Oz: Don’t Jurrrdge Me.

Sorry people, but as obnoxious as the the whole Henin-like challenge-fakeout thing was (and it was), Bernard continues to interest me.



He’s clearly cemented his murky hobgoblin nature in the minds of most with this latest, incredibly silly stunt (probably fair), but the hobgoblin has GAME. And I just….can’t not take notice of it (same holds true for Dolgo).

Whilst it’s true the incident taints his win (and wasn’t really necessary), it’s also true the match was five sets long.

I’m not suggesting turning a blind eye but, just as with Nouni’s blunder only a couple of days ago (which many have sadly sought to dress up as something more insidious than a blunder), we’re missing a trick if we distil those five sets into just one incident of juvenile delinquency.

The fact is, however flamboyant and adorable Dolgo’s brand of ‘kooky’ might be, he simply doesn’t have the type of patience Bernie (love him or loathe him; loathe mostly) brings in spades, particularly in longer rallies. And I think that bore itself out over five sets.

All the same, I’m glad a match that promised so very much went the full five sets. And if that still leaves you feeling miffed, know that Fed will probably vanquish him (and avenge all you Dolgo fans) in straights. At least I think he will (God help us all from the interplanetary bratGasm if he doesn’t).




Let’s also not forget, Dolgo’s not dead, and lives to…..do whatever it is he does another day.

(Pics: Getty)

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Oz: Day Three Drive By

1) Let’s be clear about this. I like Kader. And I like Daveed. None of that is likely to change very much.


Isner d. Nalbandian 4-6 6-3 2-6 7-6 10-8

Kader made a dud call by not allowing David to challenge. And David was right to feel hard done by that. An ignominious end to what sounded, otherwise, like a sensational match.

But I’ll never not be suspicious of those that attempt to explain away entire losses on the basis of one incident – it’s the goto-play of the desperate. Kader could have been Alves-like in his ump-misdemeanours, and it still wouldn’t change the fact that tennis was being played both before and after that incident.

Also, we’re questioning Daveed’s charm? On the day Mardy went “Lardy” (again) and Baggy obliterated 4 racquets?? For feeling hard done by a call that even Nouni probably now admits was a shocker??

 

Magnificent.


2) It’s not news to anyone that Rafa should beat Haas in straights, but am I alone in thinking he should have been made to play this one without pummelling more than two shots in succession high into the veteran’s single-handed backhand? Where have we seen that before?

Seems only fair. And a little more inspired.

3) Lleyton/ARod last (last) on RLA??

Seems to me we ought to know better by now than to schedule either one of Lleyton or Baghdatis in a night match.

The matches don’t always promise to be gripping and there’s practically ZERO chances of them finishing before brekkie the following day. We hold these truths to be self-evident, but for some reason they’re especially true of Melbourne.

I’m not convinced ARod has it in him to go the distance quite like he once did (nor, for that matter, does Lleyton), but if it does, expect more common sense and less delinquency than you’ll find in Gael v Bellucci. Also a night match.

4) You may think grunting is a non-issue (it is), you may point to the fact that the players don’t seem to mind (they couldn’t care less) but I do have a lot of time for the viewpoint (Wertheim’s, amongst others) that says it becomes an issue once it begins “alienating its core clientele”……that would be the fans.

But those Neanderthals?? Mimicking Vika in the stands today? Not part of that clientele. Trust me, our sport’s not in crisis because some stoned pot-bellies (that probably only watch tennis for 2 weeks each year) decided to make a day of it.

Consider them alienated.

(Pics: Getty)

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Oz: “He just does…”

Andy Murray d. Ryan Harrison 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-2

Will never fail to crack me up how circumspect tennis writing suddenly becomes when trying to explain the mechanics of how Murray actually won a match. #HeJustDoes

Most don’t even try. And you really can’t blame them.

Go ahead and experiment: pick your favourite three outlets and see if you come out of it any more informed or demystified. YOU CANNOT. NOBODY CAN.  PERHAPS NOT EVEN MURRAY (Tignor, to his credit does, at least, try).



Maybe that’s what’s bothering him

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Oz: The Artful Dodger

 

Q.  Was there any time in the match when his body language showed you something that you focused on?

BERNARD TOMIC:  Um, yeah, in the third set.  He thought  I had a feeling he knew I was going to go away.  I eased off, as well, I think on purpose.  I eased off and seemed I didn't care, and I think that's what drawed him a little bit tonight.  He thought he was going to win that third set, and when the right time came, I broke him. 

You know, after that the third set, you know, he started getting a little bit tight and not hitting his shots.

Q.  So you set him up a little bit?

BERNARD TOMIC:  In that third set, yeah.  I knew if I lifted my game early, he would have lifted as well and he wouldn't have let go.  I pretended a little bit in the first few games in that third set to not be there as mentally, but in a way to still be there.  

Ya know, I’m not quite so sure he’s pulled off the confidence trick he thinks he has. 

It doesn’t surprise me to learn that he tried to pull it off (it happens on tour all the time), and not to say that it didn’t influence things, but Dasco, honey, you did this to yourself, all by yourself.

To be fair to Fer, he did mention he was affected by the heat – his undoing was at least as much a function of that as anything else. But, ultimately, the whole rope-a-dope thing (as a form of mental fakeout ) seems to me to be selling Bernard quite short.  If he’s rope-a-doping anyone (and he is) it’s because of his style of play, not because he’s pretending to be on the ropes.

His pre-match smack talk re Dasco’s BH (“can’t really hurt me”) may have been derided as childish – it also happened to be spot on. And, from what I saw of the highlights, going deep to that wing seemed to work a treat.

Reminder: Dolgo/Bernie (R3)…..if ‘kooks’ are your thing.

(Pic: Getty)

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You Just Knew.

Sorry to anounce that I had to withdraw from the Australian Open with a lower back stress fracture.Going back home,will miss my Aussie fans!

— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) January 11, 2012

No, that’s just what you expect to happen only hours after you dare to make a post criticising an almost universally popular player.

The long and the short of it is that this stinks. Stress fractures in the back demand to be taken very seriously indeed (just ask Dinara).

Petko made no less than three Slam QFs last year, one of which, of course, was at Melbourne. It wasn’t just me wanting to see her build upon (or at least to defend) that.

After that loss, incidentally, she gave one of the most thoughtful pressers I think I might have seen from any player, ever – commenting in particular on that infamous Sveta/Franny dog fight that had also finished around the same time. It was as sincere, as well-mannered and insightful as anything you’re likely to see, the very embodiment of “giving to your fans”.

In other words, it was Andrea Petkovic (rather than Petkorazzi) at her very best both on and off-court.

I’ll miss her.

***

Not even Caro (wrist injury) has been spared in what will come to be known years from now as the ‘Lucky Loser Bonanza’ of Aus 2012. Is our eventual Champion be a qualifier? Stranger things have happened.

You’d think that if Caro’s not safe, no one is – and yet Vika, of all people, somehow still is.

Caro’s almost certain to lose the top spot now – Petra will be crowned new WTA Prom Queen by simply winning her next two matches. And even if it doesn’t happen now, you imagine it soon will.

In other words (and I know this might be painful for some) , on the grounds of taste alone, it’s time to move on from that “Slamless” thing.
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Let it go, Petko - the fans will (still) come.

ANDREA PETKOVIC, the entertainer of women's tennis, has been forced to abandon her trademark victory dance after complaints from players and American media, her father said.

…

Petkovic's father, Zoran, said after the match that players had complained about the dance, saying it was over the top.

Petkovic herself said she decided to change the routine ahead of the Brisbane International last week in response to continued questioning from journalists in the US.

 

''[People] didn't tell me to my face and I don't read about myself so I wouldn't know [if there was criticism], but the questions they started saying, 'Don't you feel like it's disrespectful towards your opponent?' … and this question came up over and over again,'' she said.

''The thing I used to say was always, 'Listen, the soccer players when they shoot a goal and they celebrate with all kinds of things and they don't even win the match, and nobody would ever say something against them. Or the American football guys, when they do a touchdown they do a cha-cha-cha and nobody ever says anything against them.''

Petkovic said the conservatism of tennis made the dance a problem for some commentators. ''It's just our very traditional sport and I think this was kind of strange for people,'' she said.

-- Sydney Morning Herald

Finally.

Voluntary disclosure: I’m beginning to feel about Petko  the way some feel about Kim Kardashian.

Where others see charm, harmless fun and even wit(??), I only hear scratchy blackboard noises.

It wasn’t always like this, but it doesn’t take long for gimmicks (coz that’s what they are) to wear out and to be taken the wrong way (just ask Novak).

The comparison with team sports doesn’t wash. Very different dynamic and fan DNA. Little, if anything, to do with ‘conservatism’.

But for me, it’s less a question of the dance being ‘disrespectful’ to anyone (it really isn’t meant that way) than a feeling of flat-out tackiness I can’t seem to dismiss(particularly with ‘Petkorazzi’) . You should certainly be able to see why it might not be to everyone’s taste, especially when you do it after dumping out an injured opponent love-and-Oh.

As it happens, I don’t know that I much understand complaints from the US press either, which seem equally OTT. You’re not compelled to like EVERYTHING you write about, nor to write about anything you so strongly dislike. And, frankly, it’s difficult to take such complaints about Petko giving “offence” seriously in the same week a mainstream US outlet saw fit to label Monfils an “idiot”.

But I’d say we’ve reached a tipping point when more and more players start coming out against the dance (would be interesting to know exactly who came out). Players, your peers – not blogger riff-raff like myself, or anyone that might be dismissed so easily as a “hater”.

It’s naive (and a little conceited) to think that everyone will, or should, like it, as many of her supporters seem to insist upon.  Maria certainly didn’t.  Maria ain’t riff-raff either. And its only sensible for someone as savvy as Petko to take note.

She said she was surprised by the negative reaction in the US in particular. ''It's strange - on the one hand the Americans really like me and they come to my matches, but they're like really bipolar,'' she said. ''They either love me or they hate me.''

I hope I know her better than to think the worst, but a tennis newbie might be excused for reading this quote as just a little self-absorbed: believe it or not, there’s a silent majority that don’t feature in Petko’s “love-me-hate-me” dichotomy of the US – one that simply couldn’t care less. One can only wonder why those WTA-fan-cliques that kick up such a fuss over Woz making it “all about her” overlook stuff like this.

She seems, in all other respects, an intelligent and likeable person – genuinely affable, her net embraces are second to none (particularly after a loss). I certainly don’t believe in ragging on her for merely trying to bring something a little different to the sport.

But she also seems talented enough and savvy enough to be able to work her charms without resorting to gimmickry, and to know when such gimmickry has run its course. In other words, you’re better than this.

There’s a difference between waging the occasional “charm offensive”, working it effortlessly (and unexpectedly) into the public eye, the way, say, Sveta did this week, and try-hard stunts that (rightly or wrongly) betray a certain craving for popularity.

I want to think well of you (and let’s face it, other than this, there’s a LOT to like), so let it go. Let it go, and believe me, the fans will come (and stay). Read More...

D̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶r̶ change: 2012…Why you so 2011?

What might we rightly infer based on all of the 4 days we’ve had of 2012?

1) Ana’s still struggling. [Please don’t change your coach] 

2) Bartoli’s still not shy of almost double bagelling those that are still struggling (no sadz Jarmila, it’s a Marion thing – she did the exactly the same to Safina this time last year). Still, nice reaction.

3) Kim’s still taking three to do what should rightly be done in two.

Rust, yes? She’s played next to nothing since early last year. Except I’m not completely convinced she wouldn’t have found a way of playing three sets anyway.



4) Gael Monfils is still inventing new ways of incorporating muscle (he didn't even know he had) into set-motions it had NO BUSINESS being part of.

5) Sam Stosur is still losing matches she has NO BUSINESS losing. [Can’t see her or Li repeating last year. Happy to be proved wrong]

6) Serena Williams is still getting headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Well that didn’t take long, did it?

For the record, I dislike it intensely when people give her a free pass for indefensible conduct and, even worse, try and depict even the mildest criticism of that indefensible conduct as a uniquely conspiratorial witch hunt.

I’ll continue to dislike it in 2012, because, being honest, I don’t expect it to go away.

I also don’t expect to see the back of its flipside: that (very mainstream) injury cynicism some are ideologically hell-bent on (we’re calling it “karma” now?) – cynicism that persists even in the face of video evidence (2:27), and even when a subsequent MRI scan confirms the injury:






The ‘Free-Passers’ inspire revulsion, which in turn bolsters the repellent views of the Injury Cynics and vice versa.  It’s very obvious the two polarised trends are designed to feed off one another in a deadly embrace from which there can be no escape – my guess is they don’t want to escape.

Sometimes bad conduct is simply bad conduct, which Serena, like many, many before (and I daresay after) her, is neither immune to nor irreproachable for.  Sometimes, dearest trolls, it’s not a conspiracy.

And sometimes, dearest hobgoblins, an injury is just an injury – nothing more, nothing less. Not an occasion to use as a cathartic vehicle to air distaste, vendettas, your very personal dislike (or another word some venture that you’d hope shouldn’t be part of this discussion) of Serena, the way some air their soiled undies.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, then, that this, too, hasn’t changed in 2012. Trolls are still trolls whatever the Gregorian Calendar might have to say about it.

Only Rafa’s unveiling of his new top-heavy frame, and of course Murray’s announcement of  what he hopes will be a game-changing (and perhaps shape-shifting) partnership with Ivan Lendl (Murr-dl?) buck this trend of same-iness, but of course neither count as both were announced in 2011.

Either the tennis season’s pulling one hell of a fast one and intends to unleash a seismic gamechanger later this year (which, being honest, would have to be at least as seismic as Novak or even Petra’s year to count), or the season really will prove to be that trite and that unconvincing…

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