ATP - If I wanted to get literal with the translation of this section of the Monday Net Post, I could very easily make the case that Richard Gasquet gets this week's award; the rest of TW be damned. As some of you may know, I have a bit of a vested interest in Gasquet's play on tour, which came to a crescendo on Friday. Richard (fine, Ree-shard) played the match of the tournament in his quarterfinal against Andy Roddick, where he came back to win from two sets down, and in the process, finally connected the dots with his beautiful yet erratic game on the grandest of stages. There were many great stories during this year's Wimbledon fortnight, and Gasquet's play needs to be put in this discussion.
However, a couple things are going to prevent Gasquet from actually claiming this week's award. Actually, make that five things, starting back in 2003 when Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon against Mark Philippoussis (pre-Age of Love). Eleven Grand Slams later, Federer has entered the hallowed pantheon of tennis legends, and during that time, he's never lost at the All England Club. It's an extremely amazing statistic if you stop to think about it.
Furthermore, even though the case can be made that Roger had a simple draw (but what draw isn't "simple" for him, as the world's #1?) and great fortune (the Tommy Haas walkover, opportune scheduling), the Swiss still had to get the job done. It's not a given that Roger wins Wimbledon, or even his first round match last Monday - nothing in tennis is. But that's what makes Federer so special - he makes it appear as if it is a given that he will win every time on the London lawns.
Lastly, but certainly not least, the Gasquet/Roddick duel was upended on Sunday by the Federer/Nadal final as the defining and most memorable match of The Championships. For my expanded thoughts on this classic, I encourage you to read my latest post at Gasquet & Racquet.
WTA - Whenever the high gates of the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club are shown on television, I find the sight to be a rather imposing view. This entrance, along with various other nuances that dot the grounds, signify the orderly and proper manner of the sport which has been embraced here for decades. But there was one thing missing from these walls - a sign from the Lawn Tennis Association that reads "no admittance except for multiple title holders". Roger Federer had four Wimbledon titles and won his fifth, while Venus Williams had three Wimbledon titles (come on in!) and won her fourth.
In 2005, I remember that Venus' win over Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon was a shocker, after a lengthy period of injuries and inconsistent play quelled her dominance on tour. Two years later, and seeded nine spots lower than her 2005 campaign (23 vs. 14), Venus again claimed victory - in sweeping fashion - leading us to the inevitable question: Is she back?
That query has always been a difficult one for tennis pundits to answer definitively, and I'm not even going to try to tackle it in this space. The one thing we do know is that Venus was back for these two weeks. And let's be honest, if you had to pick two weeks to be in top form throughout the calendar year, these are the two most players would pick. After surviving scares in the first and third rounds, Williams really elevated her play against much more prominent opponents. Maria looked meek, Svetlana screamed, Ivanovic was idle, and Marion's magic was missing. Venus didn't drop a set in her last four matches, and none of her opponents could even snag five games from her in any of those sets.
Since June of 2005, Venus has won only three tournaments, but two of them are Wimbledon crowns. In tennis, there's a couple of maxims that seem to always rear their head:
- Players are remembered for what they've done at the Grand Slams.
- "What have you done for me lately?"
If you follow these principles, Venus is doing just fine for herself.
Next Week's Tournaments
Allianz Suisse Open (ATP - Clay - Gstaad, Switzerland)
- Website
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (ATP - Grass - Newport, United States)
- Website
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
Catella Swedish Open (ATP - Clay - Bastad, Sweden)
- Website
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
Fed Cup Semifinals (WTA)
- Website
- Semifinal #1: United States vs. Russia
- Semifinal #2: Italy vs. France
Beyond the Bracket
Pete has spoken at length of his fondness for Davis Cup, so I'm going to take the reins and tell you a little bit about the women's version, a.k.a. the Fed Cup. In fact, TennisWorld will be strewn with all things Fed Cup later this week, as I'll be covering the United States/Russia tie from Stowe, Vermont. You can look for me and follow the action on the Tennis Channel starting at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, and at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Before I had a sense of vocation about devoting my life to tennis, I didn't know a thing about the Fed Cup (or for that matter, the Davis Cup). So great was my ignorance that I supposed that the "Fed" in the name was shorthand for a title sponsor, namely FedEx. However, that's not the case. It doesn't stand for the FedEx Cup, or even the Federer Cup - in reality, the "Fed" stands for Federation, which points to the International Tennis Federation (ITF), the governing body that sanctions the year-long tournament. To avoid confusion, keep in mind that in 1995, the "Federation Cup" was officially renamed the "Fed Cup". Glad we got that out of the way.
One important distinction between the Fed Cup and the Davis Cup is the tie structure. In Davis Cup, each tie lasts three days, with two singles matches played on Friday and Sunday, and the doubles on Saturday. However in Fed Cup, the doubles is instead the final rubber to be played, after all four singles matches have been completed. Consequently, the doubles match - always of great importance to the men (it either ends the tie or gives one side a lead going into the final day) - is more frequently relegated to an exhibition on the women's side. Nowhere was this more evident than in the first round of this year's Fed Cup World Group stage, where all four winners won their ties 5-0.
The early versions of the Fed Cup exclusively featured contests between the United States and Great Britain, but in 1963, the event was expanded to a true international competition in order to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ITF. In spite of this, the U.S. has continued to dominate, winning 17 Fed Cup titles. The next highest total goes to the Aussies, who have won seven times, but none since 1974. Since the turn of the century however, these old firms have given way to a number of different titleholders, many of whom had never claimed the Fed Cup beforehand. This list includes Belgium (2001), Slovakia (2002), Russia (2004 & 2005), and the current defending champion, Italy.
(For more detailed information on this year's semifinal ties, check out the links above.)
Extra! Extra!
A fellow Tribesman has some important information to share, especially for those of you who like James Blake and are in the NY Metro area:
*“Hi, Ed. Would greatly appreciate if you could alert Tribe members to the fact that the official pub date for James Blake’s book Breaking Back, which I had the privilege of co-authoring, is this Tuesday, July 10. In connection with the launch, James will be signing books in New Haven and New York this week. (More dates will follow and be announced in a fun way soon on TW.) Tribe members who would like to meet James in person (D-Wiz, are you reading this?) and get his signature on a book, should report on the following dates to the following locations: today (short notice, sorry), July 9 at the Barnes & Noble at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut at 7:30pm, and Tuesday, July 10 in New York City at the Barnes & Noble at 82nd Street and Broadway at 12 noon, or the Virgin megastore at Union Square in New York City at 7:30pm. You can also catch him on the Tonight Show this Friday. Alas, a scheduling quirk will prevent me from being at any of these events (heading to Florida on another project for three days), but I hope to catch up with local Tribe members at some point during the Open. This note will no doubt prompt some well wishes for the book launch; I’ll be away from the internet for large spurts of time this week, so let me thank everyone in advance for those!"
- Andrew Friedman (aka Rolo Tomassi)*
In summation:
Book Pub date: Tuesday, July 10
Book Signings this week:
New Haven, CT
7/9/07: Barnes & Noble/Yale, 7:30 PM, Book Signing
New York, NY
7/10/07: Barnes & Noble/Upper West Side, Noon, Book Signing
7/10/07: Virgin/Union Square, 7:30 PM, Book Signing
- Ed McGrogan
