A Long Time Coming

You may know Gael Monfils for his crazy cornrows, his eccentric victory dances, his bulging muscles. But for the most part, you do not know him for the mountains of trophies on his mantle.

True, as a junior, he'd been #1 in the world, capturing the Boys' championships in Melbourne, Roland Garros and Wimbledon. But until this week, the funny Frenchman had only won one Tour title, the lightly contested Polish clay court event at Sopot in 2005. He's made more than a couple of finals since then -- Doha the next year, Poertschach in '07 and Vienna last year. Just in February he lost to Nicolas Almagro in Acapulco, where he took less than forty percent of his second serve points.

Regardless, his showing south of the border propelled Monfils to a career-high ranking of #9. He followed that up with a win over Andy Roddick in Paris, but an injured wrist kept him out of Wimbledon. At the U.S. Open he put up a huge fight against Rafael Nadal, even taking the first set, before succumbing in four.

Clearly he's had hisups and downs.

This week, however, he returned to his homeland with something to prove. At the Open de Moselle in Metz, Gael had the top seed. He hadn't played the tournament since his breakout year when he made it all the way to the finals, beating a few familiar names and a couple highly-ranked players in Richard Gasquet and Dominik Hrbaty before eventually losing to Ivan Ljubicic.

In 2009 Monfils had little trouble making the championship match again -- he defeated vet Sebastien Grosjean in just over an hour, serving ten aces and winning almost eighty percent of his first serves. He benefited from his opponent's retirement in the third round and was on point in a rematch against Gasquet in the semis.

Today Gael faced second seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, a strong German who's had some success this year, but hasn't yet been able to score a big win. After losing the first set of the tournament to Bjorn Phau, Philipp had a similarly easy time making the finals, defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu to get there.

The first set was nearly perfect -- Monfils didn't drop a single point on his first serve and Kohlschreiber stepped up on all six break points he faced. Ultimately, though, the top seed prevailed in the tiebreak. Philipp regrouped in the second set to tie things up, frustrating Gael a bit -- it can't be easy to have only one title after seven finals.

It wasn't until the sixth game of the deciding set that Monfils finally earned his first break point. He brought up his second serve percentage (which had fallen to a dismal twenty-seven percent in the second set) and kept his cool, eventually taking another break and winning the two-plus hour match.



After a long wait, and many close calls, Monfils finally gets to bring home his second Tour trophy.

Speaking of long waits, Kimiko Date Krumm gave herself an early birthday present by beating second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in straight sets at the Hansol Korea Open. A day shy of thirty-nine years of age, she became the second oldest woman to win a Tour title -- Billie Jean King was almost eight months older when she took home the Birmingham championship in 1983. And after going twelve years without a trophy, she might just have been the hungriest person in the circuit.

But not anymore!



Congrats to all this week's winners!

Gotta Have Seoul

I'd be willing to bet that many of the Pretty Young Things at the top of the WTA today hadn't even picked up a tennis racket when Kimiko Date Krumm was at the top of her game.

The thirty-eight year old Tokyo native turned pro in 1989 and cracked the top-ten in 1994 after winning the title in Sydney. She reached a career high #4 ranking the next year and had notched wins over Hall of Famers like Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Gabriela Sabitini, not to mention Conchita Martinez and Lindsay Davenport before retiring at the Tour Championships in 1996.

But last year Kimiko came back on the circuit, playing -- and winning -- a handful of ITF titles in Japan. In January she qualified for her first Grand Slam tournament in twelve years. And while she continues to do well in the challenger events, she hadn't won a single match in a main draw in 2009.

Until this week.

At the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul the persistent hitter may have gained late entry, but she made it to the semifinals with wins over fifth seed Alisa Kleybanova, against whom she was down match point, and tournament favorite Daniela Hantuchova, on her own comeback trail. This morning Kimiko scored her fourth straight victory with a win over an underrated Maria Kirilenko to make her first Tour final since her return.



Tomorrow (or, tonight) she'll face Anabel Medina Garrigues, the woman who ousted her in the first round of Guangzhou last week. About twelve years her junior, Kimiko's opponent will certainly be the sprier of the two -- but the veteran is clearly the sentimental favorite. In both her wins and losses this year, Date Krumm has proven that she's got some real heart and a determination few other professionals can also claim.

A win on Sunday will certainly give Kimiko some great momentum going into next week's Pan Pacific Open in her hometown, a title she won back in 1995. A wildcard in Tokyo, she'll face another youngster Aleksandra Wozniak in her opening round, and potentially U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki -- who, incidentally, wasn't even alive in 1989, when Date Krumm went pro -- in the second.

There's a daunting road ahead of her, but Kimiko has already proven just how strong she can be amid adversity. And I'm sure going to love watching her!

What Did I Tell Ya?

Several months ago I opined on Kim Clijsters return to the WTA Tour, mentioning how I hoped it would spur another former #1, Justine Henin, to also return to the game.

At the time Henin was clear that she had no intention of coming back, but today, just ten days since her countrywoman claimed the crown in New York, she announced her intent to re-enter the circuit in January.



Of course I'm thrilled about her return -- I've been longing to have such an elegant and powerful athlete back in the game. But it makes me wonder what the sport's going to look like for the young stars still trying to make a name for themselves.

Current #1 Dinara Safina can't be happy. Yes, she won the pair's last meeting, Henin's final appearance before calling it quits -- but she'd lost five times before that, never even taking a set. The Williams sisters are, of course, less intimidated -- Serena has won just more than half of their thirteen contents, Venus leads seven to two.

But then there's U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, whose counter-punching style may not be able to withstand the surprising bursts of power contained within the teeny Belgian. And recent clay-court champions like Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic might find it hard to repeat at Roland Garros against the four-time French Open champion -- she's beaten both in the Paris finals before.

And then there are those who've never faced Justine -- Victoria Azarenka, earlier this year touted as one of the favorites on the hard courts, Sorana Cirstea, who made her breakthrough on the red clay, and even Sam Stosur, one of the most consistently successful players of 2009, have no first-hand experience with Henin on the pro Tour and are bound to be in for a nasty surprise as they try to establish themselves at the top of the game.

She hasn't been gone for two years yet, but already the women's game has changed so much. I can't wait to see what Justine brings back to the court and how today's stars respond to the threat of not one, but two champions back in the mix -- and I can't wait to see the rivalry with Clijsters reignited.

And if the summer season's proved anything, there's definitely room for her back at the top!

It's Playoff Time!

There's a crisp wind in the air these days, and I can smell a turn in the season. Football teams are back in action and baseball players are staging their last campaigns to make the World Series. With all this excitement, it's no wonder that tennis too is getting in the team spirit this fall.

In just a few months, Spain will get the chance to defend its Davis Cup championship. This past weekend a strong team comprised of former #1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and currenty top-twenty David Ferrer only ceded one rubber to a surprise Israeli team in the semifinals.

This December they'll meet another unlikely team in the finals -- the Czech Republic is making its first title run since breaking apart from Slovakia. They clinched a win over Croatia despite their opponent's strong serving Ivo Karlovic and U.S. Open quarterfinalist Marin Cilic.

And while the efforts of the two possible champions this weekend were spectacular, somehow the results of the World Group playoffs captured more of the attention.

Fresh off his heart-breaking loss at the U.S. Open finals, Roger Federer chose to take some time to regroup with his countrymen. He looked like his old formidable self against Italy, beating Simone Bolelli on Friday and surviving a two-plus hour rain delay on Sunday against Potito Starace on a surface that should have been much more comfortable to the Italian. With the help of Stanislas Wawrinka, the Swiss closed out their tie with a 3-2 win in the foreign land.

Serbia was similarly impressive in their win this weekend. Though #4 Novak Djokovic was absent, recuperating from a long summer in the States, the country's second best player Viktor Troicki was more than present. He battled through a persistent foot injury to win both of his rubbers, the first taking five sets and over three hours to complete. His teammates were just as unrelenting -- Janko Tipsarevic, who's had some success on the singles Tour, and Nenad Zimonjic, half of the #2 doubles team in the world, paired up to clinch the win, and even little-known Ilia Bozoljac, ranked in the triple digits, did his part to help in the sweep of Uzbekistan.

But the most unlikely victors this weekend were probably a under-appreciated team from India, led by veteran doubles champ Mahesh Bhupathi and former college standout Somdev Devvarman. In Johannesburg they took on a host of South African players whose names are much more recognizable -- Rik De Voest, Jeff Coetzee, Weslie Moodie -- but they were not intimidated. The University of Virginia alum, who's already beaten both Cilic and Karlovic this year, easily won his first rubber and survived a nearly five hour match against de Voest, coming back from two sets down, to clinch his team's victory. And so India, three times a runner-up for the Davis Cup title, made it back into the World Group with their performance this weekend.

You can be sure all these teams will be in a battling mood, seeking to back up what they showed us over the last few days -- we have yet to see who can talk the talk, but I know it's going to be quite a battle!

The Lessons We Learned

What, you thought it was over?

It took a few days, but I'm finally over my U.S. Open hangover withdrawal and I've had some time to reflect on the happenings of the past two weeks. As with all tournaments, we created a few new stars, found a slew of surprising hotheads, and came to terms with a couple of facts we might have been trying to ignore.

Remember in 1999 when the Gonzaga Bulldogs, an unheard of team seeded tenth in the NCAA basketball tournament, advanced to the Elite Eight by beating #6 Florida and #2 Stanford? What a Cinderella story! But then the next year, again ranked tenth in their region, they beat another second seed in St. John's, and in 2001 they took out #5 Virginia. And still the moniker stuck. That made me think that maybe we should stop calling them "Cinderella" -- maybe we should just call them good.

Take note of that when you talk about Melanie Oudin. Yes, her run in New York was magnificent -- I don't think anyone else took out three top-thirty players this year, especially no one so unaccustomed to the big stage, and I certainly don't mean to detract from her accomplishments. Then again, Melanie's already proven her worth -- she took out Jelena Jankovic in Wimbledon, and in February she recorded a key victory over Argentina's Betina Jozami to keep the Fed Cup hopes of the U.S. alive.

Plus, she's not that young! Maria Sharapova was just a few months past seventeen when she won Wimbledon, and Martina Hingis was sixteen when she took home her first Australian Open crown. By that standard, Oudin -- without a single Tour title yet -- is kind of behind the curve. Sure she's new to the pro circuit, and if she's able to control her serve better, she's bound to become a champion. But maybe we should just confess that her performance is not a miracle.

Lesson learned: Maybe her wins are just a reflection of her hard work and developing talent, something that will hopefully pay dividends in the future.

The stories weren't all good, of course -- the tournament was muddied by outbursts from some unlikely sources. Most notably, of course, there was the frightening breakdown of Serena Williams, but there was also an angry Vera Zvonareva smacking the net and an annoyed Daniel Nestor berating a fan -- even consummate professional Roger Federer lost his cool during the final and was penalized $1,500. All in all the Open collected $31,500 in fines for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Lesson learned: Shut your trap! (Especially when there are microphones around!)

And there were some disappointing shows on the court too. Top seeded Dinara Safina failed -- again -- to win her maiden Major. She was pushed to the limit by teenager Olivia Rogowska and Germany's Kristina Barrois, both of whom took the first set tiebreaks, before ultimately falling to Petra Kvitova, ranked #72 in the world. And second seeded Andy Murray was hailed far and wide as one of the favorites to go all the way. Commentators were left singing another tune, though, when the Brits' best hope for a trophy was sent packing in the fourth round.

Dinara, of course, has long had to endure accusations that she didn't deserve her ranking, but this was the first time I'd heard anyone question Andy Murray's place near the top. All of a sudden there was talk that he'll never make it unless he can convert at the Slams -- this from the same people who'd been touting him for so long.

Lesson learned: Make sure you can back up your -- and others' -- tough talk.

And, I have to admit, I'm also becoming painfully aware of one other fact -- this may be the end for James Blake.

His third-round loss to Tommy Robredo was easy to overlook, given that it happened on the most tumultuous day of the tournament, but it was nonetheless a letdown. He had a break lead in the first set, but somehow ended up falling in straights. That matched his performance last year and was his earliest exit since 2001.

More disappointing, it's now been more than two years since he won his last title in New Haven, and while he did reach a couple of finals this year he just can't seem to capture the crown. And, while I was being somewhat facetious about Oudin's age, just a few months from thirty James really is getting up there -- he's going to have to pull himself together if he hopes to stage a comeback like Tommy Haas.

Lesson learned: I gotta find someone else to love.

So as we move into the last few months of this tennis season, we'll see if these lessons are taken to heart or if we're just fated to relive our mistakes in 2010. Though I guess that wouldn't be the worst thing -- after all, the U.S. Open was one of the most exciting we've seen in a long time.

And it just sets the stage for all the fun that's left to come!

The Stuff of Fairy Tales

Year in and year out it seems we get to this part of the tennis season and are left singing the same song. Like the Valiant Little Tailor, Roger Federer had swatted away one opponent after another in his effort to accomplish what few others could. He may be credited with being the king of the All England Club, but us locals knew that it was really New York that was Roger's castle.

That is, until tonight.

It had been 2,200 days since the current #1 has lost at Flushing Meadows -- in 2003 Argentine David Nalbandian eliminated Fed in the round of sixteen. This year one of Nalbandian's young countrymen became the unlikely hero that would end Roger's quest for a sixteenth Major title.

His task would be a formidable one -- five different opponents, each champions in their own right, had taken their swipe at Roger and the best any of them could do was to take a set off him. Let's take a look back.

2004: Lleyton Hewitt (6-0, 7-6(3), 6-0)

The Australian was ranked fifth in the world at that point, and was coming off one of his most prolific years. He'd won titles in Sydney, Rotterdam, Washington and Long Island and hadn't dropped a set on the way to his third Slam final -- he'd won both of his other attempts.

Roger, for his part, had struggled a bit more. He'd dropped a set in the second round to Marcos Baghdatis and was pushed to the limit by Andre Agassi in the quarters. But he'd already won two Majors that year -- Australia and his second Wimbledon -- as well as six other titles.

In his first U.S. Open final, Roger began to show signs of the greatness he would only develop further as time progressed. He bageled Lleyton in the first set, got pushed to a tiebreak in the second, but retorted with another 6-0 immediately after. The entire match took 109 minutes, an impressive start to what would become an even more impressive run.

2005: Andre Agassi (6-3, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-1)

The next year Roger faced heavy crowd favorite Agassi, who was thirty-five at the time and, though we didn't know it yet, a year from retirement. Ranked seventh in the world, the Nevada native had spent ages on the court already that fortnight -- more than fourteen and a half hours, with his last three matches each taking the full five sets to decide.

Roger, on the other hand, had just reiterated his win over Lleyton in the semis and came to the finals only having dropped two tight sets. Against Agassi, he surprisingly succumbed a bit, losing serve twice in the second before rallying in the third set tiebreak. He finished off the last Grand Slam winner, 6-1 in the fourth to claim his sixth Major crown.

2006: Andy Roddick (6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1)

In 2006 Andy Roddick was not having his best run. The former #1 had seen his ranking drop to the lowest it had been in four years. He'd only won a single title in Cincinnati, his least productive year since turning pro. But somehow in New York he seemed to regain his composure, surviving a scare from then-unknown Fernando Verdasco and battling past a persistent Mikhail Youzhny to reach his fourth Major final.

Unfortunately he was meeting the man who'd denied him his two previous attempts at his first Wimbledon title. By this time, we all knew Federer was a force unlike many others. At twenty-five he'd already racked up forty titles -- eight big ones. In New York that year he was nearly perfect, losing only one tiebreak at nine to James Blake, the newly instated best American tennis player.

He was similarly relentless against Roddick, firing off seventeen aces against the otherwise big server. He only ceded his game twice while breaking his opponent six times. Like with Agassi the year before, Federer came back after losing the second set and steamrolled over his opponent in the fourth, winning at 6-1.

2007: Novak Djokovic (7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4)

I admit I'd forgotten that Nole had made the finals at the Open during his break-out year. The Serb burst on the scene winning four titles before coming to New York and entertained a legion of fans with his impressions of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova. He'd climbed to a #3 ranking, and despite some rough rounds had made it to his first championship match at a Slam.

Surprisingly, Roger faced the tougher draw that year, meeting #5 Roddick in the quarters and #4 Nikolay Davydenko in the semis. Even still he'd again only dropped one set -- to an upstart American named John Isner in the third round. In the final, Novak stayed close to start, forcing two tiebreaks, both of which he lost. But again Roger doubled his opponents on aces and scored the critical break point in the third set to secure his fourth straight title in New York.

2008: Andy Murray (6-2, 7-5, 6-2)

Last year was a whole different story. Though I began 2008 with the fear that Roger was just about to roll to his record fifteenth Grand Slam, thus dethroning my dear Pete Sampras, suddenly I found myself wondering if Federer would even win a title at all. He'd fallen to eventual winner Djokovic, who was out for revenge at the Australian Open, and suffered two brutal losses to Rafael Nadal at the French and Wimbledon finals. He lost his #1 ranking and was beaten by players like James Blake, Ivo Karlovic and Gilles Simon.

Murray on the other hand was riding a wave of momentum that culminated in a stunning victory over Nadal in the semifinals. Pundits were beginning to predict he might win his very first Major in the rain-delayed Monday night match.

Somehow, though, that didn't happen. As he usually does, Roger pulled out his best magic in the final and in less than two hours had won this match too, his thirteenth major, and put himself back on course for what turned out to be a pretty great 2009.

Juan Martin Del Potro (6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 6-7, 2-6!)

This year Roger faced the latest prince trying to slay the giant. Or, more accurately, the latest giant trying to slay the prince. After a rough start Roger had reached a slew of milestones in 2009, acheiving a career Grand Slam, surpassing Pete Sampras's Major record, becoming a father. When he made it to the finals in New York, he was the clear favorite.

But Juan Martin -- who hadn't won a single one of their previous six matches -- played the tournament of his life, beating Rafa in the semis without losing serve once. Tonight he rebounded from almost going two breaks down in the first set to take the second in a tiebreak. He even grabbed an early lead in the third, getting so far under Federer's skin that Roger cursed at the chair umpire during a change over.

Amazingly, though, the big man regrouped after again giving up a break lead in the fourth to force the first five-set U.S. Open final since 1999, and it was the gangly Argentine who took the first break of the deciding set. After another half hour of play DelPo found himself with a handful of championship points -- the third of which he converted to win his first Grand Slam trophy at the ripe old age of twenty.



It was a startling outcome, like Shrek felling the dragon -- albeit a much more attractive Shrek and a very talented and deserving dragon. Juan Martin had played spectacular tennis for most of the summer, but looked exhausted in his defeat by Andy Murray in Montreal, causing most commentators to speculate over his fitness here. But he proved to be not only more resilient than his detractors posited, but more mature than his age suggested. With so many opportunities for him to fold and go quietly into the night, Juan Martin Del Potro ended the five-year reign of Roger Federer in New York in such spectacular fashion that only a Major's finale deserves.

This year's U.S. Open will be remembered for many things -- good, bad and ugly -- but hopefully for most, it will be remembered for its ability to make dreams come true for the biggest underdog.

So dust of your racquets, people! Next year, it could be you!

What a Super Sunday!

For the second straight year rain has pushed back play at the U.S. Open, forcing the men's semifinals and women's championship to be played a day late. But boy, was today's action worth the wait.

Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin Del Potro took the stage first -- a little after noon the newly reinstated #2 in the world took on the six-foot-six Argentine who was looking to make his first ever Grand Slam final.

Going into the match, all the commentators were giving the clear edge to two-time Washington champ DelPo, who had actually won the pair's last two meetings. I was only somewhat surprised by the bias -- these guys have a serious case of fair-weather friendship, and though just days ago everyone from John McEnroe to Mary Carillo was harping on Juan Martin's fitness to play in the hot summer sun, today they all seemed certain he was the favorite.

In truth, he was -- Rafa has been struggling with a stomach strain since Cincinnati and, while DelPo finished up his quarterfinal match years ago, Nadal had to wait more than a day and a half before finishing off Fernando Gonzalez on Saturday. And from the start the Spaniard seemed out of sorts -- he lost his serve first and couldn't capitalize on any of his five break chances to get beack in the match.

But somehow the scoreline -- 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 in DelPo's favor -- doesn't reflect the fight from the six-time Major winner. The seemingly one-sided match took nearly two and a half hours and included some long rallies -- twenty-seven strokes in one -- that reminded you why Nadal was so recently the best player in the world.

That's not to say Juan Martin didn't deserve the win -- he clearly played a fantastic match today, controlling his serve better and winning four points for every three of Nadal's. Though he might have been considered more of a favorite last year, when he came into the Open having won four straight tournaments, this year he benefitted from a little more maturity -- and the fact that someone else took care of his biggest threat. But in doing so, the twenty-year-old earned the right to play for the title.

He'll have a rough time of it tomorrow, though. In Monday's final DelPo will face Roger Federer, who has already met and dismissed five different opponents in his last five championship matches in New York. He obviously hopes Juan Martin will be lucky number six.

Federer had a bit more of a struggle this evening than the Argentine, with fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic putting up quite a fight in each of their three sets. The Serb -- the only man besides Roger or Rafa to win a major since Roland Garros in 2005 -- actually got the first break of the match. But then couldn't really pull things together again and had to rely on theatrics, quite literally praying for calls to go his way.

But as plenty of players have learned before him, Novak discovered that Roger is different kind of force in the Grand Slams. He delivered an amazing between-the-legs shot to give him match point while Nole was serving for a third set tiebreak and followed it up with a winner to earn his sixth straight appearance in this Major's final. Djokovic put up a fight, winning just fourteen fewer points than Fed, but the much more experienced player was just too good tonight -- as, of course, he is almost any other night of the year.

That match was followed by the women's final -- one with two unlikely players battling for the title, though both were riding some pretty impressive streaks. Kim Clijsters, who advanced after a controversial point last night, last appeared in Flushing Meadows in 2005 when she won the title. She wasn't able to defend the next year due to a wrist injury, and then she retired -- so before tonight Kim had won thirteen straight matches here.

In the final she met Caroline Wozniacki, whose semi against Yanina Wickmayer, relegated to Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday, was the lowest-attended singles event of the tournament. After a slow start to the summer, she rallied in New Haven to defend her title there, and through tonight has won eleven consecutive games of her own.

Everyone gave Clijsters the advantage tonight -- she'd beaten four seeded players on her way to the final and had performed well in both of the tournaments she'd entered since un-retiring, and obviously had all sorts of experience on her side. But Wozniacki came out firing. After losing her first service game, she won three in a row, even serving for the first set. The Danish teenager saw her nerves get the better of her, however, and eventually dropped it, 5-7.

In a final that was more exciting than anyone could have imagined, eventually Clijsters secured the only break of the second set and after slamming an overhead won the second Major of her career. She fell to the ground in victory and cried tears of joy on the sidelines, able to do one month into post-retirement what it had taken eight years to do the first time around.



Clearly it was an impressive comeback after being gone for over two years, but you have to give credit to Wozniacki too, who was the picture of class both during the match and in her defeat. It looks like both these ladies will be around for a long time to come!

Congrats to all of today's winners!

Incidentally, this also marks a year of Tennis Spin! (Actually, a little more, as a late Labor Day pushed the whole U.S. Open back a bit, but I digress...) My first post came out the morning of the last ladies' final, which also took place on a Sunday. Thanks so much to all of my readers and followers -- I really appreciate your loyalty, insights and comments! Keep it comin'!

And here's to several more years of Spin!