Mornin', everyone. The women's final is starting in about an hour, and yes - I will write about Victoria Azarenka, unless Serena Williams performs in a way that demands otherwise. And you know what? There's no quota system here, no doling out of equal time. I follow my instincts to what I think is the best story, and I try to write it as best I can. I may not always make the right call, but that's the policy.
There's a reason that the Serenas and Rogers and Rafaels tend to dominate the conversation. And here's one thing I look forward to: tomorrow's post not being about either Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. That's a welcome change of pace, although you fans of either Roger or Rafa may not see it quite that way.That's especially true for Rafa fans. I never got around to writing about Nadal this time around; that may be partly because (full disclosure here) I find it hard to get fired up about Juan Martin del Potro. I wish it were otherwise, but that's how it is. The big man strikes me as something of a depressive, and in line with some of the issues we discussed last night, he's a pretty good example of the fact that having talent and working hard can carry you pretty far, in tennis as it can in accounting or engineering, but you need also to have a spark of greatness, and then also the ability to nurture that spark and keep shaping it throughout a long and inevitably unpredictable career. I just haven't seen that spark in Juan Martin yet, which may be entirely my shortcoming, not his. We'll see.
On another note, some of you may have seen Miguel "Mikey" Seabra's comment a few days ago, in which he directed me to Antonio Van Grichen, Azarenka's Portuguese coach (and a buddy of Mikey's). Antonio came up and found me a few days later, and I've been hoping to catch up with him, although I haven't quite yet. Stay tuned. Enjoy the tennis, everyone.
-- Pete