2012 French Open Might be a Great Showcase for Head YouTek Tennis Racquets
June 16th, 2012 by belinda@doittennis.com
The 2012 French Open is now down to the semifinals for men's singles and finals for women's singles. The outcome that Head tennis execs wanted at the outset would be for Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic, who both use Head YouTek tennis racquets, to win their respective singles titles. Nothing is better than free advertising, especially when it casts you in a positive light.
The women's singles bracket has had its share of surprises with the number one seed, Viktoria Azarenka suffering an fourth round loss to Dominika Cibulkova, the 15th seed. By contrast, the men's singles bracket still has the first, second, third and sixth seeds left. Horse bettors would describe this success of favorites as 'chalky'.
Sharapova, the two seed, easily dispatched of Alexandra Cadantu, Ayumi Morita and Shuai Peng in the first three rounds, but needed three sets to get past Klara Zakopalova in the fourth round. Sharapova bounced back to dominant form after easily defeating Kaia Kenepi in the quarterfinals: 6-2, 6-3. In the semifinals, she defeated Petra Kvitova, her second opponent from the Czech Republic in the last three matches: 6-3, 6-3. Sharapova will face Sara Errani of Italy in the final. Errani, a no. 21 seed, needed two hours, four minutes to defeat a very tough opponent, the favored Sam Stosur: 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
Sharapova shows no signs of shoulder problems that she suffered a few years ago and after switching from Prince to Head, the YouTek racquet appears to have served her well. She uses the Head YouTek IG Instinct MP, which is designed for players who emphasize ground strokes and serves in their game.
Number one seed Djokovic made it past Potito Starace, Blaz Kavcic and Nicolas Devilder in the first three rounds, but had to work harder against Andreas Seppi and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to get to the semifinals where he will face Roger Federer. This is certain to be one of the most watched matches and is a huge match for Djokovic, who has yet to make it past the semifinals on the clay at Roland Garros.
Djokovic uses the Head YouTek IG Speed MP 18/20 racquet, designed for control and his aggressive baseline style.
Other players in the French Open who use Head YouTek racquets include Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet. As luck would have it (and also the Head execs) both faced each other in the fourth round, which Murray won: 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2. Unfortunately, Murray was not able to get past the quarterfinals, where he lost to David Ferrer of Spain: 4-6, 7-6, 3-6, 2-6.
Murray uses a Head YouTek IG Radical Pro racquet designed to add power to shots and for aggressive all court play. Gasquet uses the YouTek IG Extreme Pro, which adds even more power to your shots.
The French Open has turned out to be a great tournament for Head YouTek tennis racquets. One will be used in the Women's finals; another is going to be used in the Men's semifinals and two more went at least four rounds. Although the player's success has more to do with the player than the racquet, no player will choose a racquet, which is the tool of their trade in a job where millions of dollars are at stake, if it doesn't do the job for them. It speaks well for Head that several of their sponsored players have gone deep in this tournament.
