Have a good weekend? The Super Bowl was at least entertaining, in a muddy, what-the-heck’s-going-to-happen-next kind of way—and Urlacher lost, so all is well. As for me, I learned a competitive lesson these last couple days; it was on a squash court, but it pertains equally to tennis. On Saturday I played a guy who’s around my level, but he was off and I won pretty quickly. Near the end of the last game he stopped between points and asked me if I wanted to play again Sunday. I had planned to take that day off, but, well, something in the way he asked made it impossible to say no. The next day he gets there early and spends 10 minutes warming up on the stationary bike while I’m wandering around on the court. During the match he began muttering to himself—"Come on come on come on!"—and slapping himself on the thigh between points, the way kids do in the 14-and-unders. It was close, but his loss the previous day gave him just enough edge to beat me—basically, he wasn’t losin’ again. Lesson: When you put a beatdown on your opponent, don’t return his calls for at least a week.
OK, sorry, on to tennis, time to let that one go. After the annual kickoff party in Melbourne, the pros went their separate ways last week, scattered to Tokyo, Viña Del Mar, Delray Beach, Zagreb, and probably a couple other places I don’t know about. It used to be that the sport would hold all these events and somehow drop completely off the U.S. radar screen at the same time. But not with the Tennis Channel! Thanks to our friends there we got a peak at Martina Hingis’ win over Ana Ivanovic, James Blake and Xavier Malisse trading bombs until the South Florida rain (the Super Bowl rain) stopped them in the second set, and a soothing dose of dirtball from the loose and languid environs of Viña Del Mar, Chile.
First stop, Tokyo
I started the year wondering about Hingis. Her loss in Gold Coast to Dinara Safina made me question whether she was willing to make any changes to her game to rise farther in the rankings. She had pretty much coasted up to No. 6 in her comeback season, but against Safina she didn’t make an effort to do anything other than get the ball back. That’s how she rose to No. 6, but it was going to take more—more power, better court positioning, more aggression—for her to go any higher.
Hingis offered more on Sunday. She didn’t try to hit the cover off the ball, but she did find a way to take the intiative while staying within her game. The backhand down the line was the key; Hingis consistently took it early, drove an approach deep but safe right at Ivanovic’s forehand, and finished the point with a crisp volley. It was just enough pressure to keep the big-hitting Ivanovic from controlling the action, the way most of the power players have against Hingis in the last year.
Hingis was also smarter in the crucial moments. From 4-4 in the first, she won two love games for the set. In those eight points, she was content to take what was given her and not go for winners when they weren’t there. That’s exactly what Ivanovic didn’t do. More than once on big points she would be pushed wide and then try, unsuccessfully to belt a flat crosscourt forehand on the run. Or she would hit one backhand crosscourt and try to change direction with the next one and drill it up the line—and out. You felt like she could have won the point if she had the patience to hit one more ball crosscourt and push Hingis a little further toward the sideline before going for the winner. Still, Ivanovic is physically gifted—strong and explosive—enough to make those winners eventually. I’m giving the 19-year-old another year to learn exactly when to go for them. We may eventually think of her as the James Blake of women’s tennis.
Hingis note: I still love that little-step dance she does before she serves. Some young players (Hantuchova, say) do it consciously to get themselves moving. Hingis does it unconsciously, right down to the final toe tap with her back foot right before she throws the ball up.
Delray Beach (this is based on Sunday’s play; I haven’t watched what happened today yet, but Malisse turned it around to win in three)
Yesterday marked the year’s first appearance of Jimmy Arias in the broadcasting booth, the Tennis Channel’s best analyst. He didn’t waste any time ripping (gently) into one of his favorite targets, Xavier Malisse. Arias had a good point about the X-Man: He has the shot-making skills to move in and take over a point, but he doesn’t seem to recognize short balls quickly enough. His looping backswings force him to start too far behind the baseline to get to an offensive position easily. Even so, Malisse seems to have improved his serve—every ace he hits is a surprise, but may not be for long—and despite his court positioning and casual preparation, he can still move the ball all over the court and play offensively from way behind the baseline.
This is Malisse’s second title already in 2007, and second win over a top player (he beat Nadal in Chennai). Maybe he finally means it when he says he’s in shape. As he said, he worked hard through all of December for the first time—I guess that’s all it takes, one month of practice. Must be nice.
As for Blake, he could have made life much easier for himself with just a little more patience—one shot’s worth in many rallies. With Malisse behind the baseline, Blake was dictating the points. When he won them, it was because he waited long enough to get a mid-court forehand to pound. Early in the second set, though, he seemed to have had enough of waiting. He began trying to end points earlier, and with his backhand. It didn’t work. While Blake played some good tennis overall and got himself back in the second set at 3-3 before the rain came, there were moments where he had that same glum, numb look we saw against Fernando Gonzalez in Australia. Blake has the confidence now, but his focus is still not a given over the course of a match.
Malisse note: He broke a racquet on his shoe. Kind of impressive.
Viña Del Mar
There’s nothing like some summer-night clay-court tennis in early February, is there? The red surface, the long-range topspin missiles, the stringy hair—it’s nice to have them all back, if only for a week or two. This event, at a resort town in Chile, always has a terrific atmosphere, at once relaxed and rowdy. It helps that native son Nicolas Massu, known as El Nico to the locals, has reached the final the last two years.
Like last year, though, Nico feel short in the ultimate match, this time against Peru’s Luis Horna. Massu went up 5-3 in the first, but for some reason he retreated from there. Horna came back to win that set, and as the second wore on, he took greater control of every rally. Massu just didn’t have the juice to get the ball into Horna’s backhand. It was the Peruvian’s second title, and he was so emotional after match point that he couldn’t even really celebrate. He was almost apologetic to Massu at the handshake. A nice win for a good player and a good guy.
Massu note: There were two points in a row where a ground stroke of Horna's hit the tape at the service line and gave Massu a bad bounce. After the second point, he screamed at the tape and began stalking around it as if it were alive.