It would have been another sleepy fall tennis weekend here, except that the Tennis Channel went all out and brought us the semis and finals from Tokyo on the men’s side and Stuttgart on the women’s. What did the last two matches at these tournaments have in common? A loss by a French player. But that was the only similarity—one was an embarrassing disappointment; the other, for one set at least, was pretty encouraging. Here’s a fuller story of the week.
1. Tokyo: I’d never seen a match from this event, and the stadium and crowds were more impressive than I would have expected. Even though the indoor season has just begun, it was already refreshing to see sunny, open-air tennis.
David Ferrer, who won the tournament and took another step toward his first appearance at the Masters Cup, should be commended for grinding away in the final exactly the way he does every other day. That's the advantage of having a low-maintenance game based around consistency and running ability—Ferrer is going to make his opponent beat him, which can be tougher to do on a Sunday.
Not that Richard Gasquet looked terribly interested in doing anything like that yesterday. He was sluggish from the first game. It was immediately clear that he wasn’t moving well to his forehand side, and it only got worse. Gasquet slapped hopelessly at the ball whenever Ferrer forced him to move to his right even a few steps.
I know Gasquet was tired, as he said, from all of his matches over the last two weeks (he won the title in Mumbai last Sunday), but this was still a disappointing effort. The Frenchman was listless, flipping forehands into the middle of the net, leaving highly ill-advised drop shots hanging where the speedy Ferrer could easily knock them off, and making no effort to shorten the points or search for a plan B. Gasquet remains a fabulous player to watch—I was happier to see him when I turned on my TV than I would have been to see Tomas Berdych, the guy he beat in the semifinals—and a potential multiple Slam winner. But his reaction to a bad day seems to be to flutter his lips in resigned frustration rather than try to manufacture any energy or momentum.
The real highlight of this 50-something-minute match, for Tennis Channel viewers, had to be its announcer, Britain’s John Burgess (sp?), who was flying solo in the booth. Flying is the operative word: He kept up a running conversation with the audience, the players, and himself even as the points were going on, and he introduced a few new turns of phrase to the tennis lexicon. David Ferrer’s name is fitting, in Burgess' opinion, because he reminds him of a ferret, an animal that “will crawl everywhere”; a Gasquet drop shot in the second set was “too cheeky”; and as the Frenchman was firing a rare winner, Burgess said of Ferrer, “He ain’t gonna get that one.” But there was wisdom in all those words. Burgess rightly accused Gasquet of playing “negative tennis,” and at the beginning he speculated that Gasquet was tired because he may have been up all night watching France’s rugby team. I thought that was a joke, but afterward Gasquet smiled and said, "If I knew I would lose 6-1, 6-2, maybe I would have seen the match for sure. I am disappointed because I lost and I didn't see the match."
2. Stuttgart: Tatiana Golovin can be impressive, can’t she? The oft-injured Frenchwoman had to walk a fine line if she was going to have a chance against Justine Henin on Sunday. For one set, she made it look easy.
Golovin’s task was like a pitcher’s: To change speeds, keep the ball out of her opponent’s strike zone, and not let her athletically superior and more explosive opponent get too many clean looks at the ball. Golovin did all of that in winning the first set 6-2 and going up 2-1 in the second. She hit aces and strong body serves, caught Henin flat-footed with drop shots, lofted the ball high to Henin’s one-handed backhand (a decent tactic against Henin, as it is against Roger Federer), and controlled the points with her forehand. She also fought well, holding off multiple break points at 4-2, and tried a little intimidation by drilling two passing shots right at Henin.
It was too much for Golovin to sustain—she had to do too many things too well. After a long game at 2-2 in the second, she was broken. The spell was broken as well. Henin got a little more aggressive with her returns in that game, and it was enough to begin turning the tables. Winners started to come from both sides, while Golovin’s own ground strokes, which had been so sharp, went progressively awry. The Frenchwoman looked tired from her first-set efforts; she made three dismal forehand errors and double-faulted to be broken in the opening game of the third set. Henin didn’t look back. The match was a testament to just how tough to beat she’s become. Like Federer, her superiority is draining.
3. Some interesting speculation about the future of the USTA’s junior development program, from Florida’s Charlie Bricker. Is Pat Mac going to end up at the helm, now that changes have begun to be made?
4. With sunny weather in New York, I got out to play some fall ball on Sunday. Leaves were scattered over the clay, but the humidity was summer-like. I went up 4-2 in the first set against one of my regular opponents, a guy I’ve been beating most of this year. I reached break point in the next game, and he tried a drop shot that I didn’t think was going to make it over the net. I stopped running, only to see the ball just clear the tape and land not too far in front of me. I was irritated at myself, and I let it bother me enough to miss my next two returns and lose the game.
I crossed over to the other side with a vague sense of frustration, even though I was still up 4-3 and serving. Frustration turned into exasperation when I made an error on the first point. Pretty soon I was rushing shots, going for too much, sending balls 10 feet long, and trying for aces on my second serves. In a matter of minutes I was serving to stay in the set at 4-5—one lost game had turned into three because I couldn’t forgive myself for not trying to track down that drop shot. I wondered, “How do the pros not let this kind of thing happen all the time?” It must be a tough way to make a living.
5. TENNIS.com has the race to Shanghai fully mapped out here. I was somewhat surprised by two things: (1) The much-maligned (and thrashed by Federer) Andy Roddick has had no trouble qualifying once again; (2) Carlos Moya has an “outside shot” to make it. When did that happen?
6. The ATP has provided some more info regarding its revamped 2009 schedule. The section of the season most in need of help, the post-U.S. Open indoor stretch, seems to have been brought into the realm of sanity: First there would be a brief Asian swing, then back to Europe for Valencia (currently a spring clay event), Basel, Paris, and the year-end championships in London. The new naming system—“1000,” “500,” “World Tour Final”—was a gaffe, but at least the tour has given the top guys a better chance to finish the season strong.
7. My favorite Nick Hornby moment comes in High Fidelity, when the main character, Rob, goes to buy a record collection and finds two of the ultimate rarities, an original copy of the “Anarchy in the U.K.” single (he says something like, “I’ve never even seen it; I’ve never even known anyone who’s seen it.”) and a copy of Otis Redding’s 45 b-side of “You Left the Water Running” (Rob's reaction: “ohgod ohgod ohgod”). I would have reacted exactly the same way back in those days, when not being able to find a rare 45 meant never being able to hear the song at all. That’s ancient history, of course. Today, out of curiosity, I checked ITunes to see if it had “You Left the Water Running.” It did, and I had it on my computer in a matter of seconds. It’s not the same as owning the 45, but it's a fantastic song and worthy of its myth. And that’s what counts, right?
8. Bonnie D. Ford has an informative round-up on the latest in match-fixing over at ESPN.com.
9. My Phillies! I watched them go down (not swinging) in the play-offs at a Philly-themed bar in Manhattan. There was gloom in the air after the game, but as I was walking out I heard my people rallying themselves the only way they know how, with a thunderous chant of “Mets s---k!”
10. I’m taking a trip to Prague fairly soon. Anyone have suggestions for places to see, eat, drink, walk, run, or anything else?