This year, tennis’ sand swing comes with a news angle. The men and women are stopping in the United Arab Emirates just as the country has made a rare appearance on the U.S.’ political radar. But the tennis world has known for years what the ports of America are finding out now: Dubai means business.
The Islamic oil kingdom has used professional sports as part of a gargantuan effort to build its tourism industry and improve its image in the West. Tiger Woods won the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this month; the Dubai World Cup is the most lucrative horse race on earth; and last year the city’s men’s tennis event produced a photo-op seen around the world when Andre Agassi and Roger Federer hit on a helipad (they sent Woods up there to tee off this year). In the process, the UAE has made itself two famous fans. Federer has claimed the area as a favorite vacation spot, and Agassi, who’s playing in the UAE this week rather than in a new tournament in his hometown of Las Vegas, says of Dubai, “To see what they’ve built here is really a reflection of a lot of vision, a lot of passion, not to mention the cultures that live peacefully together. It’s the way the world is meant to be.” Not bad for a country with no right to vote or unionize, and a track record on foreign-worker treatment that’s been criticized by the U.S. State Department.
Last week it was the women’s turn to show off the Western-style delights of Dubai. This year’s photo-op featured Lindsay Davenport and Maria Sharapova rallying on a court surrounded by manufactured snow at a UAE ski resort. They weren’t the only top women with a newfound love of Middle Eastern money. The quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open featured five former No. 1 players—Martina Hingis, Amelie Mauresmo, Justine Henin-Hardenne, along with Davenport and Sharapova.
While Henin-Hardenne walked away with the winner’s trophy (her third in Dubai), Sharapova, the runner-up, was almost as impressive. In the quarters, she avenged her loss to Hingis from a few weeks ago. This time Sharapova controlled the rallies and took proper advantage of Hingis’ serve, which looked particularly weak throughout. Hingis did have one nice moment, though. In the final game, Sharapova blew two match points, the second one with an ugly forehand into the net after a long rally. As Sharapova shrieked, the camera flashed to Hingis smiling and holding a ball at her throat in what looked like the “choke” sign.
Sharapova went on to play a very good match against Davenport in the semis, winning in three. The Russian’s serve was the difference, but she also set up points with more patience than usual and used the whole court to get Davenport on the move. That solid play carried over into the first set of the final. She went up 5-3 with a series of ground stroke winners and showed surprising touch with her backhand drop shot. One of them shocked Henin-Hardenne so much she lost the grip on her racquet.
At that point, Henin-Hardenne kicked into a gear that Sharapova couldn’t match, winning nine of the next 11 games and the championship. But the teenager has a right to be encouraged. There’s been a lot of talk lately about the limitations of her game, and that she could be a one-Slam wonder. While she has her flaws—she hits with too little margin, her forehand can break down when she’s pressed, and she’s doesn’t move as well as the other top players on defense—Sharapova will always have her serve, her mental strength, and a desire to improve. I hadn’t seen her hit drop shots that confidently before. And, as she’ll be the first to say, she’s still only 18.
If any player can highlight the limitations of Sharapova’s game, it’s Henin-Hardenne. At least eight inches shorter, she moves much more fluidly, right down to the way she puts her feet on the court, and on Saturday her forehand looked more lethally compact than ever. She consistently took Sharapova’s favorite serve, the bender up the middle, and tomahawked it back with little backswing from head height. And when Sharapova put up a floater, Henin-Hardenne could take it out of the air from three-quarters court for a swinging volley winner, a shot that I’ve only seen Federer pull off consistently.
Henin-Hardenne’s performance won’t be enough to make fans forget her hasty retirement from the final of the Australian Open. Much of the criticism of her Down Under revolved around how selfishly she acted afterward, never mentioning her opponent, Mauresmo. But watching how intensely inward-directed Henin-Hardenne was during her matches in Dubai made me think that her selfishness off the court is an unfortunate byproduct of the extreme focus she maintains on it. In the end, it was just good to watch her play, not quit.
The men were in less controversial spots this weekend: Memphis, where Tommy Haas continued his resurgence with his second tournament win of the year, and Rotterdam, a once-legendary port itself which will now go down in history as the site of Radek Stepanek’s first ATP title.
To my knowledge, Stepanek is not a particular fan favorite. He should be. The all-court variety, the textbook serve, the tucked-in shirt, the Lendl-lookalike face, the worm-dance victory celebration—what’s not to love? He had it all going on Sunday against Christophe Rochus, especially the serve. Stepanek hit 17 aces in eight service games, a run that included two straight four-ace games, something I’d never seen before. He won 18 straight points on his serve at one stage and ended up demolishing Rochus 6-0, 6-3. It was a nice reward for this hard-working and sportsmanlike pro/geek.
What made it even better was hearing the tournament called by Joel Drucker, a TENNIS Magazine contributor and author of “Jimmy Connors Saved My Life,” a must-read for any devotee of 1970s and 80s tennis. Drucker may have made a tennis-commentating breakthrough of his own when he wondered at one point whether Stepanek had the “stones” to keep coming to the net. Now that’s taking tennis out of the country club.