JUST A SLIGHT EXAGGERATION: Justin Gimelstob said John Isner had a great advantage “by being 42 feet tall.”
THE TALL AND SHORT OF IT: During the clash between 6-foot-9 John Isner and 6—foot-4 Gael Monfils, Chris Fowler noted, “If you want to feel short, just walk around a tennis tournament these days.”
WHAT’S MORE OUTRAGEOUS?: That Serena and Venus Williams, who won the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles titles last year and are now going for their 12th doubles Slam, are not seeded No. 1? That the great and wondrous Justine Henin (she of ONLY six Slams) isn’t seeded at all? That Elena Dementieva had to face Henin in the second round? That Henin has never lost in the third round of a major (she has 25 W’s)? Or that so many fabulous players (Henin, Clijsters, Dementieva and Kuznetsova) were crammed into the power quarter of the women’s draw?
DUST IN THE WIND: Mary Carillo noted, “In the absence of Kim and Justine (Sharapova was out for a while, too), so many players had a chance to step up, and they just couldn’t do it…For instance, I think someone like Dementieva had a chance to win something in the last couple of years, and now Clijsters and Henin are back. Now the window is closed.”
MIXING IT UP: Andy Roddick said it took him less than a minute to know he wanted to play the 2012 Olympics mixed doubles with Serena. (The duo should make quite an imposing pair.
DISS OF THE DAY:
Commentator I: “There are some who feel Feliciano Lopez has the worst backhand of any top 20 player ever?”
Commentator II: “Who thinks that?”
Commentator I: “Well, Jimmy Arias.”
Commentator II: “Well he didn’t have great backhand either.”
COMEBACK BUZZ: Everyone is talking about comebacks these days. And many a tennis great, aside from Henin and Clijsters, have crafted curious comebacks [think Navratilova, Borg, Capriati, Hingis, Becker, etc.). But there have never been back-to-back comebacks in back-to-back slams like Henin and Clijsters. BTW: Outside of tennis, some fairly decent players have fashioned comebacks: say Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky, Lance Armstrong and some Packers QB – whoops, we mean Jets quarterback…whoops, we mean Vikings QB, named Brett Favre.
WHAT’S THIS?: A patient Andy Roddick hitting plenty of one-handed backhands and admitting that he was not exactly right during an on-court rant? On top of all this, he’s hanging out in the ESPN broadcast booth, yakking it up and showing one and all that he could someday be an adept commentator.
MATHEMATICAL CORRELATION: Is it really true these days that the better Belgian women’s tennis gets (Clijsters won the USO, and Henin and Wickmayer are still in the AO draw), the worse Serbaian tennis gets? (The once-No. 1 divas Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jokovic are both gone.)
SHOUT LOUD THE OBVIOUS: After Mary Carillo noted that Justine Henin really gets down low on her volleys, Pam Shriver said the feisty 5-foot-6 wonder “is ALWAYS down.”
MARTINA NAVRATILOVA’S FAVORITE PLAYER TO WATCH: Justine Henin.
MIRROR IMAGE: For the second time in three days, the AO featured simultaneous matches of Henin going up against a tough Russian while an American icon dramatically battled a Spanish speaking star: i.e. Henin edging Dementieva just as Juan Martin Del Potro was barely edging James Blake in five compelling sets. On Thursday, a seemingly beaten Henin came back to beat the young, emerging Russian Alisa Kleybanova and Roddick patiently turned back the onslaught of Spaniard Feliciano Lopez.
GO FIGURE: Roddick has never lost a match at a major when his first serve percentage was over 72 percent.
MOST POLITE COMMENTARY: During a review of her tennis bag, Sania Mirza said apologetically, “Sorry if it is untidy.”
WHAT WAS THAT?: Isner’s filthy-good second serve bouncing over and out of reach of 6-foot-4 Monfils. Roddick says Isner has the best serve in the game (since he backs up his serve better than Ivo Karlovic), and others say he has the best second serve, too.
MOST CURIOUS SCORELINE: We thought Del Potro’s scoreline (6-3, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5 over Florian Mayer) was curious – then Nadia Petrova shocked Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-1.
SURPRISE PARTY: Reflecting Justine’s game, Mary Carillo observed, “All these shots, all the variety of Henin, is going to be an unwelcome surprise to all these players who have just been facing power.”
VISUAL TEASE OF THE YEAR: ESPN told Roddick what he should be doing Down Under via a clever montage of Andy’s expletive-filled tantrum juxtaposed to Australia’s famous, laid-back, no-worries-mate lifestyle. The copy for the visual: “Why are you so angry? This is the land of no worries. Just play the game. We know you’ve got a lot to prove, but you have the serve, you have the style. Andy Roddick at the happy Slam. Smile for the cameras. Baby, it’s got to be you.”
O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!: Roddick may not be playing Davis Cup in 2010, but Patrick McEnroe told the Texan that he would be the U.S. captain in the future. Said PMac, “One day you’ll be in that seat, Andy.” Roddick said that it would be an honor.
