Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

Serena's not one of the guys

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Monday October 11, 1999 11:32 AM

Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim answers your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question.

What is Serena Williams thinking, trying to get a wild card for the men's draw of the Eurocard Open? Is this some kind of joke? She couldn't even beat the 203rd-ranked player in the world. Is she bored with winning one Grand Slam title or is she too good to try to win a Golden Slam? Personally, I think her old man is up to this and she was more than willing.
—Paul Miranda, Missoula, Mont.

Lots of questions this week about Serena's quest to join the men's tour. Maybe she was galvanized by the female boxer in Seattle who beat a male counterpart the other night.

This does indeed sound like one of Richard's hair-brained schemes. The ATP Tour shared our combination of amusement/disdain and unequivocally denied Serena a wild card. Still, it raises some interesting questions. As you point out, she would have a hard time winning more than a few games in the qualifying draw. Sure, she can hit a first serve with comparable pace to any player in the world, but men simply play at a different speed and with a smaller margin of error than the women. The footspeed and power that look dominating against 135-pound Martina Hingis would be a non-factor for Serena against even a player of Marcelo Rios' physical stature.

Also, if the ATP Tour allowed Serena a wild card, I could imagine some mid-level Sargis Sargisian (I just picked a random name) deciding that turnabout is fair play and petitioning the WTA Tour for a wild card. His machismo would suffer, but, hey, he would have won a six-figure payday and a new sports car had he played alongside Hingis in the Porsche Grand Prix last week.

The Williams family is always pushing the envelope (remember Patchgate?) with the tennis establishment and this is another instance. But I think your point is well taken. Before Serena declares herself "bored" with women's tennis, why not win a few more Grand Slams, earn the No. 1 ranking and cease losing to vastly inferior players like Sandrine Testud, as she did last week in Fidlerstadt, Germany? Serena's future is unquestionably bright, but right now her tennis résumé is only a little more impressive than Iva Majoli's.

What's wrong with Tim Henman? Why does he keep losing in the early rounds? I can understand a bad run for a few weeks, but it's now been a few months. I'm really beginning to wonder what's gone wrong.
—Nigel Gregory Michaels, Bristol, England

Earlier we postulated that Henman's career was toast now that he's ensnared in holy matrimony, but maybe we were being too harsh. Henman nearly won his first title since 1989 on Sunday before losing to Karol Kucera in five sets at the Swiss Indoors. For all his piss-poor results since Wimbledon (losing on hard courts in straight sets to Guillermo Canas is nothing short of shameful), Henman is nevertheless having one of the better years of his career and may well finish in the top five. I've addressed this before, but I think Henman is just too damn nice to take the next step. This is awfully simplistic analysis, I realize, but Henman is, in the immortal words of former Princeton basketball coach Pete Carril, a "three-car-garage athlete." That is, he was born wealthy and privileged, and consequently lacks the requisite hunger and intestinal fortitude to succeed at the sport's highest level.

How in the heck did Dominique Van Roost get to No. 10 in the world? I have not seen any spectacular results from her this year except for a final showing a couple of weeks ago where she got whupped by latest teen sensation, Kim Clijsters. She hasn't made a dent in the Grand Slams or any Tier I tournaments. This mystifies me.
—Ron Martinez, Skokie, Ill.

Blame it on the vagaries on the ranking system. You're right, a player like Van Roost rarely posts noteworthy results. But she can still maintain a high ranking because she plays lots of events, is usually seeded (i.e., an automatic pass to the second round) and, with no Best-of-14 formula like the ATP rankings, even when she loses early she still earns "free points." She's not exactly the Yevgeny Kafelnikov of the WTA Tour, but it's the same idea. She also gets bonus points on the rare occasion when she beats higher-ranked players (say, Amanda Coetzer ), so even if she never takes out a top-five player, her ranking is relatively easy to sustain.

I know most people have stopped following Davis Cup, but how do you see the final with Australia having to play in France? I have to think that the French will opt for the clay court. With that scenario, do you see the Aussies as even having a prayer? If France wins, it will be its third Davis Cup in the '90s. For a country that has not produced a male Grand Slam winner since Yannick Noah in the early '80s, to what do you attribute their Davis Cup success?
—Steve Adams, New Hope, Minn.

The outcome of the Cup could be decided in the rehab room, not the court. Even if the event is held on clay, if Pat Rafter and/or Mark Philippoussis are available, I have to like the Aussies' chances. Though still a teenager, Lleyton Hewitt has shown grace under pressure and is undefeated in his brief Davis Cup tenure. The Aussies' doubles team -- presumably still Mark Woodforde and Sandon Stolle, though if Rafter's healthy he may get the nod -- is due for a win as well, after gagging in Boston and against Russia. As for the French, Cedric Pioline, like the girl with the curl on her forehead, is very, very good or absolutely awful. And in a high-stakes match, I'm not sure I trust Sebastien Grosjean, provided he gets the call.

Unlike the U.S., Davis Cup still matters in France. Thus, even though the country hasn't produced players the likes of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi or even Jim Courier this decade, Frenchies like Guy Forget, Henri Leconte, Arnaud Boetsch and Pioline were/are always available. Further, I give a lot of credit to Noah, who, in his role as captain, is more than a mere figurehead. A real esprit de corps, as it were (thus exhausting my French), pervades the French team and Noah seems uncommonly adept at rallying the troops, massaging egos, etc.

Your overall point is well taken, but let's not forget (for-zhay) that although Noah is the last French Grand Slam champ, there are currently scads of French players in the top 50. If comers like Arnaud DiPasquale, Grosjean and Arnaud Clement realize their potential, the glory years ought to continue.

LASTLY, short of telling Laurice that she needs to get outdoors more often, I have no idea how to even approach answering the following. But given the astronomically high gossip quotient of Mailbag questions, I thought some of you might enjoy:

Put on your Gossip Columnist hat for a moment. Have you seen the new "The More You Read, The More You Know" commercial featuring Brooke Shields? (These ads are intended to promote literacy, especially in our youth.) Anyhow, in this ad Brooke slams both lederhosen and yodeling. Coincidence? I think not. Is someone smarting over Steffi's new beau? And why is NBC writing its copy around Brooke's love life?
—Laurice Castle, Warren, N.J.

Send a question to Jon Wertheim, and check back the beginning of each week to read more of his answers.

 

Related information
Stories
Previous Tennis Mailbags Jon Wertheim's Tennis Hot List
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.