By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan
Last Week's Tournament
Pacific Life Open (ATP & WTA - Outdoor Hard - Indian Wells, United States)
- Singles Final: Novak Djokovic def. Mardy Fish 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Mardy Fish def. Roger Federer 6-3, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Novak Djokovic def. Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2.
- Men's Singles Bracket
- Doubles Final: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram def. Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram def. Max Mirnyi/Jamie Murray 6-3, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Daniel Nestor/Nenad Zimonjic def. Richard Gasquet/Robert Lindstedt 7-5, 6-2.
- Men's Doubles Bracket
- Singles Final: Ana Ivanovic def. Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Ana Ivanovic def. Jelena Jankovic 7-6, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Maria Sharapova 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.
- Doubles Final: Dinara Safina/Elena Vesnina def. Zi Yan/Jie Zheng 6-1, 1-6, 10-8.
- Doubles Semifinal: Dinara Safina/Elena Vesnina def. Daniela Hantuchova/Ai Sugiyama 6-3, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Zi Yan/Jie Zheng def. Bethanie Mattek/Sania Mirza 6-7, 7-5, 10-5.
- Women's Singles & Doubles Bracket
By the Letter
(Indian Wells Edition)
T...itle droughts: The Bryan Brothers (0-6), Roger Federer (0-3), and Rafael Nadal (0-5) have not won a tournament so far this year.
E...xtremely lucky loser: Aiko Nakamura, who lost in qualifying, got slotted into the main draw, and immediately received a bye into the second round (she replaced Na Li, a seeded player who would have gotten a first round bye).
N...o semi for you: Robby Ginepri had reached the semifinals of his past three tournaments (Delray Beach, San Jose, Las Vegas), but against a bigger field and stiffer competition, he only got by Vince Spadea before losing to No. 19 seed Carlos Moya in the second round.
N...ever a complete field: Justine Henin and the Williams sisters pulled out of Indian Wells, and Maria Sharapova is doing the same in Miami. Her withdrawal is injury related (shoulder).
I...ndian Wells idol: Daniela Hantuchova, who evidently loves this tournament (she's won it twice), had another good run in California, reaching the quarters before bowing out to the white hot Maria Sharapova.
S...ister act: Agnieszka Radwanska posted another fine result in 2008, making the final eight. Her highly touted junior sister, Urszula, was given a wild card, but lost to Zi Yan, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.
W...hat could have been: Lindsay Davenport was forced to retire due to a lower back injury. Her quarterfinal against Jelena Jankovic, at full health, should have been the best of the four.
O...! say can you see: Mardy Fish's win over Roger Federer ended the Swiss' 41-match winning streak against American born players.
R...eally doesn't seem fair: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will get the same amount of points for their semifinal losses, but while Federer beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Nicolas Mahut, and No. 23 seed Ivan Ljubicic this week, Nadal had to defeat Santiago Geraldo, Donald Young, No. 17 seed Jo-Wilfired Tsonga, and No. 9 seed James Blake.
L...ooking ahead: Guillermo Canas started to take off here last year, after his upset of Roger Federer. In Miami the following week, he again shocked us by reaching the finals. He'll need to equal that performance to keep his top 20 ranking, but after that, he could threaten the top 10, since he has minimal points to defend at most of the AMS and Grand Slam tournaments for the rest of the year.
D...ellacqua part deux: Casey, an Aussie who had a memorable Australian Open this year, had another fine tournament in Indian Wells. She Nicole Vaidisova early on before losing to Vera Zvonareva in three sets in the fourth round.
McGrogan's Heroes
!Fish ATP - Novak Djokovic played spectacular tennis all week, firmly cementing himself as the player to beat in 2008. Nadal should still rule the clay, and Roger the grass, but it's not like Djokovic is allergic to these surfaces either, as he reached the semifinals of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon last year. He will make inroads on each man at their preferred battle ground. As for hard courts - that might be Novak's newly established turf.
Djokovic's serve, like Federer's, is a most overlooked weapon in his arsenal, netting him precious points with frequency and dependability. This was a constant throughout the week, but it was most evident against Rafael Nadal, who looked powerless in their semifinal. Playing against someone who hit harder and with more depth, Nadal struggled just to keep the match close. And while the passing of the No. 2 ranking from Nadal to Novak hasn't happened yet - though I predict it will soon - one passing of the torch did occur.
I've always considered Nadal's two-handed backhand to be the best in men's tennis - that is, until now. Djokovic's swipe is more dependable and lethal because it is hit with more force and greater depth. Nadal's two hander is certainly more effective on the run, and gets amplified on clay due to the sbounce generated by its spin. But overall, I think Djokovic's wins out. And that's only one of many reasons why he's making great strides this year.
Saying that, this section of the MNP is actually not about Djokovic, but about Mardy Fish. For while Djokovic's win at Indian Wells was very impressive, Fish's achievements may have been the most admirable. Long written off by most fans, Fish's run to the finals was a total shock.
Mardy's semifinal against Roger Federer wasn't shown on TV where I live, so I checked the live scores link for an update a little over an hour after their match had started. To my amazement, Federer was already plastered on the front page of Tennis.com, not in victory, but in defeat. Rarely have I been as surprised as I was when I saw the 6-3, 6-2 score to Fish - the last time I was in similar disbelief was when I saw that Federer came back from two sets down to beat Nadal at the 2005 Miami Masters (my tape cut off after the second set).
This was not the only surprising result that Fish produced this week. Mardy beat four seeded players before he took out Federer, which included Igor Andreev (Steve Tignor's pick to get to the semis - not picking on you Steve, just wanted to illuminate the caliber of this opponent), Nikolay Davydenko, Lleyton Hewitt, and David Nalbandian. Furthermore, the wins against Hewitt and Nalbandian, two of the best baseliners in the game, were in third-set tiebreaks. I'm still in a bit of shock just typing that all.
How did this all happen? Certainly, Fish was on his game this week, hitting a healthy supply of winners while limiting his error count. His backhand also was a huge factor in his success. In the final against Djokovic, Fish showed fans a two-hander that was effective cross court, as well as down the line. He's probably the only American on tour whose forehand is his weaker shot.
Unfortunately for Fish, serving let him down in the final. Mardy threw in some untimely double faults, while Djokovic served well once again, no time more so then in the first game of the third set. Down 0-40 at a crucial juncture of the match, Novak popped three aces and a service winner to escape with the game. In both the first and third sets, Fish fell behind 3-0, meaning he would need to win six out of the next nine games just to get into a tiebreaker. That was too tall of an order, especially against someone who moves as well as Djokovic.
But that's the worst thing I can say about Fish this week, which says plenty about how well he played.
!Ivo WTA - I saw something odd when I looked at the women's Pacific Life Open bracket before the tournament began. The top seed was Ana Ivanovic, due to the omission of world No. 1 Justine Henin from this Tier I event. Something didn't seem right.
Ivanovic has been everywhere during the past 12 months. On the court, she's part of a Belgrade triumvirate (along with Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic) that has elevated Serbia from a Davis/Fed Cup afterthought to a legitimate world power in the sport. She was a finalist at two of the last four Grand Slams (French Open '07 and Australian Open '08), as well as a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year. Off the court, she's a media darling with looks that incite a debate that rages into the night - who's better (looking): Ana or Maria?
That aside, I may have done a double take when I saw her atop the draw sheet for a more mundane reason. She never made the leap to the next level in her three previous big matches.
2007 French Open final: Loss to Justine Henin 6-1, 6-2.
2007 Wimbledon semifinal: Loss to Venus Williams 6-2, 6-4.
2008 Australian Open final: Loss to Maria Sharapova 7-5, 6-3.
Don't get me wrong, Ivanovic certainly has earned her world No. 2 ranking. She consistently produces solid results at nearly any tournament she enters and, combined with a somewhat Jankovic-like amount of play, accumulates a boatload of ranking points in the process. But it still seemed strange to find that someone who hadn't won a tournament of great significance in some time (May '07 - Berlin Tier I) was deemed the favorite in one of the most prestigious hard court events in the world.
Now, her tournament drought is over. Although she'd won in Montreal and Berlin previously, this is Ana's piece de resistance.
Ivanovic looked comfortable as the favorite, gaining steam as the tournament progressed. Her stumbling points came early on, against of all people, Ioana Raluca Olaru. Ana needed three sets to oust this potential bracket buster, but she prevailed, blitzing Olaru in the final set 6-0. After another three-setter against Francesca Schiavone, Ivanovic entered the final stage of the tournament, flush with the confidence. But against these more decorated opponents, Ana had less trouble, not dropping a set in her final three matches against Vera Zvonareva, Jankovic, and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Until Indian Wells, Henin, Venus and Serena Williams, Sharapova, and Kuznetsova have been part of a rotating circle of top seed at major events and each had the requisite Grand Slam hardware to back it up. Ivanovic isn't at their level - yet. But she's getting closer.
Tennis Theatre
We caught Roger Federer in a very talkative day earlier this week in Indian Wells:
Next Week's Tournament
Sony Ericsson Open (ATP & WTA - Hard - Miami, United States)
No main draws have been released as of yet, but they will soon be available here.
- Men's Qualifying Draw
- Women's Qualifying Draw
- Television Schedule
- Website
Beyond the Bracket
Did you catch the tennis this week in Florida?
No, I’m not talking about whatever phenom vs. phenom battle was going on at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis factory. Instead, I’m referring to the Sunrise Challenger, a.k.a., the BMW Tennis Championship.
Challenger events are generally reserved for two kinds of people – the players grinding it out in these minor leagues, and complete tennis die-hards. There’s not much middle ground. Media coverage is sparse, the pay is relatively low, and ball boys are non-existent (at least according to Tennis Channel’s fantastic documentary, Agassi: Between the Lines).
So, you may ask, why did I expect you to pay attention to a Challenger event in Sunrise, FL, when clearly, the beacon of tennis light was shining on the west coast in California? Take a look at this main draw for your answer.
Some International Series tournaments are lucky to get a field this laden with talent. Igor Kunitsyn, a household name by TW standards, was the last direct acceptance at No. 110 in the world. Those above him included a number of players you’re used to seeing in ATP Tour-level events - Janko Tipsarevic, Sebastien Grosjean, Chris Guccione, and Jurgen Melzer. The event also featured a huge draw, Fernando Gonzalez, courtesy of a wild card.
But wait, weren’t Gonzo, Grosjean, and Melzer in a different main draw recently? Indeed, they were. But players who didn’t advance to the second week of Indian Wells (including these men), faced a week’s wait until the next ATP Tour stop in Miami. So why not play a Challenger? Events like the BMW Tennis Championship benefit from top shelf players looking for match play on an off week, with a Masters Series coming up. A similar thing happens at Challenger tournaments during the second week of a Grand Slam.
One thing I would like to stress is that Challenger level tennis is professional tennis. The players who are entered have made a bold decision to go pro, and for many of them, there’s no turning back. Remember the “All-Challenger Team” I talked about a few weeks ago? That represents a great majority of the players competing. They are good enough to play tennis but it’s a daily battle to stay afloat.
Challenger level tennis shouldn’t be dismissed as meaningless – it’s far from it. In fact, I think it’s more enjoyable to follow this circuit than the Futures level tournaments and the Jan Silva’s of the world. I prefer to see the players who have made it as professionals, not the ones that could make it. The unnecessary pressure we put on these young prodigies as fans probably does not help them in the long run, either.
A good example of this “overburdening of amateurs” occurs in college basketball and college football. They're great sports to watch, but they're essentially professional sports - at least if you look at how much media attention is lavished on these "student athletes." And no matter what coaches at the Division I level say about how pure their sport is, money is undeniably a huge part of the college game.
Players who excel in college basketball and football should similarly succeed in the professional ranks; at least that’s how it would appear. But for every one Dwayne Wade, there are three Ryan Leafs. Collegiate stars who don’t live up to their billing when they turn pro always seems to outnumber the few that make the transition seamlessly. Sure, there are fewer available “jobs” and certainly more competition, but when a top five pick from a pool of hundreds of college athletes can’t make it at the next level, that should say something. Skills aren’t everything – there is motivation and determination to consider as well.
Many college basketball and football players fall victim to the attention they get at an early age. Hopefully tennis will not go the same route. For sure, there are some infamous examples in the game. But nowadays, we’re previewing the 2020 French Open twelve years before it occurs. This worries me.
And while you’re at it, celebrate those who have made it – in the Challenger tournaments.
if…
You had to give FSN’s coverage of Indian Wells a grade of A, B, C, D, or F, what would it be and why?
(I give them a C. A lot of people were complaining – and I was one of them – about the lack of coverage in markets outside of the west coast. But what was more damaging to FSN’s broadcast was not what we did and didn’t see, but what we heard. The announcing tandem of Barry Tompkins and Justin Gimbelstob was a tough one to absorb day in and day out; I was pining for Cliff Drysdale and Pat McEnroe by mid-week. Obviously, Justin is a newcomer to the business, so he still needs some seasoning. And while he did provide a lot of good in-match analysis, there were far too many over-the-top reactions, pro-American chatter, and simple, “fan-like” comments. Tompkins didn’t help matters by butchering the names of players left and right. One bright spot though – Chandra Rubin. I liked her commentary and she kept it to the point.
One more audio gaffe: during the final, another broadcasting team was clearly audible (someone I’ve heard before too…was it for the Brit feed?) between points. Extremely annoying, and quite unprofessional.)