What I've Learned From the World Cup

A friend suggested a couple weeks ago that I start writing about soccer, as it's easy enough to follow and it shouldn't take long to get up to speed on the players. And with the rest of the world focused on the action in South Africa this month, it would obviously be hard to ignore the headlines.

Now I know the learning curve is much steeper than he assumes, and I don't even pretend to understand all that's happening on the field. But in the short time I've spent watching these athletes pour their hearts out in these stadiums, I have come away with a few lessons.

#1: I'm so happy I play on a small court

Think it's hard to come back from a swing in momentum after losing serve? Try doing the same when a ball is suddenly launched a hundred-plus yards in the opposite direction. My lungs hurt just thinking about it.

#2: Home field advantage may give you an early boost, but that might be all

The South African team may have scored the first goal of the tournament, but they ended their game tied with Mexico.

Similarly at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, teenager Heather Watson of Great Britain harnessed the crowd's support to beat Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round, but dropped quickly to Victoria Azarenka in the second. And in the Netherlands, world #159 Igor Sijsling rallied past countryman Thiemo De Bakker to win only the second Tour match of his career. Unfortunately Sergiy Stakhovsky took care of him in the subsequent match.

#3: The grass may be soft, but winning is hard

With the first group of round robin matches in the books, six of the sixteen soccer games played so far have resulted in ties. Can you imagine? Two teams go after each other nonstop for more than ninety minutes and no resolution is reached. I've never been more thankful for tiebreaks.

But even though we're guaranteed a winner, that doesn't mean the advancing player didn't expend more than his or her fair share of energy getting there. Svetlana Kuznetsova has already spent nearly five hours on court in her first two matches at the UNICEF Open while fifth-seeded Alexandra Dulgheru has survived six sets herself to make the Eastbourne quarters. For the men, Alexandr Dolgopolov battled through two tight opening sets before closing out his opponents decisively in the third and wildcard Gilles Simon squandered two one-set leads before rallying to avoid elimination.

#4: Past performance is not an indication of future results

Sure, perennial powerhouses like Brazil and Germany got off to quick leads this year, but both defending Cup champion Italy and runner-up France drew in their first games, and the French didn't even score a goal. That's not to say they won't rebound, of course, but they're both starting out at a deficit.

A couple women find themselves in similar positions on the courts. Tamarine Tanasugarn and Caroline Wozniacki were the champions at 's-Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne last year -- both fell in the first round this year, which doesn't lay the best groundwork heading into Wimbledon. Then again, both ladies can take comfort in knowing the lesson works in the opposite direction too. Caroline translated her win into a fourth round appearance at the All England Club in 2009, while the vet got ousted early -- there's no reason they can't better those results this year.

#5: Everyone needs Uncle Toni!

Spain lost to Switzerland. Spain lost to Switzerland. In soccer!

Apparently there's only one man in sports who knows how to consistently beat the Swiss, and that man should be coaching the Spanish team -- that is, while he's not busy coaching his nephew.

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I'm not sure I'll ever really understand fútbol entirely -- after all, it seems like a lot of work which ultimately results in very little scoring. But I certainly appreciate the passion it brings out of its fans, and watching the games over the past few days I can't help but wish to be part of the excitement.

But we're only a few days away from our world cup, and I have no doubt our athletes will do everything they can to recreate that atmosphere on their turf.

Switzerland 1, Australia 2

If we were talking World Cup that score might make sense -- though now that the Germans are leading Australia 4-0, maybe not. But while the rest of the globe is focused on a different kind of grass field, the two countries' best were also taking a shot at each other on the tennis courts, and the result was not what you'd expect.

Roger Federer has been a staple in Halle for most of the past decade, having won the trophy five times, and even signed a lifetime agreement to play every year until he retires. As the top seed, he progressed without challenge all week, surviving a few tiebreaks but never dropping a set on the surface on which he's won eleven titles.

In the finals he faced Lleyton Hewitt, another former #1 who is pretty comfortable on the lawn himself. The 2002 Wimbledon champ was playing in his first Gerry Weber Open after years of participating -- and winning -- at Queen's Club. As the eighth seed in Germany he also had a fairly easy run, as his opponents often took care of the other top contenders for him. In fact Roger and Lleyton were the only seeds to make the third round, so neither faced a big hitter until that championship round.

As two men who've been around for more than a decade each, Federer and Hewitt have played each other a lot, and often when the stakes were high. Before today, they'd played in three finals and eight semis. Twice they'd played in Davis Cup, three times at the year-end championships, and eight times each at Masters events and Grand Slams. And of those twenty-four total match-ups, Roger has won seventeen times -- in fact, the last fifteen straight. It looked like the streak would continue, but Hewitt was primed to turn the tables.

Federer got himself off to a quick start, breaking the Australian in the middle of the first set and running off to a 0-40 lead in the ninth game of the second. But Hewitt held strong and rallied to take the game and force a tiebreak, which he won. He broke Roger to kick off the decider and picked up his second serve percentage while his opponent began committing more errors. Federer had a chance to break again and draw even, but a strong forehand from Hewitt kept him ahead. Finally, after a little less than two-and-a-half hours, Lleyton had won his twenty-eighth title, his seventh on grass, and his first since Houston last year.

With only a week left before the start of the Championships, Hewitt certainly scored the win at an opportune time. Having spent the balance of the last two years recovering from hip surgery and various other injuries, he hasn't really been a force at the Slams in some time and only reached the quarterfinals once in the past four years. If he brings his momentum -- and the knowledge that he can still beat top players -- he might stand a chance at Wimbledon this year. This is, after all, one of his best surfaces, and today's victory will surely give his opponents in London a bit to worry about.

Sure, it's probably too soon to claim Hewitt is a favorite to win the big trophy in a few weeks, but the odds are certainly more in his favor now. After all, if you can beat Federer, who can't you beat...?

Seeking the Mini Slam

Today I played tennis on a hard court for the first time since college. Man, was it ugly -- ironic, too, since I spent so much of my childhood playing on the surface. But it certainly gave me a greater appreciation for the pros who shift so seamlessly from one to another and for how amazing it is for one man or woman to achieve that elusive career Grand Slam.

And while most of the focus is rightfully on winning the Majors, Sam Querrey will be going for his own slam of sorts tomorrow -- playing in his first final at the prestigious Queen's Club, he has the chance to become the first player this year to win a title on all three courts this year. Already owning trophies from Memphis and Belgrade -- ironically both times beating his friend and countryman John Isner -- he's now looking to prove himself on grass.

Sam has done well on the surface before -- he made the finals last year in Newport and even took then-#13 Marin Cilic to five sets at Wimbledon in 2009. To make the championship match in London, the seventh-seed hasn't had to work terribly hard. In his opening match he faced his professional foil Robby Ginepri, a man who beat him for the '09 title in Indianapolis and stunned him early at Roland Garros during his spectacular run to the fourth round there. But since then, Sam's been unstoppable -- he played a couple of close matches, but didn't drop a set until a tiebreak gave Rainer Schuettler the early lead in the semis. But the American rallied through a tight second set and ended up with the win to reach his fourth final of the year.

To claim the title, though, Sam will have to get past another friend who's had to do a little more work this past week. Mardy Fish, who's been recovering from injuries on and off over the past year, reprised his Miami win over defending champ Andy Murray and followed it up by trouncing eighth seed Feliciano Lopez in the semis. In fact, the world #90 has beaten four seeds in a row in London, so he can't exactly be discounted. And, though it was almost three years ago, he has won his only previous meeting with Sam.

Needless to say, a win would be a big boost for Querrey who, ranked twenty-third in the world, is currently the third-best American man in the game. He's been trailing his buddy Isner for the better part of the year, even though he has more titles to his name and leads their head-to-head 2-1. Not that he needs any validation -- pundits have said he has a more well-rounded game and probably more longevity than his uber-tall compatriot. And while Andy Roddick might not be ready to cede his position at the top just yet, Sam sure looks like he's in good shape to hold on to it for a while when it does eventually become his turn.

More importantly, proving just how strong of an all-court player he is would show the world -- not just Americans -- that Sam Querrey is a force to be reckoned with.

A Return to Normalcy?

It's no surprise that the clay court season was dominated by two story lines: the reemergence of Rafael Nadal as the #1 man in tennis and the return of the four-time French Open champ Justine Henin.

Now that we've moved on, we enter a period where a few almost-forgotten names are trying to remind us exactly why they're forces in tennis -- some will be successful, some less so.

Andy Roddick was, unfortunately, part of the latter group. One half of probably the best match contested last year, he has his best win percentage on grass -- an impressive 82% versus 77% on hard courts. He's also won four titles on the surface -- not bad when you consider how short this part of the season is -- and made the semis or better at Queen's Club every year since 2002. But the story this year was a bit different -- in about an hour and forty-five minutes, the world #7 was ousted in the third round today by Israel's Dudi Sela, a man who's only now broken even on the lawn. Here's hoping Roddick gets it together before traveling to Wimbledon.

Britain's Andy Murray is hoping to avoid the same fate. After a mediocre clay court season in which he only advanced to the quarterfinals of a tournament once, he returns to London to defend his crown. England's best hope at a Major only has the one title on the surface, but with thirty-four wins and just nine losses he does promise to deliver eventually. He does still have to get past Mardy Fish, though -- after splitting their first two sets on Thursday, the two retired on serve at three-all in the decider when the lights went down. Murray is clearly the favorite to pull out the win, but the American did stun him in Miami back in March, so the outcome is far from certain. Murray's going to want to rally big, though, or else people may stop talking about him for a while.

So far Maria Sharapova has been doing her part to show us just how ready she is to win another Slam. After a disappointingly close third-round loss in Paris, she's looked unstoppable in a rain-soaked Birmingham. This week she's powered through Bethanie Mattek-Sands and destroyed Alla Kudryavtseva in about an hour each. With a quarterfinal date against qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva, it looks good that she'll make the semis and maybe go further, all of which bodes well as she returns to the site of her first Major win.

It's not quite certain yet whether these players will return to their winning ways, but over the next few weeks we'll start to see whether they can cause some damage now that they're on a turf with which they're more comfortable. If they can I can't wait to see the fireworks -- if not, well, it might just be time to step aside for some new talent.

Not Revenge, Just Redemption

Just like Francesca Schiavone yesterday, Rafael Nadal would meet the man who so unceremoniously dismissed him at last year's French Open in the championship match. And just like Schiavone yesterday, Nadal would turn the tables on his previous vanquisher and prove that he really is the man to beat on clay.

In the days heading into this year's finals, all talk was around that -- how important was gaining revenge on the only man who's ever defeated him at Roland Garros? Nadal was quick to deny that that was what he was after. "I never think about revenges," he said after beating Nicolas Almagro in the quarters. "When I go on court, I don't think if I lost last time is gonna be revenge. I never go by this way. I think if you think that, your mind is not 100 percent calm to think what you have to do."

Whether that is wholly true or not, I'll never know, but as Rafa played in his fifth title match in Paris on Sunday it certainly looked like there was only one thing on his mind -- winning.

And it wasn't an easy task. His opponent, Robin Soderling, had not only found a way to conquer Nadal last year, but he'd avenged his own loss in the '09 finals by shocking defending champ Roger Federer in this year's quarters. He'd actually gotten through four tough seeds in a row, only looking to be slight trouble against Tomas Berdych in the semifinals -- he survived the three-and-a-half hour five-setter by breaking the feisty Czech in the decider.

The first set lived up to expectations. Soderling had the first break opportunity early, but Nadal held on and actually broke the Swede on his next service game. Robin held tough to save several more opportunities for Rafa to gain an even bigger lead and had a chance to level the score later in the first set, but the Spaniard stayed just a bit stronger. The world #7 was trying to be aggressive, but it seemed there was no shot the four-time champion couldn't get to, and after two weeks of playing some of the cleanest tennis of the tournament, Soderling sprayed an amazing twenty-one errors to Nadal's eight.

By the second set it seemed some of the spring had been taken out of Soderling's step. Whether he realized the inevitable or was just tired, he simply wasn't playing at his best. He failed to convert on any of the four break chances he had while Rafa fired off winner after winner, dabbled with some nice net work and shot three aces past his opponent. With a two-set lead, Nadal must have known the trophy was in his sights and when he got the break in the third, there really was no looking back. He had won his fifth title at Roland Garros, second only to the legendary Bjorn Borg, and his seventh Major trophy, second only to Roger Federer among active men players.



There was so much more riding on this win than just the trophy. Of course Nadal returns to the #1 spot he'd held for forty weeks; he also became the first man to qualify for the year-end championships in London. But most importantly, he's silenced all those critics who claimed he was no longer a force in tennis.

And, let's be honest, it's not just clay court tennis he could dominate -- with eleven of his forty titles, two of them Majors, coming on other surfaces, he is certainly trying to make himself an all-court player. As he mentioned to John McEnroe at the end of his match today, he can't wait to see us all at the U.S. Open, the only Slam he has yet to win. With the hardcourt season just about a month away, we'll soon get an idea of whether Rafael Nadal stands a chance to achieve the career Grand Slam just a year after Federer did it. And suddenly no one dares say he doesn't have the stuff to do it.

So Nadal's performance today in Paris proved that there is something better than revenge, and that's sweet, sweet redemption.

From First to Final

What a difference a year makes!

At the 2009 French Open Sam Stosur met Francesca Schiavone in the first round and rolled through in straight sets on her way to the semis. This year, they met a little bit later -- in the championship match, each playing her first Major final, each looking for her maiden Slam title after more than a decade on Tour.

The two were unlikely finalists in Paris this year. Sam had battled through one of the toughest quarters I'd ever seen, scoring wins over three former and current #1 players, while Francesca emerged from a section that was wide open. After a wearing two weeks both had certainly earned the privilege of playing for this trophy, and they did not disappoint.

Those who don't follow tennis regularly might not be familiar with these two ladies -- between them they'd only captured five singles titles before the French, one each this year. Still, Stosur was the odds-on favorite to win the title. She'd cracked into the top ten in March, beaten players like Jelena Jankovic, Daniela Hantuchova and Vera Zvonareva and made at least the quarters of the last five tournaments she'd played. Add to that the fact that she'd slain a few giants on her way to the championship match, she was looking good.

Thats not to say Schiavone, once ranked as high as #11 in the world, hasn't been impressive. The Italian avenged her 2009 loss to Roberta Vinci in Barcelona and beat third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki in Paris on the way to the finals. She seemed to benefit a bit from her opponent's injuries, though, leaving some -- and admittedly, me -- believing she wouldn't be able to take the power of Stosur on Saturday.

But the twenty-nine year old came to the court with a game plan. Only five-foot-five, she was shockingly strong on her serve, out-acing the Australian six to three. She won fourteen of fifteen net approaches and was able to catch her opponent off-balance more than a few times. While Sam won her first eight service points, it was Schiavone who got the first break at four-all. She held serve again and, before you knew it, the underdog had run off with a one-set lead.

Stosur seemed to regroup in the second, breaking Francesca early and finding herself up 4-1. It looked like she might be able to rally and get to a third, but Schiavone was resilient -- the feisty lady continued her aggressive play, forcing Sam to play her less powerful backhand, and winning three games in a row to get back on serve. She had gotten momentum back on her side and made it to a tiebreak where she really began to shine. She kissed the lines with her returns and kept Stosur so far off the ad-court that Francesca really could put the ball wherever she wanted. She cranked out one powerful shot after another and won five points in a row to claim by far the biggest trophy of her life.



It was a high-quality match from the start, in spite of the relatively short duration and the one-sided scoreline -- exciting rallies, smart hitting, and powerful shot-making. She may not have played the most amazing tennis on her way to the final, but her performance today certainly earned Francesca Schiavone that first Major title of her career.

Sure, I feel bad for Sam, who was so impressive in the last two weeks -- two months, even. But she's a fighter and I don't doubt that she will be playing in more Slam finals in her career. At twenty-six, nearly four years younger than her vanquisher, she's got plenty of time to shine. As for Schiavone, the second oldest first-time champion, this might have been the last legitimate chance she had to win a crown, but given her play and the outpouring of emotion when she ultimately won, I don't think she's going to stop trying for numbers two, three and four. And it will be fun to watch her go.

By the way, in tomorrow's men's final Rafael Nadal will also be looking to avenge the loss Robin Soderling dealt him last year. Here's hoping he takes some inspiration from Francesca's run and is able to also reverse 2009's results!

And Now For Something Sorta Different

It's kind of amazing, when you think about it. Of the eight men and women who made the semifinals at Roland Garros this year, only one had ever won a Major title before. And though it's clear we'll crown a first-time winner on the ladies' side, the same cannot be ruled out for the men. While one very familiar face remains among the final four gentlemen, the three others are playing at a level that could certainly cause some surprises.

Rafael Nadal, of course, has been the favorite for this championship since he began trouncing his opponents in Monte Carlo, where he won his first trophy in almost a year, and captured two more Masters titles since. He's won this tournament four times already and has amassed a brilliant 36-1 record at Roland Garros.

Rafa certainly has the motivation to bring home another prize -- reclaiming the crown that shot him to fame five years ago would not only get him back to #1 in the world, but it would put him among the illustrious company of John McEnroe, Mats Wilander and Bill Renshaw, all of whom have seven Slams on their mantles. Nadal has been playing like he wants the win, not droppinh a set yet in five matches, and with his long-time rival now out of contention, his chances have never looked better.

But there are a few men who'll be doing their best to derail the King of Clay's seemingly unstoppable train.

First up will be Jurgen Melzer, who has been on the pro Tour for eleven years. The twenty-nine year old Austrian has claimed a couple titles, most recently in Vienna last year, but had never won more than two matches at a Major before coming to Paris. When he beat David Ferrer, my pick to take his quarter, I wrote it off to exhaustion on his opponent's part. When he beat Teimuraz Gabashvili next, he proved he would not fold under the pressure of reaching the second week at a Slam. When he beat Novak Djokovic in the quarters, well then I sat up and started to take notice.

Melzer got off to a slow start against the world #3, and in about an hour found himself down two sets to love. But he hung onto a break in the third and fought through a tiebreak in the fourth to force a deciding set. The pair held serve early in the fifth and even seemed to raise their level of play when the stakes got higher, prompting the crowd to get that much more voluble in their cheers. Finally at four-all, Melzer was able to get the first break in almost three hours of play and after a controversial call went his way in the next game, he was the ultimate victor in the last men's quarterfinal. The win earned Jurgen his best result at any Major and a date with Rafa in the semis, and he could put up a bigger fight than we'd expect. He has, after all, proven he's capable of keeping up with the big guys.

So too has Tomas Berdych, the surprise finalist in Miami who beat Fernando Verdasco, Robin Soderling, and Roger Federer to get there. His demolition of Mikhail Youzhny on Tuesday earned him his own best Slam ever. The Czech has been even more impressive than that, though, with five straight set wins, including one over fourth-seeded Andy Murray two rounds back.

If you think Nadal and Melzer have been impressive this fortnight, consider that Berdych has only played one tiebreak and just lost serve six times. He's fired off forty-nine aces, better than any of the remaining men, and has had the fastest serve of the four this tournament. He has a decent record against Rafa too, should they meet in the finals -- three to seven, though none of those were on clay and the most recent was back in 2006. Even still, with wins over so many top ten players this year, it's got to be intimidating to see him in the finals.

He would have to get past Robin Soderling again, though. Last year's runner-up is clearly beatable, but you'd hardly know that if you'd watched him dismantle Roger Federer in the quarters, avenging the twelve previous losses he'd suffered at the hands of the current world #1. Though now staunchly in the top ten of the sport, he's hardly familiar with this environment -- he's playing in only his second Major semi, but ultimately aims to go one better than his 2009 performance. But he sure looks comfortable here.

So far in Roland Garros, Soderling has only dropped two sets and won well over seventy percent of his first serves. Rafa certainly won't be happy to meet him in the finals -- Robin is, after all, the only man who has beaten him on these courts. And though he still trails the Spaniard in their head-to-heads, a couple of breaks and he might be able to get under his skin.

Of course, we're still three long matches away from crowning a men's champion in Paris, and as the semis get underway in just a few hours there is certainly a hint of something old and something new. In my mind, Nadal is still the favorite to win the whole thing, but with some of the best play coming from some unlikely sources, there's also never been a better chance to see something you'd never have expected two weeks ago.