Monday Net Post

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By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan

I don't say this very often, but, TGIM - Thank God it's Monday!  Well, for me at least.  I'm looking forward to another year of hopefully alleviating your Monday malaise with a hot, steaming cup of tennis (as opposed to a "cup of designer coffee that puts a dent in your wallet and a blister on the roof of your mouth" -- go here if you have no idea what I'm talking about).As your reigning TW Employee of the Month (along with Heidi of Deuce Club fame), I want to uphold this honor with even better MNP's in 2008.  Let's get started, and thanks again for reading.

Last Week's Tournaments

Chennai Open (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Chennai, India)

- Singles Final: Mikhail Youzhny def. Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-1.
- Singles Semifinal: Rafael Nadal def. Carlos Moya 6-7, 7-6, 7-6.
- Singles Semifinal: Mikhail Youzhny def. Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-3.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchai Ratiwatana def. Marcos Baghdatis/Marc Gicquel 6-4, 7-5.
- Doubles Semifinal: Marcos Baghdatis/Marc Gicquel def. Harel Levy/Rajeev Ram 6-7, 7-6, 10-8.
- Doubles Semifinal: Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchai Ratiwatana def. Marin Cilic/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 2-6, 6-2, 10-4.
- Doubles Bracket

Next Generation Adelaide (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Adelaide, Australia)

- Singles Final: Michael Llodra def. Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Jarkko Nieminen def. Jo-Wilfired Tsonga 6-2, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Michael Llodra def. Joseph Sirianni 6-3, 7-6.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Martin Garcia/Marcelo Melo def. Chris Guccione/Robert Smeets 6-3, 3-6, 10-7.
- Doubles Semifinal: Martin Garcia/Marcelo Melo def. Benjamin Becker/Oliver Marach 7-6, 6-1.
- Doubles Semifinal: Chris Guccione/Robert Smeets def. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram 6-4, 6-4.
- Doubles Bracket

Qatar Open (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Doha, Qatar)

- Singles Final: Andy Murray def. Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Andy Murray def. Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-3.
- Singles Semifinal: Stanislas Wawrinka def. Ivan Ljubicic 7-6, 6-4.
- Singles Bracket

- Doubles Final: Philipp Kohlschreiber/David Skoch def. Jeff Coetzee/Wesley Moodie 6-4, 4-6, 11-9.
- Doubles Semifinal: Jeff Coetzee/Wesley Moodie def. Simon Aspelin/Thomas Johansson 7-6, 7-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Philipp Kohlschreiber/David Skoch def. Christopher Kas/Rogier Wassen 6-4, 7-5.
- Doubles Bracket

ASB Classic (WTA - Outdoor Hard - Auckland, New Zealand)

- Singles Final: Lindsay Davenport def. Aravane Rezai 6-2, 6-2.
- Singles Semifinal: Aravane Rezai def. Marina Erakovic 6-3, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Lindsay Davenport def. Tamira Paszek 6-4, 6-3.

- Doubles Final: Mariya Koryttseva/Lilia Osterloh def. Martina Muller/Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-3, 6-4.
- Doubles Semifinal: Mariya Koryttseva/Lilia Osterloh def. Emilie Loit/Meilen Tu 2-6, 6-4, 10-6.
- Doubles Semifinal: Martina Muller/Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Laura Granville/Vladimira Uhlirova 6-4, 6-4.

• Singles & Doubles Bracket

Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts (WTA - Outdoor Hard - Gold Coast, Australia)

- Singles Final: Na Li def. Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
- Singles Semifinal: Na Li def. Patty Schynder 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Victoria Azarenka def. Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-2.

- Doubles Final: Dinara Safina/Agnes Szavay def. Zi Yan/Jie Zheng 6-1, 6-2.
- Doubles Semifinal: Dinara Safina/Agnes Szavay def. Cara Black/Liezel Huber 6-3, 6-1.
- Doubles Semifinal: Zi Yan/Jie Zheng def. Iveta Benesova/Galina Voskoboeva 6-3, 7-5.

• Singles & Doubles Bracket

By the Letter

T...welve months ago, Juan Martin del Potro (then a promising, but relatively unknown rookie) stormed out of the gates by reaching the semifinals of Adelaide.  Marin Cilic, this year's version of del Potro (raw but touted, did the same this year, reaching the semifinals of Chennai.
E...xhibition this week in Kooyong will, as always, have a loaded field.  Some of the players participating in this Australian Open tune-up include Roger Federer (ed note: TMF has withdrawn) , Andy Roddick, and David Nalbandian, among others.  In a women's exhibition warmup in Hong Kong, Venus Williams defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 to win the JB Group Classic.
N...ew Zealand hosts the men this week; this past week in Auckland, Lindsay Davenport won, dropping only one set en route to her third title in her last four tournaments.
N...o coach, no problem: in his first tournament since letting Brad Gilbert go, Andy Murray won the Qatar Open.  Murray lost only one set in five matches, and in his first three matches (against Olivier Rochus, Rainer Schuettler, and Thomas Johanssson), he won a set by a 6-0 score.
I...t's official: size doesn't matter.  5'7" Christophe Rochus defeated 6'10" Ivo Karlovic in the first round of the Qatar Open in straight sets, 7-6, 6-2.
S...erena Williams continued her recent domination of Australia, going 5-0 in her Hopman Cup matches (not counting the walkover win against Jelena Jankovic).  The U.S. team, consisting of Williams, Mardy Fish, and Meghan Shaughnessy (who played in Williams' place during the first match), won their fourth Hopman Cup in the last six years.
W...ild cards on both the ATP and WTA tours performed admirably this week, as Joseph Sirianni (Adelaide) and Marina Erakovic (Auckland) reached the semifinals of their respective tournaments.
O...n one hand, Rafael Nadal's gallant three hour and fifty-four minute semifinal win against good friend Carlos Moya (the longest three set match on the ATP Tour in 15 years) shows that he can play at an extremely high level on hard courts.  But he will still be questioned on his surface proficiency because of what happened in the subsequent final - he fell mightily to Mikhail Youzhny in 57 minutes by a 6-0, 6-1 score.
R...ussia's Fed Cup team is loaded from top to bottom, but the loss of Svetlana Kuznetsova will still be a blow to their chances to repeat.  Kuznetsova, the current world No. 2,  told team captain Shamil Tarpishchev that this year, she is skipping Fed Cup duty in order to better focus on catching Justine Henin as the world's No. 1.
L...leyton Hewitt has trademarked his oft-used celebration - it's called a "vicht" - and if you can believe it, there's a bit of history behind it as well.  On the court, Hewitt, ranked No. 1 in his hometown of Adelaide, lost in the quarterfinals to Jo-Wilfired Tsonga 6-4, 6-2.
D...oping charges against Martina Hingis have been confirmed by the ITF, who handed a two-year ban to the now-retired Swiss.

McGrogan's Heroes

ATP - All three of the men's champions this week had fine credentials, so it was a very tough call in deciding who wins this week's award.  But in the end, I'm going with Michael Llodra.  But before I get into why, can you believe that Llodra is only 27?  I was going to say that "I'm going with the veteran Michael Llodra" (forget that 27 is old in tennis years for a second), because I could have sworn he was in his early to mid-30s.  Must be something in that Perrier.

The distinction between singles and doubles has become a very divisive issue.  Fans and the media tend to gravitate exclusively towards one or the other (mostly singles), organizations disagree on how each should be promoted (see the ATP doubles lawsuit a few years ago), and players rarely play in both draws.  It's not a stretch to say that the overwhelming majority of tennis professionals are either "singles players" or "doubles players".  So, when a predominantly doubles-aligned player makes a splash in a singles bracket, I take notice.  And that's what Llodra did this week.

Llodra won his second career singles title in Adelaide this week, his first since June of 2004 ('s-Hertogenbosch).  He did this by navigating through a hodgepodge of ATP pros that included Gilles Simon, Evgeny Korolev, Benjamin Becker, Joseph Sirianni, and Jarkko Nieminen.  Was it murderer's row?  Hardly.  But, Llodra's triumphed in an extremely efficient manner, winning all ten sets that he played.  When the going did get tough, Llodra came through - he played in four tense tiebreakers, and escaped each time unscathed.

This Adelaide trophy represents something very different from the three Grand Slam doubles titles that Llodra has won.  Singles prestige has come so rarely for Llodra, that it might be even more meaningful for him.

WTA - Last year, tennis fans were pretty stunned by how quickly Nicolas Kiefer resumed his winning ways after an extended absence from the ATP Tour due to injury.  By the end of 2007, Kiefer, who was out for over a year with wrist problems, had reached three semifinals - including one at AMS Madrid - and got his ranking back in the top 50.  It was a pretty impressive story, but Na Li is working on her own version, and she's off to an even better start.

Li hasn't played on the WTA Tour since June of 2007 - nearly six months ago she suffered a rub injury that has kept her sidelined.  This past week, she entered into the Gold Coast tournament with (probably) tempered expectations.  I'm quite sure that those were blown out of the water after what happened, as Li won the tournament, collecting $28,000 in prize money, valuable early season ranking points, and most importantly, confidence that her game hasn't deteriorated very much since her injury.

Drawn against No. 7 seed Sybille Bammer in the first round, Li needed three sets, but she advanced after winning the final set 6-4.  Her second round opponent, Aussie Monique Adamczak, proved to be less of a challenge, as Li downed her in straight sets.  But who would've guessed she would need only two sets to get by her quarterfinal opponent, top-seeded Nicole Vaidisova?   Li continued her torrid streak through the finals, beating fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder and Victoria Azarenka in her next two matches.

Li's last title came in 2004 (Guangzhou). Much like Michael Llodra, she ended a significant singles title drought this week.  She'll look to carry this momentum into the Australian Open, but there might be a setback already - Li just withdrew from this week's Sydney Invitational due to a right knee injury.

Tennis Theatre

This one's for the many ladies of TW.  It's not the 2004 Australian Open celebration (where shirts were not the only clothes cast off), but it's an entertaining one nonetheless.  Watch for the part when they get their trophies as well.

Next Week's Tournaments

Heineken Open (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Auckland, New Zealand)

• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket
• Website

Medibank International (ATP - Outdoor Hard - Sydney, Australia)

• Singles Bracket
• Doubles Bracket
• Website

Television Coverage:

- Thursday, 11:00 pm - 3:00 am (Tennis Channel, Semifinals, Live)
- Friday, 6:00 am - 10:00 am (Tennis Channel, Semifinals, Tape)
- Friday, 7:00 pm - 11:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Semifinals, Tape)
- Saturday, 3:30 am - 5:30 am (Tennis Channel, Finals, Live)
- Saturday, 8:00 am - 10:00 am (Tennis Channel, Finals, Tape)
- Saturday, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Finals, Tape)
- Saturday, 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Finals, Tape)

Medibank International (WTA - Outdoor Hard - Sydney, Australia)

• Singles & Doubles Brackets
• Website

Television Coverage:

- Wednesday, 1:30 am - 5:30 am (Tennis Channel, Quarterfinals, Live)
- Wednesday, 8:00 am - 12:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Quarterfinals, Tape)
- Wednesday, 5:00 pm - 9:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Quarterfinals, Tape)
- Wednesday, 9:00 pm - 1:00 am (Tennis Channel, Semifinals, Live)
- Thursday, 8:00 am - 12:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Semifinals, Tape)
- Thursday, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Semifinals, Tape)
- Friday, 3:30 am - 5:30 am (Tennis Channel, Final, Live)
- Friday, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Final, Tape)
- Friday, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm (Tennis Channel, Final, Tape)
- Friday, 11:00 pm - 1:00 am (Tennis Channel, Final, Tape)

Moorilla Hobart International (WTA - Outdoor Hard - Hobart, Australia)

• Singles & Doubles Brackets
• Website

Beyond the Bracket

If you were expecting a reception that resembles the "Opening Day" celebrations that baseball prides itself on when the new tennis year began last week, you needn't bother to have held your breath.  First off, the media coverage of tennis pales in comparison to Major League Baseball so badly that you'll be lucky if you see even a mention of a tennis result on television before the Australian Open starts.  But even more tellingly, tennis is short on the rituals and habits about which baseball fans so often wax poetic. But I can still fantasize about sports fans celebrating:

• The first Spring day that Dad and junior can exchange cross-court backhands (as opposed to playing catch)

• The first "thwop" of the ball hitting the strings (as opposed to the first crack of the ball on the bat)

• The taste of that first energy drink (as opposed to sunflower seeds and Cracker Jack)

You get the idea.  But in spite of this, tennis does need to be celebrated, even if it's only within its narrow but devoted fan base.  In my mind, there are three absolutely huge selling points for tennis, which I cite each time I have a serious discussion about the "validity" of the sport.  I love tennis for lots of reasons (including the Grand Slam structure, the varying styles of particular players, etc.), but these three elements are key to my mind:

1. There are no penalties.

Listen to any talk radio show after a game where a questionable call decided the outcome and that's all you're going to hear about - the call.  Any sport with referees can be impacted, which includes all of the "big four" sports in America, plus the biggest sport in the world, soccer.  To put it bluntly, entire games and even seasons are often determined by subjective calls that can swing a game in one direction very quickly.  In baseball, you have balls and strikes, probably the most obvious example.  But it's just as frequent in other sports.  Pass interference calls plague football; offsides calls are rampant in soccer; questionable fouls choke basketball games; and slight hooking penalties slight hockey.  It's enough to drive a fan mad - and it has done so - especially when you see the hundreds of replays that show an error in the call after the fact.

In tennis, this problem has been largely corrected with the Hawkeye system.  In addition, the calls that have to be made in tennis are very definitive - was the ball in, or out?  Instead of: "did he impede the player's ability to get both feet inbounds before he was pushed out of bounds, and, did he have control of the ball when falling out of bounds?"  As much as I love to watch football, it's weird that a game that is so brutal and at times violent is often decided by petty and insignificant acts that draw penalties

Tennis isn't like that.  And thankfully, it's a game played around the world that isn't riddled with players writhing in pain on the ground, awaiting a penalty kick call to be made.  In or out - that's what it comes down to, and all it comes down to, in tennis.

2. There are no teams.

I have nothing against supporting teams - in fact, I love that sports can galvanize entire cities with a sense of community.  But there's a big reason why teams can also undermine the sport as a whole, and I'm sure you'll be shocked at the answer: money.

See, to field a team, you need to assemble players.  To do this, you need to sign players to contracts.  And while there are salary caps in place in many professional sports leagues, the individual contracts themselves are rarely capped.  This leads to players:

• Holding out because they want a new deal.
• Playing hard in a "contract year" and slacking off in other years.
• Not playing with a great sense of urgency in some cases.

I make the last point because contracts in sports are guaranteed, so no matter what the results are on the field, you still walk away with the same pay.  In tennis, that isn't the case - you have to earn every dollar that you make from the sport, so what you put into the game equates to what you get out of it.

Another thing to consider is that since tennis tournaments use a single-elimination structure there's pressure to do your best every time you step on the court.  Thankfully, the idiotic round-robin template has been scrapped, or I wouldn't have been able to use this piece of evidence.

3. You can always play the game.

Tennis is a great game to follow because you can be a player as well as a fan. The equipment consists of a racquet and a couple of balls - you don't need hundreds of dollars worth of stuff.  The game is played on courts that are widely available and mostly free for public use - there's no need to worry about booking expensive ice time, court time, or greens fees.  Also, you only need two players to play, instead of the large numbers that are required for sports like baseball and football.  Finally, consider the window of opportunity you have to play the sport.  I can play tennis now (at 24), but I'll also be able to play 20 years from now, with my 14 year old son (no, there's no secret love child, promise! It's all theoretical), and then again twenty years later, at 64, with a nice "senior double group" (because my kid won't hit with me anymore).

Watching a sport on television is much more enjoyable if you can actually experience it yourself.  And to sum this up, I want to point out an excerpt from a page (135) that I have dog-eared from The Courts of Babylon, Pete's 1995 book:

"But tennis is different.  As the USTA claimed in a recent recruiting campaign, tennis is a sport for a lifetime, and it's also one in which men and women can participate together.  Tennis is more like running than any contact sport, and it doesn't present the logistical problems of securing a large field and teams of players.  Sure, your skill level will be a lot lower than that of the pros, but your entertainment quotient may be higher.  And playing the game really enhances your appreciation as a spectator."

If...

You were offered a ticket to see any matches you wanted, in person, at a Grand Slam tournament, do you take the first week, or the second week?