Desert Notebook: Part II (CC)

As I mentioned in Part I of this post yesterday, I want to share a few more notebook items with you before I focus on Miami, and these are almost all player rather than fan or journalist related - although I do feel compelled to tell you all that The Times (of London) apparently swept up a pile of awards in the annual British sports writing awards. Neil Harman, The Times's, chief tennis correspondent, picked up the prestigious Reporter of the Year award.

The most important thing about the coup is that British soccer/football writers usually have a lock on that award, and the significance of Harman's achievement was not lost on, among others, officials at Wimbledon, who couldn't be happier. Any time tennis can beat football at anything in the UK, or most anywhere else but the U.S., is cause for celebration. Congrats, Neil. Well earned.

The (Self) Rating Game - -  Ana Ivanovic dispatched Vera Zvonareva at Indian Wells, in yet another of Zvonareva's maddeningly up-and-down matches,. This girl really can play - she's not afraid to smack any short ball to a corner and barrel in, which is a significant benchmark in the quest for a complete WTA game. But we all know that Vera can be a basket case, and I was curious to see how aware, honest and direct she might be in an overall evaluation of her game. So I asked her to rate herself, on a scale of 1 to 10, in the three critical departments: technical, mental, emotional.

Her initial reply, "Probably a six or so in all of them" sounded to much like a pro forma reply:  Get out of my face, dude,  I don't really want to think or talk about this.

But I pressed her a bit and got her to think a little. This is what she said:

Technically, I'm probably much higher. . . a seven, or maybe an 8. I feel I can do anything technically. Mentally, a. . . six. For me, it's just a matter of making the right choice at the right moment. I can produce any shot I want, but sometimes I don't. I don't make the right decision, mentally. I don't know if  you put that in technical or mental, but there it is.*
*

Mentally, also, it's kind of tough. One day I may be really good, one day not. some days I have really good concentration to be ina match, some days I come out there and feel I'm not in the match. Like today - I was feeling good on the court, but I realized I'm not thinking properly. I'm not in the match. Just not completely there. But there are days like this, it's always up and down. But I never would go below a six, I think.

Emotionally, I'm a little more mature now, so there I give a six or better, too. We play so many tournaments a year that I am experienced now, and understand that you cannot be on top of your game every day. When I lose now, I think there is probably something I can take from the losses that I will be able to use to my advantage.

Clearly this girl is a work in progress, but I'm struck by her modest assessment of her own talents and skills. Although I'm not sure it's easy to separate the mental and emotional, I'd be more inclined to give her 9 on technical, 7 on mental and 6 on emotional. If you take those numbers as percentages, the fact that she's as highly ranked while operating at 60-70 per cent of her maximum is pretty impressive.

This Kid Didn't Just Fall off the Turnip Truck -- In Roger Federer's post-match presser following a win over Nicolas Mahut, The Mighty Fed said:

I was in the room and my first though was: Man some dude is going to go running off to Rafael Nadal with that one! As it turned out, Bill Simon of California's Inside Tennis threw that quote right at Jet Boy in Nadal's very next presser, after he narrowly escaped Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-5 in the third. Nadal answered:

I think Nadal probably knew that TMF's remarks were directed more toward the likes of, oh, Willy Canas or David Ferrer than himself. And in all fairness, the most critical part of TMF's quote is his concession that playing against guys with Gallic flair is "a bit easier", which in Federer speak sometimes means a whole lot easier.

TMF would have to be on an 0-11 run against Jet Boy for him to express such obvious sour grapes. I understand Federer's point; he has the soul of an artist matched with the competitive skills and appetite of a panther. But I'm still a little uncomfortable with the last bit in that analysis on logical grounds. Whose fault is it if you can't play "better" (presumably, more creative, diverse tennis) anyway?

If it's your opponent's fault, shouldn't he get credit for finding a way to win despite the fact that you're capable of playing "better" tennis (and isn't every pro capable of playing better tennis than any given opponent allows)? And if it's your fault (that is, if you blew those sitter volleys or open-court forehands), you couldn't have been playing "better" tennis, even if you're capable of doing it. All you did was fail to find your "better" tennis, which may deserve empathy, but not sympathy.

Look, I hate to see a grim, baseline grinder beat an artistic player like Federer, but I can't deny his due when he does it. To say a guy didn't let you play tennis that earned you style points is less a comment on the quality of the match than the unique ability of that opponent.

Besides, there's some truth in Nadal's response to Simon's slightly insulting follow-up: "So you think there's a lot of variety within the Spanish players, not just a tremendous baselines, but a lot variety within the Spanish players?"

Jet Boy replied:

Motormouth -- Jelena Jankovic is a delightful interview. The girl just loves to talk, and the funniest thing about it is that in the press room she's likely to end long, far-ranging, comical, extraordinarily frank interviews by saying exactly what some of the ink-stained wretches in the room are thinking while they massage cramping fingers or frantically pop in new cassette tapes. "Okay, this has gone on way too long, let me go now."

Here's a representative exchange:

Q.  Your mom's an economist, so who spends more money when you guys go shopping?

I'm pretty ?? I'm a big spender.  I like to swipe my card.  (laughter.)I like just doing it, you know, that motion.  (laughter.

I think we are pretty similar, you know, at spending money. But I prefer to go with my dad, because he's really ?? with dads and daughters, I mean, just he cannot resist not to buy me something really expensive.

So I'm always ?? if I'm going after something, I'm like, I bring my dad. Can dad go with us, mom? Oh, okay. I just get like ?? I just bought like limited edition of Louis Vuitton bag. I'm like, dad, can you buy me that? Yes, of course no problem.

If I said to my mom. Oh, now is not the time. And for her, when she buys something, yeah, it's always the right time. But when I'm the one it's never the right time. So I said, dad ?? or I just go myself and I just swipe it. I don't even ask.

Q.  So how much was the bag?**

Q.  I do want to know.

Q.  Is that the most expensive thing he bought you?

Q.  How many shoes and how many bags do you have?

All right, props for her honesty, but do I detect that tennis has produced western civilization's first SNAP (Serbian Non-American Princess)? Did it ever occur to Jelena that had, say, Maria Sharapova made comparable revelations, the more sanctimonious pundits and fans would have hung her from the nearest Joshua Tree? It's funny, but I can't hold any of this against her. I am no Bono (As Dan Rather might say, sometimes, urban legends are true, even when false). Not only that, but after a solid week of hearing Where the Streets Have No Name on the PA system at Indian Wells, I wish somebody would just chuck Bono off a bridge.

Anyway, that press conference went on, if you can believe it (and you can, I was there), to produce this:

Q. Have you bought property in Serbia and more in Florida?

Q. Nice. Close to the tournament?

Q. Yeah, close.

Q. We each get a bag?

Q. Is the property by itself or is it in one of those developments in Rancho Santa Fe?

So let me get this right: I'm inviting all of you to come over to my house, but it's a "restricted" area, so you can't get in. What do you get when you cross Imelda Marcos's shopping habits with Idi Amin Dada's train of logic? Food for thought. And Jelena.

She's one of a kind, and for that, I figure, let her buy all the shoes she wants. You won't hear a peep out of me.