2Hander's Take: The story so far...

I, too, am having mixed feelings about this year's Wimby - compared to last year, that is. Firstly, I can't relate to a first week without rain!! Secondly, none of the matches have really done it for me! Seldom am I falling out of my chair whooping or putting my hands on my head after a sick winner c.f. the Aussie Open earlier this year. (The reader is kindly referred to the response from any David Blaine street trick if they are unfamiliar with such a reaction)

Rafa pulling out has somewhat put things into a strange time warp. For a start, Federer's swagger on court, like the Centre Court is HIS house and Wimby is HIS party, is somewhat back. What is it? Is it the fact that Rafa's not around? Has he finally 'eased up' (after tensing up) after RG? Maybe a bit of both...

Another couple of factors suggesting to me that we are in some kind of time warp is that Lleyton Hewitt actually looks as though he can comfortably make the quarters if not the semis - especially seeing how he dispatched Del Potro in straights! I know we all laughed (well, I did!) when he suggested after RG that he believed that he can win Wimby again, but now it don't seem as funny. Kudos to him though!

Now onto one of Top's faves (and mine too, I guess)...Herr Tommy! He's also rewound the years back. After the AO semis of 2007, Haas was playing a blinding spell of Top 5 tennis for a fair few Masters events, where he won my support. Plus he does have ants in his pants about coming to the net...even serving and volleying! Since winning Halle, it looks like some considerable amount of rejuvenation has gone on. Fed's rejuvenated after RG, Lleyton's rejuvenated after beating (an albeit injured) Nadal - I'm not quite sure what's going on, but I think I like it!!

Also, looking generally across the board, the SHBH looks like it's back in the game in a big way! It's nearing 50-50 I'd say. Are people trying to revive da old skool? Are people trying to emulate The Fed? I mean, seeing Fed play a Spaniard with short hair, no headband, no DHBH and flatish strokes was a novel experience for me. Once again...oh, just read the last sentence of the paragraph above!

Finally, looking at the draw for the 4th round, I do have some hope for some sick tennis which throws me off my seat.

Lleyton Hewitt AUS
v
Radek Stepanek CZE (23)

Tomas Berdych CZE (20)
v
Andy Roddick USA (6)

Andy Murray GBR (3)
v
Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (19)

Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP
v
Gilles Simon FRA (8)

Igor Andreev RUS (29)
v
Tommy Haas GER (24)

Dudi Sela ISR
v
Novak Djokovic SRB (4)

Fernando Verdasco ESP (7)
v
Ivo Karlovic CRO (22)

Robin Soderling SWE (13)
v
Roger Federer SUI (2)

As for the gals, I think Dementieva and...wait for it...Ivanovic will go far this year, possibly the distance. Oh hold, Da Sistaz are still in aren't they? Hmmm...Venus made rather short work of Suarez-Navarro as revenge from Melbourne, bagel and all! Perhaps there is still a more than odds-on chance she'll blow Darling Ana off the court too...we'll see.

Any WHY (pronounced HWY!) is Dinara being put out on Court 2 when she's the No.1 seed?! That said, a choking Dinara (we've seen THAT before) could get beat by Amelie. I'm going out on a limb here and say that Serena-Elena D will be one semi, the other will be Venus with...erm...any one out of Dinara, Amelie or Caz Woz (OK, not so outlandish but it is quite unpredictable, come on!).

So to conclude, the outbreak of H1N1 and/or the Iranian Presidential Election has rejuvenated Men's tennis!!

(Oh come on! You cannot argue with the stats! The correlation is impossible to refute!)

(Aaaarrrggghh! I gotta select all the tags to this post! I really can't be bothered! Oh...here goes!!) Read More...

Happy Thoughts...

Not in my happy place.

Federer fans had their rollercoaster yesterday. The upside being that their man came through in the end - and besides, Roger didn't seem to think anything was that amiss. How could you ever doubt him? Against Acasuso?

Venus on the other hand didn't come through in her second nail-biting three setter over four days. And worse, played such an ineffective first set, she lost it 6-0. Anyone know the last time Venus was bagelled? At times out there it looked like her racquet weighed over 300lbs.

I can only assume that shoddy scheduling is behind this debacle. Not that Szavay didn't play out of her skin; I've just never seen Venus move so slowly, or her timing being so off. She was on court against Lucy Safarova earlier this week, and not being able to complete that match in time meant she had to play two days in a row. A big ask, it would seem.

That scheduling decision presumably coming from the same team that put Safina, the world number one and last year's runner up out on court one today.

Happy thoughts people. Happy thoughts. *Groan*

And happy thoughts to Lleyton too, who bowed out today to the pink-hot favourite. I don't know whether this is a good thing or not, but I felt Lleyton rather handed that first set to Rafa and really only seemed to have arrived early on in the second set, where he almost had Rafa on the ropes for a while. I may be talking utter tosh here, and there was always going to be one winner, but I think, had he sustained that effort and not yielded that break in the second set, we may have had a different flavour of match.

Happy thoughts.

Some words and a lot of hot air need to be expended on Michelle Larcher De Brito, the Portuguese Wunderkind, who today exited RG. A few words about screeching (and it is screeching and not grunting) in general first. Yes it is very loud. Sharapova, Venus and on occasion Serena are the worst offenders. But in general I felt, was never as big a deal as some people appeared to make it, and in any event if their opponents never complained, then what's all the fretting and fuming about anyway? I haven't heard Sharapova in person but I did get to sit through a Venus Williams match live at Wimbledon back in 2006. That may not have been her most vociferous day, but the screech (which does rip through the air) is not nearly as loud as the critics would have you believe.

The only reasonable argument against it came from Martina Navratilova who said that the noise prevents their opponents from hearing the impact of the racquet on the ball, all part of the necessary feedback on the pace, imparted spin and direction of the ball coming at them that they would otherwise have access to.

All of which meant I wasn't taking the news that Aravane Rezai took a rather dim view of the amount of hot air coming her way from De Brito's side of the net, very seriously. For all I knew, that notorious French crowd were protecting one of their own.

And then I heard this.



Nunununonononono....

Yes, Sharapova sounds positively subdued in comparison.

Someone give Miss Rezai a hearty pat on the back for finally standing up this. Preferably with one of those giant hands you get to cheer with at Baseball games. I'm generally not a fan of the production line tennis that's emerging from the Bollettieri Academy (especially on the womens side), but was a little troubled to learn that De Brito may have actually been taught to employ this as a stratagem.

I saw little Miss De Brito give an interview to Eurosport after the incident, and she came across as an affable, friendly girl. It's also no exaggeration to think of her as a contender for the next big thing. "Everyone else does it, and I don't think I could play if I stopped..", came the reply to a query on the whole grunting situation.

Well you'd better learn love. I shudder to think how that would sound under the closed Centre Court roof at Wimbledon. Maybe they ought to conduct an experiment the way the did with Steffi, Andre, Tim and Kim. Except this time they'd skewer ten piglets.

Or better still, someone just stop the madness.

Need more happy thoughts.

Sharapova made it through in three tough sets today against the Kazakh girl Yaroslava Shvedova. From what little I saw the serve's still firing well enough to keep her ahead. All still a little rusty, but she's already exceeded most people's expectations by making the fourth round.

And she's smiling a lot. Which of course makes us very happy.

(Photo: AFP via Yahoo! Sports)

Quite unlike Victoria Azarenka who is currently embroiled in a particularly consumptive match against my IT girl for this year, Carla Suarez Navarro. Victoria's alternating between seething, turning red, tearful spells and finding more innovative ways to expel further toys from her pram. And Navarro is soaking it all up, as serene as ever. The crowd have gone from booing to whistling to actually seeing the funny side of it now. Great way to defuse the stress of a hard day at the office, sitting there at quarter past nine in a cool, Parisian Summer evening. Even if it's at one of the players' expense.

Carla must have one heck of a wrist. The way she's pummelling back some of Victoria's more furious strokes, with single handed backhands is simply astounding.

She let me down after announcing herself at Venus' expense at this year's Aussie Open. But she's looking good for the time being. I'm not even going to dare to speculate how far she'll go this time.

Just take the pressure off myself, sip some maddeningly colourful concoction of fruit stuffs and think happy thoughts.

As Navarro whizzes another single hander past Victoria - who doesn't now know whether to laugh or cry.

(Photo: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Laugh, Victoria laugh. You know it's the only way.

The post-Venus rehabilitative efforts continue.

//Update: Victoria staged a wonderful comeback to level the match, before proceedings were suspended. Till tomorrow then.
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Slightly later than advertised Round-Up...

I've been a little busy this weekend and didn't get time to do the usual end of event round ups.

I need to do so now as its not often you get to blow your own trumpet. No, let me rephrase that. It's not often I make picks, in fact I think I might have only done it once since this blogs inception - and even then only half-heartedly. Last week, I finally decided to stop chickening out and jump into the deep end. After all, what type of a tennis blogger goes about their business without making picks (now and again)?

(Photo Credit: Sky Sports)

I was only half right with the ladies: Dinara did get to the final but went out to Sveta who I thought wouldn't make it past the semis against a solid looking Elena. She did, and then went on to take the title too - her first since New Haven in 2007, and the first time she's got through a final (without her opponent pulling out) in ten attempts. And she did it with a kind of nonchalant, confident expression on her face (not even that much celebrating) that suggested to me that she herself recognises her own capabilities, and just how overdue this title is. Not even going for the lines very much, just executing to near perfection (and routining poor old Dinara in the process). THAT'S what I'm talking about.

If she continues to play at this level she's looking the most promising inductee into my collection of picks for RG. The list currently goes:

(1) Elena
(2) Dinara
(3) Sveta
(4) Jelena

I've given the nod to Elena simply because she's been the most solid of the four since the beginning of the year. Jankovic on the other hand, despite showing some signs of life recently, still looks shaky, and is in there only because of the fact that she's won Rome the last two years.

Regular readers will know what a big fan of Sveta's I am, so it goes without saying how pleased I am about this. I know I've said this about a thousand times, but she's got the most complete game in the top ten, with the exception of perhaps only Venus Williams - don't think Serena volleys as well.

One other thing - Sveta's win here makes official what many have already sensed these last few weeks: that the WTA is on an upward trajectory once again.

But my men's picks for Rome were, how shall I put this, spot on? Not only in terms of the result but in the number of sets I thought it would take. Roger, as we all know, sadly went down to Djoko in three. Rafa came through against Gonzo in two (Ok that wasn't the hardest call in the world). And then Rafa came through against Djoko in only two sets. All exactly how I called them. Now I know many of my fellow bloggers are particularly well tuned in the art of picking matches, but this ain't half bad for a rookie's first or second attempt. Is it?

Ok I know I'm getting on your nerves now, so I'll move on to the winners and losers at Rome and Stuttgart.

Last weeks Emperors & Queens:

Novak Djokovic: This guy must be loving the clay. Nothing wrong with going out to Rafa in two. Seems ironic he'll lose the #3 spot to Murray given he's outperformed both him and Federer at this event.

Fernando Gonzales: He didn't play as well as he did in Barcelona, but still managed to get to the semis. Me thinks Gonzo's rediscovering that curiosity we call form. Be watching him over the next month or so.

Juan Monaco: Well done mate! Don't think you had a scrap of a chance against Nadal so it's probably just as well you went out to Gonzo. But beating the #4 player in the world (even if he played a horror of a match) must feel good. Feel justly proud of yourself. Go on....
Richard Gasquet: Went down fairly meekly to Nando, but only after having to play (and coming through in) two matches in the same day against Tsonga and Gulbis the day before. Not at all bad.

Dinara Safina: For sort of 'making good' by reaching the finals in her first event ranked as the world #1. Yeah, we still know who the real world #1 is, but take that anyway!

Flavia Pennetta: A good run, including a win over Jelena Jankovic.

This lot has some thinking to do:

Andy Murray: Take it easy...I'm not mad at you. I know that when it comes to clay, you're still learning the ropes so to speak. But you've surely gone beyond the stage of first round exits. No?
Marin Cilic: I dunno, maybe clay isn't his thing, and I know he went out to the guy that beat up on Murray. But that's two consecutive early losses for this bright young thing.

Giles Simon: That's it, consider me officially off the Gilles Simon Bandwagon.

Jelena Jankovic: You're not on this list for the usual reasons. A quarter final isn't bad, but is I'm sure you'll agree far below what you'd expect given you'd actually started to show signs of recovery.

Carla Suarez Navarro: I so want to make this girl my new unofficial champion of women's tennis, and I did think the clay court season would signal the start of an improvement. But we had yet another first round loss. If this continues, she'll turn into the WTA's very own Reeshard.

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2Hander's Take: First Week (OK minus 1 day but I couldn't wait!)

Although there has been a lot of exciting tennis in this much-awaited Aussie Open, there have not been many surprises - which in many ways is a good for me because things are going the way people have been predicting...thusfar!

The biggest upset so far has to be the departure of Venus Williams after being outplayed by an inspired Carla Suarez-Navarro. I wasn't really expecting much from David 'Nally The Elephant' Nalbandian and nor from Ivanovic! Btw, WHAT is she doing in the Top 10?!?! You may think I'm being harsh but apart from a sometimes decent forehand, what is there to her game?! She clenches her first, throws her leg up and swings around at going 15-0 up (meaning at trivial points) as though she has just won the final round of hopscotch before the lunchtime break bell goes at a school playground!!

I would go as far as to say that if it wasn't for her looks, there would be nowhere near the media hype that currently surrounds her. OK, she's done a bit more than Kournikova in that she has actually won a tournament (and a Slam at that!)!! It must be said that Sharapova has actually delivered at the highest level, but even she has started to fade into the background - although mainly due to injury.

It has also been nice seeing Dokic re-emerge back onto the scene. I still remember the (then) feisty 16 year-old qualifier thrashing Hingis in the first round of Wimby '99. I am sure that the home support is also going a long way in helping her.

So far, the match I have most enjoyed was Safin-Federer. Although the big Russian was a shadow of himself four years ago, there was still some of the old Marat Magic that warmed the hearts of the Wimby crowd last year. I didn't expect Safin to test Fed that much, like take sets off him. In fact, the match reminded me a lot of their Wimby 2007 encounter where Marat only decided to play properly in the third set! Once again, the first two sets had a lot of Marat losing the will to live by throwing his arms up in the air after almost every other point.

In 2005, it was the sheer consistency and intensity of every single point that led him to beat an 'at his peak' Federer. Yesterday, there were only flashes of brilliance here and there in the first two sets. That said, the scoreline looks worse than it actually was. I also took the time out to watch some of Safin destroying Sampras (OK, not at his peak, but certainly not down and out!) at the 2000 US Open final. I would like to see Safin beat an in-form Nadal and perhaps Murray (cos he actually can), like he has done so with Fed and Nole. He hasn't even fulfilled half his potential I feel. Ah well...Alas! Quite scary when you think he's only a year older than Ye Olde Fed!

On a positive, I think the Fed could be back to his near-best! Forehand was almost flawless (OK, a few went into the net, but hey), backhand was looking good as well, very good serving. However, he still NEEDS to get his volleying back up to scratch if he's to win a few Slams this year!! In addition, our resident Muhammad Ali lookalike, Jo-Wifried Tsonga, has also not been as lethal at the net compared to last year. In fact, he's hardly coming in...what gives, Jo?! Still, his forehand is fantastic, his backhand slightly less so and his serving has been lightning quick. However, Sela was not such a pushover - he has some nice strokes and great touch at the net. Top, take note of his single backhand!

I haven't seen any of the Gonzo-Gasket match (damned work!!!)! However, it seems as though it was a classic - one of those Aussie Open epics that go into the wee hours of the morning. There's always at least one every year without fail. It seems as though Monsieur Reesharr may well be turning out to be quite the resident choker (what's the French for that?!?!). Sorry Rich, not much sympathy for you here...

And I wonder if Gonzo can beat Nadal once more, that should be a cracker - in fact, the 4th round should have SO many crackers, people might think it's Bonfire Night!!! See for yourselves:

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/index.html

Anyway, hopefully more ramblings in the days to come...ENJOY!!! ;)

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The Guns of Navarro...

I wasn't going to post until tomorrow but exceptional circumstances warrant that exceptions be made. I've just witnessed what I've no doubt in proclaiming as the highest quality match of the post-Henin era. To think of the mere fleeting reference I made to it in my last post as a match that was 'not to be missed'. Indeed.

I didn't think of Navarro as a particularly convincing player when I saw her get to the Roland Garros quarters last year - true, her single handed backhand was a captivating feature of her then less rounded game, borne of natural talent I'm sure, and with a quite uncoached feel to it - but there were then simply too many things missing for me to consider her anything more than a good prospect of the 'one to watch' variety.

And I wasn't far wrong - after that performance last year she won only eight further matches on tour. Room to improve then.

It was in this vein that I thought the Williams-Navarro match up would provide us with some engaging tennis - a good warm up for Venus against an up-coming opponent who plays a slightly differently type of tennis. And yes because of that single handed backhand :P

Things I got right:

"Oh and be sure not to miss Venus' 2nd round encounter with 20 year old Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro."
Well, did you?

"This girl has a single handed backhand to die for..."
Ok, you shouldn't perhaps take your own life, but that is one sweet stroke. Check out this half volley backhand flick up the line (the rally begins at 8:44 in the video). Federer-like almost.



"...this is a truly Henin-like picturesque stroke that the commentators said is better than Henin's backhand was at 20"
Ditto...

Things I got wrong:

"...the rest of her game has a very under-developed quality that leaves much to be desired..."
(Clears throat and looks the other way.)

Things I didn't know about:

1. She now has a forehand too.
2. She moves well enough, hitting like a clay courter for the most part but staying close to the baseline and taking the ball early when required.
3.She seems to be very aware of how big the court is and what great use she can put it to.
4. The incredible levels of poise and composure she shows on court: just how amazingly acclimatised she seems with pulling off the biggest win of her career (to quote the commentators: "Someone should tap her on the shoulder and tell her who she's playing, where she's playing and what her ranking is..."


Things that could go wrong:

Hope she doesn't, but could follow the timeless rookie tradition of following up an upset with a crashing-out in the very next round as many have done before her (none more distinguished than Federer who after beating Sampras in the 4th round of Wimbledon in 2001, went out to 'Our Tim' in the quarters).

Things she could improve:

Needs to approach the net more - she might be as natural there as she is everywhere else, and I think it would fit well with her natural tendency to use every possible opportunity to creep into the court. Can also throw in the odd short ball, which when you're not playing at the high levels she was yesterday, can cost you very dearly...

Venus' performance and chance to win the title:

She said she was confident of going all the way and I understand why. Aside from a couple of games at the very end, Venus played on the whole a very well rounded game. She was perhaps as she said in her post match presser, a little too defensive at times. But I found this statement from her more telling: "Yeah, I wasn't in control of the points. I definitely noticed that she kept getting the first shot." Venus hitting as many short balls as she did and playing for large portions of the match, an uncharacteristically defensive game, was as much a product of Navarro's aggressive and irreverent groundstrokes as any uncertainties Venus might have had.

Navarro plays fellow Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez next, followed by a likely fourth round encounter with Penetta. If she gets past that she may face Dementieva in the quarters followed by a likely semi final with Serena Williams. I doubt she'll get that far, although the Penetta and Dementieva matches could make very interesting viewing.

Not least because, as Virginia Wade said, Navarro is a very natural player. She spent her early years in the Canary Islands and has only undergone a more formal coaching regime in Barcelona in the last few years. This perhaps more than anything else may have fostered a more free spirited, unregimented style of play. I'd love to see that juxtaposed against some of the other (maybe slightly less celebrated) members of the top ten.

It would in my opinion, expose some of the 'sameiness' I've complained about on so many occasions.

Is she the saviour of women's tennis? Probably not. She's still it seems is best suited to the clay courts and it remains to be seen whether or not she's going to follow up on this big win (both at Melbourne and the rest of the season).

But though she's currently ranked at what seems a desultory #46 (from which I fully expect her to rise) her performance today gave me both hope and reasons to fall in love with Women's tennis all over again.

It is perhaps befitting she is only 5'4" - it would have a less poetic Carla-and-Goliath like quality and maybe only be half as entertaining if she were able to stare out Sharapova and Ivanovic eye to eye.

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