Hey that reminds me -- did I mention I saw Marat Safin play? Safin is a curious case. He'd fit in perfectly with the characters Kris sings about -- an oddball genius that is not quite right, a man who strays from his path, who knows what needs to be done and has the skills to do it, but who winds up defeated, dejected, and filled with despair. Yep, Kris would sure like Safin.
Safin was playing on Grandstand Court, and as the match started the sun began to set, leaving a glorious, fading backdrop to the events unfolding between the baselines. There was no logical reason for Safin to lose this match. His strokes, at times, are flawless; his serve is impressive and his volleys are excellent.
His opponent, Spain's Feliciano Lopez, is a lefty with a strong serve, a killer forehand shot, and absolutely no backhand. Nada. I've never seen such a discrepancy before; Lopez's backhand consists of a weak slice that he executes at probably a 3.5 level, like a lollipop to the center of the court. He protects it well; Feliciano often finds himself so far off the court that he is hitting runaround forehands from the stands.
No matter. Safin seemed determined to lose this match, and lose it he did. Safin never looked comfortable out there; his forehand was never dialed in, and though his backhand was as great as always, the rest of his game was just not on. Consumed by the passions of knowing what to do but not being able to do it, Safin kicked a few balls in anger, gestured many times in apparent agony, and found himself on Just the Other Side of Nowhere. Kristofferson would definitely have approved of Safin.
Over on Court 2, Mrs. TaiC and I watched a strange match between Nadia Petrova and Nathalie Dechy that looked like amateur hour. Good thing this match was not televised, because it was the tennis equivalent of watching sausage being made.
Mrs. TaiC mentioned she had better rallies in her Ladies "B" Team league final the other day, and she was right: bad calls, arguments, multiple double faults and many unforced errors. At one point the ball kids would not leave the court during the changeover in the second set, causing Dechy to scream "No, No, No!" in her heavily-accented French. Dechy doubled-faulted away the first set, took the second with gusto, and still wound up losing the match. Kris would have liked her too.
By nightfall we found ourselves in Stadium Court, up in the breezy 300 section by Gate E, where a lot of the off-duty staff and ball kids hang out. It's a loose, funky vibe up there, with a lot of laughter, giggling, and many relaxed people enjoying themselves and the tennis. Rest assured, there is no bad seat in the Stadium -- I have box seats for next week but they're no better than the seats up top. In fact, I feel more at ease up there than I do bearing down on the players, sitting next to corporate stiffs who may or may not care one whit about the action in front of them.
Both night matches in the Stadium were all about the serve -- in Roddick's case about having one and in Brito's case simply finding one. Brito actually matches up well against Hantuchova -- they are both excellent ball strikers, with clean, long, powerful strokes. Brito's strokes from the baseline may be even more powerful and accurate. One difference: Hantuchova can serve, Brito cannot. I'd like to say nerves played a part in this terrific young 14 year-old giving away two or three points each game on double-faults, and perhaps it did, but she's got a problem with her fundamentals. Her toss is all wrong, she doesn't pause at the bottom of the windup long enough to generate speed and pace, and she never brings the racquet down on the ball. I don't know the final statistics, but I saw that she had 13 double- faults by the third game of the second set. Ouch!
But Brito's a true talent, and on return of serve she was far more relaxed and confident than when she was forced to serve. Once she improves her serve, and to some degree her movement to her forehand side, Brito will be a major force to reckon with. It was very touching to see Ole Saint Nick run out and put his hands on her shoulders after the first set, giving this young girl a pep talk and words of encouragement during the biggest match of her life. We have not seen the last of her by any means.
