Around the World in 1000 Words
by Pete Bodo
Greetings, everyone. I've been out of touch for the past week, while on a family vacation in Vieques, Puerto Rico. I was pretty good for about four days, but then I began to go stir crazy, not because there wasn't anything to do, but because there wasn't anything to do that...has to be done. And that's a very different thing. I guess over time I've become a "has to be done" person. Someone who's most happy doing what might call chores. Physical stuff, preferably outside. I'm sure some of you feel the same way.
But it was sure nice to laze around in the sun, smoking a cigar and reading under a palm tree, and to dine out, often under the stars, wearing nothing but a polo shirt and shorts, after the brutal winter we've had in the northeast. Boy, did I get a chance to read books (the seas were roiled all week and the wind brisk, so bonefishing was out of the question): I probably read 30 pounds worth of them, but they were all jammed in my 12-ounce Kindle. Thanks, Amazon!
So let's get on with the news of the day.
There's no "i" in "Rafa"!
If I didn't know better, I'd often be tempted to ask, when thinking about Rafael Nadal, "Is this kid for real?" That's because his humility and unwillingness—or is it inability?—to over-think any given question or issue is striking. Nadal is in Belgium with the rest of the Spanish Davis Cup team, preparing to play a first-round World Group tie this weekend. He's been practicing all-out and showing no signs of after effects from the left hamstring injury that laid him low in Melbourne. He says of his chances to play in the tie: “If the captain thinks I am the right player to start on Friday, I will do my best. We will see.”
The Spanish squad also features David Ferrer (fresh off his singles win in Mexico) and Fernando Verdasco. So the Spanish team has the world Nos. 1 (Nadal), 6 (Ferrer) and 9 (Verdasco) all suited up and ready to rumble. The odd man out is Feliciano Lopez (a mere No. 40 on the ATP singles chart, but a gifted doubles player). This is, without doubt, one of the most formidable Davis Cup teams assembled In the last quarter century. You have to feel for Xavier Malisse and Olivier Rochus, who are ranked, respectively, 51 and 115. Or maybe you don't, this being Davis Cup and all. . .
So can anyone even imagine Albert Costa looking down the line of expectant faces sitting on the Spanish team bench and then flipping the ball to...Ferrer? or Verdasco? You can relax, Rafa, we know you love to whack that ball, and I have a pretty good feeling about which way Costa will go when it comes time to send in the troops.
Those quotes like the one above always make me wonder if Rafa is for real. For all I know, Rafa simply knows that when it comes to the prying media, the more you say or more freely you let your thoughts wander, the longer you have to stay in the room and the more chance there is that you'll get yourself into trouble.
More than that, though, I think this opacity and refusal to think out loud is a terrific protective mechanism that keeps Rafa out of the kind of controversy and stress guys like young Andre Agassi and Boris Becker and other blabbermouths habitually brought on themselves. If a guy walked into a bar looking for a fight, the last guy he might want to challenge is Rafa. Not because Nadal is big or strong, but because he keeps to himself.
I think it's safe to assume Rafa will play on Friday.
They say that even the longest and most exciting journey begins with a small step, and it looks like Dinara Safina took what she probably hopes is that first step back to the top—or at least the ranks of respectable pro players—the other day in Kuala Lampur. She won her first match since last September, after absorbing six consecutive first round losses—including a mortifying 6-0, 6-0 loss to Kim Clijsters in the first round of the Australian Open.
Most of you know that Safina is still trying to recapture the form that earned her the No. 1 ranking and a berth in two French Open finals (those didn't work out so well—she lost to Ana Ivanovic in her first attempt and Svetlana Kuznetesova the following year). As debilitating and ill-timed as that back injury was, Safina is no mere physical case study—she's a head-case study (and we'll leave speculations about her personal life out of it, after noting there may be issues there). For unless that back is in much worse shape than she's letting on, Safina's inability to get back to within shouting distance of the Top 100 is nothing less than baffling.
The thing that makes Safina's situation all the more vivid is the comeback of Juan Martin del Potro, who was out for a comparable length of time, with an equally threatening if different injury. Delpo, we're happy to report, just took the most important step in any comeback—he won a tournament (Delray Beach) and he did it commandingly, against a decent if not blue-chip field, much sooner than anyone expected. That makes the degree to which Safina is struggling that much more striking.
Delpo's big win also can be seen as a shot that inadvertently whistled over Maria Sharapova's bow. For she's another player who's having trouble getting traction after an extended layoff due to injury.
Safina has Lucie Safarova next, and that's going to be a tough but winnable match for her. For the record, the woman Safina mastered in the first round at Kuala Lampur is Han Xinyun, who's at Safina's present ranking level (they're both just outside the Top 125). Safina really took her to the woodshed, 6-2, 6-0. But there's a red flag, even in this long-awaited and hard-earned win: both games Han won were on Safina's serve. My feeling is that without a reliable hold game, Safina has absolutely no chance of making it back anywhere near the top.
Wild Card Shootout...
In 1999, Mark Philippoussis won the Indian Wells Masters event and stood poised to challenge Pete Sampras for tennis supremacy. But in one of the great cautionary tales of the Open era, Philippoussis blew it. He never scaled comparable heights, and while injuries were partly to blame, they occurred, by most accounts, at least partly because Phlippoussis, whose nickname was Scud, was never in the kind of shape demanded of a Top 10 player. He was as soft as he was big, as dim as he was affable, as poorly designed to navigate the perils of life and career as he was well-made for punishing physical labor. This Scud was a dud, but then never seemed to speak or think ill of anyone, which is why it's easy to feel compassion and sympathy for him.
This year, Philippoussis asked for wild card into Indian Wells, then suddenly changed his mind. Apparently, he was offered a spot in a "senior" event in Europe, which tells you that the 34-year Philippoussis is neither delusional (in terms of a making a potential pro tour comeback) nor in a position to do what he wants, as opposed to what his need to earn his daily bread dictates. The guy blew a lot of money. He once showed me his garage full of motorcycles down on that Star island (Fla.) place where he lived. Being a former bike guy myself, I noticed that he had one particular machine (a Buell, no longer made) that was driven by a belt rather than the conventional chain. Making conversation, I asked Mark how he felt about belt versus chain drive on a motorcycle. He looked at me, and I could tell he had no idea what I was talking about.
It was probably best that Scud withdrew his wild card request, though, because it's hard to imagine him surviving long in the company assembling at Indian Wells. Just look at the list of wild card recipients: Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori, Ryan Harrison, Bernard Tomic, James Blake, CoCo Vandeweghe, Christina McHale, Vania King, Jill Craybas and Sania Mirza. The line-up gives you some idea of the competition out there today. In fact, to hail with the ATP and WTA main draws, let's just have the wild cards play out the tournament. I'll go with Raonic over a resurgent Blake, an upset winner over Nishikori, in the final.
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No, I'm not talking about walking the runway in some Parisian fashion show. Serena Williams is looking to bring her signature style and flair to the red clay courts of Roland Garros. She recently told the New York Post, "I intend to be back for the French Open."
Now there are two ways to interpret her declaration: She's either hoping to launch her comeback (she'll have been out for 10 months by the time they play the French Open) on the slow red clay, or hoping to be in shape to contend at Roland Garros, which means she'll play a few events to get in the flow, defending the points she earned last year at Rome and Madrid. The latter would seem the prudent, obvious course of action, but this is Serena we're talking about, and does anyone doubt that she just might have the brass to lay low then just walk up to the referee's office at Roland Garros on the first day of play and ask, "What court am I on and who am I playing?"
It would appear that Serena is biting off more than she can chew here if she goes into the French Open cold, because it's the Grand Slam event where she's had the least amount of success. She's won it just once, and let's face it—she has a lot of body to move around on slow courts that tilts the odds in the favor of consistent, patient, nimble players. But here's something else: Serena has lost before the quarterfinals on Paris only once since 2000, and that was a third-round surprise pulled off by Katarina Srebotnik. In Serena's case, we're not talking James Blake or Andy Roddick on clay, it's more like Kim Clijsters or Justine Henin in grass.
Serena has lost to a distinguished list of quality players and Roland Garros champions in years past. In fact, take that hiccup against Srebotnik out of play and you'll see that she's lost to only three other players (in 10 appearances) who don't own at least one Roland Garros title: Mary Jo Fernandez (in just Serena's second try at Roland Garros), Sam Stosur (last year, in an 8-6 in the third quarterfinal corker) and her sister, Venus Williams.
So while Serena fans might dread a fresh start at Roland Garros, we shouldn't underestimate Serena's prowess on clay. I don't think the issues will be technical or strategic; movement and fitness are more likely to determine Serena's fate on clay.
That's it for this week, folks. We'll be focusing on Davis Cup over the next few days. Over and out.