McGrogan's Heroes
ATP - Rafael Nadal
For those of you who like honorable mentions:
Ivan Ljubicic reached his second Masters Series quarterfinal of the young season...
Qualifier Andreas Beck won three matches over established pros Nicolas Kiefer, Gilles Simon and Juan Monaco...
Stanislas Wawrinka beat Roger Federer; surely one of the most memorable wins of the Swiss' career...
Andy Murray made a convincing argument that he's developing into an all-court threat...
Novak Djokovic took a set against Rafael Nadal, the first person to do so in three years...
But Nadal won his fifth consecutive title in Monte Carlo -- a tournament that always boasts a top-notch field, requires champions to win five (or six) matches in a week's time, and is the start of the clay-court season, when players typically need time to adjust to the surface.
End of story.
WTA - Sabine Lisicki
Until this year, I'd never played tennis on a clay court -- only hard. Once I finally got to play on clay (green, not red) I found that the speeds of the two surfaces were not as distant from each other as I originally thought. Clay didn't slow down flat, hard-hit balls enough for me to consider the surface "slow"; they would still blow by me, like on hard courts. Sure, it was fun to slide a bit to try and retrieve these shots, but if someone connected on a good strike, they were rewarded, even on clay.
Sabine Lisicki would tear me up on green clay. From a first serve that regularly touched 120 mph to booming ground strokes off both wings, Lisicki showed tremendous power this week in Charleston, and the surface didn't take away from her shots' effectiveness. Her defense, aided by her strong, muscular legs, also put pressure on opponents. Caroline Wozniacki, Lisicki's final adversary, looked overmatched and almost frail by comparison.
Wozniacki, who was beaten 6-2, 6-4, wasn't the only player to experience Lisicki's fury first-hand. Lisicki upset Venus Williams in the third round, 6-4, 7-6, then mowed through Elena Vesnina (6-4, 6-0) and Marion Bartoli (6-3, 6-1) to reach the final. It's the 19-year-old's first career WTA title. Expect Lisicki to double that total shortly.
Next Week's Tournaments
