The Rear View Mirror: AusOpen 2015

by Savannah

Complete list of Champions

Men's Singles

Serbia Novak Djokovic

Women's Singles

United States Serena Williams

Men's Doubles

Italy Simone Bolelli / Italy Fabio Fognini

Women's Doubles

United States Bethanie Mattek-Sands / Czech Republic Lucie Šafářová

Mixed Doubles

Switzerland Martina Hingis / India Leander Paes

Boys' Singles

Russia Roman Safiullin

Girls' Singles

Slovakia Tereza Mihalíková

Boys' Doubles

Australia Jake Delaney / Australia Marc Polmans

Girls' Doubles

Czech Republic Miriam Kolodziejová / Czech Republic Markéta Vondroušová

Wheelchair Men's Singles

Japan Shingo Kunieda

Wheelchair Women's Singles

Netherlands Jiske Griffioen

Wheelchair Quad Singles

Australia Dylan Alcott

Wheelchair Men's Doubles

France Stéphane Houdet / Japan Shingo Kunieda

Wheelchair Women's Doubles

Japan Yui Kamiji / United Kingdom Jordanne Whiley

Wheelchair Quad Doubles

United Kingdom Andrew Lapthorne / United States David Wagner

The first of the year major was ser up to be a showcase of New Guard vs the Old Guard with a couple of big exeptions. You had Madison Keys living up to the potential I for one thought she had despite and maybe because of the lack of hype around her.On the men's side there were those who thought Grigor Dimitrov would show the potential that's been ascribed to him by many who follow tennis. Instead he showed exactly why he's not quite ready to snatch the mantle of superstardom from the now reconsituted Big Four of men's tennis. The much hyped Eugenie Bouchard showed that she may be able to beat up on lower ranked players with her stunningly ugly brand of tennis but when faced with one of the top players she's got nothing and can barely think her way through a point let alone a game. Surprisingly Simona Halep crumbled as well. Maybe she needs to look beyond her country and hire a coach who has been where she wants to go. The same can be said of Bouchard's countryman Milos Raonic. With little to no game outside of his serve and basically unable to move while many think he's leading the charge for the future right now he's nothing more than a servebot.

As my friend and fellow blogger @Bridgepea pointed out on Twitter the Grand Slam channel for the US ESPN chose an interesting way to promote the women's singles final between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.
Before discussing their Final let's look back at the road both women took to get there, starting with the fact that Serena was sick the entire two weeks. At times it sounded as if she were going to hack up a lung. I thought it sounded like a pneumonia cough but I read it's bronchitis. As the top seed Serena anchored the top of the draw. She faced a veritable Murderer's row of players in her part of the draw. Yes Vera Zvonareva was just coming back and Serena should've run over her but like most players Vera elevated her game against Serena and played a spirited first set before Serena figured out what she was doing and romped in the second set.

After Vera came Elina Svitolina one of the up and comers who won the first set over Serena before Serena once again saw what she was doing and won the next two sets easily. Then came Garbiñe Muguruza who boasted a win over Serena and not much else coming into Melbourne. Once again the World Number One dropped a set and looked down and out but she came back and won. Notice the pattern so far?

Many expected Dominika Cibulkova to give Serena a hard time but Serena won in straight sets playing aggressively despite still showing signs of illness.

The big match for Serena would be against Madison Keys who won out over a reinvigorated Venus Williams in three hard fought sets. In hindsight this match was the true women's final. There was the amazing first set that Serena won in a tiebreak to five and the second set where Serena ran up a 5-1 lead and saw Madison fight off nine or ten match points before Serena won the set and match 6-2. The final would be fought between Serena and Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova faced Petra Martic (unseeded), Alexandra Panova, also unseeded but who came very close to eliminating Sharapova from the tournament before she blinked and lost the third set 5-7. Next came the number 31 seed Zarina Diyas who had nothing to bother her with, followed by the number 21 seed Peng Shuai, again nothing to bother Sharapova with, and then the match the WTA and US commentators felt would be the match of the tournament where Eugenie Bouchard would face Maria Sharapova. The only player who had a softer draw than Sharapova was Bouchard who romped through a group of players including Irina-Camellia Begu who had created a bit of buzz on her way to facing Bouchard and who seemed to forget how the game is played. She did take a set off of the WTA Golden Girl but otherwise went away meekly.

So THE FUTURE faced THE PAST and it was supposed to be a battle royal between two equally matched players. You have to wonder what Bouchard the comms were watching because frankly it was never in doubt that Sharapova was not going to lose because in the end Bouchard doesn't have the game or experience to defeat her. The match was a very routine straight set win.

After Bouchard came Ekaterina Makarova, newly arrived in the top ten who sent Simona Halep home with a surprisingly easy win over her. The same Makarova who played relentless tennis up to the semi final seemed confused on court, which is the most charitable way to describe how she played, or rather did not play.

By this time the press had worked itself into a lather predicting that Sharapova would finally win a match against Serena. It was obvious that Serena was still ill but even pale and coughing violently Serena was not going to lose to Sharapova. When it became obvious, even in the second set where Sharapova fought back to force a tiebreak, that that woman with the toughest will was surnamed Williams and that once again she would defeat the woman some want to see as her arch rival despite their head to head. That the ESPN promo featured "four time GS winner Maria Sharapova" vs Serena Williams (who didn't get her GS total mentioned at all) says where the media was for this match. Serena has fulfilled the prophecy of her father who said that between his two daughters his youngest would be The One.

The men's tournament also saw an unbalanced draw. The top seed got a cakewalk to the Final and I don't think anyone can dispute that. The bottom half of the draw was where all the drama and competition was.

I have to say that all the snide remarks by members of the British press and former players who don't have a Grand Slam to their name against Andy Murray need to sit down. Murray, under coach Amélie Mauresmo, is once again one of the Big Four. If you saw any of his match vs Grigor Dimitrov you saw how well he can play and the subtle changes Mauresmo has made in his game. Murray next faced Tomas Berdych who badly wanted to add the scalp of another top player to his belt. Instead in another long match Murray fought off the physical and psychological pressure (thug tactics) Berdych was using. At one point I thought the two would come to blows.

Oh yeah I forgot that Murray played Australian Nick Kyrgios, another future great according to the hype machine defeating him in three sets including one tiebreak set.

So meanwhile his opponent in the Final romped even defending champion Stan Wawrinka.

I will admit that I didn't watch the match so I can only talk about what I read afterwards. The first reports I read made it seem as if Murray just wasn't up to the task of defeating the current World Number One. It was much later in the day that reports began to surface about how Novak Djokovic went back to his faking ways stumbling around and actually falling to the ground during the third set. As the cries of "Fakervic" began to swell in his post match pressure Djokovic said when asked about cramping said he never said he was cramping. What was he doing falling down and stumbling around then? The answer made no sense.

Murray is known for grabbing various body parts when matches get tense and Djokovic's defenders cite this as proof that their man did nothing more than Murray does during a tight match. That this went over like a lead balloon is proved by Djokovic talking about wanting a chance to sit down and talk with Murray about any "issues" between them in the wake of the Men's Final. The article posted on " Tennis.com got very little play in tennis media outlets.

If you notice Djokovic does not practice his acting against two players and two players only. He desperately wants their respect and recognition I guess and Murray is simply one of the "others". Before the start of the Open John McEnroe was asking why Djokovic is not loved like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. He has only to look at this match to understand why.

End Notes - Australian Open Edition

Overall I thought that the rise of the the New Jacks is still a ways off. The hype machines for various players worked overtime to make sure their particular player was part of the second week conversation and the draw somewhat aided them in that wish. In the end though tennis stars are made on the court and looking at it that way the New Jacks are still not ready for Prime Time. The technical skills the established players have, the mental fortitude, the willingness to play to the point of fatigue and then play some more is just not there in the younger generation. When Dimitrov threw his racquet in his match against Murray he announced that the match was over, that he had no more ideas, nothing more to offer. He had left his all on the court and the match wasn't even done yet. Bouchard's inability to even do the gracioius thing at the net after her loss to Sharapova is yet another example of not being ready. During Serena's on court speech after winning the Final Sharapova was at least able to look in her direction even though you know she was raging inside. A professional knows how to deal with victory as well as defeat. We've been fortunate to be tennis fans during the last few years. After 2016 I don't know what we'll be subjected to. Hype does not make for great tennis.

Serena Returns to Indian Wells

This is big news. In a first person narrative in Time Magazine Serena explains her decision.

When I arrived at Indian Wells in 2001, I was looking to take another title. I was ready. But however ready I was, nothing could have prepared me for what happened in the final. As I walked out onto the court, the crowd immediately started jeering and booing. In my last match, the semifinals, I was set to play my sister, but Venus had tendinitis and had to pull out. Apparently that angered many fans. Throughout my whole career, integrity has been everything to me. It is also everything and more to Venus. The false allegations that our matches were fixed hurt, cut and ripped into us deeply. The under­current of racism was painful, confusing and unfair. In a game I loved with all my heart, at one of my most cherished tournaments, I suddenly felt unwelcome, alone and afraid.

For all their practice, preparation and confidence, even the best competitors in every sport have a voice of doubt inside them that says they are not good enough. I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger.

Congratulations to Larry Ellison who made it clear that one of his goals was to bring the Williams family back to Indian Wells when he bought the tournament. It almost happened last year but this year it looks as if it will really happen. There are some Serena fans who will be disappointed at her decision and I understand where they're coming from. The boycott has served its purpose and maybe it is time for this chapter of tennis history, a very painful one, to be closed. The pressure is now on the people of that part of California. Let's hope they handle themselves better than they did fourteen years ago.

INDIAN WELLS RAISES PRIZE MONEY

BREAKING NEWS

Indian Wells finally has its windfall.

On Wednesday, the ATP Tour cleared the way for the BNP Paribas Open to award an across-the-board prize money increase that had been hanging in the balance since late last year.

The ATP announced the decision on its website: "Prize money at the 2013 BNP Paribas Open will increase to $5,030,402 following the ATP Board of Directors' approval of Indian Wells' proposed prize money distribution for 2013, the ATP announced on Wednesday. The approval of the prize money distribution leads to more than $860,000 of additional prize money on offer across the men's singles and doubles events for 2013. By virtue of the approval, every player in the men's singles and doubles events will earn above the minimum prize money levels per round established for the tournament."

The decision settles an issue that has been simmering since last fall, when Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle Corp. and owner of the Indian Wells, Calif., event, offered to boost the purse by $800,000 for this year's tournament, which begins March 4.

But in November the ATP board — made up of three player representatives and three tournament representatives — reached a 3-3 deadlock. ATP executive chairman and president Brad Drewett could have cast the deciding vote but abstained.

According to the ATP, the increase would have violated its prize money distribution formula.

The move infuriated past and present players. It also exposed the convoluted management structure and conflicts of interest that have long vexed the sport.

"To me, this underlines what is completely wrong with the system," former pro and ESPN commentator Brad Gilbert said Wednesday.

"I'm not going to call it broken," American Ryan Harrison said last week of the ATP. "There is room for improvement."

The prize money issue has reignited debate about the deep divisions within the sport.

The ATP, co-controlled by the players and the tournaments, does not want to set prize money precedents that veer from its model — and could irk other tournaments that would feel diminished in Indian Wells' wake.

At the same time, turning down Ellison, who has poured money into Indian Wells since acquiring it in 2010, fueled player discontent and rapidly became a PR fiasco.

At the SAP Open in San Jose, Calif., last week, several players expressed dismay.

"I think people from other sports reading it are like, 'Wow, that's kinda weird,' " said No. 16 John Isner, the top-ranked American man.

Earlier this month, BNP Paribas Open CEO Raymond Moore told The Desert Sun that he was frustrated by politics blocking the vote. If not passed, he said the tournament would revert to 2011 prize money allocations of about $4.5 million, a sizable cut for players.

The total purse would have been about $5.3 million this year if the board had failed to approve the increase.

"I hope they'll approve it, but I'm not optimistic," Moore said. "There's an inherent conflict of interest with the tournament directors. It's the tournament directors who are blocking it. Why would they want to block it? They want to put the muzzle or the bridle on Indian Wells or the BNP Paribas Open, so we don't outdistance the tournaments around the world. I can't think of another reason to block it."

The BNP Paribas Open also increased prize money last year, then described as a one-time situation. The money, however, was distributed only from the quarterfinals on.

In the months since, the distribution of prize money, mostly for the lower rounds, has been a rallying point for male players. In response, big tournaments such as the U.S. Open and Australian Open have directed a larger percentage of money at earlier rounds in announcing their purses.

Gilbert said Wednesday the Indian Wells situation was a "joke" and "travesty."

He called for tennis to hire a commissioner to oversee the sport and its various governing bodies, which includes International Tennis Federation. The ITF governs the four majors and the Davis Cup and Fed Cup.

He also said players should form a union.

"The system needs to be blown up and changed," Gilbert added. "Maybe then we can rewrite the bylaws because they are antiquated."

Via @dougrobson

Who Is Really Running Tennis?

by Savannah



A right nasty little war has broken out between the very rich Indian Wells Tournament Director Larry Ellison and the rest of his TD peers over prize money.

You may recall that Ellison proposed, and the Players Council accepted, Ellison's offer of an additional $800,000 in prize money to be distributed in a way that would see lower ranked players receive more money. It's that simple. A guy who fights his way through qualifying rounds only to lose in the first round would receive enough money to justify his competing in the tournament.

Unfortunately nothing is simple in tennis. Want to create a surface that is virtually untested for one of tennis major tournaments? No problem. Want to pay lower ranked players more money to ease their financial hardships (and maybe make it less likely for them to be tempted by wicked people to do illegal things) you may as well be proposing to outlaw off shore accounts.

As you know the ATP WTF's (I simply refuse to spare them and use the words those letters symbolize) are taking place so I guess the ATP Board - not the Player's Council - thought they'd be able to slip their action against their members by without the tennis public - read fans - finding out about it.

But like so many powerful they forgot about a social media thingy called Twitter. The Board split 3-3, with head honcho Brad Drewett doing the administrative version of "sudden fatigue" abstaining from casting the deciding vote thus shelving the proposal. There will be no $800,000 increase in prize money at Indian Wells this year.

There was such a hue and cry on Twitter that the ATP released the following statement justifying their vote.

"We welcome tournaments increasing prize money. However, in this case, a tournament is proposing a distribution that is not in line with the ATP rules that players and tournaments themselves have agreed to, and which every other tournament on tour follows. The ATP distribution model is designed in part to protect the middle-ranked players' share of prize money, and more evenly distribute prize money throughout every round in a tournament. We would be happy to approve a prize money increase if it complies with ATP rules on distribution."

Dissect the statement and what are they saying? Nothing. Well that's not quite true. They are saying we would make less money if we do this so we ain't doin' it. Who was against the proposal? Sports Illustrated's Jon Wertheim is reporting that IMG, the outfit that just happens to run the next event on the tour calendar that takes place in Miami, has a seat on the board.

I've written about the influence of IMG on tennis before and have always felt that it had too much power over what takes place on court.

I should also mention that while all of this drama about prize money is taking place with the ATP not a peep has been heard from the WTA. I know people get bent out of shape when it's pointed out that the women's tour is freeloading off the men's tour when it comes to prize money but I don't blame the men for being pissed off about equal pay. The top players of the men's tour talked boycott. The top players of the men's tour held out for better conditions at the majors. The top players of the men's tour took a stance against that blue stuff in Madrid. What they fight for the women get without doing a damn thing.

But that issue hasn't been raised yet so I'll move on.

Wertheim has separated himself from the herd when it comes to tennis reporting of late. I expect that somehow he'll be reined in too, especially after penning a paragraph like this:

This, after all, is tennis, the sport that can't get out of its own way. If Ellison boosted the Indian Wells prize money, how would that make other events -- most obviously the IMG-owned Miami event the following week -- look? And ... well, actually, there are no other logical reasons why an organization tasked with growing and improving the sport would turn down a volunteer increase in money. Yet, that's what happened. With IMG's representative allegedly leading the charge, the three tournament representatives on the board rejected the prize money increase. The ATP's CEO, Brad Drewett, invertebrately declined to take action. And the measure died.

So who is on the ATP Board? A quick Google search provides the answers.

Brad Drewett - Chairman
Gavin Forbes - Senior Vice President of IMG Tennis for Cleveland
Mark Webster - Chief Executive Officer of ATP Media and also serves as Vice President of Business Development of MediaPro
Charles Smith - New to the ATP Board in 2011, Charles Smith is the Managing Director/International of Juss Event, China's largest sports/events management company


To read Wertheim's entire post please go HERE

This story isn't over. It may die down but the issue isn't dead.
I'm not in the habit of siding with billionaires but in this situation the man is trying to do the right thing for the sport he loves by making the life of it's journeymen easier. That's not a selfish act.

The Indian Wells Draws

by Savannah

WTA Main Draw

Top Half

(1) Svetlana KUZNETSOVA RUS v BYE
Alize CORNET FRA v Carla SUAREZ NAVARRO ESP
Qualifier v. Stefanie VOEGELE SUI
BYE v (23)Agnes SZAVAY HUN

(27)Alisa KLEYBANOVA RUS v BYE
Qualifier v Qualifier
Barbara ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA CZE v Andrea PETKOVIC GER
BYE v. (14) Kim CLIJSTERS BEL

(9) Flavia PENNETTA ITA v BYE
Alberta BRIANTI ITA v Petra KVITOVA CZE
Yaroslava SHVEDOVA KAZ v (WC) Bethanie MATTEK-SANDS USA
BYE v (17) Shahar PEER ISR

(26) Dominika CIBULKOVA SVK v BYE
Qualifier v Sara ERRANI ITA
Qualifier v. Ajla TOMLJANOVIC CRO
BYE v (6) Jelena JANKOVIC SRB


(3) Viktoria AZARENKA BLR v BYE
Katerina SREBOTNIK SLO v Sybille BAMMER AUT
Alexandra DULGHERU ROU v Qualifier
BYE v (28) Maria Jose MARTINEZ SANCHEZ ESP

(21) Daniela HANTUCHOVA SVK v BYE
Roberta VINCI ITA v Melanie OUDIN USA
Lucie SAFAROVA CZE v Julia GOERGES GER
BYE v (13) Yanina WICKMEYER BEL

(12) Vera ZVONAREVA RUS v BYE
Lucie HRADECKA CZE v Qualifier
Anatasija SEVASTOVA LAT v Qualifier
BYE v. (24) Ana IVANOVIC SRB

(25) Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA RUS v BYE
Qualifier v Qualifier
Julie COIN FRA v. (WC) Tamira PASZEK AUT
BYE v (8) Sam STOSUR AUS

BOTTOM HALF

(5) Agnieszka RADWANSKA POL v BYE
Anna CHAKVETADZE RUS v Anne KEOTHAVONG GBR
Magdelena RYBARIKOVA SVK v (WC) Justine HENIN BEL
BYE v (31) Gisela DULKO ARG

(22) Sabine LISICKI GER v BYE
Jill CRAYBAS USA v. (WC) Eleni DANIILIDOU GRE
Ioana Raluca OLARU ROU v Polona HERCOG SLO
BYE v (11) Marion BARTOLI FRA

(15) Francesca SCHIAVONE ITA v BYE
Melinda CZINK HUN v Kimiko DATE KRUMM JPN
Anna-Lena GROENEFELD GER v Qualifier
BYE v (19) Aravane REZAI FRA

(30) Aleksandra WOZNIAK CAN v BYE
Timea BACSINSZKY SUI v Kirsten FLIPKENS BEL
Olga GOVORTSOVA BLR v Iveta BENESOVA CZE
BYE v (4) Elena DEMENTIEVA RUS

(7) Na LI CHN v BYE
(WC) Alexa GLATCH USA v Qualifier
(WC) Alicia MOLIK AUS v Tatjana MALEK GER
BYE v (29) Anabel MEDINA GARRIGUES ESP

(18) Jie ZHENG CHN v BYE
Sorana CIRSTEA ROU v Kaia KANEPI EST
Jelena DOKIC AUS v Vera DUSHEVINA RUS
BYE v (10) Maria SHARAPOVA RUS

(16) Nadia PETROVA RUS v BYE
Patty SCHNYDER SUI v Tathiana GARBIN ITA
Shuai PENG CHN v Ekaterina MAKAROVA RUS
BYE v (20) Alona BONDARENKO UKR

(32) Maria KIRILENKO RUS v BYE
Virginie RAZZANO FRA v Kristina BARROIS GER
Vania KING USA v (WC) Christina MCHALE USA
BYE v (2) Caroline WOZNIACKI DEN

ATP Main Draw

TOP HALF

[1] FEDERER, Roger SUI vs BYE
HANESCU, Victor ROU vs CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG
CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA vs LUCZAK, Peter AUS
[27] BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP vs BYE

[18] ROBREDO, Tommy ESP vs BYE
STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy UKR vs ODESNIK, Wayne USA
SELA, Dudi ISR vs WC LEVINE, Jesse USA
[14] STEPANEK, Radek CZE vs BYE

[12] MONFILS, Gael FRA vs BYE
GASQUET, Richard FRA vs GREUL, Simon GER
QUALIFIER vs WC NALBANDIAN, David ARG
[22] MELZER, Jurgen AUT vs BYE

[30] TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB vs BYE
DE BAKKER, Thiemo NED vs DANIEL, Marcos BRA
QUALIFIER vs HERNANDEZ, Oscar ESP
[7] RODDICK, Andy USA vs BYE


[4] MURRAY, Andy GBR vs BYE
WC GINEPRI, Robby USA vs SEPPI, Andreas ITA
LORENZI, Paolo ITA vs RUSSELL, Michael USA
[32] ANDREEV, Igor RUS vs BYE

[23] KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO vs BYE
ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP vs ZVEREV, Mischa GER
BLAKE, James USA vs GIMENO-TRAVER, Daniel ESP
[12] FERRER, David ESP vs BYE

[9] TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA vs BYE
LLODRA, Michael FRA vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs ZEBALLOS, Horacio ARG
[24] MONTANES, Albert ESP vs BYE

[28] LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP vs BYE
MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA vs BECKER, Benjamin GER
MAYER, Florian GER vs KOROLEV, Evgeny KAZ
[6] SODERLING, Robin SWE vs BYE

BOTTOM HALF

5] DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs BYE
CHIUDINELLI, Marco SUI vs GULBIS, Ernests LAT
CUEVAS, Pablo URU vs GIL, Frederico POR
[29] TROICKI, Viktor SRB vs BYE

[19] BERDYCH, Tomas CZE vs BYE
FALLA, Alejandro COL vs SERRA, Florent FRA
QUALIFIER vs BECK, Andreas GER AUT
[10] VERDASCO, Fernando ESP v BYE

[15] ISNER, John USA vs BYE
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
STARACE, Potito ITA vs CHARDY, Jeremy FRA
[17] QUERREY, Sam USA vs BYE

[31] BENNETEAU, Julien FRA vs BYE
QUALIFIER vs ANCIC, Mario CRO
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
[3] NADAL, Rafael ESP vs BYE


[8] CILIC, Marin CRO vs BYE
GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP vs LACKO, Lukas SVK
WC MOYA, Carlos ESP vs QUALIFIER
[26] BELLUCCI, Thomaz BRA vs BYE

[21] MONACO, Juan ARG vs BYE
ROCHUS, Olivier BEL vs FOGNINI, Fabio ITA
RAM, Rajeev USA vs KOELLERER, Daniel AUT
[11] FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP vs BYE

[16] SIMON, Gilles FRA vs BYE
MAYER, Leonardo ARG vs QUALIFIER
DENT, Taylor USA vs WC HARRISON, Ryan USA
[20] LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO vs BYE

[25] KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER vs BYE
ROCHUS, Christophe BEL vs PETZSCHNER, Philipp GER
BERRER, Michael GER vs FISH, Mardy USA
[2] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB vs BYE

The Western Winds

by Savannah

The wind arrived during the match between Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal. It so enjoyed the Coachella Valley and and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden it hung around dropping temperatures to the seventies and wreaking havoc with those tennis balls flying through the air. It had a ball, pun intended. The women of the WTA would have preferred the zephyrs take their games someplace else.

I missed the live play between Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva (more on that later) and watched the replay late last night. I felt that Vera had a better than average chance of beating Ana since she had been playing the better tennis coming into the match and seemed to have banished her demons. She did have one racquet bashing moment, one that equalled Fernando Gonzalez efforts earlier in the tournament, but after that Vera settled down and began hitting winners. Ana meanwhile seemed totally upset with what was happening to her outfit in the wind and appeared to be totally discombobulated.

As you know I saw Ana at the BJK Cup in Madison Square Garden earlier in the month and that while everyone is going on about her serving woes I felt that her game was lacking, that she'd lost something in her mental approach to the game. That was obvious yesterday.

Some fans have said the match was the worst ever because of the wind. I think the wind exposed the hit hard and harder approach many of the women have now. Most of the women hit a hard, flat ball. This approach made it more difficult for Vera and Ana to play well during their match. A ball with more "work" on it could carve it's way through the at times 50 mph gusts.

After Vera's racquet bashing there was no doubt who was going to win the match. Ana could not keep her focus and ended up being outplayed by the woman she was once up 2-0 on during the first set. WTA matches these days are usually won by the player who keeps the ball between the lines and has less UFE's than her opponent. The wind just added to the problems.

It was the best match the women who made the final could play given their approach to their games and the windy conditions. That is not an excuse. WTA play has been subpar for some time now. The wind just blew away any illusions fans of women's have about what is going on in the sport.

The Unseen Final


If the final of a WTA Premier Mandatory event is held and there is little or no live coverage on broadcast or internet television has it really happened?

Fans of women's tennis found themselves tuning into tennisradio.com to hear live commentary on the women's final yesterday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Why? Because in some parts of the country regular television broadcast both the men's and women's final on delay. In my area coverage started at 8p. The internet option? This is when it got interesting.

TennisTV was inoperable. It wasn't available. Now you know there was a feed somewhere and that someone online had to be streaming it right? Wrong. The usual sources were all on lockdown thanks to the ever vigilant WTA gnomes who made sure the sites knew that if they were streaming the match they would be slapped with cease and desist orders. The only source that worked was a Russian satellite subscription service. Thank the gods for those people.

So what happened? I have no idea. My email to the tech support folks at TennisTV has gone unanswered. I didn't even get one of their "it's your fault" responses. There were fears that the ATP feed would suffer the same fate. Not. The ATP feed came on just fine and played with few if any problems.

I'm not a techie but one would think that since Masters Series TV, the precursor to TennisTV, worked fine for so many years the WTA would use the same technical set up as the men's tour does. Apparently the geniuses at the WTA didn't think so.

What happened in parts of the United States was a blackout of the women's final. I have no idea whose interest that served. It certainly didn't get Vera Zvonareva the exposure deserved. It didn't give Ana Ivanovic a chance to be seen by her fans.

Where do we go from here? TennisTv coverage of the ATP begins Saturday, March 28. WTA coverage begins Monday March 30. Deja vu all over again.

End Notes

Lindsay Davenport belongs in the broadcast booth. Her approach is no frills. Want fangirl hype of the latest hot thing on the WTA tour? You won't get if from Lindsay. When coverage started she would discuss Player X serve and Player Z's return. At one point after a terrible point she said that it wasn't as if Player Z was returning a ball hit by Venus Williams or Serena Williams. She said it more than once. I think they told her to stop mentioning they who must not be named.

During yesterday's women's final she said up front that conditions favored Vera. They also showed a clip of eventual men's champion Rafael Nadal warming up on center court in the brutal wind before the start of the women's final. Lindsay said he was frustrated with his serve but she said that she was sure that by the time he took to the court he'd be fine with his game.

She deserves better than Gimelslob, friend or no friend. Pair her with Darren Cahill and lock PMac in the locker room where he'll be free to gush to his hearts content. She'd even work well with Cliff Drysdale.

Speaking of the Slob did anyone see him manhandle actress Kate Walsh in the broadcast booth? And did anyone hear Sam Gore's polite snark about the way the men's final was going when it became obvious the "efficient" Andy Murray was not going to win?

Gore is a good broadcaster and while he sounds eerily like PMac he avoids the fanboy raving and just talks about the tennis. I'd like to hear more of him on the airwaves.

What's Wrong With the WTA?

by Savannah

From the fans:

I think that if what is supposed to be one of the WTA tour's most prestigious and important events, a Premier, mandatory event for the top players, and it can pass by with so little spectators viewing the womens matches, so little fan interest, and frankly, so little good tennis, then there is a problem somewhere.

"Scoobsuk"

.

...and for the fans that are at home, WTA should be desperately doing something to encourage better coverage on the TV........coverage of Indian Wells and WTA in general this year has been the worst ever!! How do they expect to get new fans to the game when so little of it is actually being shown.

And as for the rest of us, the die-hard fans who travel the world for tournaments, stay online for hours on end just to follow the livescores, or desperately searching the whole of the internet for a livestream....what is WTA doing for us? Nothing - just making it more and more difficult to find out commitments info, pathetic livescore coverage at some tournies, giving out inaccurate info for other tournaments, late releases of draws and that's just for starters......so many things about the management of the Tour is bugging me at the moment.

"Elisse"

The ATP has a much more better product, with a higher level.
Half of the WTA top 10 is UEs machines.

"Wiggly"

Saying best or worst can be measured only in terms of the overall quality of matches not by the perception that a tournament is bad when top seeded favorites lose, some even very early. That is irrelevant. Only the quality of the matches matters.

Having said that, I must admit some of the matches had dismal quality, and not one -- quite a few, including the last match of my own favorite.

"Malva"

All of the above are from the fan site dedicated to Women's Tennis.

The WTA is... badly led and Scott is too arrogant and stupid to adopt measures or ideas that work for the ATP. As long as that dude has his position the WTA will not grow, be marketed well etc.

"Gemdal"
From ESPN Tennis Board

I've been talking about the state of women's tennis for a long time. I don't think the powers that be give a rat's ass about what I think but when the top women's fansite has not one but several threads discussing the woeful state of the women's game from all aspects someone in the ivory tower needs to begin to take notice. These fans are not bashing individual players they're talking about three general areas:

Overall quality of the sport
When your potential number one player can barely keep a return inside the lines something is wrong. It's coming down to whoever makes the least amount of unforced errors wins the match. Is it the style of play, the mentality of the players or lack of support from their association? When twelve people are in the stands watching your "best" on Stadium Court while they're hanging from the rafters watching a men's doubles match something is very very wrong.

The anonymity of most of the players
I'm sorry but who are these people? That seems to be the question most fans have about the current crop of WTA players. Only dyed in the wool fans have heard of Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to mention one up and comer while I'd be willing to bet most tennisheads know about Grigor Dmitrov and Bernard Tomic. Ernests Gulbis and Marin Cilic are also players that ATP fans know about and follow. Why are the up and coming ATP players better known than up and coming WTA players? Does the WTA think that it can skate on it's past glory when players like Evert, Navratilova and Seles dominated? Has the WTA concentrated on promoting a "face of the WTA" instead of the WTA? The top junior player is from Thailand but I bet more people have heard of Yuki Bhambri than Noppawan Lertcheewakarn. If she takes the tour by storm the casual fan can be excused for saying "who?" It seems that if you don't fit a particular mold you're not worthy of the hype machine.

The lack of media exposure in print, broadcast and internet.
It is very difficult to find accurate information on WTA tournaments. Official sites are usually inaccurate and the draws, when they come, are late. Try finding information on WTA challenger events. Try finding entry lists that aren't weeks old and have no bearing on reality.
I'm still stunned at the complete blackout of women's play in Memphis. Why did WTA coverage start on Monday March 16 at Indian Wells instead of over the weekend like the ATP? Why does the biggest story out of IW continue to be the Williams Sister's boycott and not what is going on in the matches?

Some fans have suggested that the mens and women's finals are being held on the same day to avoid the sea of empty seats and the lack of fan interest that would imply for the WTA. I have news for you. There is a lot to do at a tournament besides watching matches. If you're not interested in a particular match you can shop, eat, or just wander the grounds until it's time for the match you are interested in. You can also time your arrival to make sure you avoid some if not all of a match you don't want to see.
Fans buy tickets way in advance and with prices so high they come out to see match play. Let's see how full the stands are for the women's final. I'd love to be proven wrong.

Breaking News - Financial Penalties for Venus and Serena?

by Savannah

Serena and Venus Williams hit with financial penalties for not playing Indian Wells
From correspondents in Indian Wells, California
March 21, 2009
The WTA will take a hard financial line with the Williams sisters, who have boycotted the Indian Wells Masters since a booing incident in 2001.

Tour boss Larry Scott says Venus and Serena will pay the price for their continual absences from the required event.

"There will be sanctions despite the personal issues of the Williams sisters," said Scott.

"They will pay significant consequences."

In the pocket, those will include the loss of $A438,00 for world No.1 Serena from the $A2.77 million year-end bonus pool, while Venus will forfeit $A219,000.

The stubborn sisters, who claim that racism was responsible for the crowd jeers near the turn of the century, will each have to make promotional appearances for the WTA - Venus in July in conjunction with the ESPY sports awards in LA and Serena in the autumn to promote the year-end championships in Doha.

Source

Notice the source of this news. When the official WTA statement comes out I will post it.

Be Careful What You Ask For

by Savannah

I apologize to all of you. I've been bitching and moaning about the almost total blackout of women's tennis these last few days/weeks and I was glad that finally tennis was going to be shown not only on TennisTV but on broadcast television as well. So who were we going to see? The woman who knocked Elena Demetieva out of the tournament, Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic against the veteran player Daniela Hantuchova. Somewhere the tennis gods are laughing in their green beer. Ms Cetkovska is an attractive young woman and many male tennis fans loved watching her. Unfortunately Ms Hantuchova, another attractive woman, was on the other side of the net.

I have seen Daniela play before. I've seen her play relatively quickly. Last night I wanted to stick pins in my eyes. I have to say I am rarely bored by a tennis match. If I'm not interested in who is playing I can find other things to occupy my mind until a better match comes on. Unfortunately last night there was no other game in town. If it wasn't for the music of the Buena Vista Social Club and an unintentionally funny video from "Phantom of the Opera" I would've been in lala land and totally missed the men's match that came afterwards.
More on that later. I sincerely hope that match was not some poor unfortunates introduction to women's tennis. The match should've taken less than an hour. Instead it ending up lasting about two hours. Now when I mention the worst tennis match ever I have to use the plural. The first was the moonball match between Conchita Martinez and Amanda Coetzer. This match last night is number two on my list. Simply horrid. I would like to see Cetkovska play again as long as it's not against Hantuchova.

Let me say now that the WTA coverage from Miami will be the same as it was at Indian Wells. The sisters Williams will be playing. And you will not hear one peep from me about the unfairness of it all.

It was hard to regain my focus when the women's match was finally over. I have rarely seen an entire match of Igor Andreev's and I was looking forward to it. He was playing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who as we all know brings the fire when he's on court.

Like all Frenchmen he plays with both skill and flair. He is in constant motion and a fan favorite. There are times though when the flair gets in the way of the skill and last night was one of those nights.

Jo was trying to get points over quickly. Igor wasn't. It was obvious before the end of the first set that Jo was not going to beat Andreev. Because of the length of the women's match there weren't many fans left - it was a work night - and maybe that's what Jo missed. I don't want to make excuses. Igor totally outplayed Jo last night. Tsonga's camp was glum from the beginning of the match. Was there a problem with his back? At any rate Andreev, with an upset win, moves on and will play Ivan Ljubicic who has to be happy about his win over Gilles Simon.

Fernando Gonzalez of Chile totally destroyed James Blake. Fernando never allowed Blake into the match playing the best tennis I've seen from him in awhile. He's gone back to his hard hitting but incorporated what he learned from Larry Stefanki. The commentators were talking up a grudge match between the two after what happened in the Olympics but if anyone proved anything yesterday it was Gonzalez. Blake, out of the top ten for the first time in a long time, has to be wondering if that's all there is.

Meanwhile the other Fernando, surnamed Verdasco, from Spain, made mincemeat out of France's Richard Gasquet. Gasquet seemed to be out there as the foil for a newly energized and confident Verdasco who proved his showing in Melbourne was no fluke. At times Gasquet looked as if he was wondering where he was as Verdasco chewed him up and spit him out.

It was not a good day for French tennis.

Meanwhile these two men played doubles and seem to have quietly settled a feud that had tennisheads enthralled. If you don't frequent fan boards (or are a newcomer to this blog) you may not know about the telenovella that had dominated Argentine tennis for the last few months. Let's just say David Nalbandian and Juan Martin del Potro weren't playing golf together. On the way to California it just so happened both men and their entourages were on the same flight and it was decided that it was time to bury the hatchet and reconcile the warring factions. I'm sure the Argentine press ate this up. I wish we could've seen some of the play here. The only doubles news that was deemed worthy of coverage in the States was the meeting between Bob and Mike Bryan and what would've been the Swiss doubles team of Yves Allegro and Roger Federer. Do I have to tell you the results? I didn't think so. The Bryans moved on in the draw.
By the way Nalbandian and Del Potro knocked out the number four seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 7-6(6) and 7-6(5). They will face the team of Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish next.

This and That

by Savannah

For those of us with TennisTV there will be coverage of WTA matches starting today. Too bad we didn't get to see Elena Dementieva, Jelena Jankovic, Sugiyama Ai and Amelie Mauresmo before they crashed and burned. Too bad we didn't get to see Nicole Vaidisova begin over with her stepdad back running things. I would like to have seen Angela Haynes play before today.

Dinara Safina
But who cares? It's just women's tennis right? The sad thing is the quality of tennis is very low. Holding serve is an event worthy of a floor show these days. Be that as it may I was sad to hear the commentators say yesterday that while men's matches were well attended even on outer courts at Indian Wells the women's matches weren't. I really don't understand what the WTA is trying to accomplish with their recent actions.

Speaking of commentators when does it go over the line? I missed it but Craig reports on Doug Adler's statements re Novak Djokovic during his match yesterday. I missed what Adler said since as is well known I'm not a fan of Djoker and wasn't watching or listening to the match. If anyone has ever heard a Masters TV broadcast of a Djokovic match the other commentators, Jason Goodall and Robby Koenig literally fight to see who has first go at Novak's gonads. They are fanboys to the nth degree. Maybe Doug was sick of it and just vented. Who knows? Maybe something had happened behind the scenes that got on Adler's very last nerve and this was his way of letting tennisheads know something is rotten. Professionally speaking Adler may have been out of line. As fans we'll have something to chew on for some time.

Nicole Vaidisova and her step father
It's being reported today that Robby Ginepri's appendix burst and that he will miss Miami. Get well soon Robby.

I didn't watch all of Andy Roddick's match against Austrian bad boy Daniel Koellerer last evening. Instead I watched Nicolas Massu, whom I haven't seen play in a long time, play Marat Safin. Massu went ballistic and Safin won.

Daniel Koellerer
Biggest upset of the day was John Isner's victory over Gael Monfils. I was in and out of the match but stayed long enough to wonder what the hell was going on in Monfils head. I'm sure Roger Rasheed was not amused.

In between matches and during breaks TennisTV has been doing a yeoman's job bringing fans the sights and sounds of the Coachella Valley. The scenery is spectacular and the white picket fences around practice courts are cute. Really cute. But I'm used to the US Open where the practice courts are better protected from random fans and players don't have to slog through a mob to get to wherever they want to go after a practice session is over. My daughter said this to me a while ago and I always keep it in mind when out and about: Individuals are intelligent. Mobs are stupid.
In 2007 I was watching Rafael Nadal practice less than twenty feet in front of me. The crowd kept growing and when he left the court he stopped to sign autographs. We're talking a tennis player here not some rock star. The surge of the crowd was unbelievable and if it hadn't been for the police barricades the surge would've overwhelmed and possibly injured the player. I saw both Roger and Rafael have to run the gauntlet of fans at IW. The fan surge during both players exits could have resulted in injury to fans and players alike. Interesting.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Quotes of the Tournament
Elena Dementieva after her loss to Petra Cetkovska.

“I think I shouldn't come here," she said, sounding annoyed at herself for making the trip. "I didn't have enough time for recovery after playing so many matches in the beginning of the year. I need a break and to start over."
(...)
"I just think my mind wasn't there," Dementieva said flatly. "I was not really excited about this match. Just didn't play at all."

Elena Dementieva
Jelena Jankovic following her loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

“I’m struggling in this moment to find my game overall and find the confidence on the court,” she told reporters.

“I’m not at my level. That’s the case. I’m trying to find that game and trying to come back into the form. But I’m struggling at the moment.”

Jankovic said there was not a single part of her game that did not need work.

“I don’t feel some of my shots that were my weapons before (are now),” she added.

“Overall I think the whole game needs some adjustments and some kind of finding the rhythm and finding the way to construct the points and just find the timing back.”

The Serb also complained of ‘feeling too heavy’ following weeks of intensive training during the off-season.

“In the beginning, I felt really different with my body because I got a little bit of muscles and I felt heavier on the court,” she said.

“I was always a certain weight and always my best weapon was my legs. I always moved and I had the anticipation and I was always on the ball.

“Now. I just cannot do that. I’m one step too slow or one step too much into the shot. And then all the strokes break down and I don’t have the timing and my accuracy is not there.

“I mean, overall everything is wrong. I need a lot of work. I wish I had a magic wand and could just fix my game and just play awesome tennis again. I would like it to be that way, but sometimes it’s not.”

Jelena Jankovic

End Note
I wanted to post pictures of the ladies at work since we weren't allowed to see them play anywhere this past week. Daniel Koellerer is the only man to make the cut because I've been reading about this guy for years and he's just now playing well enough to make the main draws at ATP events.
Here are a few more.

Kaia Kanepi

Petra Cetkovska

Alona Bondarenko

Vera Zvonareva