Un-Retirement Watch
Shortly after
Martina Hingis announced her intended comeback, related news started pouring in about other tennis stars long absent from the game. John McEnroe intends to play doubles with Jonas Bjorkman at the SAP Open in February 2006, and Anna Kournikova and Monica Seles have both made statements regarding their respective comebacks.
McEnroe's return (even if it is for just one tournament) seems legitimate. " Doubles has been struggling and I thought if I could get a little attention focused on it, it might help," McEnroe told
ITN. He continued, "I still have a lot of events I play on the Champions Tour, which keep me busy, but the option to play more doubles is there. We'll see what happens when I get out there." Some reports and commentaries have been interpreting McEnroe's one-tournament return as something that could lead to a Martina Navratilova-like career. Navratilova had retired and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame, but returned to the game and still competes in doubles on the tour and in Grand Slams. I'm adopting a wait-and-see position on this one.
Kournikova seemingly has been repeating the same sentiment for the past few years that she might return to playing tennis on the WTA Tour. This
latest statement could have been brought about because the same line of questioning keeps coming up at her press conferences:
will she or won't she return? Anna has always remained vague and coy about when that time will come, and this latest statement is just as non-committal. Sorry to burst your bubble, boys, but you'll just have to book tickets to World Team Tennis if you want to see Anna play.
Seles's
most recent statement is more definite, but not in saying that she will definitely return. In fact, she says that if she doesn't return in 2006, she'd have to move on. "I'm still training and still trying, but at the same time I'm realistic," Seles told the AP. Monica, now 32 years old, seems upbeat about the possibility she may never return to professional tour play. The same wire service article that reports such statements bears the headline
Seles aims for comeback when Monica's language is not
that positive about her return.
I guess it's a slow news month for professional tennis. At least the
Hyundai Hopman Cup begins in about two weeks, and then the tours begin to pick up steam again before the Australian Open.
Odds & Ends
It's the off-season so there's not much to write about with regard to the professional tennis tours. Still, there's a wealth of fascinating tennis-related news out there. I let some slip through the cracks and never ended up writing about them earlier, so this is my chance.
CARDIO TENNIS: Some people use tennis as a way to burn calories and improve fitness, and that was one of the premises of
Tennis Welcome Centers. Here's something that goes it one better.
From Sports Geezer:
Can Beyonce save tennis? How about Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez? The United States Tennis Association and the Tennis Industry Association seem to think so. The two organizations, concerned about their sport's failure to thrive in recent years, have created a new and way more extreme tennis workout, and it often includes blasting music from at least one of the two young ladies. What else does in [sic] include? There's a 10-minute warm-up, 45 minutes of cardiovascular conditioning--including team games and forehand, backhand and volley drills--and a five-minute cool-down....[I]t's called cardio tennis, and it seems to be less about tennis than it is about cardio. The main selling point is that it is a high-energy workout that burns more calories than singles or doubles by elevating the heart rate into the aerobic training zone. And if you think no one will buy that selling point, think again. Cardio tennis workouts are offered at 760 public and private courts across the country.
I don't know about you, but I'd rather play the real thing. I can get my cardio workout from other activities; nothing beats the rush of opening a fresh can of balls and smacking them hard back and forth across a net. Still, the cross-promotional aspect of this with tennis may inspire other people to pick up racquets and actually start playing. It's all good.
TENNIS ELBOW: Tennis elbow sufferers may have yet another weapon to add to their pain-killing arsenal. According to a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, injecting Botox into the affected arm could alleviate the condition.
From Reuters.co.uk:
There are many options for treating tennis elbow, including rest, anti-inflammatory pain medications, braces and injections of corticosteroids. But in studies, only anti-inflammatory lotions or ointments have proven effective, Dr. Shiu Man Wong told Reuters Health.
For their study, Wong and colleagues at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Prince of Wales Hospital recruited 60 adults who'd suffered tennis elbow pain for at least three months. Half received a single injection of botulinum toxin type A in the affected area, and half were injected with saline.
One month and three months later, patients who'd received the toxin showed greater improvements in their pain than placebo patients did, the researchers found. In the botulinum toxin group, the average score on a standard pain-rating scale fell from 65.5 to 23.5 over three months. Among placebo patients, the average score dipped from 66.2 to 43.5.
For a few patients, though, the toxin did cause muscle weakness in the fingers; muscle weakness is a typical side effect of Botox in general.
More studies are needed to confirm the toxin's effectiveness for tennis elbow, Wong said. It's not clear why it may aid the condition, but direct analgesic effects may be at work, according to the researcher.
In tests of grip strength, Wong noted, there were no overall differences between the two study groups - suggesting that the pain relief was not just a product of reduced muscle tension around the elbow.
Botulinum toxin may eventually prove useful for painful conditions like chronic headache and tennis elbow, according to Dr. Seth L. Pullman of Columbia University in New York City. But for now, doctors should reserve it for conditions marked by abnormal muscle spasms, he writes in an accompanying editorial.
Will it reduce wrinkles on my arm, too? But seriously speaking, tennis elbow is a very painful condition that knocks players out of competition for months on end. I wonder what spurred Dr. Wong's interest in the matter.
MOON TENNIS: Shortly before the 2005 US Open commenced, NASA released an article about how the Moon's atmosphere and gravity would affect topspin, any tennis player's staple for keeping the ball in court. To complement this article, NASA also shot a video starring Andy Roddick, the US Open Series' "Rocket Man."
From NASA:
They call him the "Rocket Man." Tennis pro Andy Roddick holds the world's record for fast serves: 155 mph. By the time opponents realize where the ball is going, very often, it's already gone. Ace! His groundstrokes are like rockets, too.
Believe it or not, this can be a problem. Balls hit so hard want to go long, flying straight out the back of the court. Out! It's hard to win a game that way.
So what do you do when you're so powerful? Roddick has a trick up his sleeve: topspin. By hitting the ball obliquely (at a slant), he causes it to spin. Topspin makes the ball curve downward. Instead of going out, it drops neatly into play on the other side of the net.
Now the Rocket Man is wondering, "What if the US Open were played on the Moon? Would topspin do me any good?"
Andy's acting may be wooden, but his participation in the video anchored the NASA article's spacey speculation in tennis reality. Now if only he could stop foot-faulting in the video...
Ancic Clinches the Cup for Croatia
Mario Ancic has been branded as a choker for losing matches he had dominated in the first set. He'd been dubbed the "
Ancichoke" in October on
MensTennisForums; when he lost to Dmitry Tursunov two weeks later in Paris after having numerous chances to win in the deciding set's tiebreaker, that nickname seemed confirmed.
Nobody was putting any bets on Ancic pulling his weight in Croatia's Davis Cup final against Slovakia. Most articles written gave Ivan Ljubicic credit for single-handedly carried Croatia to the final.
From Reuters.co.uk:
Ljubicic, who launched Croatia on the road to the final with stunning wins over Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi in the first round in Los Angeles, is playing down his heroics, at least until the mission is accomplished.
"They were great wins but if we lose in the final it's going to be easy to forget them," said the 28-year-old, who fled war-torn Bosnia as a teenager to pursue his tennis career.
[...]
With the 21-year-old Ancic struggling of late, the pressure will be on Ljubicic to spearhead Croatia's challenge in the Sibamac Arena on the banks of the Danube.
First-day action saw Ljubicic carry out what he'd been expected to do, which was win his rubber against Karol Kucera. Ancic lived up to the low expectations, falling to Dominik Hrbaty. The second day, Ancic and Ljubicic won the doubles rubber, defeating Hrbaty and Michael Mertinak.
On the final day of the final, though, Hrbaty pulled off a five-set victory over Ljubicic despite being 0-5 in career win-loss against the Croat. This left Ancic to play the make-or-break rubber against Mertinak.
From Davis Cup.com:
The Davis Cup produces heroes, often unlikely ones, and there is no bigger stage in tennis than the deciding fifth rubber in the Final of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas...
...It was always going to be a tall order for the world No. 165, up against No. 22 Ancic, but Davis Cup habitually pits players from different worlds, in tennis terms, against one another and then produces the unexpected.
"Of course, I felt the pressure," said Mertinak. "I was a little bit shaky at the beginning, but then I cooled down. I tried to do my best. Unfortunately, it didn't work the right way today."
Mertinak did in fact play well above his usual level in singles, and somehow held on to his serve throughout the first set, saving four break points including two in the fisrt game, to eventually force a tiebreak.
That was the cue for Ancic to show his class, and he went up a gear, playing aggressively and grabbing the initiative. He surged to a 6-1 lead, and took the set with a crushing 1-2 combination, a deep return setting up an easy put-away volley after one hour five minutes.
"It was a very nervous start," said Ancic. "[I] Had a lot of breakpoints which I couldn't use. But then I think I really stepped up in the tiebreak. From that moment, I think I was in control of the match."
The rest of the match was by no means a procession, even if Ancic was as he said in control for most of it. He broke in the second game of the second set, but Mertinak earned a break-back point at 1-3. Ancic saved it, then went on to seal the set with an ace, before breaking the Slovak to love at the start of the third set.
To his credit, Mertinak continued to fight bravely, and broke back for 3-all. It seemed that Ancic might be wobbling in the Davis Cup once more, but he regained his composure to break again for 5-4.
Ancic served it out confidently, and although Mertinak saved one match point, a miss-hit forehand on the second floated inches long. The Davis Cup by BNP Paribas belonged to Croatia.
It's been a
hard-fought and well-deserved Davis Cup victory for first-time finalist Croatia. Credit should also go to the Slovak Republic, also a first-time finalist. The two countries defeated defending finalist and champion
USA and
Spain respectively in the first round of World Group action this year.
The year 2006 will see both countries play their first round as away games:
Croatia will face off against Austria, and
Slovakia will play Chile.
RP Tennis is Gold
I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of competition for tennis court time after this year's South East Asian Games. I'm expecting a boom in recreational tennis after the Philippines's Fil-American players raked in two more gold medals after the men's team tennis gold.
Last night, Cecil Mamiit set the local crowd on fire after defeating defending champion Danai Udomchoke of Thailand in three hard-fought sets (6-3,5-7,6-4). The Thai
roared into the final by besting Eric Taino, another Philippine player, in the semifinal 7-6(5),6-4. Udomchoke had earlier assessed the match-up against Mamiit to be a difficult one, as the Filipino held a 2-1 career win-loss record against him. His assessment proved to be correct.
From Tempo:
Udom Chokes!
[...]
With an overflow crowd and hundreds more in and out of the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center egging him on, Mamiit, a member of the gold medal-winning men's team, gave out the performance of his life, breaking the Thai's serve in the eighth game of the second set, reeling back after losing a 3-1 lead in the second and summoning all his energy and experience in the third and deciding set to claim the victory in two hours and 30 minutes.
"I think this is the best tennis I've ever played. All the tennis the whole week made me feel better and play better and better," Mamiit, the world No. 211, said. "All these crowd [sic] supporting the team, I'm glad we delivered and let them enjoy tennis."
"We (Udomchoke) were talking right after the match and we agreed that it was a perfect day for tennis. We really played out those points and never let up even when someone is down. It's a good thing that I was able to regain my energy in the third set, with the help of the crowd and my experience."
It was the first men's singles gold since Felix Barrientos registered the feat in 1991, also at the Rizal Tennis center, in a three-gold medal performance, and the 14th overall for the country since it started participating in the biennial event in 1977.
Udomchoke apologized to Thai fans for failing to win the gold medal, citing exhaustion and a groin injury which a trainer attended to in the third set.
In celebration, Mamiit danced with two Thais in national costume to the tune of the
Pinoy Big Brother theme song. Later that night, he and Eric Taino also celebrated a
semifinal victory in men's doubles over Indonesians Prima Simpatiaji and Wahyu Trijati. Taino and Mamiit played the final against twin brothers Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana of Thailand today but lost 4-6,2-6. (I could probably insert a Siamese twin joke here, but I won't.)
Earlier today, Taino and partner
Riza Zalameda posted a win over Indonesia's Suwandi Suwandi and Wynne Prakusya for the
gold medal in mixed doubles. Displaying a mix of power, finesse, and good teamwork from the baseline and the net, the Filipinos rallied from a one-set-to-love deficit to push the match into a deciding third set. The final score was 2-6,6-3,6-4.
***
In related news, a
bomb scare held up match play yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Stadium as an unattended travel bag was found around 1pm. Audience and players alike were evacuated as bomb squad members searched for explosives. When they opened the bag, though, all it contained were a tennis player's clothes and shoes.
And on that note, this concludes my coverage and commentary of Philippine tennis at the SEA Games. I'll be back to the regular tennis fare this upcoming week to talk about Davis Cup final results and other offseason topics.
More SEA Games Tennis Action
I'd like to apologize to my international readers (all six? three? of you) for writing so much about the Philippine contingent at the South East Asian Games. The SEA Games is a huge event over here in the Philippines and the fact that our local (well, not-so-local) tennis bets are doing well is just something I enjoy writing about a lot.
So, bad news first: Riza Zalameda and Denise Dy both lost today, effectively ending the Philippine campaign for a gold medal in women's singles. The #2 seed, Indonesia's Wynn Prakusya, defeated Zalameda with a convincing 6-1,6-2 scoreline. Dy fared slightly better against #1 seed Suchanan Viratprasert of Thailand, losing 4-6,5-7.
Zalameda still has a chance to score a gold medal in mixed doubles with "
Dancing Netter" Eric Taino. The two
sallied into the semifinals by beating Quang Huy Ngo and Thuy Dung Nguyen of Vietnam 6-2,6-1. This semifinal berth has already guaranteed Zalameda and Taino an automatic bronze medal.
Taino and Cecil Mamiit both
steamrolled through their quarterfinal singles matches. Mamiit made quick work (6-0,6-0) of Vivongsay Vongsouthi of Laos, and Taino overpowered Sunu Wahyu Trijati 6-1,6-0. Meanwhile, homegrown doubles team Johnny Arcilla and Patrick John Tierro
double-bageled Ekalath Phonepraseuth and Daliya Saidara of Laos, proceeding into the doubles quarterfinal where they face Indonesia's Suwandi Suwandi and Bonit Wiryawan.
All matches are played on Rizal Memorial Tennis Stadium's courts, which have been painted with the US Open color scheme of blue courts surrounded by green.
