FRIDAY, SEPT 11 – With the rain pouring down, the women’s semis and men’s quarter between Rafa Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez suspended until Saturday and the wind refusing to push the moisture back off the coast or further north, here’s some furious takes on things that went by the wayside in a very busy tournament to date.
But a quick note to Davis Cup fans: if the men’s final is pushed to Tuesday, which may or may not happen, the participation of Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Fernando Gonzalez are all risk. Davis Cup starts Sept. 18.
THE US MEN
The inspirational runs by Taylor Dent and Jesse Witten cannot mask the fact that no US men reached the quarters for the first time in the Open Era. That’s a poor result. The only guy with top 20 potential who can be happy about his tournament is John Isner, as he beat Victor Hanescu, upset Andy Roddick and then took a set off Fernando Verdasco before wearing down. With that said, Isner needs to get in better shape, so he can have enough energy to bring the sledgehammer down on the likes of Verdasco over the long haul.
Andy Roddick had to be displeased with his return game against Isner. Of course the Georgian can serve bombs, but Roddick needed to do more with his second serve returns. Roddick might end the season out of the top five and while he’ll be able to say he had a decent season, he won’t be able to call it a great one, even at the majors. BTW: for all the fine work Larry Stefanki has done with Roddick, it should be noted Stefanki’s former Student, Fernando Gonzalez, has substantially improved under Martin Rodriquez.
It might be time to waive goodbye to the elite prospects of Roddick’s veteran buddies James Blake, Mardy Fish and Robby Ginepri….I realize there are those who think that Sam Querrey’s loss to Robin Soderling wasn’t a terrible one and I would agree a bit, but it’s time for the Southern Californian to step up at a Slam, simple as that… Don’t be stunned if Querrey and Isner are Pat McEnroe’s two singles players in a Davis Cup tie next year if Roddick decides to skip another one…I too was inspired by the up from the depths stories of Witten and Dent, but they are not primetime players…I was taken aback to hear the hurt in Donald Young’s voice when he discussed the letter he received from the USTA, which told him that he needed to stop being coached (and led around by the nose) by his parents if he wanted to receive more coaching by the men in Player Development. It’s not easy for any young guy to separate from his mom, but they are only asking him to sever his coaching relationship, not his personal one, and his results say he needs to take a different tact. If Young doesn’t, he’ll likely continue to be no better than a Challenger level player.
THE OTHER MEN: Other than the big 3 (Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) men who can take positives out of the event to date are Del Potro, Cilic, Gonzalez, Soderling (although he made some bad decisions in the 4th set breaker against Roger) and JC Ferrero. But Fernando Verdasco needs to add more variety to his game (not his social life), Radek Stepanek needs to step inside the court more (and so does his flailing GF, Nicole Vaidisova), Nikolay Davydenko has to finds a way to stay healthy , Lleyton Hewitt needs to get a reality check, Gael Monfils needs to his lungs checked, Jo Tsonga needs a lesson in court management and Nicolas Almagro needs to spend more time off clay.
Mal Tamm Name your Eastern Euro Disaster.The US Women
Melanie Oudin’s run didn’t come out of nowhere, but she surprisingly beat three high quality Russians (Dementieva, Sharapova, and Petrova) before Wozniacki out-steadied her. The way that “Caro” played her will be the book on Mel for the rest of the season: play hard to her backhand, go up high to her forehand, and pound her down the center. But Oudin will adjust because she’s a super hard worker and pretty open-minded. She does need a lot of work on her serve though, but she’s only 17 and in three years, it could be Henin-esque.
Before going into the other US players, how about this comment from Serena Williams via Fed Cup? Serena has played all of seven matches in four ties of the 22 potential ties she could have competed in the past decade. She hasn’t competed for the US since 2007 and has played only one important singles match in her career, against Rita Grande on clay in Italy in 1999.
So is she happy that Oudin, who keyed the US win in Arizona on hardcourts, has become a player to watch out for. You better believe it because now, if she doesn’t want to play the final against Italy she’ll be able to tell captain Mary Joe Fernandez something to the effect of ‘but you have Melanie and Alexa Glatch (who keyed the US’s win over the Czechs). Why do I have to play?’
So as not be misinterpreted, here are Serena’s quotes from the other day, with relevant passages highlighted on Fed Cup
Q. What are your observations on Melanie Oudin’s run here and how she’s dealt with everything?
SERENA: I think she’s doing great. It’s been my joy watching her play. It’s been exciting, especially for American tennis.”
Q. Why is it your joy? If you could elaborate, why has it been your joy?
SERENA: Because now I don’t have to have so much pressure on Fed Cup all the time.”
Q. Have you made a decision as to whether you’ll play Fed Cup?
SERENA WILLIAMS: I plan on playing as of now. You never know what happens at the end of the year, but I’ve always planned on playing once you know, whenever I can.”
As good as Oudin was at the USO, she and Glatch cannot be expected to beat the likes of Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone on dirt, November 7-8 in Reggio Calabria, Italy. The team needs Serena, who is not only the country’s best player, but it’s best clay court player by a long shot.
Quickly to the other US women at the USO:
Vania King scored a nice win over Sam Stosur, but then was crushed by Daniela Hantuchova. She’s still a work in progress, but can take hope. Glatch had a tough draw against Serena, and so did Bethanie Mattek-Sands against Venus, and Christina McHale against Sharapova. Shenay Perry qualified, but then was run out K. Bondarenko. And Venus? At this point, I can’t see her winning a Slam off grass. I’ve picked her to win the Aussie and US Open’s so many times and she’s come up short. Maybe if I go the opposite way, she’ll come through. But don’t tell me she’s not a half a step slower now.
THE OTHER WOMEN: Outside of the semifinalists, those who had positive tournaments include Kateryna Bondarenko (love the tattoo), Petra Kvitova (although she needs to get in better shape), Yaroslava Shvedova, Shahar Peer, Na Li, Elena Vesnina and Flavia Pennetta.
Numerous seeds had downer tournaments, including Sharapova (mechanical trouble), Azarenka (temper trouble and lack of variety), Zvonareva (crazily mental and lack of fitness due to injuries), Dementieva (mental and lack of proper motivation) , Ivanovic (mental and technical and Oh My…), Stosur (mental via lack of self belief), Jankovic (completely mental) Safina (totally mental) and Kuznetsova (weirdly mental) All in all, it was the worst tournament for Eastern Europe in what, a decade?
Also, it’s too bad the promising Sabine Lisicki was hurt again and in the case of another slightly injured player, Sania Mirza, if she’s going to accept being double-bageled by Pennetta, she’s never going to be a top-30 player again.
© TennisReporters.net 2009
