Opinions
The Outer Courts - U.S. Open Day 4
by Rick Limpert on Sep 1, 2010 9:57 PM EDT
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While most of the top Americans were in action on the show courts Wednesday, the action on the outside courts did not disappoint.
Here's what to look for on Thursday - Courts 4-17
Court 6: Dominika Cibulkova vs. Kateryna Bondarenko - A second round women's singles match featuring the other Bondarenko Sister and Cibulkova, who chases everything down.
Court 7: Jurgen Melzer vs. Ricardas Berankis - Should be a competitive long match.
Court 13: Kei Nishikori vs. Marin Cilic - Cilic tries to advance to the second round. Nishikori is a decent shotmaker, could take a set from Cilic.
Court 13: Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Shuai Peng - If Radwanska plays her normal self, she should win.
See you at the courts.
The Outer Courts - U.S. Open Day 2
by Rick Limpert on Aug 30, 2010 8:08 PM EDT
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Day 1 proved to be an exciting day on the outside courts, and Day 2 looks just as good or even better.
We'll see some more 5-setters, controversial calls, and maybe some Americans advancing to the second round.
Here's the best of Day 2:
Court 4:
Eduardo Schwank vs. Robbie Ginepri - How much does Ginepri have left in the tank?
Court 6:
Anna Chakvetadze Vs. Uruszula Radwanska - Should be a close match. Chakvetadze has stepped up her game lately.
Court 7:
David Ferrer vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov - Great match. Ferrer is a tough competitor. Dolgopolov is an up and comer.
Court 11:
David Nalbandian vs. Rik De Voest - Should be an easy win for Nalbandian, but it's fun watching him play.
Court 13:
Jeremy Chardy vs. Ernests Gulbis - Anything can, and will happen in this one.
Alla Kudryavtseva vs. Yanina Wickmayer - A great matchup on a small court.
See you at the courts.
Roddick Faces the Soderling Test
by Rick Limpert on Aug 19, 2010 11:21 AM EDT
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When I was in grade school each spring we had to take yearly standardized tests called the Iowa Tests. No, they didn't ask about the capital of Iowa, or who would be Hayden Frye's starting quarterback that year for the Iowa Hawkeyes, they covered reading, math, and some other subjects and were supposed to determine what percentile you placed in for each subject.
Before the NFL Draft each year, college players take what is called a Wunderlich Test, this is basically a problem-solving IQ test and is supposed to show your aptitude as a football player.
Andy Roddick faces a test this evening as well. The Soderling Test should show the tennis world where Roddick is at this moment as he prepares to head to the U.S. Open. Ranked ahead of Roddick, Robin Soderling poses a threat to Roddick as he does many things well on the tennis court. Roddick still has a dangerous serve, but other players have passed him in other aspects of the game. A win over Soderling tonight should be a boost to the Roddick Camp heading to New York.
A few months of disappointing results have left many wondering if Roddick relly was feeling the effects of mono, or is it the start of a slow decline in his game as he nears 30. a bad loss to Soderling tonight will send Roddick and his coach Larry Stafanki back to the drawing board. I think Roddick does need to attack more against the top players, that is what brought him success earlier in the year at Indian Wells and Miami.
I'll be watching closely tonight to see if he "aces" this test.
Meditations On A Beatdown: Petra Kvitova Def. No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-0
by Ben Rothenberg on Jun 28, 2010 11:08 PM EDT
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Suppose I told you that of the over 200 singles matches that have been played to completion at Wimbledon 2010 thus far, the quickest of them lasted only 46 minutes.
I'll ad that, unsurprisingly, the match was between a top five seed and a player outside the top 60. It makes sense. Matches between players that far apart in the rankings are often lopsided, especially in the early rounds.
To hear that this match took place on the second Monday of Wimbledon, in a fourth round match between two players who had each won three matches in the tournament to get to that point, is significantly more surprising. Perhaps the lower-ranked player had snuck through a soft part of the draw, and received a harsh reality check once finally running into quality opposition.
When it's revealed that the winner of this match was the unseeded player, and it was the top five player who lost in record time, the story no longer seems plausible.
But that's just what happened on Day 7 of Wimbledon. No. 3 Caroline Wozniacki was thoroughly embarrassed in her fourth round match on Court 2, losing to WTA No. 62 Petra Kvitova 6-2, 6-0 in only 46 minutes.
Sunlight More of an Issue in London Than in Paris
by Ben Rothenberg on Jun 15, 2010 8:33 PM EDT
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Andy Murray's loss to Mardy Fish in the third round of the AEGON Championships at Queen's Club in London was more drawn out than an average loss, as play was halted at 3-3 in the final set after Fish complained the light was too low play in, and walked off the court.
Murray went on to lose the match when it resumed the next day, and afterward railed against the current rules regarding stopping play due to darkness in his post-match press conference, his anger with the way he lost far overshadowing the loss itself. Murray cited his dimly-lit loss in Paris to Tomas Berdych, as well as infamous match between Fabio Fognini and Gael Monfils in the second round of this year's French Open, which dissolved into rancor and chaos as play appeared to be on the verge of stopping several times before eventually stopping just several minutes short of 10 PM.
However controversial they were at the time, the issues with light at Roland Garros will pale in comparison to the problems that will plague Wimbledon.
Philipp Petzschner: Biggest Choker in Tennis?
by Ben Rothenberg on May 26, 2010 2:26 AM EDT
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For the third consecutive Grand Slam, Phillipp Petzschner blew a two-sets-to-none lead on his way to crashing out of the singles draw.
Petzschner's loss in Paris to wild card Carsten Ball (6-3 7-6(4) 2-6 5-7 7-9) follows losses at the 2010 Australian Open to Florian Mayer (6-0 6-2 4-6 2-6 2-6) and the 2009 US Open to Juan Carlos Ferrero (6-1 6-3 4-6 2-6 4-6).
The Ferrero loss is definitely the most respectable of the three, but still it can be fairly said that no player should ever lose a best of five match when he's lost only four total games in winning the first two sets.
You can talk all you want about Jana Novotna, Dinara Safina, or whichever other icon of mental frailty you want, but the real chokers are the ones who never even reach the upper echelons because their brains won't let them.
Nobody Does Tennis Like FSN...
by Ben Rothenberg on Apr 2, 2010 1:01 PM EDT
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...And thank God for that.
Sorry for the lack of coverage this week on what seems to be a pretty excellent tournament. I've caught some of the action in streams, including a very sloppy win for Kim Clijsters over Justine Henin in a semifinal which neither player seemed especially eager to win at the end.
FSN needs to stop showing tennis. They just need to stop. ESPN used to do a great job with this event, and Tennis Channel has also done well with the parts of it that it has been able to air. But FSN's tennis coverage, on the rare occasion it makes it to the Washington DC area, is always terrible. They tape delay it frivolously, preempt it for anything, and have the lowest production values of any network.
I did, however, get to see all of Tomas Berdych's upset of Roger Federer, which was shown on Tennis Channel. Neither played exceptionally from wire to wire, but the cojones that Berdych showed in the last three points of the match, to go for broke when it mattered much, really impressed me. When I interviewed him last year, Berdych seemed to think that once he lost any momentum against Federer, all hope was lost. With that revelation fresh in my mind, I expected Berdych to wilt after losing the first set. But he hung tough, and notched one of his biggest wins in the last several years. He pulled off another upset against Fernando Verdasco in the quarters, and I'm hoping he can make it three in a row against Robin Soderling tonight in the semifinals.
Agassi and Sampras Both Come Off as Fools in Fundraising Dust-Up
by Ben Rothenberg on Mar 16, 2010 3:47 AM EDT
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On the off chance you haven't seen it yet, here is the now video viral video of the squabbling between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras Friday at Indian Wells.
What this clip really doesn't emphasize enough is that this all happened during a charity fundraiser, a "Hit for Haiti" event modeled after the wildly successful one held spontaneously before the Australian Open. On a night that was supposed to be about benevolence and generosity, Sampras and Agassi let their egos detract from their benevolence.
I personally put all of the blame for this one on Agassi. And his assertion that it was alright to bring up the fact that Sampras once tipped a valet $1 is ludicrous. Tipping, however stingily, is a personal matter, and the way that Agassi broadcast a years old faux pas in his book was tacky. To bring it up again later to Pete's face at a friendly exhibition is downright rude.
This type of stage was clearly not Pete's forte in the first place. The Obama comeback was nonsensical, and just shows how out of his element he was. Sampras was always an incredibly reserved personality on the court who wasn't going to be adroit at friendly banter, much less testy, unfriendly sniping.
As much as we might like to see more cattiness at the top of the men's game sometimes, these two just come off as clowns. Agassi already did a fair amount of damage to his reputation through his autobiography, as much with its needless personal attacks as with his admissions about drug use. This incident certainly doesn't do him any favors either. He's still done a whole lot of good off the court with his school and other charity work, but Agassi's pattern of personal attacks and put-downs (from hitting a ball at a lineswoman who had caused him to receive a profanity warning to saying he would sell a sponsor's gift watch on eBay, and mocking Karol Kucera's service toss woes) leaves a lot to be desired.
Like too many tennis players who are deprived of any sort of normal childhood or maturing process, they both probably have a lot of growing up to do.
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