|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
The Russians are coming!
Sports Illustrated staff writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions weekly. Click here to send a question.
What's the deal with the all these Russian players? Seems like half the women's tour is from Russia or Eastern Europe. What's going on over there anyway? And are any of these players future champions?
A few of you have asked about this recently. The Russians are coming, indeed. The new slogan of the WTA Tour ought to be: "It ain't -ova till it's -ova." Last time I saw this much ova, I was at a caviar hatchery. OK, I'll stop now. Your point is well taken, though. From Elena Dementieva to Anastasia Myskina to Lina Krasnoroutskaya, there are literally dozens of talented players coming up on tour who hail from Russia, the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe. Why? I assume there are geopolitical reasons. When the Wall came crumbling down, these players were six, seven and eight, and overnight the opportunity to train, travel and compete abroad improved. I imagine Martina Navratilova, Monica Seles and even Natasha Zvereva helped inspire this wave as well. Aside from Dementieva and Daja Bedanova, the player who has impressed me the most is Elena Bovina. Though only 17, Bovina is Lindsay Davenport's height and moves much better. I saw Martina Hingis take her out back to the woodshed in Philly the other day, but says here Bovina is a future top-10 player.
Where is Karsten Braasch these days? Is he still on tour? I imagine him somewhere in Europe, teaching 12-year-olds how to hit drop shots from three yards behind the baseline and how to chain-smoke on changeovers.
Craig is not exaggerating. Karsten Braasch really did inspire an ATP Tour rule forbidding smoking during changeovers. His game was as offbeat as his personality, as he combined the most uncomfortable looking strokes and a corkscrew service motion that looked like Hideo Nomo on speed. Though he cracked the top 50 and recorded a number of good wins, his enduring legacy likely is as the male player who deigned to play sets against the Williams sisters. (He won them all, 6-0 or 6-1.) Having said all that, I have no idea what the guy is up to.
Some think the WTA should more heavily weight the Grand Slam events in terms of ranking points. I disagree. If most of the ranking points came from the Slams, stars would probably cut down their schedules to 8-10 tournaments a year, and that would be the death knell for the tour. American TV would quickly curtail coverage, and many events would be hard-pressed to attract both sponsors and fans. The sport needs stars, and stars won't make a long flight to Moscow or Tokyo unless there's a good reason. What do you think?
I'm with you. Just like we demand a certain number of at-bats before baseball players win the batting title, it's only fair that the top ranking in tennis goes to a player who actually plays. (Plus, the tour is weak enough as it is. The last thing it needs to do is cede even more power to the Slams.) Your question is timely, too, given the Williams sisters' dubious pull-out from the Chase. Lots of folks wonder how on earth Venus isn't ranked No. 1, given that she's won two Slams. The reason is that she only played nine events (plus the Olympics) this year, not even enough to earn her bonus money from the commitment list. Serena isn't much better: She's only played 11. You're absolutely right when you say this is lethal for sponsors. Imagine what the potential sponsors for next year's year-end championship in Munich are thinking right now: Why am I going to pony up millions if the best players aren't going to show up?
Meilen Tu has been making some noise recently, when I hadn't heard from her since she beat Martina Hingis in juniors. I know she had an injury during her pro career, but do know how she is doing now? Does she have a chance to crack the top 50 or even higher? How do you rate her game?
Et Tu, Meilen? Meilen Tu, you're absolutely right, has quietly had an awfully nice year, making some headway in the rankings and scoring a number of solid wins. The top 50 is a reasonable goal. Slight of build (5-foot-4, 100 pounds), she's not the most overpowering player out there by a long shot, but she has solid groundies and moves awfully well.
I usually enjoy your Mailbag observations, apart from the Goran Ivanisevic bashing. How on earth could you not include Ivanisevic in your list of the top five servers? Granted, he is not at his best at the moment, but surely the Aceman (when he has his head together) is one of the greatest servers of all time. The sheer power and placement of his serves is breathtaking. If inconsistency is your reason, why include Marat Safin, Mark Philippoussis and Greg Rusedski?
As I recall (early onset Alzheimer's) we were talking about servers in the game today, not of all time. I wholeheartedly agree that Ivanisevic's lefty flamethrower was (is?) among the best ever. But these days, he serves about as diligently as Rachel did at Central Perk. Rim shot, please. Goran, let's not forget, was broken seven times in his last Grand Slam match against Dominik Hrbaty. Until he can start winning again, it's hard to count him among the five best servers.
Top five courts you have played, purely in terms of setting (i.e., park growing up, on a cliff overlooking the ocean, on top of a skyscraper, next to a nude beach in the south of France)?
I guess I missed the court adjacent to the nude beach in the south of France. So I'll go with.
1) A clay court in Ravello, Italy, overlooking the Mediterranean.
"But in a sport where gossip flows like beer at a Dartmouth frat house ..." Just wanted to say that I loved the comment but as a former rugby-playing member (another great sport of English origins that we have failed to take a hold of!) of a Dartmouth frat house, I am sorry to say that the beer now flows a little sparsely. The latest indignity the college administration has placed on frats is the removal of bars from frat basements. But I suppose I should say something about tennis. Any thoughts on that titan of the British game, Jamie Delgado?
See, it's not just tennis ruminations you get here at the 'Bag. You get updates on draconian Ivy League college administrations, too. Leave it to Dean Werner to remove bars from frat basements. As for Jamie Delgado, his prospects are as desiccated as the basement of the Delta House.
Since we just had Election Day, which tennis player would you be tempted to write in for president?
On Tuesday night in Philadelphia, fans of Anna Kournikova hoisted signs that read ANNA FOR PRESIDENT. (Naturally, she was quick to point out that she wasn't born in the U.S., so it was a stupid sign.) Let's make this a top-five list. And let's forget about those pesky citizenship qualifications.
1) Todd Martin. Anyone who resembles Abe Lincoln that much.
Click here to send a question or comment to Jon Wertheim's Tennis Mailbag.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
