The dog days of February roll on. By the time I finished writing about the Milos Raonic-Fernando Verdasco match in San Jose, those two guys were getting ready to play each other again, this time in the first round in Memphis. By the time I was through singing the praises of Petra Kvitova, she was being brought down to earth by Ayumi Morita in the first round in Dubai. The relentless schedule is a double-edged sword. For the pros, there’s always another chance, to win or to lose, to make up for a bad loss or to come out flat and tired after a big win. Let’s see who might do which this week.
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Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, Memphis, USA; hard courts; 500 ranking points; $1,100,000;
The name hasn’t gotten any better in Memphis—try saying Regions Morgan Keegan Championships three times fast—but the draw is as solid as it’s ever been. Roddick, del Potro, Verdasco, Isner, Querrey, Fish, Hewitt, Tipsarevic are all in the line-up (though some may be gone by the time I finish writing this). Most interesting may be the continuing American adventures of two members of the ATP’s youth brigade, Raonic and Richard Berankis, who face the top two seeds in the first round. Berankis plays Roddick and Raonic, as I said, plays Verdasco.
Roddick will also be an interesting case. There was a sense that Australia represented a crossroads for him. He got some heat from his Davis Cup captains for making Stan Wawrinka look like the next Andre Agassi. Jim Courier said that Roddick isn't doing enough with his forehand; Pat McEnroe was harsher, saying that he plays it safe because he doesn’t want to risk a drop in the rankings. As he left, Roddick himself said that he has to find a way to hurt his opponents more. Will he? Can he? It would require a sharp reversal in mindset both for Roddick and for his coach, Larry Stefanki, who is a devotee of the grind. But if changes are going to happen, Memphis in February would be the place to make them.
Also: The tournament may serve as an American referendum. Can Querrey and Fish turn around slow starts to the year? Can James Blake do something with his wild card? Another American, John Isner, will be in a battle of the bigs, against Juan Martin del Potro. A first-round match to watch, for sure. Thank god for tiebreakers.
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Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Dubai, UAE; DecoTurf II; $2,050,000; draw here
Tennis was first owned by the British Empire. In 1968 it was annexed by the American Empire. In the early 80s, it briefly looked like it might become part of the Japanese Empire. Will the women’s game one day become part of the Great Oil Empire? Is it already? Last week we had the “Open de Suez” in Paris; this week the women are back in Dubai yet again, playing for 2 million bucks, twice what the men are pulling down back in the States.
Not surprisingly, a lot of good players have shown up, including Wozniacki, Zvonareva, Stosur, Li Na, Azarenka, Schiavone, Kuznetsova, Jankovic, and, well, basically everyone else not named Williams, Clijsters, or Sharapova. Now you can add Ana Ivanovic to that list. She lost in three sets to Patty Schnyder today. Coachless, playing well at times, she still can’t calm down. Every miss appears to be the beginning of the end in her mind.
It seems a little soon after Australia to get a State of the WTA event, but that’s pretty much what we have here. The stalwarts, at least, are all in one place. I’ll be looking for a few things:
Will any of the air go out of Wozniacki and Zvonareva after their semifinal losses in Melbourne, or will they roll steadily on, unperturbed?
Can Schiavone become more consistent at this late stage in her career and do more than give us an heroic performance every few months?
Kuznetsova: She showed some promising signs in Australia; were they for real?
Sam Stosur: Deflated or liberated?
Li Na: Ditto what I said for Schiavone.
Bojana Jovanovski vs. Yanina Wickmayer: a first-rounder to watch (unless it’s already over by the time you read this).
Petra Kvitova: Is she for . . . oh right, one question has already been answered, for this week. One thing is for sure: She'll get another chance soon.