Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The 7 Top 9's of 2009


2009 was full of everything that we tennis fans were hungry for. It was a veritable feast of tennis goodness, that constantly reminded us just how gorgeous the sport can be when played at the highest level.

Not only did we get to watch the players we love, like Federer, Nadal, The Williams Sisters, The Bryan Brothers, Kim Clijsters, etc...but we also got to live vicarously through them as they reached new highs.

Who could forget the year Roger Federer had? Or Kim Clijsters unprecedented return to Grand-Slam tennis?

Who didn't feel for Nadal when injuries overtook him? Or for Serena when she lost her way?

And who didn't cry for joy when Federer won the French or when Clijsters shocked New York?

Yes, it's true, this year had it all. Trials and tribulations. Gossip and glamour. Colossal achievements and milestones. Tears and laughter, and everything else in between.

Now, on to the 9's...
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Monday, November 30, 2009

National Treasure: Bryan Bros. Reclaim No. 1 Ranking

Greetings tennis obsessed,

Ever since I spent a good chunk of a picture perfect afternoon staring down at the Bryan Brothers playing on the Grandstand Court at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, N.Y, I've been wanting to take a moment to tell the world how truly awesome doubles tennis can be. Not that the world doesn't already know, but I figure it can't hurt to remind the world in case it has forgotten.

On that long hot day in early September I had watched more matches than I could even begin to write about. I had scribbled so many notes on so many different pieces of paper — stuff like, Mikhail Youznhy isn't as big as I pictured him to be, but he is quite a character isn't he?...and... is Andy Murray ever going to stop playing soccer with his mates and start playing tennis over on the practice courts?...and... just who the hell is this very loud girl named Wickmayer? — and I really didn't know how much enthusiasm for the sport I had left in me.

Then it happened. I stumbled upon the Bryan Brothers as they took on Jose Acasuso and Martin Vassallo Arguello on Grandstand. Immediately I was captivated by the action on the court, by the frantic stops and starts, by the intense banter between the members of each team, and by the quick and heated exchanges that were occurring at the net.

This, I thought to myself, is the place to be. The Bryan brothers, heavily favored, played with such passion that it was hard not to fall in love with what they were doing. They were so exuberant, so together, and they were just emanating this grass-roots lust for the sport. Even their opponents, who played brilliantly even as they never seemed to have a chance to win, seemed to be in awe of the Bryan's conviction, enthusiasm, and love for the sport at its most basic level.

There was something about the experience that just made you want to grab a racquet and give it a shot. Watching the brothers bounce around between points made you want to move your feet as well.

This was rapid fire, think-on-your-toes tennis. This was chest bumping, high-fiving tennis. Each point was an adventure, complete with lobs, smash volleys, impossibly angled approach shots, and other plays I don't even know how to begin to describe. I was blown away, both by the beauty of the game of doubles and the brand of unique shot making that it brings to the fans. But more importantly, I was blown away by the Bryan Brothers - by the immense desire and competitive spirit that they bring to the court and how unbelievably passionate they are about what they do.

Yesterday, as they clinched their fifth year-end No. 1 ranking by capping an improbable run at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the Bryan Brothers were once again on an emotional high. After reversing the results of their round-robin loss to Max Myrni and Andy Ram, the Bryan's now find themselves a mere six titles from the all-time record of 61 ATP doubles titles , which is held by Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.

The fact that the Bryans have won at least five doubles titles for each of the last eight years means that next year could be really special for the Camarillo, California natives.

They already have the most doubles wins as a team in Davis Cup history (16), so why should it be a surprise that they become the ATP's most winning doubles team of all time?

If their quest for doubles immortality helps make 2010 the year where the beauty of doubles tennis becomes more widely known and respected, than we should consider ourselves lucky. We should also consider ourselves lucky to have the Bryan brothers showing us the way to play the game properly - to lead with your heart and follow with your racquet.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Del Potro V Soderling: They Call It "Clutch".


Greetings tennis obsessed,

In tennis, every match consists of "stories within stories".   Sometimes those stories morph into a colossal work.  Other times there is no rhyme or reason to them.  Eventually, each story gives way to a similar but unrelated version of itself.  Usually, in colossal matches where the stakes are improbably high, the winner is the player who can build his series of "stories within stories" into a larger more forceful work - not built just of technique, but also of desire, improvisation, and belief.

Tennis is like reality TV in the sense that it has no script.  A match is often a contest of how each player can react to the countless number of spontaneous situations that will eventually arise out of the chaos that is being played, freeform, out on the court.

One such "story within a story" took place in the 8th game of the 2nd set today at the O2 Arena in London.  It was one of those unexpected moments that can, in the span of a blink of an eye, explode into a match-altering event that looms forever large to those who participated in the match and the also the lucky spectators who were able to witness the moment blossom into a chess-like execution of a foolproof strategy.

Here's how it happened:  While leading in games 4-3, but trailing against the nearly invincible Soderling serve  (30-40), Del Potro plopped an impromptu drop shot just over the net.  It sent Soderling running in desperation to the forecourt. Out of his comfort zone, Soderling was in no-mans land without a paddle.  He was forced to: a) hit a very difficult shot at a critical juncture of the match while on a dead sprint, then b) try to chase down a lung-collapsing lob that was cleverly placed just over his outsretched racquet, a few feet inside the baseline.

Soderling failed to provide a solution to that lob.  Even more importantly, he was gassed after the two sprints - gassed in a way that he had not experienced all match long - and as a result he missed both ensuing first serves.  This led to Del Potro scoring the break, and eventually, the set.

It was a quick and decisive sneak attack from a player who is not only a monster from the baseline but a server extraordinaire.  It was a point that turned into a clinic.  The logical progression for a tennis player that not only exerts himself over his opponents, but also thinks his way cleverly around them.

These are the subtle ebbs and flows in momentum that can have everything to say about who wins or loses a match in which both players have equal amounts of prowess.

The drop shot-lob combo was such a clever play at that moment.  And the fact that Del Potro had the presence to use it and to execute it properly proves that he is mature beyond his years.

There it was.  The perfect strategic play at the perfect time of the match where it nets the greatest effect.   Whether it was planned or culled out of thin air makes no difference - the fact that Del Potro was able to harness the magic of the moment with such aplomb is the fact that counts.  

From here, Del Potro looked to have the momentum which would propel him to victory.

But Soderling held fast.  The imposing Swede, long on a commodity known as belief, does indeed seem ready for the big time. He's confident these days, and he can be utterly dominant when he is playing with confidence.   Undeterred by his ill-willed foe, Soderling set out to reconquer. He didn't just find the momentum as the 3rd set began, he grabbed it back.  

Soderling's confidence, exhibit A:  Soderling did not sink beneath the weight of his disappointment in the conclusion of the second set. Instead he stiffened.   He maintained his swagger as the final set began, and proceeded to parlay his big serves into easy looks at winners.   Capitalizing, he drew first blood by breaking Del Potro's serve with two consecutive grade-A returns that put the Argentine on the defensive.

It was impressive stuff by Soderling indeed, but when he was looking for a quick ending to his work, the script flipped.

While looking to consolidate his break, Del Potro grabbed the pen.

When the tennis ball fuzz settled on the hard court, the theme of this match became apparent: Juan Martin Del Potro is getting very good at gutting out victories.  Add to that the fact that he can, at least at the moment, summon his most impressive and otherworldly abilities when the situation most desperately calls for it, and you've got a lethal combination.

They call it clutch, and you're nothing in tennis if you're not clutch. Del Potro has the uncanny ability to reach new heights under pressure. He senses how to steal the momentum and make it his friend.  Once Juan Martin Del Potro has momentum in a match, it's hard to wrestle it back from him.  He got it back in the third set by being clutch and by hitting through the ball when the pressure was on.  He never let it go after that.

Del Potros clutchness, Exhibit A:  In the very first point of the tiebreaker, the gentle giant from Tandil outlasted Soderling in a raging heavyweight-style rally that finally came to an end when Del Potro sent a letter-perfect inside-out backhand winner down the line as Soderling stood at the service hash.

How did Del Potro play so effortlessly there?  What is this special something - this something that Nadal had going for him just 1 short year ago - that brings players through to the other side?

What is it that turns a player's tools into a very compelling tour-de-force who seems made for winning Slams?

Whatever it is - that precious commodity, that je ne sais quoi - it seems that Del Potro has the lions share of it at the moment.

Take no credit from Soderling, this match was a veritable clinic of a match. He did everything he could to get on the winning end of the 6-7-(1), 6-3, 7-6(3) thriller.   Del Potro just beat him to the finish line.
As usual, there was more to the tennis than the score indicates.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Kantarian Deserves Credit, Not Scorn



Why is that every time a prominent figure's income is learned, and that income happens to be about 9 thousand times bigger than the common man's salary, we begrudge this man before ever taking a look at his accomplishments?

Plastered all over the internet yesterday was the news that Arlen Kantarian earned over 9 million dollars in 2008, his last year as CEO of the USTA. Immediately, animosity started to flow.

"They aren't doing anything. This is total crap," wrote Yahoo user, Ray Elarmo yesterday. 'Eliminate people like that and the price of goods would go down. I guarantee that. Hamburgers would be 2 bucks instead of 8 bucks."

But here's the deal: without hard working forward thinking people like Arlen Kantarian, much of whose pay was drawn because of the wildly successful turn in revenues at the U.S. Open over the last few years, I'm afraid that we'd have a less entertaining sport (without instant replay and those thank-god-you-thought-of-that blue courts), in addition to $8 hamburgers.

As an aside, I would like to add that I felt the hamburgers were by far the best bargain of all the fare at the U.S. Open in 2009.

But I digress. My point in taking offence at people's haughty reactions to Kantarian's reported income, is that they really have no business doing so. Well, I shouldn't go that far, it is a free country after all, but it'd be nice if people could, every once in a while, realize that incentive is a beautiful thing. In the economy that those who complain every time somebody's breathtaking mind blowing income is reported envision, there would be little incentive for any of these cutting-edge "idea" people to actually make a difference.

Many a respected journalist knew that Kantarian was good for the sport, and sometimes, much to the chagrin of envious people who would much rather complain about other peoples success than take charge of their own, people who are good at what they do get paid exceptionally well for it.

Read this piece by Bonnie Ford
to find out some of Kantarian's contributions to the sport.

While his reported income may seem high for a supposedly grass roots National tennis program, anyone who read beyond the headline can see that the bonuses were performance based. In other words, the terms of the contracts were clearly stated, and Kantarian was payed by those terms.

Americans need to stop turning their heroes into villains just because they earned a pretty penny in the process of fulfilling their obligations. There are wrongs in the world that need to be righted, I'll not argue that, but people need to let go of their envy and realize that Kantarian has nothing to do with the price of hamburgers.

He does, on the other hand, have a lot to do with the fact that tennis has kept pace with the other media-savvy sports in the world. By creating the U.S. Open series, by helping to immensely boost revenues at our signature tennis even (the U.S. Open), and by changing the way the sport is viewed on television and perceived by the media, Kantarian has turned the USTA's investment in him into a victory for all American Tennis fans.

People who get paid well for doing exceptional work are not the problem in this country. On the other hand, people who do nothing but complain, well, maybe we're getting a little closer to the heart of the matter now.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Soderling Confidently Keeps Nadal Under His Thumb


Greetings WTF watchers,

Robin Soderling said that he "liked his chances" heading into the Barclays World Tour Finals.

To some that may have been a funny way to put it for an alternate who wouldn't have gained entry in the tournament if it hadn't been for Andy Roddick's ailing knee. But with a very strong indoor record of 3 career titles in 9 career finals on his resume, the hopeful Soderling was looking to find the positives about his game instead of the negatives. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between the old Soderling and the one who beat Rafael Nadal for the second consecutive time today in London.

Alternate or not, now that he's here, and now that he's taken out Rafael Nadal in straight sets, his chances do look a lot better than they did about 10 days ago, when the 25-year-old Swede was on the outside looking in.

Whether it was good luck that got Soderling to London, the fact of the matter is that his emergence as a top-10 player has been the product of something much more valuable than luck in tennis: Confidence. With Soderling, who was regarded by many as an underachiever until 2009, their is little doubt that he is a different player now than he was when his Grand-Slam season began with a thrashing at the hands of Marcos Baghdatis in Australia.

In that match Soderling showed the world why, in spite of his obvious physical gifts, that he was unable to gain consistent entry into the latter rounds of slams. He was rattled by the rowdy Cypriot supporters and proceeded to melt down mentally in a match that could have been his for the taking.

Not that there is any shame in losing to Baghdatis, who has played some of his best tennis down under, but Soderling let the crowd get under his skin in that match, and because of it, he took himself out of a match that he could have won.

It's hard to tell which came first for Soderling, the confidence or the victory. How does, all of a sudden, a player who has never been beyond the third round of a Slam upset the best clay court player of all-time and then proceed to roll to the finals at Roland Garros? Something clicked in Soderling's mind at some point. Maybe it was a storm that was brewing throughout his professional career, and the 6'4" Swede just needed a reason to believe.

My theory is that his contempt for Nadal fueled him to play like a raging beast in that 4-set earth-shattering match that set the tennis world on its ear. When it was over it was like the demons that had been plaguing Soderling for his whole career had been exorcised.

Once Le Sod realized just how much damage he could do while in "beast" mode, he decided that if he just kept that ornery mindset, but coupled it with a sense of calm, he could compete with anyone

And he has been more than just competitive. Since that loss to Baghdatis, Soderling did not lose to anyone other than Federer in the last three Slams of the year. And each of them (Finals in Paris, 4th round at Wimbledon, Quarter finals at U.S. Open) bested his previous best at each Slam.

The old Soderling is gone. He became the new Soderling on that crazy day in May, in what was perhaps the biggest upset in Grand-Slam history. It was also an exorcism of sorts.

The new Soderling just outplayed World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in a tense straight set victory that puts him, at least momentarily (he plays Djokovic today, and he's 0-5 against him), on the top of Group B.

What a difference six months makes.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

8 is Great: Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Preview



Next week at this time London's O2 Arena will be popping with the sounds of tightly strung racquets and fresh yellow tennis balls.

For the tennis obsessed, there is no sweeter music.   Beyonce Knowles (Last weeks O2 Arena headliner) may be quick, but she's got nothing on the likes of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray.

The Basement Jaxx  (Upcoming act) may be cutting edge, but not nearly as cutting edge as a Federer slice backand or Soderling paddling a winner crosscourt.  And they don't groove as well as Nadal's inside-out forhehand, either.  Ah, that souped-up finish-at-the-ear forehand.  Picasso couldn't have painted it better than Nadal can hit it.  Is there another man in the land that violates the rights of tennis balls better than Nadal?  And if so is his name Nole?

Tennis obsessed: the stage is set. The best racqueteers in the world have come to one of the finest facilities in all of Europe to show us what they're made of.  

The Prize:  More than you can imagine, unless you can imagine $4,450,000. 

Each round-robin win is worth $120k, the semis are worth $380k additional, and the finals are worth $770k.  Visa and Mastercard accepted.  

Understatement of the week:  "Whoever you draw is going to be tough." - Andy Murray

The Rules:  Two Groups of 4 play one another for the right to make the semis.  


Group A:

Roger Federer:  Normally the master of the cupcake draw, Mr. Federer will have his hands full with Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro in group A.  If that's not enough, Fernando Verdasco will be there to give him a lefty to deal with.  

Verdasco vaulted into the top 10 on the strength of his off-season commitment, but to his credit, he remained there in all but one week (10 August) of 2009.  While he didn't break through like many who were spellbound by his run to the Semi's in Melbourne, he did manage 52 wins and nearly 1.6 Million in prize money.  

This is the 25-year-olds first ticket to the WTF.  

Murray, who has been dealing with a wrist issue since the U.S. Open, comes in on a sort of high.  His return with Valencia netted him his tour leading 6th title of the season.  Like Verdasco, only to a larger extent, many wanted more from Murray this season.  Murray Mania turned into Andymonium in July, but a determined Andy Roddick kept the Dunblane, Scotland native from the Wimbledon final by spiriting him away in the semis.  

Murray ran the table at the WTF's last year in the round-robin, then got dusted by a money-hungry Nikolay Davydenko in the semis.  But that was Shanghai.  This is London.  Murray may not be as good at playing the home crowd as Monfils, but he is no stranger to dealing with, and capitalizing on, the energy of a partisan crowd.  

Del Potro is limping in to London.  But much to group A's chagrin, Del Potro, even while limping, is a dangerous and worthy opponent. After a physically exhausting and emotionally gratifying dethroning of Roger Federer in the 2009 U.S. Open Finals, Del Potro has yet to regain the belligirence that enabled him to become the most difficult player in the world to play against for the New York fortnight.  

His summer results bring Del Potro's autumn slumber to light:  After losing in straight sets to No. 189-ranked Edouard Roger-Vasselin in Tokyo, then retiring to Jurgen Melzer in Shanghai, Del Potro again retired in Paris, after losing handily in the first set to Stepanek last week.  Still, the quarterfinal appearance was his best of the fall.

It is becoming apparent that Juan Martin may need a bit more of the local Tandil cuisine before he reaches his peak again, but I wouldn't put a miracle past the firebombing 21-year-old. Remember the conclusion to the 2nd set in the U.S. Open final?  None of us expected that either.  

Group B:  

Novak Djokovic is playing like he's found god.  Or maybe he's found love.  Whatever it is that he's found, it certainly isn't hurting his performance on the court, as he ran roughshod over the entire field last week in Paris, securing his tour-leading 76th win and his 5th ATP title of 2009.  
The Serb seems to be trusting in his nature a little more on the court, and when Djokovic is playing instinctively he can truly dominate opponents.  

He has the hottest hand coming in, and he'll certainly benefit from experience.  But last year's champion was able to escape without playing Federer or Nadal - that won't happen this year. 

Rafael Nadal, of all the qualifiers at the WTF's, may have the most to prove.  After winning his first and only hardcourt Slam in Australia he has been on an emotional roller coaster that unceremoniously started when he suffered the worst sneak attack in tennis history at Roland Garros, at the hands of suddenly invincible Robin Soderling.  

The Spaniards wild ride pushed him off the tracks when he missed Wimbledon and the chance to renew his rivalry with the newly deified Roger Federer, and when Nadal finally got on the tracks again he hit a major bump in the road by the name of Juan Martin Del Potro in New York.  

Rafa's health is better, but he has had trouble finding that 5th gear as early and as often as he did before he went down with knee tendinitis and the subsequent abdominal strain.  It is only a matter of time before he does find that crusing gear, and if it is this week, Rafa may improve upon his previous best in the WTF's, which were his semifinal losses to Federer in '06 and '07. 

Make no mistake about it, world No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko belongs in this event.  He scored wins over Tsonga, Del Potro, and Murray to gain a finals berth against Djokovic last year, and in 2005 he won all three round-robin matches before losing to Nalbandian in the semis.  Make no mistake about it, the diminutive Russian affectionately known as Kolya can play with the big boys.  Anyone who is not up for running this time of year is going to have a hard time dealing with the precision that Davydenko hits with when he is on.  He doesn't garner much attention around the star power of the rest of the top-10, but when the money is on the line, Kolya is frequently the player who you want your money on.  

Le Sod a.k.a Robin Soderling is filling the spot that an ailing (and off-season craving) Andy Roddick left vacant when he announced his withdrawal  from the WTF's due to a nagging knee injury.  

Soderling has nothing to lose and 1.6 million to potentially gain, so he may be the loosest of all the players in the bunch.  The Swede seems to be enjoying his now address in the nice neighborhood known as the ATP's top-10, and he is living proof that if you come out with attitude and strive to play with gusto, fire, and belief, you just might make the headlines.  

With a 47-19 record in '09, Soderling was also impressive in that he wasn't beaten by anyone but Federer in the final 3 slams of the year.  Don't you remember watching him implode against Baghdatis in the Australian Open (he lost in the 2nd round).  Back then we were sure that he was his own worst enemy.  

Now Soderling is his own best friend.  What a difference a friend can make.  

Here are my picks for next weeks throwdown at O2 Arena in London:  

Group A Semis:  1. Murray 2. Federer
Group B Semis:  1.  Davydenko 2.  Soderling

Semis:  Murray over Soderling, Federer over Davydenko
Finals:  Murray over Federer


Wednesday, November 18, 2009

For Roddick, This Curse May Be A Blessing


Greetings Tennis Obsessed,

The news that Andy Roddick isn't fit enough to participate in The Masters Cup came officially yesterday, but things have been headed in that direction since early October, when Roddick made his feelings known about the Ridiculously demanding ATP schedule.

If you've forgotten, I'll remind you: "It's ridiculous that you have a professional sport that doesn't have a legitimate off-season to rest, get healthy, and then train," said Roddick. "We finish around 30 November and then have to be Grand-Slam ready by 4 January, year after year after year."

"I don't think it's coincidental that you see Roger and Murray a little bit hurt now, or Rafa missing four months in the middle of the year, or maybe some odd results from Del Potro and myself last week."

My intentions are not to write another post about the fact that the ATP's season is long. We all know that it's a haul, particularly for the top players, and we've all been hearing about it and talking about it since the U.S. Open concluded in early September.

But while the ATP's player council gives lip service to the idea of actually shortening the schedule (they'd like to figure out how to do that without shortening too many important bank account ledgers), the player's dilemma continues.

And until the issues are resolved it will be up to players like Roddick, who are in their late 20's, to do a very careful job of scheduling their appearances, and managing their health. While it is disappointing that Roddick — a player whose pedigree includes qualifying for The Masters Cup for a seventh time this season — cannot attend, his absence might be the best thing for his health in 2010.

For Roddick, and other players like him, managing a personal schedule has to be a question of priorities. In the past a player like Roddick, who chases the ball around the tennis court like an NFL Linebacker chases slot receivers around the gridiron, might have opted to play hurt just to avoid missing a prestigious and potentially lucrative event like the Barclay's ATP World Tour Finals. But after enjoying a great rest and relaxation propelled run this summer that featured his best ever performance on the Roland Garros Clay followed by his valiant near miss at Wimbledon (they came after a six week layoff that featured his marriage and a whole lot of track work), Roddick knows that the key to his success, at 27 going on 28, will be finding that ever elusive sweet spot that will enable him to be both well rested and warmed up.

In other words, Andy's not keen on heading to Australia on a bum knee, mate.

While it would have been great to see the svelte Nebraskan represent America across the pond next week, I think it is even greater that Roddick is getting the chance to experience a legitimate off-season.

A big part of winning at 27 and beyond for Roddick will rest on his ability to channel the immense wisdom that he has gained from being on the tour for so long, and from knowing what it takes to find his best form at the times when it really matters - the Grand-Slams.

Roddick was oh-so-close to bringing home that coveted 2nd Grand-Slam this summer. His ace in the hole was his fitness, which was probably as good this year as it has ever been. By making a prudent decision to skip the Masters Cup, Roddick keeps his ace in the hole.

By giving himself the off-season that every player so badly needs to build a base of fitness to pull them through during the arduous months on the ATP tour, Roddick may have just turned the ATP's curse into his own personal blessing.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Oudin and The Big IFs


Greetings Tennis Afflicted,

In every champion tennis player there is a failure, or rather, a long list of potential failures that have somehow been avoided. The odds are surely not stacked in favor of anyone becoming the best in the world at their craft, or even one of the best in the world. For many, a birth in a Grand-Slam draw would be a minor miracle that one could hang her hat on for a long time, maybe even a lifetime.

If that were the case for Melanie Oudin - if making a slam, or even blasting her way into the quarters of a Slam, were enough - America would forgive her. In a sense, recently turned 18-year-old Melanie Oudin, recent Fed Cup drubbing notwithstanding, has already lived the type of charmed tennis life that most toiling juniors would give their service toss arm for.

But forgiveness may not be necessary when it comes to the spunky type-A kid from Marietta Georgia. Perhaps the best has yet to come? If she learns to channel that intensity a little better. If she can learn to play as well with a lead as she does when she's trailing, we just might have something here, America.

It is the big IF that is captivating about Oudin: If she really does have that special something that we all seem to see in her; If she is not satiated by her dramatic rise to relevance during 2009; If she has the patience and the wherewithal to know that whatever she did to get to where she is - however many drops of blood, sweat, and tears she left on the court - she'll have to do more of it, and with a greater sense of purpose, to remain where she is.

But there is something about Oudin that makes Americans believe in her ascension, that maybe the IF cloud will indeed give way to golden rays of tennis achievements. Her feistiness makes us remember where we came from. There was a time when we had to fight for our own freedom, not just our notion of everybody else's, and Oudin has this pre-super-power aura about her - she plays tennis more like a woman who is fleeing religious persecution than a woman whose daddy bought her too many stuffed animals for her birthday.

If she can keep it up, she just might be the one.

Venus and Serena will be 30 and 29 next year, respectively. Like the psychology of a woman who approaches her late 30's childless, American Woman's tennis is starting to feel the void of having no safety net behind the Williamses.

If Oudin can do more of what she already has been doing for a year now, American tennis may stay on the map. If not, Dark days are sure to follow.

It's a tall order for a relatively short girl, but Oudin's dogged determination and fierce persona make her larger than life in all our eyes.

If she can turn her most humbling losses into logs and throw them into the fire in her belly, then the future looks bright for Oudin.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ljubicic: The Man Has Heart


Greetings tennis nuts,

In a day and age where it is becoming too easy to identify just what precisely is wrong with the world, where mass murders, drug cheats, and sex scandals litter the front pages of the globe's finest newspapers, where paparazzi expose the ugliest truths and the sordid character flaws of today's heroes, where the theme is not to compete on equal footing, but to cheat, lie, and do whatever else it takes to win, to get ahead, to profit, Ivan Ljubicic has shown the world that there is another way to conduct oneself.

It will probably be lost on many who watched the 6'4" Croatians match (a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 loss) with Frenchman Gilles Simon in the Paris Masters today, and by some it will not only be lost but ridiculed and considered an inexplicable lack of finishing ability.

But there was a moment there, where the world, in spite of all it's harsh realities and materialistic misgivings, was right again. It happened at 3-3 in the third and final set, just after Simon had blew a break point and in the process reinjured his always temperamental tendinitis afflicted right knee.

As Simon limped towards the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes, he was met with one of the harsh realities of life on the ATP tour. Bernardes told him "If you are injured, you finish the game, then you talk to the trainer." Simon, nonplussed, and more concerned with his money-making knees, abruptly told Bernardes that he would either see the trainer or retire.

That was, just at the moment when yet another tennis crowd was going to be told to go home early a-la Serena sending thousands of New Yorkers home in September, when help came from the most unlikely of places: Simon's opponent.

Ivan Ljubicic. Taking a page from the books of old, when men were men and they respected the competition more than the money, more than winning or losing; from a time when respect was a common theme rather than a term that gets hurled around in the same fashion that most obscenities are today.

13,700 euros and a trip to the third round could have been Ljubicic's if he'd only just stood at the baseline and played dumb. If he sat there like a 20th century greed monger, preparing to serve, knowing full-well that Simon was not going to play those two points until he had sought the attention of a trainer.

But he didn't. He told Simon he was fine with letting him get looked at, and Bernardes deferred to Ljubicic's sentiment, and the trainer came to assess the damage to Simon's knee at deuce, 3-3.

Some of you will call Ljubicic stupid for extending his respect and compassion to another man. 'Why would anyone do that?' You'll say. 'You have to kick a man when he's down. Grind him to a pulp. Take the money and run.' But Ljubicic must have other ideas about how people should behave towards one another, even if they are adversaries. Perhaps he has parents who took the time to teach him not only about tennis but about life. About doing what is right.

In a world, and in a sport, where we read about too much of what is wrong (think crystal meth, parents gone wild, and Fernando Gonzalez Olympic debacle), Ljubicic, win or lose, showed us today that all is not wrong in the world.

Thousands of Parisians got their money's worth, Simon got his chance to finish the match, and most of all, Ljubicic showed that he, win or lose, has a champions character.  

As he walked off the court and was hardly acknowledged by the Parisian crowd, I couldn't help but think that he deserved a standing ovation and a few roses thrown at his feet.  

Monday, November 9, 2009

Is WADA Getting it Right?


Greetings,

I was already feeling a little drugged-out this week, with all the talk of Andre Agassi's crystal meth exploits and Tim Lincecum being caught with a bag of weed while driving his Mercedes on an Oregon Freeway.

Perhaps you were too?

But those stories, while controversial, and perhaps symptoms of a larger issue (the issue being that recreational drugs are eating at the very core of our once moral and virtuous society - okay, at least it was more moral and more virtuous, right?), didn't produce the same effect as the very harsh 1 year suspension that was handed down to Belgian 20-year-old Yanina Wickmayer.

In violating the ITF's ultra-rigid whereabouts rule three times, Wickmayer has found herself in very real and exasperating situation that should have been avoided.

I am not here to bash the ITF, who enforces the policies of WADA (World Antidoping Agency), for they are merely standing firmly by the guidelines that they have set forth and made available to all the players. Nor am I here to bash Wickmayer, who has captivated me with her energetic brand of tennis in rising from World No. 67 to World No. 16 in less than a year.

And maybe that is the true problem here, the true grist of my anger and frustration with all of this. It is unclear who is to blame, and it is unclear as to whether Wickmayer is an innocent being unnecessarily led off into tennis purgatory or a sneaky doper who tried to skirt the ITF's rigid drug policy, but failed.

It is, unfortunately, one of those questions that will forever remain unanswered.

And it isn't the only question that will remain unanswered. Here are a few more:

Why wasn't Wickmayer given proper warning by the ITF regarding her whereabouts infractions before things had gotten to this point? In other words, is there ongoing communication taking place between player and governing body, or is there a detached sort of bureaucratic animosity that lends itself to these kind of unnecessary violations? I ask this question because Wickmayer is a young girl. She's barely turned 20. If you've leafed through the copious and perhaps senselessly rigid instructions of the whereabouts policy like I have, you can probably imagine a similar scenario existing for yourself.

Which brings me to my next question: What the hell was coach and father Marc Wickmayer doing during all of this? Again, I don't know the whole story, and as I mentioned earlier I probably never will, but isn't it safe to assume that the coach and father of a 20-year-old girl would be making sure that her daughter didn't accidentally commit a doping violation?

Wickmayer has expressed surprise at the suspension, and claimed in this piece that is was not until June that she learned that her whereabouts were out of order. Since then, she says, she has gotten her act together.

Of course, there is a part of me that says everyone else complied, so why couldn't she? I've heard Wickmayer's claim that she was having password problems, but the real problem here seems to be a lack of communication between Wickmayers' coach and father and the ITF.

So in the end, the sport loses a fiery competitor who seemed destined to make a run at the top 10 and maybe higher next year. Now it looks like she is destined for a grey period full of bad press, accusations, and the frustration of having to watch Grand-Slam championships knowing full well that she should have been competing in them.

I love the idea of the sport of tennis being clean, but I hate the idea of it becoming so stubborn in it's mission that it takes down innocent bystanders with stray bullets made of righteousness.

Is that we're were at now?

Friday, November 6, 2009

The Fourth Point


Greetings tennis nuts,

It only took me 4 points of the Gasquet-Chiudinelli match to get the feeling that Richard was going to have a tough day. After a fairly lengthy cross-court backhand rally, Gasquet was caught by a down-the-line backhand by his Swiss Opponent. The young Frenchman, he of the prettiest backhand in all the land, did not seem to realize that in tennis, players are frequently forced to move to the other parts of the court to retrieve shots. Sometimes you have to travel great distances that might seem more like treks across unyielding terrain (like riding a camel across the Sahara with no water if you want to get dramatic). Sometimes, you just aren't up for the trek.

Very often the trek, and the willingness with which a player embarks upon the trek, make the difference in a match between 2 ridiculously gifted opponents. Today was such a day.

As the tepid winner from Chiudinelli rolled to the back fence, Gasquet was facing a break point before he had even noticed that his alarm clock was going off. This was the prevailing theme of the match as a fit and well-fed (lots of home cooking for the Swiss this week in Basel) Chiudinelli deconstructed the lackadaisical Gasquet with surprising ease.

Gasquet, while gorgeous to watch, is quite simply not producing very much inspired tennis. He strokes the ball exquisitely when it is in his zone, but doesn't seem willing to do the dirty work that it so often takes to get it in that zone on a more consistent basis.

At No. 57 in the world, Gasquet is in that dangerous place that pits him against very high level ATP competition in the early rounds of the events he attends. He's going to have to burn through a few more pairs of track shoes if he wants to sniff the top-20 in 2010.

His current 3 match losing streak puts Gasquet at 6-7 since his reinstatement. He's treading water in a sea that is filled with very hungry ATP sharks. It's kill or be killed, and Gasquet's troubling lack of competitive fire doesn't bode well for a player who should have some of the best-rested legs in the sport, having missed the middle of the season.

Perhaps there are larger forces at work. It can't be easy emotionally to go through the roller coaster ride that Gasquet has been through. He's only 23. He's got so much ability. His artful brand of tennis can be electric when there is some emotional content to spark it. I hope he finds his groove and overcomes his malaise.

Otherwise the sharks will get him. Chiudinelli chewed him up and spit him out today. It was an impressive display. It's too bad that Gasquet didn't show his teeth when things got tough.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Serena Gets Her Swerve On


So Serena finishes the year with a comfortable 1,275 point lead over No. 2 Dinara Safina and I dare to beg the question - was there every any doubt?

And then I proceed to beg another question: If you watched what Serena did to Dinara in the Australian Open finals (way back then, when the year was young), were you at all in doubt then?

If you were in doubt, and if you were questioning the meaning of all this rankings talk throughout the course of the year, the time is now ripe for putting a lid on it.

One stroke has helped Serena more than any other to put an exclamation point after the Number 1 in today's WTA rankings: The Serve.

Slice it or kick it or hammer it any way you want, but there is not another serve in the women's game even near as lethal as Serena's. You may not love her, you may be afraid of her, and you may not believe her when she tries to apologize to you, but you can rest assured that Serena Williams is the real no. 1 in Woman's tennis.

And would you want it any other way?

I, for one, would not. Serena, as questionable as her etiquette may be at times, has an unquestionably scary serve, whether on Halloween or the 4th of July. And I respect that about her.

It is because of that scary serve that she deserves to finish the year at the top. The fact that she excels at what is so obviously the most difficult stroke in all the game to master assures me that there is more to Serena than meets the eyes. If you find determination scintillating than in Serena you may have found your muse. She isn't simply a glammed-out overpowering fake-similing book promoter (like some detractors might claim). No, there is substance to Serena, and there is game to Serena. 11 Slams and counting pretty much says it all.

You don't get to where Serena currently is without having remarkable fortitude. Great servers are great disciplinarians as well. They have taken the time, through repetition, to remove doubt and sometimes even thought from the equation. When she booms that serve there are decades worth of hard work that are transferring from strings to fuzzy yellow ball. Serena shows no fear when she is serving. She knows no doubt. She's become a memory machine. She's willed herself to be one. She believes she will hit her spot and she's practiced hitting her spot and therefore she does.

Unfortunately she is in the minority at the moment.

If there is one stroke that the whole Tour should attend a seminar on, it is serving. Yes, Venus and Svetlana can bring it when they are on. But both can be prone to double faults and too much inconsistency. From the rest of the top-10 it might be only Wozniacki and Zvonareva that get a C-grade or above. Safina and Dementieva reside in meltdown city and everybody knows it. Jankovic and Radwanska could open a lollipop store and make very very good money. Vika, much to her chagrin, seems more likely to bench press 1,000 kilograms than to serve out a match.

Please don't take this as a diatribe from someone who doesn't have an immense amount of respect for the current state of the women's game. I don't deny that the women's game may be more entertaining than the men's game at the moment. In terms of drama it is second to none. And I don't deny that the women on tour are absolutely TREMENDOUS athletes. The speed, power, and grace from the baseline across the professional ranks is perhaps the best it has ever been.

But what gives with the serving?

In terms of serving acumen it is clear that the women don't embrace the chore the way the men do. Naturally genes and sheer size play a part. And I'll admit that today's returners are far more dangerous than ever. But today's WTA world-beaters are approaching the service line with such trepidation that they have basically muffed the shot before they have tossed the ball. In my opinion the women must realize that whether you are 5'4" or 6'2", attitude in serving is everything.

Just ask Serena. She serves to kill. I'm sure her big sister Venus, who was denied a break point opportunity in their SEC Championship match yesterday, would agree. All week Serena was banging down aces, and not just when she was front-running. Serena used the serve in the way that Marat Safin uses it. She digs herself out of trouble and gets herself into a position to front run with it.

In a user run message board on the Tennis Week website this week, I posed the following question: "Hey all, who do you guys think is the most effective female server of all time?...As far as today's game, it has to be the Williamses - are Venus and Serena the best of all time?"

Though I am no L. Jon Wertheim in terms of popularity, I'm proud to say I got a few responses. Here is the one that most accurately summarizes my point:

"Serena is the best server I've seen in person," said RP. "She has proven herself to be a tremendous situational server - being able to pull out the service winner or ace when she needs it the most," he went on. "That's very, very rare in women's tennis - especially now. And she's the best at it."

That comment was posted on October 27th, just as our favorite linesperson berater was beginning a 5-match rampage through the rest of the elite women's field at Doha that left her as the definitive No. 1.

It was clear before the end of the year and it is now even clearer: When Serena gets her serve on she also gets her swerve on. If I was one of her rivals in the WTA, I'd be asking her for lessons.


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Andre Hates Tennis? Should I hate tennis as well?



Stop the presses!

Burn the manuscript!

Say it ain't so!

After reading an excerpt from Andre Agassi's forthcoming tell-all autobiography, I'm not sure whether to hang up my tennis shoes, snort a line of crystal meth, or make a trek to Tibet for some spiritual healing.

Okay, it's not really that bad, I'm just kidding, but it is a little disconcerting when you read the following lines over and over: I hate tennis!

Sure, Agassi is tongue-in-cheek when he says it, and sure, it's probably something that every single professional player has said or felt like saying at some point and time during their career, but when those three words are figured so prominently in the memoirs of one of the greatest American tennis legends to ever live, it is definitely deflating to a certain degree.

Besides that deflation (which I am currently overcoming, because I played tennis today and I'm pretty sure I loved it!), one thing that the excerpts from Agassi's confessional manuscript has done for me is made me curious to read more. From what I've read so far, it's obvious that Agassi is serious about the title of this book. He's trying to get to the heart of his feelings about the issues that he's faced during his life, and the people that he's been influenced by - not to mention himself.

If first glance is any indication, this may be the closest any of us will ever get into the inner workings of a true legend of tennis. The honesty that I've detected so far is startling. If there ever was a sports book that I was dying to scour from cover to cover this is most certainly the one.

In other words, as great as Federer and Sampras have been on the court, there autobiographies will more than likely pale in comparison to Andre's.

And while it took me a few minutes to realize that Andre and I are different people, and that I can go right on loving tennis with all my heart, and regretting the fact that my father didn't feed me a million balls a year, and urge me to hit EARLIER! EARLIER!, my curiosity to read and try to understand Andre's reasons for feeling the way he does about the sport and about his father have only grown.

The excerpts that I've read have depicted Andre's father as a brute who commandeered Andre's time and energy and never for a second considered what the little topspin-generating phenom wanted out of life. This I can identify with to a certain degree, because much of my young adult life was spent following in the footsteps of my older brother, and I always wanted desperately to strike out on a new path, no matter how well I was doing on the path that was previously forged for me. Can you relate?

I'm glad that Andre is getting to tell his story, and that now he is able to see the world through his own eyes, rather than his father's, but I hope that the book contains a scrap or two of thanks for the man who put together one of the best human ball machines that the planet has ever known. Because however inhumane he was toward his kid, the fact of the matter was that Andre wouldn't have been the Andre that we've come to know and love and worship without him. He'd be sweet and sensitive, sure, but would be be a career grand-slam holder? I doubt that.

From what I've read so far, Andre sounds very much like a sensitive ungrateful kid, who doesn't get the connection between all the hell that his father put him through and all the good that he is now doing, thanks to the wonderful playing career he had. As painful and insidious as it must have been for Andre, the connection still remains. No pain no gain.

Off the top of my head I can think of about 24 billion kids who would have loved to switch fathers and for that matter, lives with him - but that is what makes this book such a must-read: There is only one Andre, whether you agree with him or not, he's as compelling as they come.

*This is not a book review: I've only read the excerpts which were published in Sports Illustrated this week.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Sunshine Shines in Battle of Upstarts


Greetings tennis nuts,

For those of you, who like me, have been tracking the magnificent ascensions of Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka, today was the day where you could take another measurement on each stellar competitor.  

Sunshine and Vika, each with career high rankings (6 for Azarenka and 4 for Wozniacki) hot off the press this week, are the darlings of tennis at the moment.  

While Azarenka caught our attention in early April, when she won the "fifth slam" in Miami in decisive fashion against Serena, Wozniacki didn't arrive at the scene until September, when she rode the emotion from a hard fought victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 4th round of the U.S. Open all the way to a final appearance.  

I've see-sawed quite a bit when it comes to deciding which one is the better of the two, and today I see-sawed some more.  

It was a tale of two Azarenka's out there as she stormed through the first set in convincing fashion only two suffer an inexplicable loss in confidence as the second set began.  

Meanwhile, Wozniacki, playing poorly and also suffering a nagging hamstring injury, never got perturbed.  Things didn't come easily for her today, but she kept doing what she always does - having fun playing tennis and letting the chips fall where they may.  

And that is where the two girls whose ascensions have been timed so similarly, seem to part ways.  Wozniacki is easy going, serene, and patient.  Azarenka is fiery, tempestuous, and anxious.   Wozniacki may look like a little girl but she plays like a woman of faith, courage, and conviction.  Azarenka, on the other hand, has yet to perfect the art of channelling her exceptional passion and competitive spirit in the most effective manner.  

The a's, b's, and c's of tennis were favoring Wozniacki today, and she was able to win a match that she was very close to losing at several junctures, because she refuses to be her own worst enemy out there.  A is for attitude, and she wouldn't have the nickname Sunshine if she had a bad attitude.  B is for belief and in this case it could also stand for backhand, a shot that Wozniacki hits unbelievably well.  C is confidence, and with each passing match the Great Dane seems to stockpile more and more of it.  

Azarenka had chances to win this match, but she couldn't come up with the finishing touches against her friend and rival today, and when it was all said and done, the 4th match between these two stars on the rise goes to Wozniacki.  

After winning the last two matches in straight sets, Azarenka ran into a much more determined Wozniacki today.  It was nighttime in Doha, but the sunshine was overwhelmingly bright.  

Judging from what we witnessed today, the future looks bright for both of them.  


Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Eyes On The Prize: Doha


Greetings tennis nuts,

Things are underway in Doha, and while it doesn't quite feel like a grand-slam (note the myriad empty seats for the Kuznetsova - Williams match), there is grand-slam-type money on the line.

It's 100k per round-robin win in Doha, with a potential 1.55 million dollar cheque awaiting a champion who can get the title without a loss.

With the top 8 players in the game also battling for precious ranking points and for chunks of that little mentioned but ever present intangible known as pride, some fierce battles are sure to take place in Qatar this week.

Todays results are already in:

Victoria Azarenka bagged her first 100k with an easy straight sets win over Jelena Jankovic in today's first match, 6-2, 6-3. Azarenka, the WTA's fiercest returner was as ruthless as ever against Jankovic's lollipop serving - she won 50% of points against the first serve and 60% against the second, and she also secured 5 break points in 9 games against the Serbs serve.

The performance prompted Jankovic to say something to the effect of 'I basically gave her the match,' and Jankovic's comments prompted Azarenka to say something to the effect of 'I'm happy she gave me the match - it worked out well for me,' in mock of Jankovic's habit of rarely giving her opponents credit for blasting her off the court.

Unfortunately for fans, the post match press conferences were a tad bit more entertaining than the actual match.

Jankovic, the 8th best returner in the WTA in terms of return games won, was only able to manage one break today against Azarenka. That and the 33 unforced errors that she committed made this affair a laugher from the start.

Elsewhere Elena Dementieva overcame some very poor serving (15 double faults) to outlast Venus Williams. This one appeared to be in Venus's grasp, but after losing the second set tie-break to the feisty Russian, she wilted in the third and went down easily, 6-2.

It was an end to a six match winning streak against Dementieva for Venus.

But things are not all bad for the Williams sisters as Serena has just successfully served for the match against heavy hitting Svetlana Kuznetsova. It is always enjoyable to watch these two phenoms go toe-to-toe, as they obviously have a lot of respect for one another. After trading hard fought wins during this years Grand-Slam season (Serena triumphed in Australia, Svetlana got her back in Paris), Serena, in typical Serena fashion, fought off match points in the first set tie-breaker, then used clutch serving to finish the dangerous Kuznetsova off in the second.

Tomorrows schedule is headlined by a battle of first-timers at the year end championships: Victoria Azarenka will take on U.S. Open finalist (also No. 4 in the world as of Monday - wow!) Caroline Wozniacki.

Check here for the Doha website and here for tomorrows order of play.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Vera Excluded from Doha

Greetings,

Vera Zvonareva, the first seed at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, was a surprise loser today to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova. The loss propels Jelena Jankovic into the 8th and final spot at the year end Championships in Doha, Qatar next week.

Zvonareva's blog, hosted at the WTA's website, sheds a lot of light as to what kind of a grind 2009 has been for the 25-year-old Muscovite. If you can remember way back to this spring, Zvonareva suffered a horrible ankle injury in Charleston. To anyone who saw the injury happen live, it seemed almost miraculous that she made her return to the sport so swiftly. She was back on the court in late June, and this years Indian Wells champion (she took the singles and doubles titles there) fought her way into the round of 32 at Wimbledon before she was forced to retire against Virginie Razzano.

For Zvonareva, the frustration must have been amplified - she was not only struggling to get healthy, but injuries had forced her to withdraw against the same opponent whom she twisted her ankle against in April in Charleston.

But the animated Zvonareva marched on, and while most of the tennis world was quick to criticize her for her apparent meltdown against Flavia Pennetta in the 4th round of the U.S. Open, the fact of the matter was that Vera was, and had been, dealing with difficult injuries for all of the last 5 months. When she writhed on the court in agony, with a mix of consternation, agony, and unbridled frustration in that match, we were all quick to categorize her actions as another Zvonareva meltdown. But that assessment would be too simple, for in making such an assessment, what we overlooked (I say we, because I made the assessment as well) was the fact that Zvonareva had been facing real and maddeningly difficult problems related to the original ankle injury that she sustained in Charleston.

In a heartfelt post from Moscow, Zvonareva said the following: "I had a tough day today. I had problems with my knees in the match. They've been troubling me for the last few months. Hopefully it's nothing major. I feel pain in them, but I think all of these problems - my foot, my knees - are because if the ankle injury from earlier in the season. I'm compensating, and all the practice and playing is making it worse."

For Zvonareva, who expects so much of herself, and is capable of all that she expects when in top shape, it must have been a particularly tortuous season. And to think, she was a narrow miss for Doha. All said, she's done a remarkable job this season, and she should be commended for showing courage and determination and for being a large and entertaining part of the woman's season when she probably could have just as easily taken the season off.

The kid has guts, quite frankly, and whether or not she's learned to control her volatile temper is another issue entirely. The fact of the matter is that Vera has played some brilliant tennis this year, under a great deal of stress, and we, as fans of the game who are so quick to criticize these world-class athletes for their lack of whatever we think they should possess, should be just as quick to praise Vera for battling like a true warrior (and being unafraid to cry) under difficult circumstances.

But now, thankfully, it is time for Vera to rest a bit. "I want to put everything behind me," Zvonareva said. I've been told I need to take six weeks off to let this heal."  

Here's to a proper rest, vera.  


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

ATP Scheduling: Easy to Dislike but Hard to Fix


As the ATP tour limps into Shanghai this week, many familiar faces have opted (not necessarily by choice, mind you) to limp home.

Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Roddick are the latest top-ten casualties to run out of steam in the final leg of the ATP calendar. Roddick's post-retirement comments about the unforgiving length of the ATP's schedule mirror almost exactly what Rafael Nadal was saying as he began his injury-forced sabbatical in early June.

It's too freaking long.

If you spend your time breathing the rarefied air of the top-20, I see your point. It is ridiculously long. But the top-20 perspective isn't the only point that should be considered here. There are the tournament directors, one of whom is Novak Djokovic now (he is also a representative on the ATP's player council), whose voice also needs to be heard.

"The current leadership of the ATP is willing to do a lot of things for the players...we can't expect just to shorten the season by a month or two because that would hurt certain tournaments."

Djokovic has a point here. Obviously, since his family has bought the rights to the ATP Belgrade event, he's got one Adidas-clad foot on either side of the fence.

Along those same lines, the fact that the ATP and WTA are attempting to embrace the fan base in Asia this autumn is laudable, but with the players grievances and the sparsely attended events in both Beijing and Shanghai (I guess the recession is in China as well), it's hard to tell if these three weeks are damaging the game or growing the game over there.

And there is also the perspective of the lower ranked players, who are interested in moving up the ladder so they can start the next season on a roll, and those players who were injured during the meat of the season who are looking to get in shape and earn much needed rankings points.

And god forbid we should mention the players who are trying to make enough money to pay the rent. Those tried and true battlers who show up to play qualifiers and fight tooth and nail to earn a living on the tour. Those players deserve a say in this matter as well.

Granted, the issues of the tour will always be slanted to the top-20 types, but shouldn't these lower-ranked and lesser-known souls be given a voice?

As you've probably already gathered this isn't a simple issue and there is no simple solution. It will take work, understanding, and communication.

"We have to make a compromise," said Djokovic. "The ATP is an association of tournaments and players together. The bottom line is that you don't want to have injured players. The schedule, in my opinion, is too long, but we have to go step by step to solve it."

Monday, October 12, 2009

Youzhny and Tsonga: Embracing The Art Of The Volley


Greetings tennis nuts,

The absence of Roger Federer and Andy Murray, along with the difficulties of Rafael Nadal and the stunning first round exit of U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro, opened up some coveted spots for lower ranked players in the final rounds of Tokyo and Beijing this week.

And when opportunity knocks in the tennis world, it's always fun to see who walks through the door. For some fans this weeks special guest might have been a disappointment for them, but for The Fan Child, it couldn't have been better.

One of my old favorites — he of the hilarious and very endearing post-match racquet salute — Mikhail Youzhny found himself across the net from another of the ATP's more flamboyant stars, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It wasn't the star-studded type of final that has tennis pundits drooling as they prognosticate and pontificate over the Federer's and Nadal's of the world, but there was definitely something refreshing about the vision of these two remarkably athletic and ingratiatingly charismatic foes readying themselves for the Tokyo ATP 500 final.

Neither Youzhny or Tsonga was able to make a big splash during the Slam season, and there are good reasons for that. One word that comes to mind is consistency. For Youzhny there are a few more words — patience is most definitely one of them. Temper is another.

But in spite of Youzhny's shortcomings, his old-school tactics, variety, classic arm action and high toss on the serve, sweet one-hander with a dreamy finish, tasty volleying ability, and the willingness to attack the net remind me of the days when men were men on the ATP tour.

Yes, there was a time in tennis when players regularly sprinted up to the net, showed their teeth to their opponent, and prepared to use their athleticism and their finely honed volleying skills to win them crucial points.  It hearkens back to a time when the willingness to gamble was instilled in almost every players tennis DNA.  It was a kamikaze style of tennis that lent itself to lunging, stabbing, and diving.  Breathtaking points the very often ended with a player laying on the court in either agony or ecstasy.  

Today, as we all know, this unnecessarily reckless form of tennis has has evolved into shock and awe baseline bashing.  It is the new status quo across both the men's and women's games. The volley, once the bread and butter of every tennis players game, is now the shot of old-timers who don't have the firepower to make a living from the gun mount behind the baseline.  

But have we gone too far in that direction? Will there ever a bread and butter (or even ham and eggs?) net rusher at the top of the ATP rankings again? Or am I just spending an afternoon lamenting over an era whose sun has set and is never to rise again?

Lo and behold, after watching so many gorgeously constructed points between Tsonga and Youzhny, my hopes for the resurgence of the volley have been revived. While baseline bashing has clearly become a reliable and effective way to control a tennis match, Youzhny's and Tsonga's willingness to charge the net has reminded me, once again, that the volley will never die. 

Rejoice, tennis fans!  Sure, the pace of today's game has more than likely removed the volley from prominence forever. Sure, the volleys role in the arsenal of the top players may end up to be more of a secondary "change it up" -type role. But to think that the volley is dead, or to coach a tennis prodigy (as it seems that many coaches are doing these days) without emphasizing it's role not only as a way to attack an opponent but also to confuse and frustrate them is ignorant and downright disrespectful to the sport.

As I watched Tsonga and Youzhny make numerous sojourns to the net, I couldn't help but think that being able to volley effectively, and therefore being able to abandon your baseline game when it has become painfully out of whack, can sometimes be the best thing for a baseline basher. Perhaps Soderling, Cilic, and Del Potro should take note and continue to let their approach shots and volleys emerge as bona fide weapons rather than as show pieces that they only take out in matches that have already been decided at the baseline.

As incredible as the baseline bashing has become in today's sport — players are more athletic and more powerful than ever before — there is always a time, especially during a long match, where it must get monotonous for even the most one-dimensional player to be relegated, effectively caged, behind the baseline. Even the best of players get bored and go cold out there, from Mr. Federer on down. At these times I think the volley can help to refresh the palette, and give the beleaguered player an effective distraction that will help him or her break out of the funk.

As mentioned earlier, there are reasons why serve and volley, and volleys in general are not used as much in modern tennis.  First of all, with players hitting 100 m.p.h ground strokes and technology-aided topspin (think light racquets and Luxilon), we're not talking about picking a lazily-sliced ball out of the air anymore.  Players today have to watch for lasers that have been painted with wicked spin that move like fuzzy yellow comets across the net.  Try volleying something off Fernando Gonzalez's racquet when you have some free time, and you'll see what I mean.  

But even as those reasons make a case for less volleying, there is nothing in the sport that could ever justify the current lack of net play on tour.  While at the U.S. Open I watched full matches where neither play ever attempted to get to the net.  Several of them!  Not only is it not entertaining, it just isn't right.  

The volley.  You can neglect it, sure, but you're never going to kill it.  Youzhny and Tsonga are living proof of that.  

Monday, October 5, 2009

Who's No. 1 And Does it Really Matter?


Greetings tennis-crazed lunatics,

Well, the dead horse that WTA fans have been beating for the better part of the last 25 weeks finally is about to be buried.

Now that Serena Williams has found a way to topple Ekatarina Makarova in Beijing she will hurdle past Dinara Safina and once again take over the WTA's No. 1 slot. For Safina, who earlier today suffered the worst upset defeat in the history of the WTA against no. 236-ranked Zhang Shuai today, it remains to be seen if she can overcome the emotional duress that she has endured since claiming the top spot.

As great as it must have been to reach the pinnacle of the sport - something no doubt that most of us will only ever be able to dream about - this has been a painful and unfortunate episode for the tempestuous Safina.

Safina's rise to the top of women's tennis, and her ensuing quest to prove that she belongs has turned out to be a puzzling paradox that has done more to reveal her incipient weaknesses than her myriad strengths. And that, quite frankly, is a shame.

How did it come to this? What started as a quest for greatness, with joyous overtones of hope and invincibility, now appears to be ending in tears, with a white flag of surrender plopped on Safina's head as she tries to hide herself from her own worst nightmares - the fact that not only has she failed in her quest to give her demanding critics what they wanted from her, but she also believes herself to be unloved, disrespected, and known more for her choking than her talent.

Is it true, or is it all in Dinara's head? And isn't this 25-week-nightmare that Dinara is finally leaving behind really more about Safina's head than her ability to play this sport at the highest level?

Becoming No. 1, at first deemed a blessing, has actually been more of a curse than anything for the emotional Russian. The future looked bright for her 25 weeks ago, when she became the 19th woman to hold the top spot. For a brief period it didn't matter that she had been ruthlessly dispatched by Serena in the Australian Open final - Safina was one half of the first brother-sister combo to ever hold the No. 1 ranking, and her future was arguably the brightest of all the up-and-comers on the WTA tour.

What was first presented as a fairly tale, has now become more of a horror story for the 23-year-old Safina. Sadly, she only has herself to blame (okay, I'm willing to give her maniacal coach some credit as well). Buying into the scathing critiquing of the media and her adversaries (most notably, the self-centered and politically motivated Serena) was the worst mistake she could have ever made. Instead of going with what got her to the No. 1 ranking - hard work, determination, and most of all courage - Safina left the door open for a tennis players worst enemy: FEAR.

After convincingly storming her way into the top-ten, then following up with two consecutive Grand Slam finals appearances and a WTA-best 16-match winning streak this year, Safina inexplicably gave up believing in herself. From there it became an uphill battle. A Sisyphian struggle that pitted Safina unfavorably against her own metastasizing self-doubt.

If there was ever a girl who needed to borrow one of Melanie Oudin's Adidas shoes, it was Safina.

If there ever was a girl who needed positive reinforcement from her coach, it was Safina.

But instead of shoring up her belief, Dinara let the demons crawl into bed with her. Instead of helping her spirit soar, her hell-bent coach insisted upon laughing at her from his coaching box. Suddenly the wheels had come off a train that was one stop away from the promised land. In just 25 weeks at the top of the rankings, the best player in the world has managed to become little more than cannon fodder for the media, and a chance at a huge upset for lesser-knowns with half as much talent but, sadly, twice as much belief.

"I would like to take a break now, I'm very upset with myself," said Safina after today's last kick to the ribs of the proverbial dead horse that has become her best friend and worst nightmare all wrapped into one.

Anyone who has watched this strange soap-operatic saga take place, would agree it is the only thing left to do. Safina needs to remember to forget her worries, because if she doesn't she'll never reach her potential.

Perhaps giving back the No. 1 ranking today will be the best thing for Safina. Psychologically, she'll be better off hunting than being hunted. When you are hunting you are thinking more about killing than being killed. When you are hunting you are too hungry to think about anything other than going for your shots.

Safina's rise to the top has exposed her for what she truly is: A great athlete who has yet to develop the mental prowess of the true champion. If she's smart she'll stop crying and start learning. She isn't who she thought she was a year ago, but that doesn't mean she can't be, nor does it mean that we don't love her, no matter what she becomes.