Is a loss the best thing to motivate the former champ?

	During the past 48 months, Serena Williams has looked little like the player who won Australian Open titles in 2003 and '05. AP
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We lead off with a multiple-choice quiz from Jamie Prenkert of Bloomington, Ind.:

Which of the following would be (or would have been) the result most likely to light a fire under Serena Williams and to make her recommit to the game, especially to getting fully match fit?

A) An early-round loss to a player ranked outside the top 100.

B) A straight sets loss in the third round to Nadia Petrova, in which Petrova simply blows her off the court.

C) A three-set loss in the third round to Petrova, in which an exhausted Serena finally gives in at 10-8 in the final set.

D) A valiant (but not-quite-there) effort, losing in the semis or final.

Nice question. I'll go with choice C. A humiliating loss (say, to Sybille Bammer) and I fear Serena couldn't handle the humiliation and would simply retire. On the other hand, Serena came back after a layoff several years ago in Miami and breezed to the title. It was the worst thing that could have happened to her. Whether she admitted it publicly or not, she had to be thinking, "Jeez, I can do this tennis thing part-time and still rule the kingdom."

Take a look at Serena's loss to Amelie Mauresmo at the 2006 U.S. Open. She's clearly in, um, sub-optimal physical shape. She hasn't had much match play all year. Yet she takes a set -- a bagel at that -- off the No. 1 player and Wimbledon champ. To me that's the "perfect loss." She tastes defeat and is given a reminder that the field has passed her by. At the same time, she ought to have come away thinking she ain't that far from the top. A little more fitness work and rust-removal and she's right there.

Quick story to pass on. I did an interview recently for a Dublin radio station and was, asked, "How big a movie star is Serena in the States?" I'm thinking, "Um, I think she had a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo on ER. Oh wait, she was on Law & Order once, too. It occurred to me then how sad this is. If Serena were forsaking her abundant tennis gifts and was Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Hudson, it would be one thing. But I have visions of her telling her grandkids, "I could have been in the Navratilova-Graf-Evert tier but I got the Hollywood bug and no one set me straight."

For those who question the fitness of athletes who compete in sweltering conditions, try it, see how you hold up to 100-plus conditions. As a junior, I had to retire in a match I was winning [because of] 100-plus heat. I had played a three-set match that morning and had an unfortunate 1 p.m. start time for the second match. I was 16 and in good shape; I cannot imagine playing five consecutive sets in the Australian heat. Dehydration becomes almost inevitable, and the health risks often put even the winner out of contention for the next match.
-- Bill, Tampa, Fla.

I realize I am obsessed by this, but I still ask why -- at a time when tennis has never been more grueling and demanding, when players routinely miss chunks of the season with injuries -- we insist on best-of-five matches in the early rounds. Seems to me the "drama" of Lleyton Hewitt storming back to beat Mike Russell is an awfully steep price to pay for all the collateral damage. In intense heat, there's a big difference between playing for 90 minutes versus three hours. Tennis has a real "physical breakdown" problem. Be nice if the suits (who make more money than all but the top players) could take a few steps to address the issue. By the way, here's a doctor's take:

As a physician, I have to tell you that James Blake is absolutely right. We have seen fit, healthy folks come in with heat stroke, kidney failure just by exercising in the heat. If one tennis player collapses and dies because of heat, that is one too many. Just like the fact that you might slip and fall and hurt yourself in the rain and therefore players are called off -- the same should be with extreme heat -- avoid injury. This has nothing to do with how fit the player is.
-- Anita, St. Louis

Thanks, Anita.

Miscellany

• Anyone else hear Pete Sampras' interview on ESPN Wednesday night? (Maybe one of you young bucks can post a YouTube link.) That's a lot of grace right there.

• More on Sampras-Federer.

• The International Tennis Hall of Fame has announced that Sampras, winner of a record 14 Grand Slam singles championships, and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, three-time French Open singles champion and the first Spanish woman to capture the U.S. Open, have been elected to the Hall of Fame. Joining them with induction honors are Sweden's first Grand Slam title winner Sven Davidson, and the "dean" of tennis photography, Russ Adams.

• Kevin Fung of Toronto writes: "Tennis blogger Jason Tsang gives another insightful entry about the Hawk-eye system usage at the Australian Open."