by Pete Bodo
With the two major mid-summer Grand Slam events out of the way, we can get back to some of our habits, like cruising the news and cherry-picking it for items or stories that are comment-worthy. It's one of the few available amusements at this time of year, when the oddly irrelevant but undoubtedly popular and still-developing European clay-court events take place.
Somehow, after Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, I just find it hard to get all fired up for clay after Wimbledon, even if players who prefer clay are thrilled for the opportunity to gorge on ranking points. On the other hand, were I a native of Stuggart, Germany or Bastad, Sweden, I'd probably have this week marked off on my summer to-do calendar. From the pictures at the ATP and tournament websites, the atmosphere and ambience at these ATP 250 events is delightful—kind of like the Cincinnati event is for Americans, but without the corn dogs, dusty parking lot, and 64-oz. Slurpee that gives you brain-freeze with every sip.
So let's get on with it—and let's call this the special Madonna edition of ATW.
Desperately Seeking Serena
The chances of Serena Williams doing well at the U.S. Open—okay, let's be frank about this—of Serena saving the U.S. Open, at least for native fans, are improving by the day and roughly commensurate with the number of events she's entered. Right now, it appears that Serena essentially has a full summer schedule. Apparently, she's playing two matches for the Washington Kastles next week, then Stanford, Toronto, and Cincinnati.
You might ask, "What's wrong with this picture?" I might answer, "Entering a tournament doesn't mean the player actually is going to show up on site with her rackets, headbands, jangling bling and poodle."
I consider myself a realist, not a cynic, although I confess that the line can blur pretty easily. But I'll believe that Serena will play a full summer schedule when I see it. And that isn't a blanket criticism, either. She's free to do what she wants, and may not even need more than, say, two tournaments (providing she gets at least three matches at each) in order to win the U.S. Open—or at any rate to play, and not have the excuse that she wasn't match sharp.
BTW, is anyone else tired of reading comments like this one, referring to tennis as "a sport that desperately needs her star power"? (It comes from the article linked above). I mean, who believes that? Will they cancel the U.S. Open and WTA in the event that Serena (substitute the name of any other player) retires, gets injured, decides to go climb Mt. Rainer instead of Mt. Sharapova? This kind of knee-jerk remark drives me nuts. Just as bad, it encourages players to have delusions about their place in the world. I hope Serena plays, but does anyone really believe that the U.S. Open is going to be an irrelevant downer if she doesn't?
It Better be Cherry Red, With Turbo and A Clever Vanity Plate. . . .
John Isner missed his brother Nathan's wedding a few days ago, although he had a pretty good excuse—he was in the semifinals at Newport (he would go on to win the tournament). Okay, so it's not really a pretty good excuse. Actually, John has just one leg to stand on—the guilt card. How would Nathan and his fiancee/wife have felt had Isner basically ruined the tournament by pulling out of the semis in order to go to a wedding—even if it was his brother's?
On the other hand, I can see Nathan—or his fiance—asking, "How could you enter Newport, a grass-court tournament (the closest thing to low-hanging fruit, given Isner's game), knowing our wedding is that weekend?"
Isner, with refreshing cador, admitted: "He (Nathan) understands. His fiancee, now his wife. . . maybe not."
Well, we don't want to meddle in Isner family affairs and alls well that ends well. John is paying for Nathan's honeymoon, and I imagine the wedding present will be parked in the driveway when they get home.
Headline: "Henman Has No Professional Golf Aspiration"
Cool. Neither do I.
Duh!
Can you believe this David Ferrer, suggesting in an interview that Spain might be a better Davis Cup team if Rafael Nadal were to play? Wow, you're pretty out there, Da-veed.
BTW, let me ask all of you erstwhile Davis Cup reformers—just how resonant would that Spanish win have been had it happened in November, in an indoor arena in Manchester, Denver, or Reykjavik, in the opening round of an eight-team Davis Cup playoff event? There are numerous dimensions to the home-away nature of Davis Cup, but the degree to which it drives interest and adds resonance to the result—rather than just atmosphere to the event—is rarely remarked upon.
Consider it remarked upon.
Also: a number of readers (and Rafa Nadal himself) see ITF greed behind the institution's dogged insistence that the home-away format is non-negotiable. You need to know that the major beneficiary of the profits of any given tie are the federations of the competing teams—not the ITF, or even the players. For small or under-funded federations, a tie with a compelling line-up or narrative can provide a much needed and useful windfall.
E.G. Serbia is scheduled to host Argentina in the semifinals come September. The potential profit from that tie—imagine, a replay of a U.S. Open final between Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro!—could build a lot of tennis courts and fund many tennis programs in Serbia. And that's not a bad thing, is it?
!Kolya Actually, I am Chopped Liver
Did you see that 20-year old German wild card Cedrik-Marcel Stebe notched up his first-ever ATP tour win the other day in Stuttgart? The man he beat: multiple Grand Slam semifinalist Nikolay Davydenko. I don't want to get all grisly on you, but Kolya these days is like a fish caught, unhooked, and thrown up onto to bank to be dealt with later. Every few seconds, the fish flops, even after you assume it's finished.
Davydenko started his year in Doha, where he beat Nadal and didnt lose until Roger Federer stopped him in the final. What a start! Davydenko then won exactly two matches (no, not consecutively) in his next seven tournaments, leading up to Barcelona, where he did nail down back-to-back wins for the first time since Doha. The next thing you know, the little Russian dude wins Munich. But he's won just one match since then (a first-round win over No. 131 Denis Gremelmayr of Germany at Roland Garros). He's still ranked No. 29, but I've got to believe his ranking is due to go over a cliff.
Not You Again!
Way back when, Jimmy Connors was shoved off the pro tennis stage by Bjorn Borg, who then engaged in a storied rivalry with John McEnroe. It's deja vu all over again! Having hurt his knee, Jimmy Connors pulled out of tomorrow's scheduled World Team Tennis match against the New York Sportimes' McEnroe—and Borg , who plays for the Philadelphia Freedoms, is coming in as a sub.
Interestingly, Connors and Borg both played WTT way back at the inception of the league, skipping the French Open to do so. They did it for the most basic of all reasons—money. Back in those glory days for the emerging pro game, owning a WTT franchise was both a promising if risky investment and a trophy of sorts. Own a WTT franchise and Borg (or Evert, Connors, Goolagong, King or Gerulaitis) has to accept your invitation to dinner. You're signing his or her check.
Legacy-wise, taking the WTT money over a shot at the French Open title was a mistake (granted, in those years the tournament wasn't nearly so well run, nor as highly valued). It's almost certain that Borg would have won it, had he showed up to play in 1977.
Connors made an even greater blunder by going for the dough: he might have completed a Grand Slam if he played in Paris in 1974. Sure, it would have been much harder to win that last leg in New York were Connors in a position to sweep the majors. But the way he was playing that year—and I saw it with my own eyes—left me with no doubt that, barring some extraordinary development, he would have joined Don Budge and Rod Laver as the only men to complete a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Nobody could touch Connors that year. And he would not have choked.
Material—or Substantial—Boy?
"Federer to Help Build Schools in Malawi" Why am I incapable of reading that headline without feeling a little depressed, or being reminded of some dodgy things, like Madonna's controversial, swoop-in adoption, or the scandal at Oprah Winfrey's school (although that institution is in South Africa, not Malawi?).
It would be wonderful to see such projects succeed; on the other hand, we've had numerous cautionary tales about misguided charity efforts, all of them launched with noble intentions. That doesn't mean people shouldn't try to help, of course, but legions of aid workers can tell you that "helping"—at least, successfully helping—is one of the most difficult things to pull off. I hope these efforts do nothing but good; the problem is that sometimes they do . . nothing much. But I suppose that every child or adult helped in some way is a small victory.
What I like about Andre Agassi's approach is his own, personal take and accountability at his academy. The school he built is right there in Las Vegas (okay, so maybe there aren't as many disadvantaged children in small, homogeneous Switzerland), next door to his own home. He goes to the eponymous academy, often. When something goes wrong—or right—he's right there to deal with it, and he has to make choices, including tough ones, on a daily basis.
But good luck to Roger, I hope it works out. For the sake of the kids.