by Savannah
At the start of every New Year pregnant women with due dates around the end of December or the beginning of January hope that their bundle of joy is crowned the first born of the year. At 31 years of age veteran
Greta Arn is hardly anyones newborn in regards to tennis yet she was the first player to accept a trophy. Defeating
Maria Sharapova along the way Arn won the title at Auckland defeating defending champion
Yanina Wickmayer. Does this mean that the trend of the tennis elderly doing well in the WTA will continue?
Jill Craybas is still around boys and girls. And we all know
Kimiko Date-Krumm's 2010 was totally unexpected and wonderful. And let's not forget that both
Venus Williams and
Serena Williams can be counted among the tennis elderly now. What does it mean that the tennis elderly are doing so well in the WTA? More proof that the young 'uns have no court sense and don't use strategy as part of their game? It's January. I'm sure this will be a theme for me through out 2011.
Oh, by the way in a meaningless exhibition in Hong Kong
Vera Zvonareva wiped the court with
Caroline Wozniacki serving the WTA number one a bagel and a breadstick along the way.
The American team of
John Isner and
Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the Hopman Cup this year. I didn't get to see any of it unfortunately. I'm resisting moving to Australian time until the start of the Australian Open. So far I have nothing scheduled for those two weeks.
I am sorry I missed the debut of Mademoiselle
Nicholas Mahut though. Do you think that pink headbands will become the rage this year?
Petra Kvitova started her year off right winning the women's title at Brisbane. Petra defeated fan favorite Andrea Petkovic 6-1, 6-3.
Alisa Kleybanova and
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won the women's doubles crown.
Lucas Dlouhy and
Paul Hanley won the men's doubles title at Brisbane.
Robin Soderling defeated
Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-5 to take the men's singles title. Andy had one of his trademark meltdowns in the second set of this match. That is usually the signal that he is losing.
Meanwhile in Doha, Qatar
Roger Federer played
Nikolay Davydenko for the singles title. Federer had a 14-2 head to head against Kolya. It's now 15-2. Oh, the score was 6-3, 6-4.
The doubles crown was won by the team of
Marc Lopez and
Rafael Nadal. They defeated the Italian team of
Daniele Bracciali and
Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-6(4).
Last but not least
Leander Paes and
Mahesh Bhupathi lofted the doubles trophy in Chennai.
Stan Wawrinka, on the first stop of his 2011 Blind Ambition tour won the men's title at Chennai defeating a resurgent Xavier Malisse 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
That was a lot of tennis for the first week of the New Year. Congratulations to all the winners!
1 comment:
The veterans of the women's tour and to a small extent the men's tour as well will always have an advantage over the up and comers. The reason for this is in one word: motivation. The veterans are motivated by a love of the game and an appreciation for its history. The younger generations are to a large extent only see this sport as a means to an end. The sense of entitlement that permeates the ranks of the juniors as well as the up and comers is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth.
One of the reasons IMV why Nadal has been able to take up the mantle of World's No. 1 and to a large extent conduct himself the way he has over his career is because he has a love and appreciation for the sport and for those who came before.
As long as commentators continue to dog the veterans of the Tour and deride them for their games and their approach and as long as they continue to talk about how wonderful this and that person is for a sport that was before them and will continue to exist long after we put questions marks beside their names, we will always have situations like the one where the World's NO. 1 is blanketed in an exo by a player that most of us will never ever pick as a last chance in Suicide Pool.
As long as on court coaching remains in the WTA, we will always have situations like what we are experiencing now.
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