The Winners

by Savannah

The tennis world was quite busy this past week. For the men of the ATP there were three tournaments. Two were on real clay in Portugal at Estoril and in Valencia, Spain. There was one played on whatever that stuff is that's used as "clay" in the United States in Houston, Texas. The WTA played a Tier 1 event in Charleston on that same stuff.It's green in Charleston and red in Houston. Just keep in mind it's not really clay when you hear people raving about players winning their first titles on "clay". At least the winner in Houston admitted why he played there and not Valencia. Seems he made the right bet.

Next week the ATP will stage it's third Masters Series event in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The women will be playing Fed Cup. Meanwhile here are the men and women who won titles this weekend.

ATP Winners


Roger Federer won his first title this year thanks to Nikolay Davydenko's left leg injury at Estoril. Was Nikolay grateful for the vocal support Roger gave him during his tribulations?


David Ferrer overcame Nicolas Almagro to win Valencia. Here's a picture of David holding his trophy.


Marcel Granollers-Pujol gave me whiplash. I checked the scores at Houston and saw that James Blake was up 3-0 in the third set. When I came back to finish assembling the pictures for this post imagine my surprise to see Marcel hoisting the trophy. I guess that answers the questions as to why American men don't play on the real stuff in Europe until they have to.


Coetzee and Moodie won the doubles championship at Estoril.

WTA Winners


Maria Kirilenko won the WTA trophy at Estoril. Maybe this will be the beginning of a turnaround in fortune for her this year.


And guess what? Ms Kirilenko turned right around and along with Flavia Pennetta won the women's doubles championship at Estoril.
Congratulations Makiri.


Sugiyama Ai and Katerina Srebotnik 2008 Family Circle Cup Doubles Champions 2008


Recognize this woman? She won again this week. Do you think she has designs on winning that event they hold every year in the spring in Paris?

A Win By Any Means Necessary....

In a match that some are calling one of the worst finals in ATP history Richard Gasquet failed to convert five first set set points and ended up on the losing side of a 7-6(7), 0-6 and 6-1 match against Novak Djokovic in the ATP Estoril Men's Final.

As if the choke first set choke by Gasquet wasn't bad enough Djokovic apparently tanked the second set putting up all the fight of a cardboard cut out against Gasquet. Some wondered if Djokovic would call for a trainer like he did in the first set. Instead Djokovic miraculously recovered in the third set taking a decidedly subdued Gasquet out easily.

Maybe it's me but I expect the final of an ATP match to feature two competitors ready to fight to the finish for their own personal glory and the enjoyment of the paying public. I'm not saying they should all be classics but what I saw today is something I'd expect to see anywhere but a major men's final. Some of Djokovic's fans are defending his tank saying Coria tried it against Gaudio in the French Open a few years back. I don't think so. Coria left his guts on the terre battue that day. Physically he had no more to give. That was not the case today. At no point did Djokovic look wobbly, out of breath, or physically unable to continue. If he has problems with stamina why prolong a match to three sets when you seemingly could have won it in two? There is mention of his wearing contact lenses and the dust causing him problems. He was seeing the ball pretty well in the third set from what I could tell.

So Djokovic won today and will be ranked among the elite of the sport next week. I wish I could muster some enthusiasm for his victory.