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.

Momentum: The Long and Short of It

Greetings tennis aficionados,

It was a nice summer for Sam Querrey. The lanky power-server from California stepped it up a notch and started to realize some of that limitlessness that we all have been seeing in him since he started plying his trade on the ATP tour.

Consecutive finals in Newport and Indy, albeit before much of the top-20 had removed the ice packs from their aching bodies and finally booked a flight to the states for the Masters events, set the table for Querrey's 2nd career ATP title in L.A. Samarai-aided wins over Tommy Haas and Carsten Ball opened some eyes, as did a straight set win over Andy Roddick in Cincy, in which a wildly entertaining tie-breaker in the first set ended with Querrey winning 13-11.

Yes, it was a very good summer for Querrey. No one was confusing the 6'6" Southern Californian with another, slightly more successful 6'6" player from Argentina, but still, at a career-high ranking of #22, this years Olympus U.S. Open Series Champion had a lot to feel good about.

Querrey was a tennis player who had harnessed the great M-word, and used it to help his cause throughout the summer. At the ripe age of 21, Querrey (much like that other 6'6" guy, again) was proving that he could get on a roll and stay on a roll. As all tennis players know, getting on a roll is one thing, but staying on it, well, that is entirely another. This is true within the framework of a single match, within the framework of a tournament, a summer, and even over the course of a career.

With Querrey's 4-set loss to Robin Soderling at the U.S. Open, the momentum of his summer, sadly, was halted. It wasn't an overly disappointing loss (most of us expected it, and we know that Soderling is on his own little momentum-trip as well), but there was a growing sense of hope that Querrey was in a position to use the momentum that he had built up over the course of the summer to vault him into the next tier. It did not happen, and in it's aftermath a new challenge has presented itself to Sam.

Momentum, much like the waves of the mighty Pacific are to the world's best surfers, is a tremendously powerful tool in tennis. In other words, the kind of wave that Querrey was riding was the kind of wave that could have taken him further than he went. The monstrous kid from Tandil, for example, never stopped shredding on his proverbial surfboard over the course of the summer. Not only that, Del Potro seemed to sense the fact that he was on a magical ride. It was like he knew that the powers of nature were favoring him, and he was confident that he would be rewarded by taking greater risk.

I guess what I am getting at here is that there are small slivers of golden light that emerge over the course of a gifted players career. It's up to each player to sense the energy and capitalize on it. Querrey had the wind at his back all summer, he was playing on his home turf, on his favorite surface, in addition to playing the best tennis of his life. All that was missing was a little magic. Or maybe a lot. There are players, like Del Potro, who find a way to play the best tennis of their lives at the exact moment that it is necessary. I wanted Querrey to be that player at this years U.S. Open. I wanted him to break through in grand fashion. The time was ripe.

Fast forward one month and another concept is back in play: How to regain momentum when you've lost it. Let's be realistic, everybody has their own time line. Querrey's summer, while very good, was a ride that ended too soon. But maybe his progression is destined to be a longer, gentler ride that will build over the course of a year or more or maybe even more than that.

I'd like to believe that Querrey will put it all together in time, but after the freak accident in Thailand, it is clear that Querrey will have to find a new wave to ride. He is currently paddling around on a calm lake with one good arm, and there is no wind in the forecast, for at least four to six weeks.

While I know it's a blow of hard luck for Querrey (it could have happened to anybody, right?), there is a part of me that believes that we all have control of our own destiny. Accidents happen, but they happen more often to those who are unprepared, unfocused, and unaware. It's a fact of life, like momentum, and the giant waves of the mighty Pacific.

Time waits for no one, hopefully Sam Querrey isn't expecting it to wait for him.

Sex, Truth, and Tennis

Greetings tennis maniacs,

After becoming the first Italian to ever be ranked in the top ten, Flavia Pennetta has been busy modeling racy clothes in Milan, and being interviewed by a sex-crazed Italian television personality for a television show called "Le Iene" (translate - Hyenas). 

There's been quite a buzz in the blogosphere about this, and deservedly so.  I normally try to avoid the seedier side of tennis journalism, I really do, but this story was just too alluring to pass up. Her decision to do the show and to cooperate with the annoying interviewer shows how good-natured and playful Pennetta is - but while watching the youtube recap of this raunchy show, one can't help but feel bad for her.  That she had to endure this kind of unabashed sophomoric humor, and that she willingly took the bait and gave 'em what the wanted to hear, is both very entertaining in an "I can't stop watching that car crash" sort of way, and a travesty.    

Note to Pennetta:  Fire your publicist.  I know things are different socially in Italy, but an athlete of your reach needs to realize that being on the equivalent to "Howard Stern" in Italy, a show that features porn stars and other miscreants, is not a great idea for you. A publicist needs to know this as well.  

Isn't this the kind of sexist inanity that our evolving society is seeking to abolish?  It's mind-boggling.  So is this how the Italian media treats the first female tennis player to ever crack the top-10 in Italy?  Wow, talk about juvenile.  I just don't get it.  This is a serious woman here. A world-class athlete. And she's on a talk show discussing how many tennis players she's boinked?  What?  

But lost in her racy comments about Carlos Moya and Marat Safin (by the way, don't make much of any of this, the interview featured Pennetta basically firing answers to yes or no questions, and, good egg that she is, Flavia was doing her best to make the interview fun.) was the fact that Pennetta isn't convinced that doping doesn't exist in tennis.  

Hmmm....That one really opened my ears.  After reading so much about the strict enforcement of the drug policy by the ITF and WADA, I'm curious to know why Pennetta isn't convinced that the sport is totally clean. Is it just a hunch that was formed when looking across the court at a muscle bound Serena Williams, or is there some legitimacy to her sentiment?  

If only her interviewer could have gotten his mind out of the gutter for a moment he might have elicited some candid remarks from Pennetta on the matter.  Unfortunately, he did not.  

We now know that Flavia has made love on an airplane, but we do not know what she meant when she she said she thinks there is doping in tennis.  

Thankfully, Pennetta may not have to answer more questions about her sex life in the upcoming weeks, but she can probably expect a few more about the doping issue.  

Heart and Seoul: Kimiko Date Krumm, the Original Comeback Kid

Greetings tennis-crazed lunatics,

What next? Just when you thought it was safe to discuss something other than a comeback, a tennis dinosaur rises from the ashes like a Phoenix from the flame to vanquish two Sports Illustrated swimsuit models. And who said that the WTA is losing it's allure? It certainly wasn't me.

Kimiko Date Krumm, who once upon a time, during a two-year period in 1994 and 1995, went to the quarter finals or better in all four Grand Slams, has just won her first WTA title in 13 years, at the geriatric-by-WTA-standards age of 38.

While the milestone victory is astounding, it may not be enough to bring the legendary Billie Jean King out of retirement. Billie Jean King remains the oldest female player to ever capture a WTA title. Date Krumm turns 39 on Monday — She'll have to wait another 7 months and 24 days if she wants to wrestle that achievement from King's possession.

While most of the tennis media is focusing on the "back with a vengeance" Clijsters comeback and the "I'm not going to let another Belgian Woman outdo me" Henin comeback, we have relegated Date Krumm's refreshing return to the sport to the back burner — her results have been good but they haven't been good enough to make the Japanese legend a household name abroad.

Until now.

But wins 286-289 of a career that has now spanned 20 years are finally getting the 5'4" trailblazer some well-deserved acclaim. The no. 155-ranked Kyoto-born Krumm, who gave a lot of credit to her race car-driving husband in her victory speech after defeating Anabel Medina Garrigues (6-3, 6-3) in the final, isn't ready to pull the plug after just one title either.

The former No. 4-ranked woman in the world thinks she's got a few more wins left in her. "I think I wont have any problem in my physical strength over the next five years," she said. "But I'm married...I have to have kids and I have a lot of things to do. I think I can play tennis for the next two years."

You go, Kimiko.

Krumm's comeback, which was originally announced (long before those Johny-come-lately Belgian girls) in April of 2008, probably had a large part in helping Kim Clijsters make up her mind about the comeback that she began after a 27-month absence this summer. While Krumm hasn't won a match in a Slam this year, she did nearly upset Caroline Wozniacki in the first round of Wimbledon. Her 8th career title, and first in 13 years, proves that she is getting better with experience.

And thanks to her exploits, and the dominoes that have fallen in the WTA as a result of them, we can talk about something other than who the "real No. 1 is." And if you happen to be, like me, getting up there in years, we've got a story that can help us realize that just because a player is half our age it doesn't necessarily mean that he or she is going to beat us, and it certainly doesn't mean that they are going to have more fun than us either, right?

Long live Kimiko, and long live the comeback!

With Fed in Action, Davis Cup is More Relevant

Greetings,

It's a mad world indeed when you have a guy that can serve 78 aces and still lose a match. It was a mad world even before the Croatia-Czech Republic tie got underway this weekend, but now that it's done, it seems even madder to me.

Radek Stepanek's sticktuitiveness opened the door for the Czech's and Tomas Berdych's perseverance cracked it open wide enough for the whole country to walk through. At least the tennis fans in the country. The rest came through when the doubles match was decided by an overworked but not over fatigued doubles team of Berdych and Stepanek, in straight sets.

And our final is set for December. The big bad Spaniards, who after demolishing the upstart Israeli squad with their two best players out of the action while mending their U.S. Open battle scars, have casually advanced to their second straight Davis Cup final. It is also their 5th final of the decade - a decade that started without them ever having made it that far.

Kudos to Spanish tennis for giving the rest of the national programs something to emulate over these last few years.

Speaking of emulate, Mr. Roger Federer decided to take a page out of the Spanish "all for one and one for all" book this weekend, and travel to Italy to make a long awaited Davis Cup appearance.

Federer put an end to fears that the Swiss team might be eliminated from World Group competition by turning in two shining straight set victories (both in live rubbers) against Simone Bolelli and Potito Starace respectively.

It may not seem like the biggest of stories, but Federer's participation in this weeks Davis Cup ties says a lot, both about Federer's current selfless mind state, and about the relevance of an event that has suffered greatly from the absence of big names and a narrow scheduling window that usually coincides with the conclusion of the Slams (ask Roddick about this).

The fact that Federer was willing to pack up the family and valiantly come to the aid of his country bodes well for next years Davis Cup World Group ties as well.

Forget about this years final, unless you truly believe in miracles, because the Spaniards are a pretty safe bet to take the title in Spain, on their surface of choice, no matter how much torture Radek Stepanek is able to endure.

But next year, with Federer in tow, it means we may have another weekend (hopefully 4?) of Davis Cup play that will be every bit as good as the one we just witnessed - and that has to be the best news of all for Davis Cup tennis.

Federer's return to action with his compatriots seems to be a symbol of a subtle philosophical transformation occurring deep within the bowels of his psyche. Maybe the pressure that was eating at Federer after his Australian Open tear-jerker of a loss to Nadal and throughout his desperate yet graceful quest to reach the ultimate pinnacle of the sport is truly and definitively long-gone.

After his loss to Juan Martin Del Potro, Federer was so graceful in defeat, and so unfazed by the emergence of yet another threat to his dominance, that it was easy to see that he is clearly a man who is ready to shift his priorities to the side of the scale where Mirka and the twins are nestling together - they are looking to him not necessarily for victories or records, but for humanity and for an all-encompassing intuitiveness that will ultimately outshine any single match or title that Federer will ever again achieve.

Federer, it seems, judging from his actions of late, recognizes the importance of his choices not only as a tennis player going forward, but also as a husband and as a father. While he is no doubt hungry and ready to contend for more titles, I think his days of crying about whether or not he actually wins them are behind him now.

And so we find him in Italy, employing his usual symphonic genius to ensure that the Swiss are a part of next years World Group 16 when Davis Cup play begins. Many of us are now speculating that this is the one tennis trophy that Roger will truly set his sights on next year. It is a competition that can be placed on the scale with Mirka and his daughters, with his family, friends, coaches, and his history, both as a player and as a human being.

For a competition that has had to endure a lot of disappointing absences by its top players, Federer's desire to take part next year could put an extra shine on the cup that many of us have been waiting to see for a long time.