|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Seles appears back on track
Posted: Monday June 12, 2000 03:37 PM
Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question. PARIS -- A quick run-through this week before Sunday's men's final ...
What did you think of Monica Seles's loss at Roland Garros? Some (like myself) think it was one of her best performances and that she is on her way up again. Others think it was another loss due to lack of conditioning. Seles's conditioning wasn't the problem. She came here fit and was simply outplayed at 4-4 in the third set by a new-and-improved Mary Pierce. Many, self included, expected Seles to do well here. She's had encouraging results this year -- notwithstanding the double-bagel fiasco in Miami -- and has been losing the excess cargo. But she had the misfortune of drawing two tough opponents that had the crowd's backing, Amelie Mauresmo and then Pierce. And in one of the better matches of the tournament, she simply fell a few games short. I read a lot into Seles's demeanor after the match. In the past, I've seen her lose and wear a look of "What am I doing out here?" on her face. After the Pierce match she was very matter-of-fact about playing well on the whole, but suffering a fatal lapse.
Coldness? Yes. Arrogance? Not really. You're right, Sampras won't be joining the Toastmasters Club after he retires. But particularly given his stature, I think he handles himself just fine. His attitude all along has been, "I just want to be a tennis player. Is that so wrong?" Sure, we all would have liked to see more emotion and verve, but give me Sampras and his dozens Slams over an affable underachiever like Goran Ivanisevic any day.
I have noticed during the French Open the amount of betting that is available on men's and women's matches with Australian betting shops. Just wondering, with the recent uproar over cricket players betting on games, have you ever heard of tennis players gambling on their own games? I haven't heard anyone discuss it as a problem, but it's certainly not out of the question. The betting parlor at the Australian Open is just above the players lounge. I saw several coaches in there, but never any players. Incidentally, the parlor doesn't just offer odds on wins and losses. One can wager on everything from how many games a player will take in a set to how many aces a player will serve. On the surface, this sounds like a recipe for trouble. But there's so much cash riding on the outcome of a match anyway, I can't imagine players would be dumb enough to sabotage a result by betting against themselves.
O.K. ... if someone can go gaga over Gustavo Kuerten, then I think I can say how much of a cutie Marat Safin is. I know he has a tendency to tank if he loses the first set, but he is so cute! He has negative body fat, very strong and sharp facial features. He has legs like a Roman god! I have only one complaint about him, though. In his quarterfinal match against Magnus Norman, he seemed not to have any motivation to win. Which I can somewhat understand playing at the Budapest Open or other such tournaments. But the quarterfinals of the French Open!? What else does a professional tennis player get up in the morning for? As one player put it to me, Safin is a wonderfully talented player who has Eastern-bloc wiring between the ears. Now that I've quoted it, I realize I have no idea what this actually means, but I suppose it has something to do with his short fuse. I think Safin had plenty of motivation against Norman but he's one of those players, as you note, who gets down on himself if he's not playing his absolute best. He's already being hailed as the next Ivanisevic, but it says here that the maturity will come -- and with it, the titles.
Are Martina Hingis and Magnus Norman an item? Lots questions this week about these two. Norman was asked about it several times last week. While he offered a damning "We're close friends, but otherwise no comment" on each instance, his face turned bright red as soon as her name was mentioned. Doesn't exactly douse speculation.
After almost six years in the Land of the Still Occasionally Rising Sun, one begins to develop an affinity for things Japanese. So I'd be curious for your thoughts on Ai Sugiyama. Will she ever be a top-10 player? And if not, is it just her size (the obvious answer) which holds her back, or is there something else? If memory serves, Kimiko Date was not much bigger but reached No. 8 at one point. Might Ai-chan reach similar rarified heights? Playing on clay, hardly her favorite surface, Sugiyama came thisclose to beating finalist Conchita Martinez in Round 4. I've been chastised for giving this answer too often, but she falls into the legion of players who have all the shots but no real weapon. She plays well off the ground and can keep her opponent on the move. She's reasonably quick and covers the court well. She even volleys nicely when she decides to come in. Problem is, she's tiny (5' 4"), her serve doesn't do much damage and she doesn't make opponents pay for short balls. I don't have a Date book, as it were, in front of me. But even if she's no bigger than Sugiyama, remember that she got as high as No. 4, I believe, in the pre- Williamses/Lindsay Davenport/Mauresmo era. Bottom line: Sugiyama is a nice 18-25-ranked player who can spring an upset here and there and make a nice living on tour. Top 10, though, is a real stretch.
Some interesting stuff on shotmakerslately. Is it something in the water in France, or does flash seem to outweigh substance among the French? I can't help but think Yannick Noah, Henri Leconte and Cedric Pioline were all exceptionally talented players and shotmakers, yet they have one Grand Slam win between them. Touché. I should add that my man Mansour Bahrami makes his home here as well.
Are you creating gossips or did I just misunderstand? Kim Clijsters is actually Lleyton Hewitt's girlfriend (according to your On the Court from June 4)??!! Please explain! Far be it from me to create "gossips," but, yes, Clijsters and Hewitt are bona fide canoodlers, as the New York Post might put it. Incidentally, they lost in the third round of mixed doubles to Rennae Stubbs and Todd Woodbridge, who are not romantically linked.
Andrei Medvedev usually seems so mild-mannered and happy-go-lucky that I was really surprised to hear him rip Wimbledon and claim that he wasn't going to waste two weeks there. What's behind his comments? A few of you asked about Medvedev's rant. I wouldn't read too much into it. Medvedev has always been a great quote who knows how to work the room, but he's somewhat of a flake. Let's not forget, too, that Medvedev, a defending finalist here, had just walked off the court after getting his chapeau handed to him by Norman. That said, every player has a Wimbledon horror story. He wasn't allowed into the locker room because he didn't have the right color badge. He was nearly defaulted because his court was changed and no one told him. He was told there were no available guest passes, but his seeded opponent had a section to himself.
What's with the new picture of you? Saw it today and I think the one with the glasses and smile makes you look much better. Image is everything. You think? As soon as Baez from Virginia Beach, angry that I had trashed Boris Becker, wrote a toxic letter calling me "four eyes," I knew had to make a change.
Hey, without your glasses you look just like Pete Sampras! Two words for you, buddy: Bridgette Wilson.
Send a question to Jon Wertheim, and check back the beginning of each week to read more of his answers.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
