interest in the atp masters event. sure, lleyton hewitt, juan carlos ferrero, and carlos moya were some oldies still left in the draw, but what did they stand against the might of roger federer? the final which is at 10 pm my time between james blake and federer seems a foregone conclusion already, this in spite of roger not playing at his best all week and last.
now, the rogers cup in toronto is another matter, even if big names were scratched from the roster last wednesday as well (ana ivanovic, anna chakvetadze, elena dementieva). if it wasn't a mouthwatering ana-justine final predicted after ana's carson triumph exactly a week ago, it's now a j&j encounter, still a serbian, this time jelena jankovic against the feisty belgian justine. the world number 1 against the world number 3, mirroring somewhat the roger-nole final that took place in montréal a week ago, same time. this will most certainly be broadcast live here in belgium at 8 pm our time and i will be on hand to watch this come about.
jelena has a rather dismal head-to-head record against the belgian, 0-6, including big match choke-fests at last year's US open semifinals and this year's French Open semifinals. it's a long shot that she is ready to face the mentally tough wallonian, seeing as how she is still bothered by line calls that don't go her way. barring that, however, i am still crossing my fingers that somehow, just maybe, she might throw this persistent monkey off her back and get a decisive win heading into the last grand slam of the year.
so, dear jelena, hajde hajde hajde!
3 comments:
as Serena stated a while back, and whenever someone asks for her opinion,when they're out on the court and playing unhurt, they,meaning she and her sister Venus, are still the players to beat. Everybody else, with the possible exception of Justine, is second tier.Unfortunately, nobody else but the other players, and mostly when they finally find themselves staring across the net from a menacing Serena, or at the receiving end of a serve from Venus. Even the seeding system is in such serious error. They shoud be, in any grand slam, seeded 1 and 2. The other players do not find this a very palatable proposition because, then, they would have to go through both Williams sisters to win the championship. And this becomes a very formidable task for any player not named Williams to hurdle. Martina Hingis, in her prime found out how difficult it was to overcome this hurdle and soon tired of the task. Venus gave ana Ivanovic a rude awakenig at Wimbledon but when they met again after a couple of months in New York, Ana is seeded no. 5 and Venus a low 8. And Venus gave Ana onother spanking. Not even close. Like a high school player up against a seasoned NCAA campaigner.
Having said all that, I still go for the underdog. I like Agnes Szavay. I'm glad she's getting another chance to complete a match against Kuznetsova. And she's not bad-looking either ( I mean Agnes) and I'm not talking about her backhand.
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hello A
i agree with most of what you said except the "seeding system error". the williams sisters are tough competitors at slams, for sure, but the other players earn their stripes playing in tier 1-4 tournaments to get match fit and experience. i think this is only fair that when they step on the bigger stage that their efforts are awarded via the protected seeding system.
personally, i don't know why the wta does not do what the atp has been successfully implemented with the compulsory masters series events, where they can guarantee practically all top 20 players at all tournaments, barring injury, of course.
the run up tourneys to the US open (the greatest road trip in sports) was such a big joke; justine and venus played in only 1 tourney while the serbian girls played in 2. serena, of course, was busy painting the red carpet at parties while letting her thumb heal. it's really a disgrace because you would think that the players are the walking wounded and yet when they show up at the slams, suddenly all the mysterious ailments are gone! phooey.
maybe that's why i am a more solid atp fan than anything else. of course i love the players, too, and not only for their backhand. :)
you forget, Serena is an aspiring actress
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