The State of the World Is Changing!

So it's been a couple of days now since the last ball was hit at the Australian Open, but it sure feels a lot longer than that. Or maybe it's just that things seem so different. Okay, sure, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are still the top players in the sport, but some others shifts portend a whole new era.

Most notably Rafael Nadal, whose quarterfinal exit ended his campaign to win a second title in Melbourne, dropped to #4 in the world -- obviously still among the elite, but his lowest ranking since May 2005, just before he won his first French Open. More disturbing is the news that the re-aggravated knee injury he sustained during that match with Andy Murray will keep him out of play for another four weeks; hopefully he'll return in time to defend his title at Indian Wells -- but an absence any longer will start to make me nervous.

Dinara Safina was able to keep her #2 ranking this week but holds onto it by just a hair. Last year's runner up at two Majors doesn't look at all like the player she was then. Nagging back problems that forced her to retire in the fourth round combined with a lackluster performance in Sydney suggests she won't be in top form for some time, and if she can't mimic her performance from Spring '09 -- which brought her trophies in Rome and Madrid -- she'll be giving up her spot near the top soon.

Of course when some lose others must win. Both Novak Djokovic and Caroline Wozniacki converted their Aussie Open runs into their highest career rankings, while Marin Cilic and Na Li cracked the top ten for the first time.

But there were, certainly, even bigger movers than that. Maria Kirilenko put her name back on the map by downing Maria Sharapova on her way to the quarters -- she jumped twenty-one spots to #37. Jie Zheng, who ultimately vanquished the Russian, popped fifteen places to #20. On the men's side Lukasz Kubot, who advanced to the fourth round for the first time at a Slam, made the biggest jump among the men to #61.

And, moving in the opposite direction, Jelena Dokic, who had just began to stage a comeback here last year, wasn't able to repear her success and toppled precipitously close to triple digits. Meanwhile not-so-retired Fabrice Santoro, playing in his forty-sixth consecutive Major (spanning four decades), fell victim to Cilic in the first round and forfeited enough points to send him to his lowest ranking since -- get this -- 1997!

We all know the stakes are high at the Grand Slams, so it shouldn't be surprising that players can rise and fall so drastically with just one performance -- one match even. But more so than after any other tournament I can remember, we're seeing a different landscape -- one in which Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina may not be considered the threats they once were, and though the former certainly upsets me more than the latter, I'm not sure I like it!

Of course, it's premature to call for an end to anyone's career, but here's hoping the new era that's ushered in will be just as exciting as the last one!

The Farewell Tour

This year we will have to say good-bye to a few familiar and (mostly) friendly faces on the ATP & WTA tours. And in this week's action, many made some earlier exits than they might have wanted.

Fabrice "the Magician" Santoro is one of the most popular players out there, and for the last twenty years he's been entertaining us with more than just his athletic prowess -- he's got a comic flair of which few others can boast. On top of that the Frenchman has won an impressive six titles during his career, most recently back-to-back trophies in Newport in 2007 and '08 -- he lost in the semis this year to Sam Querrey. He's had some bad luck with draws this year, but has nevertheless maintained a ranking in the thirties, now just slightly higher (thirty-nine) than his age (thirty-six).

In this week's PTT Thailand Open Santoro was awarded the seventh seed, but he faced a tough first-round match against a young Evgeny Korolev. Though he out-aced his opponent, thirteen to five, and hung tight through three tight sets, after almost three hours he was sent home. Not the best result at one of your last tournaments, but certainly a good showing.

Another soon-to-be retiree had a slightly better result this week, but not by much.

I've never been the biggest fan of former world #1 Marat Safin, but even I have to admit that when he announced that this would be his last year on the circuit I realized we'd be losing a big personality on the court. He certainly wore his temper on his sleeve, and without a title since 2005's Australian Open over four years ago, Marat's certainly had plenty to be frustrated about. This year alone he's dropped from the top twenty to the high fifties; he's lost ten times in the first round of tournaments, and his best Grand Slam was a third round exit in Melbourne.

In Bangkok this week Safin started off with a bang -- defeating fifth seed Philipp Petzschner in the opening battle. But today he had a tougher test against qualifier Marco Chiudinelli. The slightly younger Swiss (Marco is twenty-eight to Marat's twenty-nine) was able to stave off the Russian's advances, successfully defending three break chances and winning the second set in a tiebreak to advance in straights.

While Safin probably would have liked to play a little more this week, he might have some other things to keep him busy. In a teleconference during July's LA Tennis Open, he had this to say about his post-professional plans:

"Well, of course I'm gonna take it easy at the end of the season after I retire, because I need a couple months just to relax and just to realize that [I] really retired ... There's plenty of things to do. I'm gonna stay active and do something different, definitely not gonna retire and then sit on my -- sit on the beach and do nothing ... I have a few projects, I'm gonna be working."

He declined to say what he'd be working on, but my money's on an acting career -- maybe playing Eric Dane's long-lost brother on Grey's Anatomy?

A little further north in Japan, home-grown Ai Sugiyama was playing her last tournament in her native land. The thirty-four year old has been a #8 singles and a #1 doubles player during her career and hasn't finished out of the top forty in at least ten years. Ai's had her share of first-round losses in 2009, but she's also beaten Patty Schnyder and Anabel Medina Garrigues. She also made the semis in Sydney and the third round both in Australia and Wimbledon.

At the Pan Pacific Open she was treated to a touching good-bye ceremony, with long-time doubles partner Daniela Hantuchova embracing her on court. "To be honest it's really tough to find someone like Sugi. She's just an incredible person. So friendly, so sweet!" the Slovakian wrote in her blog last week. Their friendship is apparent in their game too -- while Ai was forced to retire from her opening singles match against Nadia Petrova when she was already down a set, she and Hantuchova did team up to win their first round against Vania King and Jie Zheng. Here's hoping there's at least a little more steam in that engine!

It will certainly be sad to see all these players go -- no matter what you think of them, they always brought something special to the game. And though we know that few retirements in the sport are permanent, I can't help but already feel a little nostalgic about what will soon be missing.

Of course I wish them all the best, but if Fabrice, Marat and Ai should find themselves back on a court soon, I'm sure a lot of people would be celebrating!

Cheers to the Vets!

Today I turn thirty.

Ew.

And while I've always been jealous of the scrappy teenagers who could come out on the tennis courts and eke out wins against top-ranked players -- and moreso of the ones who could handily beat well-seasoned opponents -- that envy is even more palpable now.

But us older players still have some spunk, and a couple showed their stuff in Australia this week.

Thirty-six year old Fabrice Santoro returned for his seventeeth Australian Open and notched victories over former #1 Juan-Carlos Ferrero and seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber before he ran into a wall against Andy Roddick. The zany Frenchman previously proved he was no has-been and recaptured the hearts of fans everywhere when he took my dear James Blake through five emotional sets and three and a half heart-pounding hours at the 2007 U.S. Open. And with two titles last year Fabrice has shown that he's not going to leave the game quietly.

Veteran Ai Sugiyama tried to follow up her semifinal appearance in Sydney with more success in Melbourne. Ranked #26 in the world, she's not exactly an underdog, but she hasn't been a huge force in a major -- at least not in singles -- in years. At this year's Australian Open she dropped her first set to Nathalie Dechy before rebounding for the right to meet -- and unfortunately lose to -- top-seed Jelena Jankovic in the third round. Again, her top-thirty seed suggested that this match-up was inevitable, but I'm sure Ai was still happy to come through.

Gorgeous German Tommy Haas has been ranked as high as #2 in the world and has eleven singles titles to his name -- this time last year he was a stone's throw from the top ten. But a shoulder injury in 2007 and allegations of being poisoned during a Davis Cup match against Russia pushed him out of the top fifty for the first time in nearly five years. In Melbourne he put together back-to-back wins for the first time since last August, rolling through the man who dispatched Dmitry Tursunov in the first round. Against Rafael Nadal in his third match, Haas's comeback was stalled -- though, I believe not quite ended. He's rallied before, climbing from a four-digit ranking in 2004 all the way to #17.

The greatest story of this year's Open, though, might be that of Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm who, at 38, was the oldest player in the main draw. She turned pro in 1989, before players like Caroline Wozniacki or Alize Cornet were even born. She once made it to the semifinals in Melbourne -- in 1994 -- and acheived a career-high ranking of #4 the next year.

But that was pretty much the last we heard of her for a while -- she hasn't played a Grand Slam since 1996, when she lost at the first round in Flushing Meadows.

Kimiko returned last year, playing a handful of ITF tournaments and even scoring three titles. She played a few tour matches in Japan and a round in Auckland earlier this month. Before the Australian Open began she fought through three qualifying rounds, beating two players half her age and one in her twenties, to earn the right to play in her first major in a dozen years.



In her first round match Kimiko put up quite a fight against twenty-three year old Kaia Kanepi, who faced a slightly stronger opponent than she might have expected. They split the first two sets, 4-6, 6-4, and took the third to fourteen games before Kanepi eventually claimed the victory. But the stats were close -- Date-Krumm had a better first-serve percentage, but lost more points on her second try. She won over three-quarters of her net point attempts, but made fewer winners and unforced errors. In two hours and fifty minutes, she scored only eleven fewer points than Kaia.

Maybe it wasn't quite the return she'd wanted, but Kimiko Date Krumm definitely reminded the tennis world of her name. And I'm hoping this isn't the last we've heard of her.

So good luck to the veterans, if not at this tournament then certainly at others -- I hope to see you out there for many years to come!

In the meantime, I'm off to celebrate the last few hours of my twenties.

Cheers!