The Big Return

There's something ironic when you compare the draws from Miami and Indian Wells. Whereas a stomach bug afflicted the brackets seemingly from the get-go in the California desert, taking down some competitors before they even struck their first balls, the Sony Ericsson Open has been host to stories of resurrection, seeing players who've been out of the game for months return, hoping to recapture the magic that once brought them to the top of the sport.

Fernando Gonzalez has made a few attempts at launching a comeback since returning to Tour last April post hip surgery, some more successful than others. He beat Alexandr Dolgopolov last year at Wimbledon and made the quarters in Buenos Aires. But the former world #5 has mostly struggled against the top players and has yet to break back into the top two hundred. He comes to Miami, his fourth event of the season, as a wildcard and first meets fellow veteran Nicolas Mahut, so he'll have to be willing to fight 'til the death if this is going to be his true return.

Kim Clijsters, post-retirement, post-motherhood and post-some of her biggest successes on Tour, has seen some action already this year -- she made the semis in Brisbane before retiring to Daniela Hantuchova and beat Caroline Wozniacki (again) in the Melbourne quarters. But she didn't play at all in February and pulled out of Indian Wells with a persistent ankle injury. Now ranked #37 in the world, the 2010 champ in Key Biscayne isn't seeded this time around, and faces a resurgent Jarmila Gajdosova in her opener. It shouldn't be too big a struggle, but could be a true test of how ready she really is to compete at this level again.

Like both these athletes James Blake has battled more than a couple ailments during his career -- from not-uncommon injuries to Zoster and a near career-ending neck injruy. He'd just been regaining momentum after missing most of the 2010 season with a chronic knee injury, ending last year back in the top sixty. But he pulled out of the Australian Open to get continued treatment and had a dismal return in Memphis, winning just two games off Ryan Sweeting in the first round. He'll look to make a more successful showing this week in Miami, where he'll meet also-on-the-mend Nikolay Davydenko, who notched his best performance this year as a semifinalist in Rotterdam. Blake has a perfect 7-0 record against the Russian, though, and if history stays on his side he might just be able to improve that record.

Longer gone from the game has been Venus Williams, absent from the singles Tour since last year's U.S. Open, where she announced her battle with Sjorgren's Syndrome. She did notch a doubles victory for the U.S. in their Fed Cup first round, though, but the dead rubber holds much less pressure than a Premier event which she won three years in a row at the start of her career, and even reached the final in just 2010. Despite her advancing age and her injuries and illness, she's still a formidable force for any opponent, of course. And against uber-veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in her Miami opener, it will clearly be a battle between two of the most persistent and long-lasting players out there. I can't imagine she won't put up a fight that proves she's not to be counted out.

Unlike all these players -- each of whom has been a pro for over a decade and launched multiple comebacks throughout their careers -- Alisa Kleybanova was dealt one of the most devastating blows early in hers. After a breakthrough 2010 which brought her titles in Kuala Lumpur and Seoul, and took her to the final in Bali, she reached a career-high ranking at #20 in the world last February. With wins over Flavia Pennetta, Francesca Schiavone and Vera Zvonareva, she was poised to make a big run into the elite. But diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in the middle of the season, she missed half the year while she sought chemotherapy and, certainly less important, saw her ranking drop to #248. The twenty-two year old Russian makes her return this afternoon, facing Sweden's Johanna Larsson in the first round. It almost doesn't even matter what her chances are or whether she even wins a game -- but the fact she's playing proves she might just be the biggest fighter out there.

It's a fact of life in this sport that athletes -- even the top ones -- will have to fight their way back from the brink, maybe multiple times in their careers. And as some try to get in one last shot, and others hope to resume the success they had not so long ago, it's a testament to all their strength and courage that they step on the court one more time.

And everyone, I'm sure, will be rooting that it's not the last time they do.

Overcoming the Withdrawal

Like many tennis fans this week and, frankly, every week after a Grand Slam ends, I find myself at a loss now that the trophies have been presented. After two weeks of unending surprises, amazing breakthroughs, and heart-pounding displays of mental and physical strength, I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself these days. But not all players lasted long enough to make an impact Down Under, and some who've been in the doldrums for quite some time are right back in action this week trying to return to the top.

In Montpellier a handful of top twenty players are contesting the second Open Sud de France, but perhaps second seeded Gilles Simon has the most to prove. Since falling out of the top fifty a little more than a year ago, the Frenchman has been working his way back into the upper echelons of the sport. He had been on the comeback trail, but struggled through ten sets in Melbourne, and only won one match -- the second straight year he's fallen so early at the Australian Open. He's already had a comfortable win over Flavio Cipolla today and faces world #209 Guillaume Rufin in the quarters, so he's off to a better start this week. And if he can make an even deeper push here, and erase the memory of the last fortnight-plus, he could finally make that move back into the top ten, a level he hasn't seen since late 2009.

Jurgen Melzer suffered his fall from grace a little more recently, having peaked at #8 in the world just last April. But after failing to defend points at the French Open, falling after just one match win at every tournament since July, and losing to his own doubles partner Philipp Petzschner in Melbourne, he's now out of the top forty. He avenged that loss after qualifying for the Zagreb main draw, though, and followed it up with a straight set win over Andreas Seppi today. He gets a bit of a break in the quarters, as Germany's Michael Berrer took care of top seeded Ivan Ljubicic for him, and with the highest-ranked player left in the draw Alex Bogomolov at #34, his opportunity to go all the way couldn't be better. And he'll need to make a big stand soon if he's going to get that momentum back.

Chile's Fernando Gonzalez has fallen ever so slightly more out of favor. After hip surgery in late 2010, the one-time world #5 didn't play again until last April, when his ranking had fallen out of the top five hundred, and a knee injury kept him from making much of an impact the rest of the year. He didn't play in the Australian Open, but came to Viña del Mar as a wildcard and dispatched Pere Riba in his opening match. He gets a bit of a break next against Joao Souza and, I hate to admit, faces a field of aging veterans like Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela. If he's truly back in form, he might be able to pull off quite a set of upsets in his homeland.

All these guys have been well off their best game for various lengths of time, but they're still out there, fighting to climb back. And this week, now that the pressure of the biggest stage is off them, maybe they'll have a chance to work their way up the rankings. And with nearly four months before their next opportunity to shine at a Major, there's plenty of time for them to sate our appetite for more excitement.

A Winning Return

There are more than just a couple comeback stories this year at Wimbledon. And while the headlines are all concentrated on the Williams sisters' return, there are a couple more under the radar that are worth mentioning.

That's not to say the early round performances from Venus and Serena haven't been impressive. The elder, and incidentally my early favorite to win the whole shebang, rallied from a two-break deficit against uber-veteran Kimiko Date Krumm yesterday and managed to pull off the win in probably the best match of the tournament so far. And Serena, who lost her first set to young talent Simona Halep on Thursday, brought out her champion spirit and scored her sixteenth straight victory at the All England Club.

But their success only scratches the surface.

Former top-five player Fernando Gonzalez has only played a handful of matches since undergoing hip surgery after last year's U.S. Open, and made his return to Grand Slam play this week. Well out of seeding territory -- he hasn't won more than two matches here since 2005 -- he was forced to take on world #24, rising star Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round. But the veteran was unfazed, firing off twenty-five aces and only dropping serve once in the two-and-a-half hour victory, and he backed it up with a straightforward defeat of Rik de Voest on Thursday. Next up he'll face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a man he beat in their only previous meeting two years ago in New York -- and something tells me he's more than up to the challenge.

Almost as impressive this week has been Germany's Sabine Lisicki, a wildcard this year at Wimbledon. After a series of injuries kept her out of contention most of last year, she hadn't really had the match play considered critical to thriving at these events. But we all knew she has talent -- she probably should have beaten Vera Zvonareva at the French Open -- and so her performance to date shouldn't be too surprising. Against Roland Garros champion Li Na, she found herself down a set early but was able to push the match to a decider. Li had two chances to serve it out and held multiple match points, but not only did Lisicki battle through, she ultimately converted her own second chance to advance. And in reward she's been given a pretty pretty solid opportunity to go even further -- as I'd mentioned earlier this week, she could be a real spoiler in London this week.

Juan Martin Del Potro has been making waves again on Tour for a couple months, post-injury, but he hasn't played Wimbledon since 2009 when he lost in the second round to former champion Lleyton Hewitt. The Aussie's experience notwithstanding, DelPo has never had the best success at the All England Club, but he's making a turnaround this year. He made a solid start in his first round, and came back to a rain and darkness-interrupted second refreshed after dropping the first set in a tiebreak. He took less than an hour today to win the next two and closed out the match without ever dropping serve. It gets tougher from here, of course, but his next opponent Gilles Simon has only gotten past the third round here once. And the way the Argentine is slamming aces again, it seems momentum is back on his side.

It's always encouraging to see players succeed after they return from what could have been career-ending injuries, and all these guys and gals are more than showing us they're certainly back in contention -- a second win for each at Wimbledon should back up any luck that helped them with their first.

So future opponents should keep their eyes open -- they might just have their work cut out for them.

The Fields Get Narrowed

The year-end championships for both the WTA and ATP are drawing near, and there are just a few spots left as players make their final sprints to the finish line.

Current world #2 Rafael Nadal was the first to qualify for the Barclays World Tour Finals way back in May, and after Andy Roddick secured his spot on Tuesday, there are now only two openings left for London.

Given his recent performances you have to think Nikolay Davydenko is a front-runner for the seventh entry. His win in Shanghai last week brought him to his highest ranking since March. His first round loss to compatriot Marat Safin in Moscow Wednesday must have been slightly deflating, but even still Nikolay is in a strong position.

The eighth man in might be harder to call, however. Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga holds that spot in the rankings, and winning his third title of the year in Tokyo certainly helps make his case, but he's a lowly number eleven in the ATP race. Ahead of him is New Haven titlist Fernando Verdasco, though he's not getting back into action until Valencia next month.

Fernando Gonzalez also has an outside chance of making the final eight. The most experienced of the possibilities, he qualified for the championships in 2007, but it seems like ages since he acheived his career-high ranking of #5 that year. Fernando has had a couple of big wins this year, though, putting up a hard fight in the Washington semis and repeating his championship performance in Chile. But he's got a little time too before his next tournament -- he'll next take the court in Basel.

Most likely, at least at this point, is Roland Garros finalist and Nadal vanquisher Robin Soderling, who's had his own spate of success during this fall's Asia tour. He's got an opportunity to rack up even more points this week in Stockholm, where he's already reached the quarterfinals. It would be Robin's first appearance at the year-end tourney, an acheivement that would, no doubt, be a highlight in an already banner year.

There's less time to wait before the women's championships -- round-robin action there starts on Tuesday! Dinara Safina, who spent the majority of the year as the #1 ladies' player, earned her berth in May -- lucky for her she did, as she's had a slew of disappointments since then. The last two spots were pretty closely decided.

Though Victoria Azarenka secured her first ticket to Doha earlier this month, she must have been biting her nails. After starting the year with her maiden title in Brisbane and scoring some serious wins over Dinara, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova on her way to capture two more, she kind of seemed to sputter. She didn't pass the third round of any tournament after Wimbledon and put together two straight losses to Maria Sharapova. But happily her early success was all she needed to put the cap on a very solid year.

Jelena Jankovic didn't find out she'd made the cut until earlier this morning when Vera Zvonareva didn't advance past the second round at the Kremlin Cup. Aggie Radwanska and Flavia Pennetta, who also lost earlier this week, gave up their chances with their opening match losses. Last year's #1, Jankovic, has had an up-and-down path in 2009. But a solid win in Cincinnati over the summer and a runner-up trophy in Tokyo put her back on a strong course going into Doha.

Notably missing from the action are two women who've made a quick climb back up the rankings -- but both Sharapova and U.S. Open champ Kim Clijsters were absent for too much of the year. (Anyone remember the last time a reigning Grand Slam winner didn't make the championships?) They currently stand at #14 and #16 in the race, respectively.

But there are a host of new faces in the mix this year, on both the men's and women's side, which should make for an exciting end to the year. And with just a few weeks left before it's all wrapped up, the stage is already being set for a fun 2010!

Down the Homestretch

There are only a few more days before we crown the king and queen in the year's last major, and so far it's certainly lived up to the hype.

But unlike the women's draw, which boasts two former trophy-holders, two unseeded players, and two teenagers in the semifinals, the men's side looks a little more as you might expect. So far, two top seeds have already booked their spots in the final four -- Novak Djokovic rallied after a hugely disparate second set to defeat a wily Fernando Verdasco yesterday afternoon and five-time defending chamption Roger Federer pulled out his twelfth straight win over Roland Garros runner-up, Robin Soderling.

Today the last two spots will be decided.

In the first men's singles match being played this afternoon #6 in the world Juan Martin Del Potro will take on an unlikely giant-killer, Marin Cilic. DelPo's advance to his second-straight quarterfinal is not really surprising -- he repeated his win in D.C. earlier this month and made another final in Montreal, both times taking out Andy Roddick in the process. While he bowed out of Cincinnati due to exhaustion, he's facing much cooler and more restful conditions in New York. The tall, lanky Argentine has looked in top form, losing only a set to Daniel Koellerer while winning eighty-three percent on his first serve and firing off sixty-two aces in his first four matches.

Juan Martin has to be happy with the man who will be standing on the other side of the court today. Sixteenth seed Cilic hasn't had the most impressive summer -- at least not until Tuesday. After a third round exit at Wimbledon, he lost early in three straight U.S. Open Series tournaments and then didn't defend his title in New Haven. But on Tuesday, facing second seed and 2008 runner-up Andy Murray, the Croat was relentless. Aggressive from the start, he bombed twice as many aces and sprayed more than a few errors. In the end he'd converted on five break points and turned a couple ardent Murray supporters into skeptics. He also prevented a rematch of the Canada final, where Murray smoked a deflated DelPo in the deciding set, and last year's quarters, in which I found myself one of the few in the crowd rooting for the Scot to lose.

The two put together one of the tallest match-ups in my memory -- at six-foot-six both have the ability to ace out their opponents. But with some big wins under his belt, and a little more consistency, you have to give DelPo the edge, and I see him making his first Slam semi in Flushing Meadows.

In the night match third-seeded Rafael Nadal will meet Chile's Fernando Gonzalez. By reaching the quarters, Nadal will regain his #2 ranking next week, regardless of the outcome of this match, but I'm sure he's more than motivated to reach the semis. Though he's battled a knee injury and strained stomach muscle all summer, in his late-night match against Gael Monfils on Tuesday, he showed signs of the old, energetic Rafa who's already captured six Majors in his short career. There were hard-hitting rallies, fist pumps, even a kiss from fan who rushed the court after the match.



He's got a tough opponent in Gonzo, though, another clay-court specialist and a semifinalist this year both at Roland Garros and in D.C., where he lost to DelPo. The former #5 player in the world and one-time finalist in Australia, Fernando definitely can hit in the big leagues -- he dismissed seventh-seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets despite only breaking serve two times. And though I don't think I can forgive him for mistreating my dear James Blake at the Olympics last year, I have to admit he might pose the biggest threat Nadal has faced in the Open to date.

Then again, Rafa has won the pair's last five meetings, four of them on hardcourts, and as long as he stays healthy the Spaniard should make his second semi in New York -- I'm going with Nadal in four tight sets.

If my predictions hold true, we could be in for some high-quality tennis this weekend! And while it might not be as drama-filled as the ladies' draw has been, with the men's trophy in their sights, you know these guys are going to lay it all on the line.

Can't wait to see it!

Attack of the 50-Foot Men

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but as I watched the first set of semifinals at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in D.C. today it became abundantly clear just how much of an advantage height is in tennis.

Last night after Andy Roddick defeated the 6'10" Ivo Karlovic, he reminisced about the days when he was considered one of the big guys. He won't get any relief today -- opponent John Isner is only an inch shorter than Doctor Ivo, and if he makes it to the finals, Andy will face defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro, relatively a munchkin at only 6'6".

It's no surprise that the taller you are, the more athletic you can be. You can cover more ground with one stride and have a lot more leverage to fire off a powerful serve -- Karlovic notched forty-five aces in his first three matches this tournament and Isner had only one less through the quarters. Of course a fast serve doesn't make you invincible -- after all, neither of these bullet-throwers has won a single title this year and Ivo infamously served fifty-nine aces in his first round at Roland Garros only to lose the match.



But add a little finesse to your game, and you'll be hard to beat -- Sam Querrey, who's served 574 aces this year (behind only Ivo and Andy) is sitting at a career high #26 ranking on the heels of three consecutive final appearances. And Del Potro capitalized on his strength to win four titles last year, marking wins over David Ferrer and Roddick on his way to the top ten.

Today in the D.C. semis, he faced Fernando Gonzalez, a man he surprisingly had never beaten before. Then again, they haven't met since DelPo cracked the top fifty. Though Juan Martin was somewhat sloppy in the first set, once he won the tiebreak he was in top form. He rolled to a quick 5-0 lead in the second and stumbled only slightly before taking the match, 6-3. He wasn't perfect by any means -- though he served ten aces to Gonzo's five, DelPo didn't even get half of his first attempts in and won only sixty-three percent of his serves in total. Nevertheless, it was all he needed to make his seventh career final.



So as I anxiously await tonight's second semifinal match I wonder if Andy Roddick will be able to take down not one or two, but three giants in one blow. It'll be a task, but watching his match last night gives me hope that he'll be able to pull it off.

Whatever the outcome though, you know it will be one fun championship to watch!

Following Through and Fighting Back

Most of the world's top tennis players took the week off after a grueling Australian Open. But there was still plenty of action all over the world, and some players who'd struggled in Melbourne were eager to prove their doubters wrong, while others wanted to show their success was not a fluke.

The Movistar Open in Chile boasted home-grown Fernando Gonzalez as its top seed. He'd eliminated Lleyton Hewitt early at the year's first major, but was taken through five excruciating sets in the third round with France's Richard Gasquet. After four hours on the court, he was no match for Rafael Nadal in his next game. But playing on his own soil was certainly an asset for him -- he made it to the finals without losing a set.

Vina del Mar had in fact attracted a slew of locals -- eleven Argentinos including Juan Monaco and Agustin Calleri, as well as players from Uruaguay, Brazil and Ecuador, in the twenty-eight player draw -- so it shouldn't be surprising that two South Americans, Gonzalez and Davis Cup finalist Jose Acasuso, were the ones playing for the title. In his first tournament since October, Jose made his way to the championship match dropping only one set in his upset of Tommy Robredo.

The two, who play later tonight, have played nine times before, with Gonzalez holding a 7-2 lead. But Acasuso did win their latest matchup in Canada last year. Whoever the winner, he will hold bragging rights on the continent for some time.

The top seed in Croatia didn't fare quite as well. Igor Andreev lost in his first round to Ivan Dodig who, prior to this week, had never won a match as a pro. He posted another win over Ernests Gulbis before losing to countryman Mario Ancic, who'd once been ranked as high as seventh in the world. Ancic, now #29, had made it past Ivo Karlovic in Australia before losing to a super-hot Gilles Simon in the third round and was looking for his first trophy since 2006 in Zagreb.

On the bottom half of the draw, fellow Croat Marin Cilic wanted to follow up on his fourth round appearance Down Under, where he had given Juan Martin Del Potro a run for his money. In his homeland Cilic made the most of his #2 seed and worked his way to the finals without dropping a set and downed Ancic in just over ninety minutes.

But it was in Johannesburg where the highest-ranked players were at work this week. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was trying to improve on his quarterfinal appearance last month -- though he'd advanced as far as his seed suggested he should, he was, in my opinion, unfairly punished for losing to Fernando Verdasco, and slipped from #7 to #14. In South Africa he was in a draw that included Marcos Baghdatis, whose upsets of Robin Soderling and Mardy Fish helped him climb twelve spots, Jeremy Chardy, who'd made it to the quarters in Sydney, and second-seeded David Ferrer, who still hasn't been able to regain his stride -- he'd lost to Cilic in the third round in Melbourne.

Marcos was the first to fall -- to Ferrer in the third round. But David subsequently dropped to Chardy, who earned his first career final. Tsonga, on the top half of the bracket, happily only faced one seeded player on his way to the title match, Belgium's Kristof Vliegen who isn't even ranked in the top hundred. Jeremy certainly showed his mettle during the nearly two-hour match, only losing his serve once. But that was all Tsonga needed -- with a 7-5 score in the second-set tiebreak, he won his third ATP title, and hopefully pushed himself back into the top ten.



Next week the top players are back in action -- Tsonga could face both Nadal and Andy Murray in Rotterdam while Andy Roddick tries to defend his title in San Jose among a field that includes Del Potro, James Blake and Mardy Fish. And you can be sure the action will be worth watching!

See you out there!

A Gentleman's Sport

Tennis is known as the gentleman's sport.

There's no bum-rushing your opponent like on a football field, slamming him into the plexiglass barriers of a hockey rink, or drawing fouls like on a basketball court. Refs don't rush out to break up fights between players, competitors and coaches aren't ejected from the games, fans don't beat up others cheering for the other team.

Tennis is one of those games where players are expected to conduct themselves with certain amount of dignity and grace.

Take for example Andy Roddick, who after his win last week in Beijing announced he would donate his prize money to help those affected by the earthquake in the Sichuan Province last summer.

Now that's a gentleman.

It's not to say tennis is completely devoid of conflict. Even I'm old enough to remember John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors ranting, throwing racquets, screaming at chair umpires. That tradition hasn't ended -- Marat Safin, Serena Williams, and even Roger Federer have been known to lose their heads on the court a bit, justifiably or not. But for the most part, you hope that players respect each other, themselves and the game.

A few recent events, however, might lead you to question the civility of the sport.

In August my perennial favorite, James Blake, was stopped short (read: "robbed") of the Olympic finals in Beijing when a shot he returned glanced off Fernando Gonzalez's racquet and sailed past the baseline. The ump said there was no indication that Gonzalez had made contact with the ball and awarded him the point.

Blake raised a stink but the ump dismissed his complaints. And when James looked to his opponent to confirm what was obvious from slo-mo replays, the Chilean made no move to admit the fault. Blake went on to lose the game and the deciding third set, a grueling nine games to eleven.



Of course no one point really determines the outcome of a match, and there have always been, and will always be, bad calls. But real athletes can't possibly be proud of winning a point they didn't truly earn.

Similarly, no pro should ever step on a court unless they're going to give their all. Take for example the case of Nikolay Davydenko who last October was fined $2,000 at the St. Petersburg Open when the umpire cited him for "lack of effort".

He cried -- seriously.



It might be an amusing and innocuous story if not for the fact that the ATP was, at the same time, investigating Davydenko in connection with a gambling probe, an allegation from which he was only just cleared last month. Apparently odds that the Russian Davis Cup semifinalist would lose his match against a little-known Argentine player increased even after Davydenko, then ranked #4, won the first set. Nikolay eventually pulled out of the match in the third with a foot injury, sparking speculation that he may have thrown the match and resulting in $7 million of bets being nullified.

Now I'm not saying that Nikolay was involved in the betting scheme. Even the best athletes can lose to an underdog, injury or not -- that's what makes any sport worth watching. But the ATP has suspended eight players for their connection to gambling, and any such association, however tenuous, sullies the sport's reputation.

And of course the most obvious stain on any athlete's record comes when allegations of steroid or drug use pop up.

Martina Hingis was enjoying semi-success in her WTA comeback in 2006-07, rising as high (no pun intended) as #6 despite the fact that she hadn't won a major singles tournament since the 1999 Australian Open. (To be fair, of course, Jelena Jankovic has only played in one Slam final even though she's currently ranked second.) But since she returned to the sport, Hingis had managed to win three tournaments total -- Rome & Calcutta in 2006 and Tokyo in February of 2007.

Then in November of last year, Martina announced her re-retirement due to a persistent injury (she first took leave due to ankle trouble -- now she was having problems with her hip). At the same time she revealed that she had tested postive for cocaine use during the previous Wimbledon Championships, a violation which later resulted in a ruling that she repay nearly $130,000 in prize money.



Hingis has vehemently denied the allegation that she used cocaine, questioning whether her sample was really the one tested and claiming that the drug came from a spiked drink. Again, I'm not here to play judge and jury and I have no intent to slander anyone. Nevertheless the accusations mark a sad end to a career that started with such a bang.

So let's keep the scandal out of tennis. You can still fight for every point without making a mess of things!

And remember, gentlemen, "please" and "thank you" are always appreciated.

Carry on.