U.S. Open Tennis: Days 1 and 2
August 26, 2008
The first two days of the U.S. Open produced few surprises. Rafael Nadal began play as the world’s number one with a tough straight set win over qualifier Bjorn Phau, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 7-6 (7-4). Nadal was up to his usual antics, switching rackets just before an important Phau service game in the first set and later call for the trainer to attend to an “overly hot foot” - not blisters - during a changeover before Phau served. “Raffa” was obviously a bit shaken by the play of Phau and the fact that the New York crowd was squarely behind the qualifier. Nadal served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, hit some nervous shots, and was broken. But Nadal came through in the tie-breaker.
Number nine seed James Blake barely escaped a first rouynd upset as he staved off #99-ranked Donald Young. After taking the first set 6-1 in 18 minuted blake seemed to let up just a bit and Young took advantage, winning the second, 6-3. Blake then got into the type of groove where he can beat anyone in the world and demolished Young 6-1 in the third set and lead 2-0 in the fourth.
At that point Young dug in, held his serve after facing a break point, then played a long game where he had seven chances to break Blake’s serve before finally converting on the eighth break point opportunity. Young continued to surge and the level of play from both players picked mup considerably.
My US Open Predictions: the Women
August 6, 2008
The Olympic Summer Games are serving as a break in the summer portion of both the ATP and WTA Tours. With that in mind, now is as good a time as any to give my US Open predictions and give some player analysis for both the men and the women.
Maria Sharapova was the 2006 US Open women’s champion and is presently #3 in the world. However, Maria was forced out of the Rogers Cup with two strained tendons in her right shoulder after her first match in the Montreal tournament. The injury will force Sharapova to miss not only the Olympics but the Open as well.
This is not the first time Sharapova has had to take time off the tour with shoulder problems and the chronic nature of her injuries to that part of her body must be dealt with in full this time around. Persistent shoulder problems are nothing to play with for a tennis player and could cut her career short if she rushes her rehab or does not adequately strengthen the muscles in and around the area of the strained tendons.
Without Sharapova, who loves the quick US Open hardcourts, there are a host of women who have a chance to hoist the trophy at the tournament’s end.
Nadal Get Drubbed by Djokavic but Becomes the New #1
August 3, 2008
Rafael Nadal was supposed to become the number one tennis player in the world this week. But that was only if Roger Federer lost before the semifinals and Nadal won the Western & Southern Financial Masters Series tournament.
Nadla was drubbed in the semifinals by his nemesis, Novak Djokavic, 6-1 7-5. The loss was blamed on Nadal’s “fatigue” because of the ATP tournament schedule and not the play of Djokavic (oddly there was no mention of fatigue and Nadal the round previous). Actually, the Spaniard does not frustrate Novak and is a little psyched out having to play someone who grew up a better player on the junior world stage than Nadal and who will match him gamesmanship tactic for gamesmanship tactic. Nadal eschewed most of the world’s biggest junior tournaments and for players his age like Djokavic it is a sign of weakness that Nadal did so.
Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, and Djokovic to name a few of the top juniors who grew up with Raffa are at once mystified by the Spaniard’s sudden rise yet have little respect for the Nadal due to the whispers that have surrounded Nadal since he was 16 with the body of a weightlifter but swore and swears he has never lifted weights (where is ESPN on this one? Oh, too busy shoving Chris Fowler and his inane uninformed commentary down our throats and too busy forcing Brad Gilbert to conform or be replaced - but that’s another story in itself).
What’s a Summer Without the US Open Series?
July 28, 2008
We are now officially in the midst of the the US Open Tennis Series where 200 tennis players from around the world will treat us to sand in-the-eye fashion choices of the companies that endorse them. Unless, of course, you are Bethanie Mattek (right and below, left) and have your own special brand of, this is what a tennis dress looks like after an evening of Ciroc and cranberry juice followed by boilermakers hewn out of Jager and beer.
There are For those of us sports watchers inclined to turn to ESPN2 for something more than watching Skip Bayless’ contorted face as he screeches at whatever black person the network can conjure for him to demean - yes, we were treated to “Nelly versus Skip” one glorious ESPN morning - or for late-night reruns of the late Stu Ungar’s cocaine-ravaged nose pulp as he sits next to “Dolly” Brunson who looked old then, too.
For us, there is NASCAR Now. Just kidding, that’s the afternoon fare.
For us so wanting for one-on-one human battle that does not involve beating someone until their face appears ready to float from their heads and for those of us who also possess satellite television, there is the US Open Tennis Series, officially the Olympus US Open Tennis Series. Oddly, just outside the doubles alleys Olympus is not the decal of choice, it is ATP Master’s Series.
So what we really have here in tennis land during the post-Wimbledon summer is the Olympus US Open ATP Masters Tennis Series; or the Olympus US Open WTA Tennis Seris if you are a woman. If that’s not enough of a mouthful in itself to turn you away from watching a yellow sphere become misshapen after it is struck by a kevlar-graphite compound stick with bovine gut - bovine serosa, actually -strings, you must be someone who truly loves the game.
Federer Upset at Rogers Cup
July 23, 2008
World’s #1 Roger Federer, Rogers Cup winner in 2004 and 2006 (he was undefeated there) suffered from some very shoddy play as he was upset by Gilles Simon, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, the winner in last week’s ATP tournament in Indianapolis.
Simon played unbelievably well, but Federer committed over 50 unforced errors and his usually devastating forehand consistently let him down. Blame it on rustiness - he had played no matches since Wimbledon - but poor serving and poor footwork seemed to be Federer’s main problems. At one point in the second set Federer missed on his first serve every point for three service straight games.
In the third and final set Federer broke Simon’s serve twice but failed to hold his serve after each break of service and ultimately was broken at love by committing four unforced errors in the match’s final game.
World’s #2 Rafael Nadal got through to the third round defeating American Jesse Levine, 6-4, 6-2. Levione led the first set 4-1 and had a break point to go up 5-1 but missed a routine service return. Again at 4-3 Levine had another chance to break Nadal but again failed to return Nadal’s serve. From that point on the match was fairly roiutine for the French Open and Wimbledon champion.
Notes: On the Obamas New Yorker Cover; Raffa, Manuel Beltran, Lance and Dr. Fuentes; Matt Jones’ Daddy Gets in the Act; Brett Favre; Lute Olson on 1-and-Done’s; Mauricia Grant Mention
July 14, 2008
So what’s been happening lately?
Scoop Jackson mentioned Mauricia Grant in a meaningful fashion - a first for MSM - on ESPN’s First and 10 segment of its First Take morning show.
Claps for Scoop, boo for the WWL for bitching up in its coverage - lack of - of the lawsuit.
High school basketball point guard phenom Brandon Jennings chose Europe instead of the University of Arizona. Lute Olson reacted by saying he would never again recruit a potential “one-and-done” player.
Hey Lute, maybe Brandon looked down the list of your point guards who have performed well in the NBA and found that list severely lacking. Mike Bibby is the only one I can recall and Jason Terry is a tiny combo guard who cannot lead a team consistently from the PG spot. In fact, all the ‘Zona point guards were/are of the score first variety, right Jason, Mike, Damon, Salim…. Miles Simon, anyone?
Brett Fav-ray has dominated the sporting news so much that he had a personal space on ESPN’s news crawl last week. The “Cherished One” has apparently decided that the pull of the locker room and its camaraderie and the sights and sounds and smells of the NFL, plus his name in lights after leading yet another touchdown drive are just too much for him to stay away from the game.
Justin Gimelstob’s Sexist Remarks Provide Peek Into Pro Tennis’ Problems
June 28, 2008
Anna Kournikova never won a tennis tournament in singles and her off-court legacy has far out-paced her on-court exploits. But recently-retired ATP journeyman Justin Gimelstob, now a television announcer and tennis writer who is on the board of the ATP (men’s) Tour, went all misogynist in his remarks about the Russian as well as other female tennis players.
What’d he say? On a Washington, D.C. show called, appropriately, The Junkies, Gimelstob went off. In reference to Kournikova he said:
“She’s a bitch.”
“Hate’s a very strong word. I just despise her to the maximum level, right below hate.
“I think she falls into the Marcelo Rios scumbag category. And this whole bluff about her retiring because of her back? She had the yips on her serve, she can’t get her serve on the court.”
“I’ll mock her and make fun of her. I’ll just make her know that she’s stupid.
Asked if he had ever been attracted to Kournikova, Gimelstob raged: “Definitely not. I have no attraction to her, because she’s such a douche.
“I really have no interest in her. I wouldn’t mind having my younger brother, who’s kind of a stud, nail her and then reap the benefits of that.”
Wow.
Rafael Nadal, Big Brown, Memes and Us
June 9, 2008
Phillippe Chartrier. The name must make all male players not named Rafael Nadal break out in hives, at least when their names are matched up against him. As he dispatched of first Novak Djokovic (and from watching the match it was obvious the Nadal thought Novak was “going away at 6-2, 6-4, 3-0) and then Roger Federer, 6-1, 6-3, 6-0, as he committed only 11 unforced errors against the best player perhaps in the history of tennis, a few facts became apparent to me.
And to get to these facts, there is a story of tennis – and us - that must be told.
The Tennis Channel aired a program that was an overview of the history of the grounds on which the French Open is played, so named Roland Garros for an arcane even to the French, WWI pilot. As the French Open’s past and present was shown largely through the great male and female players who graced its courts, something became apparent to me which was then fully articulated through a shared sentiment of many past players: there came a point in tennis where sheer athleticism replaced talent for the game.
Monfils Upsets #5 Ferrer, to Meet Federer and Join Djokovic and Nadal in French Semis
June 5, 2008
Le Monf! LeMonf!”
Young people attending the quarterfinal match between unseeded Frenchman Gael Monfils and #5 seed David Ferrer of Spain screamed Monfils’ nickname.
Four years ago Monfils was the top-ranked junior in the world, winning the Junior Australian and French Opens, and Wimbledon before hurting his shoulder during the summer and falling at the Junior U.S. Open. On Wednesday Monfils showed signs of fulfilling that promise by dusting off Ferrer, 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-1.
Monfils and his coach Thierry Champion came up with a brilliant strategy to defeat Ferrer. They knew that the smallish Ferrer loves to use his excellent court speed to get to shots and feed off his opponents’ power. So, rather than feed the beast, Champion instructed Monfils to take pace off of many of his shots and used his 6′4″ frame to hit high-bouncing shots that forced Ferrer to hit shoulder-height and above groundstrokes instead of waist-high shots in Ferrer’s strike zone.
Gael carried the strategy out to perfection.
In the match’s first set Monfils broke Ferrer’s serve twice to take the set, but more importantly he set the tone for the day. Many of the rallies between the two were long with both fighting for position, fighting for an advantage. Monfils’ mixture of high, heavy groundstrokes, high looping groundstrokes and laser shots when the moment predicated such confused and frustrated Ferrer.
Notes: Jemele Hill Loves What?; Pac Is Back; Au Revoir Maria
June 2, 2008
She said what?
In an interview at Hoops Addict, ESPN’s Jemele Hill revealed a very dirty secret, a very guilty pleasure, and apparently her true self. Despite being harangued constantly by its readers and the blog’s writers themselves, Hill said the following:
“I love Deadspin. It is one of my favorite blogs…”
It is not enough that Hill, one of the very few black female columnists in the country, had every opportunity in the interview to at least mention other websites or blogs that do meaningful work, but to pander to Deadspin is, well, unforgivable.
She has had support from many of the more responsible members of what is - unfortunately - termed the “sports blogosphere” to the point where some have stood by her side while she absorbed direct blows from the white frat boy faction (and their lovers) of the blogosphere, including writers at Deadspin - and including Will Leitch, since he has, to this author’s knowledge, never come to Ms. Hill’s defense as she was being lambasted and personally aqttacked by his readers in the Deadspin comment section.
It is an unfortunate day when it is realized that someone like Hill who has attempted to address volatile and contentious issues of race and racism in sports, gender inequality and the treatment of women in sports, and sided with players in the face of their owners, has no more conviction than those whom she would seek to criticize.
