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Near the top Dokic's path to stardom is chock full of obstaclesPosted: Monday August 19, 2002 12:45 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions every Monday. Click here to send a question. The second annual Player of the Week award goes to James Blake, who won his first ATP title in Washington, D.C. After waxing Andre Agassi in the semis, Blake beat Paradorn Srichaphan in the final. Given his athleticism, his fitness level and his radically improved backhand (and, of course, the various corrupt foot-fault judges with whom he shares "similarities"), you have to think he could do some serious damage next week. ... Runner-up goes to Amélie Mauresmo, who beat Jennifer Capriati to win in Montreal. Second runner-up: Greg Rusedski, who outlasted the resurgent Felix Mantilla in the Indianapolis final. ... The struggles of Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario continue. First, she got drilled by American Laura Granville (a player to watch, by the way) in the first round of Montreal. Then she lost a rare Sunday match in New Haven to Iroda Tulyaganova. ... Speaking of Tulyaganova, she will play doubles at the Open with Martina Navratilova. ... Weird stat of the week: Three of the last four events Capriati has won are Grand Slams. ... Alexander Popp may have lost his second-round match in Indianapolis to up-and-coming Dutchman Martin Verkerk. But the Poppster won a $10,000 watch in the players' drawing. And you though the St. Elmo's steaks were the reason the players love Indianapolis more than any other event on tour. ... Lleyton Hewitt is still enraged at the ATP. In addition to appealing his fine, he is considering taking legal action against the tour, which he described last week as a badly run "circus." On the plus side, he made said remarks to a reporter from a Sydney paper, so at least, presumably, he gave an interview. ... Little help, please: Patrick Mazurkiewicz of Bayonne, N.J., writes, " Could you please e-mail me back if you have any clue as to where I can get the book Marcelo Rios: The Pain and the Glory. I am a huge Rios fan and cannot find this recently published book anywhere." Any of you know anything about this? ... The U.S. Open women's wild cards went to: former champion Martina Hingis (Switzerland), Corina Morariu (Boca Raton, Fla.), Mashona Washington (Houston) and a group of five young Americans -- Ally Baker (Raleigh, N.C.), Bea Bielik (Valley Stream, N.Y.), Ashley Harkleroad (Aventura, Fla.), Alexandra Podkolzina (Concord, Calif.) and Sarah Taylor (Bradenton, Fla.) No dice, Maria Sharapova. Otherwise, no glaring omissions. ... Tennis junkies, meet your match. Ezra Kucharz, USTA Managing Director for Advanced Media, helms the IT responsibilities at this month's U.S. Open, a position that will see him track over 100,000 total points played. During the two-week tournament, he and his team of approximately 30 take up residence deep inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, where they take advantage of hardware and software systems developed by IBM to track, process and deliver millions of pages of content to usopen.org, TV crews and the U.S. Open intranet. ... Tennis feud of the week: Jelena Dokic and Chanda Rubin. At Manhattan Beach two weekends ago, eventual champion Rubin beat Dokic in the semis in roughly the time it took you to read this sentence. Rubin alleged that Dokic "semi-tanked" and suggested the 19-year-old didn't want to "accept the challenge on this particular day." The remark didn't sit well with Dokic, who is currently ranked a career-high fifth in the world. "That's her opinion," she said of Rubin. "She knows better. She's lost to me before, so she knows how I can play. Maybe that's why she said it. But I was a bit sick. I had a flu and I'd played a lot of tennis the week before. I wasn't in good enough condition to play." ... Arthur Ashe Kids Day on Saturday will include Vanessa Carlton, Mario, BBMak, Agassi, Summer Sanders, Sarah Hughes, Serena Williams, Quddus and Andy Roddick. Free admission to anyone familiar with more than five of the preceding names. ... Check back later in the week for U.S. Open seed reports. As BBMak, Quddus and Mario might say: "On to the questions ..." When I watched the Acura final I couldn't help notice how much the commentators went on about how Jelena Dokic will develop into a great player. Isn't that a little farfetched? I mean, Dokic reminds me most of a Jim Courier -- powerful, tenacious and with great willpower, but can only do damage when the big talents are either absent or faltering. Do you see Dokic as a real Slam contender? Personally, I think a ranking of 7 or 8 is a pretty accurate reflection of where she belongs.
Dokic is a curious case. Like you, I don't get heart palpitations watching her game. She hits plenty hard but she's fairly one-dimensional. On the other hand, when the pilot light is on, she is a great fighter. Also, she has a competitive flame and a "nasty quotient" that other players on her level (Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva, Mauresmo) lack. Questions of professionalism also abound. First, Dokic plays entirely too often -- 20 events already this year -- which invites injury as well as burnout. Even before this dustup against Rubin, she had a reputation for tanking, or at least for giving a half-hearted effort and then attributing it to a nagging this or that. An awful lot of dissonance also is going on. A report last week suggested that Dokic was pondering a move to the U.K. If so, that would be her fourth country (Yugoslavia, Australia, U.S.) in about 24 months. Her coaching situation is forever in flux; she is currently suing Octagon and is without an agent; and, of course, there is the Damir factor. Put it all together and you don't exactly get a blueprint for success. Why doesn't the WTA Tour have Masters Series-like events where all of the top players are automatically included in the draw? That way the Williams sisters would play tournaments together other than just the Grand Slams. Wouldn't it benefit the tour to have some events where all of the top players are required to be there?
You find the sponsor and I'm sure the tour would jump on it. Though, you are correct, there is no Masters Series that necessarily counts toward player rankings, there are so-called Tier I events (Montreal is one of them) that guarantee most of the top 10 and dangle more rankings points and kiz-ash (as Mario would say) than run-of-the-mill events. The NBA has joined the NFL and approved the use of video-replay technology to allow officials to reverse an incorrect call. Do you see a day when this could be workable in pro tennis? It's frustrating sometimes to be watching a match at home and see quite clearly that a player has been cheated out of a point. But is there any way to do it without disrupting the flow of the game?
It's a good idea in theory but not in practice. Even if video replay could be administered in a way that didn't greatly disrupt the flow of a match, there's the matter of expense. At the U.S. Open, it's not a problem; but are the two tours and/or the tournament directors of Memphis, Sopot, Gold Coast, etc., prepared to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for this technology? No way. Also, if you have video replays at tournament X, you'd better have it at tournament Y. And if you have it on Center Court, you'd better have it on Court 17. The solution? We'll say it again: Let the players call their own lines, with a chair umpire who would handle appeals. It adds yet another human element to the sport. (Who are the "hooks"? Who calls a loose line?) It would cut down on expenses. And we already know that it works OK in college tennis. It seems no one cares to give props to Ai Sugiyama. In the past few of weeks she's beaten Lisa Raymond, Elena Dementieva, Daniela Hantuchova and, most impressive, Jennifer Capriati. Plus, she's racked up a number of doubles wins. My love Ai has been on the tour for a number of years now, offering up random surprises and some disappointment, but has something changed recently that I should be getting excited about? Have these past two weeks been a touch of luck for Japan's No. 1, or can I expect some improved play from my girl in the future?
Ai, Ai. Props are indeed in order for Sugiyama Mama, who is suddenly in the top 20 again after a few years of flagging results. I'm not sure she's doing much differently. I caught a few games of her match against Raymond recently. It was vintage Sugiyama -- if there is such a thing -- steady baseline play, lots of hustle and speed, and some nifty passes. Sugiyama lacks the weapon to be a real threat, but she is capable of pulling off the upset, as she has these past few weeks. Nice to have her back and playing well. (She also, we should note, reached the Montreal doubles final with Rika Fujiwara, losing to Paola Suarez and Virginia Ruano Pascal.) By the way, if you ever get a chance, listen to one of Sugiyama's opponents in her postmatch interview. It's tennis' answer to Who's on First? After beating Sugiyama at Wimbledon, Monica Seles said something to the effect of: "The match started great for me but then Ai started playing better. In the second set, Ai was very strong. Then I found a rhythm and Ai made some errors which is why I was able to win." Along with the rest of your defense of Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, isn't it worth mentioning that she's actually a pretty serious power in doubles? If Pam Shriver can make the Hall of Fame on that merit, isn't doubles play enough to at least keep people from saying ASV needs to retire? And would it be too mean to suggest a pairing of Sanchez-Vicario and Anna Kournikova, both better doubles performers than singles performers of late, to play under the nickname "Has-Been and Never-Was?"
In reverse order, the answers are yes, yes and yes. ASV is still a good doubles player. If she's content losing early and often in singles and enjoying sporadic success in doubles, we should leave her be. A quick note about Anna, since a few of you asked: No question she is playing better of late and that her marriage to coach Harold Solomon is a good one. Her comeback isn't "a total joke," as one of you surmised. Still, she lacks the fundamental consistency to return to the top. If a player like Ruano Pascal can expose as much, Lord knows dozens of others can. Can you give us a list of other players to watch at the U.S. Open? Not Venus, Serena, Andre, etc. I mean up-and-coming stars or fun-to-watch players under the radar.
Off the top of my head and in no order 1. Dinara Safina
The imprisonment of former Rep. James Traficant compelled me to write you, the top-five-list oracle. Who have the five best hairdos on tour? Feel free to make it as inclusive or exclusive as you wish -- present, past, female, male -- if it makes it easier. I personally believe that any "classic" list that doesn't include Andre Agassi from his megahair days or Venus Williams from her beaded era (when else has someone's hair affected the outcome of a Slam match?) would border on the criminal.
Off the top of my head (ba-da-bum) and limiting this to current players, I'd go with: 1. Agassi. We loved the mullet, aka Kentucky Mud Flaps. (Aside: In a weak moment, Roddick once admitted to me that his favorite Web site is mulletsgalore.com.) 2. House of Williams. Sure, the beads get a nod, but some of their extensions have been pretty striking, too. (Aside: Pete Sampras forever earned the ignominy of Serena when he asked about her blond locks: "Are those real?") 3. Hingis' inexplicable jet-black 'do. 4. Argentina's Marcelo Charpentier showed up to his French Open match against Gustavo Kuerten a few years ago with Smurf-blue hair. 5. Xavier Malisse Day Glo ensemble (though he since has gone corporate on us). Just curious ...
1. Have any ATP or WTA players ever hosted Saturday Night Live? Have any players ever been made fun of in a sketch?
2. Are there any active pros you think would be great hosts (or does the "athletes should not venture into show business" rule apply)? Which ones would make for hilarious sketch material? I remember Chris Evert hosting an episode maybe 10 or 15 years ago. She was stiffer than a wooden Wilson racket, but there was a reasonably funny skit spoofing her rivalry with Navratilova. Other than that, I'm drawing blanks. I'd like to see any current player (either Williams, Roddick, Kournikova) if for no other reason than it would give some crossover exposure to our sport. In the immortal words of the great Quddus: Have a great week, everyone! Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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