Wk.29- A Doll, a Foot, an Ankle & a Covered Posterior

Yeah, sure. The on-court WTA action has maybe been somewant wanting when it comes to the "compelling meter" so far this quarter. You can't win 'em all.

Truthfully, though, a few "comeback" titles, a back-to-back champion, a crown won by an opinionated Pastry and two first-time tour titlists is a collection of results that are abnormally notable when compared to most of the other "demilitarized zones" stationed between the conclusion of one slam and the run-up to the next, but you'd probably have to search far and wide to find much discussion of any of the events of the past few weeks anywhere where true tennis fans don't dominate the landscape.

But as more of the "big names" get back into action (well, most of them, anyway), the intrigue is already starting to spark. Just a little. Not that a player has to actually PLAY to generate interest and attention.

Last week, the latest edition of "As Serena's Foot Turns" included Williams' agent saying his client was a "quick healer" soon after the tour had issued its WTA/CIA (the WTA, covering its you-know-what) statement that assured everyone that Williams was indeed "questionable" for the U.S. Open after bagging all the tune-up events amidst calls that her injury/surgery might not be 100% legit. After the way the tour handled the Dubai Debacle two seasons ago, the ultra-quick response this time around either speaks well for the new WTA leadership... or was the surest of all signs that the nay-sayers were probably hitting a little close to the truth and Allaster and Co. were jumping on the chance for some early damage control.

Speaking of turned feet (well, to be more accurate, ankle), Queen Chaos returned to action last week... and hurt herself again. Only differently this time. This week, the would-be (s)upernova (still not worthy of the capital "S") and Slingin' Sammy are back, as well. The Roland Garros champ is in action, too. So is Washington Kastle replacement player Victoria Azarenka, as well as Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva.

As the North American hard court season finally begins in Stanford this week, I have a feeling things are about to get far more interesting.

*WEEK 29 CHAMPIONS*

PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA (Int'l $220K/hard outdoors)
S: Anna Chakvetadze def. Johanna Larsson 6-1/6-2
D: Kondratieva/Uhlirova d. Chakvetadze/Erakovic

BAD GASTEIN, GERMANY (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoor)
S: Julia Goerges def. Timea Bacsinszky 6-1/6-4
D: Hradecka/Medina-Garrigues d. Bacsinszky/Garbin


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Anna Chakvetadze/RUS
...after bursting onto the tour forefront in 2006-07, during which she won six titles, was a slam semifinalist and climbed to #5 in the rankings, Chakvetadze has traveled a very rocky road, losing her former luster on the court after suffering through the lingering effects of a psyche-beating home invasion in Moscow off it. At Wimbledon, after having appeared on the right track toward something better, she went out rather meekly to Serena, and it was difficult to not be discouraged. Last week in Portoroz, though, that all changed. At least for the moment. There, Chakvetadze not only won her first tour title in nearly two and a half years (Paris in February '08), but she also reached the doubles final with Marina Erakovic and made her way through the singles field in all sorts of ways that might signal that she's turned some sort of proverbial corner. From a pair of scrappy wins (coming from a set down to win a 7-5 3rd against Vera Dushevina, and rebounding from a love 1st set vs. Polona Hercog in the SF) to a trio of dominating ones (4 &1 vs. Ekaterina Makarova, 1 & 2 wins over Sara Errani and then Johanna Larsson in the final), Chakvetadze made the #103 ranking she carried into Slovenia look like the odd bird that it SHOULD be. It's Chakvetadze's eighth career title, and there's once again hope it won't be her last.
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RISERS: Julia Goerges/GER & Timea Bacsinszky/SUI
...on the heals of winning a $100K challenger on the ITF circuit, Goerges carried over her momentum and won a $220K tour event. Not that the weather made things easy for her in Bad Gastein. After reaching the SF with victories over Klara Zakopalova, Mariya Koryttseva and Anastasia Pivovarova (a tight 6-4/6-7/6-4 match), rain pushed her semifinal meeting with Alize Cornet to Sunday. No matter, she simply defeated the Pastry 6-1/6-4, then took out Timea Bacsinszky by the same score in the final to grab her first career tour singles crown. Speaking of Bacsinszky, Bad Gastein was her second career singles final. She reached the doubles final with Tathiana Garbin, too, but failed to win a third straight title this quarter with the Italian vet when the pair lost to Lucie Hradecka and Anabel Medina-Garrigues.
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SURPRISE: Johanna Larsson/SWE
...after being a productive player in Fed Cup and ITF action in the past, the 21-year old Swede finally saw her success translate to WTA accomplishment in Portoroz. She reached her first career tour final after notching wins over Sofia Arvidsson, Maria Elena Camerin, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Ksenia Pervak.
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COMEBACK: Alize Cornet/FRA
...Cornet hasn't exactly been lighting up the tour in '10, but she's most definitely shown signs of fighting back from her truly disappointing performance over the course of the '09 season. Her latest result-to-admire came in Bad Gastein, where she reached the SF after getting wins over Arantxa Rus, Patricia Mayr and defending champ/#1 seed Andrea Petkovic. Hmmm, I sense a "Buy" order going out for the Pastry for '11 when next season's "stock tips" are posted in these parts.
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VETERAN: Yvonne Meusburger/AUT & Anabel Medina-Garrigues/ESP
...Austria's Meusburger reached her first SF of the season in Bad Gastein, taking out Anastasiya Sevastova and both parts of what turned out to be the tournament's doubles championship winning duo -- Hradecka and AMG. For her part, Medina-Garrigues was once again a non-factor in singles. That 1st Round loss to Meusburger puts in serious jeopardy her ability to extend her streak of consecutive seasons with at least one WTA singles titles to seven seasons before the end of 2010 (only Maria Sharapova's current eight-year streak is longer in all of women's tennis). But while AMG's singles career might be waning, her doubles career is picking up steam. Her Portoroz title with Hradecka gives her three for the season, each with a different partner (she earlier won with Iveta Benesova and Sorana Cirstea).
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FRESH FACES: Ksenia Pervak/RUS & Heather Watson/GBR
...Hordette Pervak seems to be making quick strides as she plays more and more on the regular tour. The 19-year old reached her first career WTA SF in Portoroz, getting wins over the likes of Dominika Cibulkova and Anastasiya Yakimova. Unfortunately, she was forced to retire from her SF match against Larsson. Meanwhile, Britain's Watson salted away a $25K challenger title in Wrexham, GBR by getting a 6-2/6-4 win in the final over a very familar name -- Sania Mirza.
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DOWN: Petra Kvitova/CZE
...in her first match since losing to Serena in the Wimbledon SF, Kvitova was taken out 5 & 2 by Stefanie Voegele in the 1st Round in Portoroz. If this was just a case of "Kanepi Syndrome" (during which a player follows up a good result with a bad one and then immediately rebounds the following week), then Petra should be looking forward to getting well this week in Istanbul.
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ITF PLAYER: Mathilde Johansson/FRA
...three of the $100K challengers contested so far in 2010 have taken place in July, and Johansson won the last of the trio this weekend in Petange, Luxembourg. A straight sets win in the final over Monica Niculescu gives MoJo two circuits titles this season.
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JUNIOR STAR: Jana Cepelova/SVK
...the Slovak teen won the Grade B1 European Junior Championships in Klosters, Switzerland, taking out Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino 6-2/6-3 in the final. She swept the doubles, as well, winning the title with the wonderfully-named Chantal Skamlova.
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1. Porto 2nd Rd - Yakimova d. Jankovic
...1-6/6-3/1-0 ret. JJ went into Slovenia looking to answer questions about her Wimbledon back injury, and went out raising new ones after turning her ankle when leading Yakimova 6-1/2-1. Seven games later, she retired from the match (and pulled out of the doubles SF). She's says she's fine, but a late summer full of QC drama would seem to be in the air.
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2. Porto Final - Chakvetadze d. Larsson
...6-2/6-2. Although her reputation for faltering in big moments has lingered in recent seasons, the Russian Doll is still an impressive 8-1 in career tour singles finals.
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3. BG Final - Goerges d. Bacsinszky
...6-1/6-4. #52 Goerges was the highest-ranked of the weekend's eight semifinalists. A year after Germany's Petkovic won her first career title in the Fatherland, her countrywomen kept up with the new tradition.
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4. Istanbul Q2 - Kr.Pliskova d. Pavlovic 6-3/2-6/7-6
Istanbul Q2 - Domachowska d. Ka.Pliskova 1-6/6-0/7-6
...the sisters are finally going their separate ways, as far a avoiding those in-lockstep same-round results from a few months back. Kristyna qualified by winning a 3rd set tie-break, while Karolina didn't qualify because she lost one.
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5. $50K Lexington Final - Kurumi Nara d. Stephanie Dubois
...6-4/6-4. The Japanese teenager also notched wins over North Americans Rebecca Marino and Alison Riske.
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6. $10K Brasilia Final - Paula Ormaechea d. Ana-Clara Duarte
...3-6/7-6/7-6. The Argentine teenager has three ITF titles this season.
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7. $10K Casablanca Final - Ons Jabeur d. Anna Morgina
...7-5/6-3. The Tunisian junior star also won the doubles with Katarina Baranova.
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8. $10K Evansville Final - Gabriela Paz d. Chichi Scholl
...6-4/6-0. You know, I've always thought we needed a "Chichi" on tour... and, then, voila! Of note, the very fresh Paz was fortunate enough to get walkover wins in both the QF (Amanda McDowell) and SF (Madison Keys).
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9. BG 1st Rd - Zahlavova d. Zahlavova-Strycova
...7-5/6-3. BZS didn't last long in Bad Gastein after reaching her first career tour final a few days earlier in Prague.
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10. $10K Knokke Final - Angelique van der Meet d. Sofie Oyen
...6-2/6-0. This is the second straight week that Waffle Oyen reached a challenger final in Belgium, only to fail to claim the crown.
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**LOWEST-RANKED 2010 WTA CHAMPIONS**
#143 - Mariana Duque-Marino, COL (Bogota)
#103 - ANNA CHAKVETADZE, RUS (PORTOROZ)
#100 - Ekaterina Makarova, RUS (Eastbourne)
#74 - Anastasiya Sevastova, LAT (Estoril)
#67 - Iveta Benesova, CZE (Fes)
#65 - JULIA GOERGES, GER (BAD GASTEIN)

**WTA TITLES - RUSSIANS**
[all-time]
22...Maria Sharapova (2003-10)
16...Elena Dementieva (2003-10)
12...Dinara Safina (2002-09)
12...Svetlana Kuznetsova (2002-09)
10...Vera Zvonareva (2003-10)
10...Anastasia Myskina (1999-05)
9...Nadia Petrova (2005-08)
9...Olga Morozova (1969-75)
8...ANNA CHAKVETADZE (2006-10)
[2010]
2 - Elena Dementieva (Sydney/Paris)
2 - Maria Sharapova (Memphis/Strasbourg)
1 - ANNA CHAKVETADZE (PORTOROZ)
1 - Alisa Kleybanova (Kuala Lumpur)
1 - Ekaterina Makarova (Eastbourne)
1 - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Monterrey)
1 - Vera Zvonareva (Pattya)

**2010 FIRST-TIME FINALISTS - BY NATION**
3 - GERMANY (Barrois, Goerges-W, Kerber)
2 - Russia (Kleybanova-W, Pavlyuchenkova-W)
1 - Colombia (Duque-Marino-W)
1 - Latvia (Sevastova-W)
1 - Romania (Halep)
1 - Slovenia (Hercog)
1 - Spain (Parra-Santonja)
1 - SWEDEN (Larsson)

EIGHT CAREER TITLES - ACTIVE
(w/ season of last title)
ANNA CHAKVETADZE, RUS (2010)
Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (2009)
Ana Ivanovic, SRB (2008)

**BEST 2010 FINAL WIN PCT - NATIONS**
1.000 - (2-0) France, Hungary
1.000 - (1-0) Colombia, Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine
0.714 - (5-2) Belgium
0.692 - (9-4) Russia
0.571 - (4-3) United States

**SINGLES/DOUBLES FINAL IN SAME EVENT**
[JULY]
Wimbledon - Vera Zvonareva, RUS (L/L)
Bastad - Gisela Dulko, ARG (L/W)
Prague - Agnes Szavay, HUN (W/L)
PORTOROZ - ANNA CHAKVETADZE, RUS (W/L)
BAD GASTEIN - TIMEA BACSINSZKY, SUI (L/L)

**2010 $100K CHALLENGER FINALS**
Feb - MIDLAND: Elena Baltacha/GBR d. Lucie Hradecka/CZE
Apr - JOHANNESBURG: Nina Bratchikova/RUS d. Tamarine Tanasugarn/THA
May - CAGNES-SUR-MUR: Kaia Kanepi/EST d. Masa Zec-Peskiric/SLO
Jun - MARSEILLE: Klara Zakopalova/CZE d. Johanna Larsson/SWE
Jul - CUNEO: Romina Oprandi/ITA d. Pauline Parmentier/FRA
Jul - BIARRITZ: Julia Goerges/GER d. Sophie Ferguson/AUS
Jul - PETANGE: Mathilde Johansson/FRA d. Monica Niculescu/ROU





STANFORD, CALIFORNIA (Premier $700K/hard outdoor)
09 Final: Bartoli d. V.Williams
10 Top Seeds: Stosur/Dementieva
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=SF=
#4 Bartoli d. #1 Stosur
Sharapova d. Peer
=FINAL=
Sharapova d. Bartoli

...with so many apparent questions swirling around many of the potential U.S. Open contenders, who'll step into the breach and make themselves a name to watch? Well, winning Stanford doesn't necessarily portend great things in New York, but kicking off the North American hard court season on a high note surely isn't something to shrug off, either. Top-seeded Stosur has no history of success at Flushing Meadows, and only a marginal confidence-building past in the events leading up to the Open. In her first event back since being drummed out of the 1st Round in Wimbledon by Kaia Kanepi, she faces potential roadblocks of '09 U.S. semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer (QF) and '09 Stanford champ Bartoli (SF). Bartoli herself doesn't have things easy: Kleybanova/Ivanovic in the 2nd Round, then Azarenka/Wozniak in the QF. I'll stick with La Trufflette to at least re-live some of her Stanford glory from a season ago. Meanwhile, with Elena Dementieva in her first action since Roland Garros, her form/health is a wild guess. She could face Dinara Safina (ditto on the form/health thing) in the 2nd Round. Lurking in the bottom half, though, is the unseeded Sharapova. She's made progress with her health, game and results this season, but she's still looking for a "supernovic" breakthrough moment that will erase the lingering doubts about whether or not she's REALLY an Open contender. A win here would be a huge step in that direction. I'm not sure I truly believe it'll happen this week, but in the absence of any other better options I'll go with her anyway.


ISTANBUL, TURKEY (Int'l $220K/hard outdoor)
09 Final: Dushevina d. Hradecka
10 Top Seeds: Schiavone/Kvitova
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=SF=
Vesnina d. #1 Schiavone
#2 Kvitova d. Amanmuradova
=FINAL=
#2 Kvitova d. Vesnina

...did anyone REALLY think Serena was going to play this event? I'm just sayin', skipping out on the trip might be something you'd have an unnecessary surgery just to avoid. Maybe, you know? I'll go with Kvitova to win a title for the second straight week, even after being burned after doing so last week. But, hey, if Kanepi can bomb out in her first post-Wimbledon event and then win the next, why can't the woman who beat her at the All-England Club do exactly the same? Although, I'll admit that going with Vesnina to win her first title here is very enticing. But, no. I just can't do it. As for Amanmuradova in the SF... well, this is the sort of small event in a far off land in which she sometimes makes her best run of the season, so I'll take a flier on her over the likes of Schnyder and/or Pavlyuchenkova in that section.

All for now.

Read more...

Wk.28- Random Musings of the Backspinner Mind

Hey, isn't everyone SUPPOSED to be preparing for the U.S. Open?

(Relax, Serena. I'm not talking about you. Love ya! Have a good summer.)

Yes, here we go. Another week to skim the surface before things start to theoretically "mean something" again when the tour shifts to North America. Hey, if the WTA can slip in clay court events between the grass court and hard court seasons, then I can surely do another post filled to the brim with "random spins," right?

So, here it goes:

Well, Serena Williams announced that she'll have surgery on her foot after stepping on broken glass at a restaurant, missing the WTT season (need I even say it?) and the three WTA events she was scheduled to play prior to the U.S. Open. Naturally, questions were immediately raised about the validity of the non-slam tournament averse Williams' injury. Could the surgery be "cosmetic" (she was seen with a band-aid on the top of her foot recently), and thereby "legit," but simply elective and not necessarily something that would prevent her from playing? Some have outright accused her of faking. You know what, though? Who cares?

When the WTA instituted its "Road Map" schedule, complete with all sorts of tournament-entering requirements from top players and various hurdles that have to be cleared in order to get a "permission slip" from the school doctor that says a player REALLY IS sick/injured/bored/out of touch/angry at the world in order to avoid fines and sanctions, it was pretty clear that players were either going to dance around injury/surgery rules and/or attend those forced-upon-them events and "strangely" lose in the 1st Round. I predicted it then, and it happens all the time. What do you expect when a tour that talks about shortening the season and limiting activity for young players mandates that top players play events that they might not want to or should not enter, in their opinion? If they can't manage their schedule the way they want to, either their play will suffer, they'll be injured, or they'll do what they wish and whistle as they walk past the WTA principal's open office door. If she'd managed her career the way the WTA wished that she would have all these years, Serena's (and Venus') playing days would have likely ended long ago.

Good for Serena. She's never been one to be dictated to, and she never will. If this were any other (cough cough... men's) sport, Williams would be commended for taking her career into her own hands, focusing on the events that she wishes to, and lauded simply for being the best in the world at what she does. No questions asked. But it's women's tennis, so people pick like a gaggle of crows on roadkill. Even the female athlete who's the most "respected" by the general worldwide sporting public isn't immune.

No matter. She'll still be the overwhelming favorite at the U.S. Open.
Hmmm, maybe I wasn't ALL wrong a few years ago about Agnes Szavay possibly being a Top 10er one day. At this point, I'd settle for Top 20 and call it a "hit."
As for Nicole Vaidisova, the newly-minted Mrs. Stepanek? Ummm, let's see, how to state this without sounding like a cynical jerk? Now that the loving couple are newlyweds, should we start the countdown clock now for when this stage of the Czech's life ends and, alone against the world, she embarks on her tennis comeback? What do you give it before the clock hits 00:00? Twelve months? Nine? Call Jack Bauer... I hear he has some time on his hands.
Note to self: trust in Kaia Kanepi's ability to "move on," rather than point at a single 1st Round hiccup in Bastad and raise an eyebrow.
Alberto Contador. His racing tactics might be "unsportsmanlike," but people used to say that about a certain Belgian when she single-mindedly skirted sporting etiquette in order to solidy a position atop her sport. Seriously, though, how random is it that a single thrown bike chain might decide a three-week long cycling race?
Szavay's title in Prague makes her the ninth player tied for the 2010 tour lead with two titles on the season. Another sixteen women have one title each.
I can't believe another "Project Runway" season is about to begin. Didn't one just end? On the other end of the spectrum... the more I see of/hear from Kristen on "Big Brother" the more I like her. I'm still sticking with my pre-show pick of Ragan to win. Britney MUST go soon, though!
With Kanepi's title in Palermo adding Estonia to the list, seventeen different countries have produced WTA singles champions this season. There were twenty countries represented throughout all of 2009.
While most of the Top 10/20 has been resting up the past two weeks (or worse, playing in the WTT), Flavia Pennetta has played two CLAY events and notched nine matches. Even Francesca Schiavone didn't see fit to sneak in a few red dirt tournaments. I can understand Madame Butterfly playing Palermo, as it's in Italy and she was the defending champ. But why Bastad, too? After all, she was tied for #2 in the U.S. Open Series race last season, won in L.A., reached the semis in Cincinnati and New Haven, then made the Open QF. Might she be flirting with tiring out and hitting a wall before she arrives in New York? Generally, a flirting Pennetta might be looked upon as a welcome thing, but this is a whole different kettle of fish.
Is it wrong to think that Jelena Dokic might still have one more QF-or-better result in a slam in her?
Ahh, another major title list that may or may not mean anything. After so many years of weighing Roger Federer's slam total (16) vs. that of Tiger Woods (14), might it now be appropriate to weigh Serena's (13) against the golfer who may or may not win another anytime soon?
So, when does Stephen Strasburg pitch again? Donovan McNabb... in two weeks you're "it" in the D.C. game of sports tag. Ovie... be prepared to step in from the wings.
And, finally, a quick Top 10 countdown for "Ms. Backspin," as of today:

1. Serena Williams
2. Italian Fed Cup Team
3. Francesca Schiavone
4. Samantha Stosur
5. Venus Williams
6. American Fed Cup Team
7. Williams/Williams
8. Justine Henin
9. Vera Zvonareva
10. Dulko/Pennetta
HM- Barbie

Waiting impatiently for the hardcourters...

Sincerely,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Backspinner

*WEEK 28 CHAMPIONS*

PALERMO, ITALY (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoors)
S: Kaia Kanepi def. Flavia Pennetta 6-4/6-3
D: Brianti/Errani d. Craybas/Goerges

PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoor)
S: Agnes Szavay def. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova 7-5/7-6
D: Bacsinszky/Garbin d. Niculescu/Szavay


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Agnes Szavay/HUN
...back during her breakthrough '07 season, Szavay showed herself to be a player who could string together several good results when her confidence level was high. But before she followed up her Budapest crown with a win in Prague this weekend, she'd never managed to win back-to-back titles. Wins over Iveta Benesova, Polona Hercog, Lucie Hradecka and Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova notched the Hungarian her fifth career title and a nice head of steam going into the same hard court schedule during which Szavay bore a striking resemblance to a player on the move three years ago.
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RISERS: Kaia Kanepi/EST & Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova/CZE
...in her third career final, but first since '08, Kanepi put away her first career tour title in Palermo. Just weeks after blowing five match points for a berth in the Wimbledon SF, Kanepi proved herself right about being able to get over the disappointment pretty quickly. Wins over Rossana de los Rios, Ioana-Raluca Olaru, Sara Errani, Romina Oprandi and top-seeded/defending champ Flavia Pennetta in the final were enough to push her ranking up to #36, but still only half-way to matching her career-best of #18 from May '09. Meanwhile, Zahlavova-Strycova finally reached her first career tour singles final quite a few years after she'd followed up a great junior career (she was Girls #1 in '02, won two Australian Open junior crowns and three Girls Doubles crowns at Oz, RG and Wimbledon) by ending '04 on the cusp of the Top 50 at age 18. Things haven't gone as well since, but the Czech has steadily moved back up the singles rankings the last few seasons while maintaining a strong doubles presence on tour -- she recently reached a career-high doubles ranking. Since that #56 finish in '04, her year-end singles ranks read like a business growth chart that any CEO would envy: #142 to #164 to #156 to #76 to #69. And her latest rank is #39, a new career high. In Prague, BZS strung together wins over Andrea Hlavackova, Ksenia Pervak, Johanna Larsson and Patty Schnyder.
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SURPRISE: Romina Oprandi/ITA
...back in '06, the Swiss-born Italian put together a result in Rome that is, in retrospect, even more stunning now than it was at the time. In the then-Tier I event, Oprandi qualified, upset the likes of Kateryna Bondarenko, Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva (6-0/6-1 !!), then held match point against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the QF in a match she eventually lost in a 3rd set tie-break. She finished the '06 season at #46, the only year in which Oprandi has finished inside the Top 200. Outside of some decent ITF results, she hasn't been heard from too much since that great spring week in Rome. But after returning from missing most of '08 with an injury, she's been slowly rising once again. Last week in Palermo, she finally reached that tour singles SF that eluded her four years ago in Italy. Wins over Karolina Sprem and Aravane Rezai highlighted a run that moved her up to #80 in the rankings today. Still a far cry from where she once WAS, but way more than a short distance from where she's been.
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COMEBACK: Patty Schnyder/SUI
...is Sneaky Patty sneaking back into the picture? Well, at least into the background of a photo featuring other players (Patty's probably the one putting up some rabbit ears behind Henin's head)? Either that, or she just REALLY likes July. After reaching the Budapest final for the second year in a row last year, Schnyder gots wins over Anna Tatishvili and Alize Cornet to reach the SF in Prague this weekend.
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VETERAN: Tathiana Garbin/ITA
...in Palermo, the 33-year old Italian won her second doubles crown in two weeks with 21-year old Timea Bacsinszky. The pair won last week in Budapest, as well.
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FRESH FACES: Timea Babos/HUN & Maryna Zanevska/UKR
...Babos went to the $25K event in Woking, Great Britain and broke a few hearts, including those of Sania Mirza (6-4/6-4 in the 2nd Rd.), Laura Robson (7-6 in the 3rd in the QF) and Katie O'Brien (7-5/6-4 in the final). It's the Hungarian teen's second challenger title of the season. Meanwhile, 16-year old Ukrainian Zanevska, a product of Henin and Carlos Rodriguez's tennis academy, won a $25K ITF event in Zwevegen, Belgium. After getting wins over Yulia Fedossova and Richel Hogenkamp, she defeated Waffle Sofie Oyen 7-6/6-1 in the final.
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DOWN: Tsvetana Pironkova/BUL
...that Wimbledon SF was nice, but if it's going to be followed up by a series of 2nd Round losses to the likes of Jill Craybas, after winning the 1st set (as happened in Palermo last week), then it'll only go down as a single great result from a player good enough to get a few big wins on occasion, but just bad enough to have never been able to secure a consistent weekly place in the Top 100. With her SW19 points with her for a year, Pironkova will have a chance to build upon her recent success, but it's no sure thing. After all, it says a great deal about her lack of consistent results that after her 2nd Round loss in Italy, she still managed to go UP in the rankings, from #35 to #34.
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ITF PLAYER: Jelena Dokic/AUS
...finally, she stirs in 2010. It took nearly seven full months, but Dokic managed to prove last week that she hasn't yet drifted off into the WTA ether for the last time, never to be heard from again. In Contrexeville, France, Dokic won a $50K challenger event with a 4-6/6-3/6-1 win over '10 ITF force Olivia Sanchez in the final. It's Dokic's first title since she won a $100K tournament last October. Not only that, but she also reached the doubles final with Sharon Fichman, just missing out on her first singles/doubles title sweep since she did it in a WTA event in Sarasota in '02, as the pair lost in a 3rd set super-tiebreak.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Daria Salnikova/RUS
...another week, yet another Hordette. Again. 16-year Salnikova won her first career G1 junior crown by claiming an event in Linz, defeating Slovak Viktoria Malova 6-3/6-3 in the final. Of note, she also defeated Charlene Seateun 6-2/6-0 in the SF. One round earlier, Seateun had crushed #1 seed Yulia Putintseva 6-1/6-0 in the QF.
=============================


1. Prague Final - Szavay d. Zahlavova-Strycova
...6-2/1-6/6-2. A sign that Szavay has finally found a trail of breadcrumbs leading her ALL the way out of dark WTA forest?
=============================
2. Palermo 2nd Rd - Craybas d. Pironkova
...2-6/6-2/6-2. (Shakes head. Throws up hands.)
=============================
3. Palermo Final - Kanepi d. Pennetta
...6-4/6-3. Kanepi is so far the only woman to win 2010 singles titles on both the WTA and ITF (two, including a $100K challenger in Cagnes-Sur-Mur) tours.
=============================
4. Prague 1st Rd - Larsson d. Ka.Pliskova 6-4/6-4
Prague 1st Rd - Medina-Garrigues d. Kr.Pliskova 6-1/6-3
Prague Doubles 1st Rd - Jans/Rosolska d. Pliskova/Pliskova 6-7/6-4/12-10
...what is this, the Roland Garros juniors?
=============================
5. Palermo Q1 - Caregaro d. Karatantcheva 6-4/6-3
Portoroz Q1 - Fedak d. Karatantcheva 6-2/6-1
...Sesil seems to be badly backsliding of late. I'll play Pam Shriver here for a moment, and say that I'd never seen Caregaro's name before that match.
=============================
HM- $25K Bogota Final - Paula Ormaechea d. Julia Cohen
...7-5/6-1. The 17-year old Argentine won her second challenger title of the season. She swept through town by claiming the doubles crown, too.
=============================
HM- $25 Darmstedt Final - Vitalia Diatchenko d. Julia Schruff
...6-4/5-7/6-4. The 19-year Hordette with the very unorthodox forehand grip also took out ITF season title-winning leader Madalina Gojnea in the SF in straight sets.
=============================


**LONG 2010 MATCH WIN STREAKS**
15...Venus Williams, February-April
11...Yanina Wickmayer, January (also 1 '09 win)
11...Samantha Stosur, April-May (w/ 2 FC wins)
10...Serena Williams, January-May
10...AGNES SZAVAY, JULY-CURRENT

**2010 FIRST-TIME CHAMPIONS**
Bogota - Mariana Duque-Marino, COL (age 20)
Kuala Lumpur - Alisa Kleybanova, RUS (age 20)
Monterrey - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (age 18)
Estoril - Anastasiya Sevastova, LAT (age 20)
Eastbourne - Ekaterina Makarova, RUS (age 22)
PALERMO - KAIA KANEPI, EST (age 25)

**MOST CONSECUTIVE...**
[WTA Finals]
3 - Venus Williams (Dubai + Acapulco + Miami), February-April (also in exhib. final)
2 - Justine Henin (Brisbane + Australian Open), January
2 - Serena Williams (Sydney + Australian Open), January (also ended '09 w/ a final)
2 - Samantha Stosur (Charleston + Stuttgart), April-May
2 - AGNES SZAVAY (BUDAPEST + PRAGUE), JULY
[WTA Titles]
2...Venus Williams, USA (Dubai/Acapulco)
2...AGNES SZAVAY, HUN (BUDAPEST/PRAGUE)

**2010 - DEFEATED TOP SEED & DEFENDING CHAMPION**
[won title]
KAIA KANEPI - PALERMO (def. #1/DC Pennetta in Final)
[didn't win title]
Aravane Rezai, Eastbourne (def. #1/DC Wozniacki in 1st Round, lost in 2nd Round)

**2010 CLAY COURT TITLES**
2...Aravane Rezai, FRA
2...Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2...AGNES SZAVAY, HUN

**2010 SEMIFINALISTS - BY NATION**
15...Russia
13...Italy
11...United States
10...Czech Republic
9...Belgium

**2010 - OLDEST WTA DOUBLES TITLISTS**
39 - Rennae Stubbs, AUS (Eastbourne)
36 - Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP (Warsaw)
36 - Lisa Raymond, USA (Birmingham/Eastbourne)
33 - Liezel Huber, USA (Auckland/Sydney/Charleston)
33 - TATHIANA GARBIN, ITA (BUDAPEST/PRAGUE)





PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA (Int'l $220K/hard outdoor)
09 Final: Safina d. Errani
10 Top Seeds: Jankovic/Kvitova
=============================
=SF=
#3 Pavlyuchenkova d. #1 Jankovic
#2 Kvitova d. #4 Errani
=FINAL=
#2 Kvitova d. #3 Pavlyuchenkova

... we should find out a little about JJ's back injury this week in the first hard court event of the 3Q. I should probably pick her to get past Pavlyuchenkova, but I'll hedge my bets. Either way, I'd still go with Kvitova to win the title, though.


BAD GASTEIN, GERMANY (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoor)
09 Final: Petkovic d. Olaru
10 Top Seeds: Petkovic/Bacsinszky
=============================
=SF=
#1 Petkovic d. Goerges
#8 Sevastova d. #6 Zahlavova-Strycova
=FINAL=
#1 Petkovic d. #8 Sevastova

...the legit North American hard court season begins next week in Stanford. Finally. But there's still another clay court event to slog throug-... err, I mean predict with very little hope of being correct. Petkovic won last year, and she's the #1 seed this time aorund. So, why not? (Hmmm... famous last words, I suspect.)


All for now.

Read more...

On Second Thought...

The "good ol' days." Ah, I remember them fondly. Back then, we were all so much younger than today. Our naive visions of the future were glorious. Everything seemed possible, and greatness decidedly probable. The best days were yet to come.

You remember those days, don't you? You should -- they took place about seven months ago.

Back then, with the Williams Sisters fully committed once again, both Belgians back for full seasons for the first time since 2006, Maria Sharapova back from shoulder surgery and a slew of former #1's and new young stars vying for attention, the WTA in 2010 looked as if it might have something "special" on the immediate horizon.

Now, with the season at it's "unofficial" half-way point, give or take a few weeks, rather than be punctuated by a series of classic push-and-pull moments between some of the best players of the past decade all finally in action and in top form for the first time in years, the '10 campaign has instead been something of an undistinguished hodgepodge in which it has been a rare occasion when more than one of those top players have been at the top of their games at the same moment. When the season began with a near-classic all-Belgian encounter in Brisbane in Week 1, then was followed up with the first ever meeting in a slam final between Serena Williams and Justine Henin in Melbourne, the thought was that it was the zippy prelude to what would be the most competitive season in WTA history, if not THE best season ever. The fingerprints for greatness were everywhere.

Oh, well. I guess you can't win 'em all.

Little did we know that that first month would turn out to possibly be the highlight of the entire year. After nearly seven months of action, the season has so far been marked by Serena's continued slam dominance, a few nice surprises (Francesca Schiavone in Paris, unseeded slam semifinalists), major disappointments (most of the Russians, plus Venus and the Belgians in the slams) and the overall lingering inconsistencies of all those future Hall of Fame players who were supposed to come together all at once to produce a brilliant series of dramatic clashes.

With just one slam remaining, and with Henin likely to miss it with an elbow injury, the window is now very small for anything to occur that would mark 2010 as anything resembling the "greatest-ever" season it had the potential to be. After the Open is complete, with the race for the year-end #1 ranking pretty much already over before the heart of summer arrives, the same inner visions that dreamt of so many great moments in '10 will begin to consider 2011 as the new potential battleground for greatness, as the tiny little imaginary director in our collective mind's eye will shout out with lingering hope, "Take Two."

Speaking of Take Two... with such a large chunk of the season now complete, I thought it'd be a good time to take a look back at some of those pre-season predictions I made about 2010 and, with the benefit of hindsight, attempt to make slight adjustments to some of them.

ORIGINAL TOP 10 PICKS: Victoria Azarenka, Belgian Barbie, Elena Dementieva, Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Samantha Stosur, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki (extras: Svetlana Kuznetsova & Vera Zvonareva)

As it's turned out, going with an alphabetical listing of ten players was a far better idea than actually doing a #1-through-#10 ranking. It avoided another case of the "Kuznetsova Curse" coming down hard on the head of some unsuspecting WTA player (the same can't be said for the ATP, as my out-on-a-limb #1 pick Juan Martin del Potro saw his season dissolve into nothingness with a wrist injury in the early going... ummm, sorry, guy) and, better yet, the picks turned out pretty well, too. Though it's probably not likely, there's still an outside chance that ALL ten players might end up in the year-end Top 10. If one or two slip out, "extra" pick Zvonareva could find her way in. Really, the only "outright miss" there would seem to be Victoria Azarenka, who was the last player in/first player out when I finalized my group of ten picks.

Aside from the likelihood that the surprise Roland Garros champ will end up in the Top 10 in November, I don't have too many changes to make with these picks. Here's how things would seem to stack up at this point:

*MID-SEASON YEAR END TOP 10 PICKS - alphabetical order*
[confidence level: high]
This group of four seem like pretty safe bets.

Jelena Jankovic, SRB: she's currently ranked #2, and the only great results she'll have to defend are her Cincinnati title and Tokyo RU (she lost in the 2nd Round in the Open). Her Wimbledon back injury is something to consider, but as long as her's isn't a Safina-esque situation she should be able to improve upon her #8 ranking in 2009 by possibly returning to the Top 5.
Samantha Stosur, AUS: easily my best pre-season pick. A year-end Top 5 rank is now within her grasp. The last Australian-born woman to finish a season in the Top 10 was Wendy Turnbull in 1984 (Jelena Dokic was representing Yugoslavia in '01-'02 when she achieved her best year-end ranks, while Czech-born Hana Mandlikova briefly played under the Aussie flag in '87 in her final Top 10 year).
Serena Williams, USA: with or without a third '10 slam title in New York, she's poised to become the first woman to hold onto the top ranking for an entire season since Steffi Graf did it in 1994.
Venus Williams, USA: much like Elena Dementieva in '09, Venus has been consistent and sometimes-fabulous over the course of the season, but put up disappointing results in the slams. She can still finish with her best year-end ranking since '02, when she was #2.

[confidence level: moderate]
Assuming that nothing catastrophic happens to this group, even though two are currently ranked outside at #13 and #15, forward progress and/or average results would seem to insist that they'll be able to secure a place in the Top 10.

Justine Henin, BEL: she's out for the rest of the summer, but won't lose any ranking points since she has none to defend. She'll probably move up in the rankings while not playing. Assuming she comes back after the Open and continues to play up to the same "good" (by everyone else's standards) level that she has so far, securing a place in the season-ending championships (she's at #5 in the points race as of now), Henin will easily be a Top 10er again.
Francesca Schiavone, ITA: probably more people thought she might be retired after '10 than end up in the year-end Top 10. She has yet to have a good result since, but her RG title has provided her with enough points that even if she doesn't do much the rest of the season she should at least be able to hold onto a spot from #8-10. Although, with her ranking currently at #8, her results can't completely fall off the board.
Maria Sharapova, RUS: at #15, she has some work to do (starting with re-securing her points from her '09 title in Tokyo and Toronto runner-up), but if her shoulder remains sound she should be able to continue to move up in the rankings. A SF-or-better result at the Open, her first in a slam since she won in Melbourne in '08, would more than tip the odds in her favor.
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN: she's still ranked a solid #4, but has her New Haven title and Open runner-up points to defend. She'll likely continue to play her too-heavy schedule, so she'll likely garner enough points to stay in the Top 10 if she has a frustrating summer run in North America.

[confidence level: umm, what day is this?]
There are good reasons both for and against why these players might qualify for the final two unclaimed spots in the Top 10.

Vera Zvonareva, RUS: currently #9, if Zvonareva can take her Wimbledon final run and use it to continue her climb back to her early '09 level of play, she should do well enough to be safe. But with the possibility of a re-injury of her ankle on the less-forgiving hard courts, not to mention that she might remember her Wimbledon finals losses more than all the wins that got her there, one can never be 100% sure that Zvonareva will prosper the rest of the season.
Belgian Barbie, BEL: at #7, Jada's Mom seems a safe Top 10er. But take away her U.S. Open title points and she's a big question mark. At the moment, she's only #13 in the season's points race. Her '10 slam results don't ensure anything close to a successful title defense, and the last time she won the Open she was injured in a tune-up and didn't play in NY again for years. If she rediscovers the desire to succeed on the courts of North America that she displayed last year when she had no pressure in the opening months of her comeback, she's in. If not, she's out. I'm not betting on the Belgian.
Elena Dementieva, RUS: not unlike many players approaching thirty (Serena excluded, of course) Dementieva has become very hard to figure out. She's just as likely to win a tournament as lose early. She's had success on the hard courts in America before, though, so as long as her calf injury is healed up she should be able to rebound.
Li Na, CHN: she can never be discounted, so I'll include the current world #10 here. But she's so inconsistent and injury-prone, I figure she'll find a way to end the year somewhere between #11-13.

...I'll go with Zvonareva and Dementieva to round out my updated year-end Top 10 picks.

[confidence level: low, but still hopeful]
A great run might get one of these back into the Top 10, but I'm not counting on it.

Victoria Azarenka, BLR: she wants her Top 10 ranking back, but might have to wait for '11 after seeing so much of her '10 season limited by lingering injuries that never allowed her to get any momentum.
Shahar Peer, ISR: a nice rebound season, but she's a long shot to reach the Top 10.
Flavia Pennetta, ITA: she has probably the best chance of anyone in this group.
Agnieszka Radwanska, POL: her days of hanging onto her Top 10 ranking by default (year-end #10 two years running) would seem to be over.
Aravane Rezai, FRA: a wild card, she just climbed back into the Top 20 with her title in Bastad. She's won on clay, and should have a chance to duplicate her success on the hard courts in America this summer, too. One U.S. Open Series title (or maybe two finals) and a second week run in Flushing Meadows could set her up with a chance to steal a Top 10 ranking in the season's final weeks.

...what about those early slam final picks?

*PRE-SEASON SLAM FINALS PREDICTIONS**
AO: S.Williams d. Henin
RG: Henin d. Zvonareva
WI: Williams d. Williams
US: Henin d. Barbie

...well, I hit Oz right on the nose. Picking Henin for Paris was something that just HAD to be done at the time. It didn't work out, though. I WAS just one slam early when it came to calling Zvonareva's first appearance in a slam final. I'll take that one. Naturally, picking a Williams (any Williams) at Wimbledon was an easy choice. In fact, I can go ahead and make that same pick now for 2011, too, and feel pretty confident that I'll be correct.

Obviously, the Henin/Barbie pick for the Open is probably a no-go, even if Justine is miraculously cured enough in time to play at Flushing Meadows. I'm not against Barbie reaching the final, though. So, I'll amend the pick a little:

US: S.Williams d. Sharapova or Barbie or Jankovic

...well, I feel confident about Serena. Her opponent could literally be almost anyone, though.

*PRE-SEASON FIRST-TIME CHAMPION PREDICTIONS**
NORTH AMERICA: Madison Keys (ITF), Christina McHale (ITF), Sloane Stephens (ITF/Jr.Slam)
SOUTH AMERICA: Rossana de los Rios
EUROPE: Dominika Cibulkova, Olga Govortsova, Kaia Kanepi, Anne Keothavong, Victoriya Kutuzova, Carla Suarez-Navarro
RUSSIA: Daria Gavrilova (Jr.Slam), Ekaterina Makarova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Yulia Putintseva (Jr.Slam)
ASIA/PACIFIC: Casey Dellacqua
AFRICA/MIDDLE EAST: -

...so far, I've gotten hits on tour titles by Pavlyuchenkova and Makarova, as well as a challenger win from Keys. I just missed on a few others: Stephens reached an ITF final (and two junior slam QF), while Govortsova and Suarez-Navarro were in WTA finals. Keothavong was in an early SF, Putintseva in the Wimbledon Girls SF, Gavrilova in the AO junior QF, and Cibulkova has notched two tour SF appearances. Meanwhile, Kanepi had five MP to reach the Wimbledon SF, and has won a $100K ITF challenger crown, the biggest title possible on the lower circuit.

*SECOND HALF FIRST-TIME CHAMPIONS PICKS*
...I'm still keeping hope alive for all those previous picks (some more than others, naturally) that haven't panned out, but I WILL give a shot at picking again. Here are my most likely first-time champs for each continent for what remains of the season.

NA: Sloane Stephens (Jr.Slam and/or ITF)
SA: Camila Silva (ITF)
EUR: Kaia Kanepi
RUS: Elena Vesnina (not much to choose from, really)
A/P: Jarmila Groth
AFR/ME: Nour Abbes/Ons Jabeur (ITF Doubles)

...ahh, fresh chances to be right, or wrong. What more could a Backspinner ask for?

All for now.

Read more...

Wk.27- Odds & Ends Between the Grass and New York City

With apologies to Alicia Keys...

"Ooohh New York
Ooohh New York

They'll comin' to a town that is famous as the place of movie scenes
Noise will always be loud, there are sirens all around
and the people in the stands are sometimes mean
But if they can make it there, they can make it anywhere, that's what they say
Seeing their face in lights or their name on scoreboard marquees found not far from Broadway

They're gonna make it by any means, They got a pocketful of dreams
Baby, They'll soon be in New York
New York, hard court jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' they can't do
They'll soon be in New York
Those blue-colored courts will make them feel brand new
Big lights will inspire, too
Let's hear it for New York, New York,
Just don't foot fault if you know what's good for you
Oooh New York
Oooh New York

New York, New York"

-- sort of from "Empire State of Mind" (Alicia Keys, 2009)

**MOST IMPORTANT**
[3Q hard courts]
Samantha Stosur, AUS: she reached a final and a SF during the U.S. Open Series a season ago. After her disappointing Roland Garros final and grass court campaign, Sam needs to at least sling a HC title in order to avoid being viewed as having already reached her season (career?) zenith.

Jelena Jankovic, SRB: QC nemesis Justine's not supposed to be around come Open time. If JJ can hold onto her #2 ranking she could be in good position for a deep run there. In order to do that, she's going to need to be on her game in North America and then enter the year's final slam with a head of steam. Winning the U.S. Open Series would be a nice goal to shoot for.

Victoria Azarenka, BLR: if she's going to get back into the Top 10 by season's end, Azarenka has to kick-start her results starting now.

[U.S. OPEN]
Serena Williams, USA: it's a slam, so Serena will come to play. Wanna bet the entire crowd goes silent and waits with bated breath the first time she foot faults in the tournament? Yeah, as if any linesperson will call a foot fault on her again. One well-timed smile and a wink from Serena and all will be forgiven and forgotten, if it hasn't already.

The Waffle Queen: that U.S. Open title last September, plus her matches with Justine Henin, have been the (only?) highlights of Blondie's comeback. Thing is, does winning again really matter to her?

Maria Sharapova, RUS: the Open has traditionally been Sharapova's best slam venue. Healthier and with more confidence than she's possessed in quite a while, can she be exquisite in the city once again?

Elena Dementieva, RUS: the reigning U.S. Open Series winner, Dementieva's slam appearances will ALWAYS be important until she is either no longer slam-less or hangs up her rackets for good. After the first Punch-Sober-less slam since 1998, her appearance in the Open will be career slam attempt #47.



**LEAST IMPORTANT**
[3Q hard courts]
Serena Williams, USA: it doesn't matter if she wins a tune-up (does she ever?). It's all about Flushing Meadows. A good, hard-fought close loss will do her just as much -- or more -- good as any Series title.

[U.S. OPEN]
Francesca Schiavone, ITA: isn't the Fed Cup final the only thing that really matters for the rest of her season?

Williams/Williams, USA: not that they'll skip the Open or anything, but with the calendar year Grand Slam now an impossibility one of those second week walkover exits re-enters the possibility equation.



**POISED FOR "GREATNESS"**
[3Q hard court]
Liezel Huber, USA or Cara Black, ZIM: the search for their first post-Her slam Doubles title continues. For her part, Huber still has a decent shot (well, likely better than Black's, at least) at ending the season as the sole top-ranked doubles player in the world. They won in Cincy (and reached the Open final) as a team last 3Q, and Huber's part-time teaming with Lindsay Davenport in Stanford and San Diego might provide an opportunity to hold onto some of those points.

Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP: somewhat surprisingly, they swept through Toronto and New Haven last season and left with a pair of titles.

[U.S. OPEN]
Serena Williams, USA: six titles in the last nine slams, anyone?

Jada's Defending Champion Mama: yep... backing up her '09 title with another would go a LONG way toward changing the what-she-hasn't-done-lately notion that that immediate post-comeback Open title was pretty flukey. But what are the chances THAT happens?

Vera Zvonareva, RUS: what better way to put away any lingering memories of the Pennetta match and that "bad tape job" from last year?

The Pliskova sisters, CZE: both are playing tour-level singles this week. If they're entered in the Girls competition come the Open, might they produce the first all-sister slam junior final? If either wins the Girls crown, she'd be the first two-time junior slam winner in a single season since Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in '06 (Azarenka did it in '05, as did Kirsten Flipkens in '03).



**READY TO TURN HEADS**
[3Q hard court]
Aravane Rezai, FRA: the hard-hitting, go-for-winners-from-anywhere game should translate to the hard courts without much effort. Her pre-North American clay success should stoke her confidence.

Lindsay Davenport, USA & Martina Hingis, SUI???: Davenport last won a tour doubles title early in the '08 season. She'll have a shot at another when she teams with Huber in Stanford and San Diego. Hingis is back this month in World Team Tennis action. After that, who knows?

[U.S. OPEN]
Petra Kvitova, CZE: the last Czech woman to reach the U.S. Open SF was Helena Sukova in 1993.



**HOLD YOUR HORSES**
[3Q hard court]
Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL: (checking watch, waiting to see how long until we know if Wimbledon meant anything or not)

[U.S. OPEN]
Samantha Stosur, AUS: you think her Wimbledon best-ever result of a single 3rd Round is disappointing? Well, Stosur's never advanced past the 2nd Round at Flushing Meadows, and is 1-6 in her last seven matches there.

Melanie Oudin, USA & Yanina Wickmayer, BEL: Oudin won't be the star of the Open at age 18 that she was at 17. Ever since she started experiencing elbow problems, Wickmayer's results have been scattershot. Maybe the '09 semifinalist will gather herself for another great run in Flushing Meadows that Pam Shriver will surely be right on top of this time around. I suspect Pam will tag the Belgian as a "player to watch" in the first week, just to avoid a sequel.

Caroline Wozniacki, DEN: the '09 runner-up, C-Woz entered the last two slams with diminished expectations due to her injury. She performed better than expected, but was ultimately ejected under a cloud of frustration. This time at the Open, she'll have higher expectations and something to lose.



**LURCHING TOWARD DISASTER?**
[3Q hard court]
Ana Ivanovic, SRB: AnaIvo won the U.S. Open Series in '06. My how things have changed.

Dinara Safina, RUS: how low can she go before the '08 U.S. Open Series winner finally begins to climb back? Will she be able to climb back? The Safin family is a resilient brood, albeit a frustrating and unpredictable one, as well.

[U.S. OPEN]
Basketball Brian's Wifey: hmmm, the last time she won in New York, she injured herself right before the Open and didn't return to defend her title the following year. Just something to think about.



=U.S. OPEN - POWER RANKINGS... from two months out=
1. Serena Williams: will F-bombs be raining down on Ashe again this year? Or will the rain be replaced by another reign. Ha, see how I did that there? Cool, huh? With Serena seeking some Big Apple redemption, she looks to be the axis upon which yet another slam will spin.
2. The Defending Champ: with expectations tagging along behind her, don't expect a repeat. The Belgian has resembled her old slam self ever since winning in NY. Still, of the people expected to attend, only Serena has more U.S. Open titles than she does.
3. Maria Sharapova: how much did she gain from pushing Serena at SW19 more than any other player?
4. Jelena Jankovic: can she slip in through the back door and make a move in a Justine-less Open?
5. Petra Kvitova: she sure looked like a potential more-than-once threat in London. We'll see.
6. Vera Zvonareva: can she block out the bad '09 memories?
7. Caroline Wozniacki: she might be starting to feel the pressure. At least a little.
8. Elena Dementieva: bless her heart, she's back for more.

Incompletes- Svetlana Kuznetsova & Dinara Safina: their talent says yes, but Safina's back and Kuznetova's attitude say no.
Wild Cards- Li Na & someone whose chances Pam Shriver dismissively pooh-poohs somewhere around the middle weekend: it's never wise to overlook Li. Hmmm, maybe if Shriver did, though, Li would become the first Chinese slam champion. If Shriver talks about a player with "under-the-radar" talent having no chance whatsoever of advancing past the first week, pencil her in for at least a QF result.

Lucky "14," here she comes?

*WEEK 27 CHAMPIONS*

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoors)
S: Agnes Szavay def. Patty Schnyder 6-2/6-4
D: Bacsinszky/Garbin d. Cirstea/Medina-Garrigues

BASTAD, SWEDEN (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoor)
S: Aravane Rezai def. Gisela Dulko 6-3/4-6/6-4
D: Dulko/Pennetta d. Voracova/Zahlavova-Strycova


PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Gisela Dulko/Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA
...I don't know if this is the first time that a doubles team has grabbed the regular POW award or not, but it's surely not a normal occurrence. The circumstances warrent it, though. And not just because the other choices were singles winners of two of the small red clay tounaments that are tucked safely away in the multi-week crevice between the too-short grass season (seriously, why not make the Newport Hall of Fame celebration an alternating event that allows the women to take center stage there every other year?) and the 3Q North American hard court stretch. Dulko and Pennetta's title in Bastad was their tour-leading fourth of the season, and seventh as a team. Dulko actually has five doubles titles in 2010, more than any other woman. Also, the two met in the singles semis, as well, with Dulko taking out the top-seeded Pennetta in two quick sets. Naturally, Dulko lost in the singles final, as she continues to cruelly tease me with success, then pull away at the last moment the possibility that my pre-season prediction of her pulling off a singles/doubles title sweep at some point this season will come true.
=============================
RISER: Aravane Rezai/FRA
...proving herself to be an all-surface threat in 2010, Rezai picked up her second clay title of the season with a win in Bastad. Her fourth career title, all coming in the last fourteen months, came with wins over the likes of the perpetually unpredictable Lucie Safarova and Dulko. With the victory, she's back in the Top 20 (so long, Svetlana... maybe we'll see you again at some point) and is going for another clay crown in Palermo this week.
=============================
SURPRISES: Ana Vrljic/CRO & Jamie Hampton/USA
...the 25-year old, #270-ranked Vrljic qualified in Bastad (highlighted by a win over the still-plugging-away-in-unfortunate-obscurity Elena Bovina) then put on a run to her first career tour QF. She notched victories over Angelique Kerber (who retired down 3-0 in the 3rd) and Arantaxa Rus before being forced to exit with an injury of her own in the 3rd set against Dulko (who'd built up a 5-0 lead). On the ITF circuit, Jamie Hampton continued to star. In Grapevine, Texas, I heard it through the gr... well, you know... that she won a $50K challenger to claim her third lower level title of the year. After wins over Anna Lapushchenkova and Beatrice Capra, Hampton took out Kurumi Nara 6-3/6-4 in the final.
=============================
COMEBACK??: Agnes Szavay/HUN
...back in 2007, Szavay looked like a player on the move. She reached three finals, winning two (retiring with the lead in the other). In early 2008, she was up to #13 in the rankings. After that, the bottom dropped out as she managed to lose to every qualifier and 1st Round opponent that the Draw Gods threw at her. Over the past two years, her results have at least worked their way out of their hide-your-eyes state, but she's struggled to come close to living up to the promise of three seasons ago. She HAS managed to regain her footing back home in Hungary, though. In 2009, the only SF-or-better result she had was her title run in Budapest. This weekend, with her first SF-or-better result since last July, she defended that title. She even repeated her win in the final over Patty Schnyder. Wins over Alize Cornet and Alexandra Dulgheru show her path to another final was no cakewalk, but whether or not her latest "bubble up" will result in a few more over the last half of the season is anyone's guess.
=============================
VETERANS: Patty Schnyder/SUI & Zuzana Ondraskova/CZE
...Sneaky Patty refuses to be totally written off. Over the past year, she's gone from a Top 20 player to someone fighting to remain in the Top 50 and causing her fans to wonder if the end is near. Arriving in Budapest as #56-and-falling in the world with her last SF-or better result coming with her runner-up result in the same tournament a year ago, she showed that her career hasn't yet turned onto the off-ramp of The White Mile. After upsetting top-seeded Alisa Kleybanova, then Polona Hercog and Zuzana Ondaskova, she lost in the final once again to Szavay. Speaking of Ondraskova, her trip to the SF was even more unexpected. The 30-year old Czech, #144 in the world, qualified in Budapest, and then notched main draw upsets of Sorana Cirstea, Roberta Vinci and Anabel Medina-Garrigues. A WTA singles champion in Prague back in 2005, this was Ondraskova's first QF result since 2006 in Estoril.
=============================
FRESH FACES: Alexandra Dulgheru/ROU & Madalina Gojnea/ROU
...Dulgheru didn't push through to the Budapest final, losing to Szavay in a close three-set SF, but she maintained her position as the Swarmette with the most to offer the tour at the moment (thanks to Cirstea's disappointing inconsistency in '10). The Romanian got singles wins over Sandra Zahlavova, Anna Chakvetadze and Anastasiya Sevastova, and also reached the doubles SF with Kleybanova. In ITF action, Dulgheru's countrywoman Gojnea reached the $25K Aschaffenburg final, where she defeated Carolina Garcia 6-1/6-0 to win her circuit-best fifth challenger title of the season.
=============================
DOWN: Kaia Kanepi/EST
...after blowing those five match points in the Wimbledon QF against Petra Kvitova, Kanepi said that she'd get over the disappointment pretty quickly. Hmmm. Well, in Bastad, she lost in her first match back since her collapse, dropping a 6-4/7-5 contest to Arantxa Parra-Santonja in the 1st Round. Over it yet? She's back in action this week, and won her 1st Round match in Palermo today.
=============================
ITF PLAYER: Julia Goerges/GER
...the German won the $100K Biarritz challenger over Aussie Sophie Ferguson, 6-2/6-2. She also got wins over Pauline Parmentier, Evgeniya Rodina and Stephanie Foretz en route to her first ITF title of the season.
=============================
JUNIOR STAR: Victoria Kan/RUS
...another week, another Hordette wins a Grade I junior event. This time it was 14-year old Kan at the AirBerlin German event, where the unseeded Russian knocked off three seeded players, including #1 Anna-Lena Friedsam in the SF. Germany's Annika Beck fell in the final, 6-2/6-2.
=============================


1. Brussels Exhibition - Belgian Barbiella d. S.Williams
...6-3/6-2. Not-the-Greatest-of-All-Time was there to bask in the Belgian aduration, while Serena was there to simply fill the injured Justine Henin's role in the spectacle. Somehow, I doubt that Henin would have gone down so soundly in what would have been something more than the meaningless exhibition that this event at King Baudouin Stadium turned out to be. But who knows? Anyway, the Martina Navratilova-umpired occasion did what it was supposed to do -- attract 35,681 fans to break the attendence record (30,472) for an exhibition, previously held by the Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs "Battle of the Sexes" meeting at the Houston Astrodome in 1973.
=============================
2. Bastad Final - Rezai d. Dulko
...6-3/4-6/6-4. The opinionated Pastry is now one of eight different players tied for the 2010 tour lead with two singles titles on the season. This week in Palermo, she goes for #3.
=============================
3. Budapest Final - Szavay d. Schnyder
...6-2/6-4. A result so nice, they produced it twice. Last season, Szavay won 2-6/6-4/6-2.
=============================
4. Budapest SF - Szavay d. Dulgheru
...6-1/5-7/7-5. This is the sort of good-in-the-latter-stages result that Szavay won routinely a few years ago. The two could meet again in the Prague QF this week.
=============================
5. Bastad SF - Dulko d. Pennetta
...6-3/6-1. These two are perfect doubles partners. You never know what you're going to get from either of them in singles, but put them together and they cover up each other's tattered edges and win more doubles titles than any other duo on tour. Voila!
=============================
HM- World Cup Final - Spain d. Netherlands
...1-0. Finally, the long wait is over. No, not the wait for the first-ever WC crown for Espana that Rafa Nadal is likely celebrating as we speak... but for this event to be over and out of sight, out of mind for another four years. Hallelujah. By the way, the time it took you to read those words was more time than I spent actually watching this "classic."
=============================


**FOUR CAREER TITLES - ACTIVE**
Agnieszka Radwanska, POL (last title: 2008)
Lisa Raymond, USA (2003)
ARAVANE REZAI, FRA (2 titles in 2010)
Lucie Safarova, CZE (2008)
Francesca Schiavone, ITA (2 titles in 2010)
Katarina Srebotnik, SLO (2005)
AGNES SZAVAY, HUN (1 title in 2010)

**BEST 2010 FINAL WIN PCT. - 2+ FINALS**
100% - Barbie, BEL (2-0)
100% - ARAVANE REZAI, FRA (2-0)
100% - Francesca Schiavone, ITA (2-0)
67% - Serena Williams (2-1)
67% - Elena Dementieva (2-1)
67% - Maria Sharapova (2-1)

**MOST 2010 SF**
5...Justine Henin (4-1)
5...Samantha Stosur (3-2)
5...Shahar Peer (1-4)
4...Venus Williams (4-0)
4...Serena Williams (3-1)
4...Elena Dementieva (2-2)
4...FLAVIA PENNETTA (2-2)
4...ARAVANE REZAI (2-2)
4...ALEXANDRA DULGHERU (1-3)

**2010 TITLES - DOUBLES TEAMS**
4...DULKO/PENNETTA, ARG/ITA
3...Williams/Williams, USA
2...Benesova/Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE
2...Black/Huber, ZIM/USA
2...Errani/Vinci, ITA
2...Black/Paes, ZIM/IND (Mixed)

**CONSECUTIVE SEASONS w/ 2+ TITLES**
[streaks extended in 2010]
5 years - Elena Dementieva, 2006-10
4 years - Serena Williams, 2007-10
4 years - Venus Williams, 2007-10
2 years - ARAVANE REZAI, 2009-10
[streaks not yet extended in 2010]
3 years - Jelena Jankovic, 2007-09
2 years - Flavia Pennetta, 2008-09
2 years - Dinara Safina, 2008-09
2 years - Caroline Wozniacki, 2008-09
2 years - Vera Zvonareva, 2008-09

**2010 TITLE DEFENSES**
Sydney - Elena Dementieva
Australian Open - Serena Williams
Pattaya - Vera Zvonareva
Dubai - Venus Williams
Acapulco - Venus Williams
Ponte Vedra Beach - Caroline Wozniacki
Warsaw - Alexandra Dulgheru
Wimbedon - Serena Williams
BUDAPEST - AGNES SZAVAY

**WTA TITLES - BY NATION**
[champions from most different nations]
2007: 17 nations
2008: 18 nations
2009: 20 nations
2010: 16 nations (through Week 27)

**2010 ITF TITLES**
5...MADALINA GOJNEA, ROU
4...Olivia Sanchez, FRA
3...Edina Gallovits, ROU
3...JAMIE HAMPTON, USA
3...Sachie Ishizu, JPN
3...Anna Lapushchenkova, RUS
3...Johanna Larsson, SWE
3...Lee Jin-A, KOR
3...Patricia Mayr, AUT
3...Romina Oprandi, ITA
3...Chanel Simmonds, RSA
3...Liana-Gabriela Ungur, ROU

**RECENT U.S. OPEN FINAL FOURS**
=2005=
Belgian Barbie, BEL (W)
Mary Pierce, FRA (RU)
Maria Sharapova, RUS
Elena Dementieva, RUS
=2006=
Maria Sharapova, RUS (W)
Justine Henin-Hardenne, BEL (RU)
Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
Jelena Jankovic, SRB
=2007=
Justine Henin, BEL (W)
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS (RU)
Venus Williams, USA
Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
=2008=
Serena Williams, USA (W)
Jelena Jankovic, SRB (RU)
Dinara Safina, RUS
Elena Dementieva, RUS
=2009=
Squeegee Queen, BEL (W)
Caroline Wozniacki, DEN (RU)
Serena Williams, USA
Yanina Wickmayer, BEL

**RECENT U.S. OPEN TOP SEEDS**
1987-91 - Steffi Graf, GER
1992 Monica Seles, YUG
1993-96 - Steffi Graf, GER
1997-01 - Martina Hingis, SUI
2002 Serena Williams, USA
2003 Belgian Barbie, BEL
2004 Justine Henin-Hardenne, BEL
2005 Maria Sharapova, RUS
2006 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2007 Justine Henin, BEL
2008 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2009 Dinara Safina, RUS





PALERMO, ITALY (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoor)
09 Final: Pennetta d. Errani
10 Top Seeds: Pennetta/Rezai
=============================
=SF=
Pennetta d. Pironkova
Rezai d. Errani
=FINAL=
Rezai d. Pennetta

...well, the pressure's on Tsvetana now. Will her Wimbledon SF translate into anything? Here's her first chance. I'm picking Rezai, but since Pennetta usually does just the opposite of what I pick I'm more than half-expecting Madame Butterfly to win.


PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (Int'l $220K/red clay outdoor)
09 Final: Bammer d. Schiavone
10 Top Seeds: Safarova/Dulgheru
=============================
=SF=
Safarova d. Schnyder
Dulgheru d. Bacsinszky
=FINAL=
Dulgheru d. Safarova

...well, I'll try this Dulgheru title thing for a second straight week. Of course, Szavay could derail things once again.


All for now.

Read more...

2010 Grass Court Awards: Success "in the Serena" is Still a One-Way Street

Why does the Serena cross the road? Why, to get to the other slam, of course.

Or maybe, after all these years, it just seems that way. After all, Serena Williams' just-completed championship run at Wimbledon gives her five singles titles in the last eight slams. It's been clear for years that Serena focuses her efforts on the four biggest tournaments of the year, and numbers like that make it easy to forget that she's only won one of the seventeen non-slam events she's entered over that same timespan. Naturally, the one title came at the FIFTH-biggest tournament of the year -- the season-ending WTA Championships.

Of course, in her case, 1-for-17 means virtually nothing.

In this epoch of tennis -- and to the current tennis generation -- slam titles are history's currency. A way to measure the career gains of the all-time greats of the day. And if Roger Federer is "Mister Moneybags" on the men's tour, then Serena is the unquestioned "Lady Legal Tender" of the WTA. With thirteen career slam titles, she needs just one more to be capable of buying and selling the next TWO most-prolific slam winners of her era -- her sister Venus and Justine Henin, who've COMBINED to win fourteen.

It's one thing when the most talented women's player in the world has a tendency to treat the WTA field like gum scraped off the bottom of her shoe, but when she's literally ready to lap multiple other greats of her generation,you're talking about an individual who has placed herself directly into the discussion when it comes to attempting to argue about who's the "greatest" the game has ever seen. Is it an argument that can ever REALLY be decided? Of course not. There are too many variables in the equation to ever be truly confident of any declarative statements regarding that sort of thing, but it doesn't mean that they can't be made. Plus, just the discussion itself is a good thing for the sport. Often, it's the only way to introduce the feats of past greats to a new generation of fans.

[Late Note: I just received the latest issue of Sports Illustrated and, low and behold, Serena is the cover subject. I'm not sure when the last time was that a female tennis player made the cover -- maybe Sharapova in '04? Anyway, the cover says, "Love Her, Hate Her -- She's the Best Ever," as Jon Wertheim declares Williams the greatest of all time. Hmmm, what took him so long? SOMEONE I know crossed that finish line about eight months ago.]

One day, many years from now, Serena's accomplishments to date will be looked upon with awe. But the scary thing is that, even as she's just two and a half months shy of her twenty-ninth birthday, she doesn't look to be anywhere near finished collecting shiny conversation pieces for her trophy case.

*Grass Court Awards - Wk.23-26*
**TOP 2Q PLAYERS, version 2.0**
1. Serena Williams, USA
...if a grand slam run can be termed "routine," then Serena's SW19 path to victory certainly was just that. The only truly bad tennis memory that Serena has produced over the last two years came courtesy of a tiny linesperson (all right, and Kim Clijsters, TOO) at Flushing Meadows. It might be THAT memory that gets erased next, by the end of the sweltering summer.
=============================
2. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
...she reached more finals at Wimbledon than even Serena, and she's back in the Top 10 looking to pick up where she left off in the spring of '09.
=============================
3. Lisa Raymond, USA
...she won two grass court titles with doubles partners (Rennae Stubbs & Cara Black) she hadn't won anything with in seven years. Then she reached the Wimbledon Mixed final, as well.
=============================
4t. Petra Kvitova, CZE & Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
...a pair of surprise slam semifinalists. The Czech gave much reason to think that she'll get more chances to succeed "in the Serena," while the Bulgarian can now design as entire "Venus wing" in a museum devoted to her tennis career back home in Plovdiv.
=============================
5. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
...lest we forget the Hordette's title run in Eastbourne where she razed the Stosur House of Grass Court Confidence and brought Victoria Azarenka to her knees.
=============================
HM- Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova, USA/KAZ
...they never had to beat the Williams Sisters en route to the Wimbledon title. But, luckily, they don't engrave such things on the trophy.
=============================
ALSO: Cara Black/ZIM, Justine Henin/BEL, Kaia Kanepi/EST, Li Na/CHN, Maria Sharapova/RUS
=============================

**RISERS**
1. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2. Kaia Kanepi, EST
3. Elena Vesnina/Vera Zvonareva, RUS/RUS
4. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
5. Aravane Rezai, FRA
HM- Jarmila Groth, AUS & Andrea Petkovic, GER

**FRESH FACES**
1. Petra Kvitova, CZE
2. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
3. Alison Riske, USA
4. Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
5. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
6. Kurumi Nara, JPN
7t. Heather Watson, GBR & Laura Robson, GBR
8. Madison Keys, USA (ITF)
9. Ksenia Pervak, RUS (ITF)
10. Lenka Jurikova, SVK (ITF)
HM- Ziyana Diyas, KAZ (ITF)

**JUNIORS**
1. Kristyna Pliskova, CZE
2. Sachie Ishizu, JPN
3. Yulia Putintseva, RUS
4. Elina Svitolina, UKR
5. Anna Mamalat, USA
6. Grace Min, USA
7. Timea Bobos/Sloane Stephens, HUN/USA
8t. Tara Moore, GBR & Eleanor Dean, GBR
9. Irina Khromacheva, RUS
10. Sloane Stephens, USA
HM- Olga Ianchuk, UKR

**SURPRISES**
1. Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
2. Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova, USA/KAZ
3. Alison Riske, USA
4. Kirsten Flipkens, BEL
5. Romina Oprandi, ITA
HM- Andrea Hlavackova, CZE

**VETERANS**
1. Serena Williams, USA
2. Lisa Raymond, USA
3. Cara Black, ZIM
4. Li Na. CHN
5t. Justine Henin, BEL & Kim Clijsters, BEL
HM- Greta Arn, HUN

**COMEBACKS**
1. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
2. Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS
3. Maria Sharapova, RUS
4. Marina Erakovic, NZL
5. Mirjana Lucic, CRO
HM- Eleni Daniilidou, GRE

**DOWN**
1. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA
2t. Francesca Schiavone, ITA & Samantha Stosur, AUS
3. Venus Williams, USA
4. GBR women
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
6. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
7. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
8. Melanie Oudin, USA
9. Elina Svitolina, UKR
10. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
HM- Dinara Safina, RUS & Elena Dementieva, RUS

**ITF PLAYERS**
1. Olivia Sanchez, FRA
2. Romina Oprandi, ITA
3. Elena Baltacha, GBR
4. Jamie Hampton, USA
5. Mathilde Johansson, FRA
6. Klara Zakopalova, CZE
7. Madalina Gojnea, ROU
8. Lee Jin-A, KOR
9. Liana-Gabriela Ungur, ROU
10. Sofia Arvidsson, SWE
11. Petra Cetkovska, CZE
12. Victoria Larriere, FRA
13. Duan Ying-Ying, CHN
14. Shayna McDowell, AUS
15. Mandy Minella, LUX

"Thirteen is my lucky number." - Serena Williams, after winning career slam singles crown #13 at Wimbledon

**PERFORMANCES OF THE QUARTER.2**
[A "Serena's Dozen"]
That's thirteen to us mortals. As in thirteen slam singles championships. Williams' Wimbledon title was the fourth major crown she's collected without dropping a set. In the final, she allowed just two points on her 1st serve.
[The More the Merrier]
Petra Kvitova and Tsvetana Pironkova reached new career heights with semifinal results at Wimbledon. Along with fellow semifinalist #21-seed Vera Zvonareva, it was the second time this season that three women seeded #16 or worse (#16 Li, unseeded Zheng and wild card Henin in Melbourne) reached the final four. Before this season, such a feat hadn't happened in a slam in thirty-two years. At the 1978 Australian Open, one hundred and twenty-eight slams before the start of '10.
[20 X 5]
Ekaterina Makarova won her first career tour title in Eastbourne, defeating five Top 20 players along the way.

"It's amazing you played tennis, because I can still hear you." - James Blake, to Pam Shriver, who was broadcasting on ESPN2 while the American was on his way to being bounced out of his 1st Round match at Wimbledon

*TOP MATCHES*
[Not that ESPN2 Noticed]
Wimbledon QF - Kvitova d. Kanepi
...4-6/7-6(8)/8-6. Kvitova survived five match points and a 4-0 3rd set deficit, and staked her claim to being the next young power player who'll attempt to climb into the general tour conversation. Who knows, maybe one day the folks at ESPN will even bother to attempt to say her name correctly. A Backspinner can dream.
[A Time Machine Time Capsule]
Wimbledon 4th Rd. - S.Williams d. Sharapova
...7-6(9)/6-4. Reminding everyone why she went supernova at SW19 in the first place, Sharapova put up quite a battle with Serena in their first-ever tie-break clash. Williams ultimately turned back three Sharapova set points (the closest she came to dropping a set in the fortnight), opening and closing the TB with an emphatic ace, but the Russian gave a taste/reminder of why she became the most recognizable face in the women's game on the same Centre Court six years ago.
[She Who Laughs Last Laughs Hardest]
Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Hantuchova d. King
...6-7/7-6/6-3. Hantuchova erased a 7-6/4-1 deficit to knot the match at one set each before play was suspended due to darkness, then put the match away the following day. But it was King who ultimately had the best closing touch. The Slovak lost her 2nd Round match, but the American rebounded and ended up claiming her first career slam title when she and Yaroslava Shvedova won a surprise Ladies Doubles championship.

*UPSETS*
Wimbledon Doubles QF - Vesnina/Zvonareva d. Williams/Williams
...3-6/6-3/6-4. A seeming lock to win the title, the Sisters entered the match with a 32-1 Wimbledon record and extended their SW19 winning streak to thirty-three sets before dropping the final two here to the Hordettes. I guess Vera should have known that TWO wins over Serena in the same slam was one too many to expect.
=============================
Birmingham QF - Riske d. Wickmayer
...6-7/6-4/6-3. The 19-year old American qualifier, ranked #185, came into the tournament having never won a main draw tour match before reaching the SF at Edgbaston and pushing Sharapova to three sets there. It worked out for Riske even better when she was quickly awarded a wild card into the Wimbledon Ladies draw... where she lost to Wickmayer. Oh, well.
=============================
Wimbledon QF - Pironkova d. V.Williams
...6-2/6-3. Four and a half years after making a name for herself by upsetting Venus at the Australian Open, Pironkova upset Venus and made a name for herself once again in London. Apparently, Tsvetana found that time machine that Williams was lamenting that SHE didn't have.
=============================

"I'm obviously not pleased with this result. But I have to move on. What else can I do? Unless I have a time machine. Which I don't." - Venus Williams, after losing to Pironkova

*THE GOOD*
Kristyna Pliskova wins the Wimbledon Girls title, joining with her sister Karolina (the '10 Australian Open junior champ) to become the first siblings to win junior slam titles in the same season
=============================
Cara Black three-peats in Birmingham, winning her first post-Liezel Huber doubles title with Lisa Raymond. In the final, the pair defeated Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands when Black's former partner retired with a knee injury. At Wimbledon, Black won her second Mixed Doubles slam title of 2010 with Leander Paes.
=============================
Quietly, Jelena Jankovic rises like a Phoenix from the rankings ashes of the disappointing Wimbledon results of her fellow competitors, climbing back to #2 in singles on the WTA computer on the heels of learning that career nemisis Justine Henin will likely miss the U.S. Open. If she can hold her #2 ranking and get a good non-Maria/Kim/Venus draw, who knows?
=============================

*THE LEGITIMATELY BAD*
Roland Garros finalists Francesca Schiavone and Sam Stosur were dumped out in the 1st Round at Wimbledon
=============================
Elena Dementieva's string of forty-six straight slams played ended due to a calf injury. Her streak had been the longest active one in all of tennis.
=============================
Blake vs. Shriver: A Battle Where There are No Winners
=============================
Virginie Razzano filed a damages suit against the WTA due to a painful massage from a tour trainer, which ultimately led to edema
=============================

*THE "BAD"... but not in that Michael Jackson, leather-and-buckles in an underground parking lot way, though*
After Wimbledon, thanks to the Sisters not winning the Doubles title, Huber inched closer to reclaiming the #1 ranking (130 points back), while Black fell to #4.
=============================
Justine Henin opened up her 4th Round Wimbledon match with Kim Clijsters with a dominating 6-2 1st set victory, but wilted away as the match wore on after falling and injury her elbow. Clijsters went to 3-0 vs. her countrywoman in '10, but lost in her next match to Zvonareva despite winning the opening set, extending her post-U.S. Open slam disappointment. Meanwhile, Henin announced that she'll miss eight weeks of action due to the elbow injury. At this stage in Waffles 2.0, minus Clijsters' brief U.S. Open run, both Belgians' comebacks have resembled Hingis II more than anyone figured they would after their flashy first-month-back results. In other words, their results have been good, but things just aren't the same. In 2010, KC has really only looked fully invested when she's playing Henin. Henin, for her part, has often looked fully invested, except for when she's looked like she really didn't know what she wanted to be invested in. Ofthen, both Henins have been on display during the same match. It looks like 2010 is a "transition year" for both Belgians. But why do I have a nagging feeling that if it was Clijsters who was doing to be out for two months with an injury that we'd sort of wonder if she'd EVER come back. With Henin, though, it feels like the time off will provide a chance to reasses and devise the possibly better plan for success. If Henin REALLY does have unfinished tennis business, she'll probably win this 2.0 battle over the long haul. We (and maybe she) probably won't know for sure if she really DOES, though, until 2011.
=============================

*THE INEXPLICABLY UGLY*
Svetlana Kuznetsova continued her 24/7 snit into a record-breaking seventh straight month. This time, she refused to shake hands with Anastasia Rodionova at Wimbledon because of the Russian-turned-Australian's penchant for challenging too many calls during their match. Afterward, she refused to express any regret, either. How "disrespectful." Hmmm, I wonder if Svetlana would shake hands with herself if she jumped in Tsvetana Pironkova's time machine and traveled back to play herself in the past... you know, when she was the fun-loving, everybody-likes-her player who at one time seemed to be the most talented of all the Hordettes? Maybe she should leave Moscow for Bulgaria?

*THE (TENTATIVELY) STEPPED*
Lindsay Davenport returned to the tour in doubles, and is scheduled to play during the North American hard court season
=============================
Martina Hingis joined Anna Kournikova in the Wimbledon Invitation Doubles, and will spend the next month engaged in the I-don't-care-how-intriquing-it-might-seem-I-still-can't-bear-to-watch-more-than-two-minutes-at-a-time (sort of like the World Cup) World Team Tennis season
=============================

*AND THE CRINGE-WORTHY RECORD-BREAKING*
Li Na completed her "unGrand Slam," losing to eventual Wimbledon champ Serena Williams. It's the fourth straight slam in which Li has lost to the woman who would ultimately lift the winner's trophy.

"I was 23 when I realized that I wasn't Venus. I'm super curvy. I have big boobs and this massive butt. She's tall and she's like a model and she fits everything. I was growing up, wanting to be her, wanting to look like her... but it's fine. Now I'm obviously good." - Serena Williams, in the forthcoming issue of Harper's Bazaar

At an age when most of her contemporaries, and most of her predecessors, too, were either long past their athletic primes, were experiencing (at least slight) career downturns, have already retired and returned, or are finding themselves grasping for that one huge result that will define their entire career, Serena is still quite possibly getting better as many of her past or supposed rivals go by the wayside on the sport's biggest stages more often than not these days. It's an incredible notion, but Williams might not have yet shown us her tennis self at her most awesome. And this is a woman who pulled off her "Serena Slam" -- four straight slams won -- at age 22, some seven years ago.

It's not "supposed" to happen that way at the very top of the sport. But since when has Serena ever followed along the normal tennis path? That goodness for it, too. Because, let's be honest, the WTA landscape would appear even worse in the eyes of its many critics at the moment were it not for the gleaming castle on the horizon that Serena represent as she serves, long term, as something of an uplifting beacon for the rest of the field. Just as happened when she and Venus first arrived on the scene, Serena continues to force other players to push themselves to get better if they want to compete for the sport's biggest prizes.

Venus must. Justine must. And so must everyone else.

All that past talk of her not living up to her talent, or her shirking her responsibility to the game to be the best that she can be because she could be THE best? At this stage, it's become a footnote in her career biography. Fed Cup stalwarts aside, there's really nothing to pin on Serena anymore. It's time to just sit back and enjoy what comes next, whether it be more record-shattering accomplishments or the likely one-day-successful attempt by SOMEONE to displace a still-good-enough-to-matter Serena from her perch -- be it computer-backed, or simply generally agreed-upon -- as the best player in the game.

That time is definitely not now, though. And even if you squint, it's hard to make out when it might be. The player whose career will define women's tennis from 1999-"201?" could just be hitting her stride as she approaches age 30. It's both excilerating to watch and likely frustrating for the players who missed out on their window of slam-winning opportunity a few seasons ago.

But, hey, that's why they're called "challenges" and not "gifts." Whichever players can rise to the occasion "in the Serena" will have to EARN it. And that's how it should be.


All for now.

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