Wk.29- Take Two... err, three... umm, or is it four?

This weekend in Portoroz, in the first hard court event of the 3rd Quarter, Dinara Safina won her third singles title of the season to get her U.S. Open preparation off to a great start.

Uh-oh. Here we go again?

Remember, Safina heading toward a slam with a full head of steam isn't anything new. A year ago, the Russian won the U.S. Open Series and Silver in Beijing, only to fall in the Open SF. A year ago, she was the hottest player on tour heading into Paris, but she failed to show up in the Roland Garros final. Ditto this year. Over the last eighteen months, the world "#1" has made a habit of looking to be in fine form heading into one of the season's four biggest events, only to leave said tournaments in a hail of verbal jabs delivered by her harshest critic -- herself -- after being run out of the draw on a racket after not mustering even a modicum of fight in her final matches, thereby rendering all she'd accomplished BEFORE her crash landings meaningless in the eyes of many.

Will this summer's storyline, already off to such a familar start, be any different? Will the ultimate ending be fit for another tragedy? Safina's Slovenian success was hardly a surprise, but as Serena Williams will be looking for a similar slam season start-up in Stanford between now and Sunday, Week 29's opening hard court chapter might not mean a single thing by the time the 3Q reaches in conclusion.

But at least after TOO MANY weeks of players spinning their wheels on red clay, the march toward New York has officially begun. Finally.

*WEEK 29 CHAMPIONS*

PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA (Int'l $220K/hard)
S: Dinara Safina def. Sara Errani 6-7/6-1/7-5
D: Goerges/Uhlirova d. Pin/Zakopalova

BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA (Int'l $220K/red clay)
S: Andrea Petkovic def. Ioana-Raluca Olaru 6-2/6-3
D: Hlavakova/Hradecka d. Malek/Petkovic


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Dinara Safina/RUS
...say what you will about Safina's (lack of) heart in slam finals, but she HAS shown the ability to put everything behind her during the weeks and months in between her embarrassing big stage collapses. In her "regular schedule" element again, she tucked away her tour co-leading (with Victoria Azarenka) third title of the season in Portoroz in her tour-leading seventh final of the '09, taking out defending champ Sara Errani in a three-set final. Safina now has twelve career titles, one behind Elena Dementieva and seven in back of Maria Sharapova on the all-time Russian tour title list.
=============================
RISERS: Sara Errani/ITA & Ioana-Raluca Olaru/ROU
...a year ago, Errani swept both the Palermo and Portoroz finals in back-to-back weeks. This year, she failed to defend either title, but she DID make return trips to the finals of both events. Not bad, really. This year's runner-up result in Slovenia included victories over Arantxa Rus, Klara Zakopalova, Petra Martic and Stefanie Voegele. Meanwhile, Olaru became the latest Romanian to reach her first career final. In Bad Gastein, her impressive small event string of victims included Marta Domachowska, Prague champ Sybille Bammer, Birmingham champ Magdalena Rybarikova and Alize Cornet.
=============================
SURPRISE: Andrea Petkovic/GER & Alize Cornet/FRA
...Petkovic has been lurking in the shadows for a while. Two years ago, the Bosnian-born 21-year old finished the year ranked #100, but then dropped out of the Top 300 in '08 after missing eight months following a knee injury. Last week in Bad Gastein, everything came together. Petkovic advanced past Iveta Benesova when the Czech vet retired in the 2nd set, but then made her way past fellow German Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Yaroslava Shvedova to reach her first tour final. There, she easily dispatched Olaru to become the ninth first-time champion on tour in '09 (and reached the doubles with Tatjana Malek, as well). In the same Austrian tournament, former Top 20er Cornet finally had her first encouraging result of the season, reaching the SF (losing in three sets to Olaru) and getting wins over Patricia Mayr and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. It took a while, but maybe the red clay DID manage to lift the Pastry's spirits... of course, now she'll have to carry over it to hard courts.
=============================
VETERANS: Alberta Brianti/ITA & Rossana de los Rios/PAR
...in Portoroz, Brianti, 29, notched wins over Polona Hercog, Olga Govortsova and Camille Pin to reach her first career tour SF. Meanwhile, also in Slovenia, 33-year old DLR upset Viktoriya Kutuzova and Roberta Vinci to reach the QF, her best result since 2002.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Stefanie Voegele/SUI & Petra Martic/CRO
...Voegele, who first started putting up eyebrow-raising results in Fed Cup play last year, has continued her rise in '09 on the tour level. In Portoroz, Voegele, 19, reached her first career SF with victories over Lucie Safarova and de los Rios. In Bad Gastein, 18-year old Martic's wins over Kristina Barrois and Vesna Manasieva produced her second QF result in the past three weeks.
=============================
DOWN: Nicole Vaidisova/CZE & Carla Suarez-Navarro/ESP
...Tan. Stacey Tan. Really, Stacey Tan? As of now, an opening round qualifying loss to that particular 18-year old, #584-ranked, Stanford qualifying wild card from America marks the lowest point of Vaidisova's fall from grace. The former Top 10er and slam semifinalist from the Czech Republic managed to get just three games off Tan. I've said it before and do so again, it's time for Vaidisova to take a break. A long one. If not that, then a trip back to the challenger circuit to get her confidence and desire back. If she can, or even wants to. Of course, before long, her ranking -- as it did with Jelena Dokic before her a few years ago -- will remove the "choice" from the equation when it comes to having to player ITF events. Some smart actions now might prevent that from happening later. It's hard to believe this is the same player who was being touted in nationally-aired watch ads at the start of this season, as is she was on the verge of breaking into mainstream sports conversation. Speaking of Dokic, the aforementioned Tatjana Malek upset the Australian in the 1st Round at Wimbledon last month. Last week, Malek defeated CSN in the 1st Round in Bad Gastein, further continuning the frustrating inconsistency in the Spaniard's results. In her two best events in 2009 -- Oz and Marbella -- she put up an 8-2 record, reached her first career final and upset Venus Williams. In her other tour events this season, she's gone 17-17.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Sania Mirza/IND
...finally, the Indian Princess makes some news ON the court again. Vaidisova might be too stubborn to slip down to the challanger circuit to build her game back to its former level, but Mirza does not suffer from the same malady. She played a $50K in Lexington, Kentucky last week, winning it with a 7-6/6-4 victory over Julie Coin in the final. It should be noted, Mirza is actually ranked HIGHER than Vaidisova at the moment... and that'll probably be the case for quite a while longer, too, unless Vaidisova decides she wants to do something about it.
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JUNIOR STAR: Elora Dabija/ROU
...the 18-year old Swarmette won the B1 level European Junior Championship in Villach, Austria. After knocking out Timea Babos in the semifinals, she took down the recently supernova-esque Dutch girl Richel Hogenkamp in the final 6-4/4-6/6-4.
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1. Porto Final - Safina d. Errani
...6-7/6-1/7-5. Safina could have commiserated for hours with Errani about the disappointment involved with finishing second.
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2. Stanford Q1 - Tan d. Vaidisova
...6-2/6-1. Just when you think a player can't possibly sink any lower. Congrats to Tan, though.
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3. BG Final - Petkovic d. Olaru
...6-2/6-3. Has Lisicki's Charleston title opened the floodgates? Petkovic is now the second German to become a first-time champion on tour this season. Is Julia Goerges, who just won the Portoroz doubles title, next?
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4. WTT Final - Washington Kastles d. Springfield Lasers
...23-20. Yeah, I don't really care much about this one (I mean, how much can you when the WTT's teams' star players only play in the "warm-up" matches, making the final more of a sideshow attraction than even the sideshow events like that Kastles/Sportimes dust-up from a week back?), but I mention it because it's such a rare occasion that a D.C. area team becomes the champion of ANYTHING. If just figures that it'd be the champion of something that I hold a barely-contained disdain for (you know, sort of like with those "champion" D.C. United clubs from a few years ago).
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5. Istanbul $10K Final - Avgusta Tsybysheva d. Magali de Lattre
...6-2/4-6/6-4. I only mention this one because sometimes it's fun to try to imagine how TV tennis commentators would say the name of a certain player. If they fret so much about a Russian name like "Pavlyuchenkova," just think what'd they do with "Avgusta Tsybysheva" on first sight.
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HM- BG QF - Petkovic d. Shvedova
...6-2/6-1. As one of the "imported" Kazakhs, rather than one of the multitude of Hordettes, Shvedova's SF result makes it twenty-six nations who've contributed to the 144 semifinalists so far on tour in '09.
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**2009 WTA FINALS**
7...DINARA SAFINA (3-4)
6...Caroline Wozniacki (2-4)
3...Victoria Azarenka (3-0)
3...Serena Williams (2-1)
3...Elena Dementieva (2-1)
3...Svetlana Kuznetsova (2-1)
3...Venus Williams (2-1)

**WINLESS IN MULTIPLE '09 FINALS**
0-2...SARA ERRANI
0-2...Li Na
0-2...Ekaterina Makarova
0-2...Virginie Razzano

**2009 FIRST-TIME CHAMPIONS**
January - Victoria Azarenka, BLR (Brisbane)
January - Petra Kvitova, CZE (Hobart)
February- Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP (Bogota)
April - Sabine Lisicki, GER (Charleston)
May - Yanina Wickmayer, BEL (Estoril)
May - Aravane Rezai, FRA (Strasbourg)
May - Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU (Warsaw)
June - Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK (Birmingham)
JULY - ANDREA PETKOVIC, GER (BAD GASTEIN)

**LOW-RANKED 2009 CHAMPIONS**
#201 - Alexandra Dulgheru (Warsaw)
#98 - ANDREA PETKOVIC (BAD GASTEIN)
#88 - Yanina Wickmayer (Estoril)
#79 - Aravane Rezai (Strasbourg)

**2009 ITF & WTA CHAMPIONS**
Yanina Wickmayer, BEL - Estoril (WTA) & Surprise (ITF)
Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU - Warsaw (WTA) & Bari (ITF)
ANDREA PETKOVIC, GER - BAD GASTEIN (WTA) & BUCHAREST (ITF)





STANFORD, CALIFORNIA USA (Premier $700K/hard)(US OPEN SERIES)
08 Final: Wozniak d. Bartoli
09 Top Seeds: S.Williams/V.Williams
=============================
=SF=
S.Williams d. Lisicki
Dementieva d. Sharapova
=FINAL=
S.Williams d. Dementieva

...Sharapova says she's back at "100%." We'll see, as she could face both Nadia Petrova (2nd Rd.) AND Venus Williams (QF) in the early going. Serena's back, too, ready to prove a point... or at least cackle a little while trying. Meghann Shaughnessy WAS back, having already been dumped in the 1st Round 6-1/6-0 by Monica Niculescu. A-Woz is back in sunny California, as well, as she tries to defend her first career (surprise) title one year later against a decidedly more-packed draw (she faces Daniela Hantuchova in the 1st Round, so it could be short-lived attempt).


ISTANBUL, TURKEY (Int'l $220K/hard)
08 Final: A.Radwanska d. Dementieva
09 Top Seeds: Zvonareva/Schnyder
=============================
=SF=
Medina-Garrigues d. Zvonareva
Rezai d. Schnyder
=FINAL=
Medina-Garrigues d. Rezai

...this could be the week that AMG gets that tenth career title to put her on par with Anna Smashnova -- and no one else -- as players with double-digit WTA singles titles but no slam QF results.


All for now.

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Wk.28- Mama Mia! This is a Slow Time of the Season

Can we start the North American hard court season? Any day now? Any week now? Pretty please?

Because the tour is at such a low tide right now I think I'm about to fall asleep. In January, everything is jumpin' as the season gets under way and the players gather in Oz for the first slam of the year three weeks into the schedule. After that, Fed Cup play starts and, after a slight dip in intrigue, the clay court tuneup season leading into Paris is upon us. Soon, two grand slams are completed over a six week span and the grass court season comes and goes in the blink of an eye. A few months from now, after the U.S. Open champ has been crowned at Ashe Stadium, everything gets ready to move indoors as the season quickly winds to its conclusion as players try to end their years on good notes and gather momentum for the upcoming season. Everything is swirling, and stories are everywhere, or just around the corner.

Right now, though. This is the time when a nap is almost required to get through it all.

The excitement of Wimbledon is a faded memory. The Open seems to be a million years away. Over the last last two weeks, we've seen the out-of-place, out-of-time, unnecessarily-shoe-horned-into-the-schedule, mini clay court season take all the steam out of the tour in between the grass and hard court campaigns. And, to be honest, I've had a difficult time really getting too invested in things. I usually put together a Backwards, Scrambled or some-other-such-gimmick Backspin (you know, like last week's "Notions" time-waster) to pass the time, but two weeks like that in a row are a bear to pull off. So rather than try again, I just decided to complain about the situation instead.

(Ahh, I feel a little bit better already.)

At least there is a HARD COURT tournament THIS week, even if it is in Slovenia (and Dinara Safina is playing, making her the only Top 10er to hit the court since Wimbledon -- yeah, C-Woz played two weeks ago, but she actually manages to play in tournaments AFTER the season is over, so she doesn't count). Meanwhile, the ATP is starting the U.S. Open Series in Indianapolis. Why isn't the WTA following suit with it's own North American event? I guess it's just one of those questions for which there never seems to be a good answer... you know, like why the I-understand-the-draw-of-the-concept-even-if-I-can't-actually-bring-myself-to-watch-more-than-five-minutes-of-it WTT has more "name" players in action of late than the ACTUAL tour.

As for this past week? Well, one thing of note that I noticed was that four of the eight singles semifinalists, and three of the four finalists, were Italians this weekend. More that likely, that's as many Italians as we'll see in action on a tennis weekend until Team Italia faces off against the Americans in the Fed Cup final later this year.

Ummmm... I guess that's all I've got. But, hey, I managed to get through the opening segment of this Backspin for the week that will surely be forgotten in about ten minutes. And that's SOMETHING, right?

Well, for me it is, anyway.

*WEEK 28 CHAMPIONS*

PALERMO, ITALY (Int'l $220K/red clay)
S: Flavia Pennetta def. Sara Errani 6-1/6-2
D: Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez d. Koryttseva/Kustova

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (Int'l $220K/red clay)
S: Sybille Bammer def. Francesca Schiavone 7-6/6-2
D: Bondarenko/Bondarenko d. Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Flavia Pennetta/ITA
...Pennetta's Palermo victory, her seventh career title, came in her home country after she dispatched three of her countrywomen (Vinci, Garbin & Errani), plus Arantxa Parra-Santonja and Aravane Rezai, along the way. Up to #13 in the rankings, after seemingly having blown her chance to become the first Top 10 Italian woman with a slow-to-develop start to her season, Pennetta now stands just 200 points behind Nadia Petrova's golden #10 spot.
=============================
RISERS: Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP/ESP & Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondareno, UKR/UKR
...while Anna-Lena Groenefeld did enough (def. Dulko, Rus & Schnyder to reach her second '09 SF), as did Sara Errani (reached the Palermo final for the second straight year), to get this award, both get passed over by the doubles champions of Week 28. Llagostera-Vives/MJMS, back on familiar clay court ground, took the Palermo title to tie Black/Huber for the tour season title lead with four. The Sisters Bondarenko, who faced each other in singles in the 1st Round (K-Bond won), took Prague for their first title of the year.
=============================
SURPRISE: Zarina Diyas/KAZ
...while Kazakhstan has imported tennis talent from other countries (like Sesil Karatantcheva, who just qualified in Portoroz), 15-year old Diyas is actually home-grown. In Prague, she took advantage of a well-dispensed wild card into the main draw, upsetting top junior Kristina Mladenovic and Petra Kvitova to reach her first career tour QF.
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VETERANS: Sybille Bammer/AUT & Francesca Schiavone/ITA
...the 29-year olds met in the Prague final, with Bammer getting the win to notch her second career title ('07 Pattaya) in just her second appearance in a WTA final. Schiavone, now 1-9 in singles finals in her carrer, is still looking for her first crown since finally winning her maiden title in Bad Gastein in '07.
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FRESH FACES: Timea Bacsinszky/SUI & Heather Watson/GBR
...Bacsinszky, 20, qualified and reached her first SF of '09 in Prague, getting wins over Magdalena Rybarikova, Stefanie Voegele and Carla Suarez-Navarro. Watson, 17, claimed her first career ITF title in a grass court $10K in Frinton, GBR, defeating fellow Brit Anna Fitzpatrick in a three-set final.
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DOWN: Nicole Vaidisova/CZE & Gisela Dulko/ARG
..."Nicole Vaidisova is..." just about irrelevant. Last week was another typical one of late for the former Top 10er, who lost in the 1st Round in Prague to Alla Kudryavtseva to fall to 9-13 on the season and to #140 in the rankings (two behind Kimiko Date-Krumm). Meanwhile, Dulko, after a QF result in Bastad, dropped her 1st Round match to Anna-Lena Groenefeld in Palermo, once again providing evidence of why she has such a hard time climbing out of her the narrow ranking hole of #35-50 (she's currently #42).
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ITF PLAYER: Sarah Gronert/GER
...the German won the $25K in Darmstedt, Germany with a 6-1/6-1 thrashing of #1-seed Zuzana Kucova in the final. It's Gronert's third ITF crown of the year, but her first since the series of rulings that backed up her right to play on the women's tour after her previous sex change operation had led numerous players and coaches to call for her to be prohibited from competing.
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JUNIOR STAR: Yulia Putintseva/RUS
...the 14-year old Russian, now a two-time "Junior Star" winner, continued her recent rampage through the junior ranks by banking the G1 Junior Open crown in Linz. It's her third tournament win of '09, and she's reached the final in four of her last five events (compiling a 24-2 record since early May, losing only to Anna-Lena Friedsam and Sloane Stephens).
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1. Pal Final - Pennetta d. Errani
...6-1/6-2. You know it's an "off" week when Pennetta wins a tournament in which she's the #1 seed. After reaching the final in her first career attempt to defend a WTA title, this week in Portoroz, Errani will undertake her second title defense attempt in two weeks.
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2. Prag 1st - K.Bondarenko d. A.Bondarenko
...6-1/6-3. Hey, if one sister beating the other leads to an eventual doubles title by the end of the week, maybe the Sisters Bonderanko should petition the tour to face each other as often as possible?
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3. Pal 1st - Groenefeld d. Dulko
...6-4/6-1. Pennetta defied the odds and won in Palermo, but Dulko did her usual 1st Round nosedive. Naturally, the Argentine was the one I'd picked to win their prospective meeting in the Palermo final.
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4. Pal 1st - Martinez-Sanchez d. Cornet
...6-2/6-2. Cornet was the #1-ranked Pastry in 2008. So far in '09, she's slipped to fourth in France on the back of a 13-19 overall record.
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5. Prag Final - Bammer d. Schiavone
...7-6/6-2. Schiavone's one tour singles title was won in Austria (Bad Gastein '07), but she couldn't defeat an Austrian to grab her second this weekend. Coincidence? See, I told you I was having a hard time finding things to key on this week.
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HM- Bad Gastein 1st - Malek d. Suarez-Navarro
...2-6/6-2/6-4. She's enjoyable to watch and is capable of a huge upset on a good day, but CSN's results are as scattershot as they come. She's THIS CLOSE to becoming the Dulko. Well, that is, if Dulko herself was ready, willing and able to give up her underachiever title.
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**OLDEST 2009 CHAMPIONS**
32 - Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA (June/'s-Hertogenbosch)
29 - SYBILLE BAMMER, AUT (JULY/PRAGUE)
29 - Amelie Mauresmo, FRA (February/Paris)

**TOP SEED WON TITLE**
Auckland - Elena Dementieva
Pattaya City - Vera Zvonareva
Acapulco - Venus Williams
Fes - Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Rome - Dinara Safina
Madrid - Dinara Safina
PALERMO - FLAVIA PENNETTA

**2009 - MOST ALL-NATION FINALS**
5 - Russia (Auckland/Sydney/Stuttgart/Rome/Roland Garros)
1 - Czech Republic (Hobart)
1 - ITALY (PALERMO)
1 - United States (Wimbledon)

**DOUBLES TITLES - TEAMS**
4...Cara Black/Liezel Huber
4...NURIA LLAGOSTERA-VIVES/MARIA JOSE MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ
3...Nathalie Dechy/Mara Santangelo

**SEVEN CAREER WTA TITLES - ACTIVE**
(last title)
Anna Chakvetadze, RUS (2008)
Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (1996)
FLAVIA PENNETTA, ITA (2009: 1)

*NICOLE VAIDISOVA - YEAR-END RANKS*
2003: NR
2004: #77
2005: #15
2006: #10
2007: #12
2008: #41
2009: #140 (as of July 20)

*U.S. OPEN SERIES - TOP 3's*
=2004=
1. Lindsay Davenport, USA
2. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
3. Elena Likhovtseva, RUS
=2005=
1. Kim Clijsters, BEL *
2. Mary Pierce, FRA
3. Amelie Mauersmo, FRA
=2006=
1. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2. Maria Sharapova, RUS *
3. Kim Clijsters, BEL
=2007=
1. Maria Sharapova, RUS
2. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
3. Justine Henin, BEL *
=2008=
1. Dinara Safina, RUS
2. Marion Bartoli, FRA
3. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
-
* - won U.S. Open





PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA (Int'l $220K/hard court)
08 Final: Errani d. Medina-Garrigues
09 Top Seeds: Safina/Medina-Garrigues
=============================
=SF=
Safina d. Govortsova
Safarova d. Zakopalova
=FINAL=
Safina d. Safarova

...finally, something that at least has some measure of importance when it comes to the 3Q "North American hard court season." Well, almost.


BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA (Int'l $220K/red clay)
08 Final: Parmentier d. Hradecka
09 Top Seeds: Cornet/Peer
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=SF=
Hradecka d. Parmentier
Groenefeld d. Peer
=FINAL=
Groenefeld d. Hradecka

...one thing that is a likely certainty there is that Cornet won't be following Pennetta's lead and winning a title as a #1 seed.


All for now.

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Wk.27- Nine Notions of Note

Is it a lingering case of post-Wimbledon Daily Backspin burnout that has led us to another version of a "musings" opening this week rather than the usual comments that would herald the accomplishments of Week 27 champs Agnes Szavay and Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez?

Maybe. But, hey, there were enough loose ends to warrent tying them all up like this, so here it goes.

1. Oh, please don't let this story about Simona Halep go truly wide... say, to ESPN. It'd just be another distraction that would be overly covered in lieu of giving the tour its just due.
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2. News of Jelena Dokic being diagnosed with mononucleosis and prescribed a few weeks of total rest perhaps explains a bit about her recent on-court troubles. While her off-court world continues to consistently provide fodder for speculation and rumors (Damir possibly being near a diabetic coma, Jelena deciding not to visit him in jail, Damir's girlfriend reporting an extortion attempt, yaddayaddayadda), her actual tennis career has to be considered something "in limbo" again, too. Considering that bouts with mono essentially ended Mario Ancic's career, and last season turned Roger Federer from "the best player ever" into "the second best player in his prime" before he fully recovered and reclaimed his current position, there's no guarentee that this latest physical issue won't dog Dokic for quite a while, and she might never really shake it in time to reclaim the form she showed in Melbourne in January. Of course, things might be just fine in a month or so, too. How's that for a bit a speculation, rumor and hedging-of-bets?
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3. Like Dokic, whose game I've always liked to compare to her's, Sania Mirza just can't ever quite catch a break, can she? No wonder she has such a hard time keeping her head above the rankings waters (barely finishing in the Top 100 last year).
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4. The U.S. Open Series ads have begun to air, and the one being used to promote the ATP event in Washington, D.C. is quite hard to take. It features three-time D.C. champ Andy Roddick, hair done up in a fauxhawk, chin jutting forward in a too-tight camera shot that makes him look like he's trying to be tough. With a tone of total disinterest, in a monotone voice, he manages to spit out the Series '09 slogan -- "It must be love." -- it a way that couldn't for a second be seen by anyone associated with the tournament as an effective plea for fans to come out to see some tennis. This isn't the Roddick who re-captured the fans' -- especially American ones -- imaginations and hearts at Wimbledon, changing his game and his attitude and making people actually want to see him win rather than fall on his face yet again. It's the "punk" who was so hard to love not that long ago, and it really does a disservice to him to re-visit "old Andy" now. Of course, it really says more about the people who put together these ads, who were either clueless about the horrid nature of the line reading, or are too afraid to ask the players to do multiple takes so that something useful and effective could be caught on camera. Remember, this is the same group that shot, and allowed to air for two summers, the ad where the players were all on buses for the Series and Venus Williams says, "Road trip!" in a way that caused me to yell at the screen every time I saw the ad because she wrongfully stressed the word "trip" rather than "road," as was obviously the intent of whoever came up with the line in the first place. One need only to look at the wonderfully droll ESPN SportsCenter ads with Roger Federer to see the type of creative things that could be done with so many top players filming ads for the Series. The ads would be a golden opportunity to promote both the men's AND women's tours in the States, highlighting the personalities that are so often ignored, and might even become YouTube fascninations (EXAMPLE: "The U.S. Open Series, Starring Jelena Jankovic," who talks on and on and on and on, and she's still talking even as the commercial ends, cutting her off in mid-sentence). Naturally, that never seems to come about each summer. But, of course, I guess this sort of thing goes along hand-in-hand with the "success" of the Series itself, which always seems to have more potential than actual bite every year.
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5. Caroline Wozniacki had yet another good result last week in Bastad, tying Dinara Safina for the tour season lead with her sixth appearance in a final. Still, one can't help but wonder why she was bothering to play an event on red clay -- her 29th tournament in the last twelve months) -- in a week sandwiched between the grass court season and summer hard courts. Maybe the lure of an event in Sweden, at least somewhat close to her Denmark home, was the reason? After all, she played and won a title in Stockholm last July, and then even played (and won again) an ITF event in her hometown of Odense weeks after the official WTA schedule had ended last fall, too. But, still.... even new 19-year olds need a little rest. Hey, at least she's taking a little time off THIS week.
=============================
6.

A big congrats to Monica Seles on her Hall of Fame enshrinement this weekend in Newport. Which reminds me, I've got to pick up her autobiography so that I can finish it before the next Robert Langdon book from Dan Brown comes out in September.
=============================
7. I just loved the comment from James Blake I read today. "Loved" meaning "rolled my eyes and took note of his latest excuse for losing a match." Taking the place of Roddick on the USA's Davis Cup team this weekend against Croatia he, of course, lost the big match that led to the 3-2 loss by the Americans. Afterward, he noted how there was so much more pressure playing the "#1 singles" role than his usual #2. Of course, being in the "easier" #2 slot hasn't prevented him form losing big Davis Cup matches in the past, including matches in which he led two sets to love, so I'm not sure what his point was supposed to be.
=============================
8. This weekend might not have marked the beginning of the Szummer of Szavay, but a clay court title run in Budapest was still a good sign for Agnes Szavay as she heads off for the North American hard court season. Two years ago at this time, the then-18 year old began to look like a player with a special future. She reached three finals that szummer, winning in Palermo and Beijing (the WTA event) and putting a beating on Svetlana Kuznetsova in the New Haven final before she had to retire with a back injury. She reached as high as #13 in the rankings back then, but totally fell off the table in '08. She kept her won-lost record about .500, barely (going 26-25), but suffered twelve one-match-and-out results and lost six times to players with rankings in triple-digits. Every draw was a game of "Hungarian Roulette" that Szavay invariably lost. 2009 has been different, though. She's got Top 10 wins over Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams, and with her ranking up to #27 she's working her way back into the discussion of young players who could make a big move over the next year. She's still just 20 years old, and only Azarenka, Wozniacki, Dominika Cibulkova and Agnieszska Radwanska are younger than her in the Top 20 (#25 Sabine Lisicki is, as well, of the players ranked above her).
=============================
9. Just call MJMS the season's only TRIPLE threat. She's a two-time singles champ. A three-time doubles titlist. And the only player who's really been able to get under Serena's skin in 2009... simply by refusing to admit a ball hit her arm, even though all angles of reality showed that it did. Hmmm, I bet she could get a job at NBC after she retires.
=============================

I was going to add something about Kim Clijsters being back soon, and that I was going to be posting a Backspin Quiz about her career in the next week or so, as well. But that would have given me TEN notions, and I'd have had to change the title. So this one doesn't count.

(Plus, I'm not sure it's really a "notion," anyway. Not that that's stopped me before, since I've done a little "musings" section like this that I called a "Non-Sequitur Jubilee," even though there really weren't any TRUE non-sequiturs involved.)

*WEEK 27 CHAMPIONS*

BASTAD, SWEDEN (Int'l $220K/red clay)
S: Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez def. Caroline Wozniacki 7-5/6-4
D: Dulko/Pennetta d. Llagostera-Vives/Martinez-Sanchez

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (Int'l $220K/red clay)
S: Agnes Szavay def. Patty Schnyder 2-6/6-4/6-2
D: Kleybanova/Niculescu d. Bondarenko/Bondarenko


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Agnes Szavay/HUN
...after not being able to rise to any occasion in '08, she got her first title since '07 in Bastad. Wins over Timea Bacsinszky and Alona Bondrarenko were preceded and followed, though, by more impressive outings. In the 2nd Round, Szavay came back to win a match against Tathiana Garbin in which the veteran served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd set, and in the final the Hungarian came back from a set down to knock off Patty Schnyder in the final. It's nice to have the Valkyrie in the winner's circle again, right where she belongs.
=============================
RISERS: Caroline Wozniacki/DEN & Gisela Dulko/ARG
...with Wimbledon behind her, C-Woz was back on the courts in Sweden, reaching her sixth singles title of the season with victories over the likes of Petra Kvitova, Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Pennetta. Also back on the clay, Dulko put together a cool two-headed week of success, reaching the Bastad singles QF with wins over Marta Domachowska, Sorana Cirstea and Dominika Cibulkova, then winning the doubles titles with Pennetta.
=============================
SURPRISE: Ellen Allgurin/SWE
...barely 15-year old Swede Allgurin got a wild card into the Bastad draw and, in her tour debut, got a 1st Round win over Ksenia Palkina. She lost to CSN in the 2nd Round, by a respectable 6-1/6-4 score. With her third pro tournament in hand, she made her debut in the rankings at #680 today.
=============================
VETERANS: Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez/ESP & Patty Schnyder/SUI
...26-year old MJMS is turning out to be the classic "late bloomer"/"most improved player" of 2009. Her Bastad title was her second of the season, and her string of wins over Kaia Kanepi, Carla Suarez-Navarro, Gisela Dulko and Wozniacki was quite impressive (even if Dulko did get a measure of revenge with Pennetta, defeating MJMS and Nuria Llagostera-Vives in the doubles final). She's the second player, with Serena, to reach both the singles and doubles finals at an event on TWO separate occasions this year. 30-year old Schnyder, with victories over Alisa Kleybanova and Edina Gallovits, reached her first singles final of the season in Budapest, losing to home favorite Szavay in three sets.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Petra Martic/CRO & Maryna Zanevska/UKR
...in Budapest, 18-year of Martic qualified and reached her second career tour QF after upsetting Lucie Safarova and Mariya Koryttseva. Today, she successfully made it through qualifying in Prague, as well. 15-year old Zanevska, a "Junior Star" winner in Week 10, qualified for and won her first career ITF crown in a $10K in Brussels, defeating Katarzyna Piter 0-6/7-5/7-5 in the final. It was just the second pro event for the Ukrainian, who is apparently working out of the academy being run by Justine Henin and Carlos Rodriguez.
=============================
DOWN: Alize Cornet/FRA
...Cornet is this year's version of 2008's Szavay, a player who seemed on the cusp of something really good in January but has found herself falling and not being to be up early in almost every tournament she's played in 2009. In Budapest, where the Pastry was the defending champ, it happened in the 2nd Round when she was knocked off by Shahar Peer 6-2/6-0.
=============================
ITF PLAYERS: Polona Hercog/SLO & Julia Goerges/GER
...since I didn't pick an ITF Player last week, I'll cover the last two weeks here. A weekend ago, Hercog won her fourth ITF crown of '09 when she claimed the $100K in Cuneo, Italy. This weekend, Goerges took the $100K event in Biarritz, getting wins over Akgul Amanmuradova, Lucie Hradecka and Ekaterina Dzehalevich.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Anna-Lena Friedsam/GER
...the 15-year old German has been on something of a tear of late. Over the last two weeks, she's won the G2 Biesterbos Open in the Netherlands and the G1 German Juniors event, defeating Yulia Putintseva in the final of the latter. Over the past two months, she's reached four consecutive G1/G2 finals, winning three titles in the process.
=============================


1. Bud 2nd - Szavay d. Garbin
...7-6/5-7/7-5. Garbin served for the match at 5-4 in the 3rd. Szavay would have lost this one ten times out of ten a season ago (of course, 9.9 times out of ten she would have lost in straight sets... in the 1st Round).
=============================
2. Bast F - Martinez-Sanchez d. Wozniacki
...7-5/6-4. C-Woz has now reached finals on four different surfaces in 2009, more than any other player on tour, but didn't get a tour lead-tying third '09 title as her 19th birthday present on Saturday.
=============================
3. Bud F - Szavay d. Schnyder
...2-6/6-4/6-2. This was Schnyder's twenty-fifth career singles final (11-14), and one has to wonder what the odds are that it very well could be her last.
=============================
4. Bast QF - Wozniacki d. Kirilenko
...7-5/7-6. Wozniacki is now 2-0 against Kirilenko since it was announced by adidas that she'll replace the Russian as the sole model for Stella McCartney's tennis line.
=============================
5. Palermo Q's - Karatantcheva d. Lucic
...3-6/6-1/6-2. Just thought I'd include this one to satiate some of those "where are they now?" pangs. Sesil ultimately got olgasavchuked (a nod again to Diane, from whom I'm borrowing that one again) today in the final round of Palermo qualifying.
=============================
HM- $10K Grapevine, TX Final - Tetreault d. Dubois
...2-6/7-6/7-6. The Battle of Canada, non-Wozniak province, in Texas. Tetreault has now claimed three ITF titles this season.
=============================


**2009 WTA FINALS**
6...Dinara Safina (2-4)
6...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (2-4)
3...Victoria Azarenka (3-0)
3...Serena Williams (2-1)
3...Elena Dementieva (2-1)
3...Svetlana Kuznetsova (2-1)
3...Venus Williams (2-1)

**UNDEFEATED IN MULTIPLE '09 FINALS**
3-0...Victoria Azarenka
2-0...Vera Zvonareva
2-0...MARIA JOSE MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ

**2009 FINALS ON MOST SURFACES**
4...CAROLINE WOZNIACKI (green clay/red clay/grass/hard)
3...Venus Williams (grass/hard/red clay)
2...Marion Bartoli (red clay/hard)
2...Li Na (grass/red clay)
2...Virginie Razzano (grass/hard)
2...Dinara Safina (red clay/hard)
2...Yanina Wickmayer (grass/red clay)
2...Serena Williams (grass/hard)

**CLAY TITLES BY NATION**
3...Russia (Kuznetsova/Safina)
3...SPAIN (MARTINEZ-SANCHEZ/Medina-Garrigues)
2...France (Bartoli/Rezai)

**CAREER WTA TITLES - HUNGARARIANS**
4...Andrea Temesvari, 1982-85
3...AGNES SZAVAY, 2007-09
1...Rita Kuti Kis, 2000
1...Zsofia Gubacsi, 2001

*THREE CAREER TITLES - ACTIVE*
[w/ most recent title]
Victoria Azarenka, BLR (2009: 3)
Elena Bovina, RUS (2004)
Gisela Dulko, ARG (2008)
Daniela Hantuchova, SVK (2007)
Michaella Krajicek, NED (2006)
Shahar Peer, ISR (2006)
Virginia Ruano-Pascual, ESP (2003)
AGNES SZAVAY, HUN (2009: 1)
Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA (2009: 1)
Iroda Tulyaganova, UZB (2001)
Zheng Jie, CHN (2006)





PALERMO, ITALY (Int'l $220K/red clay)
08 Final: Errani d. Koryttseva
09 Top Seeds: Pennetta/Schnyder
=============================
=SF=
Pennetta d. Martinez-Sanchez
Dulko d. Errani
=FINAL=
Dulko d. Pennetta

...yikes! Talk about a roll of the dice. Are there any two more dicey (dice... dicey, get it?) picks than perpetually underachieving Dulko and Pennetta-as-a-#1 seed? Of course, I've had seven champion picks reach finals and lose this year, so I guess it doesn't really matter, does it? Even good picks often turn out to be bad ones in the end.


PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (Int'l $220K/red clay)
08 Final: Zvonareva d. Azarenka
09 Top Seeds: Schiavone/Bammer
=============================
=SF=
Schiavone d. Suarez-Navarro
Hradecka d. Benesova
=FINAL=
Hradecka d. Schiavone

...Szavay playing at home in Hungary worked out last week, so why not Hradecka in the Czech Republic?

All for now.

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Grass Court Awards

It's time for the grass season recap, which is actually fairly "short and sweet." You know, like... umm, let's see... Dominika Cibulkova, and the Williams family's annual summer trips to London. Ba-da-bing.

Before getting on with things, though, I thought it'd be telling to give an example of how no matter how different things become, certain perceptions and patterns are bound to stay the same. Only the details seem to change to fit the already-established opinions.

Remember how in the past, when Justine Henin was dominating the sport, she was essentially ignored by the major media because she wasn't as much of a "bright light" as the likes of Maria Sharapova or some of the other multimedia stars on tour? La Petit Taureau would win, people would matter-of-factly acknowledge how good she was, then move on to something else. Then, when she retired, so many chatterers bemoaned how uninteresting the tour had become in her absence, since there wasn't a "true #1" player... paying no mind to the fact that they never thought the tour was much worth talking about when she WAS there. But somehow, since she was gone, the tour was so much LESS in their eyes. How they knew this was a mystery.

As the tour suddenly consisted of a handful of players battling it out for slam titles and the #1 ranking over the past year, those same chatterers lambasted the tour for its lack of a "legit" top player. The "power vacuum" proved how weak the tour's field was, they said.

Since the end of play at the All-England Club, a routine search to find out what the general topics of conversation have been concerning women's tennis will find that, disappointingly but hardly shockingly, they've been one-sided discussions about how weak the women's game must be if the Williamses can make it through to yet another Wimbledon final, how screwed up the WTA tour is since the reigning champ at three slams is ranked #2 (yeah, I brought that one up, too -- and will again -- but at least I think I balance things out with good angles, as well), how lacking Dinara Safina is in terms of champion "qualities" and, get this, how much of an "underachiever" Serena Williams is and how if her butt was a little smaller in past seasons she'd have won more slam titles by now. (No, I'm not kidding about that last one, either.)

So, when there was a "dominant" player, the tour was considered "boring." Then, when there was no dominant player, the "vacuum" made the tour "inconsequential." Now, when there is once again a "dominant" player, and one who had to stare down a match point in a semifinal to win Wimbledon, the tour is "weak" and the should-be #1 is run down for not winning ENOUGH.

Like I said, no matter how often the facts change, the opinions somehow manage to remain the said.

If Victoria Azarenka manages to claim an even more prominant position in the game, the second story about her will be a rant about how much noise she makes when she hits the ball and how her success will only lead to more grunting -- and that the tour needs to make a ruling against it immediately. Oh, sorry... those types of stories are ALREADY out there. It's never too early to get a head start on the next gripe, I guess.

Whatever.

Actually, the only recently-seen area of complaint that I find intriguing is the one brought up in the latest edition of Tennis magazine, which talks about how so many of the women's players play essentially the same type of baseline-hugging, ball-smashing game. It at least has SOME merit, especially when compared to a men's game that has such varied styles as that of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray (and even Andy Roddick, who played something of an amalgam of diverse approaches at Wimbledon).

Now, on with things. Though I guess I just sort of ruined that "short and sweet" thing I was talking about a minute ago, huh?

**Grass Court Awards / Week 23-26*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Serena Williams, USA
...#1 everywhere but where the tour says it should count (see, I told you I'd bring it up again).
=============================
2. Venus Williams, USA
...without the Wimbledon title, Venus' image just isn't the same.
=============================
3. S.Williams/V.Williams, USA/USA
...almost unbeatable.
=============================
4. Elena Dementieva, RUS
...she turned around her slumping season at SW19.
=============================
5. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
...she won Eastbourne, and continued her upward climb.
=============================
HM- Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK & Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
...they won grass titles, even if they were one-and-done participants at Wimbledon.
=============================

*MOST FASHION-CONSCIOUS SERIES*
Wozniacki vs. Kirilenko - right after it was announced that Wozniacki would replace Kirilenko as the sole model for adidas' Stella McCartney-designed line of tennis attire, the Dane knocked off the Russian at Wimbledon. Then, she beat her in Bastad this week, too. Coincidence?

**RISERS**
1. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2. Virginie Razzano, FRA
3. Li Na, CHN
4. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
5. Elena Vesnina, RUS
HM- Gisela Dulko, ARG

**FRESH FACES**
1. Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
2. Sabine Lisicki, GER
3. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
4. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
5. Melanie Oudin, USA
HM- Stefanie Voegele, SUI & Ekaterina Makarova, RUS

**JUNIORS - 2Q.2**
1. Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA
2. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
3. Richel Hogenkamp, NED
4. Timea Babos, HUN
5. Miyabi Inoue, JPN
6. Sloane Stephens, USA
7. Quirine Lemoine, NED
8. Elena Bogdan, ROU
9. Cristina Dinu, ROU
10. Zsofia Susanyi, HUN
HM- Silvia Njiric, CRO & Lesley Kerkhove, NED

**SURPRISES**
1. Melanie Oudin, USA
2. Regina Kulikova, RUS
3. Vania King, USA
4. Alisa Kleybanova/Ekaterina Makarova, RUS/RUS
5. Kristina Kucova/Zuzana Kucova, SVK/SVK
HM- Miyabi Inoue, JPN

**VETERANS**
1. Elena Dementieva, RUS
2. Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
3. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
4. Cara Black, ZIM
5. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
HM- Samantha Stosur/Rennae Stubbs, AUS/AUS & Roberta Vinci, ITA

**COMEBACKS**
1. Sania Mirza, IND
2. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
3. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
HM- Nadia Petrova, RUS

**DOWN**
1. Zheng Jie, CHN
2. Laura Robson, GBR
3. Maria Sharapova, RUS
4. Jelena Dokic, AUS
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
6. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
7. Alla Kudryavtseva, RUS
8. Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
9. Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
10. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
HM- Anne Keothavong, GBR & Yan Zi/Zheng Jie, CHN/CHN

**ITF PLAYERS - 2Q.2**
1. Polona Hercog, SLO
2. Maria Elena Camerin, ITA
3. Richel Hogenkamp, NED
4. Zhang Shuai, CHN
5. Ioana-Raluca Olaru, ROU
6. Eva Fernandez-Brugues, ESP
7. Julia Vakulenko, UKR
8. Kristina Kucova/Zuzana Kucova, SVK/SVK
9. Michaella Krajicek, NED
10. Lenka Wienerova, SVK
11. Jacqueline Cako, USA
12. Anna Tatishvili, GEO
13. Elena Bogdan, ROU
14. Valerie Tetreault, CAN
15. Ayu Fani Damayanti, INA
HM- Angelique Kerber, GER

*THE LESS SAID THE BETTER*
After how poorly she played in the Australian Open final, Dinara Safina looked forward to Paris... until she played even worse in the Roland Garros final. Then, in the third slam of the season, she was ridden out of the Wimbledon SF by Venus Williams in a 6-1/6-0 blowout that really wasn't even THAT close. The U.S. Open offers her a final '09 chance... but to do what, I wonder?

**TOP PERFORMANCES**
[overall]
Serena Williams claims both the Wimbledon singles and doubles titles, her second slam sweep of '09
[non-champion]
Melanie Oudin makes it through Wimbledon qualifying, then knocks off two seeds (Sybille Bammer & Jelena Jankovic) en route to the Round of 16
[pre-SW19]
Tamarine Tanansugarn wins 's-Hertogenbosch, defeating #1 Safina there for the second straight season, to become the only player to successfully defend a singles title so far in '09
[junior]
Noppawan Lertcheewkarn sweeps the Wimbledon Girls singles and doubles crowns

**TOP MATCHES**
[BEST]
Wimbledon SF - S.Williams def. Dementieva
...6-7/7-5/8-6. Dementieva mostly outhit and outserved Serena in the longest Wimbledon SF in the Open Era, but when it counted -- like on match point down, when Williams made an I'm-rushing-the-net-no-matter-what, damn-the-torpedoes move that worked out for her -- the ten-time slam champ won, then became an eleven-time slam winner two days later.
[MOST HISTORIC]
Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Safina def. Mauresmo
...4-6/6-3/6-4.it was the first match played under the Centre Court roof, but Mauresmo would just as soon forget what might be her last hurrah -- as a contender, or maybe even as a competitor -- at the All-England Club.
[MOST FUN/BEST SHOT]
Eastbourne SF - Wozniacki def. Wozniak
...3-6/6-4/6-4. C-Woz's sprawling shot, from the seat of her pants, on an A-Woz smash fairly well summarizes the "good girls have more fun" vibe that the Dane so expertly gives off when she takes the court.

*COMEBACKS*
Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Ivanovic def. Hradecka
...5-7/6-2/8-6. After blowing a 3rd set lead (she served at 5-2 and 5-4), AnaIvo ultimately overcomes a match point with a net cord and survives.
=============================
Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - Stosur def. Malek
...4-6/7-6/6-4. Stosur's comeback was a trilogy. She fell behind a set and a break. Then 3-0 in the 2nd set tie-break. Then 4-1 in the 3rd. But she still won, proving how far her match toughness has come since she decided to focus more on her singles play.
=============================
Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Wozniacki def. Date-Krumm
...5-7/6-3/6-1. Was it a comeback, or a typical C-Woz match? Against the 38-year old Japanese vet, Wozniacki battled back from a 7-5/3-1 deficit.
=============================

*UPSETS*
Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - Dulko def. Sharapova
...6-2/3-6/6-4. For the second straight year, the Supernova exits SW19 after two matches.
=============================
Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - Oudin def. Jankovic
...6-7/7-5/6-2. And American women's tennis finally has a young player to get excited about... but, remarkably, she might actually be the first of a handful.
=============================

=The Good=
Magdalena Rybarikova became a first-time tour champion in Birmingham
=============================
Caroline Wozniacki won her first grass title in Eastbourne
=============================
Lindsay Davenport welcomed daughter Lauren into the world

=The Bad=
Ten years and a day after then-qualifier Jelena Dokic knocked off #1 Martina Hingis in the 1st Round at Wimbledon, Dokic herself was ousted by a qualifier -- Tatjana Malek -- in the 1st Round at Wimbledon

=The Ugly=
Marion Bartoli refuses to shake Virginie Razzano's hand after retiring against her in the Eastbourne SF, citing her countrywoman's comments in an interview where she essentially said that Bartoli would do anything and bend any rule to win a match
=============================
The (still) overblown grunting "controversy"

=The "We'll See"=
Ana Ivanovic breaks with coach Craig Kardon, then has a nice Wimbledon result
=============================
Jelena Jankovic links up with coach Chip Hooper, who was known for his super serve in the 1980's

=And "Nice T"=
In the old spirit of former t-shirt sloganeer Sania Mirza, in her post-Wimbledon final press conference, Serena Williams sported a tight t-shirt that cheekily asked, "Are you starting at my titles?"

*SERENA LAUGHS LAST but maybe not best*
"(Safina's) had a great year. She won Rome and Madrid. (pause) Hahahahahahaha." - Serena Williams

Hmmm, looks like Serena hasn't quite perfected the Federer-esque way to subtly put an opponent in their place without sounding like a bit of a jerk, though I don't think it was ever her intention to attempt to emulate that style in the first place.

Oh, well. Onto North America.

All for now.

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Odds & Ends Between London and New York

It's time to take care of a few post-Wimbledon/pre-3Q loose ends. Say, the season's first "Ms. Backspin" Player-of-the-Year update, a (mostly) North American hard court season preview, and a few other odds and ends:

**Ms. BACKSPIN '09 UPDATE**
[individual]
1. Serena Williams, USA
...she's won only two titles, but they were two "little" tournaments in Melbourne in London. She's only grabbed two doubles crowns, also. Yep, Melbourne and London again. Serena's not #1 on the computer at the moment (amazingly, she's not even close, actually), but there is no other legit contender for Player of the Year at this point in the season.
2. Dinara Safina, RUS
...Safina is having a great year. She's ranked #1, has won two titles, reached four straight finals, played in two slam championship matches and reached a SF in another. But the thorough thumpings she received -- from herself and her opponents -- in Melbourne, Paris and London are the only things that anyone can really remember right now.
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
...will the real Contessova please stand up? Boy, that sounds familiar. Is she the one who continued to crumble in big matches early in the season (remember, she served for the match against Serena at the Australian Open), the one who switched coaches and went on a clay court tear that ended with a Roland Garros title, or the one who barely showed up during the grass season? Maybe we'll find out before the end of the summer.
4. Elena Dementieva, RUS
...Punch-Sober started 2009 like a house afire, then seemed to smash into a mental and physical brick wall. But she climbed to her feet at Wimbledon and maneuvered her way through an easy section of the draw to reach the SF, then very nearly took out Serena (she held a match point) in a match that will likely go down as the best of the year.
5. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
...she began the season by grabbing her first career title in Week 1, and things have only gotten better from there. Two more titles, including a big one in Miami over a hobbled Serena, a Top 10 ranking and back-to-back slam QF results followed. If there's a young player who's going to pop up and challenge the current Sisters dominance over the next eighteen months, it's probably this teenager from Belarus.
6. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
...she's still looking for her first career slam QF berth, but the tour's busiest, winningest player over the past year is getting better and better all the time. She's reached five finals in '09, winning two... and her best surface, hard courts, is the predominant court of play the rest of the year. There's a good chance C-Woz will battle Azarenka down to the wire for the season lead in total singles titles.
7. Venus Williams, USA
...for once, Venus showed some consistency of results BEFORE Wimbledon this year, but then she didn't win the SW19 title. Still, she's back in the Top 3, though one assumes she'd give back everything else for that sixth Wimbledon crown. Have we forgiven her for her slow-on-the-trigger-of-a-pop-gun reaction to the Dubai Debacle? Yeah, but we haven't really forgotten it, either.
8. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
...if Zvonareva hadn't torn those ankle ligaments in Charleston, we might have been talking about HER great result in Paris rather than Kuznetsova's. Still, for a player who's played just three matches since April to still be this high on a Player of the Year list says a great deal about how she performed in the first few months of '09 (she won two titles and reached the Australian semis).
9. Sabine Lisicki, GER
...big serve. Pleasant personality. Aside from injury and illness that struck after her Charleston title, Lisicki has consistently looked like a future star all season. She even surprised herself with her grass court proficiency at Wimbledon en route to her first slam QF. On her current path, she seems destined to be a Top 10er by this time next season.
10. Anabel Medina-Garrigues/ESP
...she's claimed one singles title in '09, giving her the longest current active streak of seasons (6) with at least one tour crown. She won the Doubles at Roland Garros with Virginia Ruano-Pascual, too. Still no slam singles QF, though.
HM- Virginie Razzano/FRA & Marion Bartoli/FRA

[teams]
1. Italian Fed Cup Team
...after taking out the Russians, the Italians still might have to face off against one or more Williams Sisters to win a second Fed Cup title in four years.
2. Williams/Williams, USA/USA
...when they play, which is only three or four times a year at most, it's a very rare occasion indeed when they are beaten. Taking everything into account, they're probably the best women's doubles team. Ever.
3. U.S. Fed Cup Team
...one of the more shocking FC finalists ever, Mary Joe Fernandez's "B"-teamers have taken full advantage of a draw that included Argentines and Czech Maidens, but not French Pastries or Russians. Great of-the-moment play from youngsters like Alexa Glatch and Melanie Oudin, and oldsters like Liezel Huber and Julie Ditty, have made this American team a great Cinderella story. Now, though, with likely one or both Williamses playing in the final, the Americans might be the favorites to take home the U.S.'s first title since 2000.
4. Black/Huber, ZIM/USA
...last year's co-"Ms. Backspin" winners are still co-#1's, holding their positions on the computer longer than anyone other than Martina Navratilova in WTA history. Still, they've yet to win a slam so far in '09.
5. Llagostera-Vives/Martinez Sanchez, ESP/ESP
...they're ruled the clay, winning three titles, even though they failed to capture RG.
HM- Mattek-Sands/Petrova (USA/RUS), Medina-Garrigues/Ruano-Pascual (ESP/ESP), Hsieh/Peng (TPE/CHN)



=3Q PREVIEW - (Mostly) HARD COURTS=

Ah, the time is nearly here. After over a year of wondering just what an ESPN-ized U.S. Open will look like, be it the worst thing to ever happen to the American coverage of the event or the best, the last two slams have essentially rendered those lingering concerns moot. For, with NBC out of the equation, there are quite a few levels of stink that will NEVER be reached by ESPN, which, if nothing else, lives to cover a big event and tie its banner to it. I suspect that's what'll happpen at the end of this summer, too. Oh, there'll certainly be issues to contend with, but American television viewers have already seen the worst there is to offer when it comes to grand slam coverage this summer. In New York, a moment to take a breath and maybe even enjoy a little tennis can't help but be a certainly in comparison.

Oh, but what about the actual PLAYERS? Yeah, I guess I can't forget THEM, huh?

Last year, after losing the SW19 final, Serena had the eye of the tiger heading into North America. As is her wont, Safina peaked before a slam, winning the U.S. Open Series. Maria Sharapova was no where to be found. While Jelena Jankovic gave legitimacy to her rise by reaching the Open final and giving eventual champ Serena a run for her money.

This year, Serena has a Wimbledon title in hand. Safina is still trying to learn how to finish a slam on a strong note. Sharapova is back. While Jankovic is seemingly lost in the tennis woods. Throw in Kim Clijsters' return to action for the first time since mid-2007, not to mention some rising stars named Victoria, Caroline and Sabine, and you've got the makings of a rip-roaring quarter of action.

What does the 3rd Quarter (specifically, the hard court season, even though there are also more scheduled clay events this summer, including two this very week) mean to some of these players? Here's an estimation:

**MOST IMPORTANT**
Dinara Safina, RUS: Safina has only one more shot at lingering slam success in '09. Truthfully, on its face, that should be a ludicrous statement for a player who reached two slam finals and a semi this year, but all three of those events ended so badly for the Russian she needs to leave New York with her head held high in order for her to be able to look back at what she's done in the slams this year and not get a sick feeling in her stomach. At the very least, she needs to exit the Open fighting. Maybe not playing quite so much before the Open is the answer? Over the past year or so, Safina has entered a slam ('08-09 RG, '08 U.S.) with a head of steam that she couldn't keep going for two more full weeks. As Serena likes to snidely point out, "(Safina) won Rome and Madrid." But if she's going to ever get any real respect, she has to be at her best when EVERYONE is watching. And this quarter, that means Flushing Meadows.

Maria Sharapova, RUS: her clay court run in Paris was a surprise. Her early exit at SW19 was a disappointment. Now comes the Supernova's chance to build up her fitness and match play resume for almost TWO MONTHS heading into a slam for the first time since her nearly ten-month absence after shoulder surgery. And it's the U.S. Open, the tournament that has traditionally been the one best suited to her particular skills set both on and off the court. If she can get everything fine tuned, Sharapova might just be able to put that big point prowess she showed she still possesses in Paris to good use at Ashe Stadium.

ALSO: Ana Ivanovic, SRB: even in her "dead zone" over the past year since winning Roland Garros, AnaIvo DID manage to win a hard court title in Linz last 4th Quarter. It's her only win since Paris. At Wimbledon, the '07 hard court Los Angeles champion finally showed some resiliency by saving match point in the 1st Round and following up that escape with more success. Her injury-related exit from SW19 might prove to be a blessing in disguise. Unlike Safina, she didn't leave London doubting herself. It could be a stepping stone for some bright moments on hard courts. If it doesn't happen, though, she might just declare her recent coaching swich something less than a triumph and decide to "start all over again." After a year of setbacks, she doesn't need another.
-------------------------------------
**LEAST IMPORTANT**
The Clay Courters: even though I'm previewing the 3Q as, technically, a HARD COURT section of the schedule, there are more than a few clay court events that will be taking place. So, while the main focus will be on the North America, the U.S. Open Series and the Open itself, there'll be some nice moments doled out elsewhere, too... even if one or two of those soon-to-be champions (hello, Mademoiselle Parmentier) will eventually be dubbed someone "never heard of before" by some television commentators down the road.

ALSO???: Venus Williams, USA: Venus is no Serena when it comes to locking her jaw, fixing her line of vision, and diving head-first into the scrum. Her overall '09 results say that Williams will probably be more of a factor in North America than she often has been in recent campaigns, but right now I get no sense that -- unlike with Serena a year ago -- she will simply not settle for anything less than an Open title after losing the Wimbledon final. Still, no Sister has been the only slam-winning Sister in a calendar year since 2003, and so far Serena is the only one to lift a major trophy this year. But is that enough to predict a title run in New York? With Serena, yes. With Venus, no.
-------------------------------------
**POISED FOR "GREATNESS"?**
Serena Williams, USA: most other players would be satisfied having won two of the three slams in '09. But defending Open champ Serena isn't one of them. No one likes to pour it on like Serena, and revel in the glory of it all once it happens. The scariest thing about Serena heading back to North America is that she's now remembering what it used to feel like to be THE dominant player in the game, and no longer looks like she intends to take it for granted.

Victoria Azarenka, BLR: the A-Train has pulled into the station, and is currently taking on passengers for the ride to come. Whether the soon-to-be 20-year old from Belarus will reach her breakout point in New York isn't known, but after setting herself up for greatness the last few months on clay and grass, her favored hard courts should allow Azarenka to fully stretch her wings for the first time since she had to be helped off the court in the Melbourne heat (and then won her biggest title ever on HC in Miami).

ALSO: Elena Dementieva, RUS: last summer during the 3Q, Dementieva won Olympic Gold in Beijing, then took her momentum all the way to the U.S. Open SF and began '09 in great form. Having rediscovered her game (and maybe improved it?) in London, maybe the '04 Open RU is finally poised to seize the big slam brass ring before her biological tennis clock runs out.
-------------------------------------
**READY TO TURN HEADS**
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN: first off, C-Woz needs to get that first slam QF before it becomes an issue. She's proven she can win a hard court title of note, having taken New Haven (she also won the smaller Stockholm event last 3Q) a season ago, and done well in bigger non-slam events (reaching the Charleston and Madrid finals). The next step is an obvious one. One thing you can be certain of, the Dane is going to be out there playing almost every week (as she is this week in Sweden). Eventually, the slam success is going to come. Why not in the Big Apple?

Kim Clijsters, BEL: Cincinnati is Destination Zero for Clijsters' return. Even in the crowded field of vets and newcomers on tour, she'll surely draw a crowd. But will she win? Sure. Why not? At the very least, she'll probably win a doubles title and/or reach a singles final before the end of the summer. If she does well, too, it'll be difficult not to wonder if her success might eventually nudge that other Waffle back into training. Ah, a compelling reason for Backspin to get behind Kim.

ALSO: Breakout Players: With so many players with skills that play so well to hard courts, this quarter provides the chance for them to really shine. A few to consider: Dominika Cibulkova, #2 in last year's U.S. Open Series, who's still looking for her first tour singles title. Marion Bartoli, #3 in the USO Series a year ago, has been rather quietly having a very nice season. Sabine Lisicki, who's already won one title in North America in '09. And Sania Mirza, too, as she's always enjoyed great support in the U.S..
-------------------------------------
**HOLD YOUR HORSES**
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS: Kuznetsova won the Open in '04, but it took five years for her to win antoher slam in Paris. The Contessova, over such a large career hump, has the all-court game that says she should be a factor again in North America. But much of the notion that her RG win might change her standard operating procedure was brought into question by her weak performance on the grass after winning in Paris. Has she already slipped back into the pack?

Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN: A-Woz was a stunning champion in Stanford a year ago, becoming the first Canadian to win a WTA singles title in two decades. Since then, she's had success on other surfaces, as well. There's no reason to expect she'll fall off dramatically in terms of overall results this quarter, but what are the chances she'll defend that Bank of the West Classic title?
-------------------------------------
**LURCHING TOWARD DISASTER?**
Jelena Jankovic, SRB: JJ timed things out rather well in '08, peaking at Flushing Meadows and coming as close as she ever has to winning a slam. A year later, though, she's not on the same level, while more players have raised THEIR games to Top 10 quality. Jankovic need not repeat her NYC final run, but she does need to regain her confidence by the end of the summer so that she'll be in good position to defend all those 4Q points she picked up a season ago. Needless to say, I'm not optimistic.


=U.S. OPEN - THE EARLY POWER RANKINGS=
1. Serena Williams
2. Victoria Azarenka
3. Maria Sharapova
4. Elena Dementieva
5. Dinara Safina
6. Venus Williams
7. Svetlana Kuznetsova
8. Caroline Wozniacki
Wild Card: Sabine Lisicki

Will Serena will? Will Azarenka made a run to her first slam final? Is the Supernova back?

Thankfully, those decisions are still two months away... but things are going to have to change dramatically between now and then for me to back off my initial readings.





BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (Int'l $220K/red clay)
08 Final: Cornet d. Klepac
09 Top Seeds: Schnyder/Cornet
-------------------------------------
=SF=
Gallovits d. Schnyder
Szavay d. A.Bondarenko
=FINAL=
Szavay d. Gallovits

...Cornet is in Hungary trying to defend her '08 title, but she's done nothing so far in '09 to make anyone think she'll be able to do it. So, I'll go with a little home cooking for Szavay (her little sister failed to make it through qualifying, by the way).


BASTAD, SWEDEN (Int'l $220K/red clay)
08 Final: (new event)
09 Top Seeds: Wozniacki/Cibulkova
=============================
=SF=
Wozniacki d. Pennetta
Suarez-Navarro d. Cibulkova
=FINAL=
Wozniacki d. Suarez-Navarro

...I'm tempted to pick Cibulkova to win her first title. But, come on, I can't pick against C-Woz right out of the gate in the 3Q. Even on red clay.


All for now.



ALSO THIS WEEK: Grass Court Awards

Read more...

The Decade's Best: Wimbledon, 2000-09

In 1999, Lindsay Davenport won Wimbledon. A year later, everything changed.

In the 2000's, SW19 was all about the Williams Sisters. In 2000, Venus won her first title. A year later, she won her second. In 2002, it was Serena's turn. By the end of the decade, thirteen of the twenty spots in the Ladies' final during the decade were filled by either Venus or Serena, and in nine of the ten years at least one was present on the court. Eight times they won singles crown, and four times they claimed the doubles, as well. Four all-Williams finals were hosted on Centre Court during an eight-year span from 2002-09, as the Williams Era of women's tennis was never more in full force that at the All-England Club.

Of course, other players experienced success at Wimbledon over the past ten years, too. Just not as much as Venus and Serena. Here's a look back at some of them:

*2000's TOP 10 - WIMBLEDON*
1. Venus Williams, USA:

The decade didn't end as she would have wished, as Serena prevented her from tying Martina Navratilova's record of decade dominance with a sixth title from 2000-09, but Venus' five wins, eight finals, 56-5 record and four doubles crowns will have to suffice. After seeing her win the title from all over the draw during the 2000's -- as a #5, #2, #14, #23 and #7 seed -- I guess we should have known something was up when Venus made her Wimbledon debut back in 1997. Back then, before she'd even played her first match, she'd managed to reach the second week thanks to a record amount of London rainfall. As if the fact that the trophy is called the Venus Rosewater Dish shouldn't have already been a raging clue.
=============================
2. Serena Williams, USA: Serena now has three Wimbledon singles titles to her credit, all of them coming at the expense of sister Venus in the final (Venus only returned the favor once at SW19, in 2008). But while Venus has never lost a Ladies final to anyone other than her sister, Serena has -- against Maria Sharapova in '04. Still, while the sisters share the four doubles titles, Serena DOES have one other advantage over Venus when it comes to Wimbledon -- SHE has a Mixed Doubles title (with Max Mirnyi in 1998), something which her big sister can't claim.
=============================
3. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA: She notched two 4th Round results, two semifinals and a singles title in '06 (the only year in the decade in which the final was sans a single Williams) over Justine Henin that solidified her Hall of Fame credentials and gave her the chance to bask in the glow of a slam title after Henin's sudden retirement against her in the Australian Open final five months before.
=============================
4. Maria Sharapova, RUS: She won the title in just her second appearance in the Ladies' draw in '04, and reached two additional semifinals and a pair of Round of 16's. But her great start as a 17-year old champion had primed everyone for so much more, so the completion of her abbreviated decade feels like something of a disappointment, especially after shoulder problems and a nearly ten-month absence from the tour played a part in back-to-back early exits in 2008-09. With a lack of the true athleticism of either the Williamses or Mauresmo, the only other 2000's champions, her one great tournament in London might turn out to be an aberration in her career SW19 results... but what an exciting aberration it was.
=============================
5. Cara Black, ZIM: A one-time Girls junior singles and doubles champ at Wimbledon (1997), Black has won more different tournament titles at SW19 than any other player. During the 2000's, she picked up three Women's Doubles crowns, as well as a Mixed Double title.
=============================
6. Lindsay Davenport, USA: She reached singles finals in '00 and '05, but could never get title #2 to go along with the one she won in 1999. In another era, Davenport's heavy groundstrokes and pulverizing serve would have served up at least one or two more Ladies' titles, but the Sisters got in the way in the 2000's. Davenport lost both her finals in the decade to Venus, one after holding a match point in the classic '05 championship.
=============================
7. Justine Henin, BEL: La Petit Taureau reached two Wimbledon finals, both three-setters against Venus ('01) and Mauresmo ('06), but Wimbledon remained the only slam she never won in her career. If she hadn't up and retired in '08 when she was solidly on top of the women's game, she likely would have gotten a few more chances to fill that hole in her resume. Who knows, she may still yet one day... but at this point in time, it appears that won't be the case.
=============================
8. Ai Sugiyama, JPN: She reached five Women's Doubles finals with four different partners, winning one title in '03 with Kim Clijsters.
=============================
9. Kim Clijsters, BEL: The Belgian reached two singles semifinals, a quarterfinal and two Round of 16's, but Wimbledon was never Clijsters' place to shine. She did win that '03 Doubles title with Sugiyama, and reached another final with her in '01, though. Of course, with her comeback, now she might get a chance for more.
=============================
10. Elena Dementieva, RUS: The Russian appeared in two semifinals in the final two years of the decade (last week losing that classic SF against Serena in which she held match point), as well as a quarterfinal and a 4th Round.
=============================
HM- Jennifer Capriati, USA: In her "second" career in tennis, Capriati reached a 4th Round, three quarterfinals and, in 2001, carved out a semifinal result exactly ten years after -- as a 15-year old -- she'd defeated Martina Navratilova in the Wimbledon QF to reach her first SF at the All-England Club.
=============================

*DOUBLES*
1. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA: Four titles, and a 29-1 career record at Wimbledon.
=============================
2. Cara Black, ZIM: Three Women's Doubles crowns, and a Mixed (she reached this year's Mixed final).
=============================
3. Ai Sugiyama, JPN: Everybody's favorite doubles partner at Wimbledon during the 2000's, though she has so far failed to reach a SW19 final with current regular partner Daniela Hantuchova.
=============================
4. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA: The only pair other than the Sisters to win two Doubles titles during the decade.
=============================
5. Rennae Stubbs, AUS: The Aussie won Doubles crowns with Black and Lisa Raymond, and reached this year's final with Sam Stosur.
=============================
6. Martina Navratilova, USA: In 2003, at age 46, she won the Mixed title with Leander Paes to tie Billie Jean King's all-time overall (singles/doubles/mixed) Wimbledon title mark with her twentieth All-England Club championship. It came twenty-seven years after she won her first by claiming the Ladies' Doubles with Chris Evert in 1976.
=============================
7. Kim Clijsters/Ai Sugiyama, BEL/JPN: One title, on runner-up result.
=============================
8. Virginia Ruano-Pascual/Paola Suarez, ESP/ARG: They reached three finals, but never won the title.
=============================
9. Lisa Raymond, USA: One Doubles title and a runner-up.
=============================
10. Samantha Stosur, AUS: Once a Mixed Doubles champion, and twice a Doubles runner-up.
=============================

*JUNIORS*
Sisters: While Venus and Serena dominated the Ladies' Singles, the sisters theme carried over to the junior competition, as well. Amongst the tennis-playing siblings who won Girls titles during the 2000's were Agnieszka Radwanska (2005), Urszula Radwanska (2007) and Kateryna Bondarenko (2004).
=============================
Laura Robson, GBR: In 2008, the cheeky teen became the first Brit to claim the Girls title since Annabel Croft in 1984.
=============================
Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, THA: The Thai teen was the only player during the decade to reach two Girls singles finals, in 2008 (lost to Robson) and '09 (won).
=============================
MOST INTERESTING FINAL - 2002 Vera Dushevina def. Maria Sharapova: Their careers have gone a tad differently since then.
=============================

*UNDERRATED*
[singles]
Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA: a QF and four Round of 16's
Nadia Petrova, RUS: two QF and four Round of 16's
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS: three QF and a Round of 16
[singles/doubles]
Zheng Jie, CHN: a Doubles champion, and the first Chinese slam semifinalist in singles in 2008
Ai Sugiyama, JPN: a title and four RU in Doubles, a QF and two Round of 16's in singles
Lisa Raymond, USA: a Doubles champ and RU, she reached a singles QF and Round of 16 -- and nearly upset Venus in the 2nd Round in 2006, at one time leading the match 7-6/5-2

*DISAPPOINTMENTS*
[singles]
Justine Henin, BEL: the only slam she never won
Monica Seles, USA: the reached the QF in her only two appearances in the decade (2000 & '02), ten and eight years after her sole appearance in the Wimbledon final in '92 -- her last SW19 before her stabbing the next year
Lindsay Davenport, USA: after she failed to convert the match point against Venus in the '05 final, she never again advanced past a slam QF in her career
[doubles]
Virginia Ruano-Pascual/Paola Suarez, ESP/ARG: the only slam the pair, once as dominant as Black & Huber have been in recent seasons, never won as a team

*COMEBACKS*
[Champions That Almost Never Were]
2005 - Venus Williams was down match point to Lindsay Davenport in Final
2007 - Venus Williams was two points from loss to Alla Kudryavtseva in 1st Round
2007 - Venus Williams saw Akiko Morigami serve for match at 5-3 in 3rd set in 3rd Round
2009 - Serena Williams was down match point to Elena Dementieva in Semifinal
[A Champion Who Was Gone, Then Wasn't]
2004 - Martina Navratilova, at age 47, returned to the All-England Club in singles, defeating Catalina Castano in the 1st Round before losing to Gisela Dulko in the 2nd

*BREAKOUTS*
2004 Final - Sharapova def. S.Williams 6-1/6-4
...it wasn't so much that the Russian won, it was that she did it by beating Williams at her own game. Thus, a Supernova was born.
2008 Zheng Jie
...with her sporting a ranking in triple-digits after missing time with an injury, the Club granted Zheng a wild card into the main draw. She ended up becoming the first Chinese woman to ever reach the semfinals of a slam.

*REDEMPTION*
2006 Final - Mauresmo def. Henin 2-6/6-3/6-4
...finally, the Frenchwoman got to celebrate.

*STUNNERS*
2001 1st Rd. - Ruano-Pacual def. Hingis
...two years after her stunning 1st Round loss to Jelena Dokic in the 1st Round, it happened again to Hingis. She retired from the game not long after, and didn't play again at SW19 until 2006 following her comeback to the sport.
2007 SF - Bartoli def. Henin
...after leading 6-1/5-3, Henin was taken down in her final Wimbledon by a combination of wind and Bartoli, the most surprising Ladies' finalist of the decade. Henin had been in the finals of her previous five slams, and would win the U.S. Open title two months later.

*FAMILIAR SHOWDOWNS*
[Sisters]
Venus vs. Serena happened four different times in the final, and the Sisters shared eight singles titles in the decade
[#1 vs. #2]
In 2002, the championship match-up between #1-ranked Serena and #2-ranked Venus was the only time at Wimbledon this decade when the WTA's top two ranked women actually faced off against each other on the court.
[Doubles]
2004 Doubles Final: Black/Stubbs def. L.Huber/Sugiyama. Black and Huber would win the title as a team in '05 and '07.

*MOST DOMINANT DISPLAYS*
[set]
2001: a month after Jennifer Capriati won a 12-10 3rd set over Kim Clijsters in the Roland Garros final, the Wimbledon championship produced no such final set drama as Venus Williams bageled a young Justine Henin 6-0 in the Belgian's first major final appearance.
[tournament]
2008: Venus swept through both the singles and doubles draws without losing a set

*FLASHES*
Jelena Dokic's 2000 SF
...a year after her headline-grabbing QF run as a qualfier in '99, Dokic actually did better a year later, reaching her only slam career semifinal. Six years later, Dokic was again relegated to playing the Wimbledon qualifying tournament, where she lost in the opening round to Alexandra Stevenson, the same fellow qualifier who'd knocked her off in the QF in 1999. In 2009, ten years and a day after her 1st Round upset of #1-ranked Martina Hingis in '99, Dokic herself was the 1st Round Wimbledon victim of a qualifier, Tatjana Malek.
The Kiss of Life
...a month after winning the 2008 Roland Garros title, Ana Ivanovic was saved in her 2nd Round Wimbledon match against Nathalie Dechy when a match point for the Frenchwoman was denied by a net cord shot that plopped the Serb's way. Rather than breathe a sigh of relief at her stroke of luck, AnaIvo seemed to think she didn't deserve to remain in the tournament. With her confidence lacking, she lost her next match and has been in a tooth-and-nail struggle to regain her footing ever since.
Two Noteworthy Wins, but What Else?
...despite being the only player to have notched Wimbledon victories over both Martina Navratilova (2004) and Maria Sharapova (2009), Gisela Dulko has never advanced beyond the 3rd Round at SW19.

*BIGGEST UPSETS*
2008 2nd Rd. - Kudryavtseva d. Sharapova
...and the misunderstood "bash" of Sharapova's outfit.
2006 3rd Rd. - Jankovic d. V.Williams
...around the loss to the pre-Chaos JJ, Venus won three titles from 2005-08.
2005 3rd Rd. - Craybas d. S.Williams
...this exit by an injured Serena matched her worst-ever Wimbledon performance, in her SW19 debut in '98 more than a year before she won her first career slam at the U.S. Open.
2005 1st Rd. - Daniilidou d. Henin
...this was Henin's only pre-Round of 16 loss at a slam from 2002-08 when she wasn't being dragged down by the cytomegalovirus.
2004 2nd Rd. - Sprem d. V.Williams
...the one where the umpire -- and the players -- failed to catch a scoring error in a tie-break that gave Sprem an extra point.

*TOP MATCHES*
2005 Final - V.Williams def. Davenport 4-6/7-6/9-7
...and Venus jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped and jumped. Then she jumped some more.
2009 SF - S.Williams def. Dementieva 6-7/7-5/8-6
...the longest women's SF at Wimbledon in the Open Era, Serena saved a match point and went on to win the title two days later.

=NOTES=
There were still more more Wimbledon chapters that revolved around siblings in the 2000's.

In 2007, Michaella Krajicek reached the singles quarterfinals, eleven years after her brother Richard won the men's title in 1996. He defeated Pete Sampras in the SF, a loss that ultimately prevented Sampras from winning eight straight titles from 1993-2000. Then, after Marat Safin reached the men's SF in 2008, his sister Dinara did the same in the women's singles in 2009.
=============================
Amelie Mauresmo was the only Ladies' champion ('06) during the decade who was also a Girls champ ('96) as a junior. 2004 titlist Maria Sharapova was the Girls runner-up in '02.
=============================
Most Women's Doubles titles: Serena Williams (4), Venus Williams (4), Cara Black (3), Rennae Stubbs (2), Liezel Huber (2)
=============================
Cara Black's Title-Winning Partners: Wayne Black (Mixed, her brother), Liezel Huber, Rennae Stubbs
=============================
Doubles finals with most partners: 4-Ai Sugiyama (Clijsters/Halard-Decugis/L.Huber/Srebotnik), 3-Rennae Stubbs (Black/Raymond/Stosur), 2-Cara Black (L.Huber/Stubbs), 2-Liezel Huber (Black/Sugiyama), 2-Lisa Raymond (Stosur/Stubbs)
=============================
Most Doubles Finals: Ai Sugiyama (5), Serena Williams (4), Venus Williams (4), Cara Black (3), Liezel Huber (3), Virginia Ruano-Pascual (3), Rennae Stubbs (3), Paola Suarez (3), Kim Clijsters (2), Lisa Raymond (2), Samantha Stosur (2)
=============================
Players who won both Singles and Doubles titles: Amelie Mauresmo (1/1), Serena Williams (3/4), Venus Williams (5/4)

NOTE: Martina Navratilova, a nine-time singles titlist from 1978-90, won a Mixed Doubles title in 2003.
=============================



*DECADE'S BEST - AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2000-09*
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Jennifer Capriati, USA
3. Lindsay Davenport, USA
4. Justine Henin, BEL
5. Maria Sharapova, RUS
6. Martina Hingis, SUI
7. Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
8. Kim Clijsters, BEL
9. Venus Williams, USA
10. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
HM- Rennae Stubbs, AUS
DOUBLES TEAM: Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA/USA

*DECADE'S BEST - ROLAND GARROS 2000-09*
1. Justine Henin, BEL
2. Virginia Ruano-Pascual, ESP
3. Mary Pierce, FRA
4. Jennifer Capriati, USA
5. Serena Williams, USA
6. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
7. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
8. Kim Clijsters, BEL
9. Anastasia Myskina, RUS
10. Paola Suarez, ARG
HM- Lisa Raymond, USA
DOUBLES TEAM: Virginia Ruano-Pascual/Paola Suarez, ESP/ARG



The quest to rank the Top 25 (formerly 20, but I just can't bring myself to cut some players without a specific mention) "Players of the Decade" has reached its third checkpoint. This cutdown of the original nomination list is a short one. Coming into Wimbledon, the list stood at 26. Sabine Lisicki became a first-time slam quarterfinalist at SW19, adding her name to the Honor Roll and being cut from the remaining group in one fell swoop. Later this year, assuming she finishes the season in the Top 10, Caroline Wozniacki will be amongst a few more added to the decade's overall list, but unless she literally pulls a "Grand" rabbit out of her hat in NYC the final list of twenty-five wouldn't be amended to include her (or some other would-be slam champ not yet having met the prerequisites for inclusion).

So, with the list STILL at 26, it's time to make the final cut of the player who will technically be included as the "Honorable Mention"-worthy #26 player of the 2000's. Here's the current list:

Victoria Azarenka
Cara Black
Jennifer Capriati
Kim Clijsters
Lindsay Davenport
Elena Dementieva
Daniela Hantuchova
Justine Henin
Martina Hingis
Liezel Huber
Ana Ivanovic
Jelena Jankovic
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Amelie Mauresmo
Anastasia Myskina
Martina Navratilova
Mary Pierce
Lisa Raymond
Virginia Ruano-Pascual
Dinara Safina
Patty Schnyder
Maria Sharapova
Rennae Stubbs
Paola Suarez
Serena Williams
Venus Williams

The choice here really comes down to two people, one an all-time great (Navratilova) and another (Azarenka) with a seeminly star-lit future. Following in the tradition of the NBA's All-Time Top 50 list from a while back, when a young Shaquille O'Neal was included largely because of what his career COULD ultimately (and did) become, I'm going with the previously-expressed thought that Azarenka will win a slam by the end of 2010 -- if Serena will ALLOW it, that is. So she makes the cut (just in case the A-Train barrels through NYC a little earlier than expected in a few months). Thus, that means Navratilova is #26.


HONORABLE MENTION (#26)- Martina Navratilova, USA

Martina's Hall of Fame career was at its height during the 1970's, '80's and '90's as she totalled up career tour title marks in both singles and doubles. But she was a factor in the 2000's, as well. In her forties, Navratilova returned to the WTA as a doubles specialist, adding twelve addition tour Doubles titles and three Mixed slam crowns. She even made brief returns to singles from 2002-05, playing both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in '04, where she got a 1st Round SW19 win at age 47. Her final doubles title came with Nadia Petrova in Montreal in '06, at 49 years and 10 months of age (a WTA record), then she became the oldest grand slam titlist ever (5 weeks from her 50th birthday) when she and Bob Bryan won the U.S. Open Mixed title a few weeks later. She just competed in -- and won, naturally -- the Senior Invitiational title at this year's Wimbledon at age 52, and could be a competitor in her FIFTH decade at the All-England Club if she participates in the series of exhibition matches again in 2010.

Until the U.S. Open, after which the official countdown of the Top 25 will begin.

*BACKSPIN'S 2000-09 HONOR ROLL, #27-109, as of July 2009*
Nicole Arendt
Shinobu Asagoe
Sybille Bammer
Marion Bartoli
Daja Bedanova
Alona Bondarenko
Kateryna Bondarenko
Kristie Boogert
Elena Bovina
Severine Bremond
Els Callens
Anna Chakvetadze
Chan Yung-Jan
Chuang Chia-Jung
Dominika Cibulkova
Sorana Cirstea
Amanda Coetzer
Eleni Daniilidou
Nathalie Dechy
Casey Dellacqua
Mariaan de Swardt
Jelena Dokic
Silvia Farina Elia
Clarisa Fernandez
Tatiana Golovin
Anna-Lena Groenefeld
Julie Halard-Decugis
Anke Huber
Janette Husarova
Kaia Kanepi
Sesil Karatantcheva
Vania King
Anna Kournikova
Michaella Krajicek
Lina Krasnoroutskaya
Li Na
Li Ting
Elena Likhovtseva
Sabine Lisicki
Petra Mandula
Marta Marrero
Conchita Martinez
Anabel Medina-Garrigues
Sania Mirza
Alicia Molik
Corina Morariu
Miriam Oremans
Shahar Peer
Flavia Pennetta
Tatiana Perebiynis
Kveta Peschke
Nadia Petrova
Kimberly Po-Messerli
Agnieszka Radwanska
Anastasia Rodionova
Chanda Rubin
Lucie Safarova
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Mara Santangelo
Barbara Schett
Francesca Schiavone
Monica Seles
Magui Serna
Antonella Serra-Zanetti
Meghann Shaughnessy
Anna Smashnova
Karolina Sprem
Katarina Srebnotnik
Samantha Stosur
Carla Suarez-Navarro
Ai Sugiyama
Sun Tiantian
Agnes Szavay
Tamarine Tanasugarn
Patricia Tarabini
Nathalie Tauziat
Nicole Vaidisova
Dominique van Roost
Elena Vesnina
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie
Fabiola Zuluaga
Vera Zvonareva

All for now.



BEST OF THE DECADE SERIES:
...Players of the 2000's: Nomination List, Decade's Best: Australian Open 2000-09, Decade's Best: Roland Garros 2000-09

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