Who is Jerzy Janowicz?

Written by: Tennischiro on 16th May 2013

BNP Paribas 2012 Masters Tennis Tournament

Who is Jerzy Janowicz?

epa03455782 Jerzy Janowicz of Poland returns the ball to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia during their quarter final match at the BNP Paribas 2012 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 02 November 2012. EPA/YOAN VALAT |

(Editor’s Note: This was written by Dr. Don Brosseau aka Tennis Chiro on November 2, 2012 and we pulled it out of the archives to show that Don still knows how to pick a winner. )

Wow!! I think I have just seen the future of men’s pro tennis. At least the dawning of the next great star. And he is bursting on the scene like a supernova. Jerzy Janowicz came to Paris hoping to qualify and get in a couple of good matches to end his year. The Pole from Lodz came into the tournament with a 9-3 record in tour level matches, but 5 of those wins were in Davis Cup against Madagascar, Estonia and Belarus and those 5 wins included only one win against anyone inside the top 190. He qualified and won 2 matches at Wimbledon and won 2 matches at Moscow last month. The US OPen was probably the first top Tour level tournament in which he received a direct acceptance into the main draw. In April he was still ranked outside the top 200. His third round performance at Wimbledon followed the next week by winning a Challenger in Scheveningen moved him into the top 100 for the first time. The next week he won another Challenger in Poznan. Those three events in a row gave Jerzy 285 of his 682 points. Check out his rankings breakdown on the ATP site

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ja/J/Jerzy-Janowicz.aspx?t=rb

and you’ll see that his points come from Wimbledon, a first round loss at the US Open, Moscow, qualis at Roland Garros and Cincinnati and 13 challengers. It will be many years before he has to play a qualifying event again. He’ll add at least 353 points to his ranking even if he loses to Gilles Simon in the semis (and I’m taking the Pole), he’ll still be able to celebrate his 22nd birthday in 11 days (November 13) as a member of the top 40 players in the world. Not only will he not have to qualify, he’ll be getting seeded in the main draws of most of the tournaments he’ll be playing. If he beats Simon tomorrow, he will be seeded at the Australian Open and the Masters 1000s as well.

It’s hard to put in terms the casual fan can understand what a big change this is in this young man’s life. In April, he was worrying about winning enough matches to get seeded in the challengers he was playing and moving up and facing the prospect of not making enough money to pay his coach and cover his traveling expenses. In 2011, he won less than $100,000 in prize money. This week he has already nearly doubled his winnings for the year. He’ll be able to sign endorsement contracts in the next few weeks that will be worth many times that.

But those are just numbers. You have to look at the game; the way he plays. Obviously, he has a great serve; but, to me, he has a much more technically sound and easily maintainable motion with a beautiful rhythm that will allow him to hold serve and maintain his advantage in the late stages of long 5 set matches. The way he uses the wide serve sets him apart from any of the other super tall servers (6′ 5″ and above). He appears to be light on his feet and he can recover his balance and make a shot, even when he is forced to move in a hurry. He hit a couple of running forehands against Tipsarevic today that were as good as any I had ever seen anyone make, much less someone over 6′ 5″ (Jerzy is 6′ 8″). He has the kind of power that we have attributed to Juan Martin del Potro and few others, but his stroke is much more compact than Juan Martin and he appears to be much lighter on his feet. I dare say, his forehand, backhand and service are as good a single model for a player to copy as I can find on the pro tour, regardless of height. Certainly, he is not as quick as a Murray, Djokovic or Federer, but he is the first really big tennis player that demonstrates the kind of athleticism you expect to see in an NBA scoring forward. The commentator today was questioning whether there was enough topspin on his forehand to stay in the long matches at the majors, but I will tell you it is much easier to learn to hit a little more top than to develop the kind of penetrating groundstokes Janowicz was using to destroy Janko Tipsarevic today. I think he may need to work on his volley a little, but the good thing is, he seems to like to go forward. He’s not going to get away with using the drop shot as much as he has, but it certainly gives him a whole additional dimension when compared to his cohort of aggressive players. He also demonstrated some return of serve skills that may have had as much to do with any vertigo or other difficulties Janko was experiencing at the end of the match as any illness he may have picked up.

We all saw a similarly spectacular display from Lukas Rosol against Nadal in Rafa’s last match before his hiatus, perhaps even at a higher level; but Jerzy wasn’t just hitting winners. He was staying in points, turning defense into offense, playing in virtually perfect conditions for both players. And this week he’s done it against 2 top 20 players and 2 more top 10 players including the reigning Olympic and US Open champion; even coming from a set down against Murray and Tipsarevic.

I’m really looking forward to seeing how he plays against Simon tomorrow and hopefully in the final. Jerzy will put on at least another 10 lbs of muscle in the next two years and increase his mobility a half a step with more fitness work as he gets more accustomed to that big body. You have to realize it takes longer for someone that big to learn how to handle those long levers against world class competition. It’s the first player I’ve seen in a long time that really excites me because of his sound fundamentals as well as his freakish physical capabilities. He will be fun to watch in 2013!

10sChiro