Mornin', everyone. It's funny, I wrote last night that Juan Martin del Potro was on track to meet a seemingly rejuvenated Andy Roddick in Tokyo, and right before I shut down I saw that Venus Williams had taken out Dinara Safina in Stuttgart. I was planning to write a few thoughts about Venus today, but they were of the kind that would look a little unrealistic since Venus was taken out in Stuttgart by Jelena Jankovic.
Meawhile, Roddick let a big lead slip away against Tomas Berdych in Tokyo, setting up a del Potro vs. Berdych final (and it will be Jankovic vs. Nadia Petrova in Stuttgart). In addition, Serena Williams pulled out of the Stuttgart doubles (she was partnered with Venus) and also withdrew from the upcoming Kremlin Cup (with an ankle injury). I think that about kills Serena's chances to bag the year-end no. 1 title, healthy or not. And I have to wonder now if she'll even bother to make the trip to Doha.
This was a tough one-two-three punch for American tennis, although I imagine the people in Argentina, Serbia, and the Czech Republic aren't overly stressed by that. The expression that comes to mind mulling over all this is "changing of the guard." Granted, Roddick had the match on his racket, and as we all know bad things happen to good tennis players (see "C" for Coria) - and pretty often at that. Usually, they rebound. But after a great start this year, Roddick has wandered off his established and well-worn path. He could still rescue his year, but letting one slip away the way he did yesterday really hurts his cause. Nothing sets the smoke detector beeping like erratic behavior; it's just as true of top tennis players as struggling teen-agers.
The Williams sisters likewise have become erratic - perhaps more erratic than any blue-chip champions in recent memory. In Venus,Serena, and Andy, we seem to have a case of three great players who are, at some emotional or mental level, tired. Each of them could have been expected to make a big, year-end push, but it isn't at all certain that any of them is in the right frame of mind, or game, to finish strong. Of the three, I think Roddick's loss was the least resonant, but then his year in general hasn't been as good as Venus or Serena's, so he had even more to gain.
There's a huge, additional factor in this discussion: the emergence of a new wave of talented players salivating over the chance to exploit any chink in the old guard's armor. Venus dispatched one of them two days ago, but fell to another, more dangerous one yesterday.
