The Dance Cards Are Public

by Savannah



Invites to the Big Dance have been sent. Some are still banging on the doors trying to get in. But those who were guaranteed admittance know who their partners will be.

The Women's Draw

Victoria Azarenka BLR (1) vs Alberta Brianti ITA

Caroline Garcia FRA vs Unknown

Unknown vs Aleksandra Wozniak CAN

Alize Cornet FRA vs Jie Zheng CHN (31)

Lucie Safarova CZE (20) vs Anastasiya Yakimova BLR

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP vs Unknown

Vania King USA vs Galina Voskoboeva KAZ

Kristina Mladenovic FRA vs Dominika Cibulkova SVK (15)

Sabine Lisicki GER (12) vs Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA

Ekaterina Makarova RUS vs Sloane Stephens USA

Mathilde Johansson FRA vs Anastasia Rodionova AUS

Simona Halep ROU vs Petra Cetkovska CZE (24)

Nadia Petrova RUS (27) vs Iveta Benesova CZE

Laura Pous-Tio ESP vs Chanelle Scheepers RSA

Irina Falconi USA vs Edina Gallovits-Hall ROU

Elena Baltacha GBR vs Samantha Stosur AUS (6)

Agnieszka Radwanska POL (3) vs Bojana Jovanovski SRB

Venus Williams USA vs Paula Ormaechea ARG

Unknown vs Kateryna Bondarenko UKR

Mirjana Lucic CRO vs Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (26)

Sara Errani ITA (21) vs Casey Dellacqua AUS

Melanie Oudin USA vs Johanna Larsson SWE

Stephanie Dubois CAN vs Shahar Peer ISR

Unknown vs Ana Ivanovic SRB (13)

Angelique Kerber GER (10) vs Unknown

Romina Oprandi SUI vs Olga Govortsova BLR

Anna Tatishvili GEO vs Unknown

Su-Wei Hsieh TPE vs Flavia Pennetta ITA (18)

A. Medina Garrigues ESP (29) vs Silvia Soler-Espinosa ESP

Kai-Chen Chang TPE vs Irena Pavlovic FRA

Petra Martic CRO vs Michaella Krajicek NED

Unknown vs Marion Bartoli FRA (8)

Na Li CHN (7) vs Sorana Cirstea ROU

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE vs Stephanie Foretz Gacon FRA

Christina McHale USA vs Unknown

Unknown vs Mona Barthel GER (30)

Roberta Vinci ITA (17) vs Sofia Arvidsson SWE

Unknown vs Mandy Minella LUX

Tamarine Tanasugarn THA vs Carla Suarez Navarro ESP

Timea Babos HUN vs Vera Zvonareva RUS (11)

Francesca Schiavone ITA (14) vs Kimiko Date-Krumm JPN

Tsvetana Pironkova BUL vs Yanina Wickmayer BEL

Varvara Lepchenko USA vs Ksenia Pervak KAZ

Patricia Mayr-Achleitner AUT vs Jelena Jankovic SRB (19)

Monica Niculescu ROU (32) vs Nina Bratchikova RUS

Vera Dushevina RUS vs Claire Feuerstein FRA

Pauline Parmentier FRA vs Urszula Radwanska POL

Ashleigh Barty AUS vs Petra Kvitova CZE (4)

Serena Williams USA (5) vs Virginie Razzano FRA

Arantxa Rus NED vs Jamie Hampton USA

Elena Vesnina RUS vs Qualifier

Lucie Hradecka CZE vs Julia Goerges GER (25)

Kaia Kanepi EST (23) vs Alexandra Panova RUS

Irina-Camelia Begu ROU vs Aravane Rezai FRA

Jarmila Gajdosova AUS vs Magdalena Rybarikova SVK

Eleni Daniilidou GRE vs Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9)

Maria Kirilenko RUS (16) vs Victoria Larriere FRA

Klara Zakopalova CZE vs Lesia Tsurenko UKR

Anne Keothavong GBR vs Melinda Czink HUN

Greta Arn HUN vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (22)

Shuai Peng CHN (28) vs Tamira Paszek AUT

Marina Erakovic NZL vs Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP

Polona Hercog SLO vs Ayumi Morita JPN

Alexandra Cadantu ROU vs Maria Sharapova RUS (2)

Remember when the big fight was over whether Venus Williams and Serena Williams would be put on the same side of the draw? Seems like ages ago doesn't it?

Now the argument rightly centers on who fell where in the draw and how they'll fare.

There were some surprises for me. For one I didn't realize Vera Zvonareva was still ranked high enough to get the 11th seed. I don't slavishly pour over rankings so this was big news for me.

Other news on the women's draw:

Someone up there really, really likes Ana Ivanovic.
Unless something drastic happens Samantha Stosur should also be lighting candles to the draw gods. So should Victoria Azarenka.
Michaella Krajicek is coming off of knee surgery.
Aga Radwanska has a nice quarter even if Venus is in there. Venus looked a little worse for wear during her last outing and while she's had time to rest clay is not her favorite surface and this clay may demand more than she can give. Not that she won't fight mind you. I just don't think she'll be able to play hard court tennis on what should be a heavier court.

Now let's look at the seeds in the bottom half of the draw.

Defending Champion [7] Li Na has [30] Mona Barthel in her section.
[17] Roberta Vinci and [11] Vera Zvonareva are in the same section.
Former Champion [14] Francesca Schiavone and [19] Jelena Jankovic are in the same quarter.
[32] Monica Niculescu ROU is seeded with [4] Petra Kvitova
[5] Serena Williams has [25] Julia Goerges in her quarter
[23] Kaia Kanepi EST is seeded with former WTA #1 [9] Caroline Wozniacki
[16] Maria Kirilenko has [22] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
[28] Peng Shuai is in [2] Maria Sharapova's section.

Off the top I expect absolutely nothing from Francesca Schiavone. I was embarrassed for her during her last match. I don't know if Fran is back partying or if she's okay with having one Slam under her belt. She did not show the focus or drive to go far in Paris. As for Petra Kvitova I don't know what's going on in her head. She would alternate between good play and play so mind bogglingly bad all you could do was shake your head. I've read on fanboards that Wozniacki's father is making noise about her winning the French. Parental support is good. Toss a coin between Pavs and MaKiri. If good MaKiri shows up she can make it interesting. Peng Shuai seems to have lost her way.
I didn't forget Serena. She played well on that stuff in Madrid and many see her as the favorite to win this event. We'll see. If the weather is dry she stands a good chance. If the weather is damp the entire story line changes.
As for Li Na all I have to say is 6-4, 4-0 and losing to Pova. Some are saying after Serena Sharapova may be in the best form. If your opponent is up by the score Li was and gifts you the match we're talking about accepting the gift that falls into your lap. Li was up when she made Sharapova move. When she stopped doing that Sharapova began to feast.

Why didn't I break down the seeds in the top half? Because people are saying the bottom half is stronger and more competitive than the top half. I really don't see much difference to be honest. Sure there are out and out gift sections in the top half but I don't see a clear cut favorite on any side of the draw. The WTA part of the tournament is up for grabs in my opinion. The French is known as the oddball Slam. Whoever hoists the women's trophy could come as a complete surprise.

As usual I won't go into detail about the men's draw except to say Andy Murray and Richard Gasquet must have been very, very good boys.

Novak Djokovic SRB (1) vs Potito Starace ITA

Blaz Kavcic SLO vs Lleyton Hewitt AUS

Qualifier vs Qualifier

Qualifier vs Jurgen Melzer AUT (30)

Andreas Seppi ITA (22) vs Nikolay Davydenko RUS

Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ vs Ernests Gulbis LAT

Qualifier vs Gilles Muller LUX

Steve Darcis BEL vs Fernando Verdasco ESP (14)

Gilles Simon FRA (11) vs Ryan Harrison USA

Xavier Malisse BEL vs Brian Baker USA

Pablo Andujar ESP vs Victor Hanescu ROU

Flavio Cipolla ITA vs Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (18)

Viktor Troicki SRB (28) vs Thomaz Bellucci BRA

Fabio Fognini ITA vs Adrian Mannarino FRA

Cedrik-Marcel Stebe GER vs Joao Souza BRA

Qualifier vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (5)

Roger Federer SUI (3) vs Tobias Kamke GER

Adrian Ungur ROU vs David Nalbandian ARG

Frank Dancevic CAN vs Martin Klizan SVK

Nicolas Mahut FRA vs Andy Roddick USA (26)

Radek Stepanek CZE (23) vs Qualifier

Arnaud Clement FRA vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. RUS

Karol Beck SVK vs Lukasz Kubot POL

Qualifier vs Feliciano Lopez ESP (15)

Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (9) vs Albert Montanes ESP

Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA vs Vasek Pospisil CAN

Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP vs Jonathan Dasnieres De Veigy FRA

Qualifier vs Marin Cilic CRO (21)

Kevin Anderson RSA (31) vs Rui Machado POR

Eric Prodon FRA vs Qualifier

Michael Llodra FRA vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP

Dudi Sela ISR vs Tomas Berdych CZE (7)

David Ferrer ESP (6) vs Lukas Lacko SVK

Benoit Paire FRA vs Albert Ramos ESP

Ivan Dodig CRO vs Robin Haase NED

James Blake USA vs Mikhail Youzhny RUS (27)

Marcel Granollers ESP (20) vs Qualifier

Malek Jaziri TUN vs Philipp Petzschner GER

Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA vs Bjorn Phau GER

Qualifier vs John Isner USA (10)

Alexandr Dolgopolov UKR (16) vs Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR

Filippo Volandri ITA vs Qualifier

Donald Young USA vs Grigor DiMitrov BUL

Qualifier vs Richard Gasquet FRA (17)

Bernard Tomic AUS (25) vs Qualifier

Santiago Giraldo COL vs Alejandro Falla COL

Jarkko Nieminen FIN vs Igor Andreev RUS

Tatsuma Ito JPN vs Andy Murray GBR (4)

Janko Tipsarevic SRB (8) vs Sam Querrey USA

Jeremy Chardy FRA vs Yen-Hsun Lu TPE

Dmitry Tursunov RUS vs Go Soeda JPN

Qualifier vs Julien Benneteau FRA (29)

Philipp Kohlschreiber GER (24) vs Matthew Ebden AUS

Olivier Rochus BEL vs Leonardo Mayer ARG

Juan Ignacio Chela ARG vs Marcos Baghdatis CYP

Paolo Lorenzi ITA vs Nicolas Almagro ESP (12)

Juan Monaco ARG (13) vs Guillaume Rufin FRA

Lukas Rosol CZE vs Carlos Berlocq ARG

Qualifier vs Benjamin Becker GER

Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo ESP vs Milos Raonic CAN (19)

Florian Mayer GER (32) vs Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP

Qualifier vs Ivo Karlovic CRO

Igor Kunitsyn RUS vs Denis Istomin UZB

Simone Bolelli ITA vs Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

Being Weenies

by Savannah

"Women are way tougher than men. That's why we have the babies, you guys could never handle kids," Williams said after thumping top seed Victoria Azarenka 6-1 6-3 to win the Madrid title on Sunday.

"We ladies don't complain we just do our best. On the WTA (tour) we are real performers, we are not about going out there and being weenies."

Serena Williams



Let's start this off right. I am a big fan of Serena Williams. I've been a fan since she and her sister took the main tour by storm. I've been a fan long enough to see tennis media go from treating Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and their father Richard Williams as a novelty act to now treating them with the respect they deserve.

I've supported both women in their boycott of Indian Wells after some very shabby treatment by the fans and tournament organizers. I've defended both women when their injuries were said to be fake and that they were wrong in developing interests outside of tennis. I've been around since cat suits and now through shiny sparkly see through thingies they've opted to wear on court.

So it goes without saying that the above statement by Serena distressed and annoyed me to no end. It took away from Serena's beat down of the woman ranked WTA #1 Victoria Azarenka and in my opinion further diminished the women's tour and American tennis.

Why? The article I linked to gives the following definition of "weenie" taken from Dictionary.com. "an insignificant, disliked person" or "a stupid and inept male". Serena's comments say to me that the women players care nothing about their on court safety. It says to me that it's okay to go out on a surface that can vaguely be called clay since it started out as the same red brick that is found on clay court tennis's hallowed ground of Roland Garros but has ended up being too slippery to play defensive based tennis and so powdery that whatever Madrid has become it can't be called a clay court tournament. In fact it needs to be moved to sometime leading up to the summer hard court season in the States. It's perfectly suited for big servers and players who can't play on the dirt, who have no concept of point construction or turning defense into offense. Sound like a tournament custom made for Americans? Is this what Ion Tiriac and the ATP and WTA have in mind? Will this tournament lure hard court players to Spain and give them a "level playing field", an ATP Master's 1000 to call their own during the run up to Paris?

By putting a tournament on this surface in the middle of the spring European clay court season what else are the tours saying to it's players? If no traction can be gained on a surface it's not clay. If the players can't turn and run down balls, get red clay in every orifice known to God and man and know they've been in a war waged on both the mental and physical levels then what good is it in the road to Paris?

The American tennis media had been spinning the idea that all of the talk of boycotts and that the surface is dangerous is just whining, that the ATP players were just upset at the color change. I think they began to see that they couldn't keep that line of bullshit running when Richard Gasquet, beloved of many in the tennis media, looked like a bull on ice and had trouble holding his balance during a match. Then Juan Martin del Potro had trouble on the surface. By the time Novak Djokovic finished slipping and sliding and Rafael Nadal lost to Fernando Verdasco the tide had begun to turn. Of course there were those who said that the eventual champion on the men's side, by staying above the fray and adapting to the conditions by playing serve and volley - on "clay" mind you - had shown the way to the other men who were talking boycotts of next year's Madrid Masters unless the surface was changed back to red clay.

They could run this line by ignoring the fact that Rafael Nadal had made it clear that he disliked Madrid due to the altitude long before that blue stuff was put on the ground. The altitude made for competition that didn't hone a players clay court skills and required a method of play that was at the least disruptive for those who take Roland Garros seriously.

In the end it seemed like Andy Murray was the smartest of them all. Citing back problems he took himself to Rome where he spent the week he was supposed to be in Madrid.

By the day of the Final's though the tune had changed. All of a sudden the commentators were saying that the surface was untested in real world conditions, that no players had been invited in to test the surface and give tournament officials their assessment. The lab where the stuff was created said it would play like red clay and the powers that be took them at their word. There was also a discussion of how they'd had to "compact" the stuff so that it would be less slippery and that the grounds crews had spent long nights trying to make the surface more playable. Really? What happened to all the whiners and wusses who had said the surface was unplayable?

To emphasize how bad the tournament was during the trophy presentations for both the WTA and ATP Manolo Santana, the man whose name graces the Center Court, and Tournament Director Ion Tiriac were roundly booed by the fans. It wasn't scattered booing. It was loud and concentrated and pointedly directed at the two men who are the public face of the tournament. It was worse during the men's presentation when the actor Will Smith and Roger Federer's twin daughters were brought out to try and change the fan's mood. It didn't work. No disrespect was shown to either Smith or the twins by the fans. They made it clear who they blamed for the fiasco that was Madrid 2012.

It should be mentioned at this point that the ATP tour members have been on the court safety tip since the 2011 US Open when players were expected to play on courts featuring pools of standing water. Andy Murray complained in Monte Carlo about the holes in the court there and if you had eyes you could see players avoid playing too far behind the baseline. During all of this turmoil not one peep has been heard from a WTA player. I'm a woman and I know women have opinions. I hate to say it but I'm sure that Serena Williams doesn't speak for all of her tour yet her comment has been featured in a lot of mainstream tennis media.

Maybe it's true though. Maybe the women don't care about safety. As Serena says they are strong enough to have babies and some slippery old court isn't going to stop them from playing their game(s). So what if you slip and injure yourself? You just get up and keep trying right? Right. If the WTA tour continues to pretend there are no court safety issues they will just further the view of many of the male players that the women are a bunch of out of shape mentally weak athletes in name only. I know this is not true but the opinion is rampant among the men's tour.

As for American tennis all you have to remember is the glass like court the United States employed against Spain a couple of years ago in Winston-Salem for a Davis Cup tie as well as the one they used in Austin which Spain protested. The thing with tennis though is that sometimes you have to move. You can't just stand in one spot and serve. That isn't tennis. Sure that's pretty much how Serena beat Azarenka but again that isn't really tennis in my opinion. It's too bad that one of the best women players ever chose to disparage the men working for what would be better conditions for all players, male and female, instead of conceding what anyone who has eyes and ears could see. The only losers are the women players and their tour. I don't think people's opinions of the American tennis establishment could sink any lower.

Playing In the Dirt

by Savannah

It's my favorite time of year. The tour has moved to Europe and the Spring European clay season is underway. No mindless ball bashing. No 100+ mph serves whizzing by - not many anyway - and strategy, point building, and physical stamina are all rewarded.

Both main tours are presently in Madrid and usually I wouldn't be writing anything about the tournament at this point but there is an issue about the tournament that stares you in the face whenever you tune in to watch play.



It's pretty isn't it? I'm not a stick in the mud. I like innovation as much as the next person. And hey, can't you see the ball better on television against the blue stuff than against the traditional red/orange brick color? I suppose. The ATP and Ion Tiriac got a lot of attention with the new blue clay court and more attention for tennis is what everyone, fan and player alike wants right?

There is just one problem. The people who actually have to play on it hate the stuff. Why? Apparently it's slippery. Slippery to the point that if you slide you're not sure you're going to stop. Well what the hell? I mean why would the powers that be approve a surface that apparently wasn't tested by players prior to it's approval. And we're not talking about debuting the blue clay at an ATP 250 or a WTA International. We're talking Madrid, the tournament that kicked venerable Hamburg to the status of backwater.

If you want a detailed explanation of how they turn red brick blue Martin Rogers talks about removing the iron oxide and dying the resulting brick blue. If you want first hand knowledge simply watch a match or two.

Yesterday I watched Richard Gasquet play like a bull on ice at one point pulling what looked like a muscle in his lower back in the process. He shook it off though. I'd say Gasquet is familiar with clay no?

Then you have the ATP top ranked player saying that players should be issued football shoes i.e. cleats. Emelio Sanchez revealed on Spanish language television that Rafael Nadal asked to be allowed to use grass court shoes for better grip. During Wednesday's Fernando Verdasco vs Alejandro Falla match during the changeover Verdasco said to chair ump Fergus Murphy that if they water the court too much it would get slippery. Murphy agreed saying that the surface appeared to be "thin". Confirmation came when I switched to the Ryan Harrison vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga match Harrison narrowly avoided a nasty ankle injury when moving behind the baseline he slipped on what can only be called blue mud on an overwatered court. One of the comms said that Tsonga's movement sounded as if he were walking on bubble wrap.

To my eye the granules are finer than those of traditional red clay, more sandlike, and it has to be hard for the players to get any traction. That takes away the strength of clay court players doesn't it? I could go on and on about that being the underlying reason behind such a change but I'll wait and see what happens when the tournament is over since threats of boycotts are flying around. For now I just hope that all of the players move on to Rome without anyone getting a serious injury.

Well That Was One Hell of a Week...

by Savannah

Dear Serena

Please let your cook know that I would like my crow oven fried please. And I'd like a rather large serving of it.

Sincerely,

Savannah

At some point during the semifinal of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina Brad Gilbert Tweeted the line of the year. Paraphrasing he wanted to let Samantha Stosur know that the keys to the woodshed were being held for her. Serena Williams let it be known that while she is not in the Golden Circle she is still a tennis force to be reckoned with. I don't think Samantha knew what hit her. Harnessing her power and playing with the precision of a surgeon Serena cut her to shreds, beat her like she stole something. As long time tennis fans know the danger of a dominant first set is that the player can lose focus and let their opponent into the match in the second set. That most certainly did not happen to Serena.

But there was more to it than that. Sascha Baijin, Serena's hitting partner, persuaded Serena to mix Luxillon strings with gut to help cut down on the errors off her racquet. She listened to him and it looks as if the new stringing arrangement is working well.

But it doesn't stop there. Serena played a mature game, a thinking person's game. The woman who used to blow her opponents off the court with raw power still blows them away. But the power is now tempered with nuance and subtlety, a deftness and lightness of touch that has developed in her game over the last few years. She and her coach, father Richard Williams, have tinkered with her approach to her matches from what I can see, and Serena, unlike some of her peers, has listened to the suggestions of those around her and done what has to be done to continue building her legend.

After Polona Hercog embarrassed herself and women's tennis by going ass up to Lucie Safarova in the other semi final (I don't know how she wasn't fined for malingering. She made absolutely no effort to play Lucie) I had to stop myself from saying they should just hand the trophy to Serena. You never know what is going to happen in a tennis match so it's never a good idea to assume an outcome.
It was apparent by five minutes into the final that Serena's concentration was not broken. I do hope that Samantha left the keys for Lucie.

I don't want to get carried away. Some of the American announcers started raving about Serena's prospects during the spring clay court season in Europe. The surface they played on in Charleston didn't allow for sliding. It's not the same as the red clay of Europe. Serena has won the French before. Can she win it again? Serena can do anything she puts her mind to.



The Power of the Suit

France overreached.

I said as soon as I heard itthat France would play it's Davis Cup tie against the United States at the Monte Carlo country club. The French players are not good clay courters. Their stars, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon are much better on hard courts. The United States reputation and record on dirt is abysmal. No American even bothers to come to play Monte Carlo.

But Jim Courier called bullshit on all that and once again his team of big serving hard courters stunned France walking away with a 3-2 win.
Are people quaking in their boots now about American's on clay? Should John Isner have stayed in France and played Monte Carlo with fresh legs or was it wise to have him fly back to Houston, Texas for the US Clay Court Championships? Time will tell. I can say that Courier is getting something out of this Davis Cup team that no one in their right mind would've thought possible.

Maybe it's the suit.

This and That

I'm still waiting to see what Victoria Azarenka gets from adding Amelie Mauresmo to her team. Tactics on clay? I don't think so. Strength of mind? Let's not go there. The French crowd on her side so that there are no more embarrassing moments like in Miami? ::Shrug:: This is one I really don't get.



Svetlana Kuznetsova has fired coach Olga Morozova and hired Israeli Amos Mansdorf. This move I understand. Sveta's game seems to have gone backwards. When Sveta is on she can play with the best of them. I hope Mansdorf gets her back on track.

The USTA is looking for officials. If you think you're up for it click HERE for details on how to apply and educational information.

Sergiy Stakhovsky gave an interview in Russian that was posted on a Ukrainian site. I think that interview was the most read interview ever given by a tennis player. The Russian was translated by a tennishead with the Twitter handle @Anna_TennisFan. I'm going to quote from her translation picking up where Stakhovsky is talking about Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and Player Council politics.

About Nadal’s offense with Federer…
He wasn’t offended by Federer, exactly. He was disappointed that his ideas – useful for the tour, as he thinks – aren’t heard. It concerns the 2-year ranking, among others. But if you start that, then every player needs to vote, and that’s not entirely correct. Look: in today’s pay for tennis players’ efforts, I personally support this new change. It protects my ranking. The earnings of most players are, really, laughable.
(...)
Going back to Nadal: the Grand Slam tournaments, as we know, pay the players an abnormally low percent of their earnings. For instance, the US Open spends 4-6% of their profit on prize money. The ATP tournaments – around 30%. Since 2004, the prizes in the big tournaments rose less than the inflation.

You lose the reason to enter the top-100. If you travel with a coach – you’ll be in a small “plus”, $20-30 thousand per year. And those are the 100 best people in this sport all over the world. If you take the 100th soccer player, the 100th golfer, any sport that’s on TV – their salaries will be immeasurably greater. Even the 100th soccer player in Ukraine earns more.

The Slams are holding everything, and if they start sharing their profits, it’ll make sense to make it to the top-100. Yes, it will look vulgar if a player who lost in the first round, makes $50-100 thousand, but how much he invested in himself to even play there. To fly to Australia – that’s already a feat. It’s 24 hours. I’m not risking flying economy there, it’s just unrealistic.
If the Slams make concessions, I’m against a 2-year ranking. Because many players will need two years to make it in the top-100. And now people are really working on it. Now, the 70- or the 200-ranked player – are the same.
(...)
Do you often communicate with Federer?
I do it constantly.

And what’s he like?
He’s a good person, but too neutral for my taste. He’s too Swiss. He wants to keep out of any bad stories too much. When players want to change something, he looks at it too passively, because it can harm his image.

I respect Nadal more in that context, because he openly supports the players’ interests.

Needless to say that last part has Federer fans up in arms. But what is surprising is that Nikolay Davydenko said the same things back in January with little or no fanfare.

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Roger Federer’s reticence to join other players in voicing complaints about issues affecting the men’s game came under fire again at the Australian Open on Monday.

Former No. 3-ranked Nikolay Davydenko said he didn’t understand why the 16-time Grand Slam champion wasn’t supporting the push to address player grievances, including the schedule and the distribution of prize money.

Davydenko’s remarks came a day after Rafael Nadal criticized his Swiss rival for sitting back while others speak out and “burn themselves.”

“I don’t know why Roger is not supporting the players,” Davydenko said. “Because he don’t want … any problems. He’s nice guy. He’s winning Grand Slams. He’s from Switzerland. He’s perfect.

“He don’t want to do anything, he just try to be an outsider from this one.”

For the second time in six months, rumors of a possible strike emerged following Saturday’s player meeting in Melbourne. Davydenko said a strike was still a distant prospect, but that the players would meet again at the Indian Wells Masters tournament in March.

“The ATP should try to do something between now and Indian Wells,” he said. “For sure, all the top 100 players will go there and just see what will be changed.”

The Russian said he did not support the idea of a shorter season, a change that is backed by Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, but he agrees that prize money has not increased in line with growing profits at Grand Slam tournaments.

Am I surprised? Not at all. Rafa's resignation from his position on the Council makes more sense now but that's all I can see that is "new". It looks as if the tennis press did all it could to ignore the story. Enrico Mariariva began tweeting Google translations of the interview and they were retweeted and retweeted until fans began to ask to read the original in both Russian and in an English translation. The time is gone when any so called media can ignore a story. News will out and if/when it hits Twitter it's game over. This is both a good and bad thing - some false rumors have gone viral on Twitter - but information on these matters is vital to tennis fans who plan months in advance to attend a tournament especially a major. Journalists aren't supposed to be mouthpieces for the powers that be alone. They are supposed to report the goings on on their beats. This is not done by those covering tennis.

For the entire Stakhovsky interview click HERE

For the full Davydenko remarks here is the LINK

Miami & The WTA

by Savannah



There are those who seem to think that Agnieszka Radwanska woke up in this year and decided she was going to play watchable tennis. The reality is that she woke up late last year.

I've never been able to watch Agnieszka play (I'm trying to learn how to spell her last name and not keep calling her Aggie or Aga). If I had not slept well the night before and I knew Agnieszka was playing I was thrilled knowing I would have a good nap. That changed towards the end of last year when I was watching one of her matches. I was actually interested and watched her dismantle her opponent with cleverness and guile. I had never realized that her strategy was to lull her opponent to sleep and then go for the jugular. It's not scintillating tennis - it reminds me of Martina Hingis who I had the misfortune of seeing play live twice - but in this age of power tennis it's definitely something many of the current crop of WTA players haven't seen much of in recent years. The ones who have - Venus Williams and Serena Williams - may be past their prime now no matter how much they want to prove otherwise. Somehow I don't think that they'll be dispensing what they know about that style to their peers.

So who has beaten Agnieszka since she started on her tear? Current WTA #1 Victoria Azarenka did it with a little sleight of hand - or should I say ankle - that ruptured what was said to have been a friendship.

Let's look at the WTA Top Ten as of Monday April 2, 2012.

1 Azarenka, Victoria 31/07/89 BLR 8980

2 Sharapova, Maria 19/04/87 RUS 7930

3 Kvitova, Petra 08/03/90 CZE 7095

4 Radwanska, Agnieszka 06/03/89 POL 6710

5 Stosur, Samantha 30/03/84 AUS 5825

6 Wozniacki, Caroline 11/07/90 DEN 5720

7 Bartoli, Marion 02/10/84 FRA 5020

8 Li, Na 26/02/82 CHN 4880

9 Zvonareva, Vera 07/09/84 RUS 3895

10 Williams, Serena 26/09/81 USA 3830

The first thing that jumps out at me is the age of the top four women verses the age of the bottom 3, numbers 8 - 10. Samantha Stosur is ranked number five and is thus the oldest player of the Golden Circle or Top Five.

Regular readers know that I've been saying for the last couple of years that Victoria Azarenka doesn't have the temperament to be a Number One. That doesn't take away from the fact that she fought her way to the top taking the Australian Open along the way but as she exhibited in Miami that no amount of work on the part of her coach Sam Sumyk can change her nature.

In case you don't remember she was getting her ass handed to her in her match against Dominika Cibulkova. The crowd on the Grandstand Court was hostile to say the least but as a top pro hostile crowds are something she's going to have to learn to deal with. Instead at one crucial point Azarenka hit a ball in the direction of a lines person. I don't think that particular lines person had done anything to Azarenka. Instead she just happened to be standing there doing the job they were being paid to do. Azarenka didn't hit a lob. She hit the ball really hard.

Some talking head said that the Number 1 shouldn't be on the Grandstand court at all. My question is why? Would it make it different if the fans were booing in an empty main court? The number one should want to play in front of any crowd and give fans reason to like him or her. Hitting balls at lines people isn't going to do that.

I should say that Cibulkova fell off my like list after she let Azarenka take the match from her and go on to win a match she should've lost. The reason why will be found in the end notes of this post.

On to Maria Sharapova. You can be a fan of hers all you want. Even I've come around to admiring her fight. But Sharapova's game is as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning. Yes she screams and hits the ball like it personally offends her but in the end she is playing the same way now as she did when she first came on the scene. Any coach worth his salt ( there are so few women coaches I think it's safe to say "his salt") should be able to construct a plan to neutralize her.

What has been happening with Sharapova is that they "hide" her in the middle of the draw somewhere. Even ranked #2 she still gets a draw consisting of players who have no weapons against her power. When she came up against Agnieszka who was not afraid of her or her reputation neither she or her coach could find a way to counter how Agnieszka played her. I do hope that Maria's coach's advice consists of more than "wait for her to implode". Agnieszka has become a player who is not going to implode mentally unless you box her in.

As for Petra Kvitova she still has the deer in headlights look when she takes the court. Her game is also very similar to Sharapova's especially when it comes to movement and I don't see that changing much.

Samantha Stosur has been a total hot mess since defeating Serena Williams at last years US Open. Like Kvitova the pressure a top player faces has gotten to her.

As for Caroline Wozniacki nothing has changed. She's trying to be a little more aggressive in her play but in the end she's still the same Caroline who needs her father to give her a pep talk or tell her what to do.

Vera Zvonareva has been in a tailspin since she made a sudden and unexpected coaching change last year. She's in the top ten but right now she's not a top ten player. To say Li Na has been inconsistent is an understatement. She won the French Open and now seems totally baffled as to what to do to generate any momentum to move higher in the rankings.

Marion Bartoli wants it badly but she's joined the ranks of other quirky players from France. She seems to have cut back on her jumping and carrying on between points but she seems to be unable to make a change in her mental approach that will propel her into the Golden Circle.

That leaves Agnieszka. Has she won a Slam? No. Winning Miami is a big deal but now lets see how she plays in the dirt. As I said I've ignored her for so long I can't honestly discuss her prior dirt play. I could look it up but I'm pretty sure the way she's playing now is not the way she was playing last year or the year before so all bets are off.

If we don't look out we'll see another Slamless wonder sitting atop of the WTA rankings. At least we know how that debate goes don't we?

End Notes

There were some jaw dropping quotes made during the Sony Ericsson Open. They speak for themselves.

Why Dominika Cibulkova will never be top five. This is from her presser after losing to Victoria Azarenka Monday.

Q. Do you think there was any particular turning point in the match?
DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA: The turning point was 6 1 up and 5 2 up on my serve, and I just didn't finish the match, you know. Until then, I was killing her from the return and just from the forehand.
After that, I just didn't want to go for so much. I just wanted her to beat herself. That didn't happen, you know. I gave her like very little small chance.

Andy Roddick suffers from foot in mouth disease.

ANDY RODDICK

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. So how do you feel? It's a horrible question, but...
ANDY RODDICK: How do I feel?

Q. Yeah, after the big excitement last night. You said it yourself, you couldn't get that excited because you had this match to play today.
ANDY RODDICK: Yeah, I mean, there's no real way around it. When you have to make a quick recovery, it will expose you if you're not in shape.
Most people can play a match and it's fine. It's the recovery where it kind of defines you.
You know, there are a lot of positives out of this week. I feel healthy. You know, I played matches, and I was running, you know, hard. Um, my lack of any sort of fitness regime, you know, on my leg is apparent, but that's something that is a matter of work. It's not a matter of health. That's something that's in my control.
Um, I just didn't have it physically. I got to about 4 All, and I was you know, I'm out of shape. That's it, you know. So, yeah, I mean, that's it.

Caroline Wozniacki feels entitled...

Q. Does it make you feel better that the replay on television showed that the serve was actually on the line?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Sorry?

Q. Does it make you feel better that the replay showed that Maria's serve at the end actually was on the line?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: No, it doesn't. No, because I think when the ball is so close that I think he should give her a chance to challenge at least when I don't have any challenges.
She was gonna challenge it, anyways. So if it shows it's good, it's good. If it shows it's out, it's out. The ball was so close that it might as well have been out.

Q. You seemed to have other problems with him throughout the match, kind of, or later in the match?
CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Well, during this match? No, I didn't have any problems with him.

All of these interviews can be found in their entirety on the Sony Ericsson Open website.

Indian Wells, Uh BNP Paribas Open 2012

by Savannah

Main draw play gets underway today. Are you ready for some TENNIS?! Well slow your roll and curb your excitement. There will be no live tennis until Saturday, March 10. Live streams? Whut's that? The cameras will not go on until Saturday and that means all of us who enjoy watching tournament play - especially major tournament play - from Day 1, are shit out of luck. That big upset that absolutely NO ONE saw coming? Well if you had been able to see Player X from day one you would've strongly suspected he or she had a chance to surprise a favorite.

The demi-suits (Thanks Mozzie from 'White Collar') and the Suits at ESPN, Tennis Channel (I still can't see it by the way. Hugs and kisses Dolan family) don't think you, the tennis fan, deserve to see early round play. It's like the US media outlets deciding not to show the NFL or MLB wild card games picking up coverage when Game 3 is underway. It would never happen and I'm waiting for a rationale for this nonsense.

Of course the folks in Miami get away with the same crap. These are the same people who whine about the coverage provided by bloggers, credentialed or not. They're there, feet on the ground, and act as the shock troops for the average tennis fan.

And yes I know I'm beating the same dead horse that gets hauled out of the barn every year at this time. It's still something that I think needs to be critiqued. It's sheer stupidity to not allow coverage because of the decisions at ESPN and TC.

Anyway here are the men's and women's singles draws. Make of them what you will.

Men's Main Draw

[1] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB/ BYE

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

BACHINGER, Matthias GER vs KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp GER

BYE/[29] ANDERSON, Kevin RSA

[18] MAYER, Florian GER/BYE

HAASE, Robin NED vs ANDUJAR, Pablo ESP

RAMOS, Albert ESP vs WC LEVINE, Jesse USA

BYE/[16] GASQUET, Richard FRA

[12]ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP/BYE

QUALIFIER vs WC QUERREY, Sam USA

GIRALDO, Santiago COL vs WC SOCK, Jack USA

BYE/[17] NISHIKORI, Kei JPN

[30] RODDICK, Andy USA/BYE

KARLOVIC, Ivo CRO vs KUBOT, Lukasz POL

BOGOMOLOV JR., Alex RUS vs STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy UKR

BYE/[7]BERDYCH, Tomas CZE

[4]MURRAY, Andy GBR/BYE

GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP vs MACHADO, Rui POR

HARRISON, Ryan USA vs CIPOLLA, Flavio ITA

[25] TROICKI, Viktor SRB/BYE

[23] WAWRINKA, Stanislas SUI/BYE

QUALIFIER vs WC GINEPRI, Robby USA

QUALIFIER vs SELA, Dudi ISR

[13] SIMON, Gilles FRA/BYE

[11] ISNER, John USA/BYE

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

QUALIFIER vs MAHUT, Nicolas FRA

BYE/[22] ARG MONACO, Juan

[32] BENNETEAU, Julien FRA/BYE

QUALIFIER vs KUNITSYN, Igor RUS

SEPPI, Andreas ITA vs ROCHUS, Olivier BEL

BYE/[8] FISH, Mardy USA

Bottom Half

[5] FERRER, David ESP/BYE

DODIG, Ivan CRO vs DIMITROV, Grigor BUL

LU, Yen-Hsun TPE vs ISTOMIN, Denis UZB

BYE/[31] CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG

[19]VERDASCO, Fernando ESP/BYE

STEBE, Cedrik-Marcel GER vs SWEETING, Ryan USA

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

BYE/[9] DEL POTRO, Juan Martin ARG



[14] MONFILS, Gael FRA/BYE

DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs QUALIFIER

ROSOL, Lukas CZE vs BELLUCCI, Thomaz BRA

BYE/[20]MELZER, Jurgen AUT

[27]RAONIC, Milos CAN/BYE

BERLOCQ, Carlos ARG vs PAIRE, Benoit FRA

TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS vs WC KUDLA, Denis USA

BYE/[3]FEDERER, Roger SUI

[6]TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried FRA/BYE

LLODRA, Michael FRA vs GULBIS, Ernests LAT

MALISSE, Xavier BEL vs QUALIFIER

[28] STEPANEK, Radek CZE/BYE

[24] CILIC, Marin CRO/BYE 106

STARACE, Potito ITA vs NALBANDIAN, David ARG

TOMIC, Bernard AUS vs MULLER, Gilles LUX

BYE/[10]TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB

[15] LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP/BYE

CHARDY, Jeremy FRA vs BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP

YOUNG, Donald USA vs DARCIS, Steve BEL

[21] DOLGOPOLOV, Alexandr UKR/BYE

[26] GRANOLLERS, Marcel ESP/BYE

NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN vs HAAS, Tommy GER

FALLA, Alejandro COL vs MAYER, Leonardo ARG

[2] NADAL, Rafael ESP/BYE

Women's Main Draw

Top Half

[1] AZARENKA, Victoria/BYE

WC CRAYBAS, Jill vs BARTHEL, Mona

KEOTHAVONG, Anne vs BACSINSZKY, Timea

[25]KUZNETSOVA, Svetlana/ BYE

[24] MEDINA GARRIGUES, Anabel/BYE

QUALIFIER vs WC MIRZA, Sania

BALTACHA, Elena vs RUS, Arantxa

[14] GOERGES, Julia/BYE

[12] JANKOVIC, Jelena/BYE

WC HAMPTON, Jamie vs HERCOG, Polona

GAJDOSOVA, Jarmila vs WC VANDEWEGHE, Coco

[22] WICKMAYER, Yanina/BYE

[27] PENNETTA, Flavia/BYE

PIRONKOVA, Tsvetana vs SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla

CIRSTEA, Sorana vs BENESOVA, Iveta

[5]RADWANSKA, Agnieszka POL/BYE

[3] KVITOVA, Petra/BYE

MORITA, Ayumi vs ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA, Barbora

QUALIFIER vs VESNINA, Elena

[32] MCHALE, Christina/BYE

[18] KERBER, Angelique/BYE

WC STEPHENS, Sloane vs QUALIFIER

KING, Vania vs ERRANI, Sara

[13] PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia/BYE

[9] ZVONAREVA, Vera/BYE

DATE-KRUMM, Kimiko vs PARMENTIER, Pauline

POUS-TIO, Laura vs ZAKOPALOVA, Klara

[19] HANTUCHOVA, Daniela/BYE

[31]ZHENG, Jie/BYE

RADWANSKA, Urszula vs QUALIFIER

ERAKOVIC, Marina vs VOSKOBOEVA, Galina

[8] LI, Na/BYE

Bottom Half

[7] BARTOLI, Marion FRA/BYE

QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER

JOHANSSON, Mathilde FRA vs SCHEEPERS, Chanelle RSA

[29] KANEPI, Kaia EST/BYE

[23] SAFAROVA, Lucie CZE/BYE

PASZEK, Tamira AUT vs YAKIMOVA, Anastasiya BLR

QUALIFIER vs PEER, Shahar ISR

[10] SCHIAVONE, Francesca ITA/BYE

[15] IVANOVIC, Ana SRB/BYE

QUALIFIER vs LARSSON, Johanna SWE

PERVAK, Ksenia KAZ vs QUALIFIER

[17]PENG, Shuai CHN/BYE

[26] NICULESCU, Monica ROU/BYE

QUALIFIER vs ARVIDSSON, Sofia SWE

MAKAROVA, Ekaterina RUS vs MATTEK-SANDS, Bethanie USA

[4] WOZNIACKI, Caroline DEN/BYE

[6] STOSUR, Samantha/BYE

FALCONI, Irina 99 vs WC DULGHERU, Alexandra

DAVIS, Lauren vs WC MARTIC, Petra

[30] PETROVA, Nadia/BYE

[20] KIRILENKO, Maria/BYE

BEGU, Irina-Camelia vs HRADECKA, Lucie

MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, Maria Jose vs DOMINGUEZ LINO, Lourdes

[11] LISICKI, Sabine/BYE

[16] CIBULKOVA, Dominika/BYE

RYBARIKOVA, Magdalena vs QUALIFIER

BRIANTI, Alberta vs SOLER-ESPINOSA, Silvia

BYE/[21] VINCI, Roberta

[28] CETKOVSKA, Petra/BYE

HALEP, Simona vs QUALIFIER

DULKO, Gisela vs DOKIC, Jelena

[2] SHARAPOVA, Maria/BYE

So Who Get's Tested The Most?

by Savannah

On Sunday @Tehaspe started posting ITF information about who was drug tested in and out of competition on Twitter. Out of competition means that they showed up at your abode at some ungodly hour and asked you to pee in a cup or whatever they ask you to do in this circumstance. The information is quite interesting.

For example in 2010 neither Caroline Wozniacki, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray or Li Na were tested out of competition. Interesting no? While both Venus Williams and Serena Williams were tested in competition in 2010 neither was tested out of competition.

Both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils were tested out of competition as was Richard Gasquet.

David Ferrer and Juan-Carlos Ferrero were tested more often out of competition than Fernando Verdasco. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic who were all tested at the same rate.

Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska were also tested out of competition.

To see all of the PDF's please go HERE. I couldn't open the PDF's in Safari but I could in Firefox.

For those who have trouble loading the PDF @Tehaspe has uploaded the 2010 list here.

It's an interesting read.

Weekend Winners

Hsieh Su-Wei is the first Asian to win the title in Malaysia. I saw her play two or three years ago and thought she had a nice game that could take her places. Instead she's been on the Challenger circuit. Kuala Lumpur was plagued by rain and players ended up playing two matches on finals day.

Doubles winners in Kuala Lumpur were Chang Kai-Chen (R) and Chuang Chia-Jung (L) of Taiwan.


Sara Errani, one of the smallest WTA players, had a great time in Acapulco. She defeated countrywoman Flavia Pennetta who has won Acapulco before.

Errani, not satisfied with winning the singles crown turned around and with Roberta Vinci won the doubles title. Congratulations Sara!

Fernando Verdasco, who played the men's singles final joined with David Marrero to win the men's doubles in Acapulco.

David Ferrer won the men's singles title defeating Fernando Verdasco.

In Dubai Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna were the last team standing in the doubles competition.

Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray to take the singles title in Dubai.


Delray Beach saw South Africa's Kevin Anderson win it all. He defeated top seeded John Isner on his way to the championship.

Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins won the doubles.