WombleTown: “Disaster Year”

 

"I never cry, with joy, for anything".

Williams d. Rezai 6-3 3-6 6-1

She’s right. I’ve no doubt that she feels deeply, but that’s just not her style.

For what its worth, I didn’t think she needed to demonstrate her “commitment” to her profession to anyone – she could have gone down in straights in the first round and I’d need no assurance on that front.

Even so, the flood of emotions that erupted within seconds of shaking Aravane’s hand at the net caught everyone by surprise, and left no doubt about it whatsoever.

The best part? Aravane (who’s had her own set of troubles in a different kind of “disaster year”) made it a match.

*Slow clap to both women*

Indian Wells: “Brazen Hussies”

 

Dominika’s Law of Universal impudence: Capable giant slayers (like Domi) will only slay Goliaths in your tennis pool. Espesh blue-eyed ones with hot coaches.

 

Cibulkova d. Zvonareva 46 76(4) 64

Players like Domi and Rezai employ a brazenly simplistic hit’n miss formula.

Many people have a problem with this (and not just coz it’s one-dimensional). I don’t.

It’s not conventional. It certainly shouldn’t be taught. And you live, just as you must die, by the sword.

But let us please not pretend it has no place in the game. And let us please not pretend it’s not soul-stirringly hypnotic when they do connect. 

Without them, that sort of shameless audacity simply wouldn’t exist. Why would it? It’s idiocy.

Trouble is, if you entirely eliminate that idiocy from the game you remove the only elemental (madcap) force capable of pulling off the most suicidal of wins at the highest of levels – the occasional duffing up of a top five player forces the game to evolve in ways it might not otherwise see. Think of them as the mutants that create sufficient amounts of instability in a population that might otherwise lack for vitality, or worse, go sterile.

At its best you get the kind of apocalyptic run Aravane exhibited at Madrid last year. At its worst she goes down, like she did yesterday, flailing in a fug of her own insolence.

Sharapova d. Rezai 62 62

That’s not at all to say Pova didn’t play a contained, measured and entirely professional match – as good as anything I’ve seen from her in months.

It’s just difficult to know what to make of it and how much stock to place in it (which I totally want to do) without having had the match this was hyped up to be. Dinara next.

I have no idea what chance Domi stands against Wicks (Universal Impudence says she’ll flame out in straights) – players like her aren’t built for longevity, nor do they naturally lend themselves to any extrapolation.  I only know that I find it ironic that two of the fiercest ball strikers we have measure in at (or under) 5’5.

Where does that leave so called “Big Babe Tennis”?

(Pics: Getty)

US Open 2010 Day 5 Open Thread

AP

Beatrice Capra of the United States signs autographs for fans after upsetting Aravane Rezai of France at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010. Capra beat Rezai 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 in what some are calling the most surprising upset of the tournament.

::

Schedule for Day 5: Friday, September 3 2010

Arthur Ashe Stadium 11:00 AM Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[24] v. Elena Dementieva (RUS)[12]
Not Before:1:00 PM
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Petra Kvitova (CZE)[27] v. Kim Clijsters (BEL)[2]
3. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Andy Murray (GBR)[4] v. Dustin Brown (JAM)
Arthur Ashe Stadium 7:00 PM Start Time
1. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Mandy Minella (LUX) v. Venus Williams (USA)[3]
2. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Rafael Nadal (ESP)[1] v. Denis Istomin (UZB)

Louis Armstrong Stadium 11:00 AM Start Time

1. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Samantha Stosur (AUS)[5] v. Sara Errani (ITA)
2. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) v. John Isner (USA)[18]
3. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Virginie Razzano (FRA) v. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
4. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Sam Querrey (USA)[20] v. Marcel Granollers (ESP)

Grandstand 11:00 AM Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) v. Ryan Harrison (USA)
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Francesca Schiavone (ITA)[6] v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)[29]
3. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
David Nalbandian (ARG)[31] v. Florent Serra (FRA)
4. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Shahar Peer (ISR)[16] v. Flavia Pennetta (ITA)[19]

Court 4 11:00 AM Start Time

2. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[12] v. Dudi Sela (ISR)

Court 6 11:00 AM Start Time

3. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) v. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)[25]

Court 7 11:00 AM Start Time

2. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP) v. Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
4. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) v. Nicolas Almagro (ESP)[14]

Court 8 12:00 PM Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Feliciano Lopez (ESP)[23] v. Benoit Paire (FRA)

Court 11 11:00 AM Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Julien Benneteau (FRA) v. Tommy Robredo (ESP)
2. Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)[20] v. Gisela Dulko (ARG)
3. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Adrian Mannarino (FRA) v. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)[8]

Court 13 11:00 AM Start Time

1. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Victor Hanescu (ROU) v. Michael Llodra (FRA)
2. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
David Ferrer (ESP)[10] v. Benjamin Becker (GER)
Not Before:6:00 PM
4. Men's Singles - 2nd Round
Gilles Simon (FRA) v. Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)[29]

USO: I want to like you.

 

 

 

 

I really want to like you. So I'm going to make the rules very simple:

 

1) Don’t knock out members of my stable.

 

Alas, Boudica…

(Capra d. Rezai 7-5 2-6 6-3)

 

 

2) Don’t ever knock out members of my stable.

 

 

Wudja just look at who’s next.

(Masha d. Benny 6-1 6-2)

 

3) If you really must, then please make it count.

 

 

You know what you must  do.

(Woz d. Chang 6-0 6-0)

 

 

In all seriousness, I think I’m going to like this kid. In fact, I’m going to try very hard to like this kid.

 

Comparing her to Melanie Oudin would be a good way to wreck all of that.

 

Please stop it.

Roland Garros 2010 Day 7 Open Thread

Reuters

Had to cater a dinner party last night. Watched much of the tennis (too much, really) in between set up chores, but was too wiped out to write about any of it. Apologies.

Woke up late to see Serena Williams dizzy and Andy Roddick getting his clocked cleaned by Teimuraz Gabashvili. Whenever tennis genius (/snark) Brad Gilbert boasted that Roddick would be excited to play a qualifier in the third round, I wondered if he'd ever seen the Russian play. I thought Roddick might win a set, but if the Russian kept his head, no way would Roddick get through.

The Russian kept his head.

Funny how everybody else can hit through court Suzanne Lenglen but Roddick who thinks it's the slowest court in Stade de Roland Garros. Gabashvili, a flat ballstriker with virtually no topspin on his shots, hit 58 winners, Roddick 14.

Tennis is mental. It was too much to ask for Roddick to make the second week of Roland Garros twice in a row. At least Serena survived her dizzy spell.

Then the score scrolled by and I saw the Bryan Brothers are also lost while I was asleep. Now, Nadia Petrova is trying to serve for the match for the third or fourth or fifth time against Aravane Rezai in an unending chokefest. Both have held three match points, all of Miss Nadia's on her own serve, and yet they're still out their slugging away. I know the match was suspended by darkness, but it feels like it went on through the night for I can see no progress in this storyline. Much like a soap opera.

Anyway....

Schedule for Day 7: Saturday, 29 May 2010

Court Philippe Chatrier 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - Third Round
Serena Williams (USA)[1] v. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)[29]
Not Before 12:00
2. Women's Singles - Third Round
Aravane Rezai (FRA)[15] v. Nadia Petrova (RUS)[19] To Finish 7-6(2) 4-6 7-7
3. Men's Singles - Third Round
Victor Hanescu (ROU)[31] v. Novak Djokovic (SRB)[3]
4. Men's Singles - Third Round
Lleyton Hewitt (AUS)[28] v. Rafael Nadal (ESP)[2]
5. Women's Singles - Third Round
Maria Sharapova (RUS)[12] v. Justine Henin (BEL)[22]

Court Suzanne Lenglen 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Singles - Third Round
Andy Roddick (USA)[6] v. Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS)
2. Women's Singles - Third Round
Shahar Peer (ISR)[18] v. Marion Bartoli (FRA)[13]
3. Men's Singles - Third Round
Fernando Verdasco (ESP)[7] v. Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)[30]
4. Women's Singles - Third Round
Jelena Jankovic (SRB)[4] v. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)[27]

Court 1 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Singles - Third Round
Jarmila Groth (AUS) v. Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)
2. Men's Singles - Third Round
Jurgen Melzer (AUT)[22] v. David Ferrer (ESP)[9]
3. Men's Singles - Third Round
Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP)[16] v. Robby Ginepri (USA)
4. Women's Singles - Third Round
Anastasia Pivovarova (RUS) v. Samantha Stosur (AUS)[7]

Court 2 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Bob Bryan (USA)/Mike Bryan (USA)[1] v. Marcelo Melo (BRA)/Bruno Soares (BRA)
2. Women's Singles - Third Round
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)[23] v. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)[16]
3. Men's Singles - Third Round
Ivan Ljubicic (CRO)[14] v. Thomaz Bellucci (BRA)[24]
4. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Serena Williams (USA)Venus Williams (USA)[1] v. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

Court 3 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Thierry Ascione (FRA)/Laurent Recouderc (FRA) v. Andrey Golubev (KAZ)/Paolo Lorenzi (ITA)
2. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Alberta Brianti (ITA)/Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) v. Gisela Dulko (ARG)/Flavia Pennetta (ITA)[5]
3. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Julian Knowle (AUT)/Andy Ram (ISR)[10] v. Gael Monfils (FRA)/Josselin Ouanna (FRA)
4. Mixed Doubles - Second Round
Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/Oliver Marach (AUT)[3] v. Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (FRA)/Thierry Ascione (FRA)
5. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Nicolas Almagro (ESP)/Santiago Ventura (ESP) v. Marc Gicquel (FRA)/Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)

Court 5 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK)/Julia Goerges (GER) v. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE)/Lucie Hradecka (CZE)[16]
2. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/Zi Yan (CHN)[9] v. Sara Errani (ITA)/Roberta Vinci (ITA)
3. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Maria Kirilenko (RUS)/Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)[11] v. Petra Kvitova (CZE)/Stefanie Voegele (SUI)

Court 6 11:00 Start Time
1. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Darija Jurak (CRO)/Petra Martic (CRO) v. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP)/Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)[2]
Not Before 12:00
2. Men's Singles - Third Round
Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)[11] v. Viktor Troicki (SRB) To Finish 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2 3-1
3. Women's Doubles - Second Round
Lucie Safarova (CZE)/Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) v. Iveta Benesova (CZE)/Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE)[13]
4. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Mardy Fish (USA)/Mark Knowles (BAH)[13] v. Guillaume Rufin (FRA)/Alexandre Sidorenko (FRA)
5. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Rennae Stubbs (AUS)/Robert Lindstedt (SWE) v. Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)/Bruno Soares (BRA)
6. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Tathiana Garbin (ITA)/Marcin Matkowski (POL) v. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA)/Mark Knowles (BAH)[4]

Court 7 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - First Round
Rohan Bopanna (IND)/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) v. Fabio Fognini (ITA)/Michael Russell (USA)
2. Women's Singles - Third Round
Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)[28] v. Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)
3. Men's Singles - Third Round
Nicolas Almagro (ESP)[19] v. Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr (UKR)
4. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Liezel Huber (USA)/Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)[1] v. Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/Eric Butorac (USA)
5. Mixed Doubles - Second Round
Elena Vesnina (RUS)/Andy Ram (ISR) v. Katarina Srebotnik (SLO)[6]/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[6]

Court 8 11:00 Start Time
1. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Julie Coin (FRA)/Nicolas Mahut (FRA) v. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)/Horia Tecau (ROU)
2. Men's Doubles - First Round
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)/Albert Montanes (ESP) v. Wesley Moodie (RSA)/Dick Norman (BEL)[4]
3. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Viktor Troicki (SRB)/Dusan Vemic (SRB) v. Santiago Gonzalez (MEX)/Travis Rettenmaier (USA)

Court 16 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Jonathan Erlich (ISR)/Dudi Sela (ISR) v. Stephen Huss (AUS)/Andre Sa (BRA)
2. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)/Max Mirnyi (BLR)[5] v. Marc Lopez (ESP)/Pere Riba (ESP)
3. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)/Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) v. Frantisek Cermak (CZE)/Michal Mertinak (SVK)[9]
4. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Lisa Raymond (USA)/Wesley Moodie (RSA)[7] v. Vania King (USA)/Christopher Kas (GER)
5. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Flavia Pennetta (ITA)/Dusan Vemic (SRB) v. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS)/Max Mirnyi (BLR)[5]

Court 17 11:00 Start Time
1. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Lukas Dlouhy (CZE)/Leander Paes (IND)[3] v. Yves Allegro (SUI)/Andreas Beck (GER)
2. Men's Doubles - First Round
Lukasz Kubot (POL)/Oliver Marach (AUT)[6] v. Thiemo De Bakker (NED)/Rogier Wassen (NED)
3. Men's Doubles - Second Round
Simon Greul (GER)/Peter Luczak (AUS) v. Daniel Nestor (CAN)/Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)[2]
4. Mixed Doubles - First Round
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (PAK) v. Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE)/Filip Polasek (SVK)
5. Mixed Doubles - Second Round
Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ)/Julian Knowle (AUT) v. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (CZE)/Frantisek Cermak (CZE)

Roland Garros: “Ladies & Gentlemen - Light is Suspended due to Awesome Play”

Don’t ask me about the match.

I only saw the first half of it on a live stream, which switched over inexplicably, at the beginning of the third set, …to Football.

Not premier league football mind you, not even Bundesliga football – but by the looks of it, a Sunday league event that might follow a village fete held somewhere in the provincial outskirts of Hungary.

I’m told it was good tennis. Best of the week even.

Which, to be honest, the tournament needed it to be.

It’s a sorry, and somewhat sodden, state of affairs when the rains wash out nearly two days of play, and the closest you get to having your fire lit involves Muzzard outlasting Reeshie in a match ‘The Talanted One’ should have won, and a more literal take on Lights Out Tennis.

How is it possible for a match on Chatrier involving two top twenty players – one of whom is not simply a home favourite, but the hottest player on tour right now with recent wins over Henin and Venus – to not receive even a minutes worth of coverage?

Oh I’m miffed alright. And by the looks of it, I’m not the only one.

Nice to know that whatever differences may exist with those folks over the pond, our respective broadcasters remain equally clueless and out of touch with their fanbases on what exactly constitutes ‘Box Office’ Tennis.

I’ve no qualms with having to sit through Marin procrastinating over closing out another one of those five setters he’s so fond of.

I’ve long since made my peace with the tennis universe ceasing to exist for the four or five sets it seems to take Murray to close out his matches nowadays.

And you can’t fault them for electing to broadcast the defending champion’s last gasp (didn’t see it, didn’t regret not seeing it), a result that will land Kuzzie around #18 in the rankings in two weeks time. 2005, before you ask, was when she last “did time” there.

But it’s a little much, is it not, when you’re forced to sit through Dementcha taking the path of least conformance through to a blundering three set victory over Aleksandra Wozniak – knowing as you do, how you’re being actively denied the sumptuous treats on offer in Chatrier.

And let’s reserve that pose for when you’re able to elevate your play to the level it was at during Wimby last year, shall we?

I didn’t sit around, as it happened, electing to use the “down time” to stock up on bog roll and beverages.

I returned to discover that I’d missed out on the event’s greatest shindig of the week. Both women had seen three match points come and go before, at 7-7, light was suspended due to awesome play.

***

-- “Viewer, I bagelled him”

And if you can’t place that reference I’ll find you unwell-read (or well-unread).

Nice to know that whatever else might be happening, the Naderer age of blemish-free straight-sets wins in the early rounds of Slams is upon us once more.

Leister tried to make things happen, but seemed as much a part of the furniture as Roddick was in Oz 2007, and before he knew it had been bagelled and was watching Federer double fault at match point. Not quite blemish free then.

-- Wawa bundled out AbFab in straights in a match I’m guessing no one knew was happening and no one cared about enough to see even if they did.

AbFab seems to me to resemble the the type of provincial Italian Charlotte Bartlett might have been keen to protect Lucy Honeychurch from in ‘A Room with a View’ , or for that matter, the strawberry sucking Adonis type that did seduce Winona Ryder in ‘How to Make an American Quilt’.

In other words, exactly the kind of shallow journeyman you don’t expect to make many waves on tour.

I wanted to sock him one when he made such a song and dance of wanting to stop play that night (and it was night) against La Monf – but I seem to have come away with a new found respect for the way in which he then held serve.

Poetic justice served then on La Monf and the-powers-that-be? I think so.

Wawa to play Federer next – ideally it’ll take a little longer than it did in Madrid.

-- Albert Montanes played 9 clay court events coming into the FO.

I’ve got this image in my head of Ed Rooney (of Ferris Bueller Fame) complaining to Albert Montanes’ management team about “how he’s been seen skipping the tour in favour of lower-tier clay court events no less than nine times this season......nine times."

Someone mind doing the research and telling me which ones?

(Photos: Getty)

Madrid: Old Flames and ‘Churchillean’ Tennis.

The victory pose is, at least, novel. The result, anything but.

Nadal d. Federer 6-4 7-6

There is some tennis being played this week. Just don’t expect me to go acknowledging it’s existence.

For the next four or five days, I’m afraid, Tennis is not being served in these’ere parts. I might cobble together a RG preview. Then again I might elect not to step out of my hastily constructed tennis decompression unit until the first ball has been struck in Phillipe Chatrier.

To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what to expect going into the first “Naderer” final in twelve months, and even now, nearly two days after it’s completion, I’m still not sure what to make of it.

The only certainties were that:

a) Nadal ought to come through (though perhaps being stretched to three sets), and that,

b) I didn’t want to hear any pissant excuses about Madrid’s “high altitude” from Rafaelites, or “insufficient clay court matches” from the Federnation in the event of either man pulling up short.

Before I get accused of sitting on the fence (as I have once already in the past 72 hrs), let me declare where my loyalties lie. Sitting on a fence, as you might imagine, is an uncomfortable business.

I don’t go in much for the argument that says order is somehow served by Rafa winning RG and Federer retaining Wimby ever year – to me the odd chaotic interlude is the healthiest sign yet of a vibrant and, more importantly, COMPETITIVE tennis economy.

No I’m afraid my reasons for backing Rafa to win RG this year have much more in common with fluffy white kittens and children’s television.

To put it bluntly, he needs this win the way Federer needed Wimby last year.

We’ve all been acutely aware of his return to form (even though we might differ on the exact minutiae of when it took place), but that return would fall palpably short of “coming full circle” if Rafa went out early to say, ‘Dasco Sizzlehands’.

Consider that my line in the dirt - “on this subject I have nothing more to say, no other apology to offer.”

***

It’s no secret that in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's final, I was feeling slightly short changed.

The entire match had the air of two old flames meeting up for drinks and salted snacks – a tete-a-tete neither had sought – before deciding they still couldn’t stand one other.

The first set was full of the unease and neurotic defensiveness that must necessarily surround the first few moments of any such meeting.

“You still take yours strong I see…”

“Still taking coffee with your sugar, I see…”

*awkward silence*

Rafa was a little late out of the blocks, but Federer’s grip on an early break proved as tenuous as everything else. When Rafa broke decisively at 4-3 he appeared to have defaulted into a groove that still fell painfully short of the form we’d come to associate with him over the past month.

“Still pitching those, curve balls to my backhand then?”

“Made our peace with the drop shot finally have we?”

*frenzied stirring of coffee*

Federer’s backhand was, of course, Rafa’s front line of attack (no surprises there) – the usual frenetic assault, which I thought it withstood well given the circumstances. Most of what I saw from Fed in this match, in fact, though perhaps not as convincing as his containment of Ernie, or disembowelling of Stan Wawrinka, does at least appear to suggest a certain contentment with the tenor of his game ahead of RG.

It was with some irony then, that I viewed Rafa seal the first set off one of Federer’s finest backhand returns of the match. A deep angled cross court that forced Rafa on his back foot, scrambling to regain his balance. Quite what possessed Fed to then bull rush the net – having already been passed there a number of times – remains mostly a mystery.

We were, by this point, past the initial awkward exchanges, and well beyond the demands of social decorum. Suddenly, all the usual grievances about un-emptied garbage and hair blockages in the the sink became that much easier to air – every tic, every foible, once so endearing, now very publicly subject to the most unforgiving scrutiny.

“Never liked those slurping sounds you make when you drink….”

*shank*

“Wasn’t crazy about the way you’d always end up laughing at your own jokes which, by the way, weren’t even that funny.”

*unconverted break point*

What made it compelling, however, was that it wasn’t a wholly sordid business. More a kind of impasse between two former allies, each unwilling to yield even an inch of their hard earnt moral high ground, though neither that intent on turning the screw on their old buddy either.

When Federer finally shanked a ball sky high clean-missed on match point – off a bad bounce I hasten to add – it seemed as though the issue had been forced.

Yet the point-by-point intensity of the affair left me feeling I’d sat through four competitive sets rather than two erratic ones.

Fed served nine aces and no double faults. Both served a very healthy 67+ percent of first serves in.

Both also served up around 30 UFEs a piece and neither was able to convert on more than 4 out of the staggering 11 break point opportunities they were each presented with.

Unflattering perhaps, but hardly worthy of the scandal that comes of airing one’s dirty linen in public.

***

Stuff-you-should-already-be-aware-of-that-I-only-mention-for-the-sake-of-completeness:

-- Nadal back to world #2

-- First male in history to win all three Clay Masters Titles in the same year (what took you so long?),

-- Holder of most overall Masters Titles (‘18’ emblazoned boxers Nike?), and the unquestioned favourite for RG.

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,…”

-- Winston Churchill, WWII

Henin, MJMS, Rezai: three different styles of play,three unseeded champions for three Premier events. No words.

To say Aravane Rezai is one-dimensional is to rather miss the point of her appeal.

She belongs to the same tennis tradition as Sabine Lisicki – who you’ll remember, picked up Charleston last year playing a similarly Churchillean style of tennis.

Rezai herself has now been compared to Monica Seles more often than I care to remember.

The trouble with players like Rezai is that there always exists the possibility of them getting bipolar on you: don’t miss and the world’s your oyster, though if your groundies begin to go south, they almost always take the match with them.

For a brief spell, it seemed as though the same was about to happen to Rezai in the second set. It didn’t. I’d like to believe this wasn’t simply a result of being in the zone, though as with everything else, only time will tell.

What I’m not about to do is grumble that she’s got no plan B to fall back on. Aravane, Big Rob and to a lesser extent Sabine, belong to a different order of species: it’s about as appropriate to juxtapose their supposed “limitations” alongside the variety of Henin as it is to compare a Chimpanzee with a Blue Whale.

It’s not often you get to see Venus (and I’m guessing Henin) out hit.

(Photos: Getty)

Madrid Final Open Thread

Aravane Rezai has already defeated Venus Williams in straight sets to claim the women's title, and Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have just traded breaks of serve in an erratic, nervy beginning.

Discuss.

Quote For The Day

“For me, she was not too impressive. Of course she’s a good player, of course I respect her. But I could have won today. I wasn’t impressed. Probably it was more difficult for her to play against me. I know she’s a fighter but I am also a fighter. Today I lost. Probably next time I will win.” --Aravane Rezai, after losing to Serena Williams in the Sydney quarterfinals