2011 Grass Court Awards: Anything But Ordinary

It's always a great thing when a young player blossoms in the crucible that is grand slam tennis.

"I'm playing for so many years, so this is, we say, the cherry on the cake."
-- Petra Kvitova

After Petra Kvitova had squandered a 3-0 lead in her 3rd set of her Round of 16 match in Paris against eventual Roland Garros champ Li Na, I pondered the Czech's career station at Clay Court Awards time saying this:

"She flashed brilliance -- as she often does when she's "on" -- in winning Madrid, smashing Li (SF) and Azarenka (Final) en route. But one bad half-set in Paris against Li might have cost her a chance for a career-defining moment on Chatrier a few rounds later. Her streaky quality is still an issue, but in a field where "flash" is highly valued, but rare, the Czech is a threat to crash through the slam door at any time on the sheer force of her game, if she could just hold it together for seven matches. Hmmm, she's sort of a lefty version of Sharapova in that way."

So, it was sort of fitting that Kvitova's star-making run to the Wimbledon title was highlighted by a dominating win over Maria Sharapova in the Ladies final. Over the course of the past year, Kvitova's potential has often been stunningly apparent, but exactly WHEN she'd put it all together and put on a serious slam run was the question. With as cool a performance as the WTA has seen by a young champion since, conservatively, Sharapova on the grass in '04 (Monica Seles some twenty years ago, though, might be the more apt comparison), it happened at the All-England Club and -- poof! -- all those questions about the viability of the "worst" tennis generation went up in flames in less than two hours on a Saturday afternoon in southwest London. Better yet, the now-leading member of the current "NextGen" contenders was joined in the SW19 semifinals by two fellow 21-year olds in the very first example of "group think" by the twentysomething set in women's tennis in the face of several seasons of slams being dominated by players, some more heralded than others, in their late twenties and beyond.

"I think we're seeing the new players taking charge. Most of all, they're playing to win. That's what I like to see: they're not scared out there. They're playing forceful tennis." - Martina Navratilova

Kvitova's hard-serving, aggressive game plays well on all surfaces (she's won titles on everything in '11), but since the grass courts seem to fit it so perfectly, there's still at least a little question about whether or not she'll be able to carry over her Wimbledon success to immediately achieve the same level of accomplishment at the other slams. There's no reason that it won't happen in the near future, but whether it'll happen NOW is just another of the steps toward potentially challenging to be a truly great champion that we'll now be able to watch Kvitova atttempt to master as quickly as possible.

So far, she's been a pretty quick study. And from a teacher's daughter, too. Go figure. In other words, at this point, it'd be difficult to be surprised if she picks things elsewhere with the same frightening swiftness she displayed in London.

*2011 Grass Court Awards - Wks.23-26*
**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Petra Kvitova, CZE

...when was the last time a young first-time women's slam champion was so immediately lavished with the sort of overwhelming praise that the Czech has received since winning the Wimbledon final in such comprehensive fashion? Of course, the compliments and predictions of even more and greater honors are coming with good reason, since Kvitova has done nothing but set a brilliant example for the rest of the players of her generation when it comes to having the necessary on-court mindset to seize a big stage opportunity, as well as an off-court personality that won't likely become distracted or be content with the notion that since she's already accomplished something early in her career it means she doesn't need to still get better, let alone the sort of career-stalling presumptuousness that she has the luxury of time to "play around" with the idea of improving, as if the tennis world owes her a shining slam moment just because she shows up every week. In London, Kvitova reminded us what true champions are SUPPOSED to do, and used to with regularity. It's a pity that such a thing has become a rarity in recent years for anyone not named Serena or Justine.
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2. Sabine Lisicki, GER
...Kvitova ended up stealing a bit of the Baroness' "new face" glory in the end, but her winning smile, refeshing personality and big serve have finally brought her back to the place she was two years ago, when she was knocking on the door of the Top 20 and picking up more fans with every big win. Cross your fingers that the Tennis Gods are through with turning Murphy's Law into "Lisicki's Law" and will now allow her to live up to her potential.
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3. Maria Sharapova, RUS
...the progress toward a Supernovic rebirth moved a little bit closer to a real payoff in London. A few more months on hard courts, and Sharapova might finally be ready to be exquisite once again. Well, that is, assuming her serve doesn't stick its foot out and trip up her just before the finish line one more time.
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4. Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik, CZE/SLO
...the best doubles team -- and probabably the two best active doubles players -- without a slam Doubles title managed to remove their names from the top of that list, just months after Dulko & Pennetta had done the same in Melbourne.
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5. Marion Bartoli, FRA
...arguably no player put forth as much sweat and effort as La Trufflette during the grass court season and, in retrospect, her Eastbourne final win over Kvitova can be seen as either a truly monumental result for the Pastry, or the "last straw" that finally taught the Czech how to concentrate for seven straight matches. Even as the younger generation begins to assert itself more in future slams, if there's a veteran player who could hit her peak and "steal" a slam over the next season or two, it might just be Bartoli.
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6. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
...here's Azarenka's luck in a nutshell: in a season in which she's never played better, she's still had a hard time staying on the court. Then, in the slam in which she finally held herself together well enough to reach her first career major semifinal, she ran head-first into another young player with more game, more calm and even more potential than the Belarusian might ever be capable of attaining. If Caroline Wozniacki is the "Andy Murray" of the women's tour, what is Azarenka's comparable role going to be? That of the women's "Andy Roddick?"
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7. Roberta Vinci, ITA
...the epitome of the "late bloomers" now populating so many corners of the tour, the Italian won only one title before her 26th birthday. In the two and a half seasons since, she's won four, including her first grass court crown last month in the Netherlands.
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8. Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
...rarely has a player been so regularly disappointing for fifty weeks a year, but also so surprising for the other two, as Pironkova has been when it comes to Wimbledon the last two seasons. After her stunning SF run of '10, then equally as shocking disappearing act, who would have guessed that she'd return to SW19 and reach the QF, upsetting Vera Zvonareva and Venus Williams (for the second straight year) in the process?
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9. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
...the Slovak has never won a singles title, but she can always be counted on to pull off a few big results every season. She had several on the grass, reaching the SF (and the Doubles final) in the Netherlands, then knocking off #1 Wozniacki en route to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
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10. Iveta Benesova, CZE
...the Mixed Doubles champion at Wimbledon, Benesova quietly put an emphatic period at the end of the dominating sentence written by the Czechs at this Wimbledon.
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"She was a total champion. (Yet) she is just an ordinary girl. She's standing with both feet on the ground. And I think that's very, very important for success in these matches." - David Kotyza, Kvitova's coach

**RISERS**
1. Sabine Lisicki, GER
2. Marion Bartoli, FRA
3. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
4. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
5. Elena Vesnina, RUS
6. Sania Mirza/Elena Vesnina, IND/RUS
7. Peng Shuai, CHN
8. Marina Erakovic, NZL
9. Sabine Lisicki/Samantha Stosur, GER/AUS
10. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
HN- Elena Baltacha, GBR

**FRESH FACES & JUNIORS**
1. Tamira Paszek, AUT
2. Ksenia Pervak, RUS
3. Misaki Doi, JPN
4. Lesia Tsurenko, UKR
5. Laura Robson, GBR
6. Irina Falconi, USA
7. Alexa Glatch, USA
8. Ashleigh Barty, AUS (jr)
9. Kristyna Pliskova, CZE
10. Irina Khromacheva, RUS (jr)
11. Indy de Vroome, NED (jr)
12. Valeria Diatchenko, RUS
13. Caroline Garcia, FRA (jr)
14. Krista Hardebeck, USA (jr)
15. Eugenie Bouchard/Grace Min, CAN/USA
16. Demi Schuurs, NED (jr)
17. Yulia Putintseva, RUS (jr)
18. Victoria Duval, USA (jr)
19. Montserrat Gonzalez, PAR (jr)
20. Anna Mamalat, USA (jr)

**SURPRISES**
1. Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
2. Petra Cetkovska, CZE
3. Marina Erakovic/Tamarine Tanasugarn, NZL/THA
4. Romina Oprandi, ITA
5. Stephanie Dubois, CAN
HM- Camila Giorgi, ITA

**VETERANS**
1. Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik, CZE/SLO
2. Marion Bartoli, FRA
3. Roberta Vinci, ITA
4. Iveta Benesova, CZE
5. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
6. Nadia Petrova, RUS
7. Serena Williams, USA
8. Tamarine Tanasguarn, THA
9. Jelena Dokic, AUS
10. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
11. Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
12. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
13. Klara Zakopalova, CZE
14. Eleni Daniilidou, GRE
15. Venus Williams, USA

**COMEBACKS**
1. Maria Sharapova, RUS
2. Sabine Lisicki, GER
3. Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
4. Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
5. Nadia Petrova, RUS
6. Serena Williams, USA
7. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
8. Venus Williams, USA
9. Kateryna Bondarnko, UKR
10. Alona Bondarenko, UKR

"To this day, I don't know (how sliced foot at Munich restaurant last July). It's like the biggest mystery next to the Loch Ness Monster." - Serena Williams

**DOWN**
1. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2. Samantha Stosur, AUS
3. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
4. Shahar Peer, ISR
5. Kaia Kanepi, EST
6. Kim Clijsters, BEL
7. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
8. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
9. Daria Gavrilova, RUS (jr)
10. Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova, USA/KAZ
HM- Li Na, CHN

"During the injury process, I was setting a lot of timetables for myself, and I never really met those goals. I don't think there's a certain point where you say, 'Oh, I'm back.' I mean, I don't have that much self-esteem. I don't think anyone really does." - Maria Sharapova

**ITF PLAYERS (non-grass)**
1. Anna Tatishvili, GEO
2. Pauline Parmentier, FRA
3. Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, AUT
4. Marta Domachowska, POL
5. Kristina Mladenovic, FRA
6. Timea Babos, HUN
7. Bibiane Schoofs, NED
8. Lauren Davis, USA
9. Victoria Larriere, FRA
10. Luksika Kumkhum, THA

"I was really surprised about how she thinks about tennis, how clever she is. She told me her advantages, disadvantages, what she has to improve. Her brain is a big advantage for this game." - David Kotyza, speaking about being wowed by several pages of handwritten answers -- which he's kept to this day -- that Kvitova supplied for a questionaire he gave her two and a half years ago when he first began working with her

**TOP PERFORMANCES**
1. Who else? Petra Kvitova wins Wimbledon, knocking down a slew of "first champion since" markers -- including first lefty at Wimbledon since '90, Czech at Wimbledon since '98 and youngest in a slam since '04, as she's the first champ born in the 1990's -- and settinh the bar for all the other "underachieving" players of her generation to aspire to clear one day. A year ago, Kvitova entered Wimbledon with a 0-4 career record on grass. She's 16-2 since. There's that short learning curve I was talking about earlier.
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2. Sabine Lisicki "comes back to us" on the grass, erasing her bad Paris memories while reviving all the two-year old hope for her that was thwarted by injury and illness since late '09. First, she sweeps through Birmingham without droppoing a set, then reaches the Wimbledon semifinals as a wild card after producing maybe the best moment of the fortnight -- her back-to-back-to-back-to-back kill serves against Li Na in the 2nd Round that turned a defeat into a victory on sheer force of suggestion through the match's closing games.
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3. Maria Sharapova returns to the Wimbledon final for the first time since her career breakthrough title run at SW19 in 2004. It's her first slam final appearance in three and a half years, as well as the first since her career-threatening shoulder surgery.
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4. Marion Bartoli wins in Eastbourne, outlasting both Victoria Azarenka (an eventual Wimbledon semifinalist) and Kvitova en route. She then carries her momentum over to Wimbledon, surviving a pair of dramatic matches and upsetting Serena Williiams on her way to the quarterfinals.
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5. Czechs rule at Wimbledon, as the Maidens win Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles crowns. A season ago, it was Czechette Kristyna Pliskova who grabbed the Girls title at SW19, as well.
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HM- Ashleigh Barty wins the Wimbledon Girls title, becoming the first Aussie to take the junior title in London since Debbie Freeman in '80, and the first Australian girl to win any slam singles crown since Jelena Dokic at the U.S. Open in '98.
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"(My emotions are) over the moon." - Sabine Lisicki, after her 2nd Round Wimbledon upset of #3-seeded Li Na

*TOP MATCHES*
1. Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - Lisicki d. Li
...3-6/6-4/8-6. The German Baroness discovers her "inner Boris Becker," pulling out her booming serve to escape a match point down hole by smashing four consecutive 120 mph bombs -- two of them for aces -- to hold. Possibly mentally shaken by such a display, #3 seeded Li ends up losing five of the final six games of the match.
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2. Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - V.Williams d. Date-Krumm
...6-7/6-3/8-6. In the first full women's match under the Centre Court roof, Williams began with a double-fault on the first point, and things never got any easier against the 40-year old from Japan. Ultimately, Venus' serve acted as a last line of defense, providing just enough oomph to allow her to inch past KDK when the veteran allowed a few errors to creep into her game in the closing moments of the 2:55 match.
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3. Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - Bartoli d. Pennetta
...5-7/6-4/9-7. Riding a wave of arguments with the chair umpire and her own parents (she ordered them to leave the stands), Bartoli battled back from a break down in the 3rd to win in 3:09 in a match where the two women combined for 110 winners.
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4. Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - Paszek d. Schiavone
...3-6/6-4/11-9. Three years after defeating a then-teenaged Paszek in a 10-8 3rd set at Wimbledon, Schiavone found herself in tooth-and-nail combat with the Austrian yet again. This time, though, it was Paszek who survived, even as Schiavone twice served for the match at 8-7 and 9-8. At 3:41, the match came up just five minutes short of becoming the longest women's contest in Wimbledon history.
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5. Eastbourne 2nd Rd. - Zvonareva d. S.Williams
...3-6/7-6/7-5. Showing her rust from a 49-week absence, Serena failed to put away the match while serving at 6-3/5-4. After neary coming back from a 5-2 3rd set deficit, Williams saved three match points before finally falling to the Russian.
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HM- Eastbourne Final - Bartoli d. Kvitova
...6-1/4-6/7-5. In a match in which the momentum shifted on multiple occasions, Kvitova provided an example to herself of how her walkabout tendencies can endanger a match. Judging by what happened at Wimbledon, she seems to have learned a great deal from the experience.
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"When you know how good it feels to lift the big trophies -- the ones you really want in your career -- and when you know how good you can play, I always felt I could be better. That's why I never had the interest in stopping. I always felt like I had a lot better things in me." - Maria Sharapova, on how she remained focused, and never considered giving up, during her comeback from rotator cuff surgery

*UPSETS*
1. Wimbledon 3rd Rd. - Pironkova d. Zvonareva 6-2/6-3
Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Pironkova d. V.Williams 6-2/6-3
...apparently, "6-2/6-3" is Pironkova's "lucky number" combination. Not only did she defeat both Vera and Venus by that scoreline, but it was also the final score in her '10 upset of Williams in the Wimbledon QF.
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2. 's-Hertogenbosch 2nd Rd. - Oprandi d. Clijsters
...7-6/6-3. Clijsters' feast-or-famine pattern continues, as this loss to qualifier Oprandi was quickly followed by news of a foot injury -- after wrist/shoulder and ankle/toe ailments pretty much obliterated her clay court season -- would cause her to miss Wimbledon. How much longer is she going to put up with this?
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3. Wimbledon 4th Rd. - Cibulkova d. Wozniacki
...1-6/7-6/7-5. There's more than one way to skin a Dane, and Cibulkova finally found it in the 3rd. Not that it's a new revelation -- be aggressive. She was, and Wozniacki wilted once again in the face of an opponent willing to dare her to give back as well as she receives.
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"It's just been a long, arduous road. To stand up, still, is pretty awesome." - Serena Williams, on her return after a nearly year-long absence following foot lacerations, two operations, clots in her lungs, and emergency surgery to remove an embolism

*COMEBACKS*
1. Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - Bartoli d. Dominguez-Lino
...4-6/7-5/6-2. Battling illness, Bartoli survived LDL serving at 6-4/5-4, as well as a coaching warning. Oh, and she saved three match points, too.
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2. Wimbledon 2nd Rd. - Cetkovska d. A.Radwanska
...3-6/7-6/6-4. A-Rad led 6-3/5-4 30/30. We probably don't want to know what her father said about that.
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"I don't think this is the only time she'll win here. It's very exciting. A new star." - Martina Navratilova, on Kvitova

"I think her potential is now!" - Amelie Mauresmo, on Kvitova

=THE GOOD=
"Petra Kvitova." The affirmative answer to any questions about the dearth of "achieving" players in the WTA's current generation of young twentysomethings. At least for the next six months or so... and maybe for quite a few years, too.
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Chris Evert on ESPN2... even if she does often have to share a studio with Hannah Storm
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Apparently, Sabine Lisicki's personal letter to the All-England Club requesting a wild card into the main draw
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Three 21-year olds reaching the Wimbledon semifinals... and the youngest of the three winning the title
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Serena and Venus back on the court.
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"I can only get better. And that can potentially be really scary because I can only go up from here, and I can just do so much more." - Serena Williams

=THE BAD=
Shahar Peer becoming the first seed to be dumped out of Wimbledon, making it two consecutive slams in which she's achieved such a "dishonor"
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Jelena Jankovic losing in the 1st Round at Wimbledon, giving the former world #1 her worst slam result in six years
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The Sisters being relegated to Court 2 at Wimbledon. Even if other top players are sometimes sent there, none of them had won nine of the last eleven Ladies titles.
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=THE "UNLUCKY"=
Both Venus and Serena Williams lost in the 4th Round on "unlucky" Day 7, leaving Wimbledon on the same day for the first time... and making the defeat of world #1 Caroline Wozniacki on that same Monday the "B" story for the day in the women's draw.

"Definitely not our best day." - Venus Williams, after she immediately followed up Serena's 4th Round Wimbledon loss with her own

=THE UNSURPRISING=
Caroline Wozniacki, never having met a tournament she can't play, readies for the grass of Wimbledon by playing an indoor hard court event a week after Roland Garros. Naturally, she fails to advance to the QF in London. Having "learned her lesson"... or not... she's the only Top 20 player who decided to play a red clay event in Bastad a week after Wimbledon, leading into the pre-U.S. Open hard court circuit. Hardly shocking, the inevitable happened in the 2nd Round this week as the overscheduled world #1 magically morphed into Victoria Azarenka when she retired with a shoulder injury after taking the 1st set. You should never wish any sort of injury -- even a minor one -- on any player, but maybe such karmic "tough love" is just the sort of thing that the Dane needs to save herself.

"I don't care what people think or say or do." - Caroline Wozniacki, showing that she's willing to listen to and consider all opinions when it comes to making herself a better player. Or not.

=THE PRELUDE?=
Kim Clijsters misses Wimbledon due to injury. Will she even make it to the Olympics next summer?

=THE REVELATION?=
Hmmm... has it ever crossed anyone else's mind that maybe Serena and Venus Williams get along so well with Caroline Wozniacki off the court because they know they have nothing to fear from her on it? Just a wild thought.

=THE ATTENTION GRABBING... and then the (old) usual=

Bethanie Mattek-Sands garners headlines by donning tennis-related outfits designed by Lady Gaga's designer, but then flames out on the court in the 1st Round at Wimbledon. Unfortunately, it was just like "old times."

"Well, you just have to shut up and stop complaining because you have a pretty damn good life." - Victoria Azarenka, talking about the perspective she learned after talking with her hardworking grandmother, when she briefly questioned her tennis career

=THE BEST "SAD" NEWS EVER=
Addition by subtraction never sounded so sweet. The All-England Club elects to dump NBC as its American television partner, ending a 43-year relationship that included the creation of "Breakfast at Wimbledon" and the first live U.S. coverage of the men's final back in 1979, a production decision that helped to popularize the sport. Ironically, and sadly, the same network that revolutionized tennis coverage ultimately became an insult to the sport, producing a tape-delayed schedule of some of the tournament's biggest matches in order to avoid having to mess with the morning "Today" show a few days out of the year. Enter ESPN/ESPN2 in a 12-year deal to air the ENTIRE event, including simultaneous live network coverage on both channels of ALL quarterfinal matches starting next year. You know, the round that last year would have included that Kvitova/Kanepi match where the champion-one-year-later saved five match points in a contest that, had it aired on ESPN2 or NBC, might have made the Czech a bit better-known quantity in some corners twelve months ago.

Of course, Petra took care of all that this year. Thank goodness for her... and not just because her example means a certain Backspinner no longer feels compelled to coddle a certain Dane quite so much anymore, either.

"I don't want to change, I just want to be like everyone else. I'm nothing special." - Petra Kvitova

=UPDATED 2011 "Ms.Backspin" RANKINGS=
[w/ previous rank]
1. Petra Kvitova (4)...leading the way
2. Li Na (1)...she had a BAD Wimbledon draw
3. Kim Clijsters (2)...holding on, barely
4. Maria Sharapova (11)...a summer-ending Supernova?
5. Caroline Wozniacki (3)...still a "regular season" monster, but a "postseason" disaster
6. Victoria Azarenka (5)...finally, a big step forward
7. Russian & Czech Republic FC Teams (6)...to be continued
8. Peschke/Srebotnik (--)...overdue slam champs
9. Marion Bartoli (9)...she'll take on anyone, even family
10. Dulko/Pennetta (7)...still the #1-ranked team
HM- Andrea Petkovic (14)...can she stay ahead of countrywoman Lisicki?


=EARLY U.S. OPEN POWER RANKINGS=
1. Maria Sharapova: might need some help, though
2. Serena Williams: has something to prove. Again.
3. Petra Kvitova: now we'll see how much better she's learned to handle success
4. Kim Clijsters: she should have a little more (less self-destructing) competition
5. Victoria Azarenka: as long as she avoids pre-match accidents this time
6. Li Na: her best surface has been hard courts
7. A German: Lisicki, Petkovic or Goerges will likely fill the now-regular (finally!) German slam Final-8-or-better slot
8. Vera Zvonareva: looking for a slam bounce-back
9. Venus Williams: she reached the semis in '10
10. Caroline Wozniacki: the "dull blade" principle
HM- Marion Bartoli: still looking for her Open breakthrough



Entitlement isn't in Kvitova's tennis vocabulary. A great champion is never satisfied, and should always be actively trying to improve. That's why it's hard to NOT be in a very good mood when Kvitova says things like this when she's asked about what she has to improve upon after winning her first slam title:

"It's everything. Learning fitness. My serve. We have a lot of work." - Petra Kvitova

See, (insert underachieving young player's name here), while it's not easy, it's also really not as complicated as you make it out to be.

All for now.