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2008-07-01 18:33:00
After having spent seven days watching Wimbledon, with only one rain delay, it’s time to reflect on some of the things that have taken place during an intense week.
The tournament has confirmed a lot of things that I’ve suggested in earlier posts of this blog. Women’s tennis is at a very low point at the moment with most of the top players struggling big time. The World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic is extremely inconsistent and doesn’t seem to have a second game plan when her usual winning style doesn’t work. The same goes for World No. 3 Maria Sharapova, who is incredibly one-dimensional. You would think that one of the best players in the world would be able to play tennis in more than one way, but time and time again we’ve seen how Sharapova can fall apart completely and hit outrageous double faults which are rare to find in an Under 14 tournament. Despite always appearing cool to the outside world, maybe Sharapova is suffering from the immense pressure on her to keep on winning.
The World No. 2 Jelena Jankovic made another embarrassing appearance constantly complaining about injuries. I still haven’t watched a match this year where she hasn’t called the trainer, and I’m still waiting for her to take a break from competition and come back as a new fresh player. The annoying thing is that she is clearly using her injury complains in an unsportsmanlike fashion trying to get to her opponents. As noted by John McEnroe during her third round match against Caroline Wozniacki, it was interesting how she moved at 100 % during the rallies to then barely be able to walk between points.
Richard Gasquet came back from two sets down and a break against Andy Roddick last year. Now, the Frenchman knows what it feels like to be on the losing side of a similar match. In what has been the highlight so far for the home fans, Andy Murray was outplayed during the better part of three sets but still managed to win. Murray is not the most likeable guy because of his court antics, but you’ve got to give him credit for staying in there and pulling out an incredible comeback win at Wimbledon, where he’s under brutal pressure. They are so desperate for tennis success in this country that you really wish they had more players. Murray has to handle ten times more media coverage than many other players of a similar level. There are clearly also some benefits in this for the Scot, who has been able to have the LTA hire any coach of his liking and who has been able to sign some very lucrative sponsorship deals.
The country’s desperation for having tennis success climaxed when the unknown local serve- and vollyer Chris Eaton came through qualifying and then defeated Boris Pashanski in straight sets. The unexpected success by the 20-year old ranked 661 made people believe that the story of the Wimbledon movie would become a reality. Journalists and photographers lined up outside the family home of the Eaton’s, where they were asking for photos of Chris as a three-year old and anything they could find. It seemed as if some people where seriously getting ready for a Federer-Eaton final, when DmitryTursunov ended the dreams of a nation. Among other hysteric moments during the first week, Elena Baltacha was seen on the cover of The Times sitting on her knees in good old Bjorn Borg-fashion after winning a first round encounter with Angelique Kerber. The poor German 20-year old couldn’t handle all the screaming from the crowd and started to cry even before she had lost the match to her four year older British opponent.
Finally, I’ve criticized Novak Djokovic here before, and now it seems like the majority of the tennis world is sharing the same opinion. The success has clearly got to Djokovic, and he is not the same kind of guy he used to be. There were a lot of people, including players and coaches, cheering Safin on as he took down “Nole” in the second round. Who would have thought that we wouldn’t have one Serbian player in the quarterfinals of either the women’s or men’s singles?
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Womens tennis has been on precarious ground for years. The Williams sisters domination became boring, even for them, and around about 2004 they began looking toward other pursuits. I still am amazed at the pundits questioning Serena's "lack of focus on tennis" during those years. When you are kicking everyone's butts week after week, I think it would cease to be motivating (unless of course you are Roger Federer). wink. During that time we had the Belgian invasion, the Russian invasion and now the Serbian invasion but, as amazing as it sounds, the Willliams sisters are still the most likely to knock anyone off their perch. I was not a fan of Serena all those years but I believe the bad press she received in NY 2007 after her Maria Sharapova comment on the late night talk show circuit blew up in her face and made her more aware of her duty to the sport. Since then she has made a conscience effort to compliment her opponents, acknowledging their strengths, and has done so in an amazingly sincere way. It's incredible to me - I am now warming to Serena (always liked Venus).
tenisbebe , 7/2/08 3:32 AM
when does serena compliment her opponents? it's easy to compliment them when you're winning but i still remember her press conference in last year's us open after her defeat against justine.she,as usual,was trying to find excuses for her defeat.
i cannot and will not understand how a sane human being can like serena!!
sisterofnight12 , 7/2/08 3:58 PM
sisterofnight12
yes - she was famous for always saying that it was her crappy play (she was tired or whatever) not that her opponent was playing well whenever she lost. After the US Open last year she was on Letterman I believe and made a comment that Maria Sharapova was overrated (it was done in a very catty way). The NY papers had enough after that and there was an OpEd piece on her unsportsmanlike behavior. That is what I am referring to above.
tenisbebe , 7/2/08 10:27 PM
I agree with sisterofnight12 100%. I would refuse to watch even the final if she is involved. I find myself not be able to look beyond her talents on court when I see her time and time again of her ear rings that belongs to her xmas tree 7 months ago and her arrogance. ( reminds anybody of somebody with first name: Nole)
rafa4ever , 7/4/08 10:50 PM
i have always been a huge fan of the william sisters. i think, aside their tennis, they are well raised. We all know that how serena hates to lose. well, if in her over 15 years career she made some nasty comments, my guess is that she learnt from it all
rakten , 7/5/08 12:05 AM
everybody in that level hates to lose.i guess justine also hated to lose or roger or rafa hates to lose but they are no way like her.so,it's more like a character.
"some nasty comments": i think the word "some" would be an underestimation of the number of her nasty comments.she,all the time,makes such comments (maybe a little less these days because of justine's retirement) and still,she hasn't learned anything.
but i don't have anything against venus,she's not like that.
sisterofnight12 , 7/5/08 9:13 AM
It is sad Nole got so above himself. His Australian title just went to his head and he started to act as if he had the right to win and when players have that attitude they run the risk of turning the spectators against them - Nole has only himself to blame. Roger is having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he is now starting to lose against players who he once could eat for breakfast but I think he could still come back and start winning again - perhaps not until next year. Meanwhile we have the pleasure of watching Nadal - who unlike Roger or Nole - doesn't expect to win but fights for every point and is always gracious whether he wins or loses.
ed251137 , 7/29/08 1:09 PM
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it's really sad that justine's gone.at least we had someone who makes running for every ball or having a relatively different game.now,look at women's tennis.roland garros was won by somebody who doesn't even play a clay court game.
you're also right about sharapova,she's really one-dimensional.she has to have a b plan: when her serve is out,she's off the game.the interesting thing is that she insists on that type of play,she resists to change and she's almost the same player since 2004.
rafa is also said a one-dimensional player but at least he tries very hard to become a complete player.
sisterofnight12 , 7/1/08 9:03 PM