Sports Then and Now

As we get ready to head into the 2010 U.S. Open at the end of a long stretch of hard court tournaments in America, there are some traditional clear cut favorites who will claim the attention of the media and tennis fans.

Unfortunately, last year’s winner, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, will not be able to defend his 2009 U.S. Open Championship after undergoing wrist surgery in May at the Mayo Clinic in the United States. He has just recently returned to the practice courts.  This means he will not be up to match strength, denying him the ability to compete at such a high level over an extended period.

The usual suspects head the list of favorites starting with Rafael Nadal, the No. 1 seed, as well as No. 2 seed Roger Federer who has won this tournament five times in the past six years.  Additionally, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have made the finals in 2007 and 2008 respectively. Most of the odds makers will focus on this quartet of top-ranked tennis elites.

It is also important, however,  to consider our Power Rankings, which highlight those players who have recently excelled on the hard courts leading up to the U.S. Open. These are the top ten contenders going into Flushing Meadows.

The Top 10

1. Roger Federer (Last Power Ranking: OLI; ATP Ranking: 2)

Last Four Tournaments: Cincinnati [Winner], Toronto [Finalist], Wimbledon [Quarterfinalist], Halle Germany [Finalist]

Power Ranking Points: 1359

Roger Federer won the tournament in Cincinnati just prior to the U.S. OpenPower Ranking Points: 1359

After suffering a quarterfinal loss at Wimbledon, Federer took some time off from the tour. As he resumed a rigorous practice schedule, Federer announced to the world that he would meet and work with Paul Annacone, former coach to Pete Sampras.

Their first tournament together was Toronto where Federer progressed to the final but was not able to overcome Andy Murray, losing 5-7, 5-7.  The Swiss came back, however, in Cincinnati to repeat as champion over Mardy Fish in a hard-fought three-set final.
Federer seems well rested and well-prepared to compete in his eleventh U.S. Open.

The state of his coaching trial with Annacone remains up in the air at this point with no real explanation as to why Annacone did not travel with him to Cincinnati.  Regardless, his recent play must revive Federer’s confidence heading into New York.

U.S. Open Success? Half of the time that Federer has gained entry into the U.S. Open, he has won the title.  He will remain one of the favorites going into the tournament to win it again in 2010.  That is not to say he will be without competition. Everybody enters to win. If Federer, however, plays as he did this past week, his chances look very good, indeed.

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Roger Federer tuned up for the U.S. Open with a win in Cincinnati.

Roger Federer: One could point to Federer’s easy start to the week, with Denis Istomin quitting in the first set and Philipp Kohlschreiber not even picking up a racket, and call it luck. But, as Thomas Jefferson said, “I find the harder I work the more I have of (luck).”

With a runner-up performance in Toronto and the win in Cincy, The Great Swiss has put forth his best pre-US Open summer hardcourt season since 2007, when he achieved the same results. He has not looked quite as dominant as then, when he steamrolled through Cincinnati and Novak Djokovic needed a third-set tiebreak to beat him in Canada, but he continues to compete well.

Despite losing the first set against Mardy Fish in the final, Federer managed to hold serve throughout the match before finally breaking the big-serving American in the second to last game.

He isn’t winning as easily as during the middle of the decade, but with Rafael Nadal playing uninspiring tennis at the moment, Juan Martin del Potro injured and Andy Murray yet to prove he can win 21 sets, competing well may be all he has to do.

Mardy Fish: And that fact that Federer had to turn to those competitive instincts to win on Sunday showed how far his opponent had come. Now 29 (less than a month younger than the Swiss), Fish lost their first five meetings, taking just one set. But in Cincinnati he not only pushed the most decorated player of the Open Era deep into a third set, he improved to 3-0 against Andy Murray this year and 2-0 against Andy Roddick.

Fish has always had the serve, the backhand, the return and the volleys of a top flight player, but in a game where top 10 players must erase all weaknesses, he had three: his movement, his fitness, and his forehand.

Having lost 30 pounds since last year, Fish is now moving and striking the ball better than ever, and may have emerged as the best chance, not only for American tennis at the Open, but for attacking tennis in general. This is happening just in time, too, with the major with the slickest surface just ahead. Read the rest of this entry →

One Wimbledon finalist was a familiar face while the other was a new one.

It’s too early to make predictions for the US Open; I think they at least have to play the Master’s Series events in Canada and Cincinnati before we do that. That’s especially true now that the defending champion of the event won’t be playing it due to injury, the player who has dominated the event in the past decade is slumping, and the man dominating the tour at the moment hasn’t been past the semis there.

But one thing we can do is look at the players who made a splash at this year’s Wimbledon, where they stand now, and what they need to do between now and then to be ideally prepared for the year’s last major. We start with none other than …

Rafael Nadal: After winning his eighth major and solidifying his stature as the game’s No. 1, we’ve seen a few, including (sigh) Chris Chase speculating about whether the Spaniard can match Roger Federer’s 16 Grand Slam wins.

Let me be emphatic: We should not be talking about this yet. It’s been five years since Nadal won his first major and he now has eight; he’s also been through a grocery list of injuries in that time and is having to schedule more and more carefully to avoid hurting himself. For now, let’s focus on a few other goals that more attainable but far from automatic.

First of all there’s the US Open, the one major he hasn’t won. This year is reminiscent of 2008 in more ways than one, now that Nadal has completed the Channel Slam for the second time and has firmly established himself as the best in the world. He fell short that year, losing to Andy Murray in the semis, saying later that the season had finally caught up with him and he had “nothing left.”

The US Open’s position as the last major of the year is always going to be tough for the player who works hardest on the court, and it’s surface is both faster than Nadal’s liking and least forgiving of his brittle joints. Read the rest of this entry →

With victories in the French Open and Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal has solidified his place at the top of the tennis power rankings.

The Championships at Wimbledon have come and gone, just like that. It has been a historic tournament, especially with the Queen’s visit (on June 24) and the longest match in tennis history (John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut, first-round, June 22-24).

In the end, though, it was all about Rafael Nadal, who claimed his second Wimbledon crown and his eighth major title. In doing so, he became the first man since Bjorn Borg to achieve the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double more than once.

Before the tour shifts to the second hard-court season of the year, most top players will take a summer vacation. The list below reflects the players’ form to some degree, although how well they will be able to keep it up after a multi-week break remains to be seen.

The Top 10

1. Rafael Nadal (Last Power Ranking: 1; ATP Ranking: 1)

Last Four Tournaments: Wimbledon [Winner], London [Quarterfinalist], Roland Garros [Winner], and Madrid [Winner]

Power Ranking Points: 2,536

Nadal has dominated the men’s tour since April, when the clay-court season began in Monte-Carlo. He won all but one (London) tournament that he entered, including two majors and three Masters. He accumulated 7,045 ranking points in three months—more than the total of second ranked player, Novak Djokovic. On the way, he surpassed Roger Federer as the new world’s No. 1 and Andre Agassi with the most number of Masters shields. Read the rest of this entry →

Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal will each be continuing their quest for tennis immortality when they meet in the Wimbledon semifinals.

There’s a famous scene in Chinatown where private detective Jake Gittes faces the evil tycoon Noah Cross, who has been stealing water away from the needy populace to lower the price of land that he can then buy. 

“Why are you doing it?” Gittes asks. “How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can’t already afford?”

“The future,” Cross responds. “The future!”

Rafael Nadal seems a far more pleasant human being than Noah Cross, but his motivations appear to be similar.

With seven majors and one of the all-time great clay court résumés already to his credit, Nadal is still looking to add on, even if it comes at the expense of contemporaries starved for Grand Slam success. 

Unlike Roger Federer, who could never pick up a racket again knowing he’s already established a compelling case for Greatest of the Open Era, Nadal still has plenty to prove.

Holder of seven Grand Slam titles, Nadal needs one more to move past Mats Wilander and John McEnroe, and two to get past the power-baseliner triumvirate of Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, and Andre Agassi. 

The chances of his being ranked higher than those names in the history books go up even higher should more of his major wins take place on a surface other than clay. 

Andy Murray has another type of history to chase. Though he proudly identifies as a Scot, the English public has proudly adopted him as the player most likely to end Britain’s drought at the majors, which stretches all the way back to Fred Perry in 1936. Read the rest of this entry →

Wimbledon 2010: Changing of the Guard even as Federer Lands the Top Seed…

Roger Federer seeded No. 1 at Wimbledon 2010. Rafael Nadal is seeded No. 2 despite being the No. 1 ranked player.

Throughout the wide vista of sporting events, there exists nothing quite as resplendent as Wimbledon draped in quiet dignity as it opens its gates for the fortnight.  The serenity of the grounds contrasts mightily with the sheer aggressive athleticism of its participants. Even grunting and groaning seem out of place on the hallowed green lawns.

The Wimbledon Championships sponsored by the All England Club, have been held since 1877.  It remains the only slam left that offers players a carpet of grass––a step back into the game’s storied past.

Roger Federer serves as Wimbledon’s standard bearer with his all-court game and his delicate movement across the grass.

With its new retractable roof, Wimbledon can now host night matches.

As part of its rich tradition, the organizers have given the number one seed to Roger Federer who has played on Centre Court during the finals for the past seven consecutive years.  The number one ranked player in the world, Rafael Nadal, was demoted to the number two seed this year at Wimbledon.  For those of you who think Nadal will not use this as motivation, you do not know the Majorcan very well.

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