Tennis Acumen

Non-Tennis Fans Takeaways From the 2009 US Open

PETE ZIEBRON

 

The non-tennis fan had these remarks to make following the 2009 US Open.

 

·     THAT GIRL (Melanie Oudin) did pretty well

·     Federer’s shot was spectacular

·     Serena: What will happen?

 

Melanie “THAT GIRL” Oudin backed up an impressive debut at Wimbledon with a run to the US Open Quarterfinals, defeating several top players along the way, including #4 Elena Dementieva and former #1 Maria Sharapova.  However Ms. Oudin will probably need to win much more in the near future in order to penetrate the minds of non-tennis fans.

 

After receiving a couple of “THAT GIRL did pretty well” comments from non-tennis fans, I started to take note of how many times I would hear that statement and immediately asked the follow up question of: “OK, can you tell me THAT GIRL’s name?”  Unfortunately, the field went 0 for 13 as not one person could provide me with the name Melanie Oudin.  The most common response besides “No” that I received was “That young American girl.”

 

Roger Federer chose to hit an amazing between-the-legs shot when he stood two points away from a semi-final victory over #4 Novak Djokovic.  The shot was a clean winner as a stunned Djokovic stood at the net “like the house by the side of the road and watched that one go by.”  Djokovic smiled in admiration of the shot and shook his head in disbelief.

 

The non-tennis fan was very well aware of Federer’s shot as it was replayed numerous times of many sports highlight shows.  Roger Federer, unlike Oudin has name recognition in the non-tennis world.  Even though he lost the US Open Final the day after hitting “the shot” Roger Federer will continue to enjoy name recognition in the non-tennis world going forward.

 

Another interesting event happened two points away from the conclusion of a semi-final match.  This time, the end result was not a thing of beauty.  Serena Williams unleashed a profanity littered tirade, which included threats, against a line judge who called a second serve foot fault against her.  The point gave Williams’ opponent, Kim Clijsters, a match point, however the next point was never played since Williams was defaulted from the match after receiving a point penalty at 15-40 as a result of her unsportsmanlike conduct.

 

Unfortunate.  This one word is all that is needed to describe the event that was seen and heard live by millions of viewers worldwide.

 

Non-tennis fans want to know why Serena’s fine of $10,500 is not more expensive and why she has not yet been suspended from future tournaments.  Despite the fact that Serena has millions of dollars in the bank, $10,500 is a hefty fine for most of the field.  The 274^th ranked man, American Jesse Witten, who won two rounds of the 2009 US Open and earned $48,000 for his efforts, had five college friends sleeping on the floor of his New York hotel room in order to save on expenses.  The 274^th best basketball player, football player, hockey player and baseball players in the world are making millions of dollars each year.  Not the case for a tennis player whose ranking is not in the top twenty.  Perhaps a more effective message to Serena Williams would be a suspension from the next Grand Slam, the Australian Open in January 2010.  Serena Williams currently owns 11 Grand Slam titles, one behind her idol Billie Jean King.

 

NOTE: In the 1973 Cincinnati tournament, Champion Ilie Nastase had several lengthy arguments with the chair umpire in the Singles Final.  All but $1,000 of his $9,150 prize money (singles and doubles) was withheld pending an appeal to the United States Tennis Association, which was later upheld. 

Federer Wins Cincinnati Masters, Tunes Up For US Open

PETE ZIEBRON

 

CINCINNATI - While Roger Federer and his family flew on a private jet to the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati, defending Champion Andy Murray and his team decided to drive following his win in Montreal, stating “I don't know many people that fly as much as the tennis players. I mean, by the end of year you get pretty sick of it.”  Murray opted to spend 13 hours on the road in getting to Cincinnati rather than flying for two hours and eighteen minutes.

 

Rafael Nadal used his time in Cincinnati to attempt to regain his dominant form following his knee injury and gradually increased his time on the practice court: “I need (to be) a little bit progressive and to go every day a little bit more….I practice, for example, today one hour 45 (minutes). Normally if I have one more day gonna play little bit more, two hours 30 (minutes).”

 

World #4 Novak Djokovic expounded on the fact that American Todd Martin would be joining current coach Marian Vajda on his coaching team immediately following the Cincinnati tournament, just in time for the US Open. “Todd, being two-times finalist of the Grand Slams and being top 5 player and playing….professional tennis level for a long time, makes him very experienced. I'm very, very happy, and I really look forward to it. He's got a lot of ideas and things I can improve on, a lot of things in my game.”

 

The Masters 1000 tournaments are always a treat to follow especially since so many blockbuster matches occur in the very first round of the tournament.  This year at the 2009 Western and Southern Financial Group Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, four former Top Ten players were not even able to gain automatic entry in the main draw due to the depth of talent in men’s tennis.  Ivan Ljubicic, Marcos Baghdatis, Rainer Schuttler and Nicolas Lapentti were entered into the qualifying bracket and only Ljubicic managed to win his two qualifying matches to advance.

Although the first two days of the tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Centerwere played in hot and extremely humid conditions, spectators were treated to intriguing1st round matches featuring several former Grand Slam Champions and Finalists including: Juan Carlos Ferrero v.Marian Cilic, Lleyton Hewitt v.Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez v. Tomas Berdych.  This plethora of heavyweight matches is a regular occurrence at the beginning of a Masters 1000 tournament.

 

Perhaps the most fortunate player at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters 1000 tournament was Frenchman Julien Benneteau.  During the second round of qualifying, Benneteau lost to Lukasz Kubot of Poland, a player that he defeated in qualifying the week before in Montreal.  Benneteau was the #2 seed in the qualifying draw and was rewarded exponentially when Juan Martin del Potro withdrew from Cincinnati, citing fatigue after getting to two consecutive Finals in the previous two weeks (defeating Andy Roddick in Washington and losing to Andy Murray in Montreal).  Not only was Benneteau placed into the main draw, he also inherited del Potro’s #6 seed placement, thus “earning” a first round bye.  If that wasn’t enough, Benneteau enjoyed a relatively easy draw, beating Jurgen Melzer and qualifier Mikhail Youzhny in the second and third rounds respectively.  Benneteau also took the first set from Andy Murray in the quarterfinals and was up a break in the second set before engaging in a 53 shot rally that Murray won that finally turned the tide of the match in Murray’s favor.  (Had Benneteau beaten Kubot to qualify, he would have played Jose Acasuso and if he advanced, Roger Federer was waiting in the second round.)  To say that Benneteau was a “Lucky Loser” may very well be the understatement of the 2009 tennis campaign.

 

Then on day 3, the top four players in the world played consecutively in the day session: #4 Novak Djokovic, #1 Roger Federer, #2 Andy Murray and #3 Rafael Nadal.  While Djokovic played Ivan Ljubicic on Center Court, three other battles were waged on the outside courts.  Nearly all four first sets in the opening matches on all courts went to tiebreakers, three were decided in tiebreakers and the other early match ended in a 7-5 result  Nearly four tiebreakers were played simultaneously on all courts to begin Day 3!  Djokovic defeated Ljubicic after a tight first set, Federer outclassed Jose Acasuso, Andy Murray saved a set point in the opening set against Spain’s Nicolas Almagro and Rafael Nadal managed to serve his way out of trouble against Andreas Seppi, saving batches of break points along the way.  In the night match, #5 Andy Roddick lost to countryman Sam Querrey.

 

During the next two days, Rafael Nadal managed to shake off some rust by defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu and Tomas Berdych to advance to the semifinals.  Roger Federer defeated Lleyton Hewitt, who enjoyed big victories over Robin Soderling and Sam Querrey.  Federer also came from one set down to defeat David Ferrer.  It was only the second set ever that Ferrer won from Federer in this, the ninth time that they played.  Andy Murray defeated crafty Radek Stepanek and was finally able to solve Julien Benneteau following the marathon 53 stroke rally and Novak Djokovic took out a pair of Frenchmen, upstart Jeremy Chardy and #9 Gilles Simon.

 

For only the 13^th time in the last 25 years, the top four players in the world advanced to the semifinals of a tournament.  Meanwhile, the first semifinal featuring #1 Roger Federer and #2 Andy Murray marked only the 10^th time in history that the top two players met before a Final.  Concurrently this was also the first time the #1 vs. #2 match-up occurred in an event that other than Wimbledon or the year end Championships.

 

Roger Federer convincingly ended his four match losing streak against the new world # 2 Andy Murray and in the second semi-final #4 Novak Dokovic showed that #3 Rafael Nadal still has a way to go before he can expect to compete at the level he once enjoyed.

 

In the Final, Roger Federer played scintillating tennis and claimed his 16^thMasters 1000 title and his first as a new Dad by pouncing on Novak Djokovic early and throughout the remainder of the match.  This was Federer’s third Cincinnati title.  With the loss, Djokovic fell to 0-4 in Masters 1000 Finals in 2009 and missed a rare career opportunity to join Federer, Michael Chang and Andre Agassi to become only the fourth man in history to win all four Masters 1000 tournaments that are held in North America.  As always, Federer was gracious in receiving the trophy and praised the work of longtime Tournament Directors Paul and Bruce Flory in his victory speech.

 

Federer elaborated a bit on his enjoyment of playing in Cincinnati: “I think it's sort of a quiet tournament in between the big majors we have or the big cities we sometimes have. It's nice to have it a bit more calm at times. I like that change.”  Roger Federer will move from the tranquility of Cincinnati to the bustle of New York when he attempts to win his 6^th consecutive US Open in Flushing Meadows.

 

del Potro's Triumph Resurrects Discussion of South American Tennis Venues

PETE ZIEBRON

NOTE: The following article was written after the 2007 Australian Open.  The fact that Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina won the 2009 US Open may help South America's cause in landing a Masters 1000 tournament.  Ideally, the addition of a fifth Grand Slam, played in South America would better balance the world rankings.

The question will remain, is Roger Federer the best tennis player ever?  Or is it Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova?  Time will tell if Federer will be anointed as the greatest but first he will need to win a Grand Slam played on a clay court.

However a bigger question in the sport that has not been asked is "Why isn't there a Grand Slam tournament in South America?"  The creation of a fifth Slam is indeed necessary.  Upon the conclusion of the Australian Open in late January, the world does not have an opportunity to experience Grand Slam tennis again until late May when Roland Garros begins in Paris.  What a shame.  All of the momentum gained at the "Happy Slam" in Melbourne quickly subsides as the calendar meanders in February and tennis fans must wait an additional four months until the French Open gets underway.  The last week of March would be a perfect time of the year to create a new clay court Grand Slam in either Buenos Aires or Rio de Janerio.

Why South America?  Consider the fact that 17% of men in the top 100 are from South America.  While North America, Europe and Australia enjoy a Grand Slam in their backyard, the citizens of South America have never had the opportunity to see Roger Federer play live.  Pete Sampras never played in South America, nor has Maria Sharapova.  One reason is that South America hosts only 4 of the 125 tournaments played throughout the world.

The fact that seventy-five percent of the current four Grand Slams are played on a fast surface is a big disadvantage to those whose best surface is clay.  What would hard court specialist Andy Roddick's ranking be if three of the four Slams were contested on clay?  Most likely it would be much poorer than he #3 ranking that he enjoys today.  How many Slams would Pete Sampras or John McEnroe have won on clay?  Probably only the Slams played on a surface other than clay.  Certainly the world rankings, particularly in the men's game would be better balanced as a result of a new South American Slam played on a clay surface.

Anyone who has ever attended a match played by a Chilean, Brazilian or Argentinean will tell you that the passion that South American fans bring to the court is at a fever pitch.  Similarly, a Davis Cup tie that is hosted by a South American country finally allows its mavens to cheer wildly as they support their heroes while watching world class tennis.  A Grand Slam contested in South America would be 14 days of carnival.

Quite possibly Roger Federer will win the calendar Grand Slam in 2007 or in the near future.  The addition of a fifth Grand Slam in South America played on clay would present Federer with a larger challenge.  Can he win five Slams in one year?  Can anyone?