Posts from January 2008
Oze Open Rap Up! -
What a great final to finish up one of the best Australian Opens I can recall. The emergence of Jo Wilfred-Tsonga
was truly something special. The flashy frenchman posesses all the weapons neccessary to win a Grand Slam and
I look forward to seeing him on that stage again. Noone can ever know for sure, but I think he was a cross court forehand pass
away from winning the Australian Open. Djokovic's fitness looked in question when he was able to guess correctly and stave
off a break point at 5-5 in the 4th set. After a shaky first set Djokovic was able to get his forehand back in check
and use his backhand down the line which I beleive is the best backhand in the game.
As this is a forum I wanted to run a few ideas by you and see where everyone stands. The first is the Djokovic pre service
ritual of bouncing the ball up to 20 times. Personally, I have three problems with it. First, the time between points rule exists to
prevent players from regrouping physically after a demanding point. It doesnt seem fair that you can add an extra 15 seconds
onto the clock whenever neccessary if you are feeling the pinch from a tiresome rally. Second, it makes it very difficult for the returner to prepare for the incoming serve. It can come after 1 bounce or 20 and
to me it seems an additional mental drain that may not seem significant for one point but becomes relevent over the course
of a five set match. Finally, fans want to see tennis played without interuption. As a sports fan I get frustrated at the conclusion
of a NFL game or NBA game when the other team is calling time outs and nothing seems to be happening. This is not quite
the same thing but after a great point in tennis I want to see more. I don't want to watch a ball bounce 20 times.
Having said all this, the question is what to do about it? Umpires need to start taking a stronger stance with this and hit djokovic
with time violations. The rule is as follows "b) Time Violation or code Violation. A Time or Code Violation must be assessed if
the ball is not struck for the next pointwithin the twenty-five (25) seconds allowed,
except if the Chair Umpire extends the time for special circumstances defined by
the ATP."
Another event I found interesting during the Open was when an umpire gave Djokovic a time violation at five all in the first
set against Federer. Jim Courier was commentating and was appaled by this intervention calling it poor timing.
I did not agree with Courier and believe the rules are there to be followed regardless of the scoreline. I believe the
closer a match is the more the rules need to be adhered to. One thing that constantly amazes me is how players react to
being foot faulted. A linesman is taught to sit on the baseline and call a foot fault if the players foot touches the line.
As players, we are taught not to touch the line with our feet. We know the rule exists, know what the linesman will do
if we voilate the rule yet still seem to act like some hardship has been placed upon us. Maybe it's because I have never
had a foot faulting issue but I think if players cannot learn to stand behind a line then they have noone to blame but
themselves. Again there is no wrong time for the linesman to call a player out on this. If a server is touching the line
then he/she has an unfair advanatage and must be penalized.
Please Respond to these issues I have wrote about. Fans are often going to have
a different perspective than players so I would like to know what everyone thinks.
Tennis in Good Hands -
Tennis in Good HandsAs hard as it has been for me to watch my home Grand Slam from the sidelines this year, I can't help but be incredibly excited with the direction tennis is headed. Despite the most prominent criticism I have heard over the ten years of my playing career - that tennis lacks personalities - the night sessions I have been glued to this fortnight tell a different story. Watching Marcos Baghdatis claw his way back from 5-1 in the fourth set only to lose to Hewitt in a deciding fifth set concluding at 4:32 AM was one of the highlights of my career as a spectator. Although Marcos has numerous fans in Melbourne, the second most populated Greek city in the world, he has transcended the regional boundaries of tennis and cultural boundaries of nationalism and has won the hearts of the Australian public.
The next night match I watched again featured huge personalities in Lleyton Hewitt against Novak Djokovic. The changing court surface this year is somewhat symbolic of a changing of the guard in tennis. The last time these two met on a hard court Hewitt came out on top 6-3 6-1 6-2 at the 2006 US Open. As much as I wanted my fellow Aussie to succeed, I fear the game has left him behind. The younger players are faster and have more weapons. The Hewitt heart is as big as any out there which will keep him competitive in the years to come but I don’t see his game getting any better. On the other hand, the rate with which Djokovic is improving is staggering. It was just a year ago Roger Federer handled him easily on Rod Laver Arena. It's a big call but I can see him overtaking Federer as number one in the world within two years. Hiring Mark Woodforde to help him on the hard and grass courts shows how committed he is to improving. I can't think of a better player to hold the mantle of world number 1. His personality and hysterical impressions of other players is just what tennis needs. Any player that takes offence to these acts needs to take a good look in the mirror. With all the negative alleged gambling and doping controversy surrounding tennis giving fans a great laugh and an additional reason to remember Novak's name can only be welcomed.
The final evening match I had the pleasure of watching was Youzhny against Tsonga. I have never seen movement and athleticism comparable to what I witnessed last night from the Frenchman. It was like watching Michael Jordan with a tennis racquet. If this guy can develop his mental game we will be hearing a lot more from him in the years to come. His speed, two handed backhand and huge forehand give him the perfect weapons to beat Nadal so I will be very interested to see how that match goes tomorrow evening.
As much as I respect the ability and work ethic of players like Tommy Robredo, Nikolay Davydenko, David Ferrer and Ivan Llubicic I think if the game continues the way I hope, we will have them replaced with some of the most exciting names in tennis. Imagine how tennis would prosper if this was our top eight :
Federer
Nadal
Djokovic
Roddick
Baghdatis
Tsonga
Blake
Murray
Whatever combination of these new stars filter their way into the top echelon of tennis I believe the game is in great hands and will continue to excite fans all over the world.
Fish's week in Adelaide! -
I'm sure alot of you are curious as to why Eric and I are not playing together this week. While I have been getting married and relaxing on my honeymoon, Booty has been hard at work. Fresh off his workouts with his new Chichago Bears Linebacker coach, he tried to get me caught up. After four hours of practice, it was a set of box jumps that had me limping around on a bum knee. Over the last week I have seen countless physio therapists and Doctors who all have varying opinions but are all quite sure of themself.
I signed into the tournament to play with a friend of mine Rik deVoest. We have had a lot of success together and I knew he would be patient with the chance that I might not be fit to play. With my match scheduled for today, I had to find one last hope. Yesterday, a good friend of mine recomended that I see a "Witch Doctor" as he described him so I agreed to make the 30 minute drive out to this shack he called an office.
Bill looked to be about 80 years old and came toward me ever so slowly with his walker. After quickly hearing what I had to say he sternly imformed me that I would have no problem playing the next day. Up to this point I had hit 15 minutes in two weeks and if the ball was not within 2 feet of my hitting zone it progressed past my ailing knee. Bill used a device which he claimed to have made with materials that I can only guess were outdated in the 1980's. I was skeptical how paying this guy 40 dollars for 25 minutes would replace the other option that I was considering which involved an arthriscope going for about 15k.
To make a long story short, during my match today my knee was far from 100% but my witch doctor did an amazing job improving it. We went to battle with two french players Paul Henri-Mathieu and Julien Benneteau. Working in our favor was the fact that the two had played close to a three hour singles match against each other and did not look to be handling the Australia Summer.
Such was the condition of my knee that that ATP Supervisor Tom Barnes walked on court after out warm up and strongly suggested that we withdrawl and let the first altnerates play in our stead. Stubbornly I protested believing that we had a chance to win the match. Our opponents did not play well and we held two match points to win the match 6-1 6-4 but ended up falling short in a super breaker.
Tomorrow I will fly back to Sydney to try and see more knee specialists. With any luck Eric and I will be back in action next week for the Medibank International. In the meantime, please give him your support as he and Frank Dancevic try to bag another title. I thank you all in advance for your interest in what I expect to be a very exciting year for Eric and I.
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