Indian Wells: Whither Stosur?

Anyone that continues to ignore the ignoble immensity of Stosur’s troubles  since the new year began will have their work (spin-doctoring) cut out for them today.

I have (and continue to have ) every sympathy in the world with Del Popcorn/Dinaroshka. But let’s not pretend a large part (maybe all) of both matches didn’t reek.

Dinara served up around 16 doubles with her newly architected service motion – I believe Stosur gifted as many forehand errors. Dolgo, meanwhile, went AWOL for most of the 2nd set. Not just a little rough around the edges then.

Plenty to admire, particularly Dinara’s patience from the back of the court (that’s new) – but you’ve gotta think Kohls-Smiter and Pova will prove sterner respective tests. Or maybe not.

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Oz: So…I’m worried. Are you?

 

 

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Oz: On the nature of Despair

 

I don’t know which I find worse: the judgmental, reactionary tut-tutting over Ana “choking” being emitted from the direction of people that didn’t even see the match.

 

Or those that are (still now) continuing to pretend that Ana’s loss is wholly inexplicable.

 

 

 

Makarova d. Ivanovic 3-6 6-4 10-8

 

First the good part: we got one heck of a match from both women.

 

Ana came into this on the back of some sound, genuine, tactile form. This was not one of the very many false-starts we’ve seen from her that usually begin and end in a rash of corrupt ball tosses.

 

We always knew she had some of the most technically-sound, incendiary stroke production this side of Li Na – today we saw her gutsily serve her way out of the agonising despair of being 3 MPs down.

 

 

That she ended up on the losing end of the best match she’s played in over two years – one in which she saved a whopping 5 MPs – is of course gut-wrenching for her fans, but also speaks to the most encouraging, unmistakably healthy signs of life since her turnaround began.

 

I get that her fans will find little comfort in this, but that’s no reason to pretend that she had no business losing to “a mere top 50 player” that left a trail of top ten wreckage in Eastbourne last year.

 

Ana simply got a rough draw. That is all.

 

Heartbreaking? Yes. “Inexplicable”, No.

 

I get that personalities, work-ethic and the exhaustive, organic buzz of following your favourite player through their best and darkest moments all year long very often transcends all of that. The trouble is, it's no different for other players  who, by the way, go through all the same struggles, week-in week out,  sometimes with not even a fraction of the fanbase, limelight or lucrative endorsements at their disposal.

 

Irrespective of whether you’re a fan or not, it’s completely outrageous not to give a player as unassuming as Makarova her due when they come through on the back of their undeniable talent, as she did in Eastbourne last year, or here this time round.

And if it’s still all too much, then spare a though for Dinara.

 

 

However bad things might get, there’s always someone who’s had a shitter night than you or your player have.

 

I don't know. I didn't know how to win a point. Basically came to this thing. I didn't know. I was sitting in the changeover and I was like, okay, at least how can I get a chance to hurt her? There was nothing that I could hurt her.

Embarrassing.

…

I had the same feeling last week when I won one game. This week I didn't win not even one game.

…

No, I mean, of course I have motivation. I've been doing two months of pre season. I'm fully motivated. I practiced hard. I cannot say that I didn't practice hard.

But I guess something was not right. I don't know. I have to figure out the answers.…to lose two tournaments in a row 6 Love, 6 1, 6 Love, 6 Love. It's really to scratch the head and to think what the hell I'm doing. It's not that I don't want. I want. There's no doubt about. I want to come back and I want to play better. But now to find answers how I can come back.

-- Dinara Safina

 

And of course someone thought it would be "funny" to ask her whether or not she even remembers last time she played well

 

I don’t wanna hate you Kim, but for now I'm proposing you be exiled to a Siberian gulag or whatever it is they do with REMORSELESS BULLIES these days.

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Electric-Boogaloo

 

 

 

Let’s get the shirt out the way first coz I think that’s the “easy” part.

 

 

 

Funky, fluoro, eye-scarring fugliness I can deal with (remember this?). Early-80s scribbly, graffiti insignias (normally found on the side of subway trains) do at least have a certain fulsome, nostalgic fuzziness to recommend them.

 

 

 

Both at once? Didn’t think so either…not unless you’re auditioning for a part as an extra in a very poor remake of Electric Boogaloo (it was laughably rubbish the first time round).

 

Del Potro d. Lopez 67 76 76

 

The tennis was visceral, austere, overwrought, laugh-out-loud funny, severe-looking, perfectly nonsensical but also tantalisingly brilliant (at times).

 

It also went on for 3 hours and 20 mins.

 

The big take out must be that Delpo survived the encounter, as it seems, healthily and with his wrist (and his retinas) intact….had he lost it would have been no different.

 

 

It was a tactically-confounded performance that suggested the rustiness we all expected, but was also tinged with the traces of brilliance that once was.

 

I still don’t think he’ll be responsible for the mass culling of top seeds in the early rounds of the AO that some are geeing themselves up for.

 

Feli is not a top ten player – I’m not so sure he even qualifies as “2nd-tier” anymore. A top-tenner wouldn’t have given Delpo half as much room to breath, much less do his gangly-brawny thing. Ditto a less-talented stalwart like Daveed Ferrer.

 

All of which works out in Delpos favour of course – this is exactly the kind of testing, match-play he needs to fill up on ahead of Melbourne.

 

***

 

The other comeback isn’t going so well.

 

 

Bartoli d. Safina 60 61

 

After a perfectly commendable three set loss to Wickmayer in Auckland last week, Dinaroshka must have hoped to go at least one better – failing that a single competitive match would have been good.

 

She cannot have foreseen the two set lockout that Bartoli would impose upon her – evidently no one else did either.

 

Safina didn’t, by all accounts, play a “bad” match – that would only have been possible had she been allowed to play at all.

 

Here’s the thing: Marion does that that to people. And she often does it to the best of players.

 

But it’s when she does it to the best-loved players that the worst form of medieval contempt comes out.

 

 

I don’t get it.

 

From what I can tell she’s a ferociously talented, deliciously idiosyncratic player with oodles of attitude she’s not about to apologise to anyone for.

 

When she’s on, her strangely effective two-handed strokes are capable of smothering you with eye-wateringly acute-angled passes or simple, flat, uncompromising pace. All while remaining perma-rooted on the baseline.

 

She’s not a fashionista, she has an academic eccentric for a father, she’s not in the business of cloying, simpering lie-ins with the media, she can appear more aloof, stern and unfriendly on court than is perhaps necessary, and YES, she rubs (some) people up (though mostly her own compatriots) the wrong way.

 

BIG FREAKIN DEAL.

 

We’ve turned a blind eye to far worse, far more heinous, garlic-infused episodes of brattiness from so-called rising stars or media-luverlies, who all seem to get a free pass on account of their age, their standing in the game, or poster-girl looks.

 

Don’t pretend we haven’t been there.

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I’ll take it.

 

 

 

 

 

Someone won two consecutive matches – only her fourth in the past 11 months.

 

I only saw her win over Petkovic. It wasn’t pretty and I doubt it was any different against Nadia – who doesn’t need any help snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

Still, a win’s a win. And a win over a top twenty player when you yourself are ranked #70 probably benefits you in more ways than you can hope to understand.

 

I’ll take it.

 

Franny next.

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Twitter + Haters = Twats

 

6-1 7-6 over A Bondarenko.

 

Been a long time coming.

 

"I needed the win," Safina said. "Last week I lost a tiebreaker and in practice I lost one because I was playing defensive.

"Tonight I said I'm not going to play defensive and be aggressive and whatever happens, happens."

…

"I think my back is fine now," said Safina. "Every morning when I wake up and it feels good I say thanks."

-- Sky Sports

 

There were emotions. And some choking up. She’s happy about it.

 

She was also chased off twitter by the haters. Doesn’t sound like she’ll be returning. But that’s another story.

 

MENTAL NOTE: Man Down = Stop Kicking.

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Roland Garros: Breezy Round Up.

-- Rafa through in straights against 18 year-old ingénue Gianni Mina - or “Baby La-Monf” as he’s come to be known.

The 2-2-2 scoreline doesn’t do justice to the athleticism and shotmaking that made up this match. Ultimately, however, Baby La-Monf’s inability to make good on a single one of a staggering seven break points, as well as to hold on to his own serve, decided it's course.

Never say no to French Flair, though I’d be more accepting of the parallels with Monfils if I end up liking him for the parts he leaves out.

-- Roddick pulled off a five set turnaround of his own against Finland’s Jarko Nieminen.

A fascinatingly low-brow match that demonstrated why I’m rapidly losing patience with A-Rod’s alleged aversion to clay. Seems to me he plays as well as he might on any slow hard court, when he puts his mind to it.

-- Henin, Shaza both through in straights.

Didn’t see either match – Shaza appears to have served well and both mustered up a healthy positive winners/UFE ratio. More important than all of that, however, is that they survived the first round. Don’t pretend any of that was assured.

Don’t look now, but Ana won her opener too.

-- Dinara, on the other hand, ousted in three at the hands of veteran Kimiko Date Krumm.

It’s probably not instructive to comment on what exactly brought her downfall – we all know that serving’s a big part of it.

She’s also, much to the relief of many, parted ways with Zeljko Krajan.

Q. You separated with your coach, I hear. You want to talk a little bit about that? I know he was important to you.

DINARA SAFINA: Yeah. After Madrid I took a decision to stop. I mean, definitely he did the best job than everybody could make with me. He brought me to No. 1 in the world. I mean, not him. Together we came together to No. 1.

But I decided that I wanted to stop, and that's it. I won't say anything.

Q. Was it getting too intense or...

DINARA SAFINA: I don't want to comment anything else.

Q. Maybe another voice...

DINARA SAFINA: I don't want to comment more than this.

Q. So it's difficult for you today, but are you optimistic long‑term for your future?

DINARA SAFINA: Yeah. You know, I am for sure I will not give up. You know, I will have to swallow this loss and keep on moving. I mean, there is nothing more than this, you know.

I was in the worst situations, and I mean, that's life. After rain, always sun comes. I will do my best.

Whatever it is that makes Coach-Player partnerships work, seems for the most part, an intangible business, whatever the populist self-help manuals may have to say about it.

If a match up works well, as it did in this case for the best part of a year, then it seems to me that it ought to be left well alone, however unpalatable it may be to those on the outside.

That she’s recognised the partnership has run it’s course is encouraging too.

Highly disappointing result of course, something which only time will heal. One can only hope she'll remain as optimistic in her weather forecasting when, two weeks from now, she finds herself in the lower dregs of the top twenty.

-- Federer’s three set dismissal of Aussie Peter Luczak was everything the Madrid final wasn’t.

There was big serving, short-angled backhand passes taken on the rise, but surely nothing so spectacular as a sliding drop shot put-away that had the commentary team eating out of his hands.

So when Luczak’s thickly accented ‘sorry-maaite’ was carried by the wind through the stadium after a number of misdirected tosses -- reminiscent of Rafter as it was -- it seemed more an apology at holding up the exhibition of breezy brilliance before us.

-- Resisting the urge to get drawn into all the humourless chatter surrounding Venus’s outfit.

It’s not one I have to resist very hard.

-- Nicolas Mahut won his first ever match at RG in eleven attempts.

With so much talk of clay-court specialism it’s somewhat encouraging to know that 1) grass-court specialists exist as an independent and low-cost TMF alternative too, and 2) that they suffer much of the same adaptive problems as their clay court counterparts.

Think of him as the Nicolas Lapenti of grass.

(Photos: Getty)

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Melbourne: Days 4 & 5 – “Shock Infested” Swamps

So it all happened out there yesterday.

It was hot, it was muggy and some of the play looked to have been extricated from a swamp.

Petrova d. Clijsters 6-0, 6-1

A shocker, but perhaps also something of required reality check. Cupcake Kim she’s most certainly no more, but even the most ardent of her fans would concede she’s not immune to the odd bad day at the office.

Perhaps more interesting was the the way she dealt with it in the presser:

"It sucks," she said. "I was completely off. She was good but I made all the mistakes and she didn't really have to do much. She served really well and was aggressive in the rallies, but that's because I let her play. It sucks that it has to happen at this stage of this tournament. If it happens in another tournament, then you can say: 'OK, it's not a big deal, just keep working hard.' Matches like this happen maybe once a year.

"You just try to stay calm because there were points where I really wanted to break my racket into pieces, but that's not going to help either, so you really just try to stay positive. At some points I was just happy I was hitting a ball in. That's how bad it was."

The Guardian

Yowza, Yowza, Yowza!

Kimmie 2.0 has very much arrived – with not a cupcake in sight.

She’s picked up on court largely where she left off after her first Slam, but it’s off court that the real transformation has taken place.

Kimmie 2.0 is a darker, more edgy figure, with a more Hingis-like, caustic world view of her opponents. She's also more comfortable using words like ‘suck’.

The rest of the year suddenly got more interesting.

Bondarenko d. Jankovic 6-2 6-3

First things first.

What on earth is going on with Jelena’s serve?

There seems to be a viral marketing campaign currently doing the rounds in women’s locker rooms, that like any properly constructed sales pitch, is disturbingly effective in signing up consumers for stuff they don’t need.

Jelena’s first serve was a liability………back in 2007.

It was never going to assume B-52 proportions but since then I did think she successfully fashioned it into something more competent, something she might use to do more with than simply start the point.

I’d put up a clip except I had my first run-in with Tennis Australia who insisted I take down those two Henin clips from my last post (You know you’ve arrived on YouTube when that happens for the first time, though whether a 50 second tennis clip actually infringes copyright or should come under what most would consider ‘fair use’ remains open for debate).

For now I’ll attempt to describe it as best I can.

From the peacock-like head cocking, to the bending of the knees to an angle so acute, you’d think she needs the type of knee protection Moto Rally GP drivers are routinely issued with.

The pay off for such excessive re-architecting? Darned if I can see it.

She may even have regressed.

As for the rest of her game, it’s not entirely in tatters – but a visit to the drapers wouldn’t go amiss.

What little rhythm she did manage to create, was quickly quashed by Bondarenko who I’m sure has come on leaps and bounds since the last time I saw her.

Sign me up as a fan.

Kuznetsova d. Kerber 3-6 7-5 6-4

Sveta left it all out on court in round two. It was smooth, it was dreamy and as always when she’s on song, so cruel it was cute – Pavlyuchenkova didn’t know what had hit her, with no idea how to respond even once she did.

I was even deluded into believing she might have taken that next vital step up to becoming comfortable in her skin as a two time Slam Champion.

She must have left it all out on court – because last night, there was nothing left.

She made Kerber look as good as she did, by letting loose a total of 43 UFEs (peanuts compared to Shaza’s first round outage, I know) – shoot anyone that tries to convince you otherwise.

This one should have been over in 1:25, instead it lasted over two hours.

Maybe starting after the Nadal match at 12am had something to do with it.

Champions sometimes have a stinker in the first week – but are conditioned into putting it behind them and playing their subsequent matches with such panache, you sometimes think they were undergoing necessary detox.

I’d like to think it’s that way with Sveta – except I’ve been wrong so many times.

Safina d. Baltacha 6-1 6-2

Brits have been busy celebrating the first time two women have reached the second round of a Slam outside of Wimbledon since 1992.

But Dinara poured hot tar over all of that yesterday - just like she has been in all her matches so far.

The difference in class was all too evident.

I’m rather liking the look of Safina’s groundies since the beginning of the event.

That serve however...

Henin d. Kleybanova 3-6 6-4 6-2

Justine dropped a set and has picked up a leg inflammation – no doubt from all those hours spent 'comparing notes' with Elena on court – could she be the next big story with a flat ending?

Nadal d. Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-2 2-6 7-5

Oh the unqualified joy of seeing the ‘Declinist’ position on Rafa’s game, being sequestered in it’s proper place.

I have no idea whether or not Rafa will go all the way – at this point I’d say that’s not all that likely, nor for that matter as important as the question of whether his play resembles something like that of Pre Wimby 2009: It does.

If there’s one thing Kohlschreiber deals in, it’s BIG-UPSET tennis.

This might just have gone the same way as his match with A-Rod did two years back, if Phillip didn’t run out of gas somewhere near the beginning of the fourth set.

We were all waiting to see Rafa go up against credible opposition, and Phillip might just have been the tonic with which to put a seal on Rafa’s revival.

The confidence very evident in the way he shunted back a once-in-a-career wide angled backhand winner that was so far out of court he had to go round the net post.

Yeah that’s what comes of not being able to post up YouTube clips anymore. Boo.

Cilic d. Wawrinka 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-2

This one had five set bruiser written all over it.

I didn’t get to see it – but it’s kind of the result I expected.

Stanislas has been all at sea since Wimbledon last year, a period that’s coincided rather nicely with Marin’s upward march.

Marin is “the new Delpo” according to some – a view I would almost share were it not for the fact that their styles of play are a little like oil and water.

But there’s no doubting Marin is the best placed to have a Delpo like breakthrough year.

Somewhat befitting then, he should be playing “Mr Breakthroughs-are-so-2009” himself, in the next round.

A match that could go either way if you believe there’s anything behind that wrist injury Delpo came into the event with.

***

I didn’t catch very much of the action from day four.

I’ll try and be quick.

Davydenko d. Marchenko 6-3 6-3 6-0

Kolya’s the man of moment right now, and something tells me this is different from the surge Nalbie experienced at the end of 2007. One that was promptly extinguished in Oz the following year (nice to have you back Daveed, almost).

I’m still not confident of him going all the way, but Davy looks awfully close to embracing at least some of the attention that goes along with taking out the best two players on the planet at consecutive events; he definitely has a different look about him this year – one that was in full show yesterday against poor old Marchenko , who to his credit didn’t play a poor match.

The top ten is sometimes a dark, murky place; full of untold misery for any hapless intruder unfortunate enough to blunder into the wrong party (remember Fed performing live vivisection on Delpo last year?), and Davy is currently it’s arch-executioner.

I do so want him to go all the way, but will for now be content with the knowledge that seeing him face off against Fed in the quarters might turn out to be every bit as good as the Rafa/Sod encounter we won’t now get to see.

Federer d. Hanescu 6-2 6-3 6-2

Normal service ‘resumptionalised’. For the time being.

Djokovic d. Chiudinelli 3-6 6-1 6-1 6-3

Having not seen any of Djoko’s matches so far, I’m not entirely sure where he is (yeah, that old chestnut). I’d like to think he’s been bolstered by that win in Paris last year.

Until I see him face off against Tsonga, Haas or Youzhny, who all lurk menacingly in his quarter of the draw however, I can’t be completely certain of that.

Not crazy about the “Hell’s Angel meets Kung-Fu Fighting” edition Sergio Tacchini have kitted him out with either. Though it’s far more preferable to the incoherent slather of colour Murray’s been daubed with. Especially beneath those ‘pits’.

V. Williams d. Bammer 6-2 7-5

This time last year I was highly optimistic of Queen V’s chances of fixing that gaping hole on her CV, by winning her first Slam on a blue surface since the early Noughties.

This year I saw nothing leading into the event that would suggest that’s even a remote possibility.

Dulko d. Ivanovic 6-7 7-5 6-4

It’s becoming difficult to avoid at least considering the possibility that Ana’s set to go the same way as Vaidisova, and understanding the root of her problems sometimes feels like a niche Philosophy.

I’m not about to embark on either.

There were some good signs in her play, but not very many, and more disturbingly an action that almost suggests she’s made her peace with wonky service tosses – they seem to have fused themselves into her game so stealthily, she’s now more inclined to adapt to an errant ball toss than she is to continue to try and work it out of her game.

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Understanding VikaWorld…

(Photo:AP)

When they came back from the heart heat break, Azarenka did what I thought we’d see more of yesterday.

Within the space of two points she’d smacked the ball into the stands and all but totalled her racquet.

Kader Nouni was having none of it, and defaulted her a point (and with it the game). A point from which she never recovered.

I have to say, I’m finding this new desensitised and somewhat disillusioned version of Vika difficult to deal with.

Go-with-your-strengths – isn’t that how the saying goes?

Well, maybe not always; I daresay it’s proven beneficial for Vika to tone both herself and her game down in this way, but you risk offsetting all the hard-earnt gains you make, if you burst forth at the seams as violently as she did today.

It’s also no secret that Vika owns Caz-Woz when it comes to creating angles with pace. Caz-Woz can match her pace ball-for-ball down the middle, but it’s no fluke that Vika came out on top on almost all the occasions she stretched her wide.

Instead she chose to hit less freely and think too much, neither of which are hallmarks of VikaWorld.

I loved her measured dismantling of Jelena yesterday (even though a lot of that was down to Jelena herself), but it just goes to show you can have too much of a good thing.

(Photo: AP)

And so it comes to this.

I’ve loved the technical advances sports coverage has seen, but I sometimes find myself feeling that personal moments like that above were precisely that. Personal and private.

It made ghastly viewing watching Dinara break down today, made all the more grim by the poignancy of her struggles with the number one ranking this season.

Dinara revealed afterwards she’d been using anti-inflammatories to deal with her back pain for about three months.

I don’t think we'll be seeing her again this year.

A sorrowful end to an unsatisfactory season.

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The 'Real' #1 Returns and 'The Pre-Safinite Sisterhood'

Dinara ousted once again.

And with it goes that millstone of a #1 ranking.

(li xin/AFP/Getty Images)

What a welcome relief that now seems.

It certainly is for me.

One hopes being somewhat unwillingly escorted out of the eye of the storm, will allow her to get back to playing what seems like competitive tennis once again, something she last managed back in Cincinnati. Whether she’ll regain that top spot though, is very much up for debate, now that all three members of that Revivalist Movement known as the ‘Pre-Safinite Sisterhood’*, are active once more.

Oh and here’s some trivia for you before we move on.

Zhang (ranked #226) is now the lowest ranked player in WTA history to defeat a reigning world #1, a record previously held by Julie Coin with her defeat of Ana Ivanovic, and a record rather too neatly woven into the fabric of this tragedy.

How’s that for a career milestone on your way out?

And what of the woman that replaced her?

"Obviously I'm happy to be there because I've worked so hard this year to get there, I think I've earned it," said Williams.

(BBC)

You don’t sound too convinced. I wasn’t much convinced by her slightly muted post match celebrations either. After a season of soap-operatic trash talk, I was almost expecting her to burst open the bubbly on court. A likely result of that US Open cloud that continues to hang over her maybe?

The only other match I caught today saw Jelena Jankovic ceding a winning position of a break and a set up, to Peng Shuai eventually losing it 6-4, 5-7, 2-6. It was the wrist. Again.

But I couldn’t, for the life of me, work out what she was doing here in the first place. Or why she didn’t pull out earlier.

(Photo: AP)

It won her a lot of fans. Apparently.

The Vika Shaza clash, arguably the match up of the day, wasn’t broadcast. I gather Shaza mounted an epic comeback from 5-2 down in the second to win it 6-3 6-7 7-5. It sounded like they made a lot noise (from the adjacent court Serena was playing on), but though I didn’t see it, I kinda saw this result coming.

Vika has lost far too much of her belief since that Wimbledon quarter final, and that’s not a good place to be in for her. Especially if you’re considering playing a tennis match against Miss Brute-Belief-Force herself.

“The match isn’t over until we shake hands,” said the Russian. “I realised that I didn’t want to be going home. I just went forward and I kept being aggressive and stayed positive and that gets you a long way.”

(Yahoo! Sports)

I can only live in hope for the day that I’m able to will away all of the worst life throws at me, by simply deciding I’m not ready to go home just yet.

I’ve been a little neglectful of the gents this past week. But neither Bangkok, nor the ATP events in Beijing or Tokyo are being broadcast.

Meh. I have to confess I’m not fully engaged in this Asian swing. Maybe Shanghai will correct that.

Don’t expect me to go on the hunt for a live stream.

“All” I’ve missed so far are the early exits of A-Rod and Delpo.

But I’m loving these juddery-camera pics coming out of Beijing.

(AFP/Getty Images)

***

* The ‘Pre-Safinite Sisterhood’ (also known as the ‘HenKimPovites’) was a Revivalist movement with it’s roots at the turn of the Millennium. All three members (Henin, Kimmie and Pova) of this self-styled sisterhood took a leave of absence at the height of their very considerable powers through causes relating to burn out and injury.

They returned, perhaps in reaction to the perceived ‘mechanisation’ of tennis that had gathered momentum during their absence, and with a view to restoring some much needed credibility to the WTA (and the battle for the number one ranking in particular). An organisation that had become largely overrun by gangly, inflexible and significantly less creative baseliners , neither of whom seemed to possess the stomach for the #1 ranking - a battle taking place in an atmosphere of decreased and at times embittered competition.

Their period out of the game also saw the rise of one Dinara Safina to the #1 spot, whose imposing , if slightly one dimensional brand of tennis, quickly became an object of ridicule for those that sought a return to the old ways; because the movement envisioned such a return, and because their distaste extended only to the long line of similarly styled ‘Safinites’, and not to Safina herself, they were at first known informally only as the ‘Pre-Safinites’. Over time, the group became more formally known by the full name in use today.

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The Indie Scene...

Oh there was gripping tennis played in Tokyo yesterday alright.

Just not from any of the women you'd expect it from.

In fact with so many of the big names tumbling out, the delights Tokyo proffered up were closer in charm and quirkiness to a lovingly crafted indie production.

Dinarovic? Not even shocking anymore. But what of Venus? I know she usually paces herself more stringently towards the end of the season (don't forget Beijing is just round the corner), but a first round in straights? Surely not.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kimiko, unable to sustain the blissful high notes of last week, went down 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Aleksandra Wozniak.

But not before giving us these gems.





I defy anyone to contest my organic certification of her talent.

And this one's for anyone nursing the delusion that we need to await the return of Henin next year to experience single-handed backhand bliss once again.




I love the way she (perhaps inadvertently) draws Shaza into the net before firing that sling-shot past her. It's actually an excellent play against Shaza who's not the best mover into the forecourt and can look a little flat footed once she gets there.

Also gotta love the way she opens up the court with this play.



Francesca hasn't always made the best use of her enviable abilities over the years. But every so often she lands one of these moments of felicity on us. And I believe in her once again.
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Flushing Meadows: On Depth and Despair...

"It's tough. I don't know if I've come to a tournament, a Slam, with as much confidence as I did with this tournament and leaving earlier than I want to.

"The fact that I was able to make the quarter-finals last year and I was playing just terrible, and didn't make it past the third round this year, that's just the way it is sometimes.

"That's the thing with sports - there's not always a good reason for it."

Andy Roddick's summation of a day in which he was eventually downed in a 5th set breaker after coming back from two sets down against John Isner.

The funny thing was it seemed a strangely appropriate result in a day that saw both Federer and Djokovic drop sets en route to unconvincing wins, and a day of utter carnage over on the women's side.

But it's also ironic, is it not, that Roddick ended up a casualty having been one of the only seeds managing to play to form.

I've never been hugely thrilled with the tennis the Isners and Ivos bring to bear, having previously termed them the 'wandering monsters' of tennis; but I think that John, on this occasion, deserves his dues.

(Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

Visibly fatigued in set four, he could quite reasonably have thrown in the towel, and that's what I thought I was seeing as he squandered point after point off of what should have been meat and veg forehands.

But he quickly composed himself and stuck in there with his uncomplicated blend of big serving and aggressive net play, and in the end was fully deserving of his win. He even whipped off his cap at the end to reveal the look of that likeable lad you went to school with, that your mum insisted you spend more time with, after spending over four hours wandering around looking like an uninvested, and uninvestable cyborg.

"Looking at that match, I don't know who was number four in the world," said Djokovic said. "It was a tough win. For either one it would have been well deserved."

A month or so ago I dismissed the assertion made by a commentator that Djoko was adopting the look and feel of a 'grinder' in this second phase of his career. Now I'm not so sure.

As great a game as Witten played (and yes this is more evidence of the depth in men's tennis), Djoko no longer plays with the same care-free, free-swinging attitude, at the peak of which he was able to hit the lines without so much as an afterthought. It's all a little too measured, which is goes against the grain of his natural flair.

When he does manage to hit a winner these days, it's played with such a large margin for error, that you needn't be a top ten or even a top one hundred player in order to bring about turmoil.

Shame, really. With his supposedly more aggressive style of play, I still find myself preferring to watch him over Murray or even Nadal when he's in his element. But he's not going to win a Masters event, let alone a Slam, playing like this.

And so we come to Safina.

After the totalling of top seeds we've witnessed over the past few days, there were those that thought this might be the event that finally saw Safina buck the trend.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

It seems cheap and kind of desperate to say I told you so. But I did tellyaso.

That she perhaps had the easiest section of the draw somehow appropriately adds to the tragedy of it all.

Whatever gameplan Zeljko and Safina have forged is in urgent need of reexamination. It may have been, and probably was completely appropriate for her route to world #1. But as we are all now painfully aware, staying there is another proposition altogther. And on the evidence of the last few weeks things have all but run their course.

That said, Safina's still a very talented player fully capable of flourishing in a pestelential field of ne'er-do-wells.

Yeah I said it.

She's also an extremely hard worker, and it would be unfair to suggest that she can't work her way out of this. If this week has taught us anything, it's that Williamses aside, there's not a whole lot of depth to contend with, over which it won't take much for her to resurface.

Though I'll make no attempts to conceal that after spending the best part of this year trying to prop up the remaining dregs of talent in the womens game, a small part of me now wants to return to the B & B of derision and hostility.

I may as well also say that I was almost wishing for a non-Williams victory at this last remaining Slam of the year. Such a result would demonstrate that there's some life, however microbial, beyond the Williamses and bring about a curbing, if not an end, to certain rankings-related discussions and all derivations thereof.

There seemed to be a certain something in the air with the KimPova comeback, and the electricity of some of Elena and Vika's performances this year, that convinced me I wasn't being unrealistic.

Now I'm thinking that that 'something in the air' is a stench emerging from that cesspit of despair they used to call womens tennis. The depth of which some folk strangely continue to believe is what lies behind all the carnage.

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Flushing Meadows: "Deserving" Causes?

Shvedova d. Jankovic 6-3, 6-7, 7-6

I hadn't closely observed much of JJ in her opening match, so I didn't quite know what to expect when she stepped out yesterday opposite Yeroslava Shvedova.

What I didn't realise is just how hopeless JJ would play for the first half of the match.

The commentators were left speechless at how sluggish and disinterested she looked out there, eventually terming her performance 'a disgrace'.

Quite unlike that of Safina who, her recent wobbles not withstanding, at least looked willing to fight her way out of trouble, coming back from another one of those poor opening sets - one which ended with another unfortunate double fault I've now learnt to treat in the way I sometimes tolerate klunky Hollywood dialogue, or Tom Cruise delivering it..

I heard later that JJ's grandmother had just passed away; with that knowledge, the way she attempted to turn things around really deserves recognition.

By the last set her trademark defence, mysteriously absent for a set and a half, was back, perhaps recalled from from a state of stupour by the demands of the woman on the other side of the net.

It really did require what some are terming a career performance from Shvedova to break JJ down. But break her she did.

It perhaps wouldn't have been a thrilling experience watching JJ stumble her way through unconvincingly, had fate not intervened. As it stands I can only offer up condolences and hope for her speedy return. She seemed all set to go after Cincy.

Safina d. Barrois 6-7, 6-2, 6-3

If you can bring yourself to ignore the '15' doubles -- something now almost deserving of jacket status -- you should perhaps admire the gutsiness of her performance, in the way many commentators were almost falling over each other to yesterday.

I'm still finding it rather tough to swallow. The problem with staging turnarounds, the like of which she did with such staggering success against bigger and better opponents last year, is that her game is not on the same upward spiral. You just get the feeling that one of these testy three set encounters might prove a match too far.

Djokovic d. Ball 6-3, 6-4, 6-4

"It's only a game mate"

Great performance, but perhaps a little too much enthusiasm shown by Djoko in victory?

(Photo:AP)

He's been a regular feature of the second week in Slams over the last few years, seemingly having little trouble getting there. Just why he found such highly charged bouts of self berating necessary (not to mention the animalistic chest pumping), after going two sets up against an opponent ranked 151 places beneath him, I'm not sure I quite understand.

Ball looked like someone who'd come out for a pleasant Sunday afternoon hit, and ended up getting his hair scorched by straying too close to the dragon's den.

Has someone on his team called for a return of all of what we found so indefensible? He's not been the player he was ever since he toned things down - but I'm not sure I care too much for the shadow that's left behind.

Oudin d. Dementieva 5-7, 6-4, 6-3

Not quite ready to deal with this. The biggest, baddest upset of the tournament by far. And the greatest disappointment.

Oudin is a superb player as evidenced by her upset of Jankovic at Wimby this year.

Difference is that Jankovic hasn't been in the same place Dementieva has for much of this year.
And ever since Wimbledon, Elena seemed ripe for Slam success.

Now I'm inclined to think of her as over-ripened, and destined for precisely nothing.

That may be over stating it a little.

But Dementieva really should have gotten through this if we are to take the "best tennis of her career" that seriously.

There was a sizeable window of opportunity available after Henin's departure last year, but with Kimmie and Shaza back, and a brute of a brigade of younger players making their way up the rankings, it's quite possible Elena, Jelena and Dinara have missed their best chance.
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Flushing Meadows: Swings, Roundabouts and See-Saws too

Safina d. Rogowska 6-7, 6-2, 6-4

I'd like to say that Safina's dismal first round showing is the early round wobble the top seeds sometimes suffer as they try and acclimatise to Slam conditions.

Unfortunately that's not what I think we are seeing. She's been in turmoil ever since she lost that final in Cincy to Jankovic two weeks back.

To be fair to her, her young Aussie opponent really did play out of her skin, but her game is now bordering crisis mode, and though I sometimes like to see her grit her way through, I could do without the see saw encounters I expect in the next few rounds.

A see-saw I wouldn't be that surprised to see her fall off before week two.

Yes, as early as that.

Sharapova d. Pironkova 6-3, 6-0

Shaza's one way smackdown of Pironkova yesterday was as much about the great disparity in the standards of their serves as it was down to any difference in class.

Andy Murray could do far worse than watch replays of that second set as a source of motivation to improve his Pironkova-like second serve. Shaza dealt with it like I sometimes deal with stray spiders on my ceiling.

(EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

The good news is that Shaza's serve is beginning to look more dangerous and leaking less double faults. It's still not, and may never be the wonder of the world it was three years back.

But a side profile in a slow-mo replay yesterday showed that it's a robust, sound and repeatable action - not the atrocity some would have you believe. If there's any remaining rust, it's solely down to match practice, not to any fundamental mechanical flaw you might ascribe to -- oh I dunno -- Dinara Safina?

Djokovic d. Ljubicic 6-3, 6-1, 6-3

So much is always made of the coach they used to share three or so years back. And how that shared relationship might play mental gymnastics with both their thought processes during the match.

It didn't yesterday, and I daresay never has, especially considering Djoko's ascent more or less followed (by nearly a year) Ivan's decline.

Murray d. Gulbis 7-5, 6-3, 7-5

After a very promising first set in which Gulbis showed us once again why he's so many people's pick for the top ten, this match descended into an exhibition of Murray more or less watching and waiting for Gulbis to leak errors which he did. Which he tends to do an awful lot of.

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Murray was as passive as ever, especially during set two, but I don't honestly believe he'd be better served by playing Gulbis in any other way - not unless Ernie plays an absolute corker from beginning to end, which I only ever saw him do once in RG.

It's the reason I think Ernie has only ever managed to take a single set off of Andy in three meetings.

Jankovic d. Vinci 6-2, 6-3

I didn't see much of this but JJ looked to be in control, just the way the scoreline suggests. Though it must have helped that Vinci didn't seem to display the Rogowska-like resistance Safina had to contend with.

K. Bondarenko d. Ivanovic 2-6, 6-3, 7-6

I only caught the last few moments of this and Ana's forehand looked horrible.

That probably serves as a good indication of the way this match went, and of where her tennis is right now, for her forehand once used to be my favourite in the womens game.

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Going down in the first round of a Slam also marks her official installation into the tier-two of womens tennis. I can't find anything more hopeful or understanding to say right now so I won't. Read More...