!Mnp By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan
Last Week's Tournaments
Legg Mason Tennis Classic (ATP - Hard - Washington D.C., United States)
Singles Bracket
- Juan Martin del Potro def. Andy Roddick
Doubles Bracket
- Martin Damm/Robert Lindstedt def. Mariusz Fyrstenberg/Marcin Matkowski
L.A. Women's Tennis Championships (WTA - Hard - Los Angeles, United States)
Singles Bracket
- Flavia Pennetta def. Samantha Stosur
Doubles Bracket
- Chia-Jung Chuang/Zi Yan def. Maria Kirilenko/Agnieszka Radwanska
McGrogan's Heroes
I can enjoy any sport, if compelling enough, for its annual duration: a season. I rarely follow baseball anymore, but when the Tampa Bay Rays magically held off the duopoly of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees to win the AL East last year, I briefly reacquainted myself with a childhood pastime.
But as 2009 began, I weaned myself from Major League Baseball completely. The Rays are still a fine small-market club, playing above their expectations and in the hunt for a Wild Card spot. But in baseball, and almost every other team sport, the landscape completely changes from year to year because of free agency, and its continuity suffers. While the Rays haven't changed too much, their competition up the east coast has, significantly. The Yankees spent over $400 million during the off-season to acquire star first baseman Mark Teixeira and pitching aces C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. In 2008, we saw the Rays outplay the gilded Bronx Bombers. But we will never find out if the Yankees -- their 2008 incarnation -- could rebound and retake the division in 2009, because we're watching an entirely new New York team. The story starts over each year: an unfortunate byproduct of most major American sports.
Tennis is an exception to this; there is a clear narrative that develops from year to year, which makes it the most compelling sport of all. The players (or "teams") change, but not because something was purchased to make them so. They are the same composition, but their qualities evolve with each experience on the court. Really, has their even been a team in any major American team sport that stayed constant from one year to the next since...1980? 1970?
The tome of Roger Federer contains some of the finest prose I've had the pleasure to watch, but many smaller literary works published by the ATP and WTA capture my interest. A good example is the story of Juan Martin del Potro, a cracking tale, even though it’s only just begun. Del Potro was smart to play in many smaller tournaments last year -- Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles, Washington -- to prepare for the U.S. Open. True, his ranking precluded him from automatic entry into the bigger Toronto and Cincinnati Masters events, but he could have focused exclusively on qualifying for them, where he may have been fodder in the end. Instead, he gained much confidence and ranking points by playing -- and winning -- those four tournaments; a year later, del Potro is No. 6 in the world. (An aside: Based on how, and where, Sam Querrey has played this summer, watch out for him next year. He's taken a path similar to del Potro's.)
Since then, del Potro hasn't taken the next step -- winning an event of greater prestige, like a Masters -- but he's clearly knocking on the door. The 20-year-old (!) beat Rafael Nadal in Miami when the Spaniard was at the height of his powers, and nearly derailed Federer in the French Open semifinals. On Sunday, he defended his title in Washington, not a chump-change tournament, by any means. Del Potro's last three victories came against Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Gonzalez and Andy Roddick, a run that resembles the later rounds of many Grand Slams. This most recent triumph should give del Potro even more confidence heading into Montreal and Cincinnati, which he will play this year. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if he takes that next step soon.
Flavia Pennetta's win at the L.A. Tennis Open might seem like a random, meaningless blip on the tennis radar. Indeed, it will probably be forgotten by week's end. But Pennetta has slowly but steadily evolved into a strong player that's regularly in the later rounds of tournaments. From 2004-07, Pennetta was meandering around the Top 30; she was a solid but unremarkable presence on tour. In 2008, she shot up and finished the season ranked No. 13; now, she's No. 11. The Italian has won eight titles in her career, and two in the last 30 days (Palermo is the other). It would be unreasonable to expect great things from this dirt devil at the biggest hard-court tournaments this summer, but wins over Nadia Petrova, Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova on asphalt can't be discounted. Pennetta, 27, may not be able to handle a challenge from a Williams sister, but against the highly-touted but still largely-unproven youngsters -- say, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Sabine Lisicki -- the veteran should assert her authority admirably.
This Week's Tournaments
(TV Schedule)
Rogers Cup (ATP - Hard - Montreal, Canada)
Singles Bracket
Doubles Bracket
Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open (WTA - Hard - Cincinnati, United States)
Singles Bracket
Doubles Bracket