Kvitova’s Win Makes Her The One To Watch

Welcome to the big time Petra.

So… what do we make of the Wimbledon women’s final? Did Petra Kvitova put a fierce beat down on Maria Sharapova and introduce herself to the world as the new face in women’s tennis?

 

Or did Sharapova just blow it?

 

A little from column A, and a little from column B.

 

Kvitova was a force on the court this afternoon. The 21 year-old lefty from the Czech Republic looked like a seasoned veteran on the court as she dominated Sharapova with a flurry from start to finish.

 

She broke Sharapova’s serve five times and hit almost double the winners as Sharapova.  More than anything what was most impressive about Kvitova was her poise and resilience on the court.

 

Even with a skittish serve (Sharapova broke her three times… but we’ll get to her serve in a moment) Kvitova never let it affect her play. She came back and hit winner after winner and ran Sharapova around the court at times.

 

She overpowered Sharapova by turning defense into offense on the return end and by getting her first serve in at a more frequent rate than Sharapova. She seemed in complete control no matter the instance and limited her mistakes.

 

It was reminiscent of a performance from a young 17 year-old Russian who took down the world’s number one player Serena Williams in an impressive straight sets match and took the tennis world by storm.

 

The player of whom I speak is Maria Sharapova.

 

Sharapova's still got work to do to get back to the top.

After that 2004 performance Sharapova shot to stardom and became the fresh face in women’s tennis. Seven years later we might be seeing history repeat itself as this could be the start of something very special for Kvitova and finally women’s tennis could have a player to hang their hat on and carry the sport into the future.

 

Speaking of Sharapova…

 

As much as I love Maria and what she’s brought to the game as far as on the court and with her image I’m starting to get a same old story feel when it comes to her.

 

That same story is her up and down serve that has kept her in hot water and is costing her win after win. She had shoulder surgery almost three years ago that cost her appearances at the 08 U.S. Open and 09 Australian Open. Ever since she has returned her serve has killed her game.

 

In the last ten tournaments she’s only made it past the 4^th round three times (granted in the last two tournaments she’s made it to the Semi-finals and the Finals) and for the most part its been due to her lackluster serve.

 

Take today for example; she was broken 5 times out of nine by Kvitova, that was due to a first serve that she only won 58% of the time, which led to winning 27% of her second serve, which led to 6 double faults… now apply that to the last 2 ½ years and you see what her main issue is.

 

Sharapova has brought herself back to the top 5 thanks in part to her aggressive style of play and taking advantage of one of the weakest women’s fields in years. However, her serve and her unwillingness to pull back from that aggressive style in key moments is what is preventing her from climbing back to number 1 and from winning more majors than she should be winning.

 

With U.S. Open up next Sharapova should take the next few tournaments to work on her serve and figure out how to pull back on her play so we wont be sitting here again in August and going “here we go again.”

 

However, this is Petra Kvitova’s time to shine. Kvitova’s historic win comes at a time when women’s tennis needs a front runner and with her cool demeanor and style of play she might turn out to be the next in line to carry the torch.

 

As the holder of the main crown in the sport of tennis this might be the beginning of bigger things to come.

 

 

The Current State Of Women’s Tennis

Kim Clijsters face says it all about the state of women's tennis.

Quick, name me a viable contender for the women’s French Open title… give up? I don’t blame you because I can’t either.

The current number one is Caroline Wozniacki, who by the way has never won a grand slam championship, she lost yesterday. Number two is Kim Clijsters, who’s comeback story is one made for dreams, she lost yesterday. The Williams sisters are both absent due to injury, one-time wunderkind Ana Ivonavic and Dinara Safina are AWOL and Maria Sharapova is playing herself back into shape.

So what you’re left with is the possibility of Li Na, Victoria Azarenka or last year’s surprise winner Francesca Schiavone competing for the crown at Roland Garros.

Yep, this is the state of Women’s tennis.

This is reminiscent of the early 2000’s on the ATP tour when Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and the other greats of the previous generation were on the decline and we tried to buy into Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick and Marat Safin as the leaders of the new school. For three years until the emergence of Roger Federer, men’s tennis was a virtual crapshoot for number one and whoever got it didn’t do much with it.

Fast forward to 2011 and we’re at that same place in time with the women’s game.

Both Venus and Serena are declining in skill, Sharapova can’t stay healthy and Kim Clijsters has only proven to be a dominant hard court player and has been a non-factor elsewhere. There is not one big name in the sport that has, or can for that matter, take the game by the throat and make it their own in the way that Martina Hingis, the Williams Sisters, Steffi Graf or any of the other greats in the sports history.

In short, women’s tennis is falling into a state of mediocrity. After not even one full week at the French Open we’re witnessing it firsthand.

Wozniacki’s fall to one-time starlet Daniela Hantuchova is another setback in the talented yet frustrating career for Wozniacki. Right now she should have at least two slams under her belt, yet she doesn’t seem to have the same fight in her that other former number ones have had. Wozniacki just folds under pressure. Once the shots don’t fall her way her whole game falls apart. There’s no way that the number one player in the world should have only won 4 games against a player who has never made it past the fourth round of the French Open in her career.

Caroline Wozniacki looks the part of number one, but isn't playing it well.

Yet Wozniacki continues to disappoint. Fortunately or unfortunately, whatever your stance may be, she will still be number one for two more weeks because Clijsters lost earlier in the day to 20 year-old Arantxa Rus.

(Wait, 20 years old, two-handed power player, same first name as 90’s great Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario? I’m buying into her already. I need hope man, just saying.)

As much as I love Clijsters she just can’t get it done on any surface other than the hard-court. She made two French finals in 2001 and 03 and made the semis at Wimbledon, but hasn’t come near those performances in recent years. She’s a one surface player and that can only get you so far in the rankings at this point in her career.

Maybe I should buy into Vera Zvonereva, who’s never won a slam either, or Azarenka who is young and talented, but hasn’t made it past a quarterfinal of any slam, or maybe Schiavone, Sam Stosur or Na except all of them are pushing 30 and that’s where tennis players normally lose all of the points of their game.

By the way, those are your top 6 players in the world. Yikes.

The only player left in the French Open with any viable star power is Sharapova, and her career has been disappointing at best. Sure she’s won three Grand Slam events but you feel like she’s been more glamour than game. At age 24 she has more than enough time to attempt to regain the number one ranking like she has a few times in her career. However, she’s missed so much time due to injury that you wonder if her body can keep up with her over the next few years.

Unlike the men’s game from years ago I don’t think that the women’s game is becoming unwatchable. If Sharapova continues to win in France or Azarenka climbs closer to the championship match then maybe it will spark some interest for the game heading into Wimbledon.

That’s only hope right now though. The women’s game is suffering and if someone doesn’t step up quickly and take control of it then we’ll be sitting here waiting for the female Federer to come along. We all remember how long and painful that process was right?

Djokovic Becomes Elite

Roger Federer now had Novak Djokovic to worry about.

Remember when Novak Djokovic was fragile? He always had an ailment, always had an excuse?

He had all of the talent in the world to garner his top 5 ranking, but would never be great because homeboy was softer than yogurt?

He was a sideshow, he was fun for a few rounds, made us laugh at his Maria Sharapova impersonations and of other players, but we were never going to take him seriously.

Andy Roddick clowned him at the U.S. Open and made light of the injuries that always seemed to hamper him. “Isn’t it both of them? And a back and a hip?… And a cramp… Bird flu… Anthrax. SARS. Common cough and cold…” I mean Roddick is the last guy to talk about a player’s shortcomings, but he was right. Even when Djokovic whipped his tail and trashed him after the match I still couldn’t take him seriously.

To me Djokovic was going to be Michael Chang, the one-hit wonder that never matched his potential. Even if he did somehow finally reach his potential he was playing in the Nadal-Federer era with a hard charging Robin Soderling and about 75 other great Spanish players coming up. So Djokovic would eventually become an afterthought… then 2011 happened.

He’s only played in two tournaments this year, but has been absolutely dominant. He’s lost only one set (second round in Dubai) he’s beaten Federer twice, including the Dubai final, and man-handled Andy Murray to win the Australian Open.

Don't be surprised if he's number one, or close enough, by summer.

All of a sudden we have a third contender in the conversation of the best tennis player in the world and with Rafa out until the French Open Djokovic has a real shot at being the number one player in the world by the time May rolls around.

Shocked?…  yeah, me too.

What happened? According to Djokovic it’s all in his serve. He says that “Last year, the serve was not there and I was struggling a lot. I was using a lot of energy. Now I get to have some free points, which is important.” Free points means less time on the court, which may explain the fact that he hasn’t lost in 2011 yet. Less time banging around on the court means less wear and tear, and while Rafa struggles to stay healthy because of that scenario Djokovic is thriving.

Also you have to take into account his performance in Serbia’s Davis Cup title last November as maybe a turning point in his career where he came through in the clutch for his country. That was probably a sign to him that he could play up to his full potential and be dominant and it carried over into this season.

So is he really a threat? Besides dominating the first two tournaments of the year, being 6-0 versus the top 13 players in the world and the number one player is on the shelf the answer is yes. He’s pondering playing in the Davis cup opener next week and will definitely be at Indian Wells when the Masters 1000 opens up. He should certainly be considered a favorite in either event with the way he has played so far and in any even heading towards Roland Garros.

It’s a far cry of what we thought of Djokovic as early as last year. The 23 year-old is playing the best tennis of his career and is becoming a power player in the game just as most analysts expected. No more submissions due to injuries, or play time on the court. Djokovic is a serious contender and one of the game’s most dominant players right now. I don’t think Roddick or anyone will doubt his game anytime soon.

Wozniacki Shows How Tough She Is Down Under

Caroline Wozniacki is proving she's worthy of her number one ranking.

Say what you want about Caroline Wozniacki. That she shouldn’t be number one without a grand slam title, that she doesn’t hit the ball with as much force as she should or that she’s not ready to compete with the top tier of women’s tennis players. The fact of the matter is that Wozniacki is a tough competitor who is more than worthy of her number one ranking as evident by her tough three set win over Italy’s Francesca Schiavone on Tuesday 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

 

Schiavone, coming off of a 4 hour and 40 minute fourth round win against Svetlana Kuznetsova looked a lot fresher than the 20 year-old Dane who had blown by her first four opponents in a combined 5 hours and 30 minutes. Schiavone broke the world’s number one player twice in the first set and held a 3-1 in the second set and was set to cruise to a semifinals match.

 

Then Wozniacki woke up.

 

Wozniacki followed up with three second set breaks during a stretch where she took the last five games in the set and tied the match at one set apiece. She began to force Schiavone into bad shots with her finesse play and great passing shots as Schiavone finished with 46 unforced errors, 31 more than Wozniacki.

 

In the third set her serve finally came to life after being lackluster in the first two sets. Even though she was broken once in the set Wozniacki looked a lot more comfortable as she won more of her points than in the first two sets and Schiavone looked as if the amount of tennis that she had played in the last two days had finally begun taken its toll on her.

 

In the end Wozniacki’s grit and toughness paid off as she finished of her Italian counterpart by breaking her three more times in the set and ended the two and a half hour match in her favor.

 

After the match she greeted the media in boxing gloves and with a giant inflatable kangaroo in reference to a little white lie she told about how a fight with a kangaroo caused a cut on her shin.

 

This fight gave her more than just a great story.

 

The toughness she showed in battling back from the slow start should quiet a lot of the critics who complain that she isn’t worthy of the world’s top ranking.

 

Without a healthy Serena or Venus Williams and with a few players that haven’t lived up to their billing (hi Dinara Safina and Ana Ivonovic) the women’s circuit has been as topsy-turvy as the BCS rankings. No woman has stepped up to grab the number one spot for themselves and Wozniacki just so happened to be latest player to be in the right place at the right time.

 

To most spectators she’s a boring player with a boring game and personality that doesn’t offer the spark that women’s tennis needs.

 

However, ever since she touched down in Australia Wozniacki has been on a mission on or off of the court to change that perception.

 

She’s been more playful and open to reporters as seen with her tall kangaroo tale and had been dominant in the earlier rounds by not dropping a set.

 

Yet this win in this situation shows her worth as number one more than anything because she fell behind early but showed the heart of a champion in clawing back and eventually regaining her dominance in third.

 

It’s a match that she can use to build confidence off of for the rest of this tournament and down the road as she continues to defend her ranking when the Williams come back healthy and as Maria Sharapova, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters try to regain their championship form after long layoffs.

 

For now her main focus is on the semifinals and Li Na who is playing the best tennis of her career. After that a possible date in the finals against two-time slam champion Clijsters. None of this should faze Wozniacki who is starting to prove that she has the right to make a claim that she’s the best women’s tennis player right now and has the ability to go toe-to-toe with any competitor in women’s tennis.

 

She proved how much fight she has and she won’t back down from any competitor. That goes for tennis foes and kangaroos.

Rafa’s World

Welcome to a brand new day in men’s tennis. This is no longer Roger Federer’s game. His day has come and time has passed; now we’re living in Rafael Nadal’s universe.

Rafa is now tennis's main man.

With his win Sunday at Wimbledon, Nadal is now number one with a bullet. There’s not another player in the world that can touch him or his game. His dispatching of Tomas Berdych was officially the coronation of a new king in the game.

It wasn’t easy for Nadal by any means. After an early French Open exit last year to Robin Soderling and a knee injury that sidelined him for Wimbledon and hindered his U.S. Open performance there were concerns as to whether or not Rafa could return to the form that made him a former number one in the world. Boy has he answered those questions.

He has made the quarterfinals of every tournament this year winning five tournaments, two masters’ challenges and two grand slams including his Wimbledon triumph. He also regained his status as the number one player in the world leaving every competitor, including Federer, in the dust.

Now comes a new challenge for Nadal, can he become greater than Federer overall?

With the Wimbledon win Nadal sits at eight slams all-time, half of Federer’s record all time total and he got there almost a year earlier than Federer. We know that Nadal is a beast at the French Open, possibly the greatest clay court player ever (apologies to Bjorn Borg), and Nadal is mastering the grass court game. Yet the hard-court is where Nadal seems to struggle the most. Despite his 2009 Australian Open win, Nadal has made a total of 3 semifinal appearances in the hard-court slams (U.S and Aussie Open) and posts a sub 83% win percentage at both tournaments including a 75% clip at the U.S. Open. As he prepares to become the next in a short list of career grand slam champions his struggles on the hard-court must sit in the back of his head and are a glaring red mark on his otherwise stellar record.

However with the way that Nadal is currently playing it is not hard to imagine him taking Queens by storm next month and strolling away with his ninth slam setting his eyes squarely upon Federer’s freshly minted record. Who can stop him? Maybe Robin Soderling on his best day, maybe a rejuvenated Federer if he has some mastery left in his game, but as we saw in the last three matches at Wimbledon and all throughout the French Open, it will be hard for any man to come close to the level that Rafa’s is at right now. This is his game and his era that we are currently living in. “The King of Clay” is now just The King.

The Last Days Of Roger Federer

Roger Federer's legacy hangs in the balance.

Here’s what Roger Federer is facing in the next two weeks at the Wimbledon Lawn and Tennis club:

Immortality

He is a sixteen-time grand slam champion and one of only five men to complete the career slam of winning all four tournaments. I would list all of his accomplishments over the last seven years of his reign but I’m not prepared to write a novel yet. Federer without question was last decade’s grand champion. He was the most dominant athlete in the world, more than Lance Armstrong (its cycling… don’t get me started) and more than Tiger Woods.

The reason I have him ranked higher than Tiger is that Golf is such a fluky sport. Anyone can win any given week if one of the world’s best players has a bad round of golf.

Tennis is the ultimate singular sport. There’s no caddie to tell you what racket to use and you can’t call timeout to stop momentum—it is you and your opponent and nothing else, and for the last seven years no one has made his opponents look as novice as Roger Federer.

Federer’s greatness came at a time when tennis was in transition from the Sampras-Agassi era when it was at unparraled heights. For a good three year stretch everyone from Marat Safin, Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt attempted to gain control of the circuit but to no avail. Then when Federer won the first of his six Wimbledon titles in 2003 the sport had finally gained its new great one. It gained a player that toyed with his opponents and took advantage of their brute strength with his perfect precision and elegant play, his drop shots were like poetry, and his backhands were like ballet. He was Sampras 2.0 without any competition.

You know the number from his era: 23 straight semi final appearances, 22 grand slam finals matches, 62 tournament wins, 55 million in earnings, one gold medal. In the last seven years the only player that comes close to Federer is the man that has become the biggest thorn in his side, Rafael Nadal. Even in that regard Nadal has won 5 French Opens and hasn’t found the same success in other slams like Federer though he has won the Australian Open last year and Wimbledon in 2008.

Yet the only number that matters now to Federer is 7. 7 is the number that belongs to Pete Sampras. 7 being the number of Wimbledon titles that Sampras has won, the most all time in the sport’s version of the World Series. Though Sampras never won the career slam (failing to win the French Open) , with those seven Wimbledon Crowns he is still considered by some to be the best ever even though Federer has two more overall slam titles.

If Federer wins this tournament there will be no more debate, he will be the greatest to ever play the game. To match the immortal Sampras in titles in London and leave him in the rearview in overall Slam titles would give little doubt as to judge who the greatest ever is. It’s all that Federer has left to accomplish in his career, well that and gain one more week at number one to pass Sampras as the leader in that category (both men have been number one for 285 weeks).

So as yesterday’s match began you understand what Federer was up against, history and that’s it. He’s beaten everyone from this era time and time again and had nothing to gain; this is all that’s left. Afterwards he can ride into the sunset and hear those stories that we love to hear about who win in a winner take all match between him, Bjorn Borg and Sampras.

Then as the match with Columbian Alejandro Palla began to unfold I began to realize something else about Federer. He isn’t just facing the Legend of Pistol Pete; Roger Federer is now in a battle with something greater than immortality and something that he has been dodging at a great rate for longer than the average tennis player…

The end of his run

His struggles against Alejando Falla might be a sign of things to come.

Roger Federer will be 29 when the U.S. Open starts in two months. For you and I that’s still the beginning stages of adulthood where we are either having kids or deciding when to have them. It’s a time where it’s still ok to go out and get wasted and pass out on your couch at 3am (if you’re single of course). However in tennis years 29 is like a mid-thirties shooting guard in the NBA (a-hem Ray Allen). You’re either breaking down, on your way out or have cashed out with no return.

Granted guys like Jimmy Connors and Sampras have won titles at older ages, Sampras won his last Wimbledon title at 29 coincidentally, but by the time they hit those ages they weren’t the dominant forces on the court that they once were.

Many have tried to predict the end of Federer’s run as early as 2008 when it seemed the Rafa had caught and passed him by defeating Federer at the French and Wimbledon. Many said that it would be a matter of time before Federer finally succumbs to father time and lose his form, yet since those predictions Federer has won each Grand Slam event and regained number one in the world including this year’s Aussie Open.

Yet the signs are there, his play this year has been less than stellar. The Aussie Open is his only title this year. He’s lost in the fourth round or earlier in three tournaments including a second round ousting in Italy this year. He ranks 26^th on the tour in first serve points won and 46^th in converted break points. Plus the simple fact that he doesn’t dominate opponents like he used to; he’s 27-8 this year already passing his total for losses in 2007 when he won 3 slams and 7 titles total. He’s four losses away from match his total from last year as well.

Then there is his on court performance. Look at the Palla match. Federer had his serve broken twice in the first two sets by the inferior Palla. He looked shaky for the first four sets as Palla had several opportunities to serve for the match but faltered. Eventually Federer did pull it together for a fifth set spanking, but the first four sets were more than enough proof that Federer’s dominant reign may finally be at an end.

That makes this quest for Wimbledon immortality even more important—this very well could be Federer’s last chance to gain Wimbledon gold ever. At the rate that he’s at Federer would slip in the rankings and by next year be in the mid to late top ten, possibly drawing a tougher opponent at an earlier time. With a returning Juan Martin Del Potro and a plethora of emerging talent we may be seeing Federer make early exits from Wimbledon and other events sooner and more often.

Also with the way that Rafa has been playing since his knee injury, Federer would stand no shot against him in a final matchup if it were too take place. Right now it’s not farfetched to say that Rafa is the best player in the game and that the game could very well be in his hands. (Also Nadal does have 7 slams, 9 behind Federer. If he wins Wimbledon then he’s only half way to Federer’s 16 at age 24. Just some food for thought).

So over the next two weeks keep these things in mind as you watch Federer. Understand his quest to best Sampras once and for all in all categories. Watch him still perform beautiful passes and drop shots on unsuspecting opponents as he marches to immortality. Yet don’t be surprised if he gets bounced earlier than expected.  It happens to every great player, eventually the wear and tear catches up to you and there’s nothing you can do about it. Federer has dazzled us with his brilliance for years, but like all good things, it has to end. As a fan I just hope he can hold it off for thirteen days and gain one last piece of hardware before it’s all over.