Oz 12: For Whom the Book Tolls, circa 2010

Never let it be said that the WTA's wrong-headed decision to NOT have a printed version of the tour's Official 2010 Guide means that I can't give out awards for the new and old bio photos included in the (shortened and less reliable) online version. So there.



Once again, as I talked about in the "Revolving Doors" column last year when I discussed the possible additions and ejections in the '10 Guide, the Top 100 singles and Top 30 doubles players are all included, along with a few "discretionary" selections (such as the unretired Justine Henin & Alicia Molik). In all, 111 (horrendously-shortened, but that's a gripe for another day, and one I've already ranted a bit about) women's bios are included in the new Guide.

Here are the player specifics, as well as the usual honors, for the 2010 Guide bios, from Akgul Amanmuradova to Vera Zvonareva:

**2010 BIOS - BY NATION**
[2009 bio numbers in parenthesis]
14...Russia (15)
8...United States (7)
6...Germany (3)
6...Italy (6)
6...Czech Republic (8)
6...Spain (6)
5...Australia (3)
5...France (13)
4...Belgium (1)
4...China (4)
4...Romania (3)
3...Belarus (2)
3...Great Britain (1)
3...Slovak Republic (4)
3...Switzerland (2)
3...Taiwan (3)
3...Ukraine (4)
2...Austria (3)
2...Croatia (0)
2...Hungary (1)
2...Japan (1)
2...Poland (2)
2...Serbia (2)
2...Slovenia (1)
1...Argentina (1)
1...Bulgaria (1)
1...Canada (1)
1...Denmark (1)
1...Estonia (1)
1...India (1)
1...Israel (1)
1...Kazakhstan (2)
1...Latvia (0)
1...Uzbekistan (1)
1...Zimbabwe (1)
--
COUNTRIES WITH '09 ENTRIES, BUT NONE IN '10: Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Sweden, Thailand

If you want to follow and play along, or come up with your own awards, you can check out the online edition of the Guide, which at least provides an accurate online match-up to these awards after past "For Whom the Book Tolls" posts often involved Guide-only bio pics that weren't the same as the ones on the WTA's website.

*BEST '10 GUIDE BIO PHOTO*
Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (she deserves to be sporting such a smile)
=RUNNERS-UP=
Old photos: Elena Vesnina/RUS, Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
New photos: Anna Keothavong/GBR, Sabine Lisicki/GER, Zheng Jie/CHN
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2006 Severine Bremond, FRA
2007 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2008 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2009 Anne Keothavong, GBR

*BIGGEST SMILE*
Li Na, CHN (and this is an old photo taken long before her SF run in Melbourne, too)
=RUNNERS-UP=
Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN, Karolina Sprem/CRO (old photo)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2007 Karolina Sprem, CRO
2008 Li Na, CHN
2009 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA & Edina Gallovits, ROU

*BEST PHOTO UPGRADE*
Vera Zvonareva, RUS (Vera looks party-ready)
=RUNNERS-UP=
Liezel Huber/USA (she looks less like the "Wonder Years" mom)
Alisa Kleybanova/RUS (very regal)
Alla Kudryavtseva/RUS (in this case, the less bangs the better)
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (she no longer looks like she was cornered in a public bathroom and had her photo snapped)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2008 Aravane Rezai, FRA
2009 Tamira Paszek, AUT

*WORST PHOTO CHANGE*
Sorana Cirstea/ROU (a mug shot?)
=RUNNER-UP=
Gisela Dulko/ARG (she just doesn't look well)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2008 Olga Savchuk, UKR
2009 Ana Ivanovic, SRB

*GLAMOUR-SHOTS-R-US*
Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
Zheng Jie, CHN
==RUNNERS-UP=
Vania King, USA
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
Sabine Lisicki, GER
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (this year's winner in the "Bon Jovi Big 1980's Hair" contest)
Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
=PREVIOUS HONOREES=
2007 Michaella Krajicek, NED
2008 Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
2009 Jelena Jankovic, SRB & Caroline Wozniacki, DEN

*"GIRL NEXT DOOR"*
Stefanie Voegele, SUI
=RUNNERS-UP=
Petra Kvitova, CZE
Andrea Petkovic, GER (well, if you live next door to Chloe Sevigny)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2007 Olga Savchuk, UKR
2008 Chang Yung-Jan, TPE & Yaroslava Shvedova, RUS
2009 Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ

A GUEST ON "TRUE BLOOD" NEXT SEASON?: Iveta Benesova/CZE
COOL NECKLACE: Akgul Amanmuradova/UZB
A HARD-EDGED CYLON?: Melinda Czink/HUN
AH, AN ACTION SHOT: Petra Martic/CRO
LITERALLY CUT OUT OF A MAGAZINE? Anna Chakvetadze/RUS
NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN: Jelena Dokic/AUS

THEY WERE ROBBED!!: Casey Dellacqua/AUS, Marina Erakovic/NZL & Tamarine Tanasguarn/THA
...Dellacqua and Erakovic dropped off because of injuries, but weren't given "discretionary" slots ala Katarina Srebotnik. Tanasugarn actually defended her '08 title in 's-Hertogenbosch, but her ranking slipped outside the Top 100.

Hopefully, 2011 will bring an ACTUAL (printed) Guide, not another unsatisfying online version. I guess I've already got my first listing for the "All I Want for Christmas" list in this season's year-ending WTA Yearbook.



*DAY 12 NOTES*
...Venus and Serena became this slam's first major champions when they defeated Cara Black & Liezel Huber 6-4/6-3 in the Doubles final to defend their '09 crown and grab an eleventh slam Doubles championship as a duo (and their fourth in the last five slams).

While the Williams Sisters probably SHOULD get the "Doubles Star" winner for this slam, I'm going to give it to Cara Black for advancing to the final in both the Doubles and Mixed (she and Leander Paes face Makarova/Levinsky) since the Sisters got the award at Wimbledon last season and Black hasn't been honored since the '08 U.S. Open.

...in the Girls SF, Laura Robson advanced to her second consecutive AO junior singles final. After losing to Ksenia Pervak in '09, she'll face #6-seed Karolina Pliskova this time around. Robson knocked off Karolina's unseeded sister Kristyna in her SF match, while the winning Czech sibling took out China's Tang Hao-Chen. Robson won the "Junior Star" award when she took the '08 Wimbledon Girls title, so I'm giving this one to the Pliskova sisters. Two siblings not named Williams, Bondarenko, Radwanska or any of the others now populating the tour landscape reaching the semis of the same junior slam is just two sweet to pass over.

...Roger Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2, 3 & 2? Yikes! That's like an old King Roger scoreline. He was even in fine form in the post-match interview, nudging Andy Murray with deft mentions that he's still never won a slam, hadn't yet beaten Federer on such a grand stage, and sort of throwing out the notion that the Scot's confidence might be shaken if he doesn't win the 1st set in the final. Hehe. No one but Federer can get away with that type of thing, not even trying to hide his cockiness, but still sound like a nice guy while he's doing it.

...anyone see Justin Gimelstob get dive bombed by a very accurate bird taking a "bathroom break" during one of his People-on-the-Street interview segments on Tennis Channel? Hilarious. A few more inches to the right and Gimelstob would have gotten it right on the noggin. The segment was actually pretty funny (he was quizzing fans to see if any could answer a question about who shared Venus Williams' very first slam championship -- it was Gimelstob himself in the '98 Australian Open Mixed Doubles, but the closest anyone got to a correct answer, even with severe prompting, was Justin "Gimelstein"), but if that's not a fine example of direct and immediate television criticism than I don't know what is.

Maybe Gimelstob was just target practice, though. Could our fine-feathered friend be simply preparing for when another bigger target steps into his sights. Splat! Bull's eye!

Hmmm... watch out, Pam.

...and, finally, I truly love ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption." I've read Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon in the Washington Post (when TK was still in the Post, that is) for over twenty years, have listened to the various incarnations of Kornheiser's radio show for nearly as long (and still do every day), watched them on the local "Full Court Press" sports show put together by the late great George Michael on WRC-TV before someone at ESPN ever got the idea to pair up the two on their own show, and in large part have probably inadvertantly "stolen" some of Kornheiser's column style by interjecting off-topic thoughts in the middle of discussions in Backspin (not to mention that handwritten bracket idea at last year's U.S. Open). But, still, I simply hate it when they talk about tennis, especially the WTA. (Of course, giving Andy Murray's around-the-post winner from the other night an "F" and a "C+" because it either was "easy" or "should be illegal" was bordering on the ridiculous side, too.)

Yesterday's short discussion about Justine Henin reaching a slam final in her second tournament back, not surprisingly, quickly fell into the oh-so-typical "it proves the women's game has no depth" trap. Clijsters' U.S. Open title in her third event was thrown into the mix, too. I guess it's to be expected, but you never hear the same sort of thing when the talk turns to Federer reaching twenty-three straight slam SF or eighteen of the last nineteen slam finals. Federer, it's generally agreed, is able to do such things because of how great a player he is. Is it so foreign a concept to theorize that Clijsters and Henin have been able to do this because they are truly exceptional talents, as well? Of course, this has been a time-worn argument for a while now. Apparently, the women's game "was boring and star-less" when the likes of the Belgians were around the first time. When they were gone, there was a "vacuum of power" at the top of the game because they weren't there. They come back to great fanfare and re-assume leading roles... and now there's no depth. It's always something isn't it?

No matter who wins the women's final, that'll make twenty-nine of the last thirty-two slams won by players from three groups (Russians, Belgians and Williams Sisters numbering seven different women), with the other three divided between two more women (Mauresmo and Ivanovic). Meanwhile, just two players have won nearly every men's slam title since mid-2005 (17/19 going into this AO final, and 19/22 back to the '04 Wimbledon).

But it's the women's game that has no depth. Sigh.




*SERENA vs. JUSTINE*
[Williams leads 7-6]
2001 US Open 4th Rd. - Williams 7-5/6-0
2001 WTA Chsp QF - Williams 6-3/7-6
2002 Berlin Final - Henin 6-2/1-6/7-6
2002 Rome Final - Williams 7-6/6-4
2002 Leipzig SF - Williams 6-4/6-2
2003 Charleston Final - Henin 6-3/6-4
2003 Roland Garros SF - Henin 6-2/4-6/7-5 ("The Wave" match)
2003 Wimbledon SF - Williams 6-3/6-2
2007 Miami Final - Williams 0-6/7-5/6-3 (Henin w/ 2 MP)
2007 Roland Garros QF -Henin 6-4/6-3
2007 Wimbledon QF - Henin 6-4/3-6/6-3
2007 U.S. Open QF - Henin 7-6/6-1
2008 Miami QF - Williams 6-2/6-0
2010 Australian Open Final - ??

*CAREER AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS - ACTIVE*
5...SERENA WILLIAMS (4-0)
3...JUSTINE HENIN (1-1)
2...Maria Sharapova (1-1)
1...Kim Clijsters (0-1)
1...Ana Ivanovic (0-1)
1...Dinara Safina (0-1)
1...Venus Williams (0-1)

*MOST AUSTRALIAN OPEN TITLES - ALL-TIME*
11...Margaret Smith-Court
6...Nancye Wynne-Bolton
5...Daphne Akhurst
4...Evonne Goolagong-Cawley
4...Steffi Graf
4...Monica Seles
4...SERENA WILLIAMS

*SLAM DOUBLES TITLES - OPEN ERA*
21...Martina Navratilova/Pam Shriver
14...Gigi Fernandez/Natasha Zvereva
11...SERENA WILLIAMS/VENUS WILLIAMS
8...Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLE - ACTIVE*
41...JUSTINE HENIN
41...Venus Williams
36...Kim Clijsters
35...SERENA WILLIAMS
20...Maria Sharapova

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN "DOUBLES STAR" WINNERS*
2006 Yan Zi & Zheng Jie, CHN
2007 Liezel Huber, RSA
2008 Alona Bondarenko & Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
2009 Sania Mirza, IND
2010 Cara Black, ZIM

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN "JUNIOR STAR" WINNERS*
2007 Madison Brengle, USA
2008 Jessica Moore, AUS & Arantxa Rus, NED
2009 Ksenia Pervak, RUS
2010 Karolina Pliskova & Kristyna Pliskova, CZE

*MOST CONSECUTIVE SLAM FINALS - MEN*
10...Roger Federer, 2005-07
8...ROGER FEDERER, 2008-CURRENT
7...Jack Crawford, 1932-34



*WOMEN's SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Serena Williams/USA vs. (WC) Justine Henin/BEL

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #5 Andy Murray/GBR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) def. #1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) vs. Makarova/Levinsky (RUS/CZE)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
Laura Robson/GBR vs. #6 Karolina Pliskova/CZE

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
Sean Berman/AUS vs. #14 Tiago Fernandes/BRA

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Cepelova/Skamlova (SVK/SVK) def. #1 Babos/Dabrowski (HUN/CAN)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
Eleveld/Lupescu (NED/NED) def.. #2 Krawietz/Schulz (GER/GER)




TOP QUALIFIER: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Kathrin Woerle/GER def. Bopana Jovanovski/SRB 6-2/4-6/9-7
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. #5 Elena Dementieva/RUS 7-5/7-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. (q) Yanina Wickmayer/BEL 7-6/1-6/6-3
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xx - xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #14 Maria Sharapova/RUS (lost 1st Rd.- Kirilenko/RUS)
FIRST WIN: Dinara Safina/RUS (def. Rybarikova/SVK)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL [4th Rd.]
IT GIRL: Maria Kirilenko/RUS
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Justine Henin/BEL
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS ('08 champ, lost 1st Rd. to Kirilenko/RUS)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Justine Henin/BEL - down 3-6/1-3 15/40 to Kleybanova/RUS in 3rd Rd. or Serena Williams/USA - down 6-4/4-0 to Azarenka/BLR in QF
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS [4th Rd.]
DOUBLES STAR Cara Black/ZIM
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Karolina & Kristyna Pliskova/CZE




All for now. More after the women's final.