Saturday, April 4, 2009

Tennis Talk

by Savannah

It's Vika

Victoria Azarenka beat an immobile Serena Williams 6-3 and 6-1. Williams, who could not put any pressure on her heavily taped left leg (the taping was on her quad muscle) tried to control the court from the baseline and needed Azarenka to get nervous and start misfiring. It didn't happen and Serena, who could've retired, didn't giving Victoria the win. There was no gamesmanship from Serena, no dramatic hobbles to the sideline or calls to the trainer. For someone who is always called for every perceived fault she deserves nothing but credit for staying on court and taking the beating she got with grace.
Azarenka is also to be commended for her new more mature on court persona.
It's going to be nice to see these two meet when they're both healthy. As you recall Serena got the win over Azarenka in Melbourne when a disoriented Azarenka had to throw in the towel.
I think Azarenka is a rising star and look for a lot from her in the future.

This and That

John McEnroe wants to help a brother out. It's being reported Here that JMac feels he can help Roger Federer make changes in his game that will help him.

PARIS (Reuters) - Former great John McEnroe has offered to help Roger Federer rediscover his form after the Swiss suffered a series of uncharacteristic defeats this year.

Since the start of the season, Federer has failed to win a tournament or beat any of his rivals ranked in the world's top four.

After the world number two's latest loss to Serbia's Novak Djokovic on Friday, when he was knocked out of the Sony Ericsson Open in the semi-finals, McEnroe said he was willing to lend a helping hand.

"I would really like to help Roger. Especially as he needs to change his strategy if he wants to beat Nadal. And I have an idea about that," the American was quoted as saying in the French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche on Saturday.

"I can't see myself accompanying a player all year long but it could be really interesting to help out from time to time."


CBS just showed Roger's presser, tears and all. Hearing him say he's glad the hard court season is over is more amazing than reading it. Mary Carillo said his statement is "disingenuous" at best.
Roger hasn't won a Masters since August 2007 in Cincinnati.
Does this mean he's going to accept coaching now? We'll see.


Apparently the Slob made what some fans felt were inappropriate comments during the medical timeout taken by Juan Martin del Potro pictured above. Why am I not surprised?

Tennishead Cornelia from Germany has updated me on the status of the online petition drive asking the ATP to rethink some of the changes that have been made to the tour. Unfortunately the news is not good. She advises that her emails to former ATP boss Etienne deVilliers and new head Adam Helfant have gone unanswered. I'm sure some intern has the information sitting on his or her desk. While I haven't said much about Rafael Nadal's call for fewer hard court tournaments I am following the situation. The Slob, an ATP board member, still thinks clay courters are happy with the American driven emphasis on hard court play. After all David Nalbandian, Fernando Gonzalez and Juan Martin del Potro are all claycourters extraordinaire.

Speaking of JuanMa there was no way he was going to win his match against Andy Murray last night. He was physically and emotionally drained and did well to take a set. Do I care who wins the men's final tomorrow? I would like to see a competitive match. That is all I ask. Both men have fairly small fan bases made up mostly of nationals from their respective parts of the world. Since the last two women's finals have been such major disappointments in terms of the level of competition it would be nice to see tennis represented well on a nationwide broadcast. The match takes place at 1p Eastern US time. It's going to be played in the sun. Murray is based in southern Florida now. Let's see what Novak Djokovic does in the heat and humidity.

The Racquet Toss and Water Bottle Throw

I totally understand the racquet smashing. I find the water bottle tossing disrespectful and unnecessary.

4 comments:

Helen W said...

I can forgive the racquet smashing. But to claim in his presser that he didn't lose his temper when he did it is just laughable.

Tossing the water bottles is the act of a petulant, spoiled child.

And this is the second time this year that Federer has refused to shake the umpire's hand when he's lost a match -- he did the same in Doha when he lost to Andy Murray. And it's not as if there were any questionable calls or other such incidents.

I do not see these acts as something new in Federer's character, as I have long seen subtle signs of his being a poor loser. What is new is that he is no longer able to keep up the facade.

Savannah said...

Helen you're right about these things being part of Roger's character. He was known for this kind of behavior when he first came on the tour. It was when he "mastered" it that he became the FedGod.

I don't like anyone to abuse his or her privileges with ball kids or the chair.

oddman said...

I agree, it's been there ALL along. Churlish petulant comments about the dark, the wind, one-dimensional players - it's easy to be a good and gracious winner.. oh, my yes, but to be a gracious loser takes some willingness to be somewhat selfless.

lynney62 said...

Wow...LOL at Fed's childish antics! I hadn't seen that vid....Thanx for posting it, Savannah. I just have one opinion about the "legendary Fed"......he is soooo over!