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by Ed Toombs We continue to monitor the hot hands on the clay court circuit with the French Open just two weeks away. Marat Safin and Tommy Haas have been inspired by recently-retired compatriots, Anke Huber is flashing her form of several years ago, and a gorilla from Chile is on the rampage in Florida! In case you have been wondering how Boris Becker is keeping busy since his resignation as German Davis Cup manager, don't be concerned. He is still very active in the business world, and also appears to be the mentor and motivating force behind Tommy Haas, who is having his best tournament of the season so far in Munich this week. According to the Rheinische Post, Haas has requested a longer-term working relationship with the three-time Wimbledon champion, but the many activities in which Boris is currently involved prevent him from working with any player on a regular basis. For example, one of the many hats that Becker wears is that of a member of the board of directors of the Bayern Munich football club, and he excused himself in the middle of the Munich tournament to watch his team lose a UEFA Champions' League match in Madrid . Another young player inspired by a former star from his homeland is the red hot Marat Safin. In his young career, Safin has often been a moody, puzzling player: capable of putting together solid weeks but too often losing one-sidedly in half-hearted efforts. Under the guidance of his new coach Andrei Chesnokov, however, young Safin seems to have have transformed himself into a gritty, battling tennis machine! Chesnokov has apparently been administering tough medicine to Safin, and the once-nonchalant y oungster is lapping it up eagerly. "It's just been a question of work, work, work," Safin told Reuters in Barcelona last week. "Andrei told me I would have to do everything he tells me and so far that's been working well." The hard work certainly has been paying dividends, as Safin won Barcelona and as I write these lines has reached the semis in Mallorca. Along the way he has beaten an impressive roster of clay court talent, including Moya, Lapentti, Norman, Puerta, Ferrero and Zabaleta. However, Marat may be may be forgetting the golden rule of the European clay court season: don't win too many matches! Marcelo Rios and Gustavo Kuerten were the hot hands on clay the last two years, but appeared to arrive at the French Open burned out by their prodigious efforts in the prior tournaments. Nonetheless, Safin could be seeded at Roland-Garros and will definitely be a man to watch in the City of Light. We're not sure what has gotten into Anke Huber, but she has posted some excellent results in recent weeks and must be added to the list of dark horses for the French Open. Until running into new world number one Martina Hingis in the Hamburg semifinal today, Huber had won the Estoril tournament and was undefeated in three Fed Cup matches, making for a total of 11 wins in a row on clay. Her Fed Cup coach Markus Schur was quite excited over Anke's prospects this year: "The way she is going, Anke will alre ady be in the top ten again by the summer," an enthused Schur told the Hamburger Morgenpost. "The top five in the world are a private club: Davenport, Hingis, the Williams sisters, Pierce. But Anke is right behind them." We'll forgive Markus for forgetting about new world #3 Nathalie Tauziat, who incidentally has just published her autobiography in her native France. Notwithstanding this slight, it will be nice to see Huber return to the top ten: the amiable and talented German has been missing from the elite for too long. Reportedly troubled with a nagging Achilles tendon problem this week in Germany, Huber should be a danger woman in the Roland-Garros field if she is healthy. Finally, we are pleased to note that a rising star has made his mark at the Orlando tournament, reaching the semifinals (as of this writing). Only 19 years old, Fernando "El Gorila" Gonzalez of Chile, the 1998 French Open junior champion and already a member of his nation's Davis Cup team, qualified for the Orlando event and has reached the final four in what is only the third ATP event in his young career. Admittedly Orlando had a very weak field (Andrew Ilie was the top seed), but watchers of up and c oming talent have been anxiously anticipating El Gorila's breakthrough on the circuit. Gonzalez, a powerfully-built hard hitter from Santiago with a 130 mph serve, will make a huge leap in next week's rankings from his current status at #357. And his coach Raul Viver evidently likes what he is seeing from his protégé. "He has a lot of talent and he's fast and strong," said the coach. "I think he's improved his serve and being more patient and working the points better." Certainly the successes of Gonzalez and the other young Chilean star Nicolas "El Vampiro" Massu ? who is also in the Orlando semis ? come as welcome news to Chilean tennis fans, who have suffered through a laborious comeback from groin surgery by the nation's top player, Marcelo Rios. |