In England, rain became as memorable a part of this year’s Championships as did the tennis itself. Why should it be different, then, in New England?
Hopefully, the weather won’t prohibit all of today’s matches, but the forecast isn’t very rosy. Because today’s schedule could be subject to change with each passing hour, a live journal chronicling Sunday in Stowe seems to be the most practical avenue for reporting.
11:09 AM: The rain, which cascaded the area in the early morning, has temporarily ceased. The best news is that while showers are coming and going, the sky itself doesn’t look nearly as imposing. (Cue Vince Spadea freestyle.) I’ve had some bad altercations with the weather when tennis is thrown into the mix, as nearly all of my U.S. Open experience last year was plagued by a constant deluge. We don’t need that happening again. At the absolute minimum, I ask the heavens to allow the Venus Williams/Anna Chakvetadze match to be played. The two victors on Saturday should put on an entertaining show if yesterday’s performances were any indication.
Two other notes from this morning:
- The official order of play in the media center has been updated to show that Meilen Tu will be playing Nadia Petrova in the fourth rubber today.
- The lights have gone out in the media center, rendering it even more of a cave-like atmosphere than it already is. Toss in the fact that it is also tremendously cold in here and I’m starting to realize why Pete sometimes equates these settings to those of a bunker or an outpost.
12:00 PM: The sun is out, as are the racquets and balls. Both the Russian and American teams were out on the court practicing, and with only a half hour until Venus’ match is scheduled to begin, she was the primary sight in the stadium, needing to get in her first hits of the day. In somewhat muggy conditions, Venus’ practice session was efficient and timely, working on all aspects of her game. Her volleying was the most impressive from my point of view – and I feel that this could be employed to her benefit against Chakvetadze. Venus approached the net only on a few occasions in yesterday’s match against Nadia Petrova, but against Chakvetadze’s predominantly baseline style, Williams may be best served my mixing things up and asserting her presence.
Speaking of Petrova, her practice reminded me of her 6-0 second set whitewashing of Venus yesterday. No matter what happens in the first match of the day, Petrova will be involved in a rubber that has immense proportions attached to it. She’ll either be responsible for extending the Russian hopes to the doubles match, or sealing the tie outright. You have to like her chances against Tu, but it will be interesting to see how yesterday’s events affect her play today. She was noticeably disappointed in her press conference following her match.
1:56 PM: Back in the media center after Venus Williams defeated Anna Chakvetadze by a 6-1, 6-4 score. The match lasted just over an hour, and while it wasn’t a classic, it still lived up to my expectations as an extremely high quality match to take in live.
Yesterday, Venus commented that her serve “was a little off rhythm”. Today, I found that part of her game to be the decisive factor in the outcome, especially when you contrast it to the remarkably poor service games of Chakvetadze. This was most apparent in the first set, when Venus peppered Anna with precise serves throughout the box, most of them carrying some serious juice behind them. When I asked Venus to comment on this, she quickly agreed:
“I was conscious of what I was doing, taking my time. Just in general, after playing a match, things come a little better.”
One thing I should mention is that Chakvetadze did not play a poor match, despite the lopsided score. Her return of serve was doubly impressive considering her opponent, and itkept her in many points that she was seemingly destined to lose. In addition, her flat (and economical) forehand made balls jump at Venus, and on occasion, even the dexterous one couldn’t get a racquet on her shots.
But all told, this was the Venus of Wimbledon lore on display once again. Cross-court passing shots after a lengthy rally were seen with regularity, resulting in winners that raised the volume of the 4,100 in attendance to even higher octaves than on Saturday. Chakvetadze made it interesting with a break, hold, and nearly a second break that would have leveled the match at 5-5, but ultimately the deficit was too much to overcome. 2-1 United States.
2:24 PM: Italy defeats France by a 3-2 score to advance to the Fed Cup finals. Here in Vermont, Nadia Petrova leads Meilen Tu 3-0. The doubles match may factor into the end result here as well later on. In the post-match press conference, Venus said that she does have “one more match left in her”.
3:14 PM: The food provided for the media has been of high quality – although you have to make sure you get to it before it’s all gone. Yesterday, a turkey wrap and pasta salad was a welcome sight to this hungry author, and today, grilled chicken and a creamy potato salad was on the menu. Once again, the rations didn’t disappoint. I’m giving the potato salad the distinction of “best food of the tie”, mainly due to its seasoning. Crushed peppercorns and dill put it over the top, but there was a hint of something else that I didn’t go for as much – crow.
After touting Meilen Tu for the past couple of days, her defeat at the hands of Nadia Petrova (6-1, 6-2) was a bit disappointing to witness. From the start, she was overwhelmed by a confident and ready Petrova, and was powerless to stop her throughout the match. Nadia attacked Tu’s serve with reckless abandon, and most every other part of the Russian’s game was in fine form as well. In short order, Russia has drawn the match level at two matches each, with the doubles rubber coming up to decide the tie. The pairings were just announced by USTA spokesperson Chris Widmaier: Petrova and Elena Vesnina will play against Lisa Raymond and – yes – Venus Williams.
One note that I think is important to mention is the heat outdoors. The early morning rain has given way to warm temperatures, which could potentially affect the performances of Nadia and Venus. However, this should be mitigated considerably by two factors – first, their earlier singles matches were not lengthy in duration, and second, it’s doubles, so less will be required from the gas tank. While their prior exercise shouldn’t be discounted, I would guess that Williams’ and Petrova’s matches will turn out to be glorified warm-ups.
In her on-court interview, Petrova labeled the upcoming doubles tie as “a hell of a match.” I’m hoping she’s right.
5:35 PM: The doubles match has ended, leaving one single team emerging victorious from Stowe – Russia. In an entertaining match that captured the crowd from start to finish, the partnership of Vesnina and Petrova took out Williams and Raymond by a 7-5, 7-6 (1) score.
When the opening ceremonies of the tie were taking place yesterday, the popular sports anthem “Let’s Get it Started” pulsated throughout the stadium. After the introductions were complete, I noticed that the duo of Petrova and Vesnina were rocking out to the song, much like a pair of college buddies at a karaoke bar. They were in tune then, and they were certainly in tune today on court.
Coming into the match cold, Vesnina played like a seasoned veteran, and caught nearly everyone by surprise with her tremendous effort in the deciding rubber. She served stronger than I expected from someone of her frame, took somewhat risky chances when necessary (and pulled them off), and stayed composed even through the most tense moments of the match. None was more tense than the second set tiebreaker, during which Elena produced aces and winners in a way that would suggest that she’s done this before. But while she has doubles experience (winning two titles on tour) and prior Fed Cup play under her belt (1-1, both in doubles matches), surely nothing compared to this moment. In the Russian team press conference, she verified that, saying that it was the biggest win of her career, by far.
The consistency of Vesnina’s play was a sight to behold, and it didn’t hurt having Nadia Petrova by her side. I noticed no ill effects from Nadia’s singles match, which concluded only minutes prior to the doubles match getting underway. Petrova played like she played throughout all of her matches this weekend – which was a great thing for the Russian side. Russia will now go on to play for their third Fed Cup in four years, when they host Italy in Moscow.
One other note – as for the weather, it held up all day, although there were some raindrops during the final moments of the doubles match. The cool and overcast conditions likely aided Petrova and Venus, although if you compared how the two played in the doubles, Petrova’s play definitely outclassed Venus’.
6:24 PM: With laughter abound, the Russian team exited their press conference in sheer delight, knowing all well that they could now let off some steam. Before them came the Americans, who expectedly had a solemn and dejected look on their faces.
During the match, I thought that one of the most important things for the United States was that Venus’ pressure would be somewhat deflected by the presence of Raymond, who in addition to being a doubles force on tour, is also an older veteran than Venus. Obviously, someone like Venus doesn’t get rattled in spots like this anymore, but surely Lisa’s accompaniment had to make her feel a bit more comfortable out there. I asked her about this:
Q: Venus, in spite of the loss, how big of a comfort factor is it paying with a doubles player like Lisa?
VENUS WILLIAMS: It’s exciting. There’s so many balls that come back off that first volley. I’m like, “Wow”. She knows what she’s doing. I’m obviously taking advice from her. She’s obviously a lot more comfortable on the doubles court that I am.
I definitely felt good going out there. It was just a couple of points here and there. For the match, I obviously look to myself, I felt like I missed some shots that I, you know, should have made, that maybe normally I would make. Just better next time.
And with that, the American Fed Cup experience is over.
6:57 PM: It’s been an incredible weekend in Stowe for me on a personal level because I’ve had the chance to do so many things that I only dreamed about when starting a simple tennis blog a year and a half ago. Many thanks must go to the various people who helped orchestrate this. I should have some pictures and video for you later in on the week – it may have to make up for the inability to get a hold of the elusive Shamil Tarpischev. On Saturday, his presser was prefaced by the fact that it “needed it to be cut short due to commitments.” Today, following the Russian victory, he was waxing poetic in Cyrillic to the Russian television station that made their way to Vermont. But I will say this about him: he is an interesting character, who made some bold statements in his translated press conference. Tarpischev said afterwards that he thought that “three or four” Russian teams could be assembled due to the depth of his girls, and that all of these teams could compete strongly for the Fed Cup. On Saturday, he said that Venus Williams held “spiritual powers” that willed her to victory against Nadia Petrova. For American media, Tarpischev might seem like the Russian version of Shaquille O’Neal. But I got the feeling that in Russia, it’s just par for the course.
Looking at his continued success in recent years, and especially this weekend, I wouldn’t say there’s any reason to argue.
- Ed McGrogan