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Future Davis Cup captains
Updated: Monday May 14, 2001 2:37 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim will answer your tennis questions every Monday. Click here to send a question. Random jottings: How overrated is Andy Roddick? I mean, the guy didn't even win a tournament last week. ... By falling to Amelie Mauresmo in the Berlin semis, Martina Hingis lost a match to her sixth different opponent in 2001. Hard to blame Hingis for staying healthy, playing lots of tournaments and taking advantage of the system. But has the top-ranked player in women's tennis ever been less feared? ... I'm starting to think Marcelo Rios might not be invited to the next Rome policemen's ball. ... With the French Open just weeks away, hurry aboard the Juan Carlos Ferrero bandwagon while seats are still available. ... When was the last time we saw Lindsay Davenport's name in the sports pages? ... The rumor mill is disgorging Harold Solomon's name as a darkhorse candidate to become the next CEO of the WTA Tour. A Rochus- sized ( Christophe or Olivier? Take your pick) mailbag this week. Sorry. Blame the Charlotte Hornets for siphoning my time ...
After the Patrick McEnroe era comes to a close, which current player do you see as a future U.S. Davis Cup captain? I like Todd Martin, with Andre Agassi as a longshot.
Jeez, Pat McEnroe* takes a JV team to Switzerland, loses one tie and you're already looking for successors. First, I think this McEnroe is in for the long haul. He's genuinely interested in developing talent and didn't take the job with delusions of recruiting Agassi and Pete Sampras. Also, while he may not have his brother's virtuoso hands or feel around the net, he plays politics a whole lot better. Martin is definitely future captain material, as is Jim Courier. Both, in fact, were allegedly among those considered to replace John McEnroe. Agassi seems to have taken a genuine interest in being a wise head for younger players. But he simply doesn't have the constitution to be captain nor the patience to the deal with the USTA. *Is it me or is P-Mac way too cloying a nickname?
Have you seen the new Pete Sampras One-a-Day vitamin commercial? What do you think about it?
As Chris Rock once said about Tori Spelling: "I've seen better acting in Tough-Actin' Tinactin." Actually, I haven't seen the commercial. But for a long time now, I've been looking for an excuse to use that quote.
Since you've covered the Bucks recently, which one would make the best player on the tennis court?
All those NBA pantywaists play golf, not tennis. But I would part with big bucks, no pun intended, to hear Sam Cassell go at it with a chair umpire.
OK, I'll bite. Why isn't Mats Wilander considered in the same league as John McEnroe? Is being obnoxious all that important?
Insofar as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open are considered the two most prestigious events, McEnroe won them seven times combined, while Wilander won only the U.S. Open once and three of his seven majors came against a diluted field Down Under. Furthermore, Mac gets points for doubles excellence and for winning more than twice as many career titles as Mad Mats. Still, I stand by the larger point: There are considerations beyond match results and trophy stashes that determine a player's legacy.
I know he's only 18 and I hate to let a little air out of the Andy Roddick bandwagon. However, during that semifinal in Houston, I thought he was kind of a jerk to the officials and the chair ump. This guy is neither Pete Sampras nor Boris Becker at the same age. Your thoughts? Also, you made a De La Soul reference sometime ago; don't you think that Tribe Called Quest had more talent and a greater impact on hip-hop?
No doubt Roddick has a petulant streak. Apparently he went ballistic in Kalamazoo, Mich., a few years ago, and I've seen him chuck his racket like a boomerang when he's missed shots. But cut the kid some slack: He's 18, and the same fire and competitive instincts manifest themselves when he's serving out a match against Sampras. Instead of using Sampras and Becker as your benchmarks for protocol, compare Roddick to Lleyton Hewitt. What's more, after the rain-delayed Houston semifinal match you cite, Roddick offered to buy the few remaining fans tickets to the final. People will remember that gesture a lot longer than they will any heat-of-the-moment braying at the chair. As for Tribe Called Quest, here's the, here's the, here's the scenario: Low End Theory is a classic disc, arguably the best hip-hop album of all time. You wish they had followed it up with something a little stronger but, you're right, Tribe is to the likable-but-frothy De La Soul what Sampras is to Goran Ivanisevic. (Besides, you have to respect a group that incorporates Scott Skiles' name into its lyrics.)
What's the scouting report on that wiry Meghann Shaughnessy? Reaching the finals of Hamburg was a good accomplishment, despite getting dusted 6-0 by a very "on" Venus Williams. Plus, didn't she give someone a rough time at last year's U.S. Open? Does she have top-10 potential? Also, for all the unpronounceable Younes El Aynaouis of the tennis world, there are players that I root for just because I like saying their names, like Sjeng Schalken and Mahesh Bhupathi. So a top five: your favorite tennis names.
Shaughnessy has quietly made great headway this year and is fast encroaching on the top 20. The dope: Her forehand is her bread-and-butter shot, backhand needs work, volleys are fast improving. (In fact, she won the doubles with Els Callens in Berlin last weekend.) She's a serial trainer who thinks nothing of hitting for six hours a day or going back on the court after a match. She's at her best on hard surfaces, but her coach/fiancé Rafael Font de Mora is a Spaniard and has taught her the nuances of clay. Top 10 is pushing it; she needs to add muscle and one worries that she is a prime candidate for overworking her body. But no doubt she's a player to watch. I've always thought Younes El Aynaoui needed to get together with Markus Hipfl, Markus Hantschk and David Rikl and swap some vowels for some consonants. Other great names:
1. Maria José Martinez Sanchez (any other names you'd like to add while you're at it?)
What happened to Natasha Zvereva? I have not seen nor heard about her at all this year. Has she retired quietly or what?
First, congrats on Mitchell's own Mike Miller taking NBA Rookie of the Year honors. And we thought South Dakota basketball had peaked with Eric Piatkowski. As for Zvereva, there are occasional sightings in random doubles draws from time to time. But she's living, I believe, in Newport Beach, Calif., and is, for all intents, retired. Since you brought it up, tennis players are almost as bad as boxers in terms of murky retirements. Because they don't lose their points until 52 weeks after an event, many players who have informally called it quits still have reasonable rankings. Then they get the itch to play again, realize they are still ranked sufficiently high enough so that they can enter a main draw, and jump back on tour. Says here Zvereva will pop up at the L.A. event.
If the French Open chose to weight its seedings based on clay-court performance, would Gustavo Kuerten, Alex Corretja, et al. drop their demands for Wimbledon to change its seeding system? In other words, do these players honestly believe in the absolute value of the year-long rankings or are they just upset that only one Slam, on their worst surface, alters its seedings?
Excellent question. At the risk of beating a deceased equine, all Slams ought to take surface into account and seed players accordingly. Ferrero will be justified in his outrage when he sees that he is seeded lower than Sampras at Roland Garros. I can't speak for Kuerten and Corretja, but if I'm them, my beef is with the French Tennis Federation. Not with Wimbledon. FINALLY, Jane Anderson of L.A. has cleared up our casting question regarding When Billie Beat Bobby. "With regards to the mild controversy in your column about whether Dodo Cheney made a cameo appearance in the TV movie When Billie Beat Bobby, I can set the record straight, as I'm the writer-director of the piece. The sprightly octogenarian wielding a racket against Bobby Riggs was Peggy Kerr, who wandered over to the set at the Los Angeles Tennis Club while we were shooting the sequence. I knew Peggy and had seen her whack a few balls with great precision -- she still has a wicked slice. My apologies to Ms. Cheney for not also including her in the film, but I believe her haunt is down near San Diego, which was outside of our filming zone. Ah, well, maybe next time." Have a great week, everyone.
Click here to send a question or comment to Jon Wertheim.
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