The game is in good health
Posted: Monday October 26, 1998 02:31 PM
I'm the first to admit that it's a lot more fun to rip the
tennis establishment and bemoan the game's faults than to
play Pollyanna. But let's take the pulse of tennis these
days.
The popularity of the women's tour is at an alltime high.
The top female player is a well-adjusted Californian devoid
of pushy parents and pretension. The top three women's
singles players—ages 18 to 29—are also the top
three doubles players. The top
three male players hail from three different continents, have
vastly different games and even more divergent
personalities. There were eight different Grand Slam champs
this year. There are no drug scandals, no point-shaving
allegations, no proliferation
of paternity suits, no lockouts, no
Lawrence
Phillips .
Tennis, to be sure, isn't without its trouble spots,
particularly at the recreational level. But given the
overall sports landscape today, the game could be doing a
hell of a lot
worse.
On to the Mailbag
...
I am a great admirer of Thomas Muster, and I expected him
to do better even at this age. What do you think of him?
Does he have any good tennis left or is it time to
quit?
—Dania Ross, Beirut, Lebanon
Muster is at that exceedingly frustrating point in his
career where, at 31, he is well past his prime and won't
make a return to the top 10. At the same time, he is ranked
in the top 25 (23rd), is still capable of beating
anyone—especially on clay—and,
in short, makes too much money to think seriously about
retiring. Though he's only won one Grand Slam (the 1995
French, when he survived seven rounds without dropping a
set), the Moo Man has had an extraordinary career. The
night before he was to play
the Lipton final in 1989, he was struck by a drunk driver,
severing ligaments in his left knee. As competitive an
athlete as you'll ever meet, Muster went all-out on his
rehab, hitting balls while relegated to a wheelchair and
returning to the tour within
six months. Since then, he's won more than $10 million,
briefly achieved the No. 1 ranking, and has been a
Norm
Peterson regular in the top 10. He is hardly the most popular guy
on tour (the drawback of a hyper-intense personality), and
his game has never been described as pleasing to the eye.
But you still wish pro tennis was populated with a few more
Thomas
Musters.
What happened to Chris Woodruff? Why is he ranked 573 when,
a year ago, he was a top 30 player after winning a Super
Nine event? Is he still playing professional
tennis?
—Denise Espino, Bacolod City,
Philippines
"Country" Woodruff, nicknamed for his Tennessee
provenance, suffered what has to rank among the weirdest
injuries in tennis history. Kicking field goals with some
buddies on a football field, Woodruff blew out his knee
and, as you note, has missed so
much action that his ranking has ballooned well into triple
digits. The irony, of course, is that Woodruff, one of the
quickest players on tour (was, anyway), finished 1997
ranked 30th after winning the Du Maurier in Montreal in
August. Had he sustained
that ranking this year, he would surely have made the Davis
Cup team. Instead, the year was basically a wash and,
though he will get some wild cards, the 25-year-old may
have to play dreaded qualifiers when he comes back on
tour.
Do you think that Pete Sampras's mad dash for the No. 1
ranking kind of diminishes the whole idea of ending the
year as the best, most consistent player? Obviously, even
if he picks up a few extra points here and there, 1998 was
not his
year.
—Jason Herrmann, Atlanta
Lots of questions about Sampras this week. You have to
admire the guy's obsession with immortality and records.
But at what cost? Sampras mooches
Boris
Becker 's wild card last week in Vienna because it will augment
his "best 14" results and help him achieve the
No. 1 ranking for a sixth straight year. But wouldn't his
legacy be just as sterling if he risked finishing the year
ranked No. 2 and instead spent
the extra weekend, say, helping the U.S. win the Davis
Cup?
About Steffi Graf vs Jimmy Connors: It can only be
demeaning if people take it too seriously. People should
just see it as a fun match in which neither player has
anything to prove and not blow it out of all proportion.
What do think Steffi's chances are of breaking Margaret
Court's record, and how should Steffi be remembered? In my
opinion she's the best women's player of all
time.
—Peter Johnson, Pretoria, South Africa
I suppose you're right, but it still seems like a silly
exercise. If Graf wins, folks will say, "Yeah, but
Connors is 46 years old." And if she loses ...
Regardless of how she fares against Jimbo, I think you're
right that she has to rank as the best
female player of all time. She may not break Court's record of
24 Grand Slam singles titles, but consider that she has won
an astounding 21. That's three more than both
Martina and
Chris, and—yes, it's comparing apples and oranges but
instructive nonetheless—10 more than
Sampras.
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Muster's best days are behind him, but he is still a formidable player. Bill Frakes |
So Martina Hingis is now No. 2, replaced by the
"gentle giant," Lindsay Davenport. How do you see
Davenport's chances of holding on to No. 1 in the long run?
Will her tenure be like Arantxa Sanchez Vicario's? Another
question: Why do you think Swiss Patty Schnyder has been so
successful lately? What are her strengths in your
opinion?
—Alvin Jimenez, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
First off, maybe it's a cultural thing, Alvin, but it's
been my experience that women don't take particularly well
to the appellation "Gentle Giant." Anyway, I
think Davenport will have a nice run at the top. Her game
just keeps getting better and
better; her personality is the diametrical opposite of, say,
Mats
Wilander , who simply lost all motivation after becoming No. 1; and
her maturity makes it easy to forget that she's only 22.
It's one of those don't-look-now deals, but after beating
Venus
Williams to win the Zurich tournament last weekend, her lead is
already up to nearly 400 points! The greatest strength of
Schnyder, "the other Swiss Miss," is that she has
no weaknesses. Her strokes are solid, as is her lefty
serve; she covers the court well;
and she plays smart, patient tennis. At 19, Schnyder has
somehow escaped inclusion among the "teen
sensations." But you'd be hard put to find a player on
tour who would rather face Schnyder than
Anna
Kournikova .
What would your reaction be if I said that Stefan Edberg is
the best serve-and-volleyer ever to play the game? I truly
believe that he was better than John McEnroe at this facet
of the
game.
—Ryan Gustafson, Milwaukee
No argument here. It's just that when Edberg's
serve-and-volley game deserted him, he didn't have much of
a backup
plan.
Do you know what happened to Helena Sukova? I haven't heard
anything about her since this past Wimbledon, when she
reached the doubles quarterfinals with Arantxa Sanchez
Vicario.
—Dean Leite, Sydney, Australia
And you haven't heard much about
Lottie
Dodd and
Mo
Connolly either. Sukova is a whopping 33, which, in tennis years
anyway, means she needs to have her food cut into
bite-sized pieces and drives with her turn signals on.
Though she's reached the autumn of an underrated career,
she still plays a good game of
doubles.
What do you think of Conchita Martinez's playing style and
her level of play? Does she have what it takes to reach the
top? Or should she retire
already?
—Paul, Los Angeles
Not unlike Muster, Martinez is unquestionably on the
backside of a solid career, but is still too good to think
seriously about
retirement.
First off, congratulations on a fine column. Your
commentary is sharp, unbiased, and clearly demonstrates
your enthusiasm as a genuine fan of the game. Anyway, I
have always been a huge fan of Monica Seles. Her mental
toughness and focus (especially before the stabbing), along
with her power game, can be an awe-inspiring combination.
However, it seems that lately her focus and physical
fitness have both slipped (witness her error-filled French
Open-final performance). Do you think that her best years
are behind her? What do you think she needs to do to regain
the No. 1 spot (or if she even can)? Finally, I seem to
recall that when she was dominating tennis a few years ago,
she did not seem to be a very popular with the other
players on the tour. Was this true? Why?
—Lee, Hong
Kong
Yes, flattery will definitely help get your questions
posted. Even for us folks in the media who are supposed to
be "unbiased," as you put it, it's hard not to
root for Seles. She's too polite and polished to say it
publicly, but it has to drive her
absolutely nuts that her career was shortchanged by a madman,
and players she would have spanked in her prime are
suddenly beating her handily and then talking trash
afterwards. Anyway, her fitness has never been exemplary,
but it's her mental game that
hurts her just as much these days. During her reign as No. 1,
when it looked as if she might be able to supplant Graf,
Martina, et al. as the game's greatest player ever, she was
absolutely ruthless on big points. Not so, lately. It
wouldn't hurt for her to
emulate Davenport and take her training more seriously. But
what she really needs to do is relocate her ability to come
up with the big shots in the clutch. Obviously, easier said
than
done.
As for your question about her popularity, I'd never heard
that. I know a lot of players used to take issue with
Seles' deafening grunting, but, as far as I know, her
approval ratings have always been pretty
high.
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