I Don't Understand

by Savannah

I keep trying to post my last post of 2014 and everytime I try something catches my eye. Like this interview Andy Roddick did with Ravi Ubha of CNN . The headline was "Scrap Hawkeye or Change System". It was posted by a good tennis friend of mine on a fan site and when I saw the headline I rolled my eyes and started to skip it figuring it was blather but I said to myself "what the hell" and I read it.

Here is Roddick's reasoning:

Roddick says that there is " not enough interaction between players and umpires".
What kind of interaction" " If someone is really having a go at the umpire, you are not going to change the channel. It's an impossibility."
He doesn't end there.

"We love our guys in the game now, Roger, Rafa and the way they carry themselves but there's some entertainment value on the guys that don't carry themselves so well," Roddick said, mentioning himself, retired two-time grand slam winner Marat Safin and the man dubbed 'Super Brat,' John McEnroe.
"Johnny Mac is out here all the time still going nuts and people love it," said Roddick, referring to the 55-year-old McEnroe competing in seniors' events.

Roger Federer's objections to the system are cited by the author as proof that some in the sport don't like Hawkeye, going back two years to quote this statement by Federer:

"What I like without Hawk-Eye is just the players challenging the umpires more often."

Somehow I don't think Federer wants to turn tennis into the WWE.

Roddick allows that getting rid of Hawkeye may be too extreme an idea so he says the number of challenges should be reduced to one per match.

There is also this.

Another change in the game Roddick would make is keeping play going when there are lets.
For Roddick, the entertainment factor is indeed key.
"We are fooling ourselves if we don't think sports are entertainment," he said.

It's always amazing to me that you see this sort of thing coming from American players. Retired American players. I guess if you can't play up to the level of the top men why not enable a side show to take place? Roddick says he doesn't want tennis players coming out in feather boas and sequins but isn't that what he's advocating? Somehow I don't think too many fans want to see this kind of thing come back. I know I don't.

A Facepalm to End The Year

by Savannah

I thought that the silly season was just about over. Live tennis, real tennis, not some ginned up exhibition that pays players a ton of money to show up, but real live tennis will be starting soon.

Silly me. I should've known better. The WTA, in its never ending mission to dumb down women's tennis will be introducing an app during Brisbane that will do all the things that make match play exciting. What are those things you ask? Oh, little things like knowing where your opponent is standing. Is she standing way behind the baseline, on the baseline, or just inside the baseline to receive your serve and returns? Simply looking across the net will tell you that.

Is she hitting to your forehand or backhand? Is she taking advantage of your slowness on court to try and make you move? If you know the success of your game relies on you dominating the center of the court and you're constantly trying to catch up to balls that are catching the line you're in trouble.

The WTA has a solution for you. It's introducing an app that will do your thinking for you. Paul Malone a sportswriter for the Courier Mail of Brisbane posted an article detailing just how wonderful and groundbreaking this app is. Forget that the app will only be used by the WTA. Forget that it will not be used during Slams even though some muckety muck associated with Tennis Australia feels it will be allowed to be used during Slams.

And you know ATP players are somewhere laughing their asses off.

The women's game is already disrepected by the men and I think this will make it worse. The whole point of tennis is to figure out what your opponent is doing and adapt to it. The WTA, with oncourt coaching, has already dumbed down the women's game encouraging the spectacle of a coach swanning down out of the stands to hold his charges hand and clear her muddled mind. Now the coaches will have this app so that the poor dear can see how far back her opponent is standing, see where her opponent is hitting returns to her and tell her what to do. I wonder what the player has been doing out there all this time? Filing her nails while balls whiz past her because the heat of competition is too much for her?

There are already people, me among them, who see a drop in the quality of women's tennis coming. It's coming in mens tennis too but they're not doing something as asinine as this. This is only going to hasten the decline and perhaps make it impossible for the sport, as played by women, to return to its glory days. Serena Williams dominates women's tennis because she's always thinking out there. She can change strategy during a match and mentally wears her opponents down. Thinking on court can be done but apparently the WTA thinks its special snowflakes need an app to show them what should be done routinely during match play.

There are many passionate followers of women's tennis out there. I hope that they condemn this further dumbing down of women's tennis. Intelligence will no longer be the deciding factor for a female player. Her coach will do everything for her. That way she can concentrate on magazine covers, fashion spreads and selfies. Oh, and staged photoshoots with boyfriends.

Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop

by Savannah

So this happened.

Matt Cronin ‏@TennisReporters

Breaking: Madison Keys is now being coached by Lindsay Davenport who will work during off season but @LDavenport76 wont be full time in 2015

Update from Tom Perrotta on twitter:

Madison Keys now employs Lindsay Davenport & Wim Fissette (Clijsters/Halep). Shared coaching. Wim in Europe, Lindsay in U.S., both at Slams.

Update 2:

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg

Change of plans for Madison Keys: she will be coached by Lindsay Davenport and Lindsay's husband Jon Leach, not by Lindsay + Wim Fissette.

@TennisReporters

Davenport had foot surgery so Jon hitting with Keys, likes him lot, decides 2 stay with Jon. Will eventually higher members 4 small tournies.

@TennisReporters

Davenport had foot surgery so Jon hitting with Keys, likes him lot, decides 2 stay with Jon. Will eventually higher members 4 small tournies.

Lindsay Davenport ‏@LDavenport76

@TennisReporters @BenRothenberg well my hubby still has a day job, so we say helping his wife out and keeping me & @Madison_Keys in line

I hope that one about she likes hitting with Lindsay's husband so now he's her part time coach isn't true. That is not how you choose a coach, not when you're poised for the big time like Madison is.

I don't think I mentioned in yesterday's post that Eugenie Bouchard signed with IMG for modeling and tennis and will be working with Serena Williams agent Jill Smoller (the blonde woman you see in Serena's courtside box all the time) and Brad Slater.
That news broke after I started my year end post.

There are a lot of people who think these developments mean Wim Fissette will end up coaching Bouchard and I tend to agree with them. I don't think anyone wants to coach Sloane let alone someone who is used to coaching at the highest levels of the sport.

That said I think Bouchard has the same problem Sloane does. She's a "stah" and knows what is best for her. In other words she doesn't listen. Bouchard has so much wrong with her game she needs a firm hand. If Fissette ends up coaching her full time she's going to have to get over herself.

Still I have to wonder if US players are being pressured to work with US based coaches. It's just something I thought of in passing.

This is still a developing story. When they announce who will be coaching Bouchard I'll post here.

Richard Gasquet and The Davis Cup

Sacre Bleu!!! The French have discovered they have a problem with their male players. Yesterday @markalannixon posted translations of an interview where it was revealed that Yannick Noah, who has been busy doing a lot of non tennis things has offered his services. Whether he's done this before I don't know. What he said pissed off Arnaud Clément though.

Then there were the comments made by Richard Gasquet.

"If Yannick wants to help in one way or another, he just needs to call the players. We all need people like him. He has a lot to add. I was with him from time to time in 2007. He goes to a lot of concerts and I see him still occasionally. It's nice. I know Gaël talked to him this year."

Did his comments bother you?

"Not at all. I adore Yannick. I understand what he was trying to say even if the way said it was a bit delicate. He can help obviously. But we don't know how much he wants to invest or return to tennis. He can't criticise our preparation. We were at 100%. And Arnaud is still a good captain. I have no worries about him. We, the players, re-elected him just before the final, and that shows everything's fine."

Some involved with tennis like Mouratoglou have offered their services to help French tennis ...

"It would be nice if Mouratoglou coached some French players. It would be easier to take what he said. He lasted two months with Chardy. Let him prove himself by forming players. Serena isn't very complicated ..."

So Noah, who said that the French have difficulties, is okay but Patrick isn't. That last comment about Serena is probably something he'll wish he had back.

Here is the link to @markalannixon's translation. Translation of Gasquet interview from L'Equipe

It's the holiday season and everyone is stressed so I leave you with something to make you smile.
John Isner has hired Justin Gimelstob as his coach.
See I told you I'd make you laugh.

The Rear View Mirror - 2014

by Savannah


via AFP

Transition years. They mean many things to many people. For the most part they bring uncertainty. Who will win the Slams? For the ATP the next question is who will dominate the Master 1000 events? For the WTA it means who will find her way to the top of the heap and will she get there by winning a Slam or will she simply play enough tournaments to give her the points to be named top dog? The ATP came close to having a slamless number one and suddenly all the mockery and scorn for the WTA and it's roster of slamless number ones disappeared. It didn't happen but the double standard between women's tennis and men's tennis is as real as it ever was. More on that later.

Nishikori Kei didn't win a Slam but he made the Final of the US Open. He beat the best clay courter ever on his best surface. No matter how he did it it was a win. He finished the year ranked fifth in the world. And no one doubts he's due to win a Slam, maybe in 2015. It's going to be interesting to see how he handles going from the hunter to the hunted, and whether his body will withstand the beating it will have to take to stay at the top of the men's game. And he's doing it with a celebrity coach or "super coach" as they're being called now, Michael Chang in his employ. Chang won the French and is an example of what a small man can do when he puts his mind to it. Of course the tennis of his time is not the tennis of today but he seems to be able to prepare his charge for today's physical game. The knock on Asian men in tennis has always been size but do the really big men of the West dominate the sport? Not really. Marin Ćilić, the US Open champion, is the exceptional big man who has won a Slam. The top male players are physical specimens but they're not "big men". John Isner is a big man. So is Milos Raonic. People want these men to do well but right now other than the hit and hit harder mindset they haven't shown themselves to be able to withstand the grind mentally.

But I digress. I think Nishikori is the ATP Player of the Year, Slam or no Slam. I'm sure there are those who will pick someone else, someone who has won a Slam, or holds the top ranking, or is considered a demigod. This was a transition year. And the man who is poised to take advantage of this time is Nishikori. I say this not as a big fan of his, I'm not, but it is what it is. Now it's Nishikori's turn to prove that 2014 was not a fluke, that he's ready to step up.


via Jen Pottheiser

This was not an easy decision. I know it should have been but it wasn't. I started this end of year post talking about transition and chose a man who hasn't won a Slam as my ATP Player of the Year. In the end though Serena Williams proved beyond a doubt that she is the dominant female player of her generation. In a year where mental fatigue showed, in a year where there was just a whiff of drama in her camp, in a year where the pack was nipping at her heels she somehow found a way to hold on to the top spot via convincing wins at the US Open and the YEC. She survived a year where coaches openly told their charges to tank matches, with no consequences from the subservient tennis press or the WTA, so that she would not win a the year end tournament. There was the usual hating from the usual corners of the tennis world, dank dark places where her dominace is looked on with hatred and envy, who want anyone but Serena at the top of the women's game. But there she sits, and the haters have, for now, retreated to their caves and are plotting for 2015.

Who else did I think of? Surprisingly Caroline Wozniacki who refocused on her game and gave players fits at the end of the year. Simona Halep didn't make the cut with me because she has not shown that she can mentally handle that Sunday afternoon match with all eyes on her. Petra Kvitova? It looks as if she's finally working on her fitness. Her inability to move is what's holding her back. Maria Sharapova? She's not able to bully players anymore and that could mean trouble for her in 2015. Ana Ivanovic? I can hear it now. "You picked Nishikori for ATP Player of the Year so why not Ana who really fought her way back into the top five?" I think her being able to do that without changing much if anything about her game points to the weakness and mental frailty of everyone ranked below Serena. "But Maria is tough!" I hear you saying. She knows who she can bully and who she can't. She's in Halep's head. Kvitova has to be interested in order to win those big matches. If you scream and holler at Ivanovic she cracks.

This is why, despite the good year many in the top five had in the end I had to choose Serena Williams. Her team has her ready for just about every match. Yes she has bad days, we all do. But when it matters, when winning is the only option, a win it will be. Looking ahead I don't think she's going to play as much in 2015. She'll play the Slams, she'll play the big tournaments but right now her strategy has to be to stay healthy mentally and physically. It's not going to get any easier for her. She is vulnerable, but I feel that Serena will find a way to stay within the top five.

This and That

It's been an interesting "off season" hasn't it? To get this out of the way I haven't watched one second of the IPTL event in Asia and didn't intend to. The 2015 season starts in a few weeks and it's going to be a month of living backwards - sleeping in the day and up at night. I'm not going to do that for exhibition matches. I didn't watch the event in London either.

Not that I haven't been paying attention though. I've been Tweeting and keeping up with current events in tennis, which seems to mean keeping up with who is coaching who for 2015. So let's discuss that for a few minutes.

The most recent news is that Martina Navratilova will be joining Agniezska Radwanska's team on a part time basis. Aga has seen the WTA pass her by and while she is a mere ten points behind Ivanovic in the rankings most of the wins she has are against up and comers who haven't figured her out yet. The top women don't have big problems with her anymore. Navratilova has made no secret of wanting to coach and taking on Aga is going to be an interesting experiment. I guess Aga wants to improve her aggression the way Ivanovic and Wozniacki have so she has a better chance of winning seven matches instead of five at a Slam. I don't expect to see much in Melbourne since they won't have had much time to work together. At least that's how it looks from the outside.

Then there was the intriguing he is then he isn't situation with Sloane Stephens and Nick Saviano. Sloane was seen working at his academy and as quick as you can type 140 characters it was being reported that Saviano was her new coach. Then came the clarification: He's not her coach, not really. She's at his Academy but he's not officially her coach. Got that? This is after Thomas Högstedt was announced as her coach but he then signed on to "consult" with Simona Halep who said she must have a Romanian coach since only a Romanian can understand her. Capiche? So right now Sloane has no coach. This young woman had better remove her head from her posterior and realize the WTA has truly passed her by and that she's joined the ranks of American players who serve as cannon fodder for the real contenders on the tour. It makes no sense to be uncoachable when you haven't won a damn thing.

The other coachless wonder is Eugenie Bouchard, the latest WTA special snowflake. I really think the WTA has created a monster with Ms Bouchard. At the YEC she was heard asking then coach Saviano why they played the event. At the YEC! You're one of the best, one of the top eight women in the world, and you're not honored to make the cut, you don't get that you're in elite company, that everyone ranked below you wants to be where you are? As if that wasn't bad enough she posted a Tweet jokingly proclaiming a ball machine as her new coach. Talk about disrespectful.
Yes she's done more than Sloane but at least Sloane doesn't disrespect the sport that is allowing her to live a life many dream of. Oh wait, Bouchard already lived that life. Maybe that's it. It's not a big deal for her to be treated differently from others so the things that get other players excited don't move her. I wonder if Tennis Canada wants her to choose a Canadian? I wonder if some US based coach thinks he can work with her. As I write this she and the machine are still working together.

Wim Fissette, who famously encouraged Simona Halep to throw a match to stop Serena Williams from making the final of the YEC, advice that to her credit she ignored, will now be working with Madison Keys when she plays out of the United States. Lindsay Davenport will work with her in the US. Madison Keys is, in my opinion, the best hope for the United States as long as she stays out of the clutches of the USTA and it's coaches. She has the killer instinct, she just doesn't know how to harness and control it. I'm glad she's made moves to improve her game.

On December 9 the WTA announced a deal with London based Perform Group worth $525 million dollars. To quote from the press release

Perform is paying the rights fees and guaranteeing money to produce all 2,000 main-draw singles matches and 300 semifinals and finals of doubles matches each year. Networks that choose to produce tournaments on their own will receive subsidies from the venture, which is called WTA Media.

There's no word yet on what this will cost fans to get access to the streams. It's a good move by the WTA. This will make sure women's tennis gets more exposure. I hope it will mean higher quality tennis as well. If we return to the style of tennis that was the norm before the modern era I don't know that many people who are not already fans will be motivated to watch. No one wants to see what one tennishead called "strike and push" tennis anymore.

On the men's side there hasn't been much change. The former players who became coaches this year seem to be keeping their jobs for now so no drama there.

Andy Roddick, the last American man to win a Slam back in the dark ages of 2003, was made an honorary member of Wimbledon. That's your year end proof that the old boy tennis network is alive and well.

Meanwhile Pete Sampras lobbed a few over the wall. With Isner the highest ranked US man at nineteen Sampras said the outlook for US tennis on the mens side is bleak. He was quoted as saying the following:

"I don't see anyone, I don't really know anyone that even people are talking about to break through even into the top 10.

"We're not into the 90s anymore. It will be quite a while to see American tennis back to where it was," said the 14-times major winner who is in India to take part in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).

"I think the game has got so international, so global that a lot of kids are playing tennis all around the world. So it makes it tougher for the Americans.

"Maybe the world is more hungry and for whatever reasons, we are not producing juniors, young pros with potential. It's just a phase and hopefully doesn't last that long."

No one talks that bluntly about the state of mens tennis in the United States. I'm sure a lot of folks got the vapors after reading that.

Speaking of talking bluntly and the old boy tennis network Romanian player Marius Copil told the following story about Bernard Tomic to a Romanian reporter. It shows why some juniors are legends in their own minds and have a difficult transition to the Main Tour. The translation I'm using is from an article posted by Filippo Scala and appears on the TennisWorldusa.org site.

Q. Some players from your generation like Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov and Bernard Tomic have already achieved great results. What do you think made the difference compared to you?

A. Let me make you an example. In 2009, I played a Semifinal in Cremona, Italy, against Tomic, who was ranked No. 170 at that time. I was somewhere around No. 200. Do you know how many people he had with him? 6! I only had a physical coach. This is the difference. Tomic told me that he received a credit card from the Australian Tennis Federation and had already spent $ 1.5 million. It was a card with unlimited amount! On top of that, he had signed a contract with Nike since he was a junior. Had he been ranked between 50 and 100, he would have received € 300.000 a year, which would have doubled in case he had broken into the top-50. On the contrary, I receive $15.000 from my sponsor and I have to give 20% to my manager. This, I think, says it all.

Of course in the world of tennis his saying somewhere else in the interview that Sharapova isn't his type got more attention than the statement about Tomic and Tennis Australia.

Oh yeah about Grigor Dimitrov. I still don't see it. With Borna Ćorić and Alexander Zverev I see it. Both will have to create public personas that will resonate with Western audiences though. They have a bit of star power that is sorely lacking among up and comers at the moment.

That said I do see a period of mediocrity for both men's and women's tennis arriving sooner than people want to believe. I don't see superstars like we have now, men and women who transcend their sport. But who knows?

Anyway Brisbane starts in a few weeks. I'd better rest up.