The Sweet Taste of Victory

by Savannah

One of the commentators said that spring arrives in Monaco when Prince Albert hands Rafael Nadal the winners trophy at Monte Carlo.
Well spring arrived. It wasn't great clay court tennis - all week everyone was playing some version of hard court - but in the final Rafa started sliding more and you could almost see his mind accepting the fact that he was back on clay.

David Ferrer, who won his last meeting with Rafa in Australia, gave it all he was worth but in the end Rafa hoisted the winners trophy for the seventh straight time.

The men's tour leaves Monte Carlo and heads to the capital city of Catalonia, Barcelona as it heads toward the jewel in the crown, Roland Garros. I'm looking forward to seeing real clay court tennis going forward since by now all of the tour, as Rafa put it, will have it's clay legs.

By the way American's did win on the red dirt. Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won the doubles. I wonder why it's often overlooked that the Bryan twins are all court players. Maybe they have something to teach those who hate playing in the dirt.

The Agony of Defeat

While the men were playing in Monte Carlo the women's tour paused to play Fed Cup. If you want to know how the United States did the above picture of Venus Williams, who traveled with the team, tells you how it went. We lost to Germany 5-0 and for the first time in Fed Cup history are relegated. We had company. France, Australia and Canada joined us at Pity Party Central. Interesting isn't it that all of the Axis members are now out of the World Group. Great Britain of course hasn't been in the World Group for quite some time.

Meanwhile the Savior of Serbia came off the bench to win a singles match her country desperately needed. With the pressure on Ana Ivanovic, who had been tapped along with up and comer Bojana Jovanovski to play singles retired during her match against the Slovak Republic's Dominika Cibulkova putting Serbia in a 1-2 hole Jelena Jankovic was called on to play the must win singles match and came through with flying colors. She then turned around and played doubles with Aleksandra Krunic giving Serbia the win it needed to win the tie.
I know there is supposed to be drama between Ana and JJ but even I was surprised that Bojana was penciled in to play two singles matches. I know that Bojana was the hero of Serbia's earlier tie but I questioned the wisdom of not relying on a top ten player. I guess Serbia's captain came to his senses and played JJ.

Meanwhile it will be the Czech Republic vs Russia in the Fed Cup final. Russia will host.

Vera Zvonareva led Russia to victory over an Italian squad missing it's star players. Both Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta stayed home but Russia's victory is still impressive. In her post match interview Vera said

"I haven't played for my country for two years and I really wanted to give this match to my team."

Congratulations to all the winners!

Heard Around

by Savannah

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga says the domination of the men's tour by two players is over

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands: Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Tuesday sauntered into the second round of the ATP Rotterdam Open after a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and declared the era of domination from Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is over.

The eighth-seed who lost the 2008 Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic said that the Serb's victory in Melbourne little more than a week ago over Andy Murray marked a gate-crashing of the private party enjoyed by the Swiss and Spaniard for the last half-decade.

"Federer and Nadal are not alone (at the top of the rankings) any more," said Tsonga, who fired 11 aces in his 75-minute win over the 19-year-old Dimitrov.

"Maybe on clay, things (Nadal's victories) are still the same, but not on other surfaces.

"Djokovic and Murray are beating Nadal and Federer very often, all the players are improving their games. It's not just about Nadal and Federer any more."

Tsonga said that his present world ranking of 18 after an injury-marred 2010 season, which saw him fall out of the Top 10, was not a reflection of his present form.

"I've also improved my game but my ranking has gone backwards," he said. "I feel that I'm playing better than two or three years ago.

"I'm in good shape and taking the matches here step by step - but I still feel I have a chance to win the title," said Tsonga, who has won five ATP titles.

American Sam Querrey continues his charm campaign. After losing to Lukas Lacko 7-6(6), 6-3 at San Jose last evening Querry is reported to have "nearly walked from his press conference," by one source and to have blown the press off by others. I'm not sure what his problem is. Well, I do. It's a syndrome often seen in those who feel they're above everyone else due to their social status. Very often these types hate being called for their shit and become whiny babies when it happens. I guess he'll be riding that Porsche more and more if things keep up the way they have for him on the tennis court.

Meanwhile Juan Martin del Potro won his first round match at the SAP Open.

Yanina Wickmayer may be doubtful for Paris after a wall fell on her leg. It seems she was signing autographs after Fed Cup and a fan surge ended up with the wall falling.

The ITF has announced the draws for the Fed Cup World Group Playoffs to be held April 16-17.

WORLD GROUP PLAY-OFFS

Germany v USA

SPAIN v France

SLOVAK REPUBLIC v Serbia

AUSTRALIA v Ukraine

WORLD GROUP II PLAY-OFFS

Belarus (*) v ESTONIA

Japan v ARGENTINA

Slovenia (*) v CANADA

SWITZERLAND v Sweden

Home teams listed first

Seeds in capitals

(*) = choice of ground decided by lot

Gee I wonder what surface Germany will choose?

Staying with the WTA Melanie Oudin got a good win (for her) over Vera Dushevina in Paris yesterday. The indoor surface plays very fast and she has done well in the past at the GDF Suez.

The most talked about person in tennis right now has to be Kim Clijsters. Most of the talk is about her ascension to the WTA #1 spot as preordained and what it means for women's tennis. Everyone is looking forward to Serena Williams return - her form will be closely scrutinized at that March 8 Nike exhibition - but I don't think anyone expects her to storm the ramparts and immediately reclaim her top ranking. Yeah I remember Australia and #81 but the Serena coming back is older and has suffered through a debilitating injury. Yes she's been practicing from her walker/wheelchair but the latest pictures taken at the Super Bowl show she is still wearing the boot on her foot.

Do I detect the whiff of desperation in the frenzied talk about Clijsters? Is that an acknowledgement that the current computer ranked #1 while the type of what the WTA wants in a top player is not a representative of what women's tennis wants to be about? Kim has now won a Slam outside of the United States and some are predicting she may do well at Wimbledon. Looked at in terms of accomplishments Clijsters has now won four slams and it would be good for the WTA to have a Slam winner sitting on top of the heap. I can't argue with that.

Do I like Clijsters game? No. Do I think she's a glorified, more experienced pusher? Yes. But she does have those Slams now. I guess I'll have to get used to turning the volume down when the commentators start worshipping at the altar of Saint Kim, the only woman on the planet ever to give birth.

Li Na just signed big contracts with Rolex and Haagen-Dazs.

Knowing the battles Li has fought in the past does this mean she gets to keep the proceeds or will she have to kick back a percentage to her tennis federation? I haven't seen any discussion about this. Also for clarification the Chinese custom is for the last name to go first. I try to respect that and call her Li Na. Na is her first name.

Weekend Winners

by Savannah

The ATP champions club welcomed two new members over the weekend.

Kevin Anderson of South Africa captured his first ATP title on home soil. He defeated Somdev Devvarman of India 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

The other new comer to the winners circle is Ivan Dodig of Croatia. He defeated Michal Berrer of Germany 6-3, 6-4 in front of a home crowd as well.

Tommy Robredo of Spain was not in front of his home crowd but he won his 11th title in Santiago, Chile defeating Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5).
Congratulations to them all.

Fed Cup - A Disaster For The United States
The only United States players who can come out of Antwerp with their heads high are Liezel Huber and Vania King. Their doubles win allowed the United States to avoid a 5-0 bagel served by the Fed Cup team of Belgium. The one rubber the US had to win, the opening one between Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yanina Wickmayer went to Wickmayer and that was all she wrote. Mattek-Sands tried to redeem herself in the reverse singles winning a first set tiebreak 12-10 over Kim Clijsters but she was outplayed the next two sets and lost the rubber 7-6(10, 2-6, 1-6. Melanie Oudin did nothing for her team losing to both Clijsters and Wickmayer who both served her a bagel set. I do hope that Mary Jo Fernandez will be allowed to develop her team the way Patrick McEnroe was allowed to do with the US Davis Cup team. I don't see anyone on the horizon who will be able to compete on a grand stage with the better women's players. Most of the top American juniors are simply too small physically to compete with the bigger stronger women from overseas. They're also hampered by their lack of knowledge of how to play strategic tennis. What do I mean?

I hope you got a chance to see the ties played between Australia and Italy and Russia vs France. In both ties knowing how to strategize and how to react to what your opponent is doing on court won for the veterans who composed Team Italy and Team Russia.

In Moscow Captain Shamil Tarpishev saw Virginie Razzano of France make mince meat of Maria Sharapova . As we all know as goes Sharapova's serve so go her matches. Razzano played a crafty came frustrating Sharapova at every turn. With her serve misfiring Sharapova was run off the court. This debacle followed Alize Cornet's drubbing of Svetlana Kuznetsova putting France up 2-0 over Russia, something that surprised everyone to say the least. The reverse singles saw Tarpishev bench Maria Sharapova in favor of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who was supposedly injured. Couldn't prove it by me as Pavs defeated a frustrated Cornet 3-6, 6-3 6-2 to open reverse singles play. Sveta came ready to play and routined Razzano 6-4, 6-4. Russia also won the doubles 7-6(4), 6-0.

In Australia the Italian women were caught off guard when Francesca Schiavone lost the opening rubber to Jarmila Groth 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3. That was the wake up call Italy needed. Flavia Pennetta won a battle against Samantha Stosur 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 6-4. The reverse singles saw Stosur push Schiavone to three sets but lose. Groth lost in straight sets to Pennetta who was not going to lose to her. Italy's doubles team beat back a determind Australian team 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-4.

In both ties fans got to see well played women's tennis. It was a beautiful sight.

Some tennisheads were taken back by a couple of Tweets made by Caroline Wozniacki in which she said (and I'm paraphrasing) "I won my matches. None of these bitches stepped up." She did neglect to mention that she lost the doubles she played but I'm sure it was the fault of that lazy bitch who played with her. There was a lot of surprise and of course there were excuses citing her age as the main reason she would make such immature comments in a world wide public forum. Does Denmark need to develop it's players? No doubt. Does the Danish Federation have the money to do so? I don't know. I do know that the Danish Captain tweeted some remarks that hinted he was not amused by Caroline's tweets. This is the second time questions about Caroline's judgment were raised by her Tweets. Someone on her team needs to slow her roll.

The full Fed Cup results are below. Congratulations to all the women who competed.

WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND

ITALY defeated AUSTRALIA 4-1

Venue: Domain Tennis Centre, Hobart, AUS (hard – outdoors)

Jarmila Groth (AUS) d. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 67(4) 63 63

Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Samantha Stosur (AUS) 76(5) 67(5) 64

Francesca Schiavone (ITA) d. Samantha Stosur (AUS) 76(1) 36 75

Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Jarmila Groth (AUS) 62 63

Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci (ITA) d. Anastasia Rodionova/Rennae Stubbs (AUS) 26 76(1) 64

RUSSIA defeated FRANCE 3-2

Venue: Olympic Stadium, Moscow, RUS (hard – indoors)

Alize Cornet (FRA) d. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 36 63 64

Virginie Razzano (FRA) d. Maria Sharapova (RUS) 63 64

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Alize Cornet (FRA) 36 63 62

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) d. Virginie Razzano (FRA) 64 64

Svetlana Kuznetsova/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. Julie Coin/Alize Cornet (FRA) 76(4) 60

CZECH REPUBLIC defeated SLOVAK REPUBLIC 3-2

Venue: Sibamac Arena, Bratislava, SVK (hard – indoors)

Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 75 61

Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 62 63

Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 64 62

Jana Cepelova (SVK) d. Lucie Safarova (CZE) 57 76(5) ret.

Jana Cepelova/Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. Kveta Peschke/Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) 61 46 76(4)

BELGIUM defeated USA 4-1

Venue: Sportpaleis Antwerp, Antwerp, BEL (hard – indoors)

Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 61 76(6)

Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 60 64

Kim Clijsters (BEL) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 67(10) 62 61

Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Melanie Oudin (USA) 62 60

Liezel Huber/Vania King (USA) d. Kirsten Flipkens/An-Sophie Mestach (BEL) 63 75

WORLD GROUP II FIRST ROUND

SPAIN defeated ESTONIA 4-1

Venue: Tere Tennis Club, Tallinn, EST (hard – indoors)

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) d. Anett Kontaveit (EST) 62 60

Kaia Kanepi (EST) d. Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) 63 62

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) d. Kaia Kanepi (EST) 36 64 63

Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) d. Anett Kontaveit (EST) 62 62

Nuria Llagostera Vives/Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. Maret Ani/Margit Ruutel (EST) 61 76(5)

GERMANY defeated SLOVENIA 4-1

Venue: Ljudski vrt Sports Hall, Maribor, SLO (clay – indoors)

Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO) 63 64

Polona Hercog (SLO) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 75 64

Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. Polona Hercog (SLO) 61 62

Julia Goerges (GER) d. Masa Zec-Peskiric (SLO) 64 62

Anna-Lena Groenefeld/Tatjana Malek (GER) d. Polona Hercog/Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) 76(3) ret.

SERBIA defeated CANADA 3-2

Venue: Spens Sports Center, Novi Sad, SRB (hard – indoors)

Rebecca Marino (CAN) d. Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) 63 36 75

Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 64 75

Bojana Jovanovski (SRB) d. Rebecca Marino (CAN) 76(3) 63

Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. Ana Jovanovic (SRB) 60 64

Bojana Jovanovski/Aleksandra Krunic (SRB) d. Sharon Fichman/Marie-Eve Pelletier (CAN) 76(5) 64

UKRAINE defeated SWEDEN 3-2

Venue: Idrottens Hus, Helsingborg, SWE (hard – indoors)

Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 63 62

Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 76(2) 76(5)

Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) d. Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) 76(3) 64

Johanna Larsson (SWE) d. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR) 67(3) 62 63

Kateryna Bondarenko/Olga Savchuk (UKR) d. Sofia Arvidsson/Johanna Larsson (SWE) 75 62

Miscellany

Rafael Nadal won the 2010 Laureus Sportsman of the Year award.