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From movies to poems
Posted: Friday May 26, 2000 06:32 PM
Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question. Tough week for us tennis heads. Here we are, parched for some excitement and this is what happened: Pete Sampras's feet of clay failed him again. Andre Agassi pulled out of Hamburg for no apparent reason. Martina Hingis was hurt. Lindsay Davenport pulled out of Rome with a back injury. Anna Kournikova was out with an ankle injury. If my math is right, Yevgeny Kafelnikov has won three of his last 12 matches. Venus Williams won three games against Jelena Dokic. Serena Williams was online in Florida. Conchita Martinez bagged on Rome. Pat Rafter continued to struggle. Jennifer Capriati returned to La-La Land. Even Magnus friggin' Norman, the leader of the confounding Points Race, only reached the quarters in Hamburg. Holy lethargy, Batman! Let's just hope there will be a miraculous collective recovery in time for the French. Against that backdrop, let's start with some levity. A few weeks ago, on the heels of the Steve Guttenberg film-fest question, one of you gentle readers asked me to rank the best tennis movies. That's a little like ranking Kournikova's best tournament victory speeches. Golf has Caddyshack, football has Any Given Sunday and North Dallas Forty, hoops has Hoosiers, hockey has Slap Shot, baseball has Kevin Costner, even cycling has Breaking Away. Tennis has ... what? Fletch giving lessons to Gayle Stanwyck? Tom Hanks hitting the ball over the fence in Bachelor Party? There's a good tennis screenplay dying to get "green-lighted" (thus exhausts my knowledge of Hollywood parlance). Still, here are five tennis-related flicks to Make it a Blockbuster Night.
1. Spring Fever (1982). Starring Carling Bassett as well as Hoosierette Shawn Foltz. If none of these do the trick, fear not. Kournikova allegedly has a cameo in a Jim Carrey flick due out this summer. Back to business ...
Is Nathalie Tauziat's "controversial" book going to be available in English in the U.S.? I read the news articles, and she doesn't appear to be saying anything that tennis fans don't already know. Therefore, I can't figure out why it's controversial, and so I'd like to see for myself. Good question. I, too, am eager to get a peek at this work. And you're right, every story talks about the "controversy" it has aroused and then gives examples like "Anna Kournikova receives a disproportionate amount of attention" and "the WTA Tour puts a premium on sex appeal." No kidding. Related breathtaking revelations, presumably, include: Tennis balls are fuzzy, Wimbledon is played on grass, Lindsay Davenport sometimes wears a baseball cap, Martina Hingis likes boys and Richard Williams once told a fib. Unless you're dying to get the skinny on the Julie Halard-Decugis/ Tauziat split or the internecine politics of the French federation, I'm guessing this primer ain't the tell-all it's been cracked up to be.
In response as to why Marat Safin's trophy broke down in the Barcelona tournament, just explain that since our majesty himself, Juan Carlos I of Spain, was to award the trophy, it was thoroughly inspected by his security detail -- and they forgot to screw it back together. Just thought you would like to know. Apart from that, what is your opinion on Juan Carlos Ferrero? Do you think he has the tools to become a major force on tour? He devastated Kafelnikov in the Davis Cup. I have no idea if you're for real, but thanks for a plausible explanation. As for Ferrero, currently No. 11 in the confounding Points Race, I confess to know little of his game. He's definitely on my "must-see" list for Paris. I'm particularly interested after hearing that he considers himself a better hard-court player than a clay-courter.
Apart from Amanda Coetzer, who are the shortest successful players on both tours? What can you tell me about their strategies? ATP Tour peewees include: Marcelo Rios (5'9"), Hicham Arazi (5'9"), Lleyton Hewitt (5'11"), Agassi (ahem, 5'11"), Gaston Gaudio (5'9"), Fabrice Santoro (5'10"), Michael Chang (5'9"), Wayne Black (5'7") and Leander Paes (5'10"). The WTA Tour media guide is notoriously embellished -- if Serena Williams weighs 145 pounds, my name is Orville Redenbacher -- but Coetzer (5'2"), Anna Smashnova (5'2"), Cara Black (5'3") and Tauziat (5'5") qualify as petite. Strategy obviously varies from player to player (Rios and Agassi, for instance, often dictate points while others, like Santoro, work on the assumption they'll be counterpunching). But the standard game plan includes making their opponents hit a lot of balls, using their speed to neutralize an opponent's power and encouraging their opponents to overhit.
Is it just me, or is the injury rate on the men's tour much higher than that on the women's tour? If this is generally true, what do you attribute this to? It seems to me that women's strokes are more efficient and compact. How many women do you see jumping two feet off the ground just to hit a crosscourt forehand? Ordinarily I would agree with you. But you picked an inauspicious week to ask this question. Davenport, S. Williams, Barbara Schett, Hingis, Conchita and Kournikova were all out of action. In general, I'd submit that men get injured more often because of the parity factor, rather than technical reasons. (True, the men hit harder and use more of the court, but the women play longer points). A player like Davenport often breezes through a few rounds of an events without surrendering more than three or four games. Including warmups she's on the court for less an hour per match and has plenty of time to recover. Contrast that with the top men who often have to go three sets -- if not five, at the Slams -- just to get through to the second round.
Recently, I watched John McEnroe beat Mats Wilander at a senior tour event in Raleigh. What amazes me is that McEnroe is dominating a tour full of baseliners by playing mostly from the baseline ... on clay. I always thought McEnroe had the best hands at the net, but never thought that his groundies were a things of beauty or even fundamentally sound (he leans backward on every topspin backhand). Why is he beating these baseliners at their own game? First of all, nothing related to the senior tour should amaze you. You're right though, Mac's groundies were hardly his strength, and his forehand, in particularly, could be downright unsightly. I say he's beating the other geezers at their own game because seniors, particularly on clay, are past the days of making headlong dashes to the net.
Conchita Martinez recently capped off a great week, winning the German Open and defeating Martina Hingis along the way. I may be wrong, but I believe you once referred to her game as "outdated," implying it was ineffective. She's proven, however, that her game is good enough to beat anyone with the exception of Monica Seles and, for some reason, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario. Do you still stick by that comment? I suppose it's my critique that's outdated. Let's give Martinez her props: Her results this year have been surprisingly strong. One could argue that, after finishing last year outside the top 10, she's off to the best start of her 12-year career. On the other hand, her success has come largely during the clay season, when she makes hay. And it's come at a time when the Williams sisters have been sewing, Davenport has been resting and draws are wide open. Still, Martinez has to rank among the favorites to win the French. (Now, if only she would get her toss up!)
Could you please give me a plausible explanation why Amanda Coetzer would play the Benelux Open instead of the Italian? With 1/10th the prize money? It can't be worth that much just to be a big fish in a little pond. Is it on a different surface? Even so, I would have thought a small, fast player would love clay! Is she dating a Belgian? Does she really love waffles? Does she really hate being hit on by middle-aged married men? How many generalizations can I put in this paragraph? What would a day at the 'Bag be without a top-five list? Possible theories: 1. She likes mussels. (My reservoir of Belgian stereotypes is pretty shallow, too.) 2. She's gunning for that coveted Trappist beer endorsement. 3. The WTA Tour made a player field commitment to Antwerp and Coetzer got a little sumthin', sumthin' on the side to make sure it was fulfilled. 4. She mistakenly thought Venus Williams was in the field. 5. She needed a confidence boost before the French and figured she'd get more matches there than in Rome. THOUGHT YOU'D get a kick out of this, submitted by Jeremy Gans of New York. I came across this story on Goran Ivanisevic. I know it's early, but there is certainly a quote-of-the-year nomination in here. HAMBURG, May 15 (Reuters) - Goran Ivanisevic said on Monday going to prison might help him out of his form crisis. "Maybe I should spend a few weeks in prison and gather my thoughts there," the three-time Wimbledon finalist said after failing to enter the main draw of the Hamburg Masters Series tournament. A former world number two, the once hard-hitting Croatian has dropped outside the top 60 after a series of dismal defeats and now has to go through qualifying in major events. FINALLY ... sure, she's the queen of the Internet. But how much poetry has Anna Kournikova inspired? (And, no, "Anna, call me. My phone will be turned on and so will I" doesn't have the requisite syllables to qualify as haiku). Well, Brian Zamboni of Chicago breaks the ice, as it were, with this poignant ode. He was kind of enough to submit the following, titled "Poor Anna Kournikova."
Her inability to win a tournament adds drama to the game.
People overemphasize her looks, as if they must impress.
O Anna, O Anna,
Send a question to Jon Wertheim, and check back the beginning of each week to read more of his answers.
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