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.

Pushed to the Limit

A couple of the sport's biggest stars were put to the test in their early rounds in Paris, and while a couple -- like Tomas Berdych and Flavia Pennetta -- came out on the wrong end, some others eventually prevailed. But their toughest tests might be yet to come.

Former top-twenty player Xavier Malisse isn't seeded at the French Open, but he's one of those floaters no one wants to see in their section of the draw. Since wrist injury sidelined him for much of 2008 and dropped him out of a double-digit ranking, he's been clawing his way back among the contenders and has pulled off wins over the likes of John Isner, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Novak Djokovic in the past year.

In his first round at Roland Garros, a tournament at which he's never passed the fourth round, he faced a tough test in Dmitry Tursunov, another player coming back from injury. They traded sets for about two-and-a-half hours before the Belgian was finally able to take hold and get the win. But with a second round date against Fernando Verdasco, he'll need to up his game even more. True, the Spaniard has had an up-and-down year, but he has won the pair's only meeting -- a Davis Cup rubber, in straight sets -- so Malisse can't afford to get too far behind in the count. But if he can pull it off, it could bode well for the rest of his year.

Dark horse Julia Goerges also found herself in trouble earlier today. Seeded at a Slam for the first time in her young career, the German came to Paris with a lot of pressure on her shoulders -- she'd beaten world #1 Caroline Wozniacki twice during the lead-up tournaments, once in the finals at Stuttgart, and was one of my favorite underdogs to take the title.

But in her second round against feisty Lucie Safarova, she found herself down a set and a break as the Czech's groundstrokes seemed to find all the lines. Goerges stayed strong, though, drawing even and finally getting a go-ahead break in the nearly hour-long second set. The momentum stayed on her side in the decider, as she won every one of her first serves and broke her opponent two more times to advance. Next up, she'll meet eleventh seed Marion Bartoli, a hometown favorite but certainly a beatable foe. If Julia can take advantage, she could set up an even deeper run at this Major.

Vera Zvonareva is used to the pressure of the later rounds at the Slams, but she was in for a surprise on Wednesday afternoon. Facing one-time world #22 Sabine Lisicki, she battled through one long set after another – the German pulled out some magical passing shots to break the third seed and take the first set and seemed to pull even whenever Vera took a lead in the second. The two traded breaks again in the third, but after an injury time-out, the Russian was able to secure a lead and the win.

It was heart-breaking to see Lisicki in so much pain, but you have to give Zvonareva credit for keeping her cool when she’s so often lost it in the past. She should have an easier third round against Anastasia Rodionova, the Australian who knocked out last year's quarterfinalist Nadia Petrova in the first round, and might be ready to put up his best-ever run in Roland Garros.

Of course the biggest story of this year's early rounds has been the ultimate test faced by five-time and defending champion Rafael Nadal in his first round. After taking the first set and a break from big-serving John Isner easily, the Spaniard found himself in trouble. Isner was able to force a tiebreaker and never squelched a lead in it. There were no breaks in the third set and when the American seized control of that breaker, we knew history was about to be made -- either the undisputed King of Clay would suffer his biggest upset, or he'd have to play his first ever five-setter in Paris.

Nadal's a fighter, though, and he was able to kick his game into high gear the second he found himself trailing. He didn't allow Isner another break chance in the next eighty-plus minutes, and after more than four hours of play he finally walked away the winner. For his efforts he'll meet rapidly improving Pablo Andujar, another Spaniard who won his first career title earlier this year in Casablanca. They've never met before, but Rafa should be sufficiently recovered to get the win. Even still, there could be some more unexpected fireworks in store for us Thursday.

Maybe it's a good thing all these guys were challenged so early in the tournament -- now that the tests are over, perhaps they'll see smooth sailing going forward.

Or else, it could be a sign that there's even more excitement down the road. And if these matches are any indication, you won't want to miss a beat.

The Princes & The Cinderellas

The first week of tournament play of the new year has certainly yielded some interesting results -- while so many of the top women in the sport fell early in their events making way for a couple fairy tale runs, the men brought their game all week and several of the sport's best advanced all the way to the championship rounds.

The first men's trophy of 2011 went, not surprisingly, to Roger Federer who ousted a resurgent Nikolay Davydenko in Doha. It was the world #2's third title in the desert after a five-year drought but, more importantly, it was his fourth title in his last five tournaments -- his fifth since Wimbledon. If the rest of the field didn't already have reason to fear Fed in Melbourne, they certainly do now.

But some no-less-important statements were made a little further east.

Over in Chennai, India, two-time defending champ Marin Cilic was dismissed early, but most of the other seeds advanced without too much drama. Sixth-ranked Tomas Berdych, who hadn't played very well to end the year, finally put together back-to-back wins again to reach the semifinals where he was eventually dismissed by Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets. In the other half of the draw, a tough Xavier Malisse, who's been climbing his way back after a wrist injury that largely kept him out of contention for the last three years, advanced easily, only dropping one set in the semis to Janko Tipsarevic before making his first final since 2007.

Third-seeded Wawrinka found himself in a deficit early on Sunday, though, down 2-4 in the first set before knocking of wins in five of the next six games to capture the lead. But the Belgian raised his level in the second, winning every one of his first serve points, and only dropping two of his second attempts. He made good on his only break opportunity and was able to force the match into a decider.

But the third was all about the Swiss -- this time it was Wawrinka who displayed the superior serves, ceding only one receiving point to Malisse, and breaking his opponent twice to run off with the championship after more than two hours of play. It was Stan's third career title, and his first on a hardcourt -- certainly a good result as the world #21 tries to make a big mark at the Majors.

A little closer to Melbourne it was the very top seeds that made it to the finals at the Brisbane International. Defending champ Andy Roddick looked to be playing near his prime, surviving tough opponents in fifth seeded Marcos Baghdatis and big-serving Kevin Anderson to make the title match again. Meanwhile Robin Soderling, who'd only dropped serve once in his first four matches made good on his top billing and advanced to his seventeenth career final.

The Swede got off to a good start, breaking Andy early and winning the first set in just over half an hour. Things were tighter in the second, as the American saved a handful of break points early and kept his cool after a scuffle with officials over the rain. Eventually though, serving his sixteenth ace of the match, it was the tournament favorite -- now ranked fourth in the world -- who captured the crown. He won an amazing ninety percent of his first serves during the match and never faced a break point, securing his best-ever seeding at a Grand Slam.

But while the higher seeds lived up to expectations on the men's side, it was anything but for the ladies. In Brisbane none of the top three seeds made it out of the second round and the two eventual finalists took care of numbers four and five in the semis. Unseeded Andrea Petkovic made it through the top half of the draw without losing a set while Petra Kvitova, ranked just two spots below the German, took out big threats including Nadia Petrova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Dominika Cibulkova on the way to her third career final.

The two unlikely opponents had faced each other four times before, splitting their meetings, with Petkovic winning the last two. But Kvitova, a surprise semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, came out firing and broke Andrea in the first game of the match. She took advantage of weak serving from Petkovic -- both actually won more returning points than service points in the first set -- and took the opener in just over half an hour. Petko climbed out of an early hole in the second set, but the twenty-year-old Czech came back roaring and broke right back to close out her title.

And while it was a story of youth in Australia, it was a thirty-one year old veteran who triumphed down in New Zealand. Greta Arn took out three seeds in a row, including 2008 Australian Open champ Maria Sharapova, to make her first final since 2007. She earned the right to meet defending champion Yanina Wickmayer for the title, the only seeded woman to make a final this weekend.

But here again, the results were not to be expected. Arn who wasn't supposed to play in Auckland at all -- she only made it in the main draw after a couple higher-ranked players withdrew and saved five match points against Sophie Arvidsson in the second round -- was the better server all match, winning a much higher percent of her first serves and saving both break points she faced. Wickmayer, who struggled in Tour play at the end of last year, was out-maneuvered by the more experienced Hungarian and failed to defend her title after less than ninety minutes of play.

They were obviously solid wins for all players involved -- the top men re-established themselves as ones to watch Down Under, while some new faces emerged on the women's side as potential spoilers. Of course it's too early to tell how long these Cinderella runs and princely reigns will last, but if the action this week is any indication, we're in for a year of some great and exciting tennis.

Coming to America

It's been a strange, almost surreal year so far for Marcos Baghdatis.

The one-time top ten player kicked off 2010 having just regained a double-digit ranking and won the second tournament he played, a solid event in Sydney where he beat Mardy Fish and Lleyton Hewitt on the road to the title. His crowning moment, though, came two months later when he defeated Roger Federer in an amazing come-from-behind victory in Indian Wells. He lost his subsequent match, however, and hasn't beaten a top-twenty player since. Though he climbed his way back to #25 in the world, he nevertheless seemed like he'd lost some of that momentum.

That is, until he came to Washington.

It was his first trip to the U.S. capital, but Baghdatis appeared to fit in well. Consistently strongest on hard courts, he's won three of his four titles on the surface and boasts a sixty-plus win percentage on the surface. Back in his heyday he made the finals of the Austrailian Open, even taking a set from Roger there. But he'd never done too well in the States and has yet to pass the second round at the U.S. Open.

In D.C. he looked to change that record. As the eighth seed he received a bye in the first round, but faced a tough draw from the get-go. Horacio Zeballos, who's been strong all year, took the Cypriot to two tiebreaks in his opening match and Ilya Marchenko stole the second set before ceding in the third. Third seeded Fernando Verdasco should have presented a bigger problem in the quarters, but in a match with seven breaks of serve, Baghdatis was the ultimate winner.

His opponent today in the semis was an equally tested Xavier Malisse, a man who's been clawing his own way back from a precipitous drop out of the top two hundred. He'd racked up some big wins this year already -- Tommy Haas in Houston, John Isner in Memphis, Novak Djokovic at Queen's Club -- and he gave Andy Roddick quite a run in LA last week. Here on the eastern seaboard, Malisse beat three seeded players in a row, including Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych in the quarters. That's quite an accomplishment for someone who'd spent almost all of last year on the Challenger tour.

"It's tough to be on the sidelines watching everyone else play," Malisse said in the press conference after his match Saturday.

And you could see just how much both these guys missed the big events throughout their match. Malisse struggled on his serve early -- though with Baghdatis only getting thirty-six percent of his first attempts in during the opening set, neither man really served well. But Marcos broke his opponent in just the third game and got an insurance break a few games later to run off with the early lead in just over half an hour.

The second set was much more competitive and lasted over an hour as Xavier finally seemed to get into a rhythm on his own serve. With Baghdatis serving at 3-4, Malisse got some traction, playing smart shots and earning only his second break point of the match when his opponent twisted his ankle and fell to the floor. In a sweet moment, Malisse brought over a bag of ice, checked that Baghdatis was not severely injured and patiently endured the time-out. When Marcos won the next two points it was clear he would not be hampered by the fall.

"That was typical sportsmanship from Xavier. I would do the same thing -- I have done it before, but some guys don't. It doesn't happen every day," Baghdatis said after the match.

A few games later, he had the chance to serve out the match -- he'd converted on the third break opportunity he'd had in the second set -- but Malisse was finally able to find traction in his return game and forced a tiebreak. But from there it was smooth sailing for Baghdatis. After rolling off to a 5-1 lead, he let a couple points go but ultimately displayed some strong baseline hitting to reach his first final at an American tournament.

And because I hate when guys double fault on match point, here's a look at the amazing (twenty-six stroke) point that won it for Baghdatis:



He'll take on the winner of tonight's semifinal between David Nalbandian and fourth seed Marin Cilic, another couple of guys who've been on the comeback trail this year. He leads David in their head-to-heads, but hasn't beaten Cilic in their previous two matches. But if he continues to play as smart as he did today, he has more than a fighting chance to finally make an impression on American soil.

Winds of Change

SpringSummer is in the air in New York as temperatures went from the mid-fifties to nearly ninety in the blink of an eye. There's been a similarly abrupt shift on the tennis courts as the world's top players moved from hard courts to the (sometimes) elusive clay in a matter of days -- and a couple will face their first big tests on the surface ahead of the year's next Grand Slam.

I admit that I was a little terrified when I first played on a clay court. If Pete Sampras, the greatest player of all-time, in my opinion, couldn't win on the surface, how could I? And in fact, most American men struggle on the red dust. Andre Agassi and Jim Courier were able to take a couple of French Open titles between them, but before that you have to go all the way back to 1955 and Tony Trabert to find the last U.S. champion at Roland Garros. Even Andy Roddick, who's been a staple in the top-ten for almost a decade, has only made it as far as the fourth round -- once.



This week the next generation of American men are in action in Houston, seeking to prove that they might be able to succeed on the surface. So far they haven't had the best luck. Jesse Levine and Donald Young both lost their first round matches while Taylor Dent and Rajeev Ram each retired from their openers.

It's not all bad news, though -- twenty-two year old Ryan Sweeting made it through qualifying rounds and defeated fifth seed Evgeny Korolev before falling in a three-and-a-half hour battle to Nicolas Massu in his second main draw match. And two Americans hold big seeds -- John Isner and Sam Querrey, likely the best hopes our country has to bring home a few Major titles this decade.

Querrey, the #3 seed in Houston, will be tested first as he faces Blaz Kavcic, a man who just misses having a double-digit ranking. Sam was able to pull off a nice win over Viktor Troicki in the first round of Davis Cup -- his only win on clay this year. Overall, he has a lackluster 7-17 record on the surface. He shouldn't have a hard time making the quarters, but when he meets Massu there, well, that could be a different story.

Americans' best chance is probably with second seeded Isner, who'll open tomorrow against Xavier Malisse -- but that's also far from a sure thing. The #2 U.S. player has even less experience on clay, a 3-7 career history, and his biggest weapon -- a rocket-fast serve -- is largely neutralized on the slower surface. The Belgian is certainly more experienced, having been on the pro Tour for twelve years or so, but he is having trouble putting together big wins of late. A win for Isner would give him an easier road to the semis and could put the U.S. at large on the map during the clay court season.

We're a long way from being a real threat in Paris, but we're certainly making our way there. If either of these guys can pull off a few wins or -- dare I say it? -- a title in Houston, it could be the start of a new era in American men's tennis.

After all, if I can learn to play on clay, anyone can.

Open and Shut?

As the ATP World Championships begin in London this week, I can't help but look back at the career of the winner here nearly twenty years ago, one who's been making news of a different kind in recent weeks.

Andre Agassi defeated Stefan Edberg at the Frankfurt tournament in 1990 when he was ranked fourth in the world. It was still pretty early in his career, when he'd only won a single Masters title (in Miami earlier that year), but he had already made the finals at both the French and U.S. Opens. He was still more than four years away from his #1 ranking and seven from his career low which was laced with depression, premature hair loss, an unhappy marriage and more than a few episodes of drug-use -- all detailed thoroughly, if you hadn't heard, in his new autobiography Open.

Now I haven't read the book, but I've read enough of the reviews and seen enough of the reaction. Martina Navratalova likened him to Roger Clemens, Marat Safin said he should return all his trophies. Andy Roddick, though, supported him as one of the great ambassadors of the sport and a few days ago, the ATP said it could not reopen the doping case against him.

All this comes during a year rife with accusations of or injunctions against drug use in the tennis world. Richard Gasquet was punished with what could have been a two-year ban after he tested positive for cocaine in March -- he was allowed to return to play in July after it was determined that a "contaminated kiss" was the actual culprit. Martina Hingis, whose own suspension ended in September, said she would not return to the sport. And now former top-twenty player Xavier Malisse and U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer face the prospect of sitting on the sidelines for twelve months for failing to report their whereabouts when the authorities were looking for them -- I'm still not sure I understand what they did wrong.

So what were the consequences?

Gasquet was ranked in the mid-twenties this past spring -- the once-formidable player has now fallen to #53. Hingis, who was in the middle of her first comeback in 2007, had climbed herself back to #18 in the world before permanently retiring. Wickmayer, after winning her second tour title and qualifying for Bali, had reached a career-high ranking -- one year off the circuit, she fears, could derail all the work she's done this year -- after all, not everyone can pull off a comeback of any significant magnitude.

For Agassi, of course, he presumably "got away with it". Twelve years after the fact, he's now remembered not for the slump of the late-nineties -- even if we didn't know what caused it at the time -- but for his resurrgence since. He won the career Grand Slam two years after hitting rock-bottom, regained his #1 ranking a day before his thirty-third birthday, married a fellow super star and started schools in Las Vegas to help the underprivileged. Drugs and baldness aside, turns out he's not that bad a guy.

Now of course I don't support the use of drugs, performance-enhancing or otherwise -- in or outside of sports. It does seem that officials are trying to retroactively make up for the oversight of Andre by being overly punitive now. Or maybe they're just trying to avoid the mistake they made back then. But what would the sport look like if Agassi hadn't played for those two years? What would he look like?

I don't know what the right answer is, don't know whether these players should be maligned or revered. But maybe you shouldn't be judged at your worst -- but by what you do after it.