US Open 2010: A Week Not Quite To Remember
Sweltering heat, powerful gusts of wind, showers of rain. You’d be inclined to say that the first week of the US Open this year had it all, but unfortunately, the variety was restricted to the weather alone. The tennis, on the other hand, mostly followed predictable patterns; even the upsets that did happen weren’t entirely out of the blue. Let’s take a look at some of the more important highlights of Week 1:
It’s showtime: What is it with Roger Federer and his affinity to play theatrical tennis in the Open? In 2008 he hit a sliced lob off an overhead smash for a winner, twice, to leave the impressionable New York crowds gasping and throatily bringing down the house with their raucous cheers. Last year he went one step further, hitting a between-the-legs tweener for a winner against Novak Djokovic to set up match point in the semifinal. This year he’s done almost the exact same thing, only, this time it came against Brian Dabul and in the first round – basically, in a match where no one expected any kind of fireworks. A common grouse against Federer is that he treats tennis as more of a performance than a sport, and if the last three US Open tournaments are anything to go by, it would be hard to argue against that.
But it’s not just Federer who loves giving the crowd something to get uproarious about. French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who’s cruised through her first 4 matches in the tournament, was determined to equal the scoresheet for the women. So she went ahead and hit a tweener of her own, but unlike Federer’s trick shot, this one wasn’t a winner. And that might be reason enough to consider it an even more impressive exhibition of athleticism. After the point ended the commentator said that it was worth being witness to the shot just to see Schiavone’s remarkably free-spirited celebration. I couldn’t agree more.
An American on the rise, another on the fall: Andy Roddick has kept the US flag flying at the Majors the last few years pretty much on his own lonesome shoulders. Perhaps the time has come for him to let go of that burden. He fell to Janko Tipsarevic in the second round here, and during the match he indulged himself in a comical if slightly disturbing altercation with the linesman over, you guessed it, a foot fault. The world didn’t need any reminding of the Serena Williams foot fault controversy, Andy, if that’s what you were trying to do. Roddick is 28 now, and his performances at the Grand Slams this year have been anything but encouraging. I guess that loss to Federer at Wimbledon last year took more out of him than he let on.
Meanwhile, American teenager Ryan Harrison caught the world’s attention through his tennis rather than his shenanigans. After upsetting Ivan Ljubicic in the first round, he went on to produce a dramatic five-set thriller against Ukranian Sergiy Stakhovsky, a match that was undoubtedly among the best of the tournament. Harrison ended up on the losing side, but his intelligent, all-court style of play together with his impressive serve, efficient footwork and booming forehand have made people sit up and take notice. The American media Hype Machine has finally got a replacement for Donald Young. This time, however, there IS a little fire behind the smoke; the kid is certainly one to watch in the future.
Power without sting: The Big Boys have faltered again, and they’ve only got themselves to blame. Tomas Berdych made a disappointing first-round exit to Michael Llodra, Ernests Gulbis blamed ‘heartburn’ for his tame loss to Jeremy Chardy (is Gulbis taking the Marat Safin comparisons a little too seriously?), Marin Cilic was worn down by Kei Nishikori in a marathon 2nd rounder, Robin Soderling barely survived the first round against an unknown qualifier and Thiemo DeBakker could only go as far as the 3rd round (although, to be fair, he went out to Soderling himself). Where is Juan Martin Del Potro when you need him?
Wimbledon doesn’t need a roof, the US Open does: Temperatures soared to terrifying heights in the first week of the Open, with several matches being decided by the players’ ability to withstand the debilitating heat rather than any particular superiority of skill. Novak Djokovic was in all kinds of physical trouble in his match against Viktor Troicki before somehow managing to pull out the win, Cilic and Nishikori seemed to be running on fumes by the end of their energy-sapping five-set encounter and Victoria Azarenka caved in completely, falling to the ground during her match against Gisela Dulko before being carted off the court in a wheelchair. All of this, of course, was before the effects of Hurricane Earl started to be felt on the courts. The day-long downpour predicted for Friday as a by-product of the hurricane never materialized, but the strong winds that kept blowing across the grounds through the weekend caused plenty of havoc, with the players’ shots going haywire and the tennis turning downright ugly. The fancy roof new roof over Centre Court at Wimbledon has clearly been rendered unnecessary after two years of completely dry weather; is it at all possible for the All-England Club organizers to loan that roof to their poor American counterparts?
Show me how to serve: We all know that Elena Dementieva has had a career-long battle with her serve, a battle that has currently settled with her service motion looking nothing like a tennis stroke. But Samantha Stosur is supposed to have one of the best serves on the women’s tour, and so it is really hard to explain why there were as many as 15 breaks of serve in their 4th round encounter that went on late into the night yesterday, a match that Stosur finally won after overcoming 4 match points and squandering one of her own. Dementieva first served for the match at 5-3 in the 3rd set but was broken. Then Stosur had a chance to serve for the match at 6-5, but was, expectedly, broken. And it’s not like this was an isolated match either. Earlier in the day even the great Venus Williams failed to serve out her match against Shahar Peer, but Venus’s ground game was working well enough for her to be able to break Peer in the very next game. Double faults, powder puff second serves, nervy errors at seeing a service return coming back at breakneck speed – the serve has become about as relevant in the women’s game today as the chip-and-charge.
The path clears for the King: Those who thought Rafael Nadal had been dealt a cruelly unlucky draw at the Open this year need to look again. None of the big-name players who were supposed to give Rafa the kind of hardcourt trouble that has led to much gnashing of teeth among his supporters managed to survive the first week. Andy Murray added YET another chapter to his flourishing list of Slam disappointments, Berdych failed to counter the serve-and-volley game of Michael Llodra and Fernando Verdasco gave a huge helping hand to his countryman yesterday by getting rid of David Nalbandian. Add to that Nadal’s miraculously ramped-up serve (he’s been averaging close to 130 mph on his first serve through the first 3 rounds), and his dream of completing his career Grand Slam this year doesn’t look quite so far-fetched any more. Just about the only challengers to Nadal left in the draw are Federer and Soderling, and since those two are in the same quarter, Nadal will only have to face one of them. Alignment of the stars, anyone?