|
Pierre's Tennisrulz Blog (get your own blog here)
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The upcoming Clijsters slamming...
 Hello everyone! It had been nearly a week since my last post, this one will be a rather quick one. Any of you who have been readers of this blog and especially of Todd Spiker's WTA Backspin will not be surprised to hear about the fact that Kim Clijsters has been a source of many different opinions between Todd and I over the years. It's been very one-sided up to a huge surprise at the start of this year when I predicted Kim would finish out of the top 10 while Todd had her at #4. I justified my choice simply by stating I did not think Kim would be playing enough to be in the top 10. Bold prediction? Sure. Crazy? I'm still convinced it wasn't... And so I've been getting slammed ever since... And when Kim announced she would be skipping the French Open, I certainly saw a bit of what I had expected... But Kim's latest announcement suddenly might help me look like a genius instead....! It's certainly not good news for me, I've openly said how much I like Kim, for many reasons, a lot being on court reasons but some being off-court. I will forever remember how much she cared about handicapped people after her matches in Hamburg, or the way she seems so real no matter if there is a camera or not... unlike others which I won't name here, she is authentic and true. Now with that being said, I am still disapointed to see I'm right... that she might only have 6 tournaments left in her career, including 2 major ones... the upcoming Miami tournament as well as Wimbledon in June. It will be a great loss if she does not show up in New York, and I'm sure she'll get slammed for it...and it might be somewhat justified... but I'll let Todd do the slamming here, I'll just sit here anxious to see when he will choose his moment... Labels: Kim Clijsters
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The enigmatic Vera....
 It's nothing new... You get home, drop a quick look at the day's results and awe in surprise after seeing Vera Zvonareva's result. But that's not enough. In wins as in losses, Vera is capable of the very best as much as the very worse. She's as difficult to figure out as any other player out there... Anyone who's seen Vera play will know as much as I do how much talent Vera has, she is truly gifted.
But then you watch her play and it's almost impossible not to scratch your head wondering how this could really be happening. So many examples come to mind... You can imagine Vera leading 6-1, 2-0 and hitting two straight shots in the net... And then it happens...that little thing in Vera's mind that goes off... she throws her racquet, screams... one more shot in the net and she'll be crying... it's a drama every time.
But underneath it still lies that talent and she still makes us wonder if one day she could possibly put all the pieces together. Today, Vera showed signs of what could be.... As she faced world #1 Maria Sharapova, she had problems and certainly was fighting but ended up going down 6-4, 5-3... But then it happened, Vera stopped thinking a bit and just decided to play. After that, she won 10 of the next 11 points to win the 4th round matchup with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.... ! Quite a feat. She was playing against a great fighter and she knew that defeating Sharapova would mean her opponent would lose her #1 ranking next Monday... and still, Vera thrived.
Now the next step will be interesting, Vera has a favourable draw with Sharapova out, Mauresmo/Clijsters/Henin all not playing. Vera will play her next match against Na Li, who is also very unpredictable although for very different reasons... it should be a good one...
Labels: Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Is a Dokic comeback possible?
 For months, it's been the same story, Jelena Dokic entering small ITF events and then withdrawing... ok to be fair I'd have to go back several years for those who have no idea who Jelena is... but if you don't, I suggest you go through past columns by Todd Spiker for a more detailed history, it is a complicated and long one. So anyway, after a brief period where she gave hope to her fans last year, even playing WTA matches and committing to play in Melbourne for the first time in years (again see past history)... but she got injured and what followed was unfortunately "deja-vu"... she pretty much never got back on her feet leaving her still very big fanbase depressed and discouraged (I am part of that group I must say). But now, a new hope this week... She is playing a 10K event qualifying.. (yes, you read right) in Rome. Which is ironic in so many ways. The most obvious one is surely the fact that Jelena played some amazing tennis a few years ago (seems decades now but...) in the Tier 1 Rome tournament. And now not only is she in a 10K but she is playing qualifying... In tennis terms, it's hard (i.e. impossible) to get lower. Agassi, Capriati, they both made now famous returns, but they never even approached the point where Jelena is starting her return from. Can she make it? No doubt, it's all in her head. She certainly has the same talent as she had when she was #4 in the world, she certainly is young enough. Her family situation is a big question mark, and the confidence isn't, but her determination is the key. She is now back on courts and in a situation where she perhaps never was (even when she started on tour, she went through all these steps at lightning speed). Seems unlikely she could get everything back in a couple of months. But at the same time, it's hard to imagine Jelena remaining 2 years on tour in ITF events... so every match is key. Of course, we fans can think that way. But Jelena must not, she must not pressure herself... Not an easy task, nearly impossible yes. But Jelena is a survivor in many ways, and she's made a believer out of me, and I remain one... Let's hope Jelena proves me right, even getting back in the top 100 could be huge for her career but for her life as well... Best of luck Jelena Labels: Jelena Dokic
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Photos Part #6
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova  Kristina Antoniychuk  Alize Cornet  Monika Sirilova  Chelsey Gullickson  Daniela Hantuchova  Katerina Srebotnik and Dinara Safina  Labels: Alize Cornet, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Chelsey Gullickson, Daniela Hantuchova, Dinara Safina, Katerina Srebotnik, Kristina Antoniychuk, Monika Sirilova
Saturday, March 03, 2007
The Round robbin fiasco
Hello everyone! I'm sure many of you have now heard of the whole fiasco that occured in the Tennis Channel Open tennis championships. Round robbins has received a lot of mixed comments since being officially introduced this year on the ATP tour. Sure it had existed for some time. But it was being used in one single event, the Masters Series Championships. That one tournament had the best of the best, and only 8 players. It's obvious you can't go with a single elimination format.
Now that's all and well... But then, to the surprise of many in the tennis world, the ATP announced it would be testing the format this year on tour. There were many critics of the decision including many players... The tennis world is trying to simply the game (through US Open Series, a simpler ranking system, etc). So why would they make a change that would be so confusing as to have players and fans wondering who was playing for what.
But the ultimate humiliation came this weekend in Las Vegas. In a group formed by James Blake and two of the young talents on tour, Juan Del Potro and Evgueni Korolev, the ATP crumbled under it's own fault.
With just one match to play, between James Blake and Juan Del Potro, the ATP announced James would advance with a win, despite the 3 players being at 1-1 in their group. So when James won his match as his opponent retired while down 6-1, 3-1... James and his fans were thrilled... Wait a second... the tournament announced that since it was a retirement, Korolev was actually moving... what? Bring the confusion... wait... it gets worse. The ATP announced that in fact James Blake was moving on, that the rule did not apply in this specific case... We are now a few hours after the match, with Korolev perhaps thinking about leaving town. But wait, no, the ATP then revised its overrule stating that the rule could not be changed in this context and placing Korolev in the quarterfinals.... leaving fans, players and tennis world in tremendous confusion...
What a joke really? Round robbin sure has some positive aspects but overall I have trouble understanding the logic. I was not in favor of the new rankings system but conceded when the simplicty argument was brought up... but how can they possibly think this format will simplify things???
Labels: Evgueni Korolev, james blake, round robbin
|
Tennisrulz.com
Get Your Own Blog
Archives
|
