They're Back

by Savannah

David Nalbandian can count himself among the few who have returned to the Main Tour after hip surgery. Showing the form he usually reserves for the indoor season Nalbandian came out like a house on fire and weathered the inevitable challenge from Marcos Baghdatis to win the singels title at Legg Mason in hot and steamy Washington DC. It was a great week of tennis for David.

Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles won the men's doubles crown in Washington. Fish somewhat redeemed himself in my eyes by staying and playing doubles.

Everyone knows that Svetlana Kuznetsova, when on, is one of the best players in women's tennis. It's the when on and brain is fully engaged part that is important. This week Sveta was all systems go and found herself in the San Diego final against Aggie Radwanska, the modern day Martina Hingis. There was that blip in the second set where Sveta lost focus and found herself on the losing end of a 7-6(7) tiebreak but she came back in third set and won it decisively 6-3. Women's tennis is always more fun with Sveta in the mix.

The fairly new doubles team of Maria Kirilenko and Zheng Jie pose with the trophies they received for winning the doubles crown in San Diego.

Caroline Wozniacki, aka Sunshine (Cliff Drysdale and Pam Shriver were affectionately using her nickname yesterday while broadcasting the San Diego final but I digress) won the inaugural Copenhagen event where she was - gasp - the top seed. She defeated Klara Zakopalova in straight sets. She also debuted her new summer do while proudly holding up the tureen, uh, trophy.

The doubles winners in Copenhagen, Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Gronefeld posed proudly with their trophies. Goerges has had a pretty good summer so far. It's going to be interesting to see her in the States.

The Week Ahead

The women are in the MidWestern United States playing in Cincinnati while the men's tour is north of the border in Toronto, Canada. I haven't checked to see if the cameras are on so that tennis fans will get to see the early round action. It does the reputation of the American tennis authorities no good to make fans in the States have to scramble to see tournaments where the best players are featured. Then again - oh never mind.

An American Free Zone

1 Rafael Nadal 10,745

2 Novak Djokovic 6,905

3 Roger Federer 6,795

4 Andy Murray 5,305

5 Robin Soderling 4,740

6 Nikolay Davydenko 4,285

7 Tomas Berdych 3,780

8 Juan Martin Del Potro 3,770

9 Fernando Verdasco 3,475

10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3,455

This is the first time since the modern ranking system went into effect that there is not one American man in the Top Ten. Andy Roddick, who has been American men's tennis is now ranked #11.
11 Roddick, Andy (USA) 3,235

We all knew this day was coming. Andy Roddick should not be blamed for what has happened. He has done all he could to try and get himself into shape mentally and physically to play the modern game. Was it a few years too late? Maybe. Will he be back in the Top Ten? Good runs leading into the US Open can ensure that especially with Tsonga being injured. I'm not going to write one of those posts going into the whys and wherefores of how we got to this place. I've written about it a lot and don't really feel the need to now. Let's just say that we're up that proverbial thick brown creek without a paddle.

1 1 Williams, Serena 26/09/81 USA 8355

2 2 Jankovic, Jelena 28/02/85 SRB 5900

3 3 Wozniacki, Caroline 11/07/90 DEN 5710

4 4 Williams, Venus 17/06/80 USA 5287

5 5 Stosur, Samantha 30/03/84 AUS 4690

6 6 Dementieva, Elena 15/10/81 RUS 4590

7 7 Clijsters, Kim 08/06/83 BEL 4510

8 8 Schiavone, Francesca 23/06/80 ITA 4285

9 10 Radwanska, Agnieszka 06/03/89 POL 4070

10 9 Zvonareva, Vera 07/09/84 RUS 3905

I don't get why the WTA always prints the players birthdays and usually remove them but I left them in now because we need to take a really good look at the women's Top Ten. Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska are the only babies in the group. Everyone else is "middle aged" when it comes to tennis years. There are Americans, two in fact, in the top ten of women's tennis but of course the establishment spends more time snarking about them than praising them for their accomplishments. We're headed up that same dark brown creek we're mired in on the men's side. We can believe all we want.

Fashion Statement of the Week

A closer look at Caroline Wozniacki's hair. This is a variation on traditional African corn rows where twists are used instead of tightly braiding the hair. The style puts less stress on both the hair and the hair line. Nice summer do for the young woman.