|
The
painful truth
Federer and Henin serve up some
whoopass at U.S. Open
By
Wyman Meers
Outsports.com
It sucks
to have to admit you’re wrong. Universally, it sucks.
Undeniably, it sucks.
It
sucks.
It
sucks.
It
sucks.
Perhaps
that explains Serena Williams’ now infamously surly attitude
with the media minutes after her quarterfinal defeat to
eventual champion Justine Henin at the 2007 U.S. Open.
Serena was only minutes removed from the court, having
fought through a competitive first set before fading fast in
the second against a player who was better prepared, more
focused, and more match tough. In what has become far too
typical of Serena, she offered no professional or insightful
perspective on the match. Rather than give any credit to
Justine for being the superior player, Serena attributed the
outcome to her errors and “lucky shots” from Henin.
Whether
Serena was simply not in the mood or is truly so
astronomically disillusioned is irrelevant. The abysmal
lack of professionalism stunned the tennis community,
creating a backlash so great that you could sense other
players making conscious efforts to praise their opponents.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams tucked her tail between her legs
and disappeared from sight.
Consider
that this was the same woman who crafted the kind of
professional renaissance only a Williams can produce by
winning the Australian Open at the start of the season.
After that victory, Serena was openly talking about
completing a calendar year sweep of all four Grand Slam
championships. Why not? She had ripped through the field
in Melbourne as an unseeded player. More importantly, this
was the same woman who crafted the “Serena Slam” not so long
ago in winning all four majors consecutively over the course
of a non-calendar year.
Ultimately, Serena never even saw another major final in
2007. She lost meekly to Henin on the red clay of Paris;
more shockingly, Williams again went out to the top-ranked
Belgian on Wimbledon’s slick grass courts; and now,
embarrassingly, she had lost a third straight quarterfinal
match to Justine in a major. In front of a sell-out crowd
and on her home court, Serena Williams met her match.
Tight lipped with the press, Serena could not avoid
admitting the facts to herself: she had been wrong, and it
sucked.
Just as
Serena’s peers learned from her mistakes, I too would like
to take advantage of this opportunity for growth and admit
that I was wrong. My
preview article for the U.S. Open rather boldly
predicted a routine tournament where fans could “expect the
expected.” Yet I am left with no choice but to admit the
truth after witnessing two weeks of thrilling five-set nail
biters, emerging young talent, and top-flight tennis in New
York. Simply put, the 2007 U.S. Open was the most exciting
tournament of the year.
Renaissance Men
There
was one universally expected result at tournament’s end, of
course. Roger Federer won the event. It was his fourth
consecutive title in New York and his 12th major
championship overall as he marches towards claiming his
place in history as the greatest man ever to pick up a
racquet. Case in point: Federer’s win completed an
unthinkable Wimbledon-U.S. Open back-to-back-to-back-to-back
sweep for the world’s No. 1.
Despite
being dominated so thoroughly by one person, however, the
men’s game is overflowing with charismatic and willful
competitors. The ATP is bloated with a collective talent
that made each successive round at the Open greater than its
predecessor. Therefore, despite all his success, Federer is
looking less dominant in individual matches. As the players
start to believe in themselves, fans too begin to believe
that Federer can be toppled. That belief is a catalyst for
intense interest. Federer continues to win, but the field
is catching up more quickly than a casual glance at the
state of the game might indicate.
Chief
among Federer’s rivals in 2008 will undoubtedly be
third-ranked Novak Djokovic, the charismatic young Serb
whose imitations of his fellow players are almost as
entertaining as the thrilling, athletic tennis he plays.
Djokovic charged to his first Grand Slam final in New York
and played admirably. The weight of the occasion clearly
impacted his tennis, but the match was not a rout. In fact,
for most of the two opening sets, Djokovic outplayed
Federer. It was only during the crucial closing moments of
each set that Djokovic’s lack of experience betrayed him.
In the
first set, Djokovic held five set points -- including triple
set point while serving at 6-5, 40-0 -- before succumbing in
a tiebreak. The second set eerily mirrored the first as
Novak took the early lead and earned another pair of set
points only to see a triumphant Federer comeback. The Swiss
maestro found unbelievable rhythm and range on his serve
towards the end of the second set, into the tiebreaker, and
continuing into the third. Federer is so impressive from
every point on the court that his serve isn’t usually a
noticeable weapon; however, it was undeniably the key to his
7-6(4), 7-6(2), 6-4 victory over Djokovic on a gusty, humid
New York afternoon.
Federer,
who has won three of the four majors in each of the past two
seasons, is now poised to make a run at Pete Sampras’s
record tally of 14 major titles. However, it is difficult
to imagine Djokovic not claiming his first Grand Slam title
next year. Djokovic will battle Federer on hard courts in
the same way that three-time French Open champion and
two-time Wimbledon runner-up Rafael Nadal has done on clay
and grass. The Nadal-Djokovic combination adds an intriguing
element and much-needed challenge to Roger’s chase of
history. Suddenly, no Slam is an absolute certainty for
Federer.
The
world’s top three players appear primed to take tennis’s
biggest prizes in the foreseeable future, but the U.S. Open
also showcased several up-and-coming players and a few
familiar faces that aren’t yet ready to be forgotten. Past
champions Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin lost disappointing
early-round matches, but both men seem committed to making a
comeback next season. They may very well be inspired by
31-year-old Carlos Moya, who returned to the Open’s
quarterfinals almost a decade after his last appearance in
New York’s final eight.
Safin,
Hewitt, and Moya are all former Slam champions and former
top-ranked players. So too is America’s Andy Roddick, who
continued a career of frustration in the shadow of Roger
Federer when the two men met in a blockbuster quarterfinal
night match. Roddick is obviously and unapologetically
tired of losing his opportunities to Federer, but his
attempts to overpower the Swiss star are poorly conceived,
sometimes juvenile, and always futile. Nonetheless, Roddick
deserves a lot of credit for not giving up. He repeatedly
lays his heart on the line in match-ups with Roger. In this
latest loss, Roddick played his absolute best tennis,
hitting 42 winners to only 24 unforced errors. Andy’s
average first service speed clocked in at 130 mph. And
still Federer dismissed him in straight sets.
How will
Roddick respond to such a heartbreaking loss? If he takes
confidence and plays with similar aggression in all of his
matches, Andy Roddick can return to prominence on the tour.
Myopic brooding over Federer, however, will only increase
his exasperating decline. James Blake also continues to
disappoint American tennis fans. Blake finally won a
five-set match at this year’s U.S. Open, defeating
delightful veteran Fabrice Santoro in the second round, but
subsequently lost to dangerous German Tommy Haas in a
fifth-set tiebreak. Blake seemed to have a good path to the
semifinals and, after losing to Haas, his mental strength
and competitive will were once again called into question.
The good
news for American tennis came from Donald Young, the
over-hyped phenom who is finally winning at the pro level
and advanced to the third round, and from John Isner. The
6’ 9” tall Isner has been making life tough for many players
this summer and even claimed the opening set before losing
to Roger Federer in the third round.
Girl
Problems
The
current brilliance of men’s tennis threatens to reduce the
women to also-ran status. The women’s game is near a state
of crisis, with top stars either ailing or disinterested and
a seeming legion of players who are content to mindlessly
power the ball around the court with no regard to error
count. With their on-court intrigue failing, however, the
women of the WTA compensate for their shortcomings with
heavy doses of drama.
No story
in women’s tennis this year has been more soap operatic than
Justine Henin’s. Henin won the U.S. Open title with a
dismissive 6-1, 6-3 display of brilliance against the
overmatched Svetlana Kuznetsova; however, the start of
Henin’s year was far from glorious. She skipped the
Australian Open in January while going through a divorce.
At her lowest point, Henin was questioning herself
personally and professionally, wondering if she would be
able to return to the tour and play her best tennis after
the dissolution of her already small support system. But,
miraculously, going through the pain of the divorce provided
Henin a personal growth that fostered reconciliation with
her long-estranged family. After the reunion, Henin
returned to tennis as a much softer and more approachable
woman.
Finally
comfortable with herself and less guarded, Henin’s already
free-flowing tennis has become even more relaxed. That
personal happiness has been mirrored by professional
triumph. By adding the 2007 U.S. Open to this year’s French
Open title, Henin inarguably secured her spot as the best
female player on the planet.
The
victory was well earned. Henin advanced from the insanely
top-heavy section of the women’s draw. Five of the six
viable contenders for the crown resided in the top half.
Henin had to defeat Serena and Venus Williams back-to-back
to simply reach the final. Henin’s subsequent defeat of
Kuznetsova in the ladies’ final marked the first time that a
player had beaten both of the Williams sisters in a single
Grand Slam event and then gone on to claim the title.
The
player most likely to stand in Justine’s way in 2008 is
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams. Venus had to
single-handedly eliminate the deadly Serbian tandem of Ana
Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic to reach the Open semifinals,
illustrating her renewed commitment to the game by playing
controlled, aggressive tennis against all her opponents.
The Williams-Henin semi was the only true standout match of
the women’s event, with Henin’s all-court prowess fighting
off Venus’s pure power in two extremely tense, well fought,
and hugely entertaining sets.
Outside
of Henin and Venus Williams, sadly, the other top stars in
women’s tennis have much to consider. Maria Sharpova lost
in the third round in New York, capping off an absolutely
miserable year at the majors for the Russian glamour girl.
Serena Williams cannot overcome Henin. The third-ranked
Jankovic plays far too many tournaments in an attempt to
avoid practicing, while No. 6 Ivanovic seems to have fallen
back since reaching the final of the French Open. Martina
Hingis is a shadow of her former self. Amelie Mauresmo is so
disenchanted with tennis that she didn’t even bother to show
up in New York, citing recovery from an emergency
appendectomy that happened in the spring!
These
players should take heed, for the U.S. Open’s lopsided draw
and their collective lethargy has lent itself to the
emergence of a lot of new talent. Hungary’s Agnes Szavay
led the way by advancing to the quarterfinals, but also
making waves were Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Poland’s
Agnieszka Radwanska, the 18-year-old who crafted Sharapova’s
exit. Azarenka and Radwanska both made the tournament’s
round of 16.
The Best
Policy
Justine
Henin and Roger Federer commit to the highest professional
standards and hone their all-court prowess to reign over
their peers throughout the entire year. Their methods for
success have never been more tangible than they were over
the course of two rain-free weeks in Flushing Meadows, New
York. Tennis fans truly saw the two most deserving champions
conquer the field.
As
another Grand Slam year is put into the record books, the
world’s top ranked players look down upon competitors who
have many questions to answer. It is the ATP Tour’s riddle
to solve Federer’s excellence, while the WTA’s elite must
literally and figuratively refocus on how best to serve the
sport that has brought them prominence. Undoubtedly, as the
quest for answers to these questions begins, there is one
obvious truth: when champions are separated from hopefuls,
someone always gets hurt.
Wyman Meers is a writer
living in New York. He is Gaga4Gaby on the
Outsports
Discussion Board.
Sept. 14,
2007 |
