 |
| |
|
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The Annika effect Question du jour: How would Serena fare against men?Posted: Monday May 26, 2003 6:15 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions every Monday. Click here to send a question. This week's Annual Player of the Week award goes not to a player but to a team. The University of Illinois men's tennis squad capped an undefeated season by beating Vanderbilt to win the NCAA title. The top-ranked Illini finished 32-0, becoming only the fourth team in NCAA history to complete an undefeated season. Illinois, which won its only tennis championship in school history, is the first school outside of California or Georgia to win the title since 1972. What's more, Illinois did so with a team comprised solely of American players. ... Stanford freshman Amber Liu overcame a 5-3 deficit in the first set and beat top-seeded Vilmarie Castellvi of Tennessee 7-6(5), 6-2 Saturday in the NCAA women's singles final. ... In the pro ranks, top-seeded Andy Roddick defeated sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets Saturday at the Internationaler Raiffeisen Grand Prix under bright sun and warm weather in St. Poelten, Austria. It was Roddick's first ATP title outside the United States and first title of the year. ... Chile beat the Czech Republic to win the ARAG ATP World Team Championship. Fernando Gonzalez became only the second player -- after John McEnroe (1984) -- to go undefeated through the tournament, winning his four singles and four doubles matches (losing only one set in doubles). Can you say French Open dark horse? ... Italy's evergreen Silvia Farina Elia beat Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win her third consecutive title at Strasbourg. Nice week for Sprem, who played in her first tour final and beat the faltering Jelena Dokic along the way. In the doubles, She Got Game star Sonja Jeyaseelan teamed with Maja Matevzic to beat Laura Granville and Jelena Kostanic. ... In Madrid, Chanda Rubin recovered from a lousy Italian Open to win the Open de Espana, beating wild card Maria Sanchez Lorenzo in a three-set final. Jill Craybas, the pride of Rhode Island, teamed with Liezel Huber to win the doubles title. They beat the curious pairing of Rita Grande and Angelique Widjaja in the final. ... From the "shamelessly plug your friends" department (hey, it's one of the few perks of writing a column) we encourage you to read The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America (Random House, $25), by Alex Berenson (BK '94). ... Was that Lindsay Davenport playing on the Central Park courts the other day? ... The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) inducted six new members into its ITA Men's Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame last Wednesday. The Class of 2003 consists of Southern California's Bill Bond, Dick Leach and Robert Van't Hof, as well as George M. Church of Princeton, Bob McKinley of Trinity (Texas) and longtime NCAA referee Jim Russell. Church will be inducted posthumously. ... Many, many, many of you pointed out that Guillermo Vilas won Hamburg in 1978, making Guillermo Coria the second Argentine to win there, not the first, as I erroneously wrote last week. Mea maxima culpa. ...
Pulling an AnnikaFirst, in the wake of Annika Sorenstam's success at the Colonial, there was another wave of "How would Serena fare against men at an ATP event?" Of all the wide-ranging questions we get, this may be my least favorite. I guess I have a two-part answer. 1) She wouldn't fare well at all. In fact, she might not crack the lineup at a top men's college program. 2) It's completely irrelevant and doesn't detract from her achievements in the slightest. As Serena points out time and again (she gets asked this question week-in, week-out), "I play on the WTA Tour, not the ATP." Unlike Sorenstam, Serena gets enough competition from her sister, Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, Justin Henin-Hardenne, et al. that she doesn't need to contemplate playing the men. What about the fact that she can serve as hard as most men can? Most Division II women's basketball players can shoot free throws better than Shaquille O'Neal; that doesn't mean they're ready for the NBA. Serena's 125-mph serves inspire awe. But she doesn't have the 115-mph kicker out wide, the response to the heavy topspin, the variety or angles, or a dozen other shots that are occupational requirements for a base level of success on the ATP. But let's be clear: none of this, again, matters or takes away from her accomplishments (or the value of women's tennis more generally.) Anyway, despite the goading, Serena has handled this issue awfully well, I think. As she said the other day, "I'm here to play female tennis," she said. "I've never been involved in men's tennis." Asked how she thought she would do if tempted to play against men, she smiled and responded: "I wouldn't be tempted." She did, however, admit that she was cheering for Sorenstam. "She can hang up there," Serena said. "It's cool she was able to do that." Right on, even if the converse wouldn't hold true in tennis.
Autres questionsA quick run through a few questions before I head overseas. ... Lleyton Hewitt recently doubted his ability to win the French Open. It's pretty much justified since he has never been past the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. But I would have thought that his Michael Chang-like mentality on court, coupled with solid groundstrokes off both sides, ought to make Hewitt a clear favorite, at least at this point of his career. What am I missing such that his playing preference is more similar to that of Sampras' than that of Agassi's? --Alvin Tan, London If you watched Hewitt guillotine the courtside flowers after his loss to Guillermo Cañas last year, you know that there may been some false modesty in that remark. He was profoundly disappointed and I have hard believing he authentically doubts his ability to do anything on a tennis court. Still, his unremarkable record at Roland Garros is a mystery. You're right that his consistency, footspeed and grit would seem to serve him well on clay. And we're talking about a guy who beat Gustavo Kuerten on clay (in Brazil no less!) so it's not as though he hasn't shown that he can play on the stuff. Two things come to mind: Hewitt can get frustrated when he plays against opponents who get back just as many balls as he does and are just as willing to stay out there for four or five hours. Pit Hewitt against a supremely talented but impatient player such as Marat Safin or Roger Federer, I'll take the kid from Adelaide eight times out of 10, surface be damned. Pit him against a less talented but steadier player such as Canas or Coria and I'd say he's only even money, at least on clay. Also, Hewitt didn't grow up on clay, so even if his game would appear to mesh with the surface, there's still the issue of comfort level. I got the following words back from DIRECTV after writing them asking for The Tennis Channel: "We apologize, but at this time we have no plans to add the Tennis Channel to our programming lineup." It was stated in their e-mail, however, that "we have added channels as a result of viewer feedback" -- so it's probably a matter of the squeaky wheel sort of thing. --Warren W. Jones, Point Arena, Calif. A number of people have told me that the folks at DirectTV are not making life easy for our friends at the Tennis Channel. I think your instincts are right, Warren. Rattle some cages. In case you missed it, here the contact information for DirecTV: Phone -- (800) DirecTV. E-mail -- www.directv.com/DTVAPP/glb/Form_Feedback.jsp. You are a moron! How did you get your job anyway?!?!? "Kim Clijsters will win the French Open?" Maybe you haven't noticed, but Serena Williams has won the last four Grand Slams. I know you'll never print this, but I want you to know that when Serena wins a fifth I will be laughing in your face! --Mona T., New York Ah, yes. I think I've mentioned this in the past, but nothing provokes the slings and arrows and hate mail quite like our Grand Slam predictions. A few quick points: a) Guys, please -- they're only predictions. They're meant in good fun. If they were based on anything more than speculation and hunches I would be in Vegas this week, not Paris. b) Picking against Player X simply means "I don't think Player X will win the match in question." It is not a referendum on said player's character or a statement of personal dislike. (Memo to the Henin-Hardenne "fan" -- in the sense that Kathy Bates was a "fan" of James Caan's character in Misery -- who screamed "Why do you HATE JuJu?": It's not a matter of love or hate. I just don't think she'll win the tournament. That's all. Honest. There are 126 other players in the same boat.) c) The whole goal of this exercise is to provide a few minutes of light entertainment. As anyone who has entered an NCAA office pool knows, it's a hell of lot more fun if you follow your gut and make some counterintuitive picks. On paper, does Serena win this thing? Probably. But paper isn't an ITF-approved surface. d) If you knew my track record on these things, you should be elated that I picked against Serena. e) As we've said in the past, this site is supposed to be a virtual barroom of sorts, where anyone can pull up a chair and talk tennis. We encourage disagreement and dissent. If we all agreed on every issue and liked the same players for the same reason, things would get boring fast. In return, we only ask that things be kept somewhat civil. Deal? I have asked this before and with another Grand Slam coming, I'll ask again: any interest in re-doing your slam predictions/seed report once both the men and women reach the round of 16 or the quarters? Or even better, any interest in making predictions for every round from the quarters on (your prognostication would probably be near supreme, having had the chance to see how the top seeds and upstarts are playing for a week-plus)? Those of us who live for (and sometimes disagree with) your report and picks would love it. --Kevin Quashie, Northampton, Mass. We'll give it a try. Just don't hold us to that "near supreme" standard. All this talk about what Pete Sampras isn't doing. Do you think Andre Agassi is getting enough credit for what he is doing, at an extremely advanced age by tennis standards? Also, if Andre wins another French Open this year, shouldn't that effectively end the debate over who's better, Agassi or Sampras? --Michael Snyder, Philadelphia Your first point is a good one. And it's not just in the context of Sampras' quasi-retirement. A common critique of men's tennis is, "Hell, the best player in the sport is in his thirties and is out there beating guys 10 years younger than he is." Instead of using Agassi's success as a way to slight the rest of the field, how about giving the guy some credit? For Agassi to be playing at this level at age 33 speaks volumes about professionalism and his commitment to training. He may lose in Paris. But it will be because he misses, not because he's going to tire. Not many other players can say that. I'm less enthusiastic about your second point. Yes, Agassi would close the gap if he not only won his ninth Major but did so at the Methuselan age of 33. Superior achievement. Agreed. But he would still trail Sampras by five Slams and, more important, still be on the losing end of the vast majority of their encounters. As we've said in the past, Agassi, of course, gets bonus points for winning all four Slams and still being a top player 15 (!) years after he first cracked the top 10. But when Sampras beat Agassi to win the U.S. Open last year, I think that pretty much sealed Pete's status as the best player of his generation. Richard Krajicek will retire this year. What is your take on him? Will he shine one last time at Wimbledon? --Tom, Geneva Let's beat the holiday rush and give some props to Krajicek before he officially retires. Great player especially on grass. Bright guy (his remarks about the women's game notwithstanding.) Hell of a nice chap. The sport will be worse off in his absence. His body didn't always cooperate and his results were a smidge erratic, but give the guy credit not only for winning Wimbledon but for the other 16 titles and the $10 million-plus in prize money. If by "shine at Wimbledon" you mean "give a good accounting of himself and maybe knock off a seed or two," the answer is yes. He did just that last year. If by "shine" you mean win the whole kielbasa, the answer is "highly unlikely." I wouldn't put it past the guy to re-injure his knee while mailing a letter. Now that Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have announced they are expecting again, my question to you is as follows: Do you think they engineered this pregnancy to avoid the mixed doubles issue? As you pointed out recently, it was very obvious she had no desire to play. What better excuse is there? --David, New York If tennis players brought new life into this world every time they needed an excuse not to play, our overpopulation problems would be worse by a factor of 10. Anyone who has ever had to endure a Raffi CD knows you don't take the decision to have kids so lightly. Jon, I'm looking through the French Open draw and I see that Tommy Haas, Marat Safin and Thomas Johansson are not playing because of injuries. Mark Philippoussis was once a bright prospect but has never been the same since he injured his knee a while back. Magnus Norman has fallen off the radar screen because of his back injury. And on it goes. When are tennis administrators going to wake up and realize that there are too many events and it is affecting the health of the players? --T. D'Amico, Philadelphia Don't forget the women. A foot injury has ended Martina Hingis' career, at least for now. Monica Seles comes to Paris with a bum foot that has her pondering retirement. Venus Williams is nursing a stomach muscle injury. Davenport missed the bulk of the last year with a knee injury and while there are other issues that have contributed to her demise, let's acknowledge that Anna Kournikova has had her share of injuries too. Still, I'm of mixed minds on this one. The rash of injuries is disturbing (sometimes it seems like ATP tour trainer Doug Spreen gets more air time at events than John McEnroe does). And while I have no hard numbers to back this up, anecdotally it certainly seems like the trend is accelerating. It is the rare player who goes through a year without breaking down on the side of the road at least once or twice. There are too many events, the modern equipment encourages overhitting, and the players contend that the Rochusian offseason prevents them from rehabbing effectively. (A point that sounds fair on its face but is undermined when they spend November and December chasing cash on the exhibition junket.) Both tours (and the ITF) would do well do address this issue. On the other hand, maybe we also need to accept that tennis is an increasingly physical sport and adjust our expectations accordingly. In my day job writing for Sports Illustrated I cover a variety of sports, basketball in particular. If you're watching the NBA playoffs you know that Sacramento (my pick to win it all -- see, my botched predictions aren't limited to tennis) was eliminated after its star player, Chris Webber, was felled by a knee injury. Dallas is currently coping with an injured Dirk Nowitzki. New Jersey's center, Dikembe Mutombo, is griping on the bench because he missed most of the season with an injury and wasn't reinstalled in the lineup. "And on it goes," as you put it. We work on the assumption, however, that injuries are part of the game (an unfortunate part, to be sure) and if they befall our favorite player well, bad luck. Yet no one is calling for a reduced NBA regular season or asking the league officials to commence a blue ribbon panel to look into the issue. (This is to say nothing of the NFL, where it's almost a given that your favorite player will miss at least a handful of the 16-game season, or even baseball. Think we'll see Mike Piazza back anytime soon? No one wants to see athletes get injured -- particularly athletes in individual sports (i.e. tennis) that offer no guaranteed contracts. But at some level you wonder if injuries aren't inevitable, simply a manifestation of playing a grueling sport at its highest and most competitive level. Long Lost SiblingsGuillermo Coria and Josh Hartnett.
Emilie Loit and Todd Martin.
Quite an uncanny resemblance: Daniel Nestor and the
great Belgian chansonnier Jacques Brel.
I leave you with ..."I just love the French. ... They taste like chicken!" —Hannibal Lecter Enjoy the first week of the French, everyone.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
