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!

Separated at Birth Part Three -- Stars of the Summer

Several months ago I brought you my first "Look-alikes" post, pointing out some uncanny resemblances between ATP tour players and Hollywood's leading men. That one didn't quite cover all the bases though, so later in the year I reprised the article for some of the top women in the sport.

But the similarities hardly end there, and as we move deeper into the summer's hardcourt season a couple of pairs have definitely stood out.

Indianapolis proved to be a great arena for American Robby Ginepri to launch his comeback -- and not so long ago an actor named Patrick Dempsey was staging his own revolution as he took the halls of Seattle Grace by storm. Their stories are not that different -- and neither are they.



And while one man resurges another retires -- in his last season on the circuit Marat Safin is holding something of a farewell tour, but he is far from a senior citizen. During his match with Tommy Haas in Los Angeles last week, John McEnroe referred to Marat as a "specimen" -- it's only fitting that he should look so much like Derek Shepard's best frenemy, Doctor McSteamy himself, Eric Dane.



Then there's Marion Bartoli who shocked the world on Sunday when she played so impressively against third seeded Venus Williams in Stanford. Maybe her alter ego, Meadow Soprano, was peaking through a little, intimidating her opponent just a bit and helping Marion take the trophy.



And this week tennis fans are anxiously awaiting the return of Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick in Washington, D.C. Always the entertainer, Andy definitely can put on a show, though I'm not sure he'll ever be quite as...well, aggressive as Seann-William Scott's infamous Stifler.



Got more ideas for look-alikes? E-mail me, and I'll post them all later this summer!

In the meantime, enjoy!

A Cast of Characters

On Monday two former #1s take the court in Los Angeles in the LA Tennis Open's "Millenium Challenge" -- fourteen-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras will meet Russian Marat Safin in a rematch of the 2000 U.S. Open final, what turned out to be Marat's first career Major victory.



The exhibition promises to be an exciting match -- while maybe not one of the classics, there was certainly a real rivalry between these two stars around the turn of the century. Safin, who has announced that 2009 will be his last year on the Tour, took the #1 ranking away from my dear Pete with the help of that win in Flushing Meadows, and he holds a surprising 4-3 record over the legend. While the two couldn't have more disparate personalities -- Marat often brash and combative when a point doesn't go his way, versus Pete who rarely showed any emotion on the court -- when they got on the court, you knew sparks would fly.

There aren't a lot of players on Tour now that have that same energy -- while Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are undoubtedly fascinating to watch, on the court they're all business. In a press conference today Safin was asked if he thought he was one of the last great characters in the sport. Marat seemed to think it was just a matter of time:

"Because tennis, actually they need somebody -- not a little bit not crazy, but just a little bit untender, but it has to come natural...Sooner or later it will come, people like that, and tennis will live another nice era."

Though he didn't offer any suggestions of who some of those players might be -- I'm not entirely sure he understood the follow-up question -- certain personalities do spring to mind.

There of course are the hot-heads: Tommy Haas and Lleyton Hewitt may have cooled off a bit in their old(er) age, but you can still see the fire in their eyes when they screw up. And more recently there was the odd -- and masochistic -- reaction from Mikhail Youzhny when he lost a point to Nicolas Almagro in Miami last year.



But now we have a bit more breadth in our emotions. Take the entertainers: Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils always enjoy putting on a show. The heartthrobs: Andy Roddick and Dmitry Tursunov always manage to look good, no matter how hard they sweat. And the crowd-pleasers: Andy Murray and James Blake perpetually get the hometown fans behind them no matter how well or badly they're playing. And, most comforting, the ingenues -- the kids whose innocence and genuine happiness to win even one match is enough to get the entire crowd excited.



So I'm not worried about the personalities of tennis -- there are plenty of players bringing their personalities, either through charm or idiosyncrasies, out to the court with them. And it all just adds to the fun!

The Injustice of It All

A few months back I questioned a new system the ATP had adopted to score and rank its players, wondering whether tracking a trailing twelve-month score really reflected the current state of tennis.

So far, I'm not impressed.

For example Andy Murray who started the year with three impressive championships remained behind Novak Djokovic until mid-May, despite the fact that Nole suffered some big losses in Australia and a disappointing exit while trying to defend his title in Melbourne.

And there's another point I'm still not clear on -- perhaps someone can help. Rafael Nadal was the first player to qualify for the year-end ATP Championships, but one rule requires players to play in all four Grand Slams -- something Rafa failed to do when he pulled out of Wimbledon with a knee injury. Does he forfeit his spot even though he had been playing the best tennis on tour and almost swept the clay court season?

The problems also make their way into the women's side of things. Back in April we found out that Dinara Safina was going to take over the #1 spot from Serena Williams, the woman she'd lost to in Australia and who'd taken the trophy at Flushing Meadows just a few months before. I don't mean to say Dinara hasn't had a good year -- she won in Rome and Madrid and played in four other finals, including at Roland Garros. But she's never won a Slam while the two women ranked just below her have won three of the last four and share seventeen Majors between them.



So, yes, the ranking system has its issues, but they've never seemed so apparant as they have during this Wimbledon fortnight.

The Championships at the All England Club, more than any other Grand Slam, have the ability to seed players based on their strength on the surface, not their ranking. That allowed Ivo Karlovic, ranked thirty-sixth in the world, to command the twenty-second seed, and Marat Safin to go from #24 to #14. Maria Sharapova was clearly the biggest beneficiary as officials ignored her injury-addled #60 ranking and blessed her with the twenty-fourth seed.

But Dinara, who'd never made it past the third round here and lost in the quarters to Tamarine Tanasugarn at a warm-up tournament in the Netherlands, kept her top spot while five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams had to slog it out at #3.

The discrepancy was clear in today's semifinal match when Dinara was completely dominated by Venus. In less than one hour she won only a single game and twenty points in total. She whiffed sixteen unforced errors and looked nothing like the #1 player she's supposed to be. Even still, because she made the semis, she'll get 900 points and stay out of reach of both Serena and Venus, whomever wins (I believe -- I hate calculating these points).

You know who else gets 900 points?

Not-so-lucky loser Elena Dementieva, who gave an epic performance against the second-seeded Serena Williams -- someone she was not supposed to beat. That match, which lasted nearly three hours, was one that single-handedly revived the case for women's tennis. Both ladies were hitting hard, serving bombs, maintaining rallies, and being pushed way outside their comfort zones. Elena, who'd been struggling all spring, did something no one's been able to do this tournament -- she took a set away from Serena, and she even had a match point late in the third. Watching the last few games I was actually nervous -- seriously, from my desk in New York, thousands of miles away from the action, my heart was honestly pounding as I waited to see who would come out on top.



But because Elena wasn't able to convert on her opportunity she gets the same payday as Safina, who looked no more impressive in her first five matches than she did in her sixth. And what could've been a final match that any fan would pay top-dollar to see is relegated to the semis, played midday in the middle of the week.

It's always heart-wrenching when someone has to lose a match that was so well-fought, beginning to end. After such a long battle, it's a shame that both couldn't make it to the Saturday match. And it's an even bigger shame that there's no way to compensate the player who put on such a great show.

Who knows if they'll change the points system again and make it more fair. I doubt anything done will be terribly drastic.

But I can tell you that if I had control, the rankings on Monday would be much different than what's actually going to come out.

A Final Bow & a Final Blow

Most of the headlines covering today's action at Wimbledon focused on the fact that defending champion Venus Williams sailed through her first round in an easy seventy-eight minutes while Britain's best hope for a title, Andy Murray, himself survived a tough four-setter against American Robert Kendrick.

But there were some other results that merited just as much attention -- including a few performances that marked, or could mark, the end of some storied careers.

Former world #1 Marat Safin announced earlier that this would be his last year as a professional tennis player, and so of course, this would be his last Wimbledon. Though he is currently ranked twenty-fourth in the world he was given a generous fourteenth seed, thanks in part to his semifinal appearance here in 2008, and should have had a clear road to at least the fourth round.

His farewell tour hopes, however, were dashed when he met qualifier Jesse Levine in his first round. The twenty-one year old has only played in two non-challenger events this year, failing to make the main draws at Roland Garros or this month's Queen's Club, and had to win three matches just for the right to play Marat at Wimbledon. But that didn't stop him from bringing his A-game today. He kept his first serve percentage high and dominated the veteran Safin in winners. After four sets, Levine had sent the Russian home, his earliest exit since 2004 when he lost to Dmitry Tursonov.

Guess the Safin family's Wimbledon title hopes will have to rest with the younger sister.

Kimiko Date Krumm is another player who's no stranger to the grandeur of the All England Club. She's played in seven Wimbledons during her career -- the last one in 1996. The thirty-eight year old, once ranked fourth in the world, first made headlines this year when she survived three qualifying rounds in Melbourne to make the Grand Slam down under. In London she was pitted against Caroline Wozniacki, a girl who wasn't even born when Kimiko went pro.

Date Krumm held her own against Caroline, less than half her age, even taking the first set, 7-5 and grabbing an early break to lead in the second. But Wozniacki, who's already proven she's no slouch this year, rebounded in the clutch, winning the next five games and ceding only one more in the final set. After less than two hours, Kimiko's Wimbledon comeback was over.

She hasn't made any formal announcement about whether this will be her last appearance at the tournament, and given her obvious perseverance there's no need to believe she won't be back. But at the same time, you can't help but feel she walked off Court 2 for the last time this afternoon.

I worry that wonder if the same might be true of James Blake.

Of course you must know how it pains me to say so, but I fear the best is over for Blake. Yesterday's loss to Andreas Seppi marks his second straight opening round exit at a Grand Slam, and while he keeps raising my hopes by making the finals at Estoril and even advancing to the championship match at Queen's, he hasn't been able to convert where it counts.

It's now been nearly two years since his last title in New Haven. And just a few months away from turning thirty Blake's no spring chicken -- four of the top five players in the world are twenty-three or younger, and James is easily the oldest man in the top twenty, which admittedly says a lot about his staying power. Of course I hope he sticks around much longer and stays a healthy, competitive player. But as for being one of the best and hoping he captures his first Major title -- well, that might be asking too much.

Then again, if Kimiko's story doesn't inspire him to stick around, I don't know what will -- and as we all know, tennis is one sport in which anyone can mount a comeback!

Going the Distance

It was quite a marathon day for some of the best players in Paris. Andy Murray took two and a half hours before dismissing Potito Starace, and while Victoria Azarenka may have gotten by in straight sets, she needed nearly two hours and more than a hundred and fifty points before sending Kristina Barrois home.

But others had even tougher times earning their right to advance.

David Ferrer faced former top five player Nicolas Kiefer in his second round match. The fourteenth seed seems to have gotten his game back on track this year after what must have been a frustrating 2008, while Kiefer has struggled. Though he's ranked 37th in the world, he hasn't put together back-to-back wins all year, even losing three first round matches on clay. Ferrer should have been confident coming into play.

The two split the first four sets, with Keifer easily being the more aggressive player -- he marked seventy-one winners during the match compared to Ferrer's fifty and whizzed fifteen aces by his opponent. When David was unable to capitalize on his two set to one lead, it looked like he might make his earliest French exit since 2004.

But his serve really came through in the final set. He won more than ninety percent of his first attempts and Nicolas could barely get his raquet on the ball. After more than two hours -- including a sixty-nine-minute third set -- it took barely thirty minutes for him to get through the fifth, earning the luxury of meeting Robin Soderling in the third round.



On the women's side all eyes were on the high-profile match-up between compatriots Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova. Though eleventh-seed Petrova came to the match as the technical favorite, Maria had won five of their last six meetings. Sure, she's still testing the waters after a nine-month absence, but Sharapova clearly wanted to win this match to prove her committal to her comeback.

The two traded breaks to start the match before Maria rallied to take the first set 6-2. Nadia retaliated with a quick 6-1 win in the second and took the early lead in the third, running to 5-2. But then Sharapova broke back and forced extra innings by getting to six all.

As we all know there are no tiebreaks in the final set at Roland Garros -- Maria had to hold on to a break lead to score the 8-6 victory. The seventy-one minute last set was ten minutes longer than the first two combined, and Sharapova's perseverance clearly showed that she had come to Paris to compete -- and that maybe she could be a contender in these games. Even still, while she may have a few easy rounds coming up, there's a long ways to go if she hopes to win her fourth and final Major.



As impressive as Maria's win was, though, certainly the biggest match of the day came when Marat Safin, playing his last French Open, took on wild card Josselin Ouanna. Veteran Safin was obviously the favorite, as Ouanna had only played one Grand Slam event in his career, losing in the first round in Paris last year.

But the first two sets both went to tiebreaks, both lasted over an hour each -- and both went to the #134 Frenchman. Marat dug deep though and fought back to level the match. By the time the fifth set began the casual observer would assume both momentum and experience were on the side of the Russian.

The crowd, however, which included eleventh seed Gael Monfils, was clearly behind their countryman, and the cheers must have done a lot to boost Ouanna's confidence. He struck the ball well, went after amazing shots and withstood twenty-four winners and six aces in the fifth set. After seventy-nine minutes Ouanna pulled off the biggest upset of his career, dealing an often-volatile Marat what must have been a devastating blow and prompting one commentator to point out:

"If you're gonna lose, you wanna lose to somebody high-ranked. He doesn't want to lose to a wildcard Frenchman"

It was Josselin's second straight five-set victory of the tournament. And though he must be tired, he's going to have to rest up and get back into focus if he's going to get past Fernando Gonzalez in the third round -- the twelfth-seeded Chilean will definitely be a tough nut to crack.

But I'm sure Ouanna has never been more sure of himself than he is today.

So here's hoping the action over the next week and a half is as exciting as it has been these last few days! With so many strong talents in Paris anything can happen!

And I, for one, can't wait to watch it!

A New #1?

Current world #1 Serena Williams made it to the finals in Miami last week, while #2 Dinara Safina didn't get past the third round. The two battled in the Australian Open finals in early February, when Serena rolled over the Russian in less than an hour to claim her fourth title in Melbourne. It was Williams' tenth major win -- while Safina, in two final appearances, hasn't yet brought home a Slam. She also hasn't won a championship since Tokyo last year.

Apparently, all that history doesn't matter.

In a little more than a week, Dinara will take over the #1 ranking, becoming only the nineteenth woman -- and second Russian -- to hold the spot. She also is part of the only brother-sister duo to claim the position -- twenty-nine year old Marat Safin was at the top of his game for nine weeks in 2000 and 2001.



To add insult to injury, Williams suffered a tough first-round loss to 95th-ranked Klara Zakopalova in Andalucia earlier today -- a tournament Safina, incidentally, didn't even enter.

I don't mean to imply that Safina doesn't deserve the #1 ranking -- she had a stellar 2008, winning four titles and Olympic silver. She rose from #15 in the world at the start of last year to #2 now, and has notched wins over Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva all in the past twelve months. Obviously, and somewhat hearteningly, that success counts for something.

Even if Serena's had the more successful year so far -- hard work does, it seems, pay off.

Where Retirement Means Squat

I suppose when most people hit sixty-five and look forward to their retirement, they have some idea of how they're going to pass the time -- maybe travel around the world, take up knitting, finish reading War and Peace, improve their serve-and-volley game.

It's supposed to be leisure time.

But when you're a professional tennis player -- and retire before you're twenty-five -- you may realize that leisure is a lot like work. And that might be why so few are able to stick to the plan.

Just about nine years ago, a nineteen-year-old Venus Williams, ranked #3 in the world, said she was considering leaving the sport to focus on her education and her investments. At that point in her life, she hadn't yet won a Grand Slam singles title, though she had made it to the finals at the U.S. Open in 1997 -- her sister Serena, a year younger, won at Flushing Meadows the following year.

Well we all know how long that retirement lasted. Venus swept the championships at Wimbledon in 2000 and also took home the trophy in New York -- her first two of seven major titles she's now won in her career.

Of course, her "retirement" was only rumored, suggested by some -- much like that of Marat Safin who, just last fall, intimated the same. But this year his face is all over the tour -- he's playing Davis Cup, appeared at top-tier tournaments in Melbourne and Indian Wells, and has brought his ranking back from #90 a year ago to #23 now.

The most recent rumors of a comeback swirl around another former world #1, Kim Clijsters. The Belgian also-ran took the top position in 2003, but was largely outshone by countrywoman Justine Henin, who'd already won her first of four French Open titles. Kim, on the other hand, didn't bring home her own -- and only -- Slam for two years, when she defeated Mary Pierce in the U.S. Open finals.

Clijsters never returned to defend her title -- she was sidelined in 2006 with a wrist injury and decided to leave the game in 2007, at the ripe old age of twenty-three. But tomorrow Kim returns to the public eye. She's holding a press conference and is expected to ask for a wild card entry to this year's Open.

So much for "So long!"

Kim's return to the sport will certainly be appreciated. Like Justine Henin, who retired last year while still ranked #1 in the world, Clijsters was near the top of her game when she chose to bow out. And in a world where the top spot is being tossed around like a hot potato, another strong contender will surely be welcome.

But my real reason for wanting Kim to come back is that, deep down, I feel seeing her face on the court, may just spur Henin to rethink her choice. The two had a superb competition over the years, with Justine holding a slim 12-10 lead over Kim. Sure there are plenty of new names in the mix that could spawn the next big rivalry, but won't it be fun to watch these two try?



Hope to see y'all soon!

And Now For the Gentlemen...

There were more than a few surprises in men's tennis this year.

Of course most notable was the end of Roger Federer's 237 weeks as the #1 player in the world and, ultimately related to that, Rafael Nadal's capture of the Wimbledon crown and his own ascendancy to the top.

But what about Andy Murray's near dominance of the post-U.S. Open schedule? Or the rise of not one, but two Frenchmen to the top ten?

At the end of the year, the final standings in the men's draw are as follows:

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain


2. Roger Federer, Switzerland


3. Novak Djokovic, Serbia


4. Andy Murray, U.K.


5. Nikolay Davydenko, Russia


6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France


7. Gilles Simon, France


8. Andy Roddick, U.S.


9. Juan Martin Del Potro, Argentina


10. James Blake, U.S.

What I think is most notable about this list is how big a gap there is between the top three and the bottom half. In fact Djokovic is only ten points away from pushing Federer to -- gasp! -- #3, a position he last held in November of 2003. Meanwhile barely a hundred points, less than a tournament win, separate Tsonga from Del Potro. And my poor dear James Blake is languishing way behind even that, in the top ten more, I grudgingly admit, for others' faults than for his own successes.

In any case I've spent a lot of time -- or at least webspace -- over the past few months talking about the highlights of these guy's years. So instead of a run down I've decided to highlight what I feel are the top five moments in men's tennis this year.

#5. Mardy Fish's Groupies
Scene: Pilot Pen, August 23
Okay, it might not be in most people's top five, but it's my blog and I get to play favorites.

Sports fans have an uncanny ability to come up with some truly clever rally cries. This year at the Pilot Pen finals in New Haven, I was sitting next to a group of off-duty ball boys and girls who'd become Mardy's unofficial entourage, now dubbed "The Fish Tank". Their goal, ostensibly, was to rival the J-Block in volume and brashness -- what they accomplished, however, was to make my friend Linda and me cower in the shame of being even proximally associated with them. But the one thing I took from these kids was their admittedly witty cheer: "Can I get an ace? GO FISH!"

Despite the crowd support, Mardy ended up losing the title to Marin Cilic, but he -- and his fans -- had plenty to cheer about this year. He's risen to #23 in the world, and arguably had the best season of any U.S. player. Though he didn't win any titles he scored major wins over Lleyton Hewitt, Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian and Roger Federer -- all at one tournament. He got all the way to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows where he lost to Nadal sometime around 2:30 in the morning -- it was the only time he'd ever made it past the second round at that tournament. And he got called in to play at the Davis Cup semifinals against Spain, winning his doubles match with Mike Bryan. With his wedding in September, the later part of Mardy's year wasn't devoted to tennis, but I'm hoping he'll be back, better than ever in January.

#4. Blake Reaches a Milestone
Scene: Beijing Olympics, August 14
James Blake didn't have the most successful year -- he didn't win a single title, the first year he's been trophy-free since 2004, losing to Kei Nishikori and Marcel Granollers in the two finals he did reach. He notched some frustrating early-round losses to Fabrice Santoro, Janko Tipsarevic and Ernests Gulbis.

But Blake did have some high points in 2008. He won his second, third and fourth five-set matches, proving that last year's U.S. Open win over Fabrice Santoro wasn't just a fluke, and made it as far as the quarterfinals at the Australian Open.

But easily the high point of the year was Blake's first triumph over then-#1 Roger Federer at the Olympics. The two had met eight times before, and James had only taken one set from him. But at the Beijing quarterfinals, Blake won two straight and earned the chance to play for a medal. Of course a controversial call in the semis sent Blake to the Bronze-medal round, which he lost to Djokovic. But just like winning his first five-setter, this win over Federer could open the door for more success in the future.

#3. Djokovic Storms Shanghai
Scene: ATP Masters Cup, November 16
The year-end championships were full of surprises, starting with Nadal's withdrawal and Federer's elimination at the hands of Gilles Simon. Then Andy Murray was taken out in staight sets in the semifinals. By the time we saw Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko in the finals, anything could have happened.

But Djokovic was inspiring in his last match of 2008, providing the perfect bookend to a year that started with his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne. After winning at Indian Wells and Rome it had looked like Nole was on track for a title-filled year. But June marked the beginning of a very frustrating drought -- he lost at the finals or semis at seven tournaments. His near successes were largely overshadowed by the consistency of Murray and the powerful bursts of "upstarts" like Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

In Shanghai, though, he was a man on a mission. He won his first two round-robin matches and was the first to qualify for the semifinals, and from there there was no looking back, despite a third consecutive loss to Tsonga, who seemed eager to avenge his loss at the Australian Open final.

Novak dominated the first set in his last match of the year and only dropped serve once in the second. He was clearly out to prove he is a champion, not just a second-tier entertainer. As he sets out to defend his first major title, I expect he'll bring with him some of the confidence he gained in China.

#2. Murray's Two-Day Battle
Scene: U.S. Open, September 6-7
Andy Murray had a rough start to the year, falling out of the top twenty after first match exits in Australia, Rotterdam, Miami and Barcelona. But he really hit his stride during the summer hardcourt season, getting to the semis in Montreal and winning in Cincinnati. By the time he got to the U.S. Open, he was ranked a career high #6.

Murray had some hiccups in New York -- losing his first two sets to Jurgen Meltzer in the third round and battling through two tiebreaks with Del Potro in the quarters. But when the weekend rolled around he was in top form.

I admit I didn't think he stood a chance against Rafael Nadal, who was playing in his first tournament since taking over the #1 ranking. When Murray took the first set I figured Rafa was just a bit tired from his match with Fish. When he took the second to a tiebreak, I was confident Rafa would rally. When the third set began with Nadal in a 0-2 deficit, I began to worry.

Then the rain began.

The officials called play with Rafa up a break in the third set. Ever the optimist, I figured when the match resumed on Sunday, it would be easy for Nadal to regroup. He only had to win two and a half sets -- it would be like any other, ordinary match.

Of course Murray didn't give Rafa the opportunity to get that far. He took the fourth and deciding set in just over an hour and steamrolled his way into the top four. He followed that up with wins in Madrid and St. Petersburg and a semifinal appearance in Shanghai. Clearly his match at Flushing Meadows served as a breakout opportunity for him this year.

And finally...

#1. The King is Dethroned
Scene: Wimbledon, July 6
What, you were expecting something else?

When 2008 began it seemed clear that Roger Federer was on a clear path to wipe out a mess of records. He had long ago sailed by Jimmy Connors's mark for consecutive weeks at #1 and was closing in on Pete Sampras's total reign. He had twelve Grand Slam titles, two short of Pete and, even if you wrote him off at the French, it looked like he was well on his way to surpass that number before the year ended.

A bout with mono took him out of contention in Australia, and Rafa predictably soared past him in Paris -- but the real shock came on the grounds of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, where he had held court for five straight years.

The epic match with Nadal took four hours and forty-eight minutes, survived two rain delays, and finished just before the sun went down. There were two tiebreaks, five breaks of serve, thirty-one aces, 413 points and a 9-7 final set. At the end of the day evening it was Rafa who stood tall, or more appropriately, collapsed in relief of having unseated the king.



It was a match that will be talked about for years -- the "Where were you when...?" in tennis. I, for one, was riveted to my television, afraid to miss a single point and wasting a perfectly beautiful July Sunday so that I could watch this piece of sports history.

Federer did come back, of course, winning his fifth straigh U.S. Open in grand fashion. Imagine if he didn't -- it would have been the first year since 2002 where Roger didn't take a Slam! Health problems surely weighed on him a majority of the year -- he took some time off after New York and pulled out of Paris with a back strain. Hopefully he'll take the few weeks before Australia to get strong for the 2009 season and come back roaring.

I mean, really -- isn't it all so much more fun when there's a real rivalry in the sport?

There were of course some other interesting moments this year that didn't quite make my top five. So here are 2008's Honorable Mentions:

• Kei Nishikori: Honestly, this should probably have made the list, except that Nishikori's surge this year was less of a "moment" than a "phenomenon". Kei jumped a whopping 218 places in the rankings from #281 at the end of last year to #63 now. Big wins over Blake at the Delray Beach final and then-#4 David Ferrer at the U.S. Open certainly helped -- he even took a set from Nadal at Queen's Club. At nineteen he's the youngest player in the Top 100 and the first Japanese man to win an ATP title in sixteen years. He's become something of an icon in his country and, I imagine, will be eager to follow through in the New Year.
  
  
• Juan Martin Del Potro: I became a DelPot-head over the summer when the 6'6" Argentine stunned Andy Roddick in Los Angeles and continued my support through the fall, even though an oddly partisan crowd insisted on cheering for Murray at the U.S. Open quarters -- now he's one of the top ten players in the world. Del Potro also had the opportunity to represent his country when Argentina faced Spain in the Davis Cup finals. Unfortunately he lost the only match he played in a huge upset that ultimately gave Spain the title. Had things gone another way, maybe Juan Martin wouldn't be just an Honorable Mention. Maybe.
  
  
• Gael Monfils: The other Frenchman to make headlines this year, Gael was one of those players that made the tennis court his stage. His crazy cornrows were reminiscent of James Blake's early-day dreads, and he did handstands, cartwheels and some weird little dances to celebrate big wins, making some wonder if he shouldn't be auditioning for America's Best Dance Crew. He hasn't won a title yet, but his performance this year brought him to a career-high #14 ranking. Surely he'll be one to watch next year.
  
  
• Marat Safin: I've said before that I'm not a huge Marat Safin fan, but even I have to admit I'm surprised he hasn't won a title since 2005's Australian Open. In fact he's only made three finals since then, most recently in Moscow this fall. He does have some spurts of genius, though -- take for example his semifinal appearance at Wimbledon this year. He'd beaten Djokovic in the second round, #9 Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth, and Davis Cup hero Feliciano Lopez in the quarters -- for the first time in years, he looked like he had a chance. Then he lost to Federer, thankfully, otherwise my #1 moment would never have happened. But now there's talk that Marat may retire. After 400 career match wins and nearly three years blanking at titles, maybe it's time.
  
  
• Lleyton Hewitt: Lleyton Who's-it? The former world #1 only played in eleven tournaments this year as an injured hip dogged his prospects. Though he'd been flailing in the low twenties for about a year and a half, this year he fell to #67 in the world. He didn't win a title -- nor did he make a final, the first time that's happened since 1997. He's said he plans to return for January's Hopman Cup and hopes to be in full form for Melbourne, but of course we'll just have to wait and see.
  

Here's to a great year, and many more to come!

There's Something About Marat

Marat Safin is not my favorite tennis player.

I might have mentioned that I'm not one to forgive easily, and his defeat of Pete Sampras at the 2000 U.S. Open is one I'll never quite accept. The fact that he also turned out to be something of a hot-head didn't exactly argue in his favor either. One of the louder men on the tour, he routinely grunts his frustrations, argues with chair umpires and cheers his victories.



Over the years Safin has certainly proven he's someone to watch. Despite my (internal) protests, the then-twenty year old Russian rode the momentum from his first Grand Slam win eight years ago and climbed to a #1 ranking in 2001. It turned out, though, that his success was short-lived. In a particularly startling fall from grace, he ended the year at #11 despite two late-season titles.

Marat has had a bit of a roller coaster ride in his career since then. He climbed back to #2 the next year but fell to #77 in 2003, up to #4, down to #104, twenty-two to ninety-one, and is now ranked twenty-ninth, surprisingly high considering he ended the year with two early-round exits.

The thing is, Marat always has a way of surprising you -- seemingly doing his best just when you start to forget about him. He hadn't had the most successful start to this year, only making it to the third round in two tournaments before Wimbledon. But at the All England Club, he took out Novak Djokovic and then-#9 Stanislas Wawrinka on his way to the semis. Though he lost in straight sets to Roger Federer, he cut his ranking from #75 to #40.



His success didn't last long -- in subsequent tournaments he suffered losses to Italians Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini and Germans Denis Gremelmayr and Philipp Petzschner, none of whom were ranked in the top fifty.

Marat saw his best chance for redemption in years when he went home to Moscow in October. It wasn't the toughest tournament of the year -- Nikolay Davydenko was the top seed, followed by Igor Andreev. Even Marat drew the seventh place. But Safin did pull out a win over the eventual runner-up in Shanghai and made it to his first final since 2006.

He lost to Igor Kunitsyn, who took home his first title that day.



Even given his struggles it's hard to believe that Marat hasn't won a single title since 2005's Australian Open, especialy given that he won seven championships in 2000. Yet he continues to plug away at the tour.

Is it time to give up? Perhaps. He's won 400 matches in his career -- seventh highest among active players. But after a first round loss in Paris in October, Marat started to discuss retirement, saying at the very least he needs a long break before deciding whether to return.

Maybe well see him again in 2009 -- maybe, at twenty-eight, he's headed for the old folks' home.

Whatever he decides, you can be sure he'll make you hear about it.

From Russia With Love

Russia hasn't been the source of the the most inspiring headlines recently. They started a war with the Republic of Georgia, suspended trading in their stock exchange, and offered Venezuela a big chunk of money to buy weapons and develop its military. And that's just since August.

But on the tennis courts this week, Russians were showing off their best stuff.

Men and women were both battling in Moscow's Kremlin Cup where the likes of Dinara Safina, her brother Marat Safin, and compatriots Nikolay Davydenko, Elena Dimentieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova and others took their opportunity to seize homecourt advantage.

It's already been a pretty good year for the Russian women -- and little of the good news comes from the country's most recognizable star, Maria Sharapova. They occupy half of the top ten spots, won the Fed Cup last month, and swept the Olympic medals.

Incidentally the Beijing medalists -- Elena, Dinara and Vera Zvonareva -- also took three of the four semifinal spots in Moscow. Dementieva ended up losing a hard battle to Jelena Jankovic, preventing an all-Russian final and frustrating me again, but Vera's decisive victory over Safina puts her in her sixth final of the year.



Russian men on the other hand have struggled a bit more this year. Defending Moscow champion Davydenko holds the highest ranking at #5, but the only interesting title he's earned this year was at the ATP Masters Series in Miami. Nevertheless Russians took five of the eight seeds at the Kremlin Cup, and two will meet in the finals on Sunday -- though not necessarily the two you might expect.

Those who know me know that Marat Safin is far from my favorite player -- I've never quite forgiven him for beating my all-time favorite Pete Sampras in the finals of the 2000 U.S. Open. Since then his career has been a series of ups and downs. He was ranked #1 for six non-consecutive weeks in 2000 and 2001 but fell as low as #104 in 2006. He started this year at #57, dropped to #93 and is currently #40. As further proof of his struggles, Marat hasn't won a single single's title since the '05 Australian Open -- or even played in a final since 2006.

The vindictive side of me is ecstatic that he hasn't been able to regain his former glory -- the objective side is shocked that such a talented and strong competitor hasn't had more success against the top ten players.

In the finals Marat is taking on Igor Kunitsyn, a twenty-seven year old who just broke into the top 100 in May. But he's shown his own mettle in Moscow, beating Dimitri Tursynov, Robby Ginepri and Fabrice Santoro on his way to the finals. A win here would not only be the first ATP singles title of his career, but also rocket him into the top fifty rankings.

You can guess who I'm rooting for.



Sunday's final holds important implications for all players involved. Jelena, I'm sure, is eager to win her third tournament in a row, her first while ranked at the top; a victory for Vera could vault ahead of Venus Williams in the rankings. Marat is hungry for his first championship in almost four years, and Igor for his first ever.

We'll see if two Russians will be able to walk away with trophies in their native land. But in any case this week's play has highlighted the country's drive, ability and talent.

And, love 'em or hate 'em, they sure are fun to watch!

'Til next time, serve well and play hard!