Bill Simons
In the old days, disrespecting women’s tennis was a pastime. Promoter Jack Kramer was hardly an advocate of equal pay. And Arthur Ashe wasn’t exactly a WTA cheerleader.
Worse yet, Pat Cash was ridiculous, claiming, “Women’s tennis is two sets of rubbish that lasts only half an hour.” More recently, Rafa suggested that, “Women should earn more if they generate more.”
But, guess what? These days, women’s tennis is generating a lot. An old phrase (which manages to express feminism in a sexist way) comes to mind: “You’ve come a long way, baby!”
Simply put, today’s two sublime semis showcased four incredible women athletes: the powerful veterans Madison Keys and Aryna Sabalenka and two fleet wonders. Two-time BNP Paribas Open champion Iga Swiatek was on a ten-match Indian Wells winning streak, and the 17-year-old pride of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Mirra Andreeva, brought to mind the notable fact that no other sport has had as many teenage phenoms.
Young Chrissie Evert, Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger had fabulous wins decades ago. Serena took the 1999 US Open at 19. Seventeen-year-old Maria Sharapova lifted the Wimbledon trophy in 2004.
When it comes to extraordinary results by teens, some recall that 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati had so much sizzle that a clever journalist renamed the WTA circuit, “The Virginia Slims of Capriati.” Back in 1997, 16-year-old Martina Hingis became the youngest woman to ever win a Slam and she won all five of her major trophies before she turned 20. But that was nothing: as a teen, Monica Seles captured eight Slams, and then Steffi Graf outdid her. The future Mrs. Andre Agassi won an amazing ten Slams as a teen. In 1988, at age 19, she claimed the rare Golden Slam: four majors and the Olympic Gold.
The edgy teen Anna Kournikova was on the cover of many a magazine and at the heart of lots of advertising campaigns. The most curious one was when she was featured on dozens of billboards in London promoting sports bras.
More recently, Madison Keys beat Serena when she was 14. Coco Gauff was 15 when she beat Venus at Wimbledon, and 19 when she won the US Open – the same age Iga was when she claimed her first Grand Slam.
Still, since the days of Seles, Graf and Hingis, no teen has really dominated the WTA. But clearly, Mirra Andreeva is a player apart.
As if on cue, facing Swiatek today, Andreeva went up 5-4. But the Pole fought back, and the opening set went to a tiebreak. The Russian quickly blasted four beautiful backhands to break out in front. While Iga got chippy with her friend’s box and asked the umpire to turn down the LED lights, Mirra turned it on. She adeptly read Iga’s groundies to dominate the tiebreaker 7-1.
As Iga went off court to reset, the Russian calmly read her journal. For the first time in 20 straight sets, Iga had come up short. Returning to the court, the 23-year-old veteran, who’s been No. 1 for 125 weeks, seemed to say, “Hey, kid, I know you beat me a couple of weeks ago in Dubai. But I’m Iga. I’ve won twice here. Just watch me, now.”
The Pole was on fire, and as Mirra’s once dominant serve faltered, Swiatek hit through the wind and sprinted to a 6-1 second-set win. Now in gear, surely the steely Polish pulverizer would run away with it.
At times the teen showed her age. She gestured in frustration, banged herself on her shoe and flung her racket. But her lapses were brief. The Russian was usually poised, calm and unafraid. Her backhand is sublime. She took it to Iga and broke early in the third.
Suddenly it was the kid who seemed more mature. Iga’s confidence dipped, her focus wavered. She complained at length to the ump, and in a flash of frustration she tapped her inner Djokovic and blasted a ball near a ball boy. The crowd booed. Broadcaster Lindsay Davenport asked, “Was the ball directed at the ball boy or her camp? Either way, it’s not good.”
But Mirra is good. She scored two impressive breaks over the Pole to go up 4-1. Predictably, Iga fought back, but Mirra was unshaken. As temperatures dipped, the Russian seemed to be on a Polar Express. She bravely won the last two games of the battle to score a 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3 win. Accolades soon flowed. “This is sick. She’s just so outrageous, she’s so wonderful,” gushed Craig Gabriel.
The youngest Indian Wells finalist since Kim Clijsters in 2001 is already No. 8 in the world. In addition to her speed, anticipation and mental toughness, her arsenal seems complete: great weaponry from both sides; she serves well and volleys with confidence; her comfort in her own skin is perhaps her secret sauce. The first teen to beat a No. 2 player back to back since Hingis, Serena and Clijsters, Mirra is now on an 11-match winning streak.
The teenage years are called “the time between pigtails and cocktails.” For elite tennis superstars, they’re the season between fearless innocence and top-of-the-heap preeminence. Today, Indian Wells fans sensed one thing: for years to come, this Russian teen could well be the face of WTA tennis.
TALK ABOUT AVENGING A LOSS: Aryna Sabalenka was crushed by her loss to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final. To say the least, the Belarusian was eager to settle the score. Today she destroyed the American, snapping her 16-match winning streak, as she scored a stunning 6-1, 6-0 win in just 51 minutes. Aryna, who’ll face Andreeva in the final, beat the Russian at the Australian Open.
BNP BANK RENEWS: Bankers are supposed to be conservative folks who keenly follow all the twists and turns of the economy. But the French bank BNP Paribas has a gutsy tradition of stepping up for tennis when the world is in a bit of disarray. In 2008, just as a brutal economic collapse hit, the bank signed up to be Indian Wells’ sponsor, despite all the gloomy news.
Of late, the stock market has not been too happy. But never mind the problematic news, BNP Paribas announced that they’ll be backing Indian Wells for five more years. Their spokesman quipped, “Like any good marriage, it’s best to renew one’s vows.”
– Also reporting: Vinay Venkatesh
