This week, for the Masters Series event in Toronto, I'll be joined from the tournament site by ace Canadian tennis journalist Kamakshi Tandon.
Hi Steve,
Trying to marshall my thoughts for this post, I realized that I've now been attending this event for ten years, and playing journalist for five. The tournament has in that time gone through four name changes, three tournament directors, two sites, and a partridge in a pear tree.
Name changes - du Maurier Open; Rogers AT&T; Tennis Masters Series - Canada; and the Rogers Cup
Tournament directors - Jane Wynne, Stacey Allaster, Grant Connell
Sites - the old National Tennis Centre on the east side of the York University campus, and the current Rexall Centre further west.
And I made the last part up, though there's always a chance Serena Williams demanded it one year.
Of course, some things never change. There's a firm public belief that the event gets a disproportionate amount of last-minute pullouts by big names. Who can forget the year Serena pulled out of Toronto to film a TV show? And not just any TV show - a TV show being shot in Toronto.
It's not clear whether the victimization complex would stand up to statistical scrutiny, but it got further validation when Andre Agassi withdrew without explanation last night. Still, the Rafael Nadal pullout scare never came about, perhaps partly due to the scare itself. And Andy Roddick's entry is holding firm for the moment.
The tournament also has some nicer trademarks -- the 'opening ceremony' with all the players walking out on the stadium court, the 'family day' on Sunday that lets everyone in free, and most of all - a chance to get the pulse of the game heading into the US Open. Toronto is to Flushing Meadows what Monte Carlo is to Roland Garros -- a good predictor of form.
Before Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis played in the US Open final, they played in Toronto -- on an outside court. Rafter won both events. Before Marat Safin beat Pete Sampras in the US Open final, he beat him in Toronto -- in a much better match to boot. Safin won both events.
Another nice feature is holding the on the grounds. Fans line up to pull out numbered tokens from an old silver trophy, with prizes and good-humoured banter distributed as the various slots fill up. Tomas Berdych and Canadian Frank Dancevic were also present.
Paul-Henri Mathieu's number was the first up -- probably quite literally as far as his chances in the tournament are concerned: he drew Federer in the opening round. "Good luck to him," observed the announcer.
Looking past Mathieu - not that Federer would ever do that, - the top seed has Tommy Haas and Dmitry Tursunov lurking nearby, with a quarterfinal against Lleyton Hewitt in the offing.
As an Aussie headline writer might say, expectorate a good grudge match when Lleyton Hewitt and Juan Ignacio Chela play each other in the first round. Hewitt's probably already making enquiries about the security.
On paper, the other quarterfinalist should actually be Nikolay Davydenko, but he's coming off three straight weeks on European clay and is scheduled to play the Sopot final tomorrow.
Ivan Ljubicic, Fernando Gonzalez or Marcos Baghdatis are also in the mix in the top half, but Tommy Robredo finds himself facing Marat Safin in his first summer hardcourt match. Safin is at this very moment battling Arnaud Clement in the Washington semis, his first half-decent result since Valencia. Whether that'll energize the unfathomable Russian this week or leave him flat is anyone's guess.
In the bottom half, Rafael Nadal naturally looms large. Also in his quarter are Roddick and Blake, who could face off in the third round. Blake and Roddick is one of several interesting matchups in the bottom half: there's Fabrice Santoro vs. Richard Gasquet and Frank Dancevic vs. stunt sleepwalker Peter Polansky in the first round, with Tim Henman and Andy Murray a potential second-rounder.
Daniel Nestor and Greg Rusedski is another intriguing second-round possibility -- and while it's not exactly a match-up between compatriots, you know what I mean. Of course, it's also a long-shot, because Nestor will first be going up against Berdych in his first singles match of the year.
Let's note in passing that Tim Henman was slated for a wild card before withdrawals allowed him to get straight into the draw. In my eyes, Greg Rusedski was a good candidate for a wildcard when he was making a comeback after his drugs exoneration two years ago. The gales of laughter suggested I was in a minority, but there was nevertheless a compelling if quirky case for it:
- He clearly deserved one - witness that, two years later, he's in on merit.
- A juicy talking-point for local sports-talk radio and TV shows
- Wicked irony offset by noble, peace-offering nature of the gesture - what's not to like?
The best rebuttal I got was that wildcards are reserved for the four Canadian Davis Cup players. But now, here's Henman being all set to get one. Not only that, but the fourth wildcard finally went to Polansky, even though Robert Steckley has put in more Davis Cup miles and is ranked higher.
But the overarching motif of this week is undoubtedly the prospect of another Federer-Nadal gunfight in the final. Two possibilities: they both keep the appointment, or lose a match to someone else at long last. Should be interesting either way.
Any more subplots that jump out at you?
Kamakshi
Kamakshi,
I’m joining you after DVR-ing my way through the men’s final in D.C. and the women’s in San Diego. Nice, surprising work by Arnaud Clement; at 28, he won his first event in the U.S., and he did it by fighting through three tiebreakers against Marat Safin and Andy Murray, two guys who have more firepower than he does.
Murray, despite reverting to immature form today, shouldn’t be too displeased. He became the third player to make the final of his first tournament with Brad Gilbert (the other two, Agassi and Roddick, went on to reach No. 1). You could see Gilbert talking to him from the stands today—he told Murray “one point at a time” when he was down 3-6 in the tiebreaker (it only took point: Murray lost it and the set was over). Do those words officially fall under “coaching”? I’m not sure. Still, despite his pedigree, Gilbert couldn’t prevent Murray from melting down in a stream of obscenities and self-laceration. Tennis is a tough game to coach, no matter where you’re sitting.
In San Diego, Maria Sharapova ended Kim Clijsters’ summer hard-court run, which had dated back to 2005. The Russian was sharp at the right moments; she controlled the rallies by playing from right on top of the baseline and moved in from there. It was an impressively confident and aggressive performance. What does it mean for the future? I’m not sure of her schedule the next few weeks, but I’d say the U.S. Open has its second contender, along with Clijsters. In this sense, the Open Series is working the way it should, introducing another player or two to the mix at Flushing Meadows each week—this time we got Sharapova, Murray, and perhaps Safin, who showed a few signs of life in reaching the D.C. semifinals.
On to Toronto. Thanks for the info on the tournament’s terminal indecisiveness. Too bad it couldn’t have stuck with good old “Canadian Open”; it will never have a name with as much prestige again. Can you imagine the U.S. Open as “Grand Slam—New York”? How about “Grand Slam—Flushing”? Was it the ATP that mandated the original name change?
I’ve been to the Montreal event twice, once for the men and once for the women. Is there a sense around Toronto that the tournament is happening? I didn’t get that feeling in Montreal. I like the small scale of the site there, but it seemed pretty distant from the life of the city. The Open actually manages to penetrate the consciousness of regular New Yorkers—it’s kind of the yuppie event of the season, a transition from the Hamptons back to the city. Not to mention a sad sign of summer’s end—Christ, that’s just three weeks from now!
Well, I won’t get ahead of myself. There’s one distressing addition to your report about the Tennis Masters Rogers Cup Toronto—Roddick’s out. Too bad he’s lost any momentum he had after Indy and will have to start over in the short time before the Open. His spot was filled by Robby Ginepri, who’s now slated to face James Blake in the fourth round.
Here’s what sticks out as I look around the rest of the first round:
Federer-Mathieu
Does PHM get a lot of bad draws, or is that just my imagination? I was on hand to see him lose to Fed in the opening match at Wimbledon last year. It’s a shame, because he can play—I was also there for his titanic struggle with Nadal at the French this year, an absolute war of attrition. I think this could be a good match, if only because it’s Fed’s first time back. Sire Jacket may face Tommy Haas a few rounds later, but he’ll probably be rolling by then.
Safin-Robredo
This is a tough matchup for Safin, who, as I said, showed a few signs of life in D.C. Robredo is a soft No. 7 in the world, but he’s steady, just what Safin won’t need as he struggles to get his form back. But if he can win this one…hey, you never know. If you're looking for a guy to break the Nadal-Fed chokehold, he's the man with the game to do it. It's under there, somewhere.
Baghdatis-Benneteau
On paper, after his convincing run at Wimbledon, Baghdatis should roll. But he’s still prone to ups and downs, and Benneteau, while a little soft in the head, is a shot-maker. I’ll be curious to see how well Baghdatis performs this summer; it would be nice to see him consolidate his place in the Top 10 and give the sport another personality to get behind.
Murray-Ferrer
Gilbert or not, Murray will be hard-pressed not to have a letdown in this one. Ferrer, a scrappy, fully-necklaced Spaniard, is the higher-ranked player and getting stronger on hard courts.
Blake-Bester
So what do you think of the great Canadian hope, Philip Bester? I saw him make the French junior final this year, but it’s tough to tell much from that. One thing you can say is that his game is different—one-handed backhand, net-rushing, good hands, compact swings. That said, I expect Blake to jump all over him.
Gasquet-Santoro
Two stylish, well-rounded Frenchmen in an aficionado’s dream match.
Nadal-Massu
This is probably a good person for Nadal to debut against. Massu can’t hurt him, and with his topspin, Nadal can get him off his feet to reach for his two-handed backhand. Nadal-Berdych in the fourth round is the one I want to see.
That’s it from the Brooklyn division, Kamakshi. Who are you going out to see Monday?
Say hello to your Canadian print colleague Tom Tebbutt for me—can we get a photo of his latest eyeglass frames for tennis fåns around the world to see?
ST