal and John McEnroe, Nadal has possibilities, but they will need to clean up his English. But he does a great job driving the bus!

Sometimes the ads take advantage of an aspect of the game that a player is especially known for, such as the Powerade commerical with big-serving Andy Roddick. In one of the great ad campaigns that went astray, Roddick was the subject of a series of American Express commercials for the 2005 U.S. Open in which Andy was looking for his "mojo." Unfortunately for Roddick and his sponsor, Andy lost in the first round. Obviously, he couldn't find his mojo when he needed it. Often, even second-rank players have multiple sponsors and do ads for all of them. For example, American player Robbie Ginepri does ads for Underarmour, a clothing company, as well as for Babolat, the French manufacturer of strings, tennis rackets, shoes, and other tennis gear. Babolat's premier American player is Andy Roddick, who also is sponsored by Lacoste, another French company.

Mind you, sexy commercials are not the exclusive province of male tennis players. Probably the queen of advertising is Maria Sharapova, whose beauty and tennis prowess make her a sponsor's dream. Her sponsors include Colgate, Canon, and upscale clothing and shoe manufacturer Cole Haan. Canon has recently done a series of amusing ads in which Maria is upstaged by her pet Pomeranian, Dolce. Actually, "Dolce" in the commericals is a dog actor named Beowulf, because Sharapova's own pet dog did not respond as well to the camera.

Probably the most notorious advertisement involving a tennis player is the Canon "Image is Everything" ad with Andre Agassi. It took years for Agassi to live down the "all flash and no substance" image it portrayed. Today, with tennis players represented by image-conscious agents like IMG, the Agassi Canon ads probably never would have been made, but that would have been a shame, because they capture an image of "cool" that would be hard to replace. These days, Agassi, who won 8 Grand Slam titles before his retirement in 2006, prefers to be known for his foundation and charitable work, which earned him a spot in Time's list of 100 most important people of 2008. But, you know, those were great ads.