It's getting harder to defend Sampras as best ever.
In what is becoming a recurring theme here in Bagville, Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer win our Player of the Week Awards yet again. They both followed up their Indian Wells titles by winning the Nasdaq-100 in Key Biscayne, Fla. As for Clijsters, her ranking might have her at No. 17 but she can lay claim to being the best in the biz right now. Winning 14 straight matches and beating five of the top six players on hardcourts is a sterling achievement for any player, much less one whose career was in jeopardy six months ago. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
As for Federer, with each passing week, he makes it harder to defend Pete Sampras. Federer won his -- and this is just silly -- 18th straight final, winning another TMS even by beating Rafael Nadal in five sets. Confounded by Nadal's lefty look, Federer lost the first two sets but came back. So much for the notion of his lacking a taste for combat.
• We've discussed which player can mount a legit challenge to Federer. Sunday we got our answer. And is there any doubt Nadal is a top-five player right now?
• Nice tournament for Maria Sharapova, who had few answers for the wind and for Clijsters in Saturday's final, but recovered nicely from her Indian Wells drubbing.
• Amelie Mauresmo is on the cusp of re-inheriting the No. 1 ranking and loses 6-1, 6-0 to Clijsters. Sacre bleu! Or as they say in Lyon, "Oy vey!"
• Note to Butch Buchholz: You run a great tournament and congrats on getting CBS to commit through 2011. Now do something about making sure the courtside seats are filled for televised sessions. The stands may have been packed, but it looks bad when the seats behind the baseline are vacant.
• Note to CBS: Improve an otherwise solid telecast by including the game score on your graphics.
• Nice tournament for Gael Monfils, the French teenager who reached the fourth round. The kid is still as raw as carpaccio but man, is he dripping with talent.
• Doubles winners: Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi win for the first time as a team, crushing Kevin Ullyett and Wayne Black in the final. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alicia Molik, the Australian Open champs, beat Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs to win the women's title.
• What to make of Venus Williams? She breaks a six-match losing streak against her sister but then falls to Sharapova. We've made no secret of our overall admiration for the Williams sisters in the past. But their absence of grace in the face of defeat has reached comical proportions. Sharapova commits a dozen unforced errors in 115 points and Venus has this to say: "She played fairly consistently. I probably shouldn't have made so many mistakes. I'll remember not to next time.'' Sorry, that's being a small person.
• For perspective, Mauresmo, the other losing semifinalist, had this to say about Clijsters: "She's hitting the ball better and harder than when she stopped ... She has all the confidence. She has nothing to lose.''
• Speaking of Venus, she joins her sister and Lindsay Davenport for Fed Cup play against a Belgian team featuring neither Clijsters nor Justine Henin-Hardenne. This might be the biggest blowout since Fred Durst was on Celebrity Jeopardy. Tickets for this event in Delray Beach can be purchased by calling 888-334-8782 (USTA).
• ABC Family is starting production on a new reality series featuring Venus and Serena. From the press release: "The series premiering July 2005 will take an in-depth and off-court look at the fascinating, successful lives of professional tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, focusing on their passions outside of tennis and time spent with family and friends." Say it to yourself three times: "It's good for tennis; it's good for tennis; it's good for tennis."
• We're not exactly ahead of the curve on this, but keep an eye on Ana Ivanovic.
• In addition to writing an outstanding blog for tennis.com, my press room compadre Peter Bodo had a must-read piece on Ernie Hemingway's son in Sunday's New York Times sports section.
• Pro Performance Sports announced that Andy Roddick has signed on to endorse the popular line of Hit-A-Way Tennis, a dynamic new trainer that helps you "Master the Basics, Master the Game." He joins Joe Montana, Sharapova, Leah O'Brien-Amico and Reggie Jackson as Pro Performance endorsers.
• Re: our discussion of "special seedings," WTA Communications grandee Darrell Fry kindly writes: "In answer to your readers' questions, the Tour got rid of the special-seeding rule at the start of 2005. As for a special ranking, any player who is out at least six months can apply for a special ranking. Kim Clijsters was not out for six straight months, thus she was not eligible for a special ranking this year."
• Clijsters did not merely win the tournament: she also won the William Jennings Bryan award for press-conference eloquence. Asked about her decision not to play Fed Cup, Clijsters, you know, had this to say: "I don't know if you know, but I was injured for a year so, you know, I think I have to, you know, set my, you know -- I'm not going to be able to play as many tournaments as I did, you know, in 2003 where I did play my Fed Cup matches. And even last year, when I got injured, I still tried to, you know, to keep the Belgian, the country in the World Group. But, you know, I just have to put my, you know, myself first at the moment. And, you know, my wrist, there's still, you know, it's not the strongest part of my body and I have to look after that. I know that playing, especially the traveling, is not easy for my body now."
• The USTA announced the launch of USTA en Espanol, a Spanish-language version of the USTA's official website targeting the Hispanic community. The move is the latest in an expanded effort by the USTA to increase multicultural participation in the sport. The website offers a convenient way for the Hispanic market to access information on tennis in Spanish.
• Brian Plain of Scottsdale, Ariz., noted that tennis fans in the Valley staged a protest outside of Cox Communications in downtown Phoenix in hopes of getting the Tennis Channel on local air. We encourage (and are happy to publicize) similar acts of civil disobedience elsewhere.
• Thierry of Toronto writes. "As he passed away this week, I thought I'd pass on this great tennis-related Mitch Hedberg line: "The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how much I play, I'll never be as good as a wall. I played a wall once. They're relentless."
John Wertheim S.I. Com
In what is becoming a recurring theme here in Bagville, Kim Clijsters and Roger Federer win our Player of the Week Awards yet again. They both followed up their Indian Wells titles by winning the Nasdaq-100 in Key Biscayne, Fla. As for Clijsters, her ranking might have her at No. 17 but she can lay claim to being the best in the biz right now. Winning 14 straight matches and beating five of the top six players on hardcourts is a sterling achievement for any player, much less one whose career was in jeopardy six months ago. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person.
As for Federer, with each passing week, he makes it harder to defend Pete Sampras. Federer won his -- and this is just silly -- 18th straight final, winning another TMS even by beating Rafael Nadal in five sets. Confounded by Nadal's lefty look, Federer lost the first two sets but came back. So much for the notion of his lacking a taste for combat.
• We've discussed which player can mount a legit challenge to Federer. Sunday we got our answer. And is there any doubt Nadal is a top-five player right now?
• Nice tournament for Maria Sharapova, who had few answers for the wind and for Clijsters in Saturday's final, but recovered nicely from her Indian Wells drubbing.
• Amelie Mauresmo is on the cusp of re-inheriting the No. 1 ranking and loses 6-1, 6-0 to Clijsters. Sacre bleu! Or as they say in Lyon, "Oy vey!"
• Note to Butch Buchholz: You run a great tournament and congrats on getting CBS to commit through 2011. Now do something about making sure the courtside seats are filled for televised sessions. The stands may have been packed, but it looks bad when the seats behind the baseline are vacant.
• Note to CBS: Improve an otherwise solid telecast by including the game score on your graphics.
• Nice tournament for Gael Monfils, the French teenager who reached the fourth round. The kid is still as raw as carpaccio but man, is he dripping with talent.
• Doubles winners: Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi win for the first time as a team, crushing Kevin Ullyett and Wayne Black in the final. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alicia Molik, the Australian Open champs, beat Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs to win the women's title.
• What to make of Venus Williams? She breaks a six-match losing streak against her sister but then falls to Sharapova. We've made no secret of our overall admiration for the Williams sisters in the past. But their absence of grace in the face of defeat has reached comical proportions. Sharapova commits a dozen unforced errors in 115 points and Venus has this to say: "She played fairly consistently. I probably shouldn't have made so many mistakes. I'll remember not to next time.'' Sorry, that's being a small person.
• For perspective, Mauresmo, the other losing semifinalist, had this to say about Clijsters: "She's hitting the ball better and harder than when she stopped ... She has all the confidence. She has nothing to lose.''
• Speaking of Venus, she joins her sister and Lindsay Davenport for Fed Cup play against a Belgian team featuring neither Clijsters nor Justine Henin-Hardenne. This might be the biggest blowout since Fred Durst was on Celebrity Jeopardy. Tickets for this event in Delray Beach can be purchased by calling 888-334-8782 (USTA).
• ABC Family is starting production on a new reality series featuring Venus and Serena. From the press release: "The series premiering July 2005 will take an in-depth and off-court look at the fascinating, successful lives of professional tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, focusing on their passions outside of tennis and time spent with family and friends." Say it to yourself three times: "It's good for tennis; it's good for tennis; it's good for tennis."
• We're not exactly ahead of the curve on this, but keep an eye on Ana Ivanovic.
• In addition to writing an outstanding blog for tennis.com, my press room compadre Peter Bodo had a must-read piece on Ernie Hemingway's son in Sunday's New York Times sports section.
• Pro Performance Sports announced that Andy Roddick has signed on to endorse the popular line of Hit-A-Way Tennis, a dynamic new trainer that helps you "Master the Basics, Master the Game." He joins Joe Montana, Sharapova, Leah O'Brien-Amico and Reggie Jackson as Pro Performance endorsers.
• Re: our discussion of "special seedings," WTA Communications grandee Darrell Fry kindly writes: "In answer to your readers' questions, the Tour got rid of the special-seeding rule at the start of 2005. As for a special ranking, any player who is out at least six months can apply for a special ranking. Kim Clijsters was not out for six straight months, thus she was not eligible for a special ranking this year."
• Clijsters did not merely win the tournament: she also won the William Jennings Bryan award for press-conference eloquence. Asked about her decision not to play Fed Cup, Clijsters, you know, had this to say: "I don't know if you know, but I was injured for a year so, you know, I think I have to, you know, set my, you know -- I'm not going to be able to play as many tournaments as I did, you know, in 2003 where I did play my Fed Cup matches. And even last year, when I got injured, I still tried to, you know, to keep the Belgian, the country in the World Group. But, you know, I just have to put my, you know, myself first at the moment. And, you know, my wrist, there's still, you know, it's not the strongest part of my body and I have to look after that. I know that playing, especially the traveling, is not easy for my body now."
• The USTA announced the launch of USTA en Espanol, a Spanish-language version of the USTA's official website targeting the Hispanic community. The move is the latest in an expanded effort by the USTA to increase multicultural participation in the sport. The website offers a convenient way for the Hispanic market to access information on tennis in Spanish.
• Brian Plain of Scottsdale, Ariz., noted that tennis fans in the Valley staged a protest outside of Cox Communications in downtown Phoenix in hopes of getting the Tennis Channel on local air. We encourage (and are happy to publicize) similar acts of civil disobedience elsewhere.
• Thierry of Toronto writes. "As he passed away this week, I thought I'd pass on this great tennis-related Mitch Hedberg line: "The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how much I play, I'll never be as good as a wall. I played a wall once. They're relentless."
John Wertheim S.I. Com
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