Tennis Thread: February.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Welcome to February in ATP/WTA land. The period between the Australian Open and Indian Wells/Key Biscayne that's full of indoor tournies that most top players avoid, and most Americans are probably unaware tennis is even played during this time.

 

Our tournaments this week: 1/29-2/4.

 

WTA - Tokyo - Tier I.

 

This poor tourney is usually the weakest Tier I (the level below Grand Slams, and Miami) of the year due to its horrible place in the schedule. What top player wants to travel to Asia for one tournament on a surface that's a ton faster than Melbourne? And if you play this, you miss out on Paris and Antwerp.

 

In this year's field, we have Sharapova, Hingis... then Dementedeva and Jankovic who play every week. And not much else after that.

 

Martina destroyed Sharapova in this event last year, and we all hope for a repeat.

 

After the debacle last week, it's hard for me to be excited about this event. Especially with Sharapova as the favorite. God, women's tennis blows.

 

ATP - 3 jobber events.

 

Zagreb, super fast indoor tourney for those bug serving Croatians. Ljubicic is here, and a bunch of 20-60 ranked Euro stragglers. It would be a shock if Ivan doesn't win this. After all, he has to use all that time losing in the 1r of slams to prepare to win stuff like this.

 

Delray Beach (hard) and Vina Del Mar (clay scrubs) both have the incredibly stupid ROUND ROBIN FORMAT this week. Don't get me started on that.

 

Delray Beach is on TTC this week, so there's a little interest for me there. James Blake and Tommy Haas graciously entered this event with nice appearance fees. Let's hope they don't tank in this meaningless event.

 

Share your thoughts!

[naiwf 0]

The Great White Hype should crush the field in Tokyo and pad her "Tier I" numbers and her bank account with an appearance fee that is likely higher than the winner's purse.

 

Moby should win Zagreb since he's had the last 2 weeks off while everyone else was trying to win in Australia.

 

James Blake will be the male 'Pova this week padding his stats at a meaningless event.

 

Guga losing in 2 TBs at Vina Del Mar pretty much showed that the level of competition there is nonexistent.

 

Sadly, Federer won't be back in action until Dubai on the 26th, but at least JH(no more 2nd H) returns next week.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I don't think Tokyo gives appearance fees, or much at all. At least they never did for Lindsay, who usually played there. Maria probably likes playing there to embrace her "Asian roots", or whatever bullshit she says. And they love blondies in Japan...

 

I wish Roger would go back to playing Rotterdam, as there's coverage of that.

[Craig Th 0]

The Aussie Open is a major, right? Then why was the final on ESPN2???? I thought tennis was more popular than that.

[Guest Princess Leena]

People complained when ESPN would often switch channels during coverage, so they usually keep all coverage on ESPN2 now.

 

Plus, the ratings dictate that the common American moron would rather watch the 47th replay of Sportscenter or the NFL blabber shows than any live sports, so yeah...

[Guest Princess Leena]

Oh, and I mentioned this in the ESPN thread, and it fits better here...

 

ESPN got rights back to Roland Garros. Only like 50 hours, though. TTC will still have 100+ hours.

 

But, in turn, TTC gets some of the Aussie Open starting next year.

 

Both are great for tennis fans. ESPN can still show only the Americans they want, and TTC will actually show other players.

 

Now, we just to get TTC into more homes and get the rest of the channel to stop being such a pathetic joke.

 

EDIT: I'd post the source, but I read this on my Wii.

[randomguy 0]

How do different playing surfaces affect play and what players and styles do they favor? I don't really know the difference between grass, clay and hardcourt.

[Guest]

From wiki

 

Clay courts are considered relatively "slow." This means that a ball first loses speed as it hits the course clay surface because of increased friction and then bounces relatively high. The slowness of the court makes it more difficult for a player to hit an unreturnable shot (a "winner") because the opponent has more time to reach and return the ball. The best clay court players generally use western grips to impart heavy topspin on the ball when playing on clay. Clay courts are often constructed from pulverized brick and may include other soil composites such as shale or stone. On clay courts, line calls are easily reviewable because the ball generally leaves a visible mark.

 

Hardcourts are generally considered to be faster than clay courts. Depending on how a hardcourt is constructed, including the surface layers of the court, a hardcourt can be relatively slow or fast. A fast hardcourt is characterised by low bounces, where fast-serving and hard-hitting players hold an advantage. There are many different types of hardcourts. The ones used at Grand Slam tournaments (Rebound Ace and DecoTurf) consist of layers of different compounds on top of an asphalt base.

 

Grass is a fast surface and was the surface used at three of the Grand Slam tournaments until the Australian Open and the U.S. Open changed to hardcourts. Grass keeps the ball low and quick and generally favours players with short backswings, slice shots (where the ball slides off the grass), and eastern or continental grips. Low bounces keep rallies short, which gives hard-serving and hard-hitting players an advantage. Grass courts add an additional variable with bounces depending on how healthy the grass is and how recently it has been mown.

 

Sums it up better than I could.

[Guest Princess Leena]

A decent summation.

 

Rebound ace isn't made of asphalt, though... it's used rubber. And the US Open moved to clay shortly before moving to the hardcourts in Flushing.

 

Also, the biggest difference on clay is how players must move on the difference. In order to be any good, one must learn how to slide into shots. Americans struggle at this.

 

And with the quality of grass courts today, bad bounces rarely happen (less than clay), and many times they can bounce as high as a hardcourt.

[randomguy 0]

What is under the grass in a grass court? Dirt? Is the dirt packed really hard and uniform or something? Seems weird...

[Guest Princess Leena]

Hard soil, basically.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Not to further rag on women's tennis, but...

 

Sharapova won her 2r match yesterday in 3 sets over Schiavone. With 17 double faults. SEVENTEEN. On an indoor court. Oy.

[CanadianChris 0]

I can't remember women's tennis ever being so uninteresting.

 

For reference, I started watching tennis in the mid-late 80s.

[pochorenella 0]

I can't remember women's tennis ever being so uninteresting.

 

For reference, I started watching tennis in the mid-late 80s.

When Martina HIngis returned it marked a breath of fresh air to women's tennis, which is mostly dominated by power players who lack the finnesse and elegance that players such as Hingis provide. Steffi Graf was the last women I could get behind really, along with Gabriela Sabatini, mostly because she was pretty decent for a Latin player and she was gorgeous as well.

[World's Worst Man 0]

Whatever happened to Jennifer Capriati? I didn't really follow tennis too closely during her comeback, and I have no idea why she isn't around anymore.

[pochorenella 0]

Beats me, but if that wasn't a great comeback story then I don't know what is. She could be interesting in today's women's circuit.

[naiwf 0]

Shoulder problems. Cycling off of steroids. Take your pick as to why J-Cap hasn't been seen on the court in the last couple of years. Like a few other notable GS winners on the tour, Capriati packed on a lot of muscle in a short time and in doing so had a pretty dominant run for about 12-18 months or so from the start of '01 to the middle of '02 where she picked up back to back AO's and a FO and made the Semis or better in 6 straight Slams. Then she got fat again about a year later, her results fell off and she hasn't played since the end of 2004.

 

It's funny to watch how Capriati's juiced up run (3 Slams out of 5) led right into Serena's juiced up reign (5 out of 6), which ended with JHH (3 out of 4) beginning her juiced up run at the top. It was in the middle of 2004 when all 3 broke down at about the same time that allowed no names like Myskina, Kuznetsova and at that point a "cinderella" like Sharapova to win back to back to back Slams.

[Guest Princess Leena]

 

Players aren't just successful because they're taking steroids. Most players on tour are probably on them in some way, and you can't always tell (The Petr Korda rule). And Argentinians that nobody likes are the only ones caught, but we don't need to get into that...

 

That being said, Capriati's absence is strange... not just because she's been away for over 2 years now, but we're hearing virtually nothing about her progress. When Pamela and Mary Joe mention her, they quickly say "shoulder problems", she might be back soon, then move on. So, there's likely more to her story...

[naiwf 0]

I just find it ironic that with Cap, Serena and Justine they all became legendary world beaters at the very same time they happened to pack on an extra 15 to 20 pounds of upper body muscle, and their stamina went through the roof. If this was baseball you could equate it to how Sosa, Bonds and McGwire went from really good players to ball mashers at the same time their arms became the size of an average man's legs and their skulls magically grew a full hat size. About 12 to 18 months after they became such players they either got hurt without any explanation or any remedy taken to fix the problem, took almost a year to comeback from a very minor knee surgery which didn't prevent her from dancing in 6 inch stilettos, or developed a debilitating virus that kept them out for an extended period of time. After they came back all three were noticably less muscular, not nearly as strong, in Capriati and Serena's cases much slower, and had much less stamina and surprise, surprise their dominance was over.

 

I'm not saying that they're the only ones who juiced up but too much of their meteoric success, and subsequent lack of dominance all seemed tied directly into how much more buff they were. It's pretty clear that someone like Mary Pierce was doing the same thing when she "got stronger and fitter" and quickly made 2 GS Finals at 30 (?) after 5 years of doing nothing. I just think it's more obvious with the women simply because aside from Serena and Venus the rest of them play full time schedules so how do they have time to hit the weights long enough to add on that much muscle AND simultaneously develop extraordinary cardio unless they're getting some serious help from PEDs?

[Guest]

So, there's likely more to her story...

Yeah, Cap probably grew a beard.

[Guest Princess Leena]

I disagree about Pierce. She was still overweight when she was winning in 2005. She was constantly injured from 2001-2003, and returned to her usual form when she'd finally get a 6 month stretch of play.

 

But, yeah, I think all players cheat somehow. Look at Lindsay. She's openly not given a shit for a handful of years, but gets in the best condition of her life? Constantly thinks about making babies during all of that, and abruptly throws her career away? Doesn't add up. Then ones like Dementieva... plays every week, whines that she doesn't do anything in off-season, yet has legs that incredibly strong on a 6-foot frame. You get nothing like that just from playing tennis.

[naiwf 0]

The ironic thing about Lindsay is that when she was fat and slow(er) she won Slams in spite of her shortcomings. After constantly being mocked, she finally got into good shape and then became a chronic choker when she'd already had 3 Slams in the bag. Her entire career was backwards.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Lindsay was always a choker. I consider her the biggest waste of talent in my time of watching the women's game. I doubt we'll ever see a better ball striker. And for her to only win 3 slams, the same as Caprifati, that's a shame.

[naiwf 0]

'Pova just retired down 1-6, 1-0 to Ana Ivanovic. I'm sure it's nothing serious, but Ana now has a chance to win her 2nd Tier I event and it might just be a rematch against Hingis who leads Dementieva 3-0.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Ana's making a decent career for herself by being streaky at the right time.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Hingis won Tokyo. We're very pleased with this. Knock down all the big babes, wee slut.

 

Baghdatis upset Ljubicic in Zagreb. We're also pleased with this. The ATP would like for him not to be a fluky slam player.

 

Lucho Horna won Vina Del Mar. We're also pleased with this, since I like him. Hail the grinding clay bashers. And Massu was sucking way too hard in this tourney to win it.

 

The Delray final is postponed until tomorrow. That's nice.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Events this week 2/5-2/11:

 

WTA:

Paris - Justine Henin not-Hardenne returns to the tour this week. We hope she loses since I'm displeased with her skipping the Aussie for such pedantic reasons. Mauresmo is also here. Then all the Russians, and Schnyder, and peons. My big match for this tourney... Safarova vs. Bovina in the 1st round. These are my 2 favorite players currently. Positives all around as Lucie gets a squash match into the 2nd round (her ranking needs it), and my beloved Elena gets killed by someone I like.

 

I pick Petrova to win because she was playing great tennis in Aussietrailia before her usual choking vs. anyone good in a slam. Amelie's played weakly this year, and meh to Justine.

 

Pattaya - Marion Bartoli is the top seed. Yes, that's right, the ultimate ranking whore who plays every single week has stooped a new low... skipping Paris in her home country to potentially rack up easy points in crappy Asian tournies.

 

I pick Sania Mirza to win because I hate her.

 

ATP:

Davis Cup.

 

The US team will play at the Czech Republic. The Czechs wisely put this on indoor clay to hurt the chances of Andrew and Sexxy James. However, the Czechs only have Berdych and probably scrub Dlouhy in singles, and Berdych is hardly the nimble one on clay, either. The US will dominate in the doubles with the Bryans. So, the US will probably come out on top barring a huge disaster in singles.

 

Russia begins their defense of the cup in Chile. This isn't good. KING KOLYA isn't playing... so, we've got Safin and Tursunov going on clay. 2 bashers... oy. Hopefully Massu struggles, as it's the Russians only chance. Gonzo isn't losing any matches.

 

Also, Switzerland vs. Spain... OMG FEDERER vs. NADAL?? Lolz, no. Roger is too good for these silly Davis Cup exhibitions. Nadal is playing, though.

 

All conversation and questions are welcome.

[Rendclaw 0]

Tennis is general got boring to the casual fan because of a combination of the rise of the pure power game and lack of personalities. The last time the casual fan gave a shit about women's tennis was when Hingis was verbally catfighting with both of the Williams sisters, who were both kicking her ass at the time. Personally I was disappointed that the Swiss Miss would stoop to that level, but it just goes to show that you really don;t know some of these players until they open their traps.

 

Sharapova was the next big thing really, because she was Anna Kournikova with tons of game at 17 years old....

 

Not to mention any sport gets boring when one person/team wins all the fucking time. That's why men's tennis is suffering, that along with Roddick just not having the mental toughness to beat Federer, or even give him a serious challenge. Nadal seemed to have Roger's number for awhile but Roger has since made the adjustment. That's the only matchup I will watch or record nowadays, but its become like Sampras/Agassi now. A lot of hype but in the end more often than not, Sampras would wipe up the court with Andre.

 

McEnroe said it himself that there haven't been any good personalities in tennis in years. Certainly since he and Connors finally hung it up in the 90s. I do long for the 80s going into the early 90s when you had a little zing to go with a tennis player's game. Not overhype on the level of Agassi, but not on the level of Federer and Sampras, both of whom's combined personalities would fit in a small thimble but thats made up for by their massive talents....

[Guest Princess Leena]

Tennis is general got boring to the casual fan because of a combination of the rise of the pure power game and lack of personalities. The last time the casual fan gave a shit about women's tennis was when Hingis was verbally catfighting with both of the Williams sisters, who were both kicking her ass at the time. Personally I was disappointed that the Swiss Miss would stoop to that level, but it just goes to show that you really don;t know some of these players until they open their traps.

The last time was when the Willies' were still dominating tennis. It was a good story. The negative of this is that the usual media types made players like Henin, Mauresmo, etc... to look like the evil, inferior players. Of course, they were inferior and still are to Serena... but we don't need to get into that. Now that the Willies are part-time lazy bitches... why should people care about the rest of the players?

 

Sharapova was the next big thing really, because she was Anna Kournikova with tons of game at 17 years old....

Everyone involved has tried their best to make her the next Kournikova... but unfortunately, Maria just isn't that attractive, and anyone with a clue can see how phony her situation is. Plus, a fat Serena kicking her pathetic ass certainly doesn't help matters.

 

Not to mention any sport gets boring when one person/team wins all the fucking time.

But, that's not the case. Nadal still owns Federer (6-2 HTH). There's a definite rivalry between them.

 

The problem is that most of these matches have only been on The Tennis Channel at best, and they don't have (USA) next to their name.

 

McEnroe said it himself that there haven't been any good personalities in tennis in years. Certainly since he and Connors finally hung it up in the 90s.

The sports world has changed. McEnroe's antics back then seemed so outlandish, but when you watch them now, it seems normal. Many players are just as bad now as McEnroe was. There's no way to stand out (unless you have legit model looks like Kournikova). That personality stuff is bullshit, anyway. What is Federer supposed to do on court? If you watched his last few rounds in Melbourne and weren't captivated with his play... then tennis just isn't for you.

 

The real problem is that the US doesn't dominate the sport. If it did, then there'd be more coverage, and people would care. The only solution is another true rivalry at the very top of the game occurs with two Americans, or tennis gets a perfect storyline like Tiger to bring in new fans. This would be where Serena could have fit in perfectly...

[pochorenella 0]

McEnroe said it himself that there haven't been any good personalities in tennis in years. Certainly since he and Connors finally hung it up in the 90s.

The sports world has changed. McEnroe's antics back then seemed so outlandish, but when you watch them now, it seems normal. Many players are just as bad now as McEnroe was. There's no way to stand out (unless you have legit model looks like Kournikova). That personality stuff is bullshit, anyway. What is Federer supposed to do on court? If you watched his last few rounds in Melbourne and weren't captivated with his play... then tennis just isn't for you.

You've GOT to be kidding me!!

 

Famous McEnroe quote aside, you're right about Federer in stating that anyone who watched his mastery the last few rounds in Australia and isn't impressed, well, then they can just find some other sport to watch. His performance was just jaw-drowping amazing sometimes. Like I said in another thread, I'm just thankful I get to watch him in his prime now, instead of hearing or reading about it like other greats I didn't get to watch.

 

The real problem is that the US doesn't dominate the sport. If it did, then there'd be more coverage, and people would care. The only solution is another true rivalry at the very top of the game occurs with two Americans, or tennis gets a perfect storyline like Tiger to bring in new fans. This would be where Serena could have fit in perfectly...

Last time this happened it was the legendary rivalry between Sampras and Agassi, and even then I'd argue that Agassi received the Lion's share of the spotlight, even when Sampras was dominating like nobody's business. Pete Sampras I'd even say was somewhat neglected by the american press.