Getting an Early Start

The grass court portion of the tennis season always seems a little strange to me -- with less than a month of prep before the big guns come out swinging at Wimbledon, it's easy even for players who are well-suited to the surface to lose their momentum before it really starts. But the extra week added to the schedule last year may give this weekend's champions in 's-Hertogenbosch a little buffer -- with two players who generally see their best results on the lawn putting their names on the map as we get ever closer to the year's next Grand Slam.

Nicolas Mahut may be best known for a match he lost on this surface, but the fact that he could go three days/eleven hours/a hundred eighty-three games against the biggest server on Tour should speak volumes about his potential. The thirty-three year old Frenchman got a little bit of a late start, but scored the first two titles of his career in 2013, both on grass, and climbed to a career high #37 in the world a year ago. He's fallen a bit since then, dropping well into triple digits by April, and despite a solid showing at Roland Garros -- he took Gilles Simon to five sets in the third round -- he still had to qualify for the main draw in Den Bosch. But the underdog powered through, dismantling perennial powerhouse Lleyton Hewitt in his opener and then stunning third seed Roberto Bautista-Agut a round later. In Sunday's final against David Goffin he was similarly relentless -- after a tight first set he rolled over the young Belgian, breaking three times in the second to score the win. Of course, warm-up success hasn't often helped Mahut when he heads to the All England Club -- his best performance was a third round showing nine years ago -- and with a ranking that still promises to be well outside seeding range, he could get some tough matches right off the bat. But the big wins he pulled off this week in the Netherlands could at least give him some confidence to push through early challenges.

Camila Giorgi hasn't been around quite as long, and so hasn't had as much opportunity to make her mark yet. Still, the young Italian has had some solid results at Wimbledon -- three years ago as a qualifier, she made the fourth round after taking out Flavia Pennetta and then-#20 Nadia Petrova. She's since had some ups and downs, reaching the final in Katowice the last two years, but also losing six first round matches so far this season. Still, she managed a climb to #35 in the world, and after her run at the Topshelf Open she's got a shot at being seeded at the All England Club this year. She had some obstacles during the week, needing to come back after dropping sets to Michaela Krajicek and always-tough Yaroslava Shvedova early in the tournament. But in the last few days she managed to up her game -- against fourth seeded Belinda Bencic in Sunday's final she didn't allow a single break opportunity and easily avenged the loss the Swiss teenager had given her a year ago on the Madrid clay. It was Giorgi's first career title, and on a surface where she seems most comfortable, it might have come at the perfect time. And if the draw shakes out in her favor, there's no reason she won't be able to put up her best performance yet at a Slam.

With just two weeks to go before the start of Wimbledon, both these champions may have been smart to get in a couple early blows. And while the competition will certainly be stiffer once they make it to London, they might just be able to surprise us all with how well they perform.

A Change of Season

Today marks the official start of summer in the northern hemisphere, and the warmer weather and longer days seem to have had quite an effect on a couple players making a shift to the grass court season as well. Some have struggled in the heat, but others have taken the opportunity to really come out of hibernation.

Plenty of seeds have fallen by the wayside in the 's-Hertogenbosch men's draw -- through the first two rounds, only 2008 champ David Ferrer has survived. But other clay-court specialists haven't fared as well -- Colombia's Santiago Giraldo dropped his first round match while third-seeded Jurgen Melzer, a semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2010 was ousted easily by world #70 Tatsuma Ito earlier today.

And that could be a big break for Belgium's Xavier Malisse, now just barely ranked in the double digits. After running to the quarters last week at Queen's Club, he kicked off his campaign in the Netherlands by ousting second seed Viktor Troicki and followed it up with a straight-set win over Paolo Lorenzi today. Though he's never won a title on the surface, he has a better record on grass than any other turf and with no real intimidating opponents in his path, he might have a clear road to at least the final.

The ladies' draw at the Unicef Open has been similarly decimated -- top seeds Sam Stosur and Sara Errani, who've each had some their biggest successes on clay, both fell in their first round, and Flavia Pennetta, who's won most of her nine career titles on clay, was served two breadsticks in her second.

And though a few seeds still remain, perhaps unseeded Kim Clijsters has established herself as the favorite at this event. Out of the top fifty now that she hasn't played since Miami, she lost her first set to Romina Oprandi -- ironically the woman who beat her here last year -- but has been back in battling form ever since. She has a quarterfinal date with 2010 French Open champ Francesca Schiavone, a woman much more at home on the dirt and one to whom she's never lost, and with no other seeds left in her section of the bracket, it could be smooth sailing to the final.

Over in Eastbourne the seeds again favored players who thrived in the spring, but both Estoril finalist Richard Gasquet and Spain's Marcel Granollers were sent packing after their openers. A couple are holding tough, of course -- Andreas Seppi, who very nearly took out world #1 Novak Djokovic in the French fourth round, and Munich champion Philipp Kohlschreiber have survived, but with a quarterfinal match-up against each other, only one can possibly go further.

And while other dirt specialists battle each other, flailing American Andy Roddick might be ready to take advantage. Currently out of seeding territory for Wimbledon, the veteran still has a losing record on the year, and a opening round loss last week in London might have dampened his hopes for the grass-court portion of this season. But he benefitted from a retirement by compatriot Sam Querrey on Tuesday, and then survived a close match against Jeremy Chardy earlier today. And with his immediate path cleared for him by his colleagues, this could be the perfect time for him to stage a real comeback.

The ladies at the AEGON International face a similar situation. Aggie Radwanska, honestly an all-court player, but one who reached an career-high ranking thanks in part to a title in Brussels, lost quickly to Tsvetana Pironkova in her opener. And defending Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova suffered a similar fate to 2010 titleist Ekaterina Makarova, who's racking up a trail of top-notch wins this year.

And with a couple of the headline-grabbing players out of the picture, defending champ Marion Bartoli might be able to trot back into the spotlight. She hadn't won more than one match at any event since Miami, so with her relatively easy road to the quarters -- she's lost just four games in each of her first two rounds -- confidence might be building in the one-time Wimbledon runner-up. She'll have to get past seventh-seeded Lucie Safarova first, but her chances for a repeat are looking even better now that her biggest foes have been taken care of for her.

Whether this week's wins can translate into triumphs at Wimbledon remains to be seen, but so far they're looking good. It's been a long time since they've tasted much success, so the victories will be many times as sweet. And if they can keep up their game for a couple more months, the summer sun might shine even brighter for them.

What I've Learned From the World Cup

A friend suggested a couple weeks ago that I start writing about soccer, as it's easy enough to follow and it shouldn't take long to get up to speed on the players. And with the rest of the world focused on the action in South Africa this month, it would obviously be hard to ignore the headlines.

Now I know the learning curve is much steeper than he assumes, and I don't even pretend to understand all that's happening on the field. But in the short time I've spent watching these athletes pour their hearts out in these stadiums, I have come away with a few lessons.

#1: I'm so happy I play on a small court

Think it's hard to come back from a swing in momentum after losing serve? Try doing the same when a ball is suddenly launched a hundred-plus yards in the opposite direction. My lungs hurt just thinking about it.

#2: Home field advantage may give you an early boost, but that might be all

The South African team may have scored the first goal of the tournament, but they ended their game tied with Mexico.

Similarly at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, teenager Heather Watson of Great Britain harnessed the crowd's support to beat Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round, but dropped quickly to Victoria Azarenka in the second. And in the Netherlands, world #159 Igor Sijsling rallied past countryman Thiemo De Bakker to win only the second Tour match of his career. Unfortunately Sergiy Stakhovsky took care of him in the subsequent match.

#3: The grass may be soft, but winning is hard

With the first group of round robin matches in the books, six of the sixteen soccer games played so far have resulted in ties. Can you imagine? Two teams go after each other nonstop for more than ninety minutes and no resolution is reached. I've never been more thankful for tiebreaks.

But even though we're guaranteed a winner, that doesn't mean the advancing player didn't expend more than his or her fair share of energy getting there. Svetlana Kuznetsova has already spent nearly five hours on court in her first two matches at the UNICEF Open while fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru has survived six sets herself to make the Eastbourne quarters. For the men, Alexandr Dolgopolov battled through two tight opening sets before closing out his opponents decisively in the third and wildcard Gilles Simon squandered two one-set leads before rallying to avoid elimination.

#4: Past performance is not an indication of future results

Sure, perennial powerhouses like Brazil and Germany got off to quick leads this year, but both defending Cup champion Italy and runner-up France drew in their first games, and the French didn't even score a goal. That's not to say they won't rebound, of course, but they're both starting out at a deficit.

A couple women find themselves in similar positions on the courts. Tamarine Tanasugarn and Caroline Wozniacki were the champions at 's-Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne last year -- both fell in the first round this year, which doesn't lay the best groundwork heading into Wimbledon. Then again, both ladies can take comfort in knowing the lesson works in the opposite direction too. Caroline translated her win into a fourth round appearance at the All England Club in 2009, while the vet got ousted early -- there's no reason they can't better those results this year.

#5: Everyone needs Uncle Toni!

Spain lost to Switzerland. Spain lost to Switzerland. In soccer!

Apparently there's only one man in sports who knows how to consistently beat the Swiss, and that man should be coaching the Spanish team -- that is, while he's not busy coaching his nephew.

---

I'm not sure I'll ever really understand fútbol entirely -- after all, it seems like a lot of work which ultimately results in very little scoring. But I certainly appreciate the passion it brings out of its fans, and watching the games over the past few days I can't help but wish to be part of the excitement.

But we're only a few days away from our world cup, and I have no doubt our athletes will do everything they can to recreate that atmosphere on their turf.

The Last Leg

Now that we've all had time to digest the Big News from yesterday, it's time to look past our supreme disappointment that we won't see a repeat of last year's greatest game and remember that there are some people who actually had a thing of two to celebrate this week.

In only the second week of grass court warm-ups before Wimbledon kicks off on Monday, a slew of players turned up at the AEGON International and Ordina Open. While a ton of seeds were eliminated early, a couple did manage to fight their way into the latter part of the week, joined by a couple of newcomers looking to make their names known.

In Eastbourne the Canadian qualifier who took out top-seeded Igor Andreev in the first round, backed up his strong start by making it all the way to the finals. Frank Dancevic made his second career final by beating Fabrice Santoro in the semis on Friday. There he faced the second seed, twenty-seventh ranked Dmitry Tursunov, who'd put together back-to-back wins for only the second time this season. Though the younger Dancevic held his own, he wasn't able to earn himself even one break point on the Russian's serve, and allowed Dmitry his first grass court title.

The women's draw was upset even more, as neither Elena Dementieva nor French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova made it out of the second round. Dementieva's vanquisher, Virginie Razzano, continued her success by subsequently taking out Aggie Radwanska and Marion Bartoli, while Aleksandra Wozniak, who'd defeated Svets, succumbed to sort-of namesake Caroline Wozniacki. The Danish teenager, who's already won one title and made three finals this year, continued her very successful run and took home championship #4, despite dropping her serve three times.

A little further west in the Netherlands, it looked like last year's winner David Ferrer might have had an easy road to repeat when both Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Robredo lost in the first few rounds. But when he lost in the quarters, it seemed the title was up for grabs. Eventually qualifier Benjamin Becker and wildcard Raemon Sluiter made it to the finals, neither of whom had ever won a tournament. Becker, who originally made a name for himself and distinguished himself from the more-famous Boris when he ousted Andre Agassi from the 2006 U.S. Open, hadn't been able to capitalize on his early success -- until today, when he won his first trophy in straight sets over Sluiter.

The women's final at the Ordina Open was also populated by some surprising names. Though world #1 Dinara Safina advanced easily in her first two rounds, she was shocked by Tamarine Tanasugarn in the semis -- incidentally the same woman who'd beaten her in the finals last year. On the bottom half Estoril champion Yanina Wickmayer, who's had a great two-month run, defeated Roland Garros stand-out Sorana Cirstea and former top-twenty player Francesca Schiavone on her way to the finals. But the more experienced Tanasugarn was too much for Yanina, and she claimed her third career title in straight sets.

All this week's winners will have a tough road at Wimbledon, Rafa or no Rafa. But their break-through wins on grass certainly could give them a lot of encouragement. These days, it doesn't seem anyone's really a favorite -- and anything really can happen.

Congrats to all, and good luck!

Trippin' Up & Steppin' Up

Today I spent the afternoon on a different kind of grass court, the grounds of the U.S. Open golf tournament, which only served to get me more excited for Wimbledon! But I wasn't quite expecting the kind of action we've seen this week -- in the last warm-up tournaments before The Championships begin on Monday, more seeds have dropped than during a windstorm in a field full of dandelions.

First there's the Ordina Open, being held in that place in the Netherlands no one can pronounce -- 's-Hertogenbosch. Clay court specialists Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Robredo took the top spots in the men's draw, but they were respectively defeated by Benjamin Becker and Marcos Baghdatis, both of whom are just barely ranked in double-digits. While the women had slightly better luck -- Dinara Safina and Flavia Pennetta are still alive -- French Open quarterfinalist Sorana Cirstea and semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova weren't as lucky. In Eastbourne top seed Elena Dementieva, Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and former #1 Jelena Jankovic were all eliminated in the first two rounds while Igor Andreev and Paul-Henri Mathieu were both ousted early in the men's draw -- it's just a disappointment after such a disappointing start.



While we could write off some of these performances to nerves leading up to the biggest tournament of the year, others are slightly more disturbing. I'm a huge fan of Dementieva, but after a perfect start to the year and three final appearances in her first four tournaments, she's struggled recently, sneaking past Jelena Dokic in Paris before losing to Samantha Stosur. Jelena Jankovic may have earned a title in Marbella, Spain, but she's also been upset by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Gisela Dulko, and most recently Sorana Cirstea. And after Verdasco's breakthrough performance in Melbourne, he's now only won one match on grass.

I don't mean to say that these stars' careers are over -- far from it! But the pains of these top players will certainly open the door for others who wish to advance at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. The two top seeds at Wimbledon, announced earlier today, Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina are surely feeling a little relieved. Both obviously were disappointed with the outcome in Paris, and any leeway they might be able to secure will surely be appreciated. Rafa certainly wants to make up for the loss on his home turf while Dinara, well, just wants to win one!

Then there's Maria Sharapova, who's climbed her way back to #59 in the world after a nine-month injury-induced absense. Her past performances in London have granted her the twenty-fourth seed in the draw. And Dinara's brother Marat, who's finally announced that this will be his last year on tour, was rewarded with the fifteenth fourteenth seed, eight spots above his ranking. Both of them must be happy with the way things are shaping up.



There are just a few more days before The Championships start, and things are sure to get even more interesting. Be sure to come back to find out my picks to take it all home!