Weekend Winners

by Savannah


Francesca Schiavone WTA Kremlin Cup Champion 2009

Mikhail Youzhny ATP Kremlin Cup Champion 2009

Marcel Granollers left, and Pablo Cuevas 2009 ATP Kremlin Cup Doubles Champions

Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko 2009 WTA Kremlin Cup Doubles Champions

The New York Times published the following interview with Stacy Allaster today.

Special Report: W.T.A. Tour Championships, Doha
Tour’s New Chief Aims to Keep Shoring Up Women’s Game

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: October 25, 2009

Stacey Allaster, the new chairman and chief executive officer of the Women’s Tennis Association Tour, is well aware that she has a tough act to follow. Larry Scott, her predecessor and former boss, is the tennis administrator who helped convince Wimbledon to offer equal prize money for men and women. Scott also shored up the once-vulnerable W.T.A.’s finances. He signed a lucrative $88 million deal with Sony Ericsson to sponsor the circuit for six years and secured $84 million more from the Doha and Istanbul tournaments over six years to stage the Tour’s year-end championships. Most important to the players, he generated a significant increase in prize money.

In exchange, Scott got the players’ permission to make real changes in the Tour structure this season. He shuffled the calendar and the Tour’s top events, decreased playing requirements and increased the penalties for those who do not respect the new, more reasonable minimums.

The reassuring news for Allaster is that she was part of the act. She had served under Scott as Tour president since 2006. After Scott, 44, left in July to become commissioner of an American college athletics conference, the Pacific-10, Allaster, an articulate 46-year-old Canadian, was named his successor.

Like Kim Clijsters, she is a working mother. Like Scott, who was captain of the tennis team at Harvard and had a brief career as a professional player before joining the sport’s administrative ranks, Allaster has spent a lifetime in the game, first as an amateur player and later as vice president of Tennis Canada and tournament director of the Canadian Open in Toronto.

But in the midst of an economic slump, Allaster must now find a way (and fast) to keep the revenue and the player support flowing. She is in the process of negotiating an extension with Sony Ericsson and is still doing a poor job of containing her delight that she now has the former world No. 1 Justine Henin on the comeback trail along with Clijsters, her fellow Belgian.

Allaster spoke last week with the International Herald Tribune:

Q. How do you view the first year of your restructured calendar, the so-called road map?

A. I really couldn’t be more pleased. I think overall what we tried to achieve was for our players to deliver to fans and sponsors, and they did that. We made player commitment at 80 percent of our events. If we dial it back to 2007, we didn’t make player commitment at one of our commitment events. That was a big part of what we were trying to reform — bringing credibility to the Sony Ericsson W.T.A. Tour — and our players have stepped up and delivered.

I think some of the other metrics relate to the business aspect of the road map. In this economy, there was a 34 percent increase in prize money, which was incredible.

For the first time in many years, all top-10 players who were part of the bonus pool in 2009 will all receive a bonus pool payout. That hasn’t happened since 2004, and that’s all tied to their delivery of commitment. And Jelena Jankovic will receive a million-dollar bonus-pool payout.

Q. Do you have injury numbers for the season?

A. Withdrawals as a whole are down 30 percent. To give you context, the number of first-round retirements in 2009 is 17, compared with 36 in 2008. And total retirements and walkovers are at 58 in 2009, compared to 71 in 2008.

Q. Tennis Magazine in France recently conducted a poll asking women’s players to rank the most important tournaments in the world. The year-end championships came in a distant 10th, after the four Grand Slams, Miami, Indian Wells, Fed Cup, Rome and Dubai. It’s interesting that the Doha event is ranked that low despite the prize money and number of points at stake. Is there work to be done?

We are only 10 months into the most comprehensive set of reforms in the history of the Tour, so it is an ongoing process to educate the players about what are the important events on our Tour. And why are they the important events? Because they really are the financial drivers of the business.

A. I liken where we are right now on the Sony Ericsson Tour to where we were back in 2001 on the men’s tour, when we brought the Masters Series in. It was about making those nine events important in the minds of the athletes after the Grand Slams. And when we look now to the generation of male players competing, you often hear them refer to winning Slams and winning Masters Series and, in many respects, that’s now where we need to get to with our athletes.

Q. Are your players aware of doing more for the business in a tough economy?

A. Many of them talk to me in those terms, even the younger ones. They understand it. Obviously they live in a world where they’re not affected by the economy, but they’re in touch enough to know what is happening around them.

Players like Venus Williams — you could not ask for a better player leader. She’s been incredibly supportive inside the Player Council, and I can tell you she’s been actively engaged with helping with the Sony Ericsson renewal. She recently participated in a meeting in New York with me with Sony Ericsson along with Billie Jean King and Melanie Oudin. I think we know the story there: the past, present and future all understand the importance of our sponsorship partners.

It took literally a nanosecond for all three of them to say, “If my schedule is clear, I’ll be there.”

Q. The situation around Serena Williams’s incident at the U.S. Open is ongoing. It’s still being investigated by the International Tennis Federation, but do you believe a potential one-Slam suspension is too draconian?

A. I don’t want to comment on what decision they might make.

But what I will say is: Look, Serena Williams is a great champion, and she’s been a terrific ambassador and role model for the sport of women’s tennis for her entire career. And the U.S. Open situation is an isolated incident, for which Serena has acknowledged that it was a mistake and she has apologized for it.

I get the following from this:
Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters were recruited, pressed to come back by the tour. Henin's "retirement" was over any way and Clijsters, who had very personal reasons for stepping away from the tour when she did, always seemed that she would come back.

Melanie Oudin as the future of tennis? Really? Let's see where she is this time next year before we start throwing swag and crowns at her.

Why no question about splitting the tour into two parts?

I still say the woman's public statements make her seem delusional.


Marcos Baghdatis 2009 Stockholm Champion

Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett 2009 Doubles Champions Stockholm

Timea Bacsinszky 2009 Luxembourg Champion

Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova won the doubles at Luxembourg.

The official portrait for Doha 2009 as released by the WTA this morning.

Peter Lundgren on Roger, Marat, Marcelo and Marcos

by Savannah

Fascinating discussion with Peter Lundgren on his famous charges. Enjoy, and of course, comment.

On Roger Federer


The Role of A Coach



On Marcos Baghdatis

Who The Hell Is This Guy?

by Savannah

He's way better than being ranked 25 in the world. I don't know what the hell he's doing at the other tournaments, but it worked these two

Roger Federer after his loss to David Nalbandian at the Paris Bercy Masters.

The folks who run the Bercy Masters were tired of their event being known as the one at the end of the year that no one comes to play in and went out to establish themselves as a TMS event worthy of the name. Whatever they did to get the big boys to come and play they did. The fans in Paris got to see the World Number 1 and Number 3 go down to defeat while the World Number 2 fought and outlasted a gutsy Marcos Baghdatis to make the final in his first attempt at this event.

As for the man he will play David Nalbandian, once derided by fans as “Fat Dave” is suddenly playing as if he’s part of the top three and not as number three. The last two weeks he’s been playing number one tennis taking apart Nadal and Federer in Madrid, and Federer once again in Paris. In a tennis tour de force he destroyed Richard Gasquet, picking him to pieces as if Gasquet was a junior playing his first main tour match. Gasquet seemed to revive at the end of the second set but it was too little way too late.

Nalbandian has to be favored going into tomorrows match. The French tennis crowds don’t care for either Rafa or David so it’ll be interesting to see what they do. Somehow I don’t think the conga drums will be played to support either of the players.

The US Open - Super Saturday

I have to say I’m bummed.

If I hadn’t paid an arm and a leg to get tickets for Super Saturday out at the BJK National Tennis Center I’d stay home in air conditioned comfort, write, and watch the men’s semis on television, probably with the sound off. I’d tape the women’s final and watch it at some later date.

But I’m writing this on the fly as I get ready to go out. I’m writing this because I am surprised to read on so many fan boards and from the regular readers and posters on this and Craig’s blog that tennis is not on their agenda today. That is not good for tennis.

When dyed in the wool WTA fans berate that organization for creating such a ridiculous draw that the “real final” – even Mary Carillo called it that, was yesterdays semi final between Justine Henin and Venus Williams – and that tonight’s Final between Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova will only be watched by hard core tennis fans is sad. Forget that Justine had two days rest to Venus one day since the original schedule which had Venus playing on Tuesday was jury rigged because the match that would have happened Wednesday night was an insomnia cure. The entire women’s draw was rigged to favor one player who still could not make it to semi final day.

Venus is a professional tennis player. She lost. V-nuts are not happy. Moving on.

The match between Svetlana Kuznetsova and the up and coming Anna Chakvetadze was horrid. There are no other words to describe it. Anna got a big case of stage fright and while she didn’t pull a Tomas Berdych and throw in the towel she did the next best thing. Sveta, who can play great tennis, could barely get out of her own way for one entire set. She won the next two by keeping the ball in the court, something young Anna couldn’t do. Justine Henin will not be so forgiving Sveta. Based on what I observed in person the other night when Justine played Serena and overheard on the train going home Justine may be the best player right now but she is not, and never will be, a favorite. She has her fans, yes, but with Carlos Rodriguez admitting that he cheats and will continue to do so until someone stops him the two of them, while compiling the best record and playing the best tennis will never be “beloved” by the fans.

The mens semi finals? David Ferrer comes in carrying a lot of people’s hopes on his shoulders. This is his first Grand Slam semi final. Novak Djokovic? I literally fell asleep watching him play Haase the other day. Maybe it was fatigue. I hope so. I expect to see him go into his act today due to the heat of the day and hopefully the heat Ferrer will bring. Despite Novak’s being JMac’s new darling everyone, fortunately, is not on that bandwagon.



As for the other semi final match Nikolay Davydenko will face Roger Federer, or as he is called in some circles, The Name.
If you don’t get the reference find Marcos Baghdatis post match interview where he talks about simply the name of Roger Federer inspired awe. As I said writing this on the fly so I can’t quite remember where he said it – maybe in Cincy or in Montreal. Since Federer has played warm up matches of varying degrees of difficulty to reach the semi’s while Davydenko has actually played very well this may turn out to be a match. If it turns out to be 1,1,1 or something like that don’t blame me. I said it MAY turn out to be a match.


Gotta go. I’ll report my adventures at BJK later. Ciao.

Indian Wells

I didn’t write this week. I wanted to wait until the seeds finished their opening rounds which meant I couldn’t think about the week that was until late Sunday night. Unlike Marcos Baghdatis who feels that if he works at tennis it’s too much like a job I know blogging is not just sitting down in front of a computer and generating pearls of wisdom. It’s work and I was raised to always do the best I can at whatever I do. So I started thinking about this recap about Wednesday and how I could explain Roger’s march towards tennis history and how the rest of the men are battling each other for a chance at second place which is currently quite adequately occupied.

There were lots of good stories too. Michael Russell, a true journeyman, has been playing very well and deserves some ink. Juan Carlos Ferrero has been showing signs of life. The tennis press is letting Blake have his image is everything moment and talk about golf instead of the disaster he created in Las Vegas which seems to have been the death blow for the ATP’s experiment with Round Robin play. Andy Roddick is once again said to be on track to the top. Andy Murray got a haircut. Rafa is wearing a doo-rag as one fan put it. I like the bandana but different strokes for different folks. Pova is wearing the same dress she wore at Melbourne. So much for her being a fashionista. She must not have seen “The Devil Wears Prada”. Miranda Priestly would not be amused. Bethanie Mattek actually wore tennis clothes although another wag said it looked like she shopped for them at the WTA discount store. Ms Mattek also attacked the WTA for only promoting one player and ignoring the myriad personalities that make up the WTA. There is a large contingent of Asian women playing this event. Berdych and Youzhny were in the house as well. The Rochus brothers, Soderling, everyone who is anyone in the ATP showed up. The WTA, not so much.

All of this deserves discussion and I’m sure at some point these things will indeed be discussed. But right now there is only one story. The star of this fable is a man who, at 29, has come back to the tour he left in disgrace eighteen months ago after being found guilty of doping. Guillermo Canas of Argentina is named for Guillermo Vilas the former Argentine great. No one gave him much of a chance against Roger Federer, the man who is called “Superman” by some, a living legend before he has even finished playing; a man who seems to need only to show up at an event in order to win it. Roger’s parents were in the seats talking casually with a friend. His girlfriend was seen to be more concerned with keeping cool in the sun than whether or not her man was going to win this match. I don’t think much was said about who was in Canas’ box other than his coach and trainer. After all it didn’t matter did it? Canas’ was destined to be one more speed bump in the road for the steamroller named Roger.

Then a funny thing happened. A tennis match broke out. Canas managed to break the great man. He managed to win the first set. Winning a set at 7-5 is mental some say. Canas was mental. He was playing great, fundamental tennis. Take what your opponent is giving you and counter it. Roger wanted short, quick, mentally deflating points. Canas kept playing that extra ball, making that extra shot and suddenly there was an injury time out. Roger later said that the tape on his feet wasn’t sticking properly.

I remember Roger being upset when a then unknown kid from Spain took a set from him at 6-2. “I never lose a set 6-2,” I remember him saying. He won that match when the kid tired in the final set. Canas beat Roger 6-2 in the second set yesterday afternoon in the California desert. During that set there was another injury time out, this time for a blister. It should be noted that during the first time out I was looking for the Chief from “Grey’s Anatomy” or at least the resident orthopedic surgeon Cally O’Malley to weigh in with a diagnosis. Never has so much attention been afforded a tape job.

Canas has been away due to his own idiocy. If he is capable of playing the tennis he played yesterday why was he using something he shouldn’t have been? Maybe the time away cleared his mind and made his goals clearer. They said that his friends made sure he stayed match fit. He worked. (There’s that word again Marcos.) And he never joined the Cult of Roger. The Canas that showed up on the court yesterday is someone the tour will have to reckon with. I’m sure Guillermo had to, as one tennishead said, give hair, nail, blood, skin and urine samples after the match. To Roger’s credit he didn’t blame the sun, moon or the stars. He lost a match. The earth is still turning on its axis. He played his doubles match. The blisters he said were no big deal.

Today Canas takes the court again to play Carlos Moya. At twenty nine I’d think Guillermo would have some issues playing back to back. Moya has been playing well of late. Everyone will be watching to see how Guillermo fares. It’s just like getting a break of serve – it’s not a break unless you hold serve after it. If he makes it through all bets are off for the top half of the draw.

As “AmonRa”, a long time tennis observer said in his post about the match Canas’ win is good for the sport. Eight of the nine men ranked after Roger would have found a way to lose yesterday. Guillermo Canas showed that truly, on any given day, anyone can win and anyone, even a tennis god, can lose and that there is no excuse for anyone to just roll over and play dead because the guy across the net from him is “just too good”. Haruka said after the match that she was glad to see there was another real man on the tour. I don’t expect to hear anymore bleating from the Other Eight going forward. Go out. Play your game to the best of your ability and maybe, just maybe, you get to the next round That is why you play. And that is why fans pay to see you play.