The Surbiton Spike
Howdy, everyone. I decided to go to one of our favorite websites, Core Tennis, to do a little research on our Wimbledon wild cards. I'm pretty impressed that the site worked without a glitch - for example, every player's history was easily retrieved, and the graph charting their ranking progress (or regress) was just a lot of fun to look at. If you're not familiar with how Core works, just go to the players tab, enter a name, and look at the bottom of the page for the search results. Then click on more info; when the profile comes up, you'll see the position graph link.
So here are the wild cards that have been awarded in the first, pre-tournament wave, with some comments on each player. Go to Core tennis, you too can be an expert!
Men:
Jamie Baker (GBR)
Age, 21; ranking, 250; 2008 record: 12-3.
Upside -- Won two futures events (Harlengin and Brownsville, Texas - yee-haw!); qualified for Australian Open but lost in first round to Ivo Karlovic.
Downside -- Just check on the graph of his rankings at Core tennis. . .
Why him? -- What the hail do you think that GBR stands for, freakin' Gibraltar?
Jeremy Chardy (FRA)
Age, 21; ranking, 94, 2008 record, 15-9.
Upside -- Rode his big forehand and mercurial shotmaking all the way to the round-of-16 at Roland Garros, suggesting a solid future in the game. His graph shows a steady, almost inexorable rise.
Downside -- Inconsistent, battling a hip injury.
Why him? -- With a name like Jeremy, you could fool some into thinking he's British.
Alex Bogdanovic (GBR)
Age, 24; ranking 243; 2008 record, 11-15
Upside -- Had win over Robby Ginepri in AO qualifying; has his own website , complete with photo galleries with some awesome examples of why people should experiment with red-eye reduction (hey, at least he was sober, unlike those British juniors who popped up in the news not long ago!).
Downside -- Dude's 24 and in seemingly extended albeit leisurely free-fall (see graph).
Why him? - With the name "Bogdanovic", he might fool some opponents into thinking he's a Serb before the ranking confirms that he's British.
Frank Dancevic (CAN)
Age, 23; ranking 90; 2008 record, 8-8
Upside -- He's Canadian, eh? Has achieved a measure of fame at TW, thanks to Mrs. Santa accusing me of having a man-crush him. Sometimes plays like he's crazy and don't care about nothin' - like when he recently won the Surbiton Challenger. Greatest player from the Niagara Falls area since Jimmy Arias, and a pioneer of the sleeveless "Tire boy" look later copied by lightweights like Carlos Moya, James Blake, and Rafael Nadal.
Downside - He's Canadian, eh? After cracking the elite Top 70 in the summer of 2007, he's slid inexorably if gracefully backward - but then came what will henceforth be known as The Surbiton Spike!
Why Him? - Probably to stick it to the Francophone Quebecois, just for the hail of it.
Xavier Malisse (BEL)
Age, 27; ranking, 239; 2008 record: 7-9
Upside -- A spectacular newcomer back at the turn of the milenium, Malisse is still young enough to do serious damage at a tournament (usually to himself, but you never know. . .); former Wimbledon semifinalist, record at major is littered with fourth round losses. Career high ranking: 33.
Downside -- A baffling, moody, insanely unreliable competitor. This guy is not just a Wimbledon wild card, he's a human wild card, a testimonial to the theory that there's nothing predictable about what people do, or why they do it.
Why him? -- Sympathy, powered by the typically Wimbledon notion that if he's been a semifinalist at our place, he's got to be deserving.
Okay, three more WCs to be awarded - probably based on run-up results etc.
**Women:
Elena Baltacha (GBR)**
Age, 24; ranking, 144; 2008 record, 12-5
Upside -- Okay, we all know that 24 among the women is the equivalent of 33 on the ATP side. Still, she's gone from no. 430 a year ago to her present career-high ranking. You know, this is a nice, sporty if unspectacular use of the wild card. It's like a suitable-for-framing certificate of merit awarded to a hard worker.
Downside -- She's progressed nicely, gradually, and consistently, but the curve has flattened out and it's hard to imagine anything like a . . Surbiton Spike!
Why her? -- To show that the WCs aren't doled out exclusively to snot-nosed punks, potential superstars (under pressure from their agents), or has beens trying to hang on just a little longer.
Naomi Cavaday (GBR)
Age, 19; ranking, 196; 2008 record, 12-8.
Upside -- She's broken into the top 200 on a slow but steady rise since last August.
Downside -- Her ITF junior ranking went into free fall, plunging from a high of 62 all the way to 339 by last December. Let's hope it was because she was already looking ahead to WTA action. . .
Why her? -- What, did you think that only one player from Gibraltar was going to get a WC into Wimbledon?
Katie O'Brien (GBR)**
Age, 22; ranking, 104; 2008 record, 9-9.
Upside -- Still young enough to make a run at the Top 50
Downside -- Will have very tough time making Top 50.
Why her? -- They figured, *let's give at least one Wild Card to someone whose name suggests she might actually have been born somewhere on or around the emerald isle.
Urszula Radwanska (POL)
Age, 17; ranking, 194 (No. 4 in ITF jrs.); 2008 record: 1-6.
Upside -- Excellent bloodlines; she's a promising young player whose sister, Agniescka, while just 19, is already knocking at the door of the WTA Top 10. Another excellent choice for a wild card, this time with no sentiment involved.
Downside -- Nothing I can see.
Why her? -- see two items above.
**
Melanie South (GBR)**
Age, 22; ranking, 154, 2008 record: 21-10.
Upside -- The girl has played a lot of matches, with three semifinals and a win in 50k WTA events. You've got to start somewhere, right? Even at age 22.
Downside -- Bull Durham syndrome seems to be inevitable, but it's better to have loved the game and never made it to the Top 50 than never to have played at all. . .
Why her? -- If Margorie North were ranked 153, she probably would have gotten it instead, but the UK has no Margorie North so it's Melanie South.
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)
Age, 19; ranking, 49; 2008 record, 19-10.
Upside -- Plenty. She was a French Open quarterfinalist a week ago, and has a versatile, attractive game that will keep her on the pro tour. Fans of touch, deft ball striking,and an artful volley game will love her.
Downside -- Plenty. A so-so serve that will keep her from making the most of her volley. Mediocre mover. And while that one-handed backhand looks good and suggests success on grass, her take back and swing are extremely long, and that's a problem on grass. This is a classic case of a girl who has a game suited to grass, played in a way, and with physical limitations, that will make winning on grass very difficult.
Why her? -- Can you say, "French Open quarterfinalist?"
Two more to come when Wimbledon is good and ready too make the choices, stay tuned!