Doha: The ‘Unreal’ Number One…

(KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Well I thought I’d have to end BlogoSphere hibernation at some point.

Now seems as good a time as any.

The truth is, a flu, together with a general apathy towards the tennis on offer last week, left me stone cold.

I lost interest two matches into the round-robins.

Keep that in mind as you wade through the moody, reflective sparsities of what follows.

Vika’s short lived venture into ‘transcendentalist tennis’ was fun to watch while it lasted, but proved ultimately ill-conceived. A bit like watching a fish out of water. And I really wish she hadn’t spent all of five games in the last set of her match against A-Rad in tears, before eventually seeing fit to put us out of our collective misery, by pulling out with cramp.

But it’s Caz-Woz that has the monopoly on cramp induced convulsions, is it not?

Can anyone now be in any doubt as to the fighting fit qualities this bright young thing brings to court? When she’s not smiling in the face of defeat that is. It’s what’s earnt her a very enviable number four ranking. Funny that I had Vika pegged to fill that role for much of this year. So what gives? Tignor did a Vika/Caz-Woz profile earlier last week, that I think makes the distinction clear:

If you could put Azarenka together with Wozniacki, you’d have the next No. 1. Azarenka can hit through the court, but she doesn’t have the feel of her fellow up and comer. And while she’s fiercer and angrier than Wozniacki, the Dane may be tougher mentally—hanging in there is pretty much what she does for a living.

…

Azarenka should have more upside than Wozniacki; she can make more happen on the court. But sometimes her hands and strings turn to stone—the ball kerrangs off her frame….As fans, when Azarenka goes out on court, we know we’ll get her best. The question is whether her best may be too much.

-- Steve Tignor on Vika and Caz-Woz

Though I’m not completely sure to what degree Caz-Woz is the bedrock to Vika’s active volcano. Caz-Woz seems more to me to be about maximising the potential of a steadier less-threatening game. And as we’ve seen so often over the last two years, there’s a place in tennis for that, but it doesn’t seem quite right for it to be at the very top.

It’s worth remembering also, that that #4 ranking is born of youthful-exuberance and a Jelena-like uninhibited attitude to scheduling. Good job she’s only nineteen.

It’s something she’ll need to attend to if she wants to avoid the type of burn-out that cost Jelena the best part of this year; and if she intends to square off effectively against the Pre-Safinite Sisterhood next season.

Speaking of Jelena I thought she recovered rather well from that horrendous if somewhat measured dismantling at the hands of Vika. After being rather handed her semi final spot on the back of Safina’s withdrawal and a somewhat legless Caz-Woz, that only managed to salvage four games from her, she brought some of best tennis to bear.

There’s a reason Jelena has an enviable record against both the Williamses (which she’s never remiss in drawing our attentions to) and it’s to do with defence. More of that was illustrated in her semi opposite Venus, who put on a great show, but still at times looked very vulnerable out there. Vulnerable to Jelena’s uncanny ability to run down the best she sent her way, but also to having her momentum derailed by those unnecessarily protracted and dramatic timeouts Jelena took on every other line call she found dubious.

No, I wasn’t much convinced with Venus last week. Not until the semis anyway.

She seemed to me to be as surprised as I was, at her reaching the knockout stages.

Not that any of this matters of course. With her win last year and Serena’s this time round, not making their mark outside of the Slams is beginning to look like an item we may have to drop from our charge sheets.

As to the real number one, I’ll leave most of it unsaid. There’s nothing to be gained by drawing your attention to her not having dropped a match right the way through. Playing out of her skin from the word go seems to be something of a hallmark of her season; and finishing #1 seems as much about doing Dinara a favour as it does about re-establishing order.

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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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May the best girl win.

Though who the ‘best’ really is, seems more a function of how well each of the top eight players of 2009 have paced themselves, rather than any kind of tennis proficiency.

Case in Point, Victoria Azarenka.

(Photo:AP)

Everyone knows the lopsided year she’s had; since that fateful Wimbledon QF against Serena Willliams, she’s struggled with both form and fitness.

But to me she looked the fresher of the two out there today. A likely effect of going out early in all the events she’s entered over the last few months.

She didn’t even have to work herself into one of those hissy-fits – a double edged sword at the best of times -- and somewhat surprisingly got away with playing a more conservative style of game. A style that was more Jelena-like than even Jelena herself, who, in her own words during the changeover, was having trouble “stringing two points together”.

(KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/Getty Images)

Jelena may have pushed herself that extra mile to make the cut, but I wonder how worthwhile it all was.

The match that followed filled me with even less confidence. Venus is up against Elena a set and a break as we speak, though it was so slow to take off I gave up on it.

You have to make certain allowances of course. This is the only event on the calendar where you have to play a top ten player in your very first match. Followed by another top-tenner, and another, and then another. If the injuries you’ve picked up over the year even allow you to get that far.

After being cushioned year long, with the byes and easy openers afforded to them by their ranking, they must feel like they’re standing up in a rush hour commuter train with the likes of Vika staring over their shoulder. Oh, and you know you have to give it your best right? Coz you’re supposed to be the best.

The Williamses don’t have what you’d call pedigree at this event. Aside from last year, when Venus Williams took advantage of another weary field, you have to go all the way back to 2001 to revisit the last time one of the Sisters lifted the trophy here.

I don’t expect much to change in that regard.

That doesn’t mean I’m gonna do anything as foolish as putting forth analyses-driven predictions.

This is a market for idle speculation. Not the conscientious investor.

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Why on court coaching is a BAD idea, exhibit B

(AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

Caz-Woz retiring hurt at 7-5, 5-0 up against Anne Kremer in Luxembourg. Old news, right?

"I went onto the court and said to her: 'Caro, it does not matter whether it's going to be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2. You can not play the next round, so you shouldn't take the risk," Piotr Wozniacki said Thursday on Danish radio. "I'm very proud of Caroline, because she stopped the fight and gave her opponent a chance."

The father's comments during the match led to a surge in online bets for Kremer to win.

…

"So, people bet on my matches. Some win, others lose. I just know that I am clean. It is most important to me," Wozniacki said. "And if anyone is in doubt about my injury, I can both produce scan from the hospital and a report from the tournament physiotherapist."

Although it appears unlikely that Wozniacki conspired to fix the match, she could still be fined for "lack of effort" according to International Tennis Federation statutes.

(ESPN)

I think I understand the fine, but you have to love the image of Caz Woz “conspiring” to fix matches amidst a team of heavies in a disused warehouse.

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Russian Love…

It hasn’t been the most ‘happening’ of tennis weeks for a while, despite there being events underway in Moscow, Luxembourg and the wonderfully named ‘If…Stockholm’.

Most of the action appears centred around Moscow. And Marat.

I don’t know if it’s me, but the WTA Kremlin Cup seemed a whole lot more entertaining last year, when Jelena bagged a hat trick of post-Flushing hard court titles, and with it, a much maligned position atop the rankings.

This year, with most of the top ten evidently saving themselves for Doha, it seems to have been reduced to a two-woman shootout between Vera and Jelena both of whom had an opportunity of qualifying for Doha, and both of whom turned in less than inspiring performances.

Jelena eventually made the cut by … wait for it … all of 5 race points, before promptly going out to Kleybanova earlier today.

(NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Getty Images)

Mission complete, though just by the skin of her teeth.

Vera fizzled and spittled her way out of the event with a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Tsevtana Pironkova.

"She is a good player and I knew that," Zvonareva said. "It's very difficult to play against her. She moves perfectly on the court, can hit the ball hard and can vary her tempo.

"I'm not in my best shape now and to beat her today I should have played more attentively.

"Maybe I'm even happy. Finally I will have time to restore my health and start the new season in full strength."

(Sky Sports)

I sincerely hope for her sake, that that’s true. Winning only two games against a player that rarely breaks the three-digit barrier on her first serve suggests more than just a want of ‘attention’. For our sakes, it’s probably best she didn’t qualify in this form.

(AP)

This time last year, Marat reached the final of the men’s event in Moscow before promptly going down in flames to Igor Kunitsyn, This year I don’t think he even expected to get half as far – and as it turned out, didn’t.

He did manage to score an interesting, if not entirely unexpected three set win over Davydenko, which of course, resulted in a hazy blaze of Russian brotherly love.

I thought it would be a little bit slightly different, all these feelings toward the tournaments. It's a little bit different, different from what I thought—it's difficult to explain. The feeling that I thought I would get from coming back for the last time to the tournaments, I don't get this particular feeling that I was hoping to get. But of course it's nice, it's nice to know that it's over—last time [at the U.S. Open], last time in L.A., last time in Cincinnati—just enjoy it. I don't want to have any more stress.

(tennis.com)

It doesn’t get any more candid than that.

In fact, with his thoughts on the calendar, A-Rod’s short term memory, and Tomas’s manhood, it rather seems, these remaining few weeks are turning out to be more about candid reflections than anything else.

I’m not sure what I expected, and maybe Marat’s not that well suited to teary farewells, but I think Tennis Magazine did themselves a disservice with this month’s feature on his so called ‘misery tour’. The content is exclusive to the magazine and to my knowledge appears nowhere on their site, but if you’ve read the latest edition, you’ll know the one I mean.

An odd assortment of some of the more cruder Maratisms, with a front page shot of him sporting those two black eyes he turned up to Hopman Cup this year with.

It’s not that I don’t think Marat is any, or all of those things, the essence of which the article is so keen to capture. It just seems an unnecessarily skewed assessment of a player that managed to be charming, blunt, tortured and twinkly-eyed all at the same time.

This article from September, and recent interview do a much better job.

Only one more event before all the pain goes away.

And only three more weeks before I get to say “We’ll always have Paris…”

***

Meanwhile Big Rob has made the last four in If…Stockholm.

The other three sharing the table are Olivier Rochus, Thomas Belluci, and Marcos Baghdatis. Marcos I have some sympathy with. His recent troubles with form resulted in a dip that saw him drop outside of the top 100. Seeing him at #66 comes therefore, as light relief.

But I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one keen to see Big Rob qualify for London.

Davydenko’s presence is as essential to the event as furniture and subtitles are to a cosy art house flick.

But Big Rob is capable of getting into the faces of most everyone not named Federer, and as such seems to have a pivotal role to play before the curtain goes down on this curious year.

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Never Say Never Again…

(Photo: The Canadian Press)

"No, no, no, sure," the 29-year-old Swiss told French sports daily L'Equipe when asked whether she planned another comeback.

"You can't just snap your fingers and say 'let's go and play the Australian Open'".

…

"I've got a nice house, my four horses," Hingis said. "On the tour, I had no life."

Hingis added that even without being tested positive, she likely would have retired.

"If I had won the four Grand Slam tournaments, maybe I would have continued," she said. "But I was on a downslope. And I was suspended for two years, and that was it."

Hingis, who spent 209 weeks at No. 1 in the women's rankings and won five Grand Slam singles titles, said she went through hard times during her suspension.

"I didn't have the right to play any competition, even in another Olympic sport," she said. "I didn't have the right to feature in equestrian competition, even at an amateur level ... I'm not sure I have completely recovered."

-- Martina Hingis rules out a Pre-Safinite led Comeback

You should never say never, and with the summer of comebacks we’ve just experienced, I probably “never” will again.

But did anyone really expect one from Hingis?

After the way in which the ITF comprehensively put paid to the remainder of her career, and the ‘boys will be boys’ treatment afforded to Gasquet, you can understand her bitterness.

She paints a bleak picture of her form over 2007. A little overly-bleak if you ask me.

It’s worth remembering she finished 2006 ranked #7 in the world. She was beset with injuries the following year, and lost some matches you’d normally have expected her to have won, but also picked up a title in Tokyo taking out Ana Ivanovic in the final, who from what I remember was taking the WTA by storm, and just three months away from her first Slam final.

With the tour in 2008, let’s say, lacking the ‘soul’ of previous years, I just wonder what might have been had she only received a cursory ban (months rather than years); might she, for example, have found it easier to bounce back and re-establish herself in the top ten in the absence of Sharapova and Henin?

That said, there’s something distinctly unsettling in watching a former great being unwilling to retire gracefully. Deciding to play in Melbourne isn’t something you do at the drop of a hat, and Martina certainly doesn’t strike me as the type to risk being exposed to the sort of ridicule a poor showing there would entail.

Interestingly though, it is only the Aussie Open that she’s strictly ruled out. Or so it would appear.

I’d like to know the odds of a Henin-like ‘personal journey’ over the next year.

No, seriously.

Never Say Never Again.

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Nikolay ‘Flatlines’ Nadal

 

(Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Davydenko d. Nadal 7-6(7-3), 6-3

I dunno what 80s Horror/Sci-Fi enthusiast has been put in charge of the trophies during this Asian Swing, but this item of ‘silverware’ looks a little like what’s left of an unsuccessful fusion between Freddy Krueger’s claw and the Predator’s Dreadlocks.

Are all Masters ‘Shields’ to be themed like this?

  (Photo: AP)

Davydork almost turned in an appearance.

    (Photo: AP)

…and Nadal sported that exact same WTF’ed look Djoko had on not 24 hours ago.

It goes without saying how chuffed I am with this result.

Not only does he deserve it, but it’s almost certain to ensure his appearance at London. Nik’s made the cut for the TMC these past four years, and the landscape would seem quite bereft without him; though in a less obvious way – like a DVD without Flemish subtitles.

The tennis itself didn’t quite reach the heights of yesterday’s Nikolay-Djoko semi but was entertaining enough all round, and as always, an absolute groundstroke clinic from Nik.

Is he still the best returner in the game, when he reaches these heights? Difficult to say. The game’s evolved from three or four years ago when even the stats showed that this unassuming Russian triumph of substance-over-charisma out-gunned everyone (including Big Swiss Cheese) in every returning category imaginable.

But did Nadal look vulnerable out there, or what?

We all know of Nadal’s well documented, troubled past with so called “flat-liners” (so called by no one else but me): flat-ballers with timing and hand-eye coordination proficient enough to take aim and hit the lines with a strike rate of above 50%.

“I have my chance in the first set and I am especially happy with one thing — it’s the first match after my injury comeback against one top player,” Nadal said. “I really felt I really have chances to win.

“That’s the most positive thing for me, and I fight all the time with a positive attitude, no physical problems. So that’s very good news for me.”

(tennis.com)

Fair enough, and he is on an injury comeback. But let’s not forget that Nadal opened his account this year by winning two of the most prestigious hard court titles out there. Far be it from me to accuse Rafa of complacency, but I don’t think I could stomach making it it ‘ok’ again, for him to reach hard court finals he doesn’t win.

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