During the first week of Wimbledon, TENNIS Magazine senior editor Jon Levey will be on the grounds at the All England Club. He'll be sending dispatches to me, and I'll answer the best I can watching good old American TV.
Steve,
Game on. I like how you’re picking on the lowly British wildcards. It’s a smart way to get out of the first round without sacrificing a high seed to do it. Baghadatis is a safe option and I think his game translates nicely to the modern, slower, grass courts of Wimbledon. He won’t win the tournament, but should get through a few rounds. Although the further he goes, the more obligatory camera shots we get of his rather fetching female friend.
However I’m not crazy about his new hairstyle. Corn rows? It definitely doesn’t flatter him. He’s young still, so I’ll give him a mulligan on the new ‘do, but let’s hope it’s a passing fancy.
And any mileage you can get out of a player like Karolina Sprem is huge.
I’ve been thinking about your take on the draw, particularly where Federer is concerned. You’re right, coming into this tournament it seemed a Federer victory was a mere formality. But now that he’s got a hellacious draw, some think Federer could actually lose. What then? I mean it’s bound to happen eventually. He will not win every Wimbledon he plays. If Federer does get knocked off, who is the favorite?
Conventional wisdom would say it’s Roddick’s tournament to lose. He’s lost to Federer in the past two finals, and, although maybe unfair, a loss to anyone besides Federer would be seen as a huge disappointment for Roddick. In fact, I don’t think it would be acceptable.
It reminds me of that U.S. Open - I think it was 1997 - when Sampras lost around the 4th round to Petr Korda (or somebody who got hot for a day). At that point in his career Sampras looked invincible on fast surfaces. After he lost everyone thought it was Michael Chang’s tournament to lose, including Chang. It would be his best shot to finally win his second slam and possibly get to No. 1. When Chang lost later in the tournament to Pat Rafter, his brother/coach, Carl, sat shiva by himself in the stands for what seemed hours after the match because he knew Chang’s Grand Slam chances were essentially finished.
Roddick is not at the same point in his career now that Chang was then, but if Federer loses early, and Roddick doesn’t reap the rewards, it could be crushing for him.
Did you hear the news about Agassi? He announced today that he’s retiring after the U.S. Open, and thought it only fair to make the statement where it all started for him, at Wimbledon. I’m sure the media circus will have to add an extra tent for the coverage his matches and subsequent press conferences are going to get. And it’s going to be Brangelina-like mayhem at the U.S. Open. Personally, I like the fact that he’s made it official and there will be some closure. Time to get the TENNIS Magazine retrospective ready. I found all the postulating about whether it might be the last time you see him play somewhere, and Agassi’s vague answers to questions about his retirement to be rather tiresome. Good for him, and I hope he makes these last two Slams count. I don’t want Boris Pashanski to be the answer to the trivia question of who the last player was to beat Agassi at Wimbledon.
Anyway, I’m heading out in a few hours. Got myself the latest flight I could find so I could try to sleep through the whole thing. I know we both share an aversion to flying, so we’ll compare war wounds when I get there. I’ll get in touch tomorrow after I set foot on the hallowed grounds for the first time.
Until then…
JL
Jon,
I just read something about Baghdatis taking the weekend off to do a soccer promotion in Cyprus, so I’m not sure how safe I’m looking anymore. I noticed one of our commenters, Neup, went with one of our favorite players, Bjorn Phau, in the first round. The little guy is playing Julien Benneteau, which makes it a rather bold pick. And Jamal is resting his hopes on Jimmy Wang. I feel kinda wimpy next to them.
Did things get even tougher for Mr. Federer since we last spoke? His first-round opponent, Gasquet, just defended in Nottingham, and a potential quarterfinal opponent, Ancic, did the same at the Ordina Open. Ancic, you may recall, is the last person to beat Federer at Wimbledon.
That was quite a moment, when the cameras found Carl Chang by himself in Ashe Stadium staring into the distance. At the time I thought it was half-funny, half-sad. Now it seems like a testament—an odd one, to be sure—to the lifetime of effort that the Chang family put into Michael’s career. Lleyton Hewitt must have felt something similar after losing to Marat Safin at the Aussie Open last year. With Federer out, it may have been his best chance at his home Slam. Remember how ridiculously fired up Hewitt was at that tournament? He hasn’t been quite the same since. (Of course, getting married and having a kid might have played a role as well.)
Incidentally, I played a doubles match in college against Carl Chang. He played No. 2 singles at Berkeley, a far better tennis school than ours. Our coach was a Berkeley grad, and we went out there for a match each year. Carl was pretty confident against my partner and I—he sang, loudly, the Depeche Mode song “People are People” between points while twirling his racquet. We got killed.
Like Chang, Roddick is coached by his older brother, John, who was also a very good player. (Something tells me he’s not a huge Depeche Mode fan, though.) Can you see him sitting in the player’s box staring into space if Andy takes a dive late at Wimbledon? You know, I think I could—the Roddicks are pretty serious about their tennis, too.
Are we getting ahead of ourselves just a bit? Really, I still like Federer’s chances. There were two surprises today. Myskina took Henin-Hardenne to a third-set tiebreaker at Eastbourne, so maybe we have another contender on the women’s side. I’ve always thought Myskina’s flat strokes should work well on grass. She’s in Mauresmo’s section of the Wimbledon draw. Then again, Myskina is just about the moodiest player around—she was in tears during one tight part of today’s match (but she still held serve).
The other news, of course, was Andre making it official. He’s played so little tennis recently that this feels like a formality. I’m glad he’s going out in a definite way, and I hope he plays well and doesn’t have any injuries between now and the Open. But I am now truly dreading the American TV coverage of Wimby and the Open. I mean, it is going to be sickening. I watched Agassi last year in Rome on the Tennis Channel, which uses European announcers. It was a breath of fresh air to hear John Barrett actually criticize Andre (he noted his lack of pure foot speed and his impatience during rallies) and generally treat him like a human being rather than a Christ-like figure who has taught us all how to live.
That said, I’ve watched Andre from his first big tournament, Stratton in 1986, and I don’t think I’ve ever once rooted against him. Even when he played Connors at the Open in the “you’re a legend, he’s a punk” match I was solidly on the punk kid’s side. Agassi’s no saint, and has often been a jerk, but something about the joy he takes in winning, and how crushed he is when he loses, has always been touching. And he’s never lost that.
(I think there are three other players I've never rooted against—can you guess them? I know one of yours would have to be Marat Safin.)
Flying: I’m glad someone else doesn’t like it. I just want to know how anyone can be 35,000 feet in the air—above the clouds—in a tiny piece of metal going 500 miles an hour for five or ten hours and not be AT ALL anxious. But I never see anyone who is.
I hope your flight is over before you read that.
Enjoy the lawns. Walk around Centre Court on Sunday, before the tournament. You’ll be amazed at how compact the whole contraption is—perfect in its own way.
Steve