you would think that any self-loving sports fan of tennis would know that nothing can be shocking in a grand slam, which usually holds true in the second week of proceedings. but no one ever wrote the manual on how to deal with multiple shocks on three consecutive days of the first week.
first it was patty schnyder and david nalbandian.
then it was novak djokovic.
then it was maria sharapova, andy roddick, james blake, daniela hantuchova, tommy robredo, and lindsay davenport. (and some others, too)
today it was ana ivanovic, david ferrer, and amelie mauresmo. what other seeds are hiding beneath a rock whom i have failed to acknowledge?
lessons to be learned from such defeats? (or near defeats, as in the case of venus williams who, as the defending champion, has had to struggle through her first two matches against lowly ranked wild cards.)
- first, hey girls, kick your butts into shape for the grass season, will ya? you think skipping the warm-up tournaments is still ok? you think that the first few rounds of wimbledon will warm you up for what lies ahead? thank god for the kudryavtseva’s and zheng’s and radwanska’s of the women’s tour who send out a clarion call to the complacent top seeds to kick themselves into the right shape and mentality for these slams!
- second, hype is not everything. it’s not anything at all. the press is stumbling all over itself, fumbling with the ‘new’ names and data they need to dig up on the ’sudden’ winners sprouting up all over the first week lawns. does it cross any sane journalist’s mind that these surprise winners are the best prepared players on tour? aside from qualifying rounds, these girls have to be practising in less than ideal conditions without any spiffy endorsements to lighten the financial burdens of playing on tour.
now for some happy thoughts and they come in m & m shapes, sizes, and colours.
M is for marat! my sweet captain slugged it out against italy’s andreas seppi and won in four thrilling sets — hardly anything separated the two if one is just to look at the match statistics and scoreline. the match was won on the big first serve and the ace count. both men were just even on just about all aspects of the game: net play, error count, break points won, total points won. marat was clearly ahead in the first serve percentage of points won and aces count.
i have yet to watch the match since i had to work during the match — for marat i would have given up the chance to earn some needed moolah but of course real life needs attention, too.
M is for mario ancic! the baby-faced croat who missed last year’s wimbledon due to injury and illness booted out fifth seed david ferrer in a fine display of grass court tennis, showing us the mettle that had him in the top 10 three years ago.
last thought for the night: i hope janko and jelena make it deep in the draw. now that the high-publicity buddies/party animal group of novak, maria, and ana are out, maybe more attention will be given to the more low-key serbs with the more complete games, j & j.
i’m still holding out for a jelena win, crazy as it may be. who knows? marat could still win his first wimbledon title, you know!
for your viewing pleasure, an 8-minute interview clip on espn of rafa following his win over ernests gulbis last thursday.