| ON THE TOUR: SEPTEMBER 2008 |
Look Out for the New No. 1s
Nadal and Jankovic (!!!) Take Over
THE MEN
Roger Federer has heard Rafael Nadal’s thunderous footsteps approaching his No. 1 ranking for three years now, but up until the Spaniard stopped him a thrilling five-setter in the Wimbledon final, the Swiss was able to manage a final burst of energy in the final lap and end the year in the top spot.
Not now, as after the Spaniard won the Toronto Masters and reached the Cincy semis, where Novak Djokovic finally stopped his incredible 34-match winning streak. Longtime No. 2 Nadal became No. 1 for the first time in his career the week of Aug. 18 and more than earned the honor, as he has beat down both young and talented and old and wise alike.
“I was playing incredible, maybe my best set in my life,” said Richard Gasquet after a 6-7(12), 6-2, 6-1 loss to Nadal in Toronto. “But you have to win two sets to beat him. He never misses. He’s like that all the match. You have to play so aggressive...He’s the best player in the world for me, and it will be really hard for one player to beat him.”
Isn’t it Federer that Gasquet is supposed to be talking about, the prematurely ordained greatest-of-all-time who had rung up a remarkable 12 Slam titles at the age of 26 after winning the ‘07 U.S. Open? You know the guy - silky smooth mover, phenomenal forehand, artistic backhand, smart and authoritative server, quick-handed returner, competent volleyer, nails-tough at closing time. But that’s not the Federer that fans the world over have seen this year. Outside of his often-spectacular play at Wimbledon, where, by the way, Nadal outgunned him at twilight, he’s been a tad mediocre. Just how many losses to good-but-not-great players does he have to take before he admits to himself that his tennis has been sub par and that he’s in a legitimate slump?
It’s one thing to lose to Djokovic in the Aussie Open semis, or to Nadal at the French Open and Wimbledon, but how do you explain losses to Mardy Fish, Radek Stepanek, the previously unheralded Frenchman Gilles Simon in Toronto and then Ivo Karlovic (whom he was 6-0 record against) at Cincy? It’s simple - he doesn’t trust his shots like he used to and, therefore, is undergoing major bouts of sloppy play.
“It’s important to stay positive,” Federer said. “It’s not the end of the world. [But] Rafa deserves the credit, because first he had to defend his No. 2 ranking against Djokovic in Hamburg. Since then he’s been on a winning streak. But had he lost that semifinal, he would be No. 3 in the world, which now looks crazy, right?”
Right. Nadal has never been a great hard-court player, partly because, after his incredible French Open-Wimbledon stretches, he often suffered injuries and was unable to strut his best stuff the rest of the year. But if Toronto is any indication, this season might be different. When he was called on to play defense, he did so with a swarming attack. When he was asked to play offense, he hit the holes with a fury.
“He’s definitely doing a lot of things better than he was in the past,” Murray said. “He’s moving better on hard courts, and he’s changing the pace of the ball a little more and not playing so far behind the baseline. He’s hitting the ball a bit harder and trying to serve bigger.”
Murray is soon to enter the top five, as the sometimes cantankerous Scot won his first ATP Masters Series crown with a 7-6(4), 7-6(5) victory over No. 3 Djokovic in Cincy, which, BTW, was just purchased by the USTA. Murray, who played a composed, heady and aggressive match, now looks as good as any player with the exception of Nadal to raise a new trophy - at the U.S. Open.
“Federer isn’t playing as well as he was, but he’s been unbelievable for the last five years,” said Murray, who moved to a career-high No. 6. “It was always going to happen. It happens in every sport. When someone sets the bar so high, guys find a way of creeping up behind you.”
ATP Lunches on Hamburg
The ATP Tour administration can breath easily, at least until new player council reps Federer, Nadal and Djokovic get some free time on their hands and begin to redesign the tour structure. A Delaware court ruled out the German Tennis Federation’s contention that the tour’s downgrading the Master Series tournament in Hamburg violated anti-trust laws. Had the Germann won the case, they would have completely derailed the ATP’s plan to restructure its calendar and would have essentially stripped it of its authority.
“Both the jury and judge have recognized and upheld our fundamental right to set and make changes to the ATP Tour calendar, changes that are necessary if we’re to unlock the full potential of our sport,” said ATP CEO Etienne de Villiers. “ These are exciting times for men’s tennis with the ATP set to unveil the largest set of changes to the tour since its inception in 1990. The 2009 ATP Tour will deliver record prize money to players, provide unprecedented amounts of investment into new and existing stadia, vastly increase the promotion of the sport, and see increased support from sponsors. Finally we will have the world class your our players, tournaments and fans deserve.”
A new men’s Masters Series tournament in Madrid (which will combine with the women) will take Hamburg’s spot in ‘09. Hamburg may appeal the decision.
THE WOMEN
As Dinara Safina continued to show that she’s the woman to watch heading into the U.S. Open by taking her second straight title with a 6-2 6-1 whitewash of Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova in Montreal, Jelena Jankovic celebrated her first day as the premature No. 1.
Amazingly, the news arrived on Saturday, a day after she had lost her quarterfinal in Montreal and presumably, a chance at No. 1. The upside-down ‘08 schedule has played havoc with statisticians, who have had to run and re-run the rankings points on a daily basis. Somehow, someway, after Jankovic had reached the Montreal quarters (where she lost to Cibulkova) and with current No. 1 Ana Ivanovic already out of the tournament, the fact wasn’t realized until a day later, and then JJ (as she now calls herself) was forced to raise her index finger to the sky after seven weeks of play where she hasn’t even reached a semi. She narrowly (by just eight points) became No. 1 the week of Aug. 11, replacing Ivanovic, who held No. 1 for nine weeks.
Truth be told, there have been few bright spots this year for the new Serbian queen, who became the first player to ascend to the top spot without having reached a Slam final. Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo, who both rose to No. 1 without having won a Slam (they later did), were more successful players than Jankovic was when eyebrows were raised with their ascensions.
Over the course of the past year, Jankovic has only won one title (Rome). But she has reached three other finals at ‘07 Toronto, ‘07 Beijing and ‘08 Miami, as well as six semis, including the Aussie Open and Roland Garros.
Jankovic became No. 1 because (despite her constant complaining about being hurt or sick) she has played five more tournaments than anyone in the top five. “Since I was a young girl, it’s been my dream and every player’s dream to become No. 1, and by achieving that, you take the monkey off your back,” Jankovic told IT in L.A. “When you get older, at least one day you can say you were No. 1 and no one can take that away from you. You are in history and it’s a great achievement. But I would also like to win a Grand Slam, to take that step forward and go to the next level,” Jankovoc said.
So would the newly mentally and physically fit Safina, who passed Venus Williams for a career-high ranking of No. 7. Playing a final for the fifth time in her last six events, Safina never broke a sweat against the clearly mentally overwhelmed teen Cibulkova. With the title, Safina clinched first place in the U.S. Open Series.
It would have been nice for fans of the U.S. Open Series to watch the tour’s glitter elite - Maria Sharapova, Venus, Serena and Ivanovic - contest Stanford, L.A. and Montreal in succession, but Serena hurt her knee at Stanford; Ivanovic showed up in Montreal with an injured thumb; Venus didn’t show up anywhere due to alleged case of right knee tendonitis; and now Sharapova, one of the tour’s biggest draws, could be done for the year.
After examining her MRIs at the Westchester Airport, shoulder specialist Dr. David Altchek discovered that she has a torn rotator cuff (right shoulder). The Russian was forced to pull out of the Olympics, U.S. Open and will be out the next two to three months.
“[Altchek] does not believe that I need surgery and is sending me to work with a specialist to do extensive rehab and strength work,” said Sharapova, who first re-injured her shoulder at Indian Wells in March when stretching for a backhand. Altchek also told her that the injury could have dated back as far as her fourth round victory over Tatiana Golovin at the ‘06 U.S. Open, However, she did go on to win the title. After that though, Sharapova’s shoulder never quite healed and it has only been consistent cortisone injections that have kept her from playing without severe pain. “Altchek actually couldn’t believe that I’ve been playing this long with this injury. You can imagine that I was not very thrilled to hear that my medical team didn’t see this tear in my shoulder back in April. The good news is that it didn’t get much worse, but we could have started the healing time back then instead of now.”
Indian Wells Saga Trails On
The Williams sisters’ Indian Wells’ saga continues. The WTA approved new rules at Wimbledon, which state that players who withdraw from one of the tour’s five super-premier events (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Beijing and the WTA Championships) will face fines, as well as a two-tournament ban at the next two premier events unless they perform promotional activities. The Williams sisters haven’t played Indian Wells since ‘01, as they claim they were victims of racism. Serena reiterated in July that she won’t return regardless of the penalty. “Some things you have to stand up for,” Serena told Doug Robson. “There’s been a lot of people in the past that are my race that have stood up for a lot more than not playing Indian Wells. That’s the least I can do.”
WTA CEO Larry Scott, who is particularly close to Venus, told IT that there will be no “Williams Exception,” and if they don’t play Indian Wells, they might be forced to miss Miami and Madrid if they can’t satisfy the tour’s request to perform substantial promotional activities within a 125-mile radius of the event (which, by the way, is close to the distance between Serena’s Beverly Hills home and Indian Wells). “I promise you the promotion won’t be meaningless and will be significant,” Scott said.
On Court Coaching Suspended
While Sharapova’s season died a quick death, the WTA’s two-year experiment with on court coaching appears to be dying slowly, as it was suspended indefinitely after Wimbledon. The controversial initiative, which was never tried out by the Slams, elicited strong reactions from the players both for and against “I’m for it but they wanted more opinions,” WTA Player Council rep Patty Schnyder told IT. “The results weren’t convincing enough and some of the younger players don’t know what they want, so we need more time to see how they feel. Most players liked it, but when it comes to putting the rule down, they were undecided.”
© 2008 INSIDE TENNIS All rights reserved.
All photographs, text and graphics, appearing on the Inside Tennis web
site are protected by copyright.
Any republication, retransmission or reproduction or other use is prohibited
without express written permission of Inside Tennis.
