This and That 10/5/2015

by Savannah


via@WTATennis

She's 35. Older than most active players male or female. The tennis world had pretty much labeled her a sentimental favorite, a woman who could make it to the quarters of majors but not much farther. The mechanics of her serve, so many moving parts they said, were scrutinized every time she put the ball in play.

Wuhan is one of the major WTA tournaments on the Asian Swing that takes place after the US Open - more on that later - and it was widely expected that she would not figure in the final as younger women were expected to take the spotlight and win this point heavy event. It didn't help that she had aggravated both hamstrings and took the court for the final with both upper thighs heavily taped and limping a bit.

Garbiñe Muguruza, one of the WTA Rising Stars had been playing inspired tennis coming into the semifinal against Angelique Kerber. It seemed that new coach Sam Sumyk had a willing and able student and that he was poised to win a WTA P5 after being dismissed by WTA darling Eugenie Bouchard.

I was surprised at how well Muguruza was playing and thought Venus would be pressed really hard in the final. Instead it was Venus who dominated the Final. There were no visible signs of her ankle injury from Muguruza during the short match but she looked exhausted and frustrated when she retired down 0-3 in the second set while Venus calmly chatted with her coach David Witt. Sumyk looked ready to explode. The Muguruza who showed up for the Wuhan Final is the one I saw at the US Open, unable to think clearly on court without a lot of guidance.



The most amazing thing about all of this is Venus has a chance to make the YEC in Singapore.
Yes she's one of many but who saw this possibility at the beginning of the year? Congratulations to Ms Venus Williams.

Speaking of Eugenie Bouchard she's now working with Thomas Hogstedt. Yes that Hogstedt. The one who dumped Li Na via newspaper article (or email)for Maria Sharapova who then dumped him, then worked for a hot minute with Caroline Wozniacki saying he didn't want to travel so much anymore when he stopped working with her. Yet there he is in Beijing working with Bouchard.

In an article posted on Eh Tennis Yahoo the following is reported:

When we reported just before the US Open that experienced coach Thomas Hogstedt was in the mix for a tryout with top Canadian Genie Bouchard, we were told that while he was keen and ready to come on board, Bouchard and her team had reservations.

Those reservations seemed to have abated and Hogstedt is indeed by Bouchard's side, as she (hopefully) prepares for a return Monday in Beijing, China against Andrea Petkovic.

(...)

As well, he has the Sharapova stamp of approval, in a sense – which is no small thing in the Bouchard camp. We're told that before she began working full-time with Saviano to begin the 2014 season, Team Bouchard had approached (Michael)Joyce, who also had passed the Sharapova test and worked with her a long time, first as a hitting partner when her father Yuri was her coach, then as coach when Yuri stepped aside.

The thing was that Joyce had a good deal with young player Jessica Pegula, who was going through knee surgery and recovery and was out of the game for an extended period. Understandably, he wasn't going to give that up (Pegula's family owns the Buffalo Bills and Sabres, so you can imagine he was well taken care of ) without some sort of guarantee. And that guarantee wasn't forthcoming.

So if you've worked with Pova you're the person for Bouchard. Interesting that the article points out the financial benefits of Michael Joyce coaching Jessica Pegula and not the financial wherewithal of the Bouchard family.

Bouchard skipped Wuhan due to the lingering effects of her concussion but it looks as if she will play in Beijing. A lot of eyes will be on her.

The Post US Open Schedule - WTA Style

Let's see. In two days of play in Beijing five players retired: Simona Halep, Coco Vandeweghe, Lesia Tsurenko, Alja Tomljanovic and Zarina Diyas.

You can argue that back to back to back tournaments is asking a lot of players, especially the elite, but there is also the fact that if Halep hadn't shown up in Beijing she would've lost $300,000 in bonus money. I don't think the other women who retired had to worry about that though.

Should be Asian swing come right after the Oz Open? The players, even though coming off a Grand Slam tournament, would be fresher. I don't know how the weather is in China that time of year though.

I think the back to back events take a toll because it's the end of the year. Players have been playing with injuries all year that by now have become nagging and annoying. Not to mention being brain fried. Caroline Wozniacki said that the WTA forces injured players to play and was ridiculed by some. Retirements by the likes of Vendeweghe, Tsurenko, Tomljanovic and Diyas don't make much difference to tournament directors. Halep retiring makes a big difference.

There is already speculation about what the YEC will look like if the top six women in the world aren't able to play.
I don't think that'll happen but it's a valid observation at this point.

The WTA YEC

Here is the leader board:

RTS Player Current Total Points Replaced Adjusted RTS Total
1 Simona Halep 5840 60 5780
2 Maria Sharapova 4322 1 4321
3 Garbiñe Muguruza 3512 1 3511
4 Petra Kvitova 3482 1 3481
5 Lucie Safarova 3222 1 3221
6 Angelique Kerber 3220 105 3115
7 Flavia Pennetta 3034 1 3033
8 Venus Williams 2972 0 2972
9 Karolina Pliskova 3040 100 2940
10 Carla Suárez Navarro 3010 100 2910
11 Agnieszka Radwanska 2955 100 2855
12 Belinda Bencic 2865 30 2835
13 Roberta Vinci 2565 30 2535

Lucie Safarova is out. Maria Sharapova's participation is anyone's guess due to her injury. Muguruza is suffering from injury. Petra Kvitova looked terrible losing to Sara Errani in Beijing committing 49 unforced errors. Then there's this quote from Simona Halep: "I hope I can play. I will see - I need treatment and a break, for sure." posted by @tennis_photos. Those fans talking about players ranked 7-14 playing the YEC may be on to something.

End Notes

There have been a lot of posts on #TennisTwitter about Player X "saving" Tournament Y. What does that even mean? Does it mean that the level of tennis outside of the elite is crap? Garbiñe Muguruza, now a top four player, has only one title to her name this year, Hobart way back in January. You can believe me or not, but the drop in the level of tennis that will come after 2016 is going to be quick and ugly.

Bernard Tomic, who saw charges against him dropped after a set to in Miami was photographed partying with Sydney business man Joe Elias on his yacht. Google Joe Elias of Sydney, Australia. It's an interesting read.

The ATP has made it clear it expects Andy Murray to play at their WTF year end tournament. He's also expected to carry the weight for his country in Davis Cup.

Victoria Azarenka shows her tongue still has a life of its own. This statement was made after her last tournament:

I'm sure that endeared her to many people within the WTA.

The Young'uns

The young players I picked to watch this 2015, Madison Keys and Alexander Zverev have not, in my opinion, shown much maturity in their games. Keys still gets brain freeze when her game isn't working and Zverev has been taking too many wild cards instead of refining his game in the tennis equivalent of the minor leagues.

The one player who does seem to be making the most of his age and using the Challenger circuit to his advantage is Chung Hyeon. You know he's on the right track when there are haters already saying he wouldn't be ranked so high if he hadn't vultured so many Challenger events. Yeah, he's doing the right thing.

Meanwhile Canada has got it's hype machine in overdrive over fifteen year old Félix Auger-Aliassime. Get back to me in three years people.

They're also hyping Charlotte Robillard-Millette, sixteen (born in 1999). I guess they don't think you're ever too young for the hype machine. Richard Gasquet, who was hyped as the future of French tennis at 9, should write a book. So should Donald Young.

©Savannah's World 2015 All Rights Reserved unless otherwise indicated

Winners All

by Savannah

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez hoists the winners trophy in Bangkok. He defeated Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

Christopher Kas and Victor Troicki won the doubles crown in Bangkok in straight sets over Jonathan Ehrlich and Jurgen Melzer.

Caroline Wozniacki defeated Elena Dementieva 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 to win the WTA Premier Mandatory event in Tokyo. If she does well in Beijing she could become the WTA #1.

Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova defeated the team of Shahar Peer and Peng Shuai 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 to take the doubles championship in Tokyo.

Mikhail Youzhny defeated Andrey Golubev 6-7(7), 6-2, 7-6(3) in Kuala Lumpur.

F Cermak and M Mertinak defeated M Fyrstenberg and M Matkowski 7-6(3), 7-6(5) becoming the doubles champions in Kuala Lumpur.

Other Results

The Junior Fed Cup and Davis Cup were also held over the weekend.

Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final

JAPAN (3) defeated CANADA (2) 2-0

Kazuma Kawachi (JPN) d. Edward Nguyen (CAN) 76(4) 61
Kaichi Uchida (JPN) d. Filip Peliwo (CAN) 62 63
Doubles not played

Bronze medal match

FRANCE (1) d. GREAT BRITAIN (4) 2-1

Evan Hoyt (GBR) d. Gregoire Barrere (FRA) 64 26 61
Mathias Bourgue (FRA) d. Luke Bambridge (GBR) 75 62
Gregoire Barrere/Mathias Bourgue (FRA) d. Luke Bambridge/Kyle Edmund (GBR) 63 16 63

Note: The American boys did not qualify

Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Final

RUSSIA (2) defeated CHINA (1) 2-1

Ran Tian (CHN) d. Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) 46 63 75
Daria Gavrilova (RUS) d. Haochen Tang (CHN) 62 62
Daria Gavrilova/ Margarita Gasparyan (RUS) d. Ran Tian/Saisai Zheng (CHN) 75 64

Bronze medal match

UKRAINE (3) defeated USA (4) 2-0

Kateryna Kozlova (UKR)d. Kyle McPhillips (USA) 63 63
Elina Svitolina (UKR) d. Krista Hardebeck (USA) 63 06 63
Doubles not played

The ITF made sure to make people aware of this event this year with daily emails of the results. Good work by the folks there.

End Notes

I managed to stay awake for the first set of Vera Zvonareva vs Dinara Safina in Beijing, a match Bepa won 6-4, 7-6(6). Dinara has a new service motion that is somewhat similar to Elena Dementieva's new motion but without the hitch for want of a better term. Dinara was arguing with people just off camera but who I assume were in her box almost the entire match. At one point she stopped to fix her hair (which looks very good now by the way) while arguing with the unseen forces. There were numerous shots of Bepa's coach/hitting partner but not very many of the virtually empty stadium. I should mention that the stadium for the final in Tokyo was not full but was more full than the one in Beijing last night/early this morning.

TennisTV starts its coverage on October 7 of both the men's and women's events in Beijing.Meanwhile there are live streams from China from the usual sources available if you can manage to stay up late and watch.

I didn't mention the uproar in the Swiss press about their Davis Cup Team's relegation and the lack of play by one Mr. Roger Federer. It was quite harsh but I felt I'd read it all before. Pete Sampras, late in his career, didn't make Davis Cup a priority and I have to say I understand this.Sampras faced similar criticism in the American press, criticism Andy Roddick isn't going to face and rightly shouldn't. Roddick has been Mr. Davis Cup for years and while I doubt we'll see him playing the event again should be commended for the giving of his time and effort to the cause.

As I write this there has still not been an announcement as to who the new Unites States Davis Cup captain will be.

I swear I was going to let it go but the fact that Caroline Wozniacki is a heartbeat away from assuming the number one ranking in the WTA is a travesty. I've said it before so I won't bore you with the details as to why I feel that way. If she does claim that ranking she will join Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic from the recent past, and Kim Clijsters, Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo from the more distant past. Commentators were noting that it took Clijsters a long time to finally win a Slam. Oh well, I'm sure the folks at the WTA will appreciate the new look at the top.

Speaking of JJ she hasn't been the same player since she "bulked up" and then "debulked" a couple of years ago. I was never a big fan of hers but she just seems to be going through the motions right now. Is it physical, mental, or a little of both with her?

Agnieszka Radwanska will be out for the rest of the year with a stress fracture in her foot. SOURCE

This and That

by Savannah

It's amazing what you get in your e-mail inbox relating to tennis these days. American tennis is obviously in a state of flux (that's better than saying it's in the shitter right?) but as the following show there is really trouble in River City.

The first mailing I received was regarding Ms Coco Vandeweghe. Her prior appearances on the main tour were underwhelming to say the least.

Yes Ms Vandeweghe is playing well right now but is it time for the USTA to send breathless out media alerts?

Playing arguably the best tennis of her young professional career, American teenager Coco Vandeweghe today advanced to the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, a $2 million WTA Tour event in Tokyo. Vandeweghe’s straight-sets win against world No. 42 Julia Georges today was her fifth victory over a Top 100 player this week. Ranked No. 172 entering the qualifying tournament in Tokyo, Vandeweghe defeated No. 75 Tathiana Garbin and No. 41 Jarmilla Groth to qualify, and has knocked off, in order, No. 37 Klara Zakopalova, No. 18 Aravane Rezai and Goerges in the main draw. She faces world No. 11 Victoria Azarenka tomorrow for a spot in the semifinals.

Vandeweghe, the 2008 US Open girls’ singles champion, has taken significant steps forward in her professional career this year. The 18-year-old from Rancho Mirage, Calif., won a USTA playoff to earn a main draw wild card into the 2010 Australian Open, posted a 10-match winning streak on the USTA Pro Circuit while claiming her first two professional titles—at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Carson, Calif., and the $25,000 event in El Paso, Texas this spring—and reached the quarterfinals of the Olympus US Open Series event in San Diego, defeating 2010 Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Vera Zvonareva en route. Vandeweghe’s mom, Tauna, was an Olympic medalist in both swimming and volleyball, and her uncle is former NBA star Kiki Vandeweghe.

Is the United States tennis establishment this desperate?

Then there was this eye catching headline It's Time to Stop Rafael Nadal's Cheating
from The Bleacher Report by Greg Couch.

What is Greg talking about?

Time to crack down on Rafael Nadal's cheating. That's right, he's cheating. Everyone knows it and no one seems to care.

Now, it's so openly accepted and forgiven that he apparently has even admitted to it. The Spanish newspaper El Pais asked him about looking to his coaches box during the final of the U.S. Open, when he beat Novak Djokovic, and Nadal reportedly said this:

"It was in the last game, when I was serving for the match. ... I didn't know where to serve. Down the center, to the middle or to try the classic play of the wide serve and then try to hit the forehand. They told me to serve wide and that's where I served."

They told him? It is against the rules to receive coaching during a match. Nadal knows it, too.

"The rules are the rules," he said at Wimbledon, when Toni Nadal, his uncle and coach, was fined $2,000 for coaching Rafa in a match. A few years ago, too, Roger Federer grumbled that Uncle Toni was trying to give advice from the stands.

It might not seem like a big deal, but it is. You see players doing it all the time in tennis, as this is its open secret. But it's still wrong.

I don't accept it, and neither should tennis' governing bodies. It is time to suspend Uncle Toni, boot him from a major tournament. And hit Nadal with a big fine.

Plenty of people, even within the game, think the better plan is to simply dump the rule. They are wrong. This is not the jaywalking of tennis rules. It is a basic tenet of the game, the guts of what tennis is about.

(...)

The coaches have their time, and it's before the match. At some point, the players have to be able to think on their own.

I have two words for Greg. Justine Henin. When he shows me a blog post of similar outrage about her then I'll say he's being consistent. Otherwise to me this just sounds like someone saying "we can't beat him on any surface so let's make sure we find another way to make him lose."

To be fair he mentions the coaching received by WTA players in non majors and the coaching received by Darya Gavrilova who won the Junior Girls US Open.

I won't be a real bitch and talk about Maria Sharapova. Just because Yuri isn't in her box so much anymore doesn't mean that the blatant coaching never happened. Remember the little brown bottle and the banana? I hope Greg was similarly outraged about that incident.

Like I said, show outrage about Justine then talk about Rafael.

Tennis.Com is reporting that Martin Damm of the Czech Republic will become the coach of American tennis hopeful Ryan Harrison. The report features comments by a variety of top men in the United States tennis establishment. These are the ones that stood out for me.

Lame duck U.S. Davis Cup captain Pat McEnroe recently told me that Ryan is a bit of a rarity among today's ball-banging youngsters in that he's a "student of the game." And Harrison, who's 18, talks—and acts—like he belongs on the main tour. He's astute, mature and confident, so the relationship with Damm is mostly likely to be a partnership, rather than a mentor-apprentice engagement.

Pat Harrison (Ryan's father) believes that the challenge for Ryan lies less in mastering specific strokes or strategies than in continuing to sharpen up his considerable and manifold skills. "He needs to be able to make six quality shots in a row in a rally, and then move on and get to the point where he can make eight, and so forth."

For his part, Bollettieri thinks Harrison could benefit from an improved understanding of "situational" tennis—what to do or avoid when he's in a position to win, or in danger. Remember that Harrison had a 6-3 lead in the fifth set tiebreaker in that epic second-round U.S. Open meeting with Sergiy Stakhovsky, but failed to close it out and ended up absorbing a heartbreaking loss.

I'm sure Martin Damm appreciates all the coaching from the stands given by these " éminence grises" of American tennis as to how to coach his pupil. I know I would. (Sarcasm alert)

End Notes

I'm going to have to bite the bullet and turn my life around to watch the tennis from China the next couple of weeks. Both the men and women will be in Beijing, (the women start Saturday 10/2/2010) and the ATP Masters in Shanghai is the following week.

I've been resisting watching live tennis up to now but next week I'll be up at some God forsaken hour watching as much as I can. Fortunately what usually happens is some boring match comes on and I get a chance to take a nap or two until someone I want to see is on court.

I also want to say that I miss the European indoor season. It got thrown under a bus as the tours followed the money to Asia where it's hoped tennis will grow as a sport. I read an account of how the ATP players in Kuala Lumpur are feted like demi gods and that the players enjoy coming there. I'm sure the same is true at all the Asian events where the governments spare no expense to show the players how welcome they are to their respective countries.

The thing is I rarely see sold out or even three quarter full stadiums. I'm used to seeing empty seats at WTA events but it's odd to see that at ATP matches. And I'm not talking matches between low ranked players either. I'm guessing that the money these venues pay the tours is enough to decimate the fall European season. It just looks bad when you can fire a shoulder held missile through a stadium and not hit a soul. Someone is making money somewhere but it's not quite clear to me where.

How are the players reacting? Kim Clijsters, when asked about playing in Beijing basically said that it was a long way to go for one tournament. She is skipping Beijing due to foot surgery. Serena Williams, still recovering from her accident, is not playing in Asia. Venus Williams, who used to play the Asian swing, is out of Beijing and it's rumored that she will have knee surgery.

With Serena out maybe for the rest of the year (she is supposed to play Fed Cup and may play the YEC) Caroline Wozniacki can become the WTA number one. Chew on that for a while.

All of the top men, with the exception of Roger Federer, are already in Asia and all will have played at least one warm up tournament leading up to Beijing and Shanghai.

I'll be paying attention to the butts in the seats during the tournaments coming up to see if the attendance improves. I'll also be looking at the quality of the tennis. I watched the match between Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka last night, early this morning from Tokyo. It's on the list for worst match of 2010. No one would believe this was professional tennis played by two of the top ten women. It's got to get better.