Battle of the Ponytails
Poor ponytailed
Tommy Haas can't get a break. After spraining his ankle in a freak accident at Wimbledon this year,
his comeback at the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles has been cut short by the strong serving and game of Belgian and fellow ponytailer Xavier Malisse.
Haas has always had the strokes (he
did reach the #2 world ranking in 2002), but apart from his diminished serving ability due to shoulder surgery, what seems to be missing in his game is the mental link. I can't imagine how his coach David "Red" Ayme feels; part of their routine consists of Red sitting courtside and allowing Haas to vent all his frustrations on him.
Malisse has also been prone to meltdown; earlier this year in Miami
Malisse was defaulted in a match versus David Ferrer "for serious verbal abuse of a line umpire." Malisse claimed that the lineswoman misunderstood him when he was saying "whole ball." He was still however fined $6000 and suspended for four weeks following that tournament.
Hawkeye Won't Fly
The US Open won't be using computer-generated video replay to assist in calling the lines. After tests conducted on the US Open courts, they found that Hawkeye and Auto-Ref weren't accurate enough.
Hopes were high that video replay would help eliminate line-calling debacles like what happened at the
Serena Williams vs. Jennifer Capriati match at last year's Open. Now that Hawkeye's been shown not to be accurate enough, even the Australian Open and Wimbledon organizers may abandon their attempts to use Hawkeye for next year's tournaments.
Someone will just have to invent a better system. In the meantime, the umpiring at the Open may come under extra scrutiny from spectators and media alike.
Feet Made of Clay
Winning Stuttgart gave
Rafael Nadal his 34th consecutive win on a clay court. Now he only needs to win six more matches on clay to equal Thomas Muster's record of 40 match wins. It's still a distant 19 wins from Guillermo Vilas's record of 53 (info thanks to
Peter Bodo's Tennis World), but he seems to have been crowned this year's King of Clay.
The seemingly invincible King of Clay is still human, however.
Nadal pulled out of the Croatia Open in Umag, Croatia citing tendinitis in his right knee.
It's not like he needs to play any more optional tournaments: Nadal has already clinched his spot at the 2005 Masters Cup to be held in Shanghai, China. He's also now #2 in the ATP Entry Rankings, bumping Lleyton Hewitt down a spot. And since he's not going to be defending many points from the hardcourt season, if he does well at the US Open and the preceding Masters Series tournaments he might just hang on to that #2 spot until the year's end.
Agassi with Adidas
Well, it hasn't really hit the news media yet, but apparently
some spectators in LA saw Andre Agassi sporting Adidas instead of Nike. The original poster in the Talk Tennis thread is the webmaster of
Jan-Michael Gambill's semi-official fan website and is a credible source. Also,
there are already pictures out.
Now all we need to do is wait for the official explanation for Agassi's departure from his longtime clothing sponsor. Nike's been dropping a lot of players lately: Lleyton Hewitt and Robby Ginepri are no longer with the brand as well.
Update: It's official.
Tennis Week has the article, stating that Agassi has signed a "long-term partnership" with the Three Stripes (Adidas) for an undisclosed sum.
Bob Larson's Tennis News has some
exclusive information that Agassi had already left Nike back in January.
Weekend Round-Up
Bagels were in ready supply for the past week's finals.
Switzerland's Patty Schnyder defeated Japan's Akiko Morigami to clinch the Western & Southern Group Women's Open, 6-4,6-0.
Anabel Medina-Garrigues of Spain defended her Palermo International title against Czech Klara Koukalova 6-4,6-0. And US player
Robby Ginepri won the RCA Championship 4-6,6-0,3-0 when fellow American Taylor Dent retired due to heat exhaustion.
(Other non-bagel victories: Spain's Rafael Nadal scored his sixth straight title on clay by
defeating Argentinian Gaston Gaudio in the Mercedes Cup final 6-3,6-3,6-4.
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile won the Priority Telecom Open 7-5,6-3 versus Agustin Calleri of Argentina.)
"Rocket Man" Crashes out of Indianapolis
I was actually considering a news blackout of this certain event so I could pretend in my own small world that it didn't happen.
Andy "Rocket Man" Roddick failed to get past the quarterfinal stage in his RCA Championships three-peat bid, crashing against Robby Ginepri 4-6,7-6(2),7-5. This marks the first time Ginepri has scored a win against Roddick in their
career meetings.
Roddick had this to say about the match:
"'He wanted it more than I did,' Roddick said. 'He is hitting the ball better than I am right now. I didn't come here ready to play.'"
Now, shouldn't someone kick Roddick in the head for making that statement? In order to stay competitive with the rest of the Top 5 ATP players, shouldn't he want to win even more than his opponent does? Shouldn't he come out to tournaments always ready to play?
Some people have said he hasn't yet recovered mentally from losing Wimbledon yet again. If he's in a funk right now, he's gotta shake it off soon.
It's early in the hard court season to tell, but I have a bad feeling that this does not bode well for the rest of Roddick's summer. He's also withdrawn from the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles scheduled for next week, citing a sore right knee.
Alas, Poor Paradorn
Paradorn Srichaphan's been bounced out of a tournament early again. Well, at least it wasn't a first-round loss, which occurred the last few times I'd seen him play this year.
Paradorn is Asia's top-ranked male player, but he peaked at number nine in the entry rankings. After that, it's been a steady decline downwards; he's now ranked 43 in the world. He's a pretty flashy player who likes to go for his shots, but these days he's missing them more than he's sticking them. The players he's going up against are the same ones from last year, but as the other guys have said, everyone's improved because Federer's dominance is forcing them to improve. Alas, Srichaphan might not have gotten that particular memo; he hasn't been able to up his performance so far. He's getting left behind.
Don't Knock the Nicknames
The US Open Series, this summer's "hottest reality series," begins this week with the RCA Indianapolis Championships. Only one of the players from this
nickname list are in the men's draw, as Andre "The Legend" Agassi has pulled out because of his lingering back injury. Nicholas Kiefer, last year's losing finalist, is seeded second to "Rocket Man" Andy Roddick, who won the tournament last year.
The nickname idea has been floating around for a while now; how can you make international players into household names (in the US, at least)? This seems to be a fun way to start, calling players by their distinctive characteristics. Obviously, Roger Federer
is "The Boss." Sharapova's "The 'It' Girl" despite her Wimbledon semifinal loss. Venus and Serena Williams are "The Goddess" and "The Diva" respectively. Marat Safin is "Mr. Unpredictable"--a nickname more flattering than "Headcase," I'm sure. For lack of anything else to say about him, Tim Henman has been labeled "The Good Guy." Possibly a logical consequence of the British stiff upper lip.
The rest of the Indianapolis field also have nicknames, albeit from
Tennis X instead of the USTA marketing department. The notables are: Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, Mario "Baby Goran" Ancic, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, "Grinning" Greg Rusedski, and Taylor "Acci-" Dent.
CNN Tennis Mailbag
I had no idea
CNN was running a tennis mailbag separate from the Sports Illustrated one with Jon Wertheim. (CNN and SI are both owned by Time Warner.) The CNN one has questions answered by World Sport anchor
Candy Reid. She's certainly qualified for the job; she played professional tennis for two years and even competed at junior Wimbledon in 1994 and 1995.
I saw one of Reid's interviews with Andy Roddick last year as the Americans prepared to take on the Spaniards on wet red clay for the Davis Cup final. The interview wasn't your standard sit-down; instead, Reid warmed up with Roddick on an indoor hard court. She did admirably well remembering the questions she needed to ask even as Andy fed her volleys and overheads--both of which she also handled very competently. Now that's credibility.
Tennis Ain't Dead at the ESPYs
Roger Federer won the Best Male Tennis Player award that night. The ESPY Awards are given based on which of the nominees for each category had gotten the most votes, and votes are supposed to be based on the player's achievements in the previous year.
Federer's known for flying under the Who's Who radar at times (at least in the US), but at least he's popular enough to win in his category. And, at least the tennis fans are knowledgeable enough to know who really deserves the award, as Roger had won three out of four majors last year. He really was the Best Male Tennis Player.
The award for Mr. and Ms. Popularity, however, goes to...
"As Sharapova arrived on the red carpet for one of the pre-event parties Tuesday night at the Playboy Mansion, the statuesque Russian was asked to take a few photos with Roddick.
"'Are you wearing heels?' Roddick blared from across the carpet. 'I'm not taking a photo with you if you're taller than me.'
"...After the party, the two retired to the Tropicana Bar at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and were still lounging together poolside into the wee hours of the morning.
"A blooming love match or just two champions from the same sport bonding? Don't ask us. This is Page 3, not The Star.
"...Donovon McNabb took time away from eating to quickly introduce himself to Sharapova, who, along with Roddick, might have been the most popular athletes in the house."
(ESPN's Page 3)
There have been rumors floating around that Andy Roddick and Maria Sharapova are dating, particularly on Andy's own
message board. The board is populated mostly by young teenage girls obsessed with the sports star, so it didn't take too long before a picture of the two of them walking together in Wimbledon Village had been made into
evidence that something was up.
Roddick
disappeared from the taping of the ESPYs long enough to make an
appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where the host asked him about his love life. Andy still says he's single and not dating anyone.
Tennis ain't dead, at least popularity-wise. The top-ranked players are celebrities in their own right.
Objects of Desire
If Maria Sharapova doesn't know how much her marketing of herself has made her a sex object, this invention out of Japan should at least give her
some idea.
The Japanese firm Sharanpowan has created
pillows shaped like Sharapova's breasts and lap, according to
MosNews.com.
"The breast pillow... is made with a cover in the style of a tennis shirt that can be removed to reveal more intimate details....
"...The Japanese appear to find the lower part of Sharapova's body more attractive than its upper part..."
If that isn't objectification, I don't know what is.
The serious marketing and PR question here, however, would be: is it officially licensed by Sharapova?
Federer's Understudy
So what if
Gaston Gaudio beat him in the Swiss Open final 6-4, 6-4?
Stanislas Wawrinka, the 20-year-old from Lausanne, Switzerland, is having a great year. He managed to earn enough points early this year to enter the main draws of two Grand Slam tournaments. At the French Open, he beat
Nicolas Massu and
James Blake before succumbing to eventual finalist
Mariano Puerta. He then lost in the first round at Wimbledon to
Fabrice Santoro, but followed it up with his best showing ever at the Swiss Open in Gstaad.
He had made the Gstaad final before, but it was for doubles. The past two years, he had lost in the first round of the singles event. I'm thinking that since Roger Federer chose not to play the event this year, the pressure of living under the Swiss and world #1's shadow was lifted from Wawrinka's shoulders and allowed him to open them a little and swing more freely.
It's not bad, for a late beginner. Wawrinka first started playing at the age of eight and didn't really consider turning pro--until he won the French Open boys' title in 2003. Now, after Gstaad, he's being touted as Federer's understudy. The pressure's on his shoulders again.
Go, Sco
First round, US Open 2004. Andy Roddick steps up to serve the first game. Across the net, a gangly 18-year-old wildcard prepared to receive the cannonball.
That was the first time I ever saw Scoville Jenkins play. Poor kid; he was
demolished by Roddick in three sets, the first set a bagel. But he shook off the defeat and went on to play in the juniors event at the US Open, reaching the quarterfinals.
These days, he's turned fully professional and is playing Challengers events, building up enough points to be able to play in the main tour. You know a player hasn't really made a dent when not even their birthday shows up on their
ATP player profile page.
Apparently, though, some people think he can make a breakthrough.
Scoville-Jenkins.com, formerly known as Go Sco, is the first fan website about Jenkins. Its webmaster compiled information from the
ITF database and articles written about Scoville to make a more comprehensive player profile and actively collects articles and photos of the young player. It's from that site that I learned what Sco's been up to lately.
Hopefully, if his game's good enough, more people will be able to see him play on the ATP tour. I really do get a bit sad when young players fizzle out.
I <3 Hingis
(Link via
Pro Tennis Fan.)
Bud Collins, he of the loud pants and colorful commentary, has written a marvelous article on the
World Team Tennis match between the two Martinas, Hingis and Navratilova.
Reading it, I am reminded of how Martina Hingis in her prime had been the definition of women's tennis, at least to me. When I was a child (only three years younger than Hingis, actually) I used to wait for her matches to come on TV. I used to think that if I had begun tennis as young as she had, maybe I had a chance at being as good a player as she.
In fact, the first time I stepped onto a tennis court to hit a ball (when I was 13 years old), it was Hingis who was my role model--the variety of her game, the cleverness with which each point was played. I was saddened when she stopped playing on the
Tour, overshadowed/overpowered by the Williams sisters and plagued by injury.
I'm glad she's still involved in the sport, even if it is just a one-set WTT match. There's too much talent there to let go to waste.
US Open: New Courts, New Balls
Three Grand Slam tournaments have gone by this year. One remains. You know, the one in New York? Fastest hard courts in the world? Day and night sessions?
If you're a casual tennis fan and can't tell the difference between the US and Australian Opens, the
United States Tennis Association wants to do something about it. Beginning this year, they're
resurfacing the courts at Flushing Meadows and painting them blue with a green outer court. This new color scheme also supposedly helps players and spectators see the ball better.
The color scheme will also be applied to the
ten tournaments that comprise the US Open Series which lead up to the US Open. It's supposed to give the whole summer hard court season in the US a distinct look, and could possibly contribute to a better brand awareness for the US Open.
There are also
more changes in the offing, particularly this one: fans get to keep any balls hit into the stands at Arthur Ashe Stadium during the US Open. That's terrific for fans because they get a keepsake, but could it impact matchplay? Players before serving will usually choose the ball that's been used least; newer balls haven't fuzzed up as much and will move through the air faster. They also have a higher bounce to them on average compared to balls that have been played more. Since new balls are given after a set number of games in a match, the player serving with the new balls is usually seen to have an advantage (higher chance of aceing the opponent, I guess). Will the lost ball be replaced in play by a new ball, or will they pull out an old ball from under the umpire's seat?
Regardless of the changes, the US Open for me still brings out really exciting matches, and the festival atmosphere could only get better this year. Hopefully, not to the players' detriment.
Serendipity: Tennis Articles on Slate
Here's an Andy Roddick article that I found on Slate while reading about
Rafael Nadal's awkward non-textbook strokes.
Rock 'n' Roll Tennis by Joseph Nocera dates back to 2001--Roddick's first year on the ATP Tour.
"So what's Roddick got? For starters, he's got two serious weapons: a monster serve and a killer forehand.... But he's not just a baseline player (thank goodness); he likes coming to net, and he's got a wonderfully feathery touch with his volleys."
What?!? If that's really how Roddick used to play, I seriously must have missed something. I had stopped watching tennis in 1999, and up until 2002 I was completely unaware of the newcomers. That changed at US Open 2002, when Pete Sampras defeated some kid in a blue shirt during the semifinal to meet Andre Agassi in the final. That kid was Roddick, and I began watching tennis again after that.
I don't recall Roddick willingly coming to net until he and
Brad Gilbert consciously began working on it late last year. Of course, the two have parted ways since, but Roddick's new coach Dean Goldfine seems to be on the same attack plan because they know his relative lack of net ability is something better players can exploit. Just ask Federer.
Feathery touch? Commentators have been saying that about Roddick's volleys only recently (and very infrequently).
***
More article-surfing brought out a more recent piece on Wimbledon. Mike Steinberger looks back at how
players used to trash the grass-court Slam and how today's players love it.
Steinberger writes:
"...the praise they lavish on Wimbledon isn't calculated; it's genuine, which suggests that there is more to it than just a desire to show the world (and potential sponsors) a happy face. I suspect a bigger reason for all this veneration, especially for the male players, may be the lingering influence of Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, and Pete Sampras, all of whom made a fetish of the lawn tennis championships."
Even the claycourters (Nadal and Coria) like Wimbledon now.
Wimbledon Concludes
With this straight-sets win (6-2, 7-6, 6-4), Roger Federer scores his hat trick, equaling the three-peats of Sampras and Borg.
I posted earlier about Andy Roddick's performance at the French Open. At Wimbledon, he played a more attacking kind of tennis. It was the kind of tennis that pulled him through his five-setters with Daniele Bracciali and Sebastien Grosjean, and the kind of tennis that saw him through a breathless four-setter yesterday with Thomas Johansson.
Here are some of the improvements I think Andy made to his game.
- Return of serve: He stands closer to the baseline on his opponent's first and second serves and is better able to make an aggressive return. He's also been charging the net on his opponent's second serve at times.
- Transition and volley: He's constructing approaches better and isn't completely lost at the net. He's hitting his volleys with authority and some nice touch. At crucial points (like 15-30 or Ad. Out) he even serves and volleys, which is a testament to his confidence in his net game. He still could stand to hit better approaches and cover the net better, though.
- Mental toughness: He's broken a recent losing record in five-set matches. 'Nuff said.
Unfortunately,
Federer was the better player today. He outhit Roddick in groundstroke rallies, passed him repeatedly, and racked up the aces. He also kept his error count extremely low, hitting 49 winners to 12 unforced errors.
As a Roddick fan, watching the match was extremely stressful to me, particularly in terms of the commentary coming from the booth. The way Alan Wilkins and Vijay Amritraj were talking about Federer, it seemed like Andy had absolutely no chance against the "brilliant" and "magnificent" tennis Roger was playing. (I'm not saying it's not true that Federer's tennis was brilliant and magnificent; I'm just saying Mr. Wilkins and Mr. Amritraj could have been a little less biased.) If that kind of commentary were going on in Andy's head during gameplay, I think he might have retired from the match. Ü
I think Andy might be taking the loss better than his fans are (or he could be back at his cottage going, "NOOOOOO!!!"). He was grinning and in good humor at the award ceremony, same as last year.
It's too bad this "rivalry" with Roger is so lopsided now; Federer leads 9-1 in their
head-to-head. At least Roddick went out playing very good tennis and defended his points from last year.
***
For the second time this year, Davenport has lost in a Grand Slam final to a Williams. Serena at the Australian Open, Venus at Wimbledon.
Venus Williams was down a set and a break before screaming to life and smacking winners forehand and backhand to bring the second set to a tiebreak. From there, she and Lindsay Davenport battled and scratched out the rest of the match. Williams came out on top in a third set that she won 9-7.
Now, I'm not a Williams fan, but Venus's better mobility than Lindsay's around the court was evident in this match. Although I should say that Lindsay had treatment for her back in the third set and probably had decreased mobility, most of her forehands and backhands should have had enough bite in them to end up as winners. Instead, Venus got to the balls and put them back into play. Often she ended up hitting outright winners.
I do wonder, though, if anyone found it just a little bit classless for Venus to jump around Centre Court after winning? I mean, a hop or two would be fine, but if you had any respect for your opponent you'd try to hold yourself back a little.
But hey, Serena did it too. And it's been such a long Slam drought for the Williams family that they could almost be forgiven for their jubilant celebrations.
It must hurt for Lindsay, though.
From the Archives: Roddick's French Open gameplay
Watching Andy Roddick's strategy and execution of his gameplan at Wimbledon, where he is transitioning to net and volleying very well, I thought I'd post some of my older observations of his play earlier this year, particularly during the clay court season (obviously not Andy's favorite).
(Originally posted on
May 27, 2005.)
Okay, I've dried off my tears after the Roddick-Acasuso match.
While I have seen some improvement in Andy Roddick's gameplay, there was always this sense of inevitability that he'd lose this particular match. Possibly I got this feeling from observing the following, not only during this second round match but also during the first round match:
- His first serve percentage was high, but he wasn't winning the free points off it that he was used to getting. Therefore, he had to call upon his groundstrokes, which had to be reliable and consistent.
Unfortunately in this case his strokes kept landing short and did not push his opponent far enough behind the baseline or off beyond the sidelines. This leads me to my next observation...
- He stands so far back on the return of serve. I could understand that for the first serve, but I would have liked to see him step into the second serve for once.
Since he didn't, he was stuck far behind the baseline on the return and got pinned there with Acasuso's punishing groundstrokes.
- Nevertheless, he was also able to chase down drop shots, which lend credence to the "better fitness" he's been working on. His improved fitness, however, hadn't been tested by a five-set match and he was cramping by the fifth during the Acasuso match.
- That said, I'm also happy about him attacking the net more, trying to end points there instead of trying to duel it out off the ground. However, he could have used angle volleys and drop volleys instead of punching them straight back to the baseline where Acasuso was waiting.
- And speaking of attacking the net, when Acasuso had taken the net, Roddick had no passing shots or even a decent topspin lob.
Not to take anything away from Acasuso's win (which he obviously really worked hard for). These are just a few things I observed during Roddick's two matches at Roland Garros. I think they were also pretty evident in Rome and Hamburg.
ATP releases statement, Peter Bodo comments
After two days, the ATP finally releases
the official statement.
Peter Bodo of TENNIS Magazine weighs in about the format change for doubles. You'll have to scroll down to find the article, since Mr. Bodo's blog isn't set up to have permalinks.
He writes:
"The long-term aim: returning to the halcyon days when doubles draws were made up almost exclusively of the players also in the singles draw.
This, folks, is pure schizophrenia. Its aim is to restore the traditional gestalt and place of the doubles game (including its prestige). And it seems the only way the ATP feels it can accomplish that goal is by destroying the game as we know it."
This might be the death of the doubles specialist. Looks like
Mike and Bob Bryan might have to try to make it as top 50 singles players in order to gain direct entry to a doubles draw.
Poor ponytailed Tommy Haas can't get a break. After spraining his ankle in a freak accident at Wimbledon this year, his comeback at the Mercedes-Benz Cup in Los Angeles has been cut short by the strong serving and game of Belgian and fellow ponytailer Xavier Malisse.
Malisse has also been prone to meltdown; earlier this year in Miami Malisse was defaulted in a match versus David Ferrer "for serious verbal abuse of a line umpire." Malisse claimed that the lineswoman misunderstood him when he was saying "whole ball." He was still however fined $6000 and suspended for four weeks following that tournament.
