By TW Contributing Editor, Ed McGrogan
Last Week's Tournaments
Masters Series Monte Carlo (ATP - Clay - Monte Carlo, Monaco)
- Singles Final: Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer 7-5, 7-5.
- Singles Semifinal: Roger Federer def. Novak Djokovic 6-3, 3-2 (retired).
- Singles Semifinal: Rafael Nadal def. Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2.
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Final: Rafael Nadal/Tommy Robredo def. Mahesh Bhupathi/Mark Knowles 6-3, 6-3.
- Doubles Semifinal: Mahesh Bhupathi/Mark Knowles def. Jeff Coetzee/Wesley Moodie 6-0, 7-5.
- Doubles Semifinal: Rafael Nadal/Tommy Robredo def. Jonas Bjorkman/Kevin Ullyett 5-7, 7-6, 10-7.
- Doubles Bracket
Fed Cup (WTA - Various)
- First Rubber: Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) def. Vania King (USA) 6-4, 7-5.
- Second Rubber: Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) def. Ahsha Rolle (USA) 6-2, 6-1.
- Third Rubber: Vera Zvonareva (RUS) def. Vania King (USA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
- Fourth Rubber (dead): Ahsha Rolle (USA) def. Elena Vesnina (RUS) 6-3, 6-4.
- Fifth Rubber (dead): Liezel Huber/Vania King (USA) def. Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Vesnina (RUS) 7-6, 6-4.
- Russia vs. USA
- First Rubber: Carla Suarez-Navarro (ESP) def. Shuai Peng (CHN) 6-3, 7-6.
- Second Rubber: Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) def. Jie Zheng (CHN) 6-3, 6-4.
- Third Rubber: Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) def. Shaui Peng (CHN) 6-4, 6-4.
- Fourth Rubber (dead): Jie Zheng (CHN) def. Carla Suarez-Navarro (ESP) 7-6, 6-3.
- Fifth Rubber (dead): Nuria Llagostera Vives/Maria-Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP) def. Shuai Peng/Tian-Tian Sun (CHN) 6-2, 6-1.
- China vs. Spain
By the Letter
T...ommy Robredo and Rafael Nadal's doubles title at Monte Carlo gave Nadal the distinction of being only the second player to ever win the singles and doubles tournaments at a Masters Series event (the last was Jim Courier at Indian Wells '91).
E...bay finds of the week (again, those Heritage shorts I told you about): Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C.
N...ice result (men): Gael Monfils was one of the few Frenchman to have success in Monte Carlo this past week, upsetting Fernando Verdasco and Ivo Karlovic before losing to Roger Federer in the third round.
N...ice result (women): Vera Zvonareva has played well so far this season, and continued her strong play by taking the deciding rubber for the hometown Russians, beating Vania King in a close three set match.
I...ndividual tournaments they are not - but even when the ATP and WTA combine for a "joint" Rogers Cup in 2011, Montreal and Toronto will still alternate between the men and women each year.
S...hamil Tarpishchev, captain of the Russian Fed Cup team, will play Maria Sharapova in September's final due to a "prior agreement" between the two.
W...TATour.com took a closer look at the career of Clarisa Fernandez, a French Open semifinalist six years ago, after she announced her retirement earlier this month.
O...pen tennis' 40th anniversary coincides with the release of The Bud Collins History of Tennis - due out this spring.
R...oland Garros will be the next - and last - tournament that Gustavo Kuerten will play in. Guga withdrew from Barcelona this week due to a muscle injury.
L...osing streak of 54 matches (and even more amazingly, 108 sets) was ended earlier this week after Robert Dee defeated Arzhang Derakhshani in a Futures tournament in Spain.
D...ocumentary film Unstrung, which takes a closer look at the lives of dedicated tennis youths, will be shown on Saturday, May 3, on ESPN Classic. The film is co-produced by Jim Courier.
McGrogan's Heroes
ATP – Rafael Nadal
It’s the safe pick, but it’s the right one.
Somewhat lost in the Djokovic is rising/Federer is falling early months of 2008 is that Nadal hasn’t won a tournament since July of last year. He’s had plenty of good results since then – finals of the Paris Masters and Miami Masters, for example – but like the long ball, chicks dig titles. Rafa finally got the monkey off his back with a convincing win at Monte Carlo. It couldn’t have come at a better time, because even though clay is Nadal’s preferred battleground, it also brings along added pressure to fend off and piles of points to defend.
Nadal is now an unprecedented four-time defending champion of Monte Carlo (Ille Nastase was champion in three consecutive years, from 1971-73). He can make similar history at both Barcelona and Rome, should he earn the four-peat at these upcoming events. And even though winning the French Open four straight years wouldn’t give him the best run at Roland Garros outright (Bjorn Borg can also tout that, winning from 1978-1981), we won’t think any less of the achievement.
Last year, Nadal accomplished what I called the “Quadruple Trifecta” – he won four different clay tournaments for three consecutive years. If he can defend his titles at Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Roland Garros this year, do I then call it the “Quadruple Superfecta?” I’m not sure I like how that sounds. I’m instead thinking of dubbing it the “Perfect Square,” since Nadal will have 16 titles if he can win four tournaments for four consecutive years.
(On a related note, see the if… question below.)
WTA – Nuria Llagostera Vives
Both the American and Spanish Fed Cup teams faced significant challenges this past week in the semifinal round. Clearly, the United States drew the shortest straw of the two sides. They not only had to face an All-Star Russian lineup in Moscow, but also had to do so with a squad that wasn’t even close to their best potential outfit.
Spain also faced an away crowd, but dodged both Na Li and Zi Yan, China’s two highest ranked singles players. Throw in the fact that this was only the second year in the World Group for China, and the outcome of this tie was not as easy to predict.
It was over by the third rubber – just as it was in Moscow – but not in favor of the home side. Spain marched on to the finals, thanks in great part to the contributions of Nuria Llagostera Vives. The Fed Cup veteran dispatched both Chinese threats, beating Jie Zheng and Shaui Peng, each in straight sets.
Llagostera Vives’ year in Fed Cup has been a memorable one, dating back to February when Spain faced Italy in the opening round. Also in enemy territory, Spain faced a tough test against an Italian side led by the accomplished and battle-tested Francesca Schiavone. Llagostera Vives faced a tall order, but ended up winning in three sets, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2. Thereafter, Anabel Medina Garrigues won the next two rubbers, and Spain advanced with an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
This time around, Llagostera Vives did the bulk of the work, after Carla Suarez-Navarro won the opening rubber against Peng. She’s sure to be a fixture for Spain in September’s final, which will be their first tie of the year played on home soil.
Tennis Theatre
I typed "spain china fed cup" into the YouTube search engine to see if I could find any highlights from this past weekend's tie. Only one video came up, and it was this:
I enjoyed watching this clip. Since the shuttlecock stays airbone longer than a tennis ball, there's more time to plan your next move, leading to some very creative shotmaking. Although tennis, ping-pong, and squash are the top three on my list of favorite racquet sports, I still love to play badminton when I can (unfortunately, almost never).
This clip illustrates the speed of the game pretty well:
Finally, some deception:
Next Week's Tournaments
***TELEVISION SCHEDULE***
BMW Open (ATP - Clay - Munich, Germany)
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
- Website
Open Sabadell Atlantico (ATP - Clay - Barcelona, Spain)
- Singles Bracket
- Doubles Bracket
- Website
ECM Prague Open (WTA - Clay - Prague, Czech Republic)
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
- Website
Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem (WTA - Clay - Fes, Morocco)
- Singles & Doubles Bracket
- Website
Beyond the Bracket
The road to Roland Garros is a long one, paved with a mixture of crushed brick and plenty of sweat. It’s been said that clay is the most forgiving surface to play on from a physical standpoint, but try telling that to the many players who are playing three challenging Masters Series events in a span of four weeks. And if you’re Rafael Nadal, the three-time defending champion of [insert name of clay tournament here] four consecutive weeks of play are required (in order to fit Barcelona into his calendar).
Nadal, among others, has aired his thoughts about the compacted nature of this year’s clay season. But as they say, the show must go on. And in Monte Carlo, the usual dynamos of the dirt didn’t skip a beat. The seeds played out perfectly in the last two rounds, with the “real” number one on the surface, Nadal, capping things off by again stifling his closest rival, Roger Federer. To reach this final match, Nadal brushed away the fourth seed, Nikolay Davydenko, while Federer garnered some revenge for his loss at the Australian Open against third-seeded Novak Djokovic, after the Serb abruptly retired in the second set.
While seeing the top four seeds reach the final four of a tournament isn’t that uncommon, having the top eight reach the quarters is definitely a rare occurrence. It almost happened in Monaco this week, with the top six seeds advancing to the elite eight, along with party crashers Sam Querrey and Igor Andreev.
Normally, I wouldn’t make too much out of this. But for a number of reasons, I think there’s a very good chance that what we saw unfold in Monte Carlo is what will also happen at the French Open. The top six seeds (David Ferrer is No. 5, and David Nalbandian is No. 6) are all spectacular players on clay – their lowest clay title count amongst them is four, aside from the still-youthful Djokovic, who has two. As for Andreev and Querrey, they could find their way deep into the second week of Roland Garros, but they represent a specific type of player who will do well in Paris. Andreev symbolizes the (are you ready) clay-court specialist, while Querrey’s presence is emblematic of a wild card candidate who can make waves from time to time (Carlos Moya ’07, Julien Benneteau ’06, Victor Hanescu ’05).
In addition, look at the box scores of Thursday’s matches that sent the top six into the quarters. Except for Davydenko’s three set tussle with Philipp Kohlschreiber, the remainder of the top six seeds crushed their competition – five of the ten sets in these matches either ended 6-0 or 6-1. And even though these matches were in a best of three format, all of these top six seeds have proven they can handle best of five set action. Last year, their combined records in Grand Slam matches were 104-20 (80.7%).
This is the beginning of the arduous clay season, where players – in theory – should be at their freshest. These eight emerged from this playing field, and while they may not all duplicate this result at Rome or Hamburg (due to the congested calendar), I think the same eight will prove their worth at Roland Garros, after everyone has had their fill of clay. I don’t have a crystal ball, although I did get a very clear view of this past week’s proceedings in my cousin’s home theatre, equipped with a stunning 92” high definition projector screen. Will I be able to watch tennis the same again? Like my predictions above, only time will tell.
Before I go, a few words about these competitors:
Nadal – see McGrogan’s Heroes above.
Federer – The start to his clay campaign has gone as well as he could have expected. Retirements by two of his toughest opponents help, but he looked right in form against Nalbandian in the Monte Carlo quarters.
Djokovic – Novak has significant points to defend at the next three Grand Slams, but he also reached the quarters at Rome and Hamburg last year. If there’s one equalizing factor in this three horse race atop the rankings, it’s that Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic were so dominant last year that they each always have points to defend somewhere, so an early loss may not be as punishing as it first seems.
Davydenko – He’s looked a lot more threatening since last year’s U.S. Open (did you know he didn’t lose a set at Flushing Meadows until his semifinal match against Federer?), and his win at Miami should do wonders for his confidence.
Ferrer – It’s going to be a stiff test for anyone to upend Nadal on clay this spring, but in spite of the 6-1, 7-5 defeat he suffered to Rafa, David probably has just as good a chance as Roger, Novak, or Nikolay does of slaying the clay Goliath.
Nalbandian – Steve Tignor had a great description of Richard Gasquet in a recent ESPN.com blog post, where he called him “The Microwave” – as in, he can get hot at any moment. Thinking back to how Nalbandian played at last year’s Madrid and Paris Masters, and then, how mortal he can look at other times, David could likewise be compared to this kitchen appliance. But to give him some credit, he’s a microwave from Williams-Sonoma (he won’t break down as quickly).
Andreev – Ever since Tignor (not picking on you Steve – seriously!) pegged Igor to shine bright in Indian Wells (he ended up losing to Mardy Fish in his first match), he’s been on a tear, reaching the quarterfinals at both Miami and Monte Carlo. Reaching those heights at Roland Garros is not out of the question, but if it’s not him, I could easily see Juan Monaco or Nicolas Almagro taking his place.
Querrey – Sam’s play was a great story this week. Just getting by Carlos Moya in the first round was an achievement, not to mention his subsequent wins over Andreas Seppi and Richard Gasquet. But what I take most out of Querrey’s success is that I can’t help but think about what James Blake or Andy Roddick could do on clay, on a good day.
if...
Rafael Nadal ends up winning Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Rome, and Roland Garros for four consecutive years each, what name would you invent for this achievement?
(I have suggested "Perfect Square" as per above; best response in the comments below wins a prize.)
