McGrogan's Heroes
ATP - Rafael Nadal
With the Rome Masters starting today and the Madrid Masters looming in two weeks, Rafael Nadal should be applauded just for playing in last week’s Barcelona Open. (Or panned, I suppose, if you want to see him get some rest.) Then the world’s best tennis player goes and wins his fifth straight title at the Real Club de Tenis.
Rafa, we kneel before you on the red clay. Still have any of those old Nike capris to keep our knees clean?
As the world No. 1, Nadal’s commitment to the Barcelona Open is refreshing. He’s not chasing anyone in the rankings, so he doesn’t need the points; he clearly doesn’t need the money; and whether or not he wins at Barcelona, he’s obviously still the best player on clay. I liken his decision to Federer’s annual participation in the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel -- a close-to-home event that surely has some sentimental attachment to it. Though I wonder, will Nadal still play in Barcelona if he’s not the defending champion?
Another question I have is, how will Nadal fare in Rome? Last year, Rafa was gassed, losing his opening match to a player he should never be threatened by, Juan Carlos Ferrero. This year, he’ll face either Andreas Seppi or Sam Querrey in the second round. I doubt either will pull a Ferrero this time around -- I suspect that Nadal will want to prove last year’s one-and-done performance was a fluke.
But even if Nadal is sent packing early, who cares? There’s absolutely nothing to suggest that he isn’t the overwhelming favorite at Roland Garros. In the past two weeks, the Spaniard played 10 best-of-three set matches, and lost just one set. I like his chances in two weeks’ worth of best-of-fives.
WTA - Liezel Huber & Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Longtime readers of the Monday Net Post know that doubles has always been mentioned in this column, though the discipline is rarely recognized in the "McGrogan's Heroes" section. Not this week. Doubles fans, rejoice -- the remarkable comeback by Americans Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in their Fed Cup semifinal against the Czech Republic earned them the highest honor that I can give.
While outside on an unseasonably warm April day in New York City, I checked the score of this deciding doubles rubber and saw that the Czech pair of Kveta Peschke and Iveta Benesova led 6-2, 5-2. A little while later, I checked the scores again, just to confirm the inevitable, and saw that the United States had won the tie. Was this a live doubles rubber after all? Indeed it was -- Huber and Mattek-Sands saved a match point and amazingly came back to win the match, 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-1.
For the Czech supporters in Brno that surely thought that this tie was in the bag, I feel your pain. The Buffalo Bills incredibly missed the NFL playoffs after a 5-1 start last season, and the New York Rangers are about to blow a 3-1 series lead against the Washington Capitals in this year's NHL playoffs. But I feel especially good for one person: Huber. The doubles specialist started competing for the United States in Fed Cup just last year, after doing so for South Africa since 1998. She's embraced the competition at a time when many have opted to skip it (namely the Williams sisters, who I hope do not play for the U.S. in the final against Italy). Despite the fact that she "changed countries," which seems a little weird, I give her credit for devoting her time and energy to a unique tournament that is largely overlooked.
(A statistic I'd love to know: How many people in the U.S. will watch the Fed Cup final? Don't worry, there's still time to spread the word -- it's not till November.)
Next Week's Tournaments
