You have to hand it to the guys. As the top women continue their season-long vanishing act—withdrawals from the WTA’s Tier 1 events have doubled in 2006 (and we thought it was bad last year!)—the men are sticking it out for the indoor season this time around. Not only is the Madrid Masters draw loaded, the warm-up events last week weren’t too shabby either. Let’s take quick look back before we jump to our conclusions about the week ahead.
Vienna
Here he comes again, Ivan Ljubicic, king of the run-of-the-mill. After going down without so much as a whimper in the first round of the U.S. Open, he reached the final in Bangkok and beat Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets Sunday to defend his title in Vienna. It’s the 27-year-old Croat’s sixth career tournament win, but he’s reached just one Slam semi, this year at Roland Garros. Is Ljuby destined to be the least memorable No. 3 since, I don’t know, David Nalbandian? Without a signature run at a major—like Michael Stich had at Wimbledon—both guys, for all their success, will be footnotes in the game’s history books, known mostly for Davis Cup heroics.
A further question: Is this another example of a disconnect between the U.S. and the rest of the tennis world, à la Davis Cup? Winning Slams and becoming No. 1 has long been more of an American priority than it has been for players from other countries (discounting guys like Federer and Nadal, of course). Czechoslovakia’s Ivan Lendl began his career as a sort of super-Ljuby, winning everything but the Slams. Then he moved to Connecticut and began to say that it was only the majors that counted, an attitude that Pete Sampras took even further. Aside from their passion for Davis Cup, guys like Ljubicic, Safin, Nalbandian, Gonzalez, and Davydenko seem to treat the tour more like a daily job—and weekly paycheck—than a series of four peak-performance moments.
Moscow
Speaking of Davydenko, he also wrapped up another non-Slam this weekend, beating Safin in Moscow. It was Davydenko’s fourth title of 2006. Despite these results, the world No. 6 rode the bench during Russia’s recent Davis Cup semifinals against the U.S., in part because he had flown all the way to China for a tournament the week before. So far Davydenko is another great player, another daily grinder, and another tennis-history footnote in the making. His career trajectory is still rising, though; it will be interesting to see if he can take the next step at the tournaments that “count.”
The best, and weirdest, coverage of Moscow came from Marat Safin on his ATP blog. It was as enjoyable as Roger Federer’s had been the week before, but in a very different way (not exactly a surprise, I guess). Safin tried his best to stay upbeat, but he also revealed the basic fact of a pro’s existence: a constant, nagging anxiety about the next match. I was happy to learn that a guy who seems to have everything in the world still goes out on court with his hands and legs shaking. But Safin has perspective, and he’s funny. I like the image of him sitting around the locker room with a couple juniors “talking nonsense” before going on court. I imagine that talking nonsense is a big part of the guy’s life. This week’s Madrid blogger is David Nalbandian. We’ll see if he can keep the ATP’s site on its current roll, and maybe we’ll find out a little bit more about one of the sport’s mysterious characters.
The women were in Moscow, too, and two Russians, Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova—a little girl and a grown woman, respectively—made the final. Against all odds, it was the girl, Chakvetadze, who came way with a win. Petrova’s performances in Moscow were pretty wacky in general. In holding off Nicole Vaidisova in a third-set tiebreaker in the semis, she lost control of her emotions completely. One minute she was hitting herself with her racquet, the next she was doubled over laughing. Petrova has a new coach (again) and she’s tried to get a better grip on her emotions, but it’s still a work in progress.
Stockholm
When did James Blake become reliable? After failing to win a title for years, he’s taken home five of them in 2006, which ties him for second on tour with Nadal. Like the weekend’s other winners, Ljubicic and Davydenko, Blake remains unproven at the biggest events, which could be a sign that American tennis fans will have settle for daily grinders, rather than world No. 1s, in the foreseeable future. But at least Blake is beating everyone he should beat and showing that he believes in himself as a Top 5 player. Next year we’ll see if he believes he’s any better than that.
Bangkok
Wow, the U.S. is on a roll: Now Vania King is winning tournaments. The Californian just turned pro, and this weekend she became the first 17-year-old American to win a title since Serena Williams seven years ago. I watched King lose badly to Maria Kirilenko in Key Biscayne in March; the Russian is one of the softer hitters in the Top 25, and she totally overmatched King. But the American is nothing if not an overachiever—she sang the national anthem at this year’s U.S. Open before going out to play.
Madrid
Ion Tiriac and co. look like they did the right thing by moving this event from Stuttgart a few years ago. For an end-of-season indoor tournament, it’s got some buzz and a lot of name players, including Federer and home-country boy Nadal. Of course, Safin, being Safin, attributes the player interest to the presence of the models who serve as ball girls on center court.
Still, whatever the reason, the boys are showing up. The next three days alone may give Tennis Channel subscribers a look at Roddick-Berdych, Safin-Baghdatis, Blake-Tursunov, Gasquet-Djokovic, and Haas-Monfils (with the winner getting Nadal).
We’ve also got soon-to-be-retired John Barrett doing the telecasts, though I just heard him say that Tim Henman had held serve to take a “comfortable 6-5 lead” over Fernando Verdasco. Maybe it’s good he’s hanging up his mike after all.
