By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan
Last Week's & This Week's Tournament
Australian Open (ATP & WTA - Outdoor Hard - Melbourne, Australia)
(In new, Plexicushion blue this week!)
- Men's Singles Bracket
- Women's Singles Bracket
- Men's Doubles Bracket
- Women's Doubles Bracket
- Mixed Doubles Bracket
- Boys' Singles
- Girls' Singles
- Boys' Doubles
- Girls' Doubles
- Website
- Television Schedule
By The Letter
(This week: an Australian Open observations version of BTL, because there's so much to talk about in addition to the regular MH and BTB commentary in the MNP. FYI.)
T...op half of the women's bracket is the more loaded side, with four quarterfinalists who "should be there," according to their seeds. But Jelena Jankovic sticks out like a sore thumb. She barely escaped her first round match against Tamira Paszek, and needed another three sets against Virginie Razzano. Henin, Sharapova, and Serena Williams haven't lost a set, have looked consistently dominant, and have won 194 of the 257 games they’ve played combined (75%).
E...lena Vesnina was ousted by her friend and compatriot Maria Sharapova in short order in the third round (6-3, 6-0), but her overall performance should be commended. The young Russian upset the No. 32 seed Julia Vakulenko on day one, and took out Jill Craybas with ease in the second round (6-2, 6-4). It's only the third time she's reached the third round or better of a Slam.
N...icest Story (Men): For all of the negative publicity that Marcos Baghdatis has received for his YouTube video, his play on the court was nothing short of amazing. Marcos was handed as tough a draw as there was in the opening three rounds, but showed great courage and fortitude to beat Marat Safin in a fifth set (after once leading two sets to none), and to even reach a fifth set against Lleyton Hewitt (after being down 5-1 in the fourth).
N...icest Story (Women): Casey Dellacqua, who beat both No. 15 seed Patty Schnyder and No. 18 seed Amelie Mauresmo to capture many Aussie fan's hearts en route to the fourth round.
I...n the United States, television coverage of this year's Australian Open has been superb. Tennis Channel picked up broadcast rights this year, which has given American die-hards another place to feed their cravings. ESPN, long reviled for their coverage of the Grand Slams (excessive tape delays, little non-American player coverage) has instead kept true to the schedule with large blocks of live feeds. Staying with the entire Hewitt/Baghdatis epic until 12:30 p.m. EST on Saturday was a great sign to see.
S...erbian tennis star (the forgotten one) Janko Tipsarevic made the most of his opportunity on a center court this week, playing five sets and 4.5 hours of terrific tennis in defeat against Roger Federer. His effort was far more courageous than his last match at a Slam, where he retired meekly against Rafael Nadal at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the second round of the '07 U.S. Open.
W...omen's matches haven't lived up to the men's in terms of dramatics, but that might change in the coming week. There are many players remaining in the men's bracket that raise eyebrows (especially in the bottom half), while the women's side features an array of star-studded quarterfinal matches.
O...n the blue courts: I'm still getting used to them, but they are not as rough on the eyes as I originally thought. A question to equipment suppliers, however - with all the blue already, why did the clothing have to be the same color? It seems like half of the women are wearing this top, but some of the men haven't been much better. Contrast works best, which is why Philipp Kohlschreiber's black/neon attire was one of my favorites.
R...oddick's own play still must be factored in, but could he have run into hotter players in his last three defeats at Grand Slams? Richard Gasquet (Wimbledon '07) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (Australian Open '08) each played the match of their careers against Andy, while Roger Federer was his usual flawless self at the 2007 U.S. Open.
L...ast week, I touted Chris Guccione in the Beyond the Bracket portion of the MNP. To put it mildly, Guccione didn't live up to my expectations, losing in straight sets to Hyung-Taik Lee in the first round. With more pressure on him - but much more talent, of course - Lleyton Hewitt was the Aussie who carried his country's flag proud. (To prove there is no "MNP Jinx", consider what Philipp Kohlschreiber did, after being named last week's McGrogan's Hero.)
D...rinking shots of the Aussie fans: they are a staple during television broadcasts. But we get the point already. It doesn't speak as kindly of the spectators as you might think (see Beyond the Bracket for why). [You didn't think I was going to let ESPN off that easy, did you?]
McGrogan's Heroes
ATP - Two performances stick out at me so far, one on each side of the draw. James Blake's play in the top half has dispelled a couple of long-held opinions - that he can't win in five sets, and that he's largely fallen off of the tennis radar after his breakout year in 2006. The way Blake has advanced to the final eight has been unexpected - he looked as good as dead against Sebastien Grosjean in the fourth set, and then obliterated a white hot Marin Cilic in straights - but Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's run might be even more surprising.
Tsonga is part of a large class of young and talented Frenchmen, but he doesn't play the same style as Richard Gasquet or Gilles Simon, to name a few. The Cassius Clay look-alike throws haymakers with a lethal serve (he has 60 aces through four matches, good for third best in the field) and continues with his attacking mode if his opponent returns the ball in play. Tsonga had some sporadic success last year at the ATP level (semifinals of Lyon, fourth round of Wimbledon), but really hit his stride in the Futures and Challengers, winning five events.
His play this year at Melbourne might have been foreshadowed by good results in the events prior to the Open. Tsonga reached the semifinals of Adelaide, and won the doubles title the next week with Gasquet in Sydney. Still, this run has been quite a surprise, and as many of his victims would probably attest to (Andy Murray and Gasquet are two of them), they didn't see it coming either.
WTA - In the upcoming women's quarterfinals, the seeds have largely fallen into place (the 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 seeds are among the final eight, and another one is No. 9 seed Daniela Hantuchova). There's one glaring exception, and that's the No. 29 seed Agnieszka Radwanska - who many feel will soon be a top seed at major tournaments. For her tremendous play in the first week of the Australian Open - where she beat one of the few missing top-eight seeds - Radwanska is our heroine of the week.
Agnieszka made a name for herself last year by winning her first career WTA title in Stockholm, and then by upsetting Maria Sharapova (the No. 2 seed) in the third round of the U.S. Open. She fell one round later in Flushing Meadows, which tied her best performance at a Grand Slam. This year, it's evident that Radwanska has continued to build on her impressive 2007 by her play at the Australian Open. The 18 year old showed great poise in quickly dispatching her first two opponents (Savchuk and Parmentier); making the early round matches less taxing is critical for success at a Slam. You'll recognize her next two opponents' names - Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova - but while the quality of players increased, so did Radwanska's play. She ousted another No. 2 seed (Kuznetsova) in the third round, 6-3, 6-4, and then advanced past Petrova in three sets. The win over Petrova might have even been more impressive than the Kuznetsova match, as Agnieszka lost the first set 1-6, but stormed back to win the next two sets 7-5, 6-0.
The Pole's journey continues against Hantuchova, and I don't expect her story to end then. Hantuchova squeaked by Maria Kirilenko in a match riddled with breaks of serve and errors, and isn't coming into their quarterfinal with the same type of confidence that Radwanska will be. Look for a semifinals appearance, and a boost in the rankings after the tournament concludes - where she'll likely stay for some time.
Tennis Theatre
To salute the sheer amazement of these past few days at the Australian Open, here's how it finally ended:
Beyond the Bracket
In case you haven’t noticed, the Australian Open underwent a bit of a makeover since last year’s event. The deep blue sea of Plexicushion courts are the most obvious difference, but there have been other, more subtle changes as well. The “Melbourne” text that is emblazoned on the show courts has a new look, and astute viewers might notice that this year’s logo varies from the older version.
Why do I bring up these aesthetic changes (besides the fact that I’m a sucker for this type of trivia)? Because it’s clear to me that “The Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific” is trying to refine its image. The tournament is still thought of as a second-tier Slam by some, and I believe these changes were in part made to further define what makes this slam uniquely its own – as opposed to a poor man’s U.S. Open.
For the most part, players and fans have been receptive to these changes, aside from a few pokes at the color and speed of the courts. However, there has been plenty of dissent off the court, which is quickly tarnishing the luster that Tennis Australia has been applying to the Open.
Last year, the tournament’s image was marred by clashes within the tennis grounds by Croatian and Serbian fans.
This year, at least two documented incidents have been reported involving ethnic groups of fans. Thankfully, there has been no combat between fans this year. But deterrents such as pepper spray and ejections have been used to quell rowdy behavior.
Finally – and it should be noted that this doesn’t directly deal with the tournament itself, but it just surfaced this week – there has been a controversy about a video showing Marcos Baghdatis at the Melbourne home of a member of the Hellas Fan Club (some fans from this supporters group were ejected from the Economidis/Gonzalez match, and were sprayed with pepper) denouncing the presence of Turks in his native Cyprus.
Bad’day mate!
Is there really something to this all? From my limited years of Grand Slam viewing, I can’t recall many incidents like these occurring at the other Grand Slam events. Certainly, I don’t remember such a prevalence of disturbances at a particular Slam. Vocal New York fans during night matches have drawn plenty of ire from observers in the past (myself included), but the ethnically fueled incidents that have become common at the Australian Open are a different ballgame entirely.
Bud Collins, the famed tennis journalist, agrees. “You wouldn't see anything like that at the US Open or Wimbledon or the French,” said Collins after he was asked about the pepper spray incident.
By contrast, Aussie Open director Craig Tiley is quick to remind us that these are isolated happenings. “It is not a concern to us that it damages the image of the event because there are so many positives. It is the happy slam,” said Tiley.
If there isn’t a problem that is specific to the Australian Open in regards to its fans, there is, at the very least, a potential problem. And it’s up to Tennis Australia to continue their makeover of the Australian Open in order to smooth out these wrinkles. This needs to be done for two big reasons. The first is very important to their organization, while the second pertains to the well-being of the sport as a whole.
You may be unaware of this, but the Australian Open (nee 1905) is on a contracted basis. The present contract will keep the event in Melbourne until 2016, but there have been rumblings that the tournament could move around the Asia/Pacific region on a rotational basis. If nothing else, that would make the event’s subtitle that much more accurate.
Personally, I think the idea stinks, as it reeks of a moneymaking enterprise that would completely undermine the historic structure of the Grand Slams. I’m sure many of you – and all of Australia – agrees. Thus, I think any actions that would help the tournament’s image are important, because of the chilling prospect that the year’s first Slam could be held elsewhere.
But more importantly, there is something about the sport that needs to be considered in relation to all of this. Tennis is one of the few sports where silence is required during the action. The general atmosphere of a tennis match is filled with sportsmanship and respect, both from players and fans. Few sports can claim to have this attribute, and it’s a quality that I am very proud to be associated with as a fan of tennis. Of course, fans and players are welcome to express their joy or disapproval after a point – that’s what makes the tense, yet rousing nature of some of the late night thrillers what they are.
In tennis, the difference between a winner and an error is extremely small – Hawkeye has shown us micrometer-sized spaces more time than I can count. The same, thin line exists between what is and what isn’t appropriate fan conduct. I’m not worried about some sort of “new era” of tennis, where fans are allowed to yell absurdly and act as hooligans. But when incidents such as what we’ve seen in Australia occur with the frequency that they have been this week, I have to wonder whether that line is – slowly – being blurred.
If...
You had to choose between James Blake or Andy Roddick, who finishes the year with a higher ranking?
