How do you know when someone is playing really well? You start to get just a little sick of hearing from the TV commentators about how good they are, how brilliant they are, how perfect they are. It happened for me with Roger Federer many years ago, and it began to happen a few times this season with Novak Djokovic. Those were understandable cases, since both guys were winning everything in sight. I never expected it to happen with Agnieszka Radwanska, a woman who has never even reached the semifinal of a major. But I caught myself starting to roll my eyes this weekend as one of the Tennis Channel's commentators waxed on, once again, about her quiet genius around the court.
I have no right to be annoyed, of course. I’ve been as guilty as the next pundit when it comes to singing the praises of the ultra-poised Pole over the years, and I’ve been as pleased as any lover of the sport should be while watching her long-delayed ascent this fall. But with Radwanska’s win over the weekend in Beijing, her first at a Premier Mandatory tournament and the biggest title of her career at age 22, she’s risen to a new level, one that deserves more serious scrutiny than most people have given her before. After back-to-back titles, Radwanska is not only at a career-high rank of No. 8 and on the verge of qualifying for the tour championships in Istanbul, she’s suddenly playing the best tennis of anyone in the WTA. She’s earning her praise.
Radwanska is also continuing a recent WTA tradition. Fall is streak season in women’s tennis. Three years ago, Jelena Jankovic ran through October and November and ended up as the surprise year-end No. 1. Last season Caroline Wozniacki did the same thing, and finished in the same place. In 2012, it has been Radwanska’s turn, and while she’s not going to finish No. 1, that's a blessing. Both Jankovic and Wozniacki struggled with the expectations that come with the top spot. Radwanska doesn’t have to worry about that yet. No one is going say she's not a legitimate No. 8 until she wins a major.
But what should we expect from her going forward? What was interesting about her final-round win over Andrea Petkovic, other than the fact that it was one of the best, and best-received, matches of the women’s season, was that Radwanska was confident enough, even in a final, to try something a little different, to take the next step she needs to take to challenge for more of these titles. In short, like her fellow member of the good hands club in Tokyo, Andy Murray, the counterpuncher showed that she could throw a punch. Petkovic is the stronger player and she was on the attack most of the time, but Radwanska hit as aggressively as I’ve ever seen her hit. She said afterward that she was just riding the wave of confidence from her win in Tokyo. She felt like she had nothing to lose in Beijing, and that’s how she competed. Instead of always playing it safe, Radwanska rifled her forehand when she got the chance; she hit jumping backhands; she won a close first set by taking over the net—subtly taking it over, of course, but taking it over nontheless; and she ripped one overhead so hard that I thought it was going to hurt Petkovic. Radwanska came out of her comfort zone, but never looked uncomfortable doing it—even when she was trying out her opponent's dance after it was over.
Of course, that’s not how Radwanska won this match. She won it by making balls, moving them around, winning the cat and mouse points, and not hurting herself. She won mostly by staying calm even after losing the second set at love. The key came when she was able to break back to start the third. The consensus is that players need to fire themselves up to compete at their best, to show themselves and the world that they want it. The trouble is, what goes up must come down, and staying fired up for three sets isn’t easy. The ever-controlled and matter-of-fact Radwanska shows us that a certain emotional distance can have its advantages. She didn’t get too high after winning the first set, but she didn’t get too low after getting blown out in the second.
We’ll see if the counterpuncher can keep landing her punches. If she can, it might not be long before pundits like me stop singing her praises and start wondering when she’s going to win her own first major. Fortunately, that’s still a ways off. For now, we can take what we get from Radwanska and enjoy it. Of all the superb points and shots that were played in this final, my favorite was a forehand that she hit coming forward on the run. The ball landed on Radwanska's backhand side, near the net, but she was still able to move around it and, without setting up or breaking stride, guide it up the line for a winner that totally fooled Petkovic. It wasn’t the pace that was impressive, but the efficiency of her movement. Corina Morariu, in the Tennis Channel both, noticed the same thing. She even went so far as to say that Radwanska’s lack of wasted motion reminded her of the way Roger Federer plays. I would have started to roll my eyes, except that I was thinking exactly the same thing.