THE WRAP: Day Two – Public Buses, Private Memories
THE BEST DAY IN RECENT MEMORY: It may not be the dawning of the Age of the age of Aquarius, but U.S. women had a couple of great days coming out of the French Open gate. Okay, they may not be dancing in the suburban streets of White Plains, New York (the home of the USTA), but these were two splendid days for the Red, White and Blue in an era when American tennis too often has been singing the blues. The usual drill has been that Andy Roddick or maybe the Williams sisters were the lone Americans in the second weeks of Slams. And sometimes no Americans even made it that far. And that could happen at this year’s Roland Garros. But in balmy Paris there is hope in American hearts.
Not only did veterans Venus Williams, Vania King and Bethanie Mattek-Sands prevail in the opening round, but seven other young Americans also won. Of the ten, five have California connections: Williams, King, Sands, Sloane Stephens and Alexa Glatch. Three were Georgians: Melanie Oudin, Irina Falconi and Sands. One was from Ohio, Lauren Davis, and three are training with the USTA at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York: Oudin, Christina McHale and Varvara Lepchenko. The Uzbekistan native said that America had a great team right now and that it helped to have coaches like Pat and John McEnroe who have been on the tour. She said PMac had helped her in a myriad of ways: on her forehand, on her service toss and on not rushing. “It’s amazing what he can pick up from just watching for a moment.”
For now American fans will be watching to see what emerges from these young guns. Sloane Stephens was more than confident. She assured us that, “In 10 years I better have won this [Roland Garros] one time at least, otherwise I will be one unhappy camper.”
She added that, “The more media catches on to it, they’re like ‘Oh, they’re really doing something. We’re not all lazy and don’t do anything … Since last year we’ve made like a big push.”
The opening two days at Roland Garros were just a brief window on the future (and Serena and Julie Hampton haven’t played yet.) Among the young Americans there is great desire, an emerging (and important) team spirit and great depth. Still there isn’t a “can’t miss” fresh-faced phenom in the statospheric tradition of teen greats like Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Jennifer Capriati and the Williams. Still, in terms of the future of American women’s tennis, this was the best day in recent memory.
AZARENKA AVOIDS DISASTER: The wrap on women’s tennis was that, for years, there has been no dominant player. Wonderful talents – Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina and the darling Dane, Caroline Wozniacki – rose to No. 1 but failed to reign notably or even win a Grand Slam.
Enter Victoria Azarenka – a loud talent with a loud shriek – who had good size, vital youth, unquestioned dedication and power groundies. The six-foot Belarus talent rose through the ranks and then stunned Maria Sharapova to win the Australian Open and to become No. 1 again. She then kept on winning – 26 matches in a row. She was on fire. Fools compared her run to Novak Djokovic’s 41-match streak in 2011. Azarenka beat Sharapova again to claim the BNP Paribas crown in Indian Wells before she came down to earth in Miami. She then lost to Sharapova in the Stuggart final and to Serena in the Madrid final before withdrawing early in the Italian Open.
Still going into Roland Garros, the No. 1 player in the world was one of the favorites. But even before the good French folks could finish their Monday morning banquette, disaster reared it’s head when Alberta Brianti, a little known Italian ranked No. 105, won the first set tiebreak and swept to a 7-6 (6), 4-0 lead in the second, just two games from a shock victory.
Simply put, Azarenka was terrible. Flailing on her shots, her forehand flew and her backhand went off. Out of sync, she rushed like a junior. Hands on hips, she was adrift.
Once again it seemed that a woman’s Grand Slam champion would struggle after winning on the big stage. Sam Stosur, Petra Kvitova, Li Na and Kim Clijster had all faltered at follow up Slams after great triumphs. Now Azarenka was on the brink. But, if nothing else, all great champions have to weather horrific storms and at crunch time, Brianti clearly lacked belief. The Italian gifted Azarenka points and Azarenka hit a huge (“what the heck, just blast it”) second serve ace on the line in the spirit of Novak Djokovic’s return of serve at last year’s U.S. Open and then stormed on, winning six straight games as she went on to survive 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2.
After the match, when asked about her astounding 60 errors, Azarenka said, “I think it says it all. Bad days happen … The first match, they’re not easy. But in the end of the day I still won, I manage to go through those 60 mistakes … If it would be 60 winners and I would lose … that would suck a little bit more … Before [in my career] maybe I would just give up and go home. I was kind of thinking there was a flight straight to Minsk around 3:00 tomorrow so I could catch that, but I didn’t want to leave too soon … It was a good test, that’s for sure.” And Azarenka’a win was a big test (and a big relief) for the women’s tour which would like to see it’s best young player and it’s No. 1 ranked star stick around and be in the mix at crunch time.
FISH’S HEART SCARE
Even world class athletes can be stricken by serious maladies. Just ask Venus Williams who suffers from Sjogren’s syndrome. Now it’s Mardy Fish’s turn. The top American male tennis player told USA TODAY that his unexplained medical condition that has kept him sidelined since early April was a heart condition in which he would wake at night and discover that his heart was racing. Fish said it has been “ so scary.” Doctors said his condition was a form of arrhythmia. “It felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest … During days, I’m totally fine,” Fish told Doug Robson. “I can track it and work out fine. But every time I would go to bed my mind would start racing. Is this going to happen tonight? Is this going to be another night like that? It was super hard to go to sleep.”
In Miami in April his heart raced at a rate of 170-180 beats per minute and he was hospitalized. Earlier this month, the recently retired Ivan Ljubicic criticized Fish for not playing the European clay circuit. Roddick called Ljubicic’s critique “irresponsible” and Fish himself sent the Croat a note, which he later deleted: “Some of us aren’t skipping tournaments bc we want to. Do ur homework before u make dumb generalized comments.”
This Wednesday Fish underwent a two hour procedure at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai hospitable near his Beverly Hills home. Doctors used chemicals to induce palpitations and now Fish, who had a banner year in 2011 hopes to play Wimbledon. “Look,” said Mardy , “I’m still in the top 10 and still the No. 1 American. This is still a very fun time for me. I don’t want to sit on my ass while I’m 10 in the world.”
PUBLIC BUSES, PRIVATE MEMORIES – DJOKOVIC REMEMBERS HIS GRANDFATHER: When IT asked Novak Djokovic to recall his grandfather Vladimir, who passed away recently, the No. 1 said, “He meant a lot to me, personally and to all the family, because he took my father, my uncle and aunt from where they lived to Belgrade, the capital city, and made a lot of things possible for my family, for my father. Then, after that, my father took over … I was very fortunate to be given an opportunity to succeed in what I really loved … He was always a big support to all the family and to me especially …. [I had] a very special relationship with that man because when I was not with my parents, I was with him.
Sometimes you have that special relationship with your grandparents more than with your parents, because your parents always judge you and grandparents allow you to do anything you like. So, yeah, very nice memories … We used to go together on public transportation to practices. I remember those days. We had lots of fun in those public buses.”
WHACKY DIALOGUE OF THE DAY: After Azarenka survived in the first round, a not so aware French reporter and Victoria had the following curious dialogue
Q: I haven’t seen the match, but I heard that 5‑Love in the second set
AZARENKA: You heard wrong. It was 4‑Love.
Q. No? 4‑Love?
AZARENKA: 4‑0.
Q. 4‑Love. The ball for 5‑Love, you sure?
AZARENKA: The ball for 5‑Love?I heard that you hit a line with your second serve.
AZARENKA: I’m lucky.That’s the answer.
A:You are lucky. I think it’s the perfect answer. You’re lucky. Thanks.
AZARENKA: Yeah.
RIVALRY MATTERS: Jimmy Connors is fond of saying that there should be far more spit and vinegar in the Federer-Nadal rivalry, that basically they should be bitter, in-your-face rivals just like he and McEnroe were. Well today, after Roger tied Connors mark of 233 wins in majors, Federer said Connors was distant towards him and then gave evidence of his rivalry with Rafa, saying that Connors was “much closer to Nadal than to me. Maybe that’s the reason.”
A LOST GOAL: The promising, but volatile, Ryan Harrison vowed to go through the year without a code violation. His vow went down the drain (almost literally) when the racket he tossed (after losing the second set to Giles Simon) went into a pit behind Courte Centrale and he received a code violation.
PAINFUL POINT: After four hours-plus of play Russian-American Alex Bogomolov Jr. was one point from losing when he decided he’d had enough due to painful cramps. He lost to France’s Arnaud Clement 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 5-4.
JOYOUS DAYS IN PARIS: John Isner said, “It’s Paris in general. The atmosphere is wonderful and the feeling is fantastic. It’s not just Roland Garros, it’s the whole city.”
