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Feeling Andreev's forehandDarkhorse Igor now true threat; Nadal wastes Hewitt
"I have a feeling [his forehand] is even more powerful than that of Nadal," Baghdatis said. "He hurt me quite a lot with his forehand. And you never know where he is going to place the ball. And it keeps you moving from one end of the court to the other, and it's never easy." Due to his substantial stretch off the tour with a knee injury and up-and-down results before then, the 23-year-old Andreev hasn't been considered a prime-time contender until this Roland Garros. But he is now. In fact, his forehand is so explosive, his kick serve is so wicked and he's moving so well that it's conceivable he could best the oh-so-solid Novak Djokovic in the quarters and then hit through Rafael Nadal in the semis. Could he win the tournament? That was a Guga-esque dream coming in with an injury-protected ranking of No. 125 but he's had the toughest draw of anyone coming into the quarters and he's beaten the crap out of every man who dared to match strong sides with him. "In the very deep fantasies, every player imagines how he can enjoy Sunday on Centre Court and hopefully hold the trophy, the big one," he said. "But I have to go slow. Novak is a great player. When you start thinking so far, then your concentration is just not that good." Andreev is a bit of an oddity, and not because Russian diva Maria Kirilenko actually accepted his invitation to date her. He played no ITF junior tournaments and wasn't making progress under the rigid (yet mostly successful) Spartak Club system in Moscow. So his parents, Valeri and Marina called the godmother of Russian tennis, Rausa Safin, who suggested he travel to Valencia and train, just like Marat did. He fell in love with the city and the coaching at the Altur & Alvarino Tennis Academy, where he still trains and lives part-time. His personality fit the Spanish style of game and his career took off. "The ways [they teach] tennis in Russia … in Spain is quite different," he said. "In Russia, maybe it's the guys with the good backhand, because courts are fast. The tennis is much quicker. And in Spain, it's like forehands, baseline, running and clay courts. So that's what was for me what I need, what I understand, like my idea of tennis is this. And there in Russia, they try to explain, but they don't see that maybe every person is different. They have one plan, so you have to do this. And in Spain, it was a little different. The base what they have, just directly came for me, like worked for me." © TennisReporters.net 2007
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