This and That - Melbourne 2011

by Savannah

Someone Tweeted last night that it was amazing how the Australian Open got all of it's first round play over in two days as opposed to the three day format used by some Grand Slams. I had never thought about it but the person was right. The AO may last into the rush hour here on the east coast of the United States (The Lleyton Hewitt/David Nalbandian match ended sometime after 8a this morning) but no one can say that they were totally bored by the tennis. If a match made you reach for your stimulant of choice there was another one available online for your viewing pleasure. If your ISP provider doesn't make ESPN360 available to you there are live streams available of varying quality. I have noticed that the quality of the stream on ESPN360 does tend to decay, something I don't remember it doing before. The buffering, yes. I'm not sure why this is happening but it is annoying. So far the Eurosport based streams are the best. So is the commentary.

If you have HDTV watching is a joy. It truly is the closest thing to being there. ESPN2, and from what I can see Eurosport as well, are broadcasting in full HD. It's as if you can reach out and touch the players. Technology in this case is a beautiful thing.

The star of last nights play is undoubtedly Agnieszka Radwanska. Sure she defeated 40 year old Kimiko Date-Krumm in three hard fought sets but what happened to her in the third set is what tennis fans will remember all season. After banging her racquet on the ground and committing what would be felony assault if she had treated a human being like that Aggie set herself to receive Kimiko's ball. Apparently the racquet was a Cee-Lo fan as it took it's "Fuck You" moment and broke into two pieces. The head of the racquet flew into the crowd leaving Aggie holding what looked like a shake weight. Her expression is priceless. This happened to Anna Lena Groenefeld a couple of years ago but this break took place on world wide television. I'm sure Babolat was not amused.

Okay back to real tennis.

The match between resurrecting favorite Ana Ivanovic and relatively unknown Ekaterina Makarova was quite exciting. Forget that neither one could figure out how to close out the match. It's the WTA. What do you expect? It was totally up in the air as to who would win. On the way there were rally's and great groundies from both women.

Someone in Ana's camp should really talk to her about her celebrations after each point won. At one point I was multi tasking (sounds better than saying I was doing something else right?) and heard a squeal and looked up to see a celebration worthy of someone winning the match. I was confused since it seemed that the match wasn't over. It wasn't. Those of us who tend to multitask don't like surprises.
Other than that Ana actually didn't play badly. Even her ball toss was better (it varied but on the whole it was better).
But the real news was Ekaterina Makarova. She kept her wits about her and pulled off the upset. The match was quite a nice diversion.

I'll stick with the WTA for now. I have to wonder why the women coming out of the States are all diminutive.Lauren Davis looked to be barely five feet tall (she is listed as 5'2") and at seventeen is very slight. She played on Rod Laver Arena against Samantha Stosur. At one point they zoomed in for a close up of Lauren. Deer in headlights. I felt sorry for the young woman. As the ESPN commentators are fond of saying she'll always remember she played on Rod Laver Arena in 2011 against Samantha Stosur.

Pam Shriver got sent out to give American's a look at Melanie Oudin, another short woman. She's now out of singles. It was a brief look since she was on a non television court.

Coco Vandeweghe lost to Alize Cornet 2-6, 1-6.

The United States did have something to cheer about though. Ryan Sweeting moved into the second round with his win last night over Daniel Gimeno-Traver in straight sets. Sweeting was born in Nassau, Bahamas but has trained in the States since he was twelve.

The other big winner on the men's side was Michael Russell who defeated highly touted Australian Matthew Ebden in four sets, winning the final set tie break 11-9.

John Isner also won his match.

Now for what can be called the marquee matches. Once again a Frenchman led the list. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga looked done and dusted after dropping the first two sets against Philipp Petzschner . When I checked the scores this morning I saw that not only did Tsonga take it five sets but that he won 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4.

With French fans singing La Marseillaise cheering him on how could he not come back?

When draws are released there are always one or two matches that you just know will be cake walks. When I saw that Juan Martin del Potro would face Dudi Sela in the first round I rolled my eyes. I mean Delpo is twice Sela's height at least so how could this not be a very quick match including a breadstick or two. Well Sela decided he wasn't going out like a bitch and fought Delpo with all the cunning and shot making in his body. Sure Delpo won in straight sets but he had to survive a first set tiebreak that went to 15-13. Delpo won the other two sets 4 and 4 but it was definitely not a boring match.

The match everyone wanted to see was the "grudge" match between Lleyton Hewitt and David Nalbandian. Since everyone wanted to see it of course the match was set for the last of the day on Rod Laver. I didn't get to see any of it. From what I hear it was a thrilling affair with Nalbandian pulling it out in five sets 3-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(1), 9-7.

As I said before Nalbandian is fit for his body type.

End Note

The commentary was much, much better last night. If you don't like what you're hearing do as TennisAce suggested and Tweet your displeasure. It works.

Heard Around

by Savannah

He's Really Injured People
...Then again...
There seem to be a lot of questions about Roger Federer's back problem that caused him to pull out of Dubai and Davis Cup next weekend. His normally reticent entourage is now feeling the need to speak out about the situation. These two, lets say interesting, quotes speak volumes.
Debate about the extent of Roger Federer's back problem has prompted responses from his entourage. Federer cited the after-effects of the injury when pulling out of this week's event in Dubai and Davis Cup next week.

Severin Luthi, the Swiss Davis Cup captain who is also serving as Federer's coach these days, defended the absence of his top player. "People who think that Roger is faking an injury don't know anything. He really wanted to show himself in Davis Cup this year," Luthi said to Sportinformation.

In an interview with Blick, Federer's physical trainer Pierre Paganini said the pullouts were a preventative measure: "I want to make this clear: Roger is not injured. What we are doing is purely precautionary. We will be training in Dubai for the next two weeks. Roger has flown in two sparring partners to work with him on court."

Paganini said Federer was over the back injury he suffered last November but the setback meant that he needed extra recovery time after Australia. "Roger was not impeded in his game but it is a factor that he did not have [enough] training beforehand. The travel, the pressure, other things. The body's reaction during a match, in stressful situations, is different. He felt it, and that's why we decided to take a break to prevent further injury."

Source

Let the Sun Shine
Per Tennis Week The USTA has made the following decision.

At his peak, Arlen Kantarian was inarguably one of the most influential power players in the sport. More than two months after Kantarian's nine-year run as USTA CEO of Professional Tennis it's become evident the White Plains, N.Y.-based Tennis Association will not turn to a single figure to fill his role.

Instead, USTA Executive Director Gordon Smith tells Daniel Kaplan of SportsBusiness Journal that Kantarian's duties will be redistributed among current staff with four executives — Harlan Stone, incoming chief marketing officer of pro tennis; Jim Curley, managing director of tournament operations; Pierce O’Neil, chief business officer; and Danny Zausner, head of facilities — reporting directly to Smith. During Kantarian's tenure the four exes would have reported to him with Kantarian reporting directly to Smith.

After Kantarian's departure it was believed the USTA might try to fill his role with two executives. However Smith said the USTA has opted against hiring a replacement for Kantarian due to two primary reasons:

1. Cost — Kantarian was one of the highest-paid USTA employees so the Tennis Association saves money in redistributing his duties

2. Capability — Smith told Kaplan he believes the current staff is capable of performing Kantarian's duties.

More interesting (not that the above isn't interesting) is that the USTA still hasn't made a decision about installing a roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium. Costs are cited as the main concern but as I've often ranted, uh, said, Ashe Stadium is horrid. It's too big and ironically that is playing into the decision to add a roof.

...the immense cost of financing such a project, the fact historically rain has not been a major factor in US Open play and the notion that the existing stadium is not exactly conducive to a roof may be giving the USTA second thoughts.
(...)
In a sense, the USTA's interest in adding a roof now may be an attempt to right that wrong committed when the stadium was first built and while a roof would give the USTA the option to host non-tennis events, including concerts and other sports, it's long been said the open construction of the stadium would make adding a roof too costly and complex.

Rain isn't a factor huh? I guess I'm back to beating that dead horse about the 2003 US Open. And don't even mention the 2008 US Open where the USTA, with a hurricane poised to hit New York City, decided to go ahead and start play anyway. A roof would take away all the issues surrounding acts of nature and the US Open. It might also make it easier for the fans who pay to sit in Ashe during the Dog Days of August in the sun. And here's a thought. They could institute a heat rule like they do in Melbourne closing the roof when the heat index is of Saharan proportions.
Rant over.
Davis Cup
In reviewing the list of countries and players who will be taking the court you have to be struck by the fact that tennis is truly a world wide sport. People tend to think of it in terms of Europe and the United States but countries on every continent participate. All of the nominations can be found HERE
As for the United States team Captain Patrick McEnroe defended his choice of James Blake over Sam Querrey or Mardy Fish citing Blake's ranking and past participation during a conference call to announce the team members.

There will be a lot of attention on the tie between Argentina and the Netherlands. Juan Martin del Potro will not be on the team "by mutual agreement" according to press reports. David Nalbandian will anchor the Argentine team. The tie will be played in Argentina on clay.

Dubai
Dudi Sela made the following statement regarding his countrywoman Shahar Pe'er:

"I think it's a pity they didn't let Shahar play, but it's also the fault of Shahar,'' said the 65th-ranked Sela, who received a special exemption to play in this week's Delray Beach International Tennis Championships. "Because she asked for the visa a few [days or two weeks] before. The average person, if you want to go, you do it [several] months before.

"Even though, it's still bad. It's sports, not war. Everybody should play.''

Source