by Pete Bodo
Mornin'. I took a quick look at the comments yesterday, and feel obliged to point out to all those ROTs (Rapid Offense Takers, among whom tennis fans besotted with particular players comprise a healthy segment) that I did, in fact, write about the Rome men's final. It was posted as a Racquet Reaction piece.
Also, a belated hat tip to the comment poster who, in a one-line post a few days ago, simply told me never again to use "crossed swords" to describe a pairing, meeting or match between two players. I had to laugh out loud when I read that because it was so blunt and so. . . right. I was busted; I never mind getting busted, which probably goes back to my somewhat misspent youth.
That crossed swords thing is a terrible, nay, grotestque cliché. I prefer to think of my having resorted to it a few times as a nice confirmation of my human frailty—not that that's ever been in doubt. But hey, you try coming up with a decent synonym for met, played, battled, etc., etc., day after stinking day. But, OK—no excuses and whoever you are, next drink is on me.
Now let's move on to our coliseum-worthy exercise of acknowledging those who made these last two Masters/Premier events noteworthy, one way or another.
!Up Novak Djokovic: Even if you were one completely smitten Djokovic fan going into the Euroclay season, it's hard to imagine that you expected, or even hoped, that he would come up so freaking big over the past month.
Admit it, you would have been delighted if he salted away that Serbian Open title (thereby extending his winning streak) and settled for, say, a split of the Madrid and Rome titles with Rafael Nadal. I can't imagine many people believe Djokovic would extend his winning streak to the very cusp of the French Open, and that's no criticism of him; its just. . . realism. Or a realistic reaction to the world as we knew it. But it's a different world now. As we've seen time and again, shattering assumed or perceived reality is a critical component in why we play or watch sports. All I can say of Djokovic is, "amazing."
!Up Maria Sharapova: I wanted to get her right up here by Djokovic because her win in Rome represented a similar if lesser assault on the conventional wisdom. Had someone asked you, two weeks ago, where Sharapova would win her next tournament, I can't imagine many of you would have cried out, "Duh! Rome, of course. . ."
Stanford, maybe. Or Toronto. But Rome? Home of the endless rally and the moonball? Fat chance. Yet Sharapova did it. She overcame her almost painful-to-watch service struggles and rode her bold, placement-seeking, risky groundstrokes to a great win that's sure to leave her free to play relaxed tennis when Roland Garros gets underway.
!Down Tomas Berdych: Seeded No. 7 in both Masters events, Berdych lost in Madrid to unseeded Thomaz Bellucci. Sure, Bellucci is lavishly talented, but he's also terribly soft; Berdych enabled his career run, and the Brazilian was taken down in the first round the very next week by qualifier Paolo Lorenzi.
Meanwhile, in the Eternal City, Berdych stumbled against Richard Gasquet. Sure, Gasquet took out Roger Federer. But he's still lavishly talented but terribly soft Reeshard. To be upset by a pair of gifted players whose main shortcoming has been a lack of grit and consistency is inexcusable for a player of Berdych's status.
!Up Petra Kvitova: Her win in Madrid was as unexpected as Sharapova's in Rome. I wrote about her at some length yesterday on the home page, so click on the link if you want more background or analysis. For now, let's just say that it's great to see a woman who cracks a huge lefty serve and has no fear of attacking the net do so well on clay. And it bears repeating that her decision to go and play the ITF event in Prague despite her suddenly blue-chip status was a really classy move.
!Up Li Na: At the start of the year, she captivated us all with her charm and inspired sprint to the Australian Open final. Just weeks later, it seemed, she was talking about calling it quits for good, her frustration and lack of confidence evident in four straight first-round losses. Call it an emotional hangover, with the accompanying fatigue. But somehow, Li found her motivation again and clawed her way to the semis in the two recent Premier Mandatory events. Nice to see her back.
!Down A Certain Swiss Player Who Shall Remain Unnamed Out of Sheer Respect for his Multitude of Dazzling and Historic Accomplishments: ' nuf said. Still, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. That's how it is in tennis (and sorry for the "sword" metaphor).
!UpBethanie Mattek-Sands: Who would have thought that the American to come out of these two events looking best would be Mattek-Sands? Well, a few of us. In an era when U.S. players of either sex show a disappointing and increasing lack of success (and, as an outgrowth, interest) in clay-court tennis in general, Mattek-Sands stands out as an exception. But then, there's something about the demands of clay-court tennis, and the emphasis it puts on being game and ready for a fight, that makes it ideal for a tough little customer like Bethanie. She made the quarters in Madrid (her best result thus far in a Premier Mandatory) and beat Flavia Pennetta in front of her home crowd in Rome.
!Down Caroline Wozniacki: When you're the No. 1 player in the world but haven't won a Grand Slam title, you'd better be winning everything else, or at least come awfully close. Wozniacki fulfilled that mandate in the early part of this year, which is why it seemed unfair to keep hounding her on that "Slamless No. 1" issue. But after looking impressive in Charleston (the first clay event of the Spring), Wozniacki ran off the rails with back-to-back losses to Germany's Julia Goerges (in Stuttgart and Madrid, the latter a bye-aided third-rounder) and then to Sharapova in Rome—even though the Dane's game and skill set ought to pose enormous problems for that player. Wozniacki, the top seed in both tournaments, didn't make the final in either.
!Down Andy Roddick: Alright. We know Andy isn't all that keen on the clay season. We know he's struggling to keep up his admirable record of consistency despite the rotten luck of having Roger Federer as a career obstacle. And we know his ranking is falling and he really needs to pick his spots.
Still, it would be nice to see all that nuance, color and variety Roddick added to his game over the years on display on clay—a surface on which Roddick did well early in his pro career. Although Mardy Fish is ranked and seeded ahead of Roddick, Fish at least picked up a pair of singles wins in Rome, one of them a good one over Ivan Ljubicic. Roddick, by contrast, lost to a qualifier in the first round of Madrid and to Gilles Simon (admittedly a tough out) in Rome. We expected more. Not much more, but more.
!Up Andy Murray: Considering how abysmally Murray played after his loss to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final, rays of hope are now emanating from his camp. He had a nice win over Simon in Madrid, and while he would lose to Bellucci in the next (third) round, the Brazilian was on what might be called a career run (he made it to the semis, where he lost to Djokovic).
Murray backed up that effort with a great performance in Rome, where he got himself opposite Djokovic in the semifinals and very nearly ended The Streak. Murray had ample chances to win that match, but came up just short, losing in a third-set tiebreaker—meaning he pushed Djokovic harder than anyone else had during the entire previous month, including world No. 1 Nadal. If this is some sort of renaissance, it isn't a moment too soon.