Farewell to a great doubles player
Posted: Monday December 07, 1998 12:36 PM
Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question.
He wanted to savor what might be his final serve as a professional tennis
player. So at match point in the final of the Phoenix Doubles Championships in
Hartford last weekend, Jacco Eltingh conferred briefly with his partner,
Paul Haarhuis, and bounced the ball a dozen times. Seconds later, Eltingh
whizzed a volley past his opponents, Mark Knowles and Daniel
Nestor , and, just like that, his 11-year career came to an end.
At a time when it's simply unheard-of for athletes to leave their sports when
they're at the top of their games, Eltingh retired as the world's No.1-ranked
player. After a successful singles career that included a Top 20 ranking and two
Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances, Eltingh concentrated solely on doubles for
the past two years because of tendinitis in his knees. He and his partner,
fellow Dutchman Haarhuis, unseated Mark Woodforde and Todd
Woodbridge as the world's top team, and, despite playing in an era when
doubles is less popular than Jim Pierce , staked a rightful claim as one
of the best teams of all time.
After the match Haarhuis lamented, "it's the end of an era, but I'm happy
he's going out as the best." The retiree, on the other hand, was in higher
spirits. "I think I'll go out and have five, six or seven beers," said
Eltingh, 28, who will now be able to spend more time with his wife and infant
son. "I don't have to stay in shape any
more."
Speaking of staying in
shape....
What is the deal with Marc Rosset? His comments on women's tennis are pretty
laughable at a time when men's tennis has never been more boring. The women's
tour has been consistently more interesting this year with players and matchups
that bring fans to the arena and the television. I can't even remember who won
the men's final of the U.S. Open, but every week we see great matchups like
Davenport-Graf, Seles-Hingis, Williams-Davenport, the list goes
on.
--Ken Copen, New York
City
As I wrote last week, it's pretty farcical when a guy who's won zero tournaments
this year, and has earned around $500,000, complains that women are overpaid and
out of shape. (For those who haven't seen him play, by the way, Rosset is about
as mobile as Gheorghe Muresan in clogs.) Never mind that women's tennis
is more interesting than men's these days. After watching the game's top women
play in the Chase Championships last week, I'm not sure the women are in any
worse condition than the men. Sure they don't strike the ball as hard as the
guys, but their points last longer, they often make better use of the court, and
they can't rely on a booming serve to shorten the points.
Martina Hingis , the player whose fitness is most often questioned, may
not be in marathon shape. But last week she played four matches in five days,
all against top-15 opponents, and still had enough gas in the tank to win a
four-set final against No.1 Lindsay Davenport . That tells me Rosset ought
to get off his soapbox and get back to running
windsprints.
What do you make of Lindsay Davenport purposely dropping a ball out of her
pocket during a point and then playing a let? To me, it seemed pretty unfair to
her opponent, Sandrine
Testud.
--Elaine, Port Washington,
N.Y.
No question it was ridiculous. In case you missed it, in Davenport's first-round
match of the Chase Championships against Testud, she blithely tossed a ball out
of her skirt in the middle of a point—one that it looked like Testud was
about to win—and the umpire called a let. It was eerily similar to the
incident in the U.S. Open final where Davenport's cap blew off just as she hit a
ball into the net. There, too, the chair umpire ordered the point
replayed.
To the naked eye this looked like gamesmanship (gamespersonship?) at its worst,
but I'm prepared to chalk it up to coincidence. Simply put, Davenport is
altogether too nice a person to try anything so disingenuous. The real issue is
the rule. Seems to me that if play is interrupted because of your carelessness
in failing to secure the ball or fasten your cap, you ought to lose the
point.
I'm a fan of Steffi Graf and my question is why doesn't she ever hit a
two-handed backhand? I know she has a unique grip but I don't know why she
doesn't at least try the shot instead of hitting backhand slices and getting
pounded by Lindsay and Patty. I don't think she'll survive long if she
repeatedly hits slices because they're less effective now because of Martina
Hingis, the power of Venus Williams and those other youngsters like Serna and
that Japanese girl that beat Steffi in the Canadian Open a couple of weeks
before the U.S. Open. Thanks for listening and I hope you respond to
me.
--Eliseo Rodriguez, Chicago Heights,
Ill.
Lots of people have made the same observation through the years, but the obvious
response is there's no arguing with Graf's results. Early in her matches when
the pressure's off, she'll drive her one-handed backhand, but after the first
few games, she'll rely exclusively on the slice. As with Jana
Novotna , the slice serves her fine in a rally, especially since she often
runs around her backhand and unleashes that killer forehand. Presumably, she'd
be in trouble if players ever started to attack her backhand; but so many women
have commitment anxiety when it comes to volleying that this weakness of Graf's
has never truly been
exposed.
Connors, McEnroe and Borg are generally considered to be the top three
players spanning the 15 years of 1974 to '89. Where would you put Ivan Lendl in
this mix? He does not seem to get the respect he deserves in this time
capsule.
-- Greg Edmonds, Eau Claire,
Wis.
Time capsule? Who said anything about a time capsule? Seriously, I answered a
question similar to this a few months ago and got whacked pretty hard by some of
you. But I'll stick with my original response. Lendl's career numbers are
certainly comparable to Connors, Mac and Borg; but his game was so vanilla
("I'll stand out here and bang groundstrokes for however long it takes to
win") and he exuded so little color, people have a hard time mentioning him
in the same breath as the other three.
Thanks for the update on Capriati. How is it possible for her to advance to
the second round and nearly beat Testud three weeks ago, and then lose 1-2 in
qualifying last
week?
--Stephen Thomas, Greensboro,
N.C.
Asking me to make sense of Capriati's results is like asking me to explain the
logic behind Andre Agassi 's
popularity.
Why is Monica Seles not winning the big titles anymore? I think she hits the
ball harder than what she used to in the '90s? What do you think is the main
difference in her game now and a few years
back?
--Seles Fan,
London
Without rehashing the series of tragedies that have befallen Seles, it seems
she's simply going through the motions these days. Her match last week against
Graf is a perfect example. Despite having the flu, she played a tremendous first
set, simply rocketing shots off both sides that left skid marks on the court.
I'm not sure that she hit the ball any better in her prime and her much-maligned
conditioning was hardly a factor. But Graf raised her game and won a
tightly-contested second set, and by the decisive third set, Seles had nothing
left.
While she was winning Slam after Slam in the early '90s, Seles was plenty
juvenile, changing her appearances more often than Madonna , riding to
matches on motorcycles, etc. But she was simply merciless on the court, putting
opponents in a death-vise when the match was at hand. Now, not only does she
fail to put opponents away, but her head often appears to be somewhere other the
match. Given what's she's been through, of course, it's a testament to Seles's
character that she's even out there. But I can't see her winning another Slam
until she regains the undivided attention and thirst for blood she showed
earlier in her
career.
I was born and raised in Germany and have been a huge Boris Becker fan. Like
many people in Germany, I don't see anyone coming close to his success. Nor do I
see any young German player with his flair for drama and competition. What is
your opinion on the sad state of German male tennis? Don't even try to mention Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer.
-- R. Zillger, Munich,
Germany
I agree that German tennis lacks a certain -- how to say it --
Fahrvernugnen these days but I think you're a little harsh on Haas and
Kiefer. Ranked 34 and 35 respectively, both are fairly bright prospects who are
capable of inhabiting the top ten within the next few years. Other than that, I
don't have much good news for you. Oliver Gross had a good U.S. Open but
he's already 24; Marc Kevin Goellner is almost exclusively a doubles
player; and David Prinosil ...well, you get the point. What's more,
there's no representative von Deutschland among the top 20 junior players. Right
now, German tennis' best hope is for Becker to delay his retirement
announcement.
On a related note, I thought you folks might be interested in the following
e-mail I
received:
Have you heard about a Swedish junior called Andreas Vinciguerram, 17? His
name means "win the war" and he's the biggest Swedish prospect since
Edberg. Last week he fell barely against Pioline in only his second senior event
but the way he played impressed hugely. Watch out for him! Concerning your
biggest prospect, Dent, I must say his junior results don't impress a lot on me.
Still he's a very good prospect, though not a future No. 1 in my
eyes.
--Marcus Pettersson, editor, Swedish Tennis Today, Lund,
Sweden
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