A few thoughts on the second week of Wimbledon for the women:
Queen Serena: If Rafael Nadal is the king of men's tennis right now, then no doubt, Serena Williams is queen of the women. If Roland Garros was played on grass or hard courts, I have no doubt Serena would be playing for THE Grand Slam at the U.S. Open in September. As it is, she'll be playing for her third Slam title of the year, and she's got to be the odds-on favorite to win it. She's playing well, she seems to be fit and she's motivated, and when she's motivated, I don't think anyone can stop her. I heard commentators asking if Serena was now in the discussion of the greatest player ever. My answer is a blunt "no." Like Nadal, I think Serena's on the "B-Plus" list, but at 13 Slams, she hasn't yet joined the Margaret Smith Court, Steffi Graf, Helen Wills Moody, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova club. Get back to me, though, in about six months, when I fully expect Serena to win her 15th Slam at the Australian Open. That's my magic number for putting her on the "A" list.
Venus Out of Orbit? One of Venus Williams' goals this year was to get back to the top of the women's game. No doubt, she's accomplished that – in a way. For a month this spring, she got back to No. 2, but let's face it, her results in the last four Grand Slams are not befitting of a No. 2 player – two Round of 16 losses and two quarterfinal losses. The most recent one, her 6-3, 6-2 defeat to Tsvetana Pironkova, was especially dismal. Williams is now 30, and as much as I'm pulling for her to pull her game together in the Slams, all greats fall eventually. Could she be doing that, now?
Vera, Vera Good: When I first saw Vera Zvonareva, the Russian was 17-years-old, and she was taking it to Serena Williams in the Round of 16 at Roland Garros. I expected great things from her then, but in the eight years that followed, she only reached one Grand Slam quarterfinal, and more often than not, her head got the better of her. Now at 25, she's finally found a way to keep those nerves (mostly) in check, and she's started turning in results closer to what I expected from her. She's the third surprise Grand Slam finalist in two Slams, but we'll see if Zvonareva can live up to this run. If she starts reaching quarterfinals and occasional semis at the Slams, then she will have done so.
Czech Mate: That's what Tomas Berdych had in the second week of Wimbledon this year, in the form of compatriot Petra Kvitova, who reached the semis. So far, from her generation, we've seen Caroline Wozniacki reach a Grand Slam final, Yanina Wickmayer reach a semifinal, Sabine Lisicki reach a quarterfinal and Victoria Azarenka reach the Top 10 and reach multiple Slam quarterfinals. None of them have lived up to those results, though, for various reasons. We'll see if Kvitova can break that trend.
Disappointing Belgians: If you had told me at the start of the tournament that the winner of the projected Kim Clijsters/Justine Henin Round of 16 would not have to face a Williams sister until the second Saturday, you can bet your bottom dollar I would have penciled that player into the final. Instead, we got one of the weirdest Grand Slam results I can remember. Henin got hurt in the first set, went down in three and is already out of the U.S. Open, and Clijsters took all the momentum she gained from that win and ... went away in the third set against Zvonareva, a player she had never lost to. All credit to Zvonareva for staying tough, but if you're one of the top players in the game – and Clijsters is as much as anyone right now – you cannot lose that match. It will be interesting to see what the hard-court season brings for her.
Kanepi's Run: Quick, which women's singles player played the most matches at Wimbledon this year? Serena and Zvonareva? Nope - try Kaia Kanepi, who played eight in reaching the quarterfinals. Kanepi came into Wimbledon with a top 100 ranking, but because the cutoff for the main draw was six weeks before the tournament, she was relegated to the qualifying tournament, where she won three matches and then did not lose a set until the second set of that quarterfinal, against Kvitova. Despite having multiple match points, Kanepi could not close the deal, losing 8-6 in the third. So what does she take away from this month? That she qualified for Roland Garros and Wimbledon and played tough at both events? Or that she lost a chance to get to the semis? We'll find out soon enough. and in the mean time, we know Kanepi won't be playing qualifying at the U.S. Open or any other Grand Slam tournament in the near future.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wimbledon Week 2 - The Men
So how about that? I have to be gone for a week and then come back after the entire tournament has blown up! Well, as much a tournament won by the No. 1 players in the world can blow up.
Who would have guessed that Roger Federer and Venus Williams, two players who combined for 11 Wimbledon titles and four finals, would have lost within about 24 hours of each other? On Tuesday and Wednesday, not Saturday and Sunday! Who knew that one of the women's semifinals would feature two players whose combined ranking was on the wrong side of 100? Who would have guessed after the third round that Rafael Nadal would right his ship so spectacularly in the second week of the tournament?
By now, it doesn't make much sense to rehash news that's so old, so I'll offer a few thoughts on what I saw and heard about.
Roddick Flames Out: This has got to hurt. In the past 12 months, Andy Roddick has been on the losing end of a 16-14 Wimbledon final, a fifth-set tie-breaker at the U.S. Open and now a 9-7 fourth round here. No doubt Roddick is tough to get to those positions, but at what point does his inability to close the deal become a pattern? It seems to me, when he starts going out to guys outside the top 50 in those situations, we're at that point.
Berdych has arrived: Two wins over Federer in 2010 have to cement Berdych's status as a top-five contender coming into the hard-court season and the U.S. Open. It will be interesting to see how the Czech player handles his new status, but after a semifinal run in Paris and a final at Wimbledon, there can be no doubt – he's one of the big boys, now. Whether that will be a blessing or a curse for him remains to be seen.
Federer's Sour Grapes: No doubt, getting bounced out of Roland Garros in the quarterfinals and losing his No. 1 ranking was a shock, but it couldn't have been nearly as big of a surprise as going down here. Federer had lost to Tomas Berdych at the Olympics, when Berdych was just emerging as a talented player, but until this year, seemed to have the younger player's number. Now, Federer may really have been injured, and he may not have had much time to clear his head after losing to Berdych, but his comments after his loss, still weren't in the best of taste. And it's not like this is the first time he has displayed questionable behavior after a match. The "15" coat last year, anyone?
I love watching Federer play. He's the main reason I watch men's tennis, but incidents like this make me cringe. You've spent a career turning yourself into the standard for other players to follow, Roger. Don't lower yourself with this kind of stuff, now.
King Rafa: You want evidence of how quickly tennis changes? Four months ago, Rafael Nadal wasn't even a top three player, and people were wondering if he would ever get back to where he once belonged. Now, Nadal is indisputably the best in the sport this year, thanks to back-to-back Grand Slam titles and an undefeated run on the clay. Nadal's not an A-List all-time player yet – that list still "only" contains Federer, Pete Sampras, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg. Make no mistake, though, Nadal's on the B-Plus list, and if he wins the U.S. Open, for my money, he joins the "A" group.
74 Years . . . and Still Counting: Quick everyone – when was the last time a British man won Wimbledon? Andy Murray even had the Queen cheering for him this year, and it still didn't do him much good. No doubt, he played well against Nadal, but when he needed to be better, he wasn't. That's probably a very harsh analysis, but it's the truth. Murray can come out of the summer Slams proud that he's turned around his dismal spring, but if he's going to break England's 74-year drought at his home Slam and put the ghost of Fred Perry to rest, he's probably going to have to find a way to break through "Fedal." So far, he hasn't figured it out.
We Love Lu: Was there a bigger surprise in the second week of the tournament than Yen-Hsun Lu? Had he lost to Roddick in that Round of 16 match, Lu would have had a fantastic tournament. Instead, he went out and stared down a guy who isn't exactly known for his timidness on the court and found himself in the quarterfinals. Quick – when was the last time you saw a guy from any Asian country in the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam? I can honestly say I've never seen it. The question, now is will we see it again?
Understanding Djokovic: You know, not to long ago, Novak Djokovic was indisputably the third-best man in the sport. Now, I don't know what to make of him. Are his breathing problems really that bad? Is he just not in the same league? Is he ever going to take the next step we all thought he was taking when he won the Australian Open in 2008? I don't know. What I do know is that the computer says Djokovic is ranked second, and I don't believe it. More and more, that Australian Open is starting to look like one of those random results tennis throws out once in awhile. After all, Djokovic is one of only TWO men not named Federer or Nadal who has won a Grand Slam since 2005, and in tennis terms, Djokovic should be in his prime.
Who would have guessed that Roger Federer and Venus Williams, two players who combined for 11 Wimbledon titles and four finals, would have lost within about 24 hours of each other? On Tuesday and Wednesday, not Saturday and Sunday! Who knew that one of the women's semifinals would feature two players whose combined ranking was on the wrong side of 100? Who would have guessed after the third round that Rafael Nadal would right his ship so spectacularly in the second week of the tournament?
By now, it doesn't make much sense to rehash news that's so old, so I'll offer a few thoughts on what I saw and heard about.
Roddick Flames Out: This has got to hurt. In the past 12 months, Andy Roddick has been on the losing end of a 16-14 Wimbledon final, a fifth-set tie-breaker at the U.S. Open and now a 9-7 fourth round here. No doubt Roddick is tough to get to those positions, but at what point does his inability to close the deal become a pattern? It seems to me, when he starts going out to guys outside the top 50 in those situations, we're at that point.
Berdych has arrived: Two wins over Federer in 2010 have to cement Berdych's status as a top-five contender coming into the hard-court season and the U.S. Open. It will be interesting to see how the Czech player handles his new status, but after a semifinal run in Paris and a final at Wimbledon, there can be no doubt – he's one of the big boys, now. Whether that will be a blessing or a curse for him remains to be seen.
Federer's Sour Grapes: No doubt, getting bounced out of Roland Garros in the quarterfinals and losing his No. 1 ranking was a shock, but it couldn't have been nearly as big of a surprise as going down here. Federer had lost to Tomas Berdych at the Olympics, when Berdych was just emerging as a talented player, but until this year, seemed to have the younger player's number. Now, Federer may really have been injured, and he may not have had much time to clear his head after losing to Berdych, but his comments after his loss, still weren't in the best of taste. And it's not like this is the first time he has displayed questionable behavior after a match. The "15" coat last year, anyone?
I love watching Federer play. He's the main reason I watch men's tennis, but incidents like this make me cringe. You've spent a career turning yourself into the standard for other players to follow, Roger. Don't lower yourself with this kind of stuff, now.
King Rafa: You want evidence of how quickly tennis changes? Four months ago, Rafael Nadal wasn't even a top three player, and people were wondering if he would ever get back to where he once belonged. Now, Nadal is indisputably the best in the sport this year, thanks to back-to-back Grand Slam titles and an undefeated run on the clay. Nadal's not an A-List all-time player yet – that list still "only" contains Federer, Pete Sampras, Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg. Make no mistake, though, Nadal's on the B-Plus list, and if he wins the U.S. Open, for my money, he joins the "A" group.
74 Years . . . and Still Counting: Quick everyone – when was the last time a British man won Wimbledon? Andy Murray even had the Queen cheering for him this year, and it still didn't do him much good. No doubt, he played well against Nadal, but when he needed to be better, he wasn't. That's probably a very harsh analysis, but it's the truth. Murray can come out of the summer Slams proud that he's turned around his dismal spring, but if he's going to break England's 74-year drought at his home Slam and put the ghost of Fred Perry to rest, he's probably going to have to find a way to break through "Fedal." So far, he hasn't figured it out.
We Love Lu: Was there a bigger surprise in the second week of the tournament than Yen-Hsun Lu? Had he lost to Roddick in that Round of 16 match, Lu would have had a fantastic tournament. Instead, he went out and stared down a guy who isn't exactly known for his timidness on the court and found himself in the quarterfinals. Quick – when was the last time you saw a guy from any Asian country in the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam? I can honestly say I've never seen it. The question, now is will we see it again?
Understanding Djokovic: You know, not to long ago, Novak Djokovic was indisputably the third-best man in the sport. Now, I don't know what to make of him. Are his breathing problems really that bad? Is he just not in the same league? Is he ever going to take the next step we all thought he was taking when he won the Australian Open in 2008? I don't know. What I do know is that the computer says Djokovic is ranked second, and I don't believe it. More and more, that Australian Open is starting to look like one of those random results tennis throws out once in awhile. After all, Djokovic is one of only TWO men not named Federer or Nadal who has won a Grand Slam since 2005, and in tennis terms, Djokovic should be in his prime.
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