The Silence is Deafening

by Savannah

Notice it? ESPN's report on the statistical probability of the last ten US Open draws being random hit like a Mike Tyson punch to the jaw of the USTA. Sure the man who runs the draw made a weak response saying "not us" but the report stands and anyone looking at it with an open mind can't help but agree with the conclusion reached by the authors of the study.

Here is the statistical data.

Men's Grand Slam Percent of draw simula-tions as easy as actual draws
Australian 71.2%
French 69.5%
Wimbledon 37.0%
U.S. Open 0.3%

Women's Grand Slam Percent of draw simula-tions as easy as actual draws
Australian 94.7%
French 99.2%
Wimbledon 30.7%
U.S. Open 0.0%

Since Wimbledon uses their own system there is no cause for alarm that their percentages are low. They admit that their system isn't random and the simulations prove that.

The probability that the US Open draws for the last ten years have been random is, to put it mildly, non existant.

As regular readers know I've taken the position for years that draws have been rigged to favor certain players. It was always amazing to me that some players were given cup cake draws while others had to fight tooth and nail to get to the quarter finals where they would arrive battered and bruised, barely able to crawl on court while a favored opponent waltzed on court fresh as a daisy.

There is an old canard about statistics and lies but let me say this. Does anyone think ESPN rushed this report out without having more than one geek review it? Would ESPN stake it's reputation on a report attacking the reputation of one of the pillars of American sports? Don't you think that ESPN knows that the report calls into question the validity of certain players "dominance" of the event, an event it spends beaucoup bucks to broadcast? This is old news to me but it's sent some fans over the edge.

The overwhelming fan response has been to call bullshit, that the basic assumptions of the study have to be wrong. On one fan site where posters have the option of flying their country's flag the overwhelming majority of posters flying the stars and stripes have said the report is garbage. Others have just called bullshit because they don't believe this could be true.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Anything done via a computer program can be made to reflect the will of the person or organization requesting the work. Anyone who has worked in an office can tell you how easy it is for a programmer to make sure a desired result comes out of an analysis. It's not quite garbage in, garbage out but say the desired result is that Player X make the final relatively unscathed. When the computer spits out the "random" draw lo and behold Player X is playing qualifiers and juniors trying to break into the Main Tour while Player Y is facing Murderer's Row.

Examples? Let's look at the 2007 US Open ATP draw.

(1)Roger Federer vs Jenkins (Q)
Schuettler (Q) vs Capdeville (Q)
Ascione (Q) vs De Voest (Q)
[WC] John Isner USA vs.Jarkko Nieminen FIN (26)

(21) Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP vs. Feliciano Lopez ESP
Robert Kendrick USA vs. Igor Andreev RUS
[WC] Donald Young USA vs. Chris Guccione AUS
Sergio Roitman ARG vs. Richard Gasquet FRA (13)

(9) Tomas Berdych CZE vs. Marc Gicquel FRA
Simone Bolelli ITA vs. Julien Benneteau FRA
Gilles Simon FRA vs. Waske(Q)
Fernando Verdasco ESP vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA (22)

(32) Ivo Karlovic CRO vs. Arnaud Clement FRA
Thomas Johansson SWE vs. Nicolas Massu CHI
Jose Acasuso ARG vs. Martin Vassallo Arguello ARG
Justin Gimelstob USA vs. Andy Roddick USA (5)

(4) NikolayDavydenkoRUS vs. [WC] Jesse Levine USA
Nicolas Kiefer GER vs. Vincent Spadea USA
Peter Luczak AUS vs. Luis Horna PER
[WC] Alex Kuznetsov USA vs. NicolasAlmagro ESP (28)

(19) AndyMurray GBR vs. Cuevas (Q)
Juan-Pablo Guzman ARG vs. Jonas Bjorkman SWE
Dominik Hrbaty SVK vs. Hyung-Taik Lee KOR
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ESP vs. Guillermo Canas ARG (14)

(10) Tommy Haas GER vs. Darcis (Q)
Benjamin Becker GER vs. Petzchsner (Q)
Paul Goldstein USA vs. Sebastien Grosjean FRA
Max Mirnyi BLR vs. Marcos Baghdatis CYP (18)

(29) Filippo Volandri ITA vs. Michael Llodra FRA
Stefan Koubek AUT vs. Sam Querrey USA
Fabrice Santoro FRA vs. Albert Montanes ESP
Michael Russell USA vs. James Blake USA (6)

(8) TommyRobredo ESP vs. Reynolds (LL)
Mardy Fish USA vs. Echagaray (Q)
Przyziezny (Q) vs. Michael Berrer GER
Ernests Gulbis LAT vs. PotitoStarace ITA (30)

(17) CarlosMoya ESP vs. Phau (Q)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP vs. Igor Kunitsyn RUS
Mariano Zabaleta ARG vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber GER
Nicolas Devilder FRA vs. Mikhail Youzhny RUS (11)

(16) Lleyton Hewitt AUS vs. Amer Delic USA
Andreas Seppi ITA vs. Agustin Calleri ARG
Sela (Q) vs. Nicolas Lapentti ECU
Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA vs. Juan Monaco ARG (23)

(31) Jurgen Melzer AUT vs. Diego Hartfield ARG
Juan Martin del Potro ARG vs. Nicolas Mahut FRA
Carlos Berlocq ARG vs. Radek Stepanek CZE
Mario Ancic CRO vs.Novak Djokovic SRB (3)

l(7) Fernando Gonzalez CHI vs. Teimuraz Gabashvili RUS
Robby Ginepri USA vs. Olivier Rochus BEL
Stanislas Wawrinka SUI vs. Evgeny Korolev RUS
Dancevic(Q) vs. Marat Safin RUS (25)

(20) Juan Ignacio Chela ARG vs. [WC] Michael McClune USA
Danai Udomchoke THA vs. [WC] Wayne Odesnik USA
Pavel(Q) vs Meffert (Q)
Kristof Vliegen BEL vs. Ivan Ljubicic CRO (12)

(15) David Ferrer ESP vs. Florian Mayer GER
Florent Serra FRA vs. Werner Eschauer AUT
Xavier Malisse BEL vs. Kristian Pless DEN
Ivan Navarro Pastor ESP vs. David Nalbandian ARG (24)

(27) Dmitry Tursunov RUS vs. Tim Henman GBR
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA vs. Oscar Hernandez ESP
Janko Tipsarevic SRB vs. [WC] Ryan Sweeting USA
[WC] Alun Jones AUS vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

Luck of the Draw everyone said when questions were raised about the top half of the draw. Ironically this is the draw that is mentioned in the report for the men.

Here is the women's draw for the same year, 2007

(1) HENIN, Justine (BEL)vs QUALIFIER,
POUTCHKOVA, Olga RUS vs QUALIFIER,
QUALIFIER, vs SCHRUFF, Julia GER
QUALIFIER, vs (28) SUGIYAMA, Ai JPN

(17) GOLOVIN, Tatiana FRA vs ROLLE, Ahsha USA
CHAN, Yung-Jan TPE vs KNAPP, Karin ITA
RUANO PASCUAL, Virginia ESP vs BONDARENKO, Kateryna UKR
CASTANO, Catalina COL vs (15) SAFINA, Dinara RUS

(10) BARTOLI, Marion FRA vs (WC)GLATCH, Alexa USA
ERRANI, Sara ITA vs QUALIFIER,
PETKOVIC, Andrea GER vs (WC)COHEN, Audra USA
(WC)MOORE, Jessica AUS vs (20) SAFAROVA, Lucie CZE

(27) ZVONAREVA, Vera RUS vs QUALIFIER,
(WC)ALBANESE, Lauren USA vs LIKHOVTSEVA, Elena RUS
POUTCHEK, Tatiana BLR vs CAMERIN, Maria Elena ITA
KERBER, Angelique GER vs (8) WILLIAMS, Serena USA

(3) JANKOVIC, Jelena SRB vs GAJDOSOVA, Jarmila SVK
ARVIDSSON, Sofia SWE vs GOVORTSOVA, Olga BLR
OBZILER, Tzipora ISR vs WOZNIACKI, Caroline DEN
QUALIFIER, vs (29) STOSUR, Samantha AUS

(19) BAMMER, Sybille AUT vs TANASUGARN, Tamarine THA
KING, Vania USA vs SHAUGHNESSY, Meghann USA
CRAYBAS, Jill USA vs QUALIFIER,
COHEN-ALORO, Stephanie FRA vs (14) DEMENTIEVA, Elena RUS

(12) WILLIAMS, Venus USA vs QUALIFIER,
OLARU, Ioana Raluca ROU vs HARKLEROAD, Ashley USA
DANIILIDOU, Eleni GRE vs MEUSBURGER, Yvonne AUT
DULKO, Gisela ARG vs (21) BONDARENKO, Alona UKR

(25) SANTANGELO, Mara ITA vs DUSHEVINA, Vera RUS
BYCHKOVA, Ekaterina RUS vs QUALIFIER,
QUALIFIER, vs REZAI, Aravane FRA
NAKAMURA, Aiko JPN vs (5) IVANOVIC, Ana SRB

7) PETROVA, Nadia RUS vs BACSINSZKY, Timea SUI
RODIONOVA, Anastasia RUS vs SAVCHUK, Olga UKR
QUALIFIER, vs SZAVAY, Agnes HUN
BRIANTI, Alberta ITA vs (32) KRAJICEK, Michaella NED

(22) SREBOTNIK, Katarina SLO vs MOLIK, Alicia AUS
KIRILENKO, Maria RUS vs MULLER, Martina GER
KOSTANIC TOSIC, Jelena CRO vs VESNINA, Elena RUS
VAKULENKO, Julia UKR vs (9) HANTUCHOVA, Daniela SVK

(16) HINGIS, Martina SUI vs JOHANSSON, Mathilde FRA
MALEK, Tatjana GER vs QUALIFIER,
QUALIFIER, vs AZARENKA, Victoria BLR
CIBULKOVA, Dominika SVK vs (23) GARBIN, Tathiana ITA

(31) MEDINA GARRIGUES, Anabel vs WOZNIAK, Aleksandra CAN
DOMINGUEZ LINO, Lourdes E vs CHO, Yoon Jeong KOR
PIN, Camille FRA vs QUALIFIER,
ZAKOPALOVA, Klara CZE vs (6) KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana RUS

(6) CHAKVETADZE, Anna RUS vs (WC)WEINHOLD, Ashley USA
(WC)JACKSON, Jamea USA vs PRATT, Nicole AUS
GRANVILLE, Laura USA vs QUALIFIER,
KANEPI, Kaia EST vs (26) MIRZA, Sania IND

(24) SCHIAVONE, Francesca ITA vs DECHY, Nathalie FRA
ARN, Greta GER vs PASZEK, Tamira AUT
BREMOND, Severine FRA vs GALLOVITS, Edina ROU
BENESOVA, Iveta CZE vs (11) SCHNYDER, Patty SUI

(13) VAIDISOVA, Nicole CZE vs KUDRYAVTSEVA, Alla RUS
PENNETTA, Flavia ITA vs PENG, Shuai CHN
MATTEK, Bethanie USA vs BRENGLE, Madison USA
TU, Meilen USA vs (18) PEER, Shahar ISR

(30) RADWANSKA, Agnieszka POL vs MORIGAMI, Akiko JPN
LOIT, Emilie FRA vs RAZZANO, Virginie FRA
SHVEDOVA, Yaroslava RUS vs DELLACQUA, Casey AUS
VINCI, Roberta ITA vs (2) SHARAPOVA, Maria RUS

Here is what I said back then. Remember the comments are on the 2007 versions of players.

Re the top half of the women's draw:

Marion. Ana. Lucie. Venus. Jelena. Dinara. Tatiana. Serena. A nice mix of seeds to go along with the world No. 1 Henin. There are also some lower seeds who have had a pretty good year in the mix. Rezai is hungry. Sybille Bammer wants to go deep into the draw. Ai Sugiyama can pull a good one out every now and then. Possible matchups? Justine and Serena for the third time in the quarters. Venus vs. Ivanovic? Maybe. The competition in this side of the draw will be fierce.

This is what I said about the bottom half.

Okay. So let's see. Nadia. Headcase. Daniela. Good player. Two weeks will tax her physically. Martina. Bad back. Svetlana. Have to classify her as a headcase. She is coming back off of a shoulder injury that kept her out of Fed Cup as well. Anna. Good player. Not a great player yet. And how many times this summer is she going to play Sania Mirza? Sania hasn't shown she's got the mental toughness to make it to the second week. Patty. Nicole coming back from illness. Shahar's level of play has slacked off lately. Ms. Radwanska is pretty good but not Grand Slam good yet.

And, oh yes, there is Maria, the "Golden Girl" of the WTA. While the ladies in the top half duke it out, Ms. Sharapova will be banging and grunting her way through to meet a player who has had to bite and claw her way through her matches. I don't mean to disparage any of the players in the bottom half of the draw. I mean who was Marion Bartoli a few weeks ago? Anyone can get hot and pull an upset.

There are those who argue that it is impossible to rig a draw in a players favor because there are too many safeguards in place. But when boards that were known for banning people because they didn't like a player favored by the mods have threads titled "RIGGED!!!!" and another one asking why is it that a certain player seems to always get a nice draw, things are a little out of control. Justine is the top female player in the world. So they threw a qualifier her way for her first round match. Once she gets past her quarter the Big Babes will be waiting for her. Meanwhile number two will be practicing her smile and wave. I guess sometimes it does pay to be No. 2.

I caught a lot of flack for that post but I never hesitated to point out when a player was being hidden or protected. I was never a fan of Justine Henin but I always said they tried to do her in when she played in New York. I should mention that the shenanigans didn't work for the women. Sharapova lost in the third round if I recall correctly and Henin won it all.

So what now? As I write this the USTA hasn't said a word. The crack journalists who cover tennis haven't said a word. Fans who have had abuse heaped on them for saying something was rotten are vindicated. Not every fan has a blog but every fan has an opinion. My questions about how the US Open is run go back to 2003 when the top American got the breaks at the expense of the then top Spaniard.

I know everyone is going to be paying attention to this years draw. Let's see how much luck is in it for some players.

The Fallout to a Cheat's Admission

On the day that Serena Williams posted a picture of herself getting ready for an event minus the now famous boot she tweeted the following:

serenawilliams Serena Williams
Question- I keep hearing about an admittance to someone cheating me & lying about it after at the French open? Did she confess finally?

I'm guessing most of you, including me, would not be surprised at the reaction to the simple question Serena posed. Some on Twitter even called on Serena to be the bigger person and move on. Really people? Someone lied about a situation to your face, acted as if you were the crazy one for being upset and you're supposed to be the bigger person? To add insult to injury the liar said that she was right to do what she did because you and your sister intimidated her and yet she should be given a pass?

All of us are entitled to our likes and dislikes in tennis, including players. In this situation I think likes and dislikes have to be put aside for the higher moral issue at stake here. I mean this liar didn't only cheat Serena, a polarizing player to say the least, but the supposedly universally loved St Kim Clijsters. Most of the posters aren't concerned about that part of the equation though. Their sole focus is Serena. Several Tweeters brought up the racial issue asking if the situation had been reversed would the people saying Serena should move on be saying that? Hell, Serena would've been run out of tennis if she'd done what Justine Henin has admitted to doing not once, but twice, and not apologizing for it.

In my opinion the best response came from Caroline Wozniacki who posted the following Tweet:

CaroWozniacki Caroline Wozniacki
@ serenawilliams hahahaha!!

Justine Henin - Guilty As Charged

by Savannah

In an amazing television interview Justine Henin admits that she cheated by raising her hand in that match against Serena Williams and justifies it by saying part of the Williams sisters on court demeanor involved intimidation. First the French followed by an English translation done by tennis head "Apoleb".

"Peut-être que j'aurais dû dire, qu'effectivement j'avais levé la main, même si je reste de manière très honnête convaincue que c'est pas ça qui a changé le cours des choses, parce que si j'avais été persuadée, je pense, qu'elle l'avait vu, qu'elle avait été perturbée par ça, je pense que j'aurais vraiment réagi. Maintenant, y'a beaucoup de tension, on agit un peu à l'instinct, donc c'est vrai que c'est pas le meilleur souvenir... en même temps, ce qui allait se passer derrière était magique... Voilà, je ne sais pas si c'est le tournant du match. J'espère ne pas être de mauvaise foi en disant ça."
"C'était peut-être une façon de me faire respecter [fail ], parce qu'il faut savoir que les Williams ont quand même eu des attitudes qui parfois étaient difficiles [...] Elles ont énormément joué, beaucoup, à l'intimidation. Faut savoir que quand on jouait une Williams, et qu'on marchait vers le court, vers l'entrée du court, il y avait toujours la deuxième à côté. Parce qu'elles deux, elles montraient qu'elles étaient deux en permanence. Une ça impressionne déjà, donc deux..."

Perhaps I should have said that I raised my hand even though in honesty I still think that this didn't change the course of the match because if I thought she was really perturbed by that, I think I would have reacted. Now, there's a lot of tension, we act according to our instincts, so it's true that this is not the best memory.. but in the same time, what happened beneath was magical. So there, I don't know if this turned around the match. I hope I'm not in bad intentions when I say this.

It was perhaps a way to respect me, because it should be known that the Williams sisters have attitudes that are sometimes difficult... They have played enormously on intimidation. It should be known that when we play a Williams, and we walk on court, towards the entrance of the court, there was always the second besides. Because they show themselves that they are two together. One already makes a big impression, and it's two.

The highlighted section can be translated as "I hope I don't appear biased"

So it was okay to cheat and then lie about it because she was scared of Venus Williams and Serena Williams?

She also says that she lost to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon because Venus had already made the final and she didn't want to play her.

The screencap above created by "Shinjiro" shows Henin during the interview laughing at the expression on Serena's face after her lie.

She doesn't stop there. She admits that the ball she insisted Kim Clijsters hit out at the Australian Open in 2004 was in, and that she knew it was in.

Ironically no mention is made of the 2006 Australian Open where she retired against Amelie Mauresmo with what was said to be gastric distress.

It should also be pointed out that at no time does she apologize for any of this.
Here is a LINK to the entire interview for French speakers. It's an hour and a half long.

So what will the WTA do? I'm not sure what they can do. If a player admits they cheated and by doing so knowingly affected the outcome of a match can the win be nullified and the win granted to the loser? Henin apologists are already making the excuse that when the hand incident took place Serena was ahead and that when the incident against Clijsters happened Kim was behind. And?

I guess this means that Henin is really retired because I don't think anyone in their right mind will want anything to do with her.

I feel for the fans who really liked her and enjoyed her game and while tempted I won't do the "I told you so" dance. Once again Justine Henin manages to give a black eye to the sport that made her rich and that she claims to love so much.

The Winners Circle

by Savannah

The Memphis mens singles final between twenty year old Milos Raonic of Canada and twenty eight year old Andy Roddick of the United States did not need to be hyped. A battle between the man who has made the serve the basis of his career and the young upstart who has a booming serve and good court movement should be a classic. For once the anticipation and the hype proved to be right.

Don't get me wrong; it didn't start out that way. Both men focused on their serves and to say it was dull is putting it mildly. I don't think there was even one rally in the first set. With neither man able to break the others serve a tiebreak was played to choose the first set winner. That is when things started to get interesting.
Roddick, no matter how you feel about his game, is an experienced player and he won the first set 7-6(7) over Raonic who appeared mentally and physically fried. As the saying goes looks are deceiving.

The second set featured a little more nuance and there were some rallies but once again a tiebreak was needed. This tiebreak was what got people "all up in this match" as Craig Tweeted. The serve dominated but it was obvious young Raonic was not going without a fight. As the tiebreak wore on I thought we'd end up with a 20-18 score. It ended up 7-6(11) in Raonic's favor and it appeared that just like he had all week Raonic would pull out a three set victory. Andy Roddick, however, was not having it. The third set ebbs and flows were epic and featured flashes of Raonic's reputedly epic temper. He and his coach had a major blowout in Johannesburg and Raonic has stated publicly that he's working on keeping his temper in check. The thing is, and I'm speaking as someone with a very bad temper, you can't let it even think it's got a chance to take over. all reasoning and focus goes out the window. That is what happened in the third set to Raonic. Still he got within 5-6 of Roddick and it looked as if there would be a third tiebreak to decide the match.

But the old warrior, the man who briefly slipped out of the top ten for the first time in years last year had other ideas. Showing that he still has it Roddick pulled out all the stops fighting off all challenges by the young man across the net. When it was all on the line Andy launched himself toward a ball that looked to be on it's way out and that he couldn't have really seen. Miraculously the ball landed in, Raonic couldn't return it and Andy Roddick, stunned at what he'd just done, was the Memphis champion.

Midway through the third set I started pulling for Andy. I thought about his Wimbledon loss and figured that if he lost to this kid his confidence would take a blow he might never recover from. I'm not a fan of his game, the last time I saw him live at the US Open was against Fabrice Santoro and to say that was not a tennis match is putting it mildly. Serve, serve, serve is not tennis in my opinion and it's worse in person BUT men's tennis needs veterans like Roddick. He needs to be there, in the top ten, holding his own. We can debate if he has another Slam in him or if the changes he's made will keep him among the sport's elite till the cows come home. Andy didn't win with his new tennis yesterday. He won with his old style and for one day, in a memorable match up between old and new, old and wise won the day.


First there was the comment Caroline Wozniacki made that she "gave" Kim Clijsters a week at Number One. Now there's this one given during her post match interview today in Dubai.

Q. Do you think it’s unfair when people criticize you or when people talk your game and they say, She gets lots of balls back, but she hasn’t got a big weapon? You’ve got to No. 1 in the world. Do you think that’s unfair when you hear people say that?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Um, well, if I don’t have a weapon, then what do the others have? Since I’m No. 1, I must do something right. I think there’re (sic) not actually criticizing me. I think the other players should be offended.

I think Caroline needs to slow her roll. Svetlana Kuznetsova played like she'd never seen a tennis court before. Inexplicably she kept hitting to Wozniacki's strength instead of maximizing hers. Whenever she did step onto the court and use her forehand she won the points. I've sat through miserable finals before but what got me upset was that Sveta was simply playing dumb tennis. I made it through half of the second set before switching to HGTV to watch dreamboat Scott McGilivray redesign someone's income property. That is a first for me. If I didn't know that Sveta can play better, if I didn't know she could think and strategize better I wouldn't have been so pissed off. The thing is Wozniacki's sense of entitlement will only grow because absent Serena Williams, Venus Williams and while I hate to say it Justine Henin there is absolutely no one who plays the type of game that throws Wozniacki off especially in her age group.
What the WTA has managed to do with it's ranking system is make the Grand Slams irrelevant in women's tennis. As long as you can play every week and make at least the semi finals you can be #1. This is why the women's game, and ranking system, is a joke.
As for Kim Clijsters I've said it before and I will keep saying it. She is nothing more than an older version of Wozniacki. She came back during a time when the best players of her generation are in the twilight of their careers and her big competition is a younger version of herself. Who says there's no luck in sports?

Robin Soderling has been on a tear. He won his third winter indoor title at Marseille.

Magdalena Rybarikova won the women's title at Memphis after highly touted Canadian Rebecca Marino was forced to retire due to injury.

Nicolas Almagro won his second title in a row defeating Juan Ignacio Chela at Buenos Aires.

Lourdes Dominguez Lino took the title in Bogota.

Liezel Huber and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez won the doubles crown at Dubai.

Edina Gallovits-Hall and Anabel Medina Garrigues are the doubles champions of Bogota.

In other doubles news the team of Robin Haase and Ken Skupski defeated the French team of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Julien Benneteau at Marseilles.

Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor won the mens doubles at Memphis while the team of Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva won the women's title.

ATP Issues Security Warning for Acapulco

The Acapulco tournament, a combined ATP/WTA event has always been a favorite of mine. There is something about the heat, the late night matches on red clay, and the quality of the tennis that just makes me very happy. Despite that I was worried that the tournament might be cancelled when David Nalbandian made it clear that he was afraid to come to Acapulco because of security concerns. At first I thought it was just Nalby's way of getting out of a tournament he wasn't prepared for but two things happened. Reports of another massacre taking place inside the resort area brought me up short. The second was the ATP issuing a security warning to players.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -The ATP has warned players about security concerns at its tournament in Acapulco, Mexico, and has been reassured by Mexican officials that steps are being taken to ensure safety at the largest tournament in Latin America.

The Mexican Open begins Monday as a combined ATP and WTA event.

The Pacific resort city has been hit by a wave of drug violence in Mexico, although little of the violence happens in tourist areas.

In January, the bodies of 14 men with their heads chopped off were found outside a shopping center. A 15th body with its head intact was also found nearby.

The ATP, in a statement sent to The Associated Press, said it had received assurances from all levels of the Mexican government.

"Following an independent security assessment and discussions with tournament organizers, we are satisfied that responsible measures are being taken, and that the event has the full support of the authorities of Acapulco, the state of Guerrero, and the Mexican federal government," the statement said.

Players have received e-mails from the ATP about the situation, cautioning them about going out and suggesting they stay near their hotel. It's also been suggested they arrive as late as possible and leave once eliminated.

Tournament organizers have played down the security concerns, pointing out that the International Olympic Committee and President Jacques Rogge held their executive board meeting in the coastal resort in October.

David Nalbandian said Saturday that he was thinking about withdrawing since he already has a groin injury and could use the rest before Argentina's Davis Cup match against Romania March 4-6.

"It's a great and enjoyable tournament to play," said Nalbandian, who was beaten on Saturday by Tommy Robredo in the quarterfinals of the Copa Claro in Buenos Aires.

"But for right now it's a little more difficult because of the security situation. We (players) are a bit scared about this and we're trying to decide what to do."

Defending men's champion David Ferrer has stated he's not afraid and was in the resort town for a few days prior to the start of the tournament.

I'm not aware of the WTA issuing a warning to it's players.

Monday, Monday

by Savannah

"...can't trust that day..."

One of the great songs given to us by the short lived supergroup known as the Mama's and Papa's.

The Beijing tournament ended today since both of it's singles finals matches were rained out on Sunday. Of course I have no idea what time it is with these twelve hour time differences so if I'm wrong be kind.

Novak Djokovic won his second title of the year defeating Spain's David Ferrer in the men's final.

Bob and Mike Bryan continued their strong second half of the year winning the men's doubles crown.

Newly minted WTA #1 Caroline Wozniacki defeated seemingly perennial brides maid Vera Zvonareva in the women's final.

Olga Govortsova and Chuang Chia-Jung played together for the first time and came away with the title in Beijing.
Meanwhile in Japan the men's tournament had an exciting conclusion.

Rafael Nadal won his seventh tournament of the year defeating Frenchman Gael Monfils.

Eric Butorac and Jean-Julian Rojer won the doubles crown in Tokyo.
Congratulations to all the winners.

Miscellany

Despite photographic evidence of a pretty good sized scar there are those who insist that Serena Williams is faking the seriousness of her injury and are using her attempt to try and play Linz as proof of her, what I don't know. Personally I thought all the ballyhoo about her playing in Linz was just so much hype, an attempt to sell tickets by the WTA. I never expected her to play there and the release saying her attempt to come back to soon aggravated the injury which is still not healed inside rings true. In a tennis world where people believe players have mono because they say so it amazes me that a legitimately injured player gets such a hard time from so called "purists" who think she shouldn't be on track to fulfilling the prophecy her father made about her years ago. I guess haters are going to hate and there's nothing to be done about that. I'm hoping that Serena takes the rest of the year off and comes back strong in January.

I wish the WTA would get rid of on court coaching. I've said this before but I'm more convinced of it's damaging effects after watching the women's final from Beijing. There was Vera Zvonareva playing on her own with quiet support from her coach while everytime Little Miss Sunshine got in trouble you saw her father Piotr chomping at the bit like a horse in the gate waiting for the race to start. It seemed as if he was at her chair before she could finish walking off the court. His first visit resulted in Caroline suddenly able to reel off five straight games and win the first set. His second visit wasn't so productive (or so it would seem), since Vera won the second set. During the third set a suddenly revitalized Caroline was able to break at the beginning and coasted. Does Vera need to be more confident when playing a final? Yes she does. She did better here than in New York but more people saw her in New York and came away with a dismal impression of her.
As for Little Miss Sunshine the hard sell is on. It was as if she were on court by herself since all the commentator could talk about was how much tennis she'd played and all the commitments she has and how at a young age she seems to be balancing her career quite well. There were no graphics of her record against top ten players to mar the event this time and the trips by her father were called "pep talks".
It occurred to me that all that coaching, er, sorry, those pep talks, is why she can't win a major. She needs them. Without them well, just remember Justine Henin when Carlos Rodriguez had no answers for her against Marion Bartoli a couple of years ago at Wimbledon and you get the picture. Some are saying she will not play so many tournaments next year but to me she has to. How else will she stay at the top? There's no way in hell she wins a major if all the Big Babes come back healthy next year. They will out think her on court just like they do now.
I was proud of Bepa today. She lost but she didn't call her coach down to assist her one time. She was trying to work things out for herself and not waiting for Big Daddy to come to her rescue.

End Notes
Tennis Channel made sure all of the tennisheads had to rely on live streams to see the Beijing finals live. I guess they couldn't get the rights for the Monday play. Pity because their coverage has been pretty good for the Asian swing. They are showing the early rounds in Shanghai, something American tennis fans usually never get to see. I got to see Fernando Verdasco lose to Thiemo de Bakker and Juan Monaco play Florent Serra as well as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's return to the tour.
Thank goodness both tours will be returning to Europe. The time difference is much more manageable.

This and That

by Savannah

It's amazing what you get in your e-mail inbox relating to tennis these days. American tennis is obviously in a state of flux (that's better than saying it's in the shitter right?) but as the following show there is really trouble in River City.

The first mailing I received was regarding Ms Coco Vandeweghe. Her prior appearances on the main tour were underwhelming to say the least.

Yes Ms Vandeweghe is playing well right now but is it time for the USTA to send breathless out media alerts?

Playing arguably the best tennis of her young professional career, American teenager Coco Vandeweghe today advanced to the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, a $2 million WTA Tour event in Tokyo. Vandeweghe’s straight-sets win against world No. 42 Julia Georges today was her fifth victory over a Top 100 player this week. Ranked No. 172 entering the qualifying tournament in Tokyo, Vandeweghe defeated No. 75 Tathiana Garbin and No. 41 Jarmilla Groth to qualify, and has knocked off, in order, No. 37 Klara Zakopalova, No. 18 Aravane Rezai and Goerges in the main draw. She faces world No. 11 Victoria Azarenka tomorrow for a spot in the semifinals.

Vandeweghe, the 2008 US Open girls’ singles champion, has taken significant steps forward in her professional career this year. The 18-year-old from Rancho Mirage, Calif., won a USTA playoff to earn a main draw wild card into the 2010 Australian Open, posted a 10-match winning streak on the USTA Pro Circuit while claiming her first two professional titles—at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Carson, Calif., and the $25,000 event in El Paso, Texas this spring—and reached the quarterfinals of the Olympus US Open Series event in San Diego, defeating 2010 Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Vera Zvonareva en route. Vandeweghe’s mom, Tauna, was an Olympic medalist in both swimming and volleyball, and her uncle is former NBA star Kiki Vandeweghe.

Is the United States tennis establishment this desperate?

Then there was this eye catching headline It's Time to Stop Rafael Nadal's Cheating
from The Bleacher Report by Greg Couch.

What is Greg talking about?

Time to crack down on Rafael Nadal's cheating. That's right, he's cheating. Everyone knows it and no one seems to care.

Now, it's so openly accepted and forgiven that he apparently has even admitted to it. The Spanish newspaper El Pais asked him about looking to his coaches box during the final of the U.S. Open, when he beat Novak Djokovic, and Nadal reportedly said this:

"It was in the last game, when I was serving for the match. ... I didn't know where to serve. Down the center, to the middle or to try the classic play of the wide serve and then try to hit the forehand. They told me to serve wide and that's where I served."

They told him? It is against the rules to receive coaching during a match. Nadal knows it, too.

"The rules are the rules," he said at Wimbledon, when Toni Nadal, his uncle and coach, was fined $2,000 for coaching Rafa in a match. A few years ago, too, Roger Federer grumbled that Uncle Toni was trying to give advice from the stands.

It might not seem like a big deal, but it is. You see players doing it all the time in tennis, as this is its open secret. But it's still wrong.

I don't accept it, and neither should tennis' governing bodies. It is time to suspend Uncle Toni, boot him from a major tournament. And hit Nadal with a big fine.

Plenty of people, even within the game, think the better plan is to simply dump the rule. They are wrong. This is not the jaywalking of tennis rules. It is a basic tenet of the game, the guts of what tennis is about.

(...)

The coaches have their time, and it's before the match. At some point, the players have to be able to think on their own.

I have two words for Greg. Justine Henin. When he shows me a blog post of similar outrage about her then I'll say he's being consistent. Otherwise to me this just sounds like someone saying "we can't beat him on any surface so let's make sure we find another way to make him lose."

To be fair he mentions the coaching received by WTA players in non majors and the coaching received by Darya Gavrilova who won the Junior Girls US Open.

I won't be a real bitch and talk about Maria Sharapova. Just because Yuri isn't in her box so much anymore doesn't mean that the blatant coaching never happened. Remember the little brown bottle and the banana? I hope Greg was similarly outraged about that incident.

Like I said, show outrage about Justine then talk about Rafael.

Tennis.Com is reporting that Martin Damm of the Czech Republic will become the coach of American tennis hopeful Ryan Harrison. The report features comments by a variety of top men in the United States tennis establishment. These are the ones that stood out for me.

Lame duck U.S. Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe recently told me that Ryan is a bit of a rarity among today's ball-banging youngsters in that he's a "student of the game." And Harrison, who's 18, talks—and acts—like he belongs on the main tour. He's astute, mature and confident, so the relationship with Damm is mostly likely to be a partnership, rather than a mentor-apprentice engagement.

Pat Harrison (Ryan's father) believes that the challenge for Ryan lies less in mastering specific strokes or strategies than in continuing to sharpen up his considerable and manifold skills. "He needs to be able to make six quality shots in a row in a rally, and then move on and get to the point where he can make eight, and so forth."

For his part, Bollettieri thinks Harrison could benefit from an improved understanding of "situational" tennis—what to do or avoid when he's in a position to win, or in danger. Remember that Harrison had a 6-3 lead in the fifth set tiebreaker in that epic second-round U.S. Open meeting with Sergiy Stakhovsky, but failed to close it out and ended up absorbing a heartbreaking loss.

I'm sure Martin Damm appreciates all the coaching from the stands given by these " éminence grises" of American tennis as to how to coach his pupil. I know I would. (Sarcasm alert)

End Notes

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and turn my life around to watch the tennis from China the next couple of weeks. Both the men and women will be in Beijing, (the women start Saturday 10/2/2010) and the ATP Masters in Shanghai is the following week.

I've been resisting watching live tennis up to now but next week I'll be up at some God forsaken hour watching as much as I can. Fortunately what usually happens is some boring match comes on and I get a chance to take a nap or two until someone I want to see is on court.

I also want to say that I miss the European indoor season. It got thrown under a bus as the tours followed the money to Asia where it's hoped tennis will grow as a sport. I read an account of how the ATP players in Kuala Lumpur are feted like demi gods and that the players enjoy coming there. I'm sure the same is true at all the Asian events where the governments spare no expense to show the players how welcome they are to their respective countries.

The thing is I rarely see sold out or even three quarter full stadiums. I'm used to seeing empty seats at WTA events but it's odd to see that at ATP matches. And I'm not talking matches between low ranked players either. I'm guessing that the money these venues pay the tours is enough to decimate the fall European season. It just looks bad when you can fire a shoulder held missile through a stadium and not hit a soul. Someone is making money somewhere but it's not quite clear to me where.

How are the players reacting? Kim Clijsters, when asked about playing in Beijing basically said that it was a long way to go for one tournament. She is skipping Beijing due to foot surgery. Serena Williams, still recovering from her accident, is not playing in Asia. Venus Williams, who used to play the Asian swing, is out of Beijing and it's rumored that she will have knee surgery.

With Serena out maybe for the rest of the year (she is supposed to play Fed Cup and may play the YEC) Caroline Wozniacki can become the WTA number one. Chew on that for a while.

All of the top men, with the exception of Roger Federer, are already in Asia and all will have played at least one warm up tournament leading up to Beijing and Shanghai.

I'll be paying attention to the butts in the seats during the tournaments coming up to see if the attendance improves. I'll also be looking at the quality of the tennis. I watched the match between Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka last night, early this morning from Tokyo. It's on the list for worst match of 2010. No one would believe this was professional tennis played by two of the top ten women. It's got to get better.

I Remember Paris - June 2010

by Savannah

The Red Slam is now over and the eyes of the tennis world have moved to the green of the grass courts and the Grand Slam most valued by the countries of the United States, England and Australia - Wimbledon.

I'm a clay court junkie so it's with sadness that I say so long to the red dirt that requires so much physically and mentally from those who would conquer it. Rafael Nadal kissed the dirt court in Madrid and Francesca Schiavone did the same in Paris. The clay asks a lot and if you're willing to put in the time and effort you will be richly rewarded.

There were a lot of interesting stories this year, too many to count really. Some I've made mention of during the last two weeks and others I've held back on. Here are my views of what happened in Paris this spring.

Tennis Talk

The French may have seen the future and his name is Gianni Mina. No, he didn't win anything playing the senior circuit or the juniors but his opening round match showed the tennis world his potential. He is all business on court. There is no clowning, no "put your hands up" pleas to the crowd. He plays fearlessly and his nascent skills are there for all to see. It's very hard to predict who will become a star from the junior ranks. Many have difficulty making the transition from junior star to main tour star. In three more years we should have an idea of just how Monsieur Mina is going to do on the big stage.

Meanwhile the American tennis establishment has seen the future and it's bleak. I predicted that neither Venus Williams or Serena Williams would make the final at Roland Garros. Why? When all is said and done they are dyed in the wool hard court/grass court players. When the going is tough, heavy conditions, slippery clay, their style of play is not suited to the European clay. I give Venus credit for trying to improve on clay - she's won Acapulco two straight years - but when you hit that second week of the French Open you're hitting a wall both mentally and physically. You need patience and guile. American players come up short on the patience thing.

Yes they won the doubles but it was the two of them on court at the same time. This gives them the ability to play their style and neutralize the play of the opposing team.

As for American men the word pathetic comes to mind. When the top American man shows utter disdain for the clay court season - he got married during it's start last year and this year was with his wife on one of her film shoots. When he arrived in Europe he was said to be ill with a virus and therefore played not one clay court match until Roland Garros. Once again he had some success winning a couple of matches but when his wife showed up, literally red eyed from her flight, Andy Roddick seemed unable to focus on court and made a quick exit for England and friendlier climes.

Then you have John Isner and Sam Querrey. Both men get credit for coming over early and this year actually playing a final against each other on the dirt. But once again the American lack of patience was their downfall in Paris. Querrey little temper tantrum and whining that he'd been away from home too long was at the very least conduct unbecoming for a professional athlete. He left Isner in Paris and flew home. Isner, after his singles loss, also came back to the States saying he needed some kind of break from the rigors of Western Europe. You'd think they'd been in a rain forest cut off from the amenities they're accustomed to the way they carried on. Last I checked there are four and five star hotels in most major European cities where you can find people who speak English even if it's with an accent. It's said that in this day and age Ugly American syndrome lives on. Both men will play in England.

I do give Melanie Oudin who, after her early round defeat hung around taking notes on clay court play with her coach. I hope she watched the women’s final but more on that later.

With the top American stars pushing thirty and the presumptive heirs unable to slog it out in the jungles of Western Europe American tennis may end up like it’s British counterpart. I mean when the LTA has to be reminded by fans to post the qualifying draw for Queens Club for crying out loud your tennis organization is in sad shape. That is a true story by the way.

I’m sure somewhere someone is crying because Justine Henin’s return to the women’s tour has not been on the taking names level. The talking heads of American tennis broadcasting and the beknighted leaders of the tennis press hailed her return as if she was going to storm to the top ranks of the tour and ensure that the Williams didn’t take over lock stock and barrel. Well guess what? It didn’t happen and from the looks of things not only Henin but Kim Clijsters as well are not going to “save” the tour. Yes it’s been phrased just like that. Save the tour from what pray tell? I would say who but I’ve already answered that question.

I’m going to say here that Clijsters is going to try and pull the same stunt she did last year. She’ll show up in New York fresh as a daisy and try to smash her way to another US Open final. I dare say she’s get a favorable random draw. So will Henin. I’ll even go further and say that Serena will have her favorite chair umpire and linesperson doing all of her matches. My comments are tongue in cheek now but mark my words. Something smelly will be going on in the borough of Queens late in August.

The Women’s Final

This was the best WTA match this year. Period, end of story. No one gave Francesca Schiavone a chance. Too small they said. Too flaky. Never been this far in a major they said. Hand the trophy to Samantha Stosur. She hits hard. She’s got that kick serve and powerful groundstrokes. No way this little Italian woman is going to defeat her. Hah!
To their credit both women played well. Stosur stuck to what she’d done in getting to the final while Schiavo came out ready to counterpunch and turn Stosur’s strength against her. Stosur, unable to change her tactics crumbled under the pressure.

But the great thing about the match was that both women were thinking and to an extent innovating on the court. Most of the innovative play was coming from Fran’s side of the net. And she showed her accumulated knowledge by using the terre battue to her advantage and not trying to ball bash her way to the win. I hope that women’s coaches play tape of that match over and over for their charges. I for one was glad to watch a women’s match where the outcome wasn’t a given and that real tennis was played.

The Men’s Final

I’ve mentioned before that tennis media tends to forget, maybe conveniently, things about players. They mention in passing how injured Rafael Nadal was last year focusing on a man more to their liking, Robin Soderling. No one mentions the 2009 match between the two where Rafael destroyed Soderling in straight sets. Too inconvenient. The men’s final showed that a healthy Rafa can’t be beaten by Soderling.

To his credit Soderling was gracious in defeat and he’s given up mocking Rafael’s quirks on court.
I watched the final with the sound off so I have no idea what John McEnroe and Ted Robinson got up to.
There was nothing wrong with anything Soderling did on court. He was just not on the level of the man across the net.

Miscellany

Marat Safin and Yannick Noah were partying together. ‘Nuff said.

Nicholas Mahut of France lost a bet.

Mr and Mrs Shawn Carter were there.

One of the most beautiful women in the world, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was also in attendance.

Paris In The Spring - RG Days 12, 13

by Savannah

I didn't get to post yesterday because my daughter graduated from college. After the ceremony we went to one of the better NYC steak houses. Needless to say I'm very proud of her.

Women's Semi Finals

If anyone thought that Francesca Schiavone had any inkling Elena Dementieva was going to retire after the first set they had to think again when the camera zoomed in on her. Her jaw literally dropped. Elena said that she had a calf tear that made it painful to walk. I noticed that after the end of the tiebreak she stumbled and that she burst into tears before walking over to Franny to congratulate her.

In my opinion Franny is going into the final having bested her semifinal opponent in a tie break. She intends to do all she can to win. Good for her.

Talk is still swirling around Samantha Stosur's game and how it's an ATP style of play. All I know is that she blew past Justine Henin, Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic. Of her last three opponents only Serena did not say her style of play is masculine. It's true that her tennis is not the boring hit hard and harder style so many women employ these days. Is there anyone on the WTA tour who uses a kick serve?

Darren Cahill, the least fanboyish of the ESPN/NBC announcers has also compared her style of play to the ATP. He comment about how she hits the ball said that the way she hits the ball - that instead of hitting over the backhand, she prefers to run around the backhand to hit the inside out forehand "just like a man" is said to have been greeted with dead silence by his compatriots.

To be honest I don't know what the announcers, and players, are implying. Are they making allusions to her sexuality? Are they saying she's juiced? I don't know. I do know that people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

At any rate one of these two women will be the French Open Champion for 2010, something no one would've predicted.

Men's Semi Finals

You can say what you want about John McEnroe but he can call a tennis match when the mood strikes him. As soon as he said it looked as if Tomas Berdych's legs were gone I knew the match was over.

As for the second match Jurgen Melzer realized he wasn't playing Novak Djokovic midway through the second set. He did make the third set competitive but he still ended up the runner-up.

The men's final will be played on Sunday.

In Other News...

Stefan Koubek, saying he was tired of being insulted by fellow Austrian Daniel Kollerer literally took matters into his own hands during the Austrian equivalent of WTT. I can only speculate that Kollerer didn't respond because he wanted Koubek to be thrown out. Some say there is a history of bad blood between the two men. I don't know about that. I do know that Koubek was disqualified, and that the fans booed Kollerer and cheered Koubek.

Paris In the Spring - RG Day 10

By Savannah

Man you go out for a couple of hours and come back to find much weeping and gnashing of teeth. I'm assuming Patrick McEnroe has been checked in for observation. They're replaying the match on ESPN - a first? - so it's on my television. It's hard to root for someone when truth be told neither player is one you would choose to watch.

Robin Soderling will face Tomas Berdych in one semi final.

In what could be considered a mild upset based on both players past history Francesca Schiavone defeated Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. For once Franny didn't collapse mentally and Caroline's "I'll just keep the ball in play until you get frustrated" style of play didn't work. I don't think anyone thought Franny would be in the semi finals. She'll meet Elena Dementieva who defeated her injured country woman Nadia Petrova overcoming a horrible first set.

In Other News...

No tennishead can forget the reaction when Martina Hingis, after losing to Amelie Mauresmo in the Australian Open a few years back compared playing her to playing a man. There were many reasons not to care for Ms Hingis but this added many fans to the list of haters.

That said I wonder why this comment by Justine Henin didn't get a lot of play?

Q. Can you say a few words about Samantha Stosur, your next opponent? Have you played her?
JUSTINE HENIN: Yes, I played her once. That was a few weeks back in the final in Stuttgart. She has made huge progress in singles, because she used to play the doubles.
But now she's a top player in the singles. She has beautiful qualities on clay because she plays kind of a man's tennis. I mean, she has very heavy balls. She is a very powerful girl. She has a beautiful forehand and a very good backhand, as well.
It was difficult in Stuttgart. I know it's going to be difficult tomorrow. Anyway, from the round of 16 things get tougher, so I expect a good fight.

Maybe because she "clarified" what she meant? Kinda?

There is a reason lots of fans dislike listening to the ESPN commentators. Federer's opponent is up 2-0 in the second set on the replay I'm watching. I just had to listen to Brad Gilbert go on about how the Monogram is so perfect his socks aren't covered in red clay. That's analysis Brad? Really? It got worse. They were yammering on and on about the player they've deified while Robin Soderling went up 2-0 on the FedGod and held to go up 3-0. If I didn't know how this ends I would've turned it off already.

Paris In the Spring - RG Day 9

by Savannah

Samantha Stosur got the biggest win of her career today by ousting Justine Henin 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. The match was played on Lenglen.

Samantha will next face Serena Williams who easily won her match over Shahar Peer today. Serena is now the only American, male or female, left in the French Open draw. I guess the posts questioning her status and fitness will flood the fan boards today.

We Remember

Today is the day Americans pay homage to our war dead. It's a day for franks, burgers, steaks, fries, beer and sports. I plan to be camped out in front of the television with my laptop at hand watching the Yankees play baseball.

If tennis news warrants it I'll update later in the day.

Paris in the Spring - RG Day 7

by Savannah

From the American perspective there were a couple of big upsets and a major surprise today.

Things got off on the wrong foot when top ranked Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan lost to the Brazilian team of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares 3-6, 6-7(8-6). The Bryans had come to Europe early and played on the dirt. After their loss they said they were heading back to California implying that they were home sick and had been in Europe too long.

Soon after this loss perennial top ten player Andy Roddick lost to Teimuraz Gabashvili, the Russian qualifer 4, 4 and 2. I'd heard of Gabashvili prior to today and seen him play unlike the announcers who seemed not to have a clue who he was let alone that he was capable of playing good clay court tennis. While both men had 20 unforced errors Gabashvili had a stunning 58 winners compared to Roddick's 14 with Gabashvili winning a total of 102 points against Roddick's 73.

One blogger posted these comments after the match.

For Andy Roddick, Paris Was Just Practice
(...)
No, much like Murray, who has fought his way to another second week appearance, Roddick meant to use Paris as a springboard to later results. They may well spar for the title in Queens, where Murray is defending champion and Roddick has lifted the title four times.
(...)
Roddick in particular will enjoy moving to surfaces where his serve will count for more and opponents won’t have so much time for passing shots.

Okay.

That left the forgotten American, Robby Ginepri(above), as the last man standing. I don't know why Ginepri is always an afterthought but today he became the lead when he managed to pull out a 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-4 win over Juan Carlos Ferrero who on paper had to be the prohibitive favorite to move on to the next round. Ginepri will play Novak Djokovic next.

Lost in all the talk about the American men was Serena Williams overcoming a dizzy spell and winning her match over the young up and coming Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Serena blasted through the first set managing to execute a slide into a shot to perfection along the way. When she started the second set it was as if she was on one of her sister's walkabout's. She called for the trainer who took her temperature and checked her pulse before giving her some medication. That did the trick as Serena righted the ship and won 6-1, 1-6, 6-2. She was going to take the court to play doubles with her sister Venus Williams but their opponents, Caroline Wozniacki and Daniela Hantuchova, both still active in the singles draw, withdrew.

The conclusion of the match between Aravane Rezai and Nadia Petrova ended with Nadia winning 10-8 in the third set. You hardly knew anyone was in the stands.

The most anticipated match of the day, at least by the American announcers, was the one between Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin. The French fans didn't seem too interested as there were tons of empty seats in Chatrier.

The match started late and the first set belonged to Henin. She was bossing a listless Sharapova around the court and it looked as if she was going to run away with the match. Instead Maria woke up and the second set was an eye opener. Sharapova, using every inch of her six foot plus frame jerked Henin around the court like a marionette. In a dominating display she rolled over Henin 6-3 after losing the first set 6-2. Where Justine had made Maria chase drop shots and short balls in the first set Maria just, to borrow a phrase, made every shot a power shot (Thanks to Canon for coining that one). There was nothing Justine or Carlos could do.

Once again the players took the court after 8p Paris time and it was never a question that the match would either be over or stopped after the second set. The NBC announcers were aghast asking why Maria wanted to stop. Maybe because it was dark? I mean d'uh. Gael Monfils was raked over the coals by the media and some fans for choosing to continue when he felt he was on a roll just a couple of days ago. I guess it's different when the talking heads are fans of the player they want to continue.

In Other News...

I watched most of the match between Jarmila Groth and Anastasia Rodionova this morning my time. What should have been a straight set victory for Groth ended up going three sets when Groth, serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, froze and lost that set 7-5. She came back to win the third set 6-2. I wasn't impressed with either woman.

Groth will play Yaroslava Shvedova in the next round. I didn't see any of this match.

End Note

I warned everyone that NBC had afternoon coverage today and tomorrow. Going in I knew there wouldn't be ESPN3 to fall back on if they totally screwed up but I assumed there would be live streams. I assumed wrong. NBC made sure that every single live stream available in the United States was shut down. That meant whether you wanted to or not you had to watch the matches of most interest to the perceived American audience as defined by the tennis folks at NBC. My fangirl streak came out on Twitter because I didn't have the choice of watching the match I wanted to watch. Of course every player has his or her KAD's so some people were very happy since players like Fernando Verdasco and the aforementioned Robby Ginepri made it onto American television screens. Yes that is a good thing. But I wanted to see another match. Isn't the digital age all about choice?

Last but not least The Slob got to interview Roger Rasheed and Marat Safin. I have no clue what either Rasheed or Marat said. Rasheed I wasn't that interested in but as far as Marat went I just wanted to look at the pretty. Apparently so did The Slob who couldn't resist touching either man. Maybe that's just his way. I don't know. I read reports that Marat chided him for only showing him breaking racquets instead of showing some of his wins. Davai Marat.

Paris in the Spring - RG Day 6

by Savannah

I hate to always start out bitchin' but what in the names of all the gods are they thinking over at ESPN?! I don't think they've shown one second of live tennis since they came on the air at 12 noon Eastern US time.

When they started their coverage Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, back injury and all, was battling Thiemo de Bakker who had just beaten him in Barcelona. Did United States viewers get to see any of that match? Not unless their ISP allows ESPN3 or they had access to an online live stream.

And just now, in the Match of the Day, Nadia Petrova and Arazane Rezai split the first two sets and battled to a seven all tie in the third. Both women had match points and lost them. Nadia, more animated than I've ever seen her, was screaming for play to be stopped and Aravane, stubborn woman that she is, refused to give in. Once again unless you had online access you were watching matches played and decided earlier in the day. If all ESPN is going to do is tape all of their coverage as it happens and replay it during the afternoon it should not be implied that they are providing live coverage.

I'm not quite ignorant of the fact that they feel they're going with players who will attract American viewers but way back when it was matches like the one's I've mentioned above that made me a fan. Americans may not have a clue who Aravane Rezai or Nadia Petrova are but their match would have made new tennis fans. The same with the Tsonga vs De Bakker match. Jo was grimacing after every point and didn't even do his celebratory dance when the match was over. It's just very, very frustrating to hear and read the Grand Poobah's of tennis whining about why the fan base of tennis doesn't expand when they do their best to make sure fans see the same players over and over instead of exposing them to the greatness of the game regardless of who is playing.

In Other News...

Maria Kirlenko eliminated last years Women's Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in three sets 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Sveta had struggled throughout the tournament coming from behind to win both of her matches leading up to today. Maria will play Francesca Schiavone in the next round.

The dream match up between Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova will take place. Sharapova won her darkness delayed match over Kirsten Flipkens and Henin won her delayed match over Klara Zakopalova. May the best woman win.

John Isner had a very good clay season. He proved that he is more mature than his peer Sam Querrey. He lost today. I for one applaud him for crossing the pond early and getting good results on red dirt. It's going to pay off for him in the long run. Of course I said the same thing about Querrey and he may still show excellent results on clay. It's whether or not he can stand up to the stresses of high level tennis that are in question.

Elena Dementieva won her match today despite the wrapping on her calf.

Alexandra Dulgheru lost her match today.

End Note


Please note the weekend television schedule!
Tennis Channel will have coverage Saturday,May 29
5:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET (live) R32
3:00-6:30 p.m. ET French Open Tonight
Sunday, May 30
5:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET (live) R16
3:00-6:30 p.m. ET French Open Tonight

NBC Sports will have coverage Saturday, May 29
12:00-3:00 p.m. ET (live) R32

Sunday, May 30
12:00-3:00 p.m. ET (live) R16

ESPN2, ESPN DEPORTES AND ESPN3.COM WILL RESUME COVERAGE ON MONDAY, MAY 31.

Heard Around

by Savannah

Here's a follow up to Martina Navratilova's comments posted here yesterday.

It seems inconceivable that the Williams sisters, given their wide-ranging lifestyles and sporadic commitment, rank 1-2 in the world. Nothing says they can't combine to win the next four majors -- but that's not the point. Where's that traditional elite player, the Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graf, who shows up every week and presents a relentless, dominant challenge? The talent is there -- Serena, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, Maria Sharapova -- but somebody's always hurt, or inconsistent, or struggling to regain form.

It's a tour without a clear identity, and this has to be a reason why Europe shrugs in indifference. Crowds were shockingly thin for most women's matches in the recent clay-court events. Jelena Jankovic took the court in Rome for a quarterfinal against Venus, and the atmosphere resembled a match for seventh place in a Division III collegiate tournament. Venus and Aravene Rezai began their Madrid final in a near-empty arena, filling up (to a degree) only as the match approached the one-hour mark.

Tennis needs stars, people to count on, which is why a packed house was buzzing well before Federer and Nadal even took the court. If someone is going to step up on the women's tour, she has yet to identify herself.

I'm not quite sure where this Bruce Jenkins has been for the last couple of years but the WTA has been playing to near empty stadiums - as chronicled in this space - for going on two years now. It doesn't matter if the tournament is in the States or overseas.

And lets get real here. If Martina and Steffi were just starting out now they would not be considered stars by the WTA tour. Not the right look or lifestyle would be the unwritten attitude towards the two women. Until the WTA starts marketing the tour not individual personalities the stands will remain empty for even their marquee players.

And I don't know where he gets this idea that no one has stepped up to the plate to carry the tour. Venus Williams and Serena Williams have shown they can indeed play top ranked tennis. All the others have shown is that they can take a decent picture. I consider this talk about the tour being a mess to be racist. There is no beating around the bush on this. There was no one in the stands when Dinara Safina was number one. Aside from drooling prepubescent boys the stands were pretty empty when Maria Sharapova was on the court. Neither Kim Clijsters nor Justine Henin are major draws except in the United States where the Cult of the Belgians seems to be strongest. Lets be clear. What is being said is that two American women of African descent are not draws. Bullshit. It's the WTA tour and it's head in the sand marketing approach that have caused the demise of fan interest in their product. Let's not blame the women who have carried the tour for that. The blame goes right to the top and should be focused there.

This article is an interesting insight into how the American tennis establishment thinks as well as how the so called tennis media simply regurgitates their opinions.

Jenkins does manage to get one valid point in though.

As for TC's setup in Madrid: The men's tour has an international network for the nine Masters events and year-end championships, complete with announcers on the scene. The WTA has no such deal, which explains why Katrina Adams and Brian Webber called all of the Madrid women's matches from a studio in Los Angeles.

Random Results
Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Elena Dementieva at Polsat 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. The match lasted three hours and saw Elena commit 59 unforced errors.

Olivier Rochus defeated Robin Soderling at Nice 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Maria Sharapova beat up on Dia Evtimova, a qualifier from Bulgaria 6-3 and 6-0. Her first serve percentage for the match was 96%.

Heard Around

by Savannah

Thanks to "Karen" for bringing this article to my attention. It's a transcript of a conference call featuring Martina Navratilova posted by GVGirl on her blog. Martina, as usual, is being real.

When asked about whether or not Serena and Venus at one and two in the world is a good thing or a bad thing, Navratilova remarked: “You would not be asking that if Federer-Nadal were one and two. You wouldn't be saying oh, does that mean that the men's field are not so strong because they are number one and number two again. Uh... no. I think those guys are two great champions and Serena and Venus are two great champions. They will be two of the greatest champions that the game has had. It just so happens that they are from the same family. ..but ... I think you would not be asking that if they weren't sisters as much. And, maybe be asking that question if it were guys rather than women. But, no, of course, they are fantastic athletes. They play the game on another level. They have so much power and so much speed. You think the point is over and somehow the ball comes back again. Not only do they get there, but what they do with it when they get there because again, they are so strong. Venus with her wingspan and Serena with her raw power. Yeah, they are two phenomenal athletes. But ... you should just be fortunate that they are still playing the game.”

She could have taken it one step further and said the question would not have been asked if Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters were ranked one and two in the world. It is vexing that after all this time and all they've contributed to women's tennis the Williams are still seen as interlopers by so many.

German/Jamaican player Dustin Brown has made it to the top 100 debuting at #99. If you remember I wrote about him a little while ago. He's one of the players I'm keeping my eye on.

Nishikori Kei is also back on the tour. He was out almost a year with injury and is making a good showing so far on the Challenger circuit.

The AP reports that eleven cities in the United States have shown interest in hosting the Fed Cup this November. The cities are Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Pacific Palisades, San Diego, Cleveland; the island of Hawaii; Jacksonville, Fla.; Portland, Ore.; St. Louis; and Surprise, Ariz. With many sports events pulling out of Arizona due to it's controversial immigration law I wonder if tennis will buck the trend. Final bids are due on June 4 with the announcement of the winner to be made on June 14.

Wimbledon has announced that Queen Elizabeth will attend the tournament on Thursday June 24. She last attended in 1977. Spain's Queen Sofia attended the men's final in Madrid on Sunday.

Here's Lookin' Atcha


Carlos Bernardes smiles for the camera


Bob Bryan cleans the court in Dusseldorf, Germany

The Winners Circle

by Savannah

Flavia Pennetta and Gisela Dulko won the Doubles Crown at Stuttgart.

Justine Henin won her first championship since her return to the tour.

Bob and Mike Bryan won the Doubles Championship in Rome.

Rafael Nadal won Rome for his 17th ATP Masters title.

Congratulations to everyone.