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Back with some bite
Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question. A few random thoughts ... Are you a tennis junkie? One surefire warning sign: Did you or did you not flip to ESPN at 1 a.m. on Friday to watch a tape-delayed broadcast of Pete Sampras-Tim Henman? Speaking of ESPN, is it just me or is the Pat McEnroe-Cliff ("live from Cin-Cin-ahhh-tee") Drysdale team a joy to listen to? ... With Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter either out of action or far less than 100 percent, the U.S. Open is starting to look like it's Sampras' to lose. Not that he isn't capable of joining the walking wounded in a moment's notice. ... From the Hot Rumor Dept.: Eric Van Harpen is out as Anna Kournikova's coach. No truth to the scuttlebutt that she is joining Damir Dokic's (un)stable. ... Nice to see Jonas Bjorkman string together two good wins and start to play well again. ... Same goes for Amy Frazier on the women's side. ... Quick, name the color of that squeaky court in Cincy. ... How about that gilded Magnus Norman era?. ... Kudos to the USTA for this year's U.S. Open ad campaign, which beat the hell of out last year's unwatchable spots that, inexplicably, showed athletes in other sports tripping over a tennis net. ... Speaking of ad campaigns, straight from the Burson-Marsteller paper shredder, here are 10 suggested ATP Tour slogans that were rejected in favor of New Balls, Please:
10. Check Out The Bill Of Goods We Sold Those ISL Suckers. Sorry, Venus. I'm backsliding. Onward ...
Just want to tell you I liked your column better when it was biting. Pussycats are boring. Bring back the sarcasm. And after all, someone like Venus Williams -- with all the cocky talk of her past --- is complaining about being nice in comments? Remember: It's Jon's party and no one else is invited. You share that sentiment with Ken Sheffer of Hong Kong, who chastised me: "You are a journalist, so behave like one and be nasty anytime you want."
I understand that MaliVai Washington has a sister on the WTA Tour named Mashona Washington. Have you ever seen her play? What kind of game does she have, and why hasn't she made any major waves? Coming from a pro tennis family, I would expect her to have plenty of talent. Also, what is the deal with Alexandra Stevenson? Why is she doing so poorly? Mashona Washington, 25, has been on tour for a while now and has never really done much. A lot of people speak highly of her personally -- much as they did of her big bro, Mal -- but she is decidedly a second-rate player. Last year was her best campaign since joining the tour in 1995, and yet Washington still failed the crack the top 100. Alexandra Stevenson, I'm afraid, started believing her own clippings. She got her Nike deal, sat on Babs Walters' couch and became an overnight curiosity. But it couldn't obscure the fact that her game is terribly flawed. She moves poorly, her strokes are erratic, she tires easily, and she has the on-court attention span of a fruit fly. There is some potential here: She can serve opponents off the court, she has a lot of size, and, as I've said before, her backhand is a thing of beauty. Having had her 15 minutes (and then some) of notoriety, it will be interesting to how she reacts to playing qualies as she goes about the business of building her ranking back up.
Regarding last week's question about online player databases, itftennis.com has a great head-to-head database. I'm not sure if it will include Maria Bueno, but it's a great site. Once you're there, click on Player Database. Thanks to the legion of you who recommended this site -- though others noted it only dates to 1977 and is sketchy for its first few years.
Am I right in my supposition that the senior tour is tennis' answer to the WWF, where everything from the results of the matches to John McEnroe's tantrums are all fixed beforehand? The Rock sez, that's probably overstating the case. Yes, McEnroe claims that his contract with the geezers tour stipulates that he goes ballistic over a line call or two -- for old time's sake. But the comparisons end there. In seniors tennis (new name: Johan Kriek Smackdown), the outcome of the matches aren't predetermined, the competitors seldom wear face paint and, above all, the television ratings aren't off the charts.
Where has Mary Pierce been since winning the French Open? She has only played Wimbledon since, losing in the second round. Is there a good excuse for this? Why wouldn't she parlay her success in Paris to the U.S. hard-court season? Mary Pierce is struggling with a shoulder injury and hasn't played since a disappointing Wimbledon. She's been back and forth between an injury rehab clinic in Arizona and casa de Alomar in suburban Cleveland. You raise a good point, though: After her success on the slow courts of Paris, you'd think that would have presaged a strong summer on the hard-court junket. Depending on her health, she is one of the few players capable of beating Venus at the Open.
I understand there is a version of tennis -- called either Canadian doubles or Australian doubles -- which is played by three people. It's single vs. doubles; the single player can use the doubles lines and the doubles players use the singles lines and scoring is the same. I've been unable to find any official rules of this version of tennis -- can you help? Canadian doubles doesn't exist on a formal level. It's simply a way to kill an hour when you've already paid for the court time and a member of your standing doubles game begs off at the last minute. It beats not playing at all, but I've never found Canadian doubles to be particularly fun. Three may be a magic number, as De La Soul sings. But it is anathema to tennis.
What is your assessment of where Monica Seles is in what appears to be a pretty serious push to get back into the top three? I think she's making slow but sure progress, is a bit more fit and is hitting the ball very well. But it doesn't look to me like she thinks she can beat the top four women. Alas, my assessment is same old, same old. Seles is gradually getting more fit, she's hitting the ball well, her serve has some zip. And yet there's this inescapable conclusion that her window has shut. Seles can hang with anyone on tour, but she has a nagging habit of taking the top players to a third set and then wilting. (To wit: Serena Williams at the 1999 Open, Pierce at the French, Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon, Venus last week in San Diego.) I can see Seles beating a top gun every now and then, but I'm afraid her last slam came five years ago in Australia. I'd love to be wrong, though.
A decade ago, you never would have expected Pete Sampras to be as dominating as he is now. He was good but always a notch below Stefan Edberg and (dare I say) Jim Courier. Who among the current pretenders do you see as the next dominator (will there even be one?) over the next decade or so? Marat Safin? Lleyton Hewitt? Gustavo Kuerten? Hernan Gumy? A decade ago -- hard to believe -- Pete Sampras had just turned 19 and was on his way to winning the U.S. Open. In retrospect, anyway, he had a disappointing next few years, but by 1993 (at age 22) he won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, reached the semis in Australia and even made the quarters in Paris. I don't see any player today, young or old, capable of those results. As for the young-gun contingent, it's tough to assess. Hewitt looked like the leader of the pack, but his results have tailed off lately. (Then again, he has found love in the person of Kim Clijsters. Coincidence?) Safin did a convincing Vince Spadea during the first half of the year but had an epiphany and now is a top-10 player. Andreas Vinciguerra is nowhere to be seen. Taylor Dent had fallen off the map, but then looked great last week against Sampras, falling 7-6, 7-6. (Gumy, alas, is 28 years old.) Say this: As parity becomes the name of the game in men's tennis, Sampras' sustained dominance will only become more highly regarded.
I find it hard to believe that it has been more than four years since Wayne Ferreira's last win. How is it that he can consistently beat top players like Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Pete Sampras, Pat Rafter, etc,. yet he struggles to beat low-ranked players? Do you think that Wayne will ever make a return to the winner's circle, or is he content enough slogging his way to quarters and semis until he hangs up his racket? No kidding. Wayne Ferreira is the maddening type of player who can beat anyone and then lose to anyone in the next match. Time and again he takes out a seed -- for whatever reason, he plays Sampras particularly well -- and then falls meekly to someone like Vladimir Voltchkov at Wimbledon. Sort of like the Conchita Martinez of men's tennis, Ferreira falls into the "wily veteran" category who isn't preposterously talented or powerful (or exciting to watch), but can grind down opponents and hit big shots under pressure. Especially at the age 29, I don't see him winning too many more events. But the role of spoiler has served him well: He's won more than $7 million for his career.
I'm a big fan of Tommy Haas, but I'm disappointed with the way he's been playing this year. What does Tommy have to do to become a more consistent player? Do you see him winning a Grand Slam title in his career? Why hasn't he been playing in any tournaments lately? Also, are the rumors true about him being engaged? We don't get a lot of Tommy Haas these days, do we? He has been injured this summer but it's getting to be put-up-or-shut-up time for him. He was definitely a marquee player in that wave that included Gustavo Kuerten, Mark Philippoussis and Nicolas Kiefer. So far, Haas has only been past the fourth round of a Slam once. I've seen his fräulein walking around at events but I hadn't heard the engagement rumor. If it's true, his game is sure to go kaput.
The upsets of the last two weeks remind me of times Jimmy Connors would lose to Ivan Lendl in the tuneups only to crush him at the Open. To what extent do you think the men are playing possum trying not to peak too early? Pete Sampras' listless performance against Tim Henman seems particularly suspicious, especially with Fabrice Santoro looming in the next round. Here's a point in favor of the Masters Series: Players are given guarantees so their losses don't arouse much suspicion. Also, there is so much cash (and so many ranking points) on the table that they'd be foolish to play rope-a-dope. You've essentially hit upon a major -- and not easily correctable -- problem with men's tennis. The competition is so tight and the field of players so deep that every tournament is ravaged by upsets. On the one hand, it's good for the game that on any given week, a Jerome Golmard can beat an Agassi or a Harel Levy can reach a Masters Series final. But fans, networks and, most important, big sponsors like some degree of predictability. It's hard to market a sport knowing the top-ranked players are as capable of losing to a qualifier as they are running the table.
Any chance of you becoming a commentator for the tennis matches broadcast on ESPN? Cliff Drysdale and Pat McEnroe do a good job, but that Jensen dude and Washington are probably two of the most annoying commentators, and they are making watching tennis less fun. Please tell me you will consider taking over their jobs. PLEASE!!! Thanks (I think). But I have too much fun answering your questions. And I'm entirely too unhip to even think about replacing that Jensen dude.
Send a question to Jon Wertheim, and check back the beginning of each week to read more of his answers.
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