The Surbiton Spike

Howdy, everyone. I decided to go to one of our favorite websites, Core Tennis, to do a little research on our Wimbledon wild cards. I'm pretty impressed that the site worked without a glitch - for example, every player's history was easily retrieved, and the graph charting their ranking progress (or regress) was just a lot of fun to look at. If you're not familiar with how Core works, just go to the players tab, enter a name, and look at the bottom of the page for the search results. Then click on more info; when the profile comes up, you'll see the position graph link.

So here are the wild cards that have been awarded in the first, pre-tournament wave, with some comments on each player. Go to Core tennis, you too can be an expert!

Men:

Jamie Baker (GBR)

Age, 21; ranking, 250; 2008 record: 12-3.

Upside --  Won two futures events (Harlengin and Brownsville, Texas - yee-haw!); qualified for Australian Open but lost in first round to Ivo Karlovic.

Downside -- Just check on the graph of his rankings at Core tennis. . .

Why him? --  What the hail do you think that GBR stands for, freakin' Gibraltar?

Jeremy Chardy (FRA)

Age, 21; ranking, 94, 2008 record, 15-9.

Upside -- Rode his big forehand and mercurial shotmaking all the way to the round-of-16 at Roland Garros, suggesting a solid future in the game. His graph shows a steady, almost inexorable rise.

Downside -- Inconsistent, battling a hip injury.

Why him? --  With a name like Jeremy, you could fool some into thinking he's British.

Alex Bogdanovic (GBR)

Age, 24; ranking 243; 2008 record, 11-15

Upside --  Had win over Robby Ginepri in AO qualifying; has his own website , complete with photo galleries with some awesome examples of why people should experiment with red-eye reduction (hey, at least he was sober, unlike those British juniors who popped up in the news not long ago!).

Downside -- Dude's 24 and in seemingly extended albeit leisurely free-fall (see graph).

Why him? - With the name "Bogdanovic", he might fool some opponents into thinking he's a Serb before the ranking confirms that he's British.

Frank Dancevic (CAN)

Age, 23; ranking 90; 2008 record, 8-8

Upside -- He's Canadian, eh? Has achieved a measure of fame at TW, thanks to Mrs. Santa accusing me of having a man-crush him. Sometimes plays like he's crazy and don't care about nothin' - like when he recently won the Surbiton Challenger. Greatest player from the Niagara Falls area since Jimmy Arias, and a pioneer of the sleeveless "Tire boy" look later copied by lightweights like Carlos Moya, James Blake, and Rafael Nadal.

Downside - He's Canadian, eh? After cracking the elite Top 70 in the summer of 2007, he's slid inexorably if gracefully backward - but then came what will henceforth be known as The Surbiton Spike!

Why Him? - Probably to stick it to the Francophone Quebecois, just for the hail of it.

Xavier Malisse (BEL)

Age, 27; ranking, 239; 2008 record: 7-9

Upside -- A spectacular newcomer back at the turn of the milenium, Malisse is still young enough to do serious damage at a tournament (usually to himself, but you never know. . .); former Wimbledon semifinalist, record at major is littered with fourth round losses. Career high ranking: 33.

Downside -- A baffling, moody, insanely unreliable competitor. This guy is not just a Wimbledon wild card, he's a human wild card, a testimonial to the theory that there's nothing predictable about what people do, or why they do it.

Why him? -- Sympathy, powered by the typically Wimbledon notion that if he's been a semifinalist at our place, he's got to be deserving.

Okay, three more WCs to be awarded - probably based on run-up results etc.

**Women:

Elena Baltacha  (GBR)**

Age, 24; ranking, 144; 2008 record, 12-5

Upside -- Okay, we all know that 24 among the women is the equivalent of 33 on the ATP side. Still, she's gone from no. 430 a year ago to her present career-high ranking. You know, this is a nice, sporty if unspectacular use of the wild card. It's like a suitable-for-framing certificate of merit awarded to a hard worker.

Downside -- She's progressed nicely, gradually, and consistently, but the curve has flattened out and it's hard to imagine anything like a . . Surbiton Spike!

Why her? -- To show that the WCs aren't doled out exclusively to snot-nosed punks, potential superstars (under pressure from their agents), or has beens trying to hang on just a little longer.

Naomi Cavaday  (GBR)

Age, 19; ranking, 196; 2008 record,  12-8.

Upside -- She's broken into the top 200 on a slow but steady rise since last August.

Downside -- Her ITF junior ranking went into free fall, plunging from a high of 62 all the way to 339 by last December. Let's hope it was because she was already looking ahead to WTA action. . .

Why her? -- What, did you think that only one player from Gibraltar was going to get a WC into Wimbledon?

Katie O'Brien (GBR)**

Age, 22; ranking, 104; 2008 record, 9-9.

Upside -- Still young enough to make a run at the Top 50

Downside -- Will have very tough time making Top 50.

Why her? -- They figured, let's give at least one Wild Card to someone whose name suggests she might actually have been born somewhere on or around the emerald isle.

Urszula Radwanska (POL)

Age, 17; ranking, 194 (No. 4 in ITF jrs.); 2008 record: 1-6.

Upside -- Excellent bloodlines;  she's a promising young player whose sister, Agniescka, while just 19, is already knocking at the door of the WTA Top 10. Another excellent choice for a wild card, this time with no sentiment involved.

Downside -- Nothing I can see.

Why her? -- see two items above.
*
Melanie South (GBR)*

Age, 22; ranking, 154, 2008 record:  21-10.

Upside -- The girl has played a lot of matches, with three semifinals and a win in 50k WTA events. You've got to start somewhere, right? Even at age 22.

Downside -- Bull Durham syndrome seems to be  inevitable, but it's better to have loved the game and never made it to the Top 50 than never to have played at all. . .

Why her?  -- If Margorie North were ranked 153, she probably would have gotten it instead, but the UK has no Margorie North so it's Melanie South.

Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)

Age, 19; ranking, 49; 2008 record, 19-10.

Upside -- Plenty. She was a French Open quarterfinalist a  week ago, and has a versatile, attractive game that will keep her on the pro tour. Fans of touch, deft ball striking,and an artful volley game will love her.

Downside -- Plenty. A so-so serve that will keep her from making the most of her volley. Mediocre mover. And while that one-handed backhand looks good and suggests success on grass, her take back and swing are extremely long, and that's a problem on grass. This is a classic case of a girl who has a game suited to grass, played in a way, and with physical limitations, that will make winning on grass very difficult.

Why her? -- Can you say, "French Open quarterfinalist?"

Two more to come when Wimbledon is good and ready too make the choices, stay tuned!