The “second best” world number one.

 

 

 

 

1) Delpo lost. Twice.

 

UPDATE: Delpo lost 6-3 6-0 to Feli in the opening round of Tokyo. Most of what follows (written after his loss in Bangkok) remains valid.

 

He came. He played. He served 16 aces. He lost. In straights. To a guy that should, by rights, be in a different weight division.

 

His wrist still appears to be intact. “Perfect” even.

 

"I'm just happy to be back on the circuit and I hope I get better and better. I need to work hard to get back into the Top 10.

"Of course I would love to be back there soon. The most important thing for today is my wrist - and it's perfect. I hope to play five or six more tournaments between now and the end of the season. We will see how it goes."

 

Still, part of me wishes he’d been exposed to more than just two sets - a couple of rounds would have been ideal: we’d get a chance to form a real opinion on his game, but more importantly be assured he can survive the demands of back to back, if not back to back to back to back, matches.

 

Delayed reactions are a bitch - and then you die. Or at least your ranking does.

 

 

-- Caz won Tokyo and will, if she makes the Beijing quarters, be crowned world #1

 

Just so you know, and you probably already do, you’ll not likely live to see the day I root for Caz. So I suggest you stop holding your breath.

 

This is less about wanting to sneer as it is about feeling strongly enough to take an ideological position against her style of play – the way you might against, say, fox hunting.

 

There’s probably a certain type of “steely-lite” about her for which, I guess, she deserves credit and she’s certainly not shy of hard work.

 

It’s just that, as far as I’m concerned, that approach has no business winning Slams.

 

The number one ranking? Different story altogether.

 

Let's face it, the hunt for major titles and the No. 1 ranking aren't what they used to be, partly because the two efforts are no longer as closely related as they once were -- especially on the WTA side, where Dinara Safina and Jelena Jankovic recently held the No. 1 ranking without having won a major event. The "even a blind pig finds an acorn sometimes" approach seems to have become something of the norm, which is partly why a nice girl like Wozniacki can be so cavalier about her pending ascent to the top spot.

…

Maybe that No. 1 ranking isn't all it's cracked up to be, which is a theme that Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Rafa Nadal and others have hammered away at for years. It's often taken as a disingenuous position, reflecting a desire to ward off pressure. But at times like these, I'm more inclined to take seriously the claim of those players, that they have only one goal -- to win major tournaments.

It follows that being ranked No. 1 is actually the second prize in tennis. Looked at that way, second prize is about to be awarded to a truly deserving candidate on the WTA side.

-- Peter Bodo, ESPN

 

 

You can probably count the number of times I’ve agreed with Pete on one hand – of a worn old fingerless glove.

 

Though there’s no way out of conceding that, with this particular article, he’s right on the money.

 

I get that for some people the #1 ranking symbolises greatness, history and the type of gravitas we associate with Serena, Henin and the like.

 

I also get, therefore, that these people will object (and not always conscientiously) to a system that enthrones the Slamless at the expense of the enSlammed (twice over) with every cell in their body

 

A “system” gone to pot – that must, like any other malevolent autocracy, be brought down, as they say, “by any means necessary”.

 

Personally, I’ve never had a beef with it, even when it sees the #1 ranking going to a Slamless, wonderless workhorse.

 

And I’m not about to begin now, however many foxes Caz might skin in the process.

 

The trouble is that, at some point, we have to somehow quantify all that “greatness” and “gravitas” they’d like to see embodied in the #1 ranking.

 

And try as I may, I can’t fault using a rolling week on week measure of your performance over the past 52 weeks.

 

In an ordered universe (like, say, the ATP) the top dogs dominate, the nearly-men nearly make the cut, the also-rans also run, Bambi’s mum never dies and we’re all home in time for croissants and ‘The Antiques Roadshow’.

 

If the WTA persists in a culture of chaos brought on, in part, by injury, but also it must be said, a policy of selective participation by it’s top players, that’s no reason to blame the rankings system, nor, for that matter, to call for it to be rewired (rigged?).

 

I’ve heard many arguments in favour of barring players from the top spot if they haven’t won a Slam (that sounds too much like rigging an election and is, in Software parlance, what we call a “hack”) or weighting the rankings further in favour of the Slams (newsflash: they already are).

 

None of them persuade me very much.

 

And yet, something’s clearly rotten in the state of Denmark.

 

Which is why I quite like Bodo’s temporary rebranding of the #1 ranking as “the second prize in tennis” and, should she make it, why I’ll be happy to think of Caz as the world’s (second best) #1 ranked player.

 

 

-- Rafa’s loss to Garcia Lopez

 

Shocker.

 

And yet, it’s worth remembering Federer’s “Volandri” moment of 2007 followed a period of unprecedented success.

 

So not that much of a shocker then. In fact, very much the law of averages.

 

In any case, I’m more interested in why Rafa’s reverted to his back-to-back-to-back-to-back scheduling of old.

 

Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai may be worth millions in appearance fees. It’s not “smart scheduling” by any stretch of the imagination.

 

We started using that phrase when Rafa dropped Barcelona (all of ONE tournament) from his schedule earlier this year.

 

The only “smart” thing about it now is that it smarts

 

Has anyone asked Rafa’s knees what they think?

Asian Order.

I forgot to mention Youzhny yesterday, who's had something of an upturn in his fortunes this week.

And despite my future willingness to treat French tennis seriously being heavily dependant on the outcome of that French Proposition I put forth a few days ago, a small part of me wanted to see Youzhny pull through today, hopefully bringing to an end a particularly dank spell of form.

A season that’s seen him plummet from his top ten highs of early 2008.

(Photo: Getty)

But it wasn’t to be. Jo was nimble, Jo was keen, Jo-was-serving-like-a-dream.

And was rewarded, for his troubles with what looked like an item of 80s Phantasm Memorabilia.

Taken with Gael and Gilles' efforts this is now the most productive three weeks of French tennis I care to remember.

I’m tentatively back on board.

Similar story in Beijing.

A-Rad looked set to cap off a week of borderline top ten play.

But there’s few distinctions in tennis more worthy of my attention than the sight of one of it’s most skilled athletes intent on playing the house down, and even fewer than watching Sveta doing precisely that from her very first match.

The Pole did good, and has much to be proud of, though I think I still prefer the relative ‘order’ of the head girl beating up on the young fledgling.

Fortunately A-Rad seems to share my view of things.

(Photo: AP)

And in other news from the land of oversized cheques and trophies, Nole celebrated his recent ascension to world #3 with his best Rafa impression yet.

(Photo: AP)

…and by throwing his shirt in security’s face.

(Photo: AP)

Generally unimpressed with this outcome.

For Marin it’s another nearly-man result. And not an entirely distinguished one for Novak either, despite getting past some tricky opponents.

They’ll have it all to play for next week.

Jubilant Marat and A French Proposition

(FREDERIC BROWN/AFP/Getty Images)

Getty captioned this image “Marat Safin jubilates after beating Fernando Gonzales of Chile…”.

It’s the kind of jubilance I normally express at the thought of paying off my utility bills at the end of the month.

Perhaps the right approach given the circumstances. I actually can’t remember the last time he won back to back matches; certainly not against someone as illustrious as Gonzo. Though it does still feel as if he’s itching to leave the ATP party.

That said, a win over Rafa wouldn’t be the most improbable result in the world right now. Particularly if he is in some sort of groove. Or am I now being too jubilant?

This could also prove to be a very interesting week for Robin Soderling, who has much to gain from winning an event like this.

I know Nando-Djoko is the other big marquee match, but I’m rather liking (and preferring) Big Rob’s chances in this half of the draw, particularly as neither of those other two have been that inspired over the last few months.

I know he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I haven’t changed my opinion on his flat groundies. It would be positively spiffing, to see him qualify for London, particularly after what happened in RG.

It wasn’t my intention to follow Tokyo this week, but I’ve just realised that with Delpo’s early exit, the remaining top three seeds are all French. Scratch that. Gilles was ‘upset’ by Mikhail Youzhny. (Nice to see him pocketing a win again)

So here’s the deal.

What we have here is a Fedal-less event, where the top seed -- the US Open Champion -- has gone out in the opening round. Of the remaining contenders, I can only see one Stan Wawrinka causing any vexation.

(Photo: AFP/Getty)

I’m not saying all is forgiven, but a win here for La Monf or Jo-Willy might just lead me to reconsider my troubled relationship with French tennis.

Consider all your French bridges burnt however, if you return with another loss.

Shame.

"When you get an injury, you don't know if you can play or not," Jankovic said. "My wrist and whole arm is inflamed and swollen and I don't know when I will recover."

(ESPN)

Ouch. I don’t normally look favourably upon retirements in final rounds, but JJ came out of that match with what at one point, looked like Popeye’s right arm.

I don’t think playing Beijing would be the smartest move in the world right now. But with Jelena only being a mere 190 points behind Vera in the Race to the SEC, and with Jelena being Jelena, the lure might prove irresistible.

(Photo: AP)

That said the seven games these two managed to play seemed designed to impress, and despite the anti-climax, went some way to limiting the damage done in the opening few days of the event.

It also further strengthened my belief that Jelena has this time found her way to the correct comeback trail, after a season littered with false starts. Better late than never. Nothings for certain, but it could have been so very different if the wrist had held up.

"I really had a good feeling that I was going to get through this match," said the fifth-seeded Sharapova.

"I believed in myself ... even when I was down in the tiebreaker I knew I could do it and I did."

(ABC News)

That’s what Masha had to say after winning her maiden title at this very venue, six years ago. How very little has changed in her second career.

Tokyo: Thunderous Masha to meet Rock-Solid Jelena

“If I can win my third title of the year, that would be pretty good,” Jankovic said. “It’s been a difficult year so it would be nice to finish strong.”

Jankovic, the highest seeded player left in the tournament, said she was looking forward to facing Sharapova.

“It will be a difficult match,” Jankovic said. “She is a strong hitter. I haven’t played her in a while and don’t know how she is playing so it will be an interesting match.”

(Yahoo! Sports)

A surprisingly muted assessment of one of her best weeks this year.

It certainly will be an interesting match against Pova. If Jelena can somehow manage to weather the thunder which Pova will unleash for large portions of the match, she's quite capable of winning this thing.

I've loved what I've seen from Pova this week, but there's still an uncertainty underpinning all her wins.

To be fair to her, A-Rad played what I'm pretty sure is her best tennis since 2007; a development I have to say I'm truly chuffed about.



There's not a lot of players that move as well as her, and that can play that kind of a shot under pressure. Her win over Pova back in Flushing 07 was certainly no fluke, even though it coincided with the onset of Shaza's ongoing shoulder problems.

Shaza did what she does best to eventually bag the win here: pull out the stops in one of those unnerving displays of brute-belief-force. Unequivocally her greatest asset.

But as intimidating as that last set must have proved for A-Rad, she had Maria's number for surprisingly large parts of the match; lulls that Jelena seems better gifted to take advantage of.

Specially when you consider the way she's been playing this week.

I've unfortunately learnt to put none of my free-range eggs in the Li Na basket. A player I unreservedly proclaim as having the best technique on tour. On both wings she produces groundies that honestly do make the women's game look very pretty indeed.

(Photo; AFP/Getty Images)

Not only is her movement an asset - her muscular build ensures a putaway in situations where other players might seize up and settle for more inane, medium paced disfunction. An athlete in every sense of the word with a very becoming layer of feistiness in tow.

But it's perhaps been that somewhat overindulgent shotmaking that's behind the kind of error-strewn performances we've seen from her time and time again.

Jelena didn't have to be at her best to get the better of Li today; but she wasn't far from it - she's been rock solid since the beginning of the event, a quality that should see her past Shaza to her third title of the year.

Now I'll be running along to prepare more of those egg whites for my face tomorrow.

Toilet Bowls and Facial Scrubs

I'm not going to defend the indefensible.

The WTA Sh*thouse has been in full session this week parading it's mankiness for all to see.

But every cloud has a silver lining and I'm determined to give this particular toilet bowl a gold trim.

For one thing, we're still on for a Sharapova Jankovic final.

Both these two players have been on something of a juddery road.

Shaza's outdone herself since her return to tour back at Warsaw (funny how that now seems many moons back), but her Slam performances have been less exemplary. Worse still, she continues to be hindered by that shoulder, the unpredictability of which has got to be of some concern to her fanbase.

There's been some good news this week though, with the return of her former service action.



That she appears confident enough to try it out again has to considered a good sign.

Like many others I'm not wholly convinced abbreviated service motions are the silver bullet they're sometimes made out to be. There's certainly a debate to be had on whether the compensatory muscle required at the latter end of the motion might actually do greater long term damage than a more conventional motion, that at least benefits from the momentum created by the greater initial shoulder exertion.

My own feeling is she's made her peace with the remaining shoulder complaints that may continue to plague her whatever motion she uses in what still has to be considered the developmental stage of her comeback, and is therefore willing to try a little of everything and anything.

I'm also a little more confident with the sounds emerging from Camp Jelena. Though I approach this one with bated breath given how many false starts I've had from her this season.

Her form hasn't even been particularly poor this year - just un-Jelena-like. Too many round of sixteen exits both at the Slams and elsewhere. A little too distant and uninvested; a little, dare I say it, like Novak Djokovic.

But her form this week suggests that might finally be about to end. And no I'm not afraid of getting egg on my face once again; I'm told it serves as an excellent facial mask, and does wonders for your pores.

The Indie Scene...

Oh there was gripping tennis played in Tokyo yesterday alright.

Just not from any of the women you'd expect it from.

In fact with so many of the big names tumbling out, the delights Tokyo proffered up were closer in charm and quirkiness to a lovingly crafted indie production.

Dinarovic? Not even shocking anymore. But what of Venus? I know she usually paces herself more stringently towards the end of the season (don't forget Beijing is just round the corner), but a first round in straights? Surely not.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kimiko, unable to sustain the blissful high notes of last week, went down 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 to Aleksandra Wozniak.

But not before giving us these gems.





I defy anyone to contest my organic certification of her talent.

And this one's for anyone nursing the delusion that we need to await the return of Henin next year to experience single-handed backhand bliss once again.




I love the way she (perhaps inadvertently) draws Shaza into the net before firing that sling-shot past her. It's actually an excellent play against Shaza who's not the best mover into the forecourt and can look a little flat footed once she gets there.

Also gotta love the way she opens up the court with this play.



Francesca hasn't always made the best use of her enviable abilities over the years. But every so often she lands one of these moments of felicity on us. And I believe in her once again.