Asian leg

So to the last bit of the year- actually important tournaments, only for the super high rankers, but also no one quite cares because the last Grand Slam of the year (the US Open) has been and gone and everyones getting a bit tired of this tennis malarky.  Its all gone Asian though, which is nice cos the main tour doesn't seem to swing by this neck of the woods during the rest of the year, although shame to see that not many people in Tokyo seem to care as the large staduim is left mainly empty.  I know its hard to get people on a weekday daytime to come to tennis, and I do think its good for tournaments to be in Asia, but it should be the responsibility of the tournament to ensure a good crowd. 

It must be awfully demoralising for the players to play in front of so few people, especially as these tournaments are dominated by top players, it creates a lame ass atmosphere and looks pretty rubbish on the ole TV.  I feel this is more of a problem on the womens tour, I don't get to see the mens much so I may be wrong, but I don't trust tournament organisers to advertise 'women's tennis' (some different creature from regular tennis) as well as mens.  And if you're gonna have a tier one event (the biggest apart from grand slams) which top players are often required to play, then you should show you deserve it.

Woz after winning. Nice Plate imo.

Anyway, Wozniaki (blonde, Danish, millionaire, talented, and annoyingly pleasant, although she did say that her short US Open dress was good as it got her male fans which is obviously a dumb thing to say, not least because she was wearing what looked like a dress made out of a scuba suit, or perhaps rubber tubing) just won her 11th title by beating Dementiava in Tokyo.  Date Krumh excited home fans as the 40year old beat defending champ Sharapova and Hanuchova before falling to Schiavone.  And British child Laura Robson managed to qualify (winning three matches) before losing to Greta Arn (dunno).  So that's sort of a good result.  I was disappointed for Zvonerava who lost to Dementiava in the semis, after losing the US Open it was pleasing to see her play so well but after losing the first set 7-5 her form slipped and she started to look tired.  Another reason why no one likes this part of the year.

If Wozniaki gets to the quarter finals in Beijing next week shell be world number one.  Which will probably bring forth much talk of you-shouldn't-be-world-number-one-unless-won-major which is dumb.  Jankovic and Safina also both number ones without winning a major and Safina in particular had to deal with a lot of bollocks about it.  Safina btw went out in the first round of Tokyo, still plugging away trying to get back to the top following her back injury, shes about 49 now.  But welcome to the new breed of world number ones, they are not like Serena Williams (who is the current world number one) who wins majors and little else and is a tennis star rather than a tennis player, but they are extremely consistent at a very high level which, one assumes, is not that easy.  Wozniaki has won 5 titles this year, which aint bad.

Lopez

 On the mens side current world number one (and worry not fans, no one can catch up with him right now) Nadal just lost in the semi-final of the Thailand Open beaten by world number 53 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, I didn't see it so I don't know what went down but apparently Lopez (who has one career title to Nadals 42) played great ground shots in the second set and Nadal failed to take his chances in the third (only winning 2 of 26 break points).  He'll play Jarkko Nieminen in the final, and I struggle to care.  (See first para) Not sure what the rest of the men are up to, last years US Open winner Juan Del Potro lost in the first round but he hasn't played since February due to a bad wrist. 


Meanwhile various athletes are getting ready fot the Commonwealth games which start tomorrow, reports were flooding in about substandard accomodation including pictures of unsanitary rooms.  In fact Elena Baltacha (and others) has pulled out of the tournament due to health fears.  She has a liver condition and has been side lined with it in the past, and didn't want to risk anything when she's doing so well (got into the top 50 for the first time recently).  But here's a nice picture of Jamie Murray in a kilt to cheer us all up.

He needs to smile more in pictures imo, lights up his whole face. The games are being held in Delhi if you were wondering about the shirt Indian men next to him, although I can not explain the hats.
Until next time...

Henin Returns

Justine Henin who retired about 15months ago is to return to tennis next year, and I can't think of any who would be less than delighted by the news (well perhaps some of the other female players?).  Henin triumphed at 5"5 when the average height of the women players is 5"10 (and this 5"6-er thinks thats cause for celebration), she packed her tiny frame with muscle and actually hit the ball pretty damn hard, but also beat the other women with her excellent movement.  She also had a backhand that could kill a goat...

Inevitably, her return will lead to disscussions that 'the women's game really needs her', and general implications that women's tennis is falling to pieces.  While I would never suggest that women's tennis is perfect or without need for improvement, it interests and angers me the men's tennis is never put critical scrutiny.  When the grand slam prize money was made equal people were complaining that the women did not deserve it because they weren't as good as the men.  Ignoring the fact that the percieved quality of a tennis match is rather hard to measure, those commentors rather missed the point.  Men were not played more because they were better (or even because they play longer matches, as most the time they play best of 3 to gain ranking points for entry into grand slams) but because they were men.  Consider two players, male and female, playing one match at wimbledon and losing in 3 sets, the matches may have been the same length in time but the man will still walk away with more money.  Or he would have before the equal prize money.

As in most sports the womens game has missed out on decades of support and financial aid and has fought hard to catch up, but they are under a much more constant and severe scrutiny than the men.  When Rafa Nadal beats his opponent 6-2 6-3 6-2 or something similar he's looking like a potential champion, when Serena Williams beats someone 6-3 6-3 its an example of a lack of depth in the women's game.  And if a top seed falls early in a major tournament (just what on earth happened to women at Flushing Meadows? ) it always 'says something'- as in 'what does this say about the women's game?'.

The tennis player with the most criticism recently is probably Dinara Safina- for what I hear you cry- for becoming worl number one without winning a grand slam.  Dinara has been to 3 grand slam finals (two this year) so to say she does badly in slams would be more than a little unfair (I suppose it doesn't really help that she plaued more like a frightened child that a champion in those finals but still..).  She has collected her ranking points by being consistent and successful throughout the year.  Serena Williams has described herself as the 'real number one' an arrogant and obnoxious thing to suggest in my mind- yes she has won 2 grand slams this year and that is a fantastic achievment she rarely plays to her full potential in smaller tournaments (if she did she would have won them all).  Serena cares about tennis when there's a spotlight to shine in and has become a tennis star absolutely but hardly the greatest player.

I started this by mentioning Justine Henin's return and it's interesting to note who it was that beat Justine in her last match, in Berlin 2008, in three sets, coming from 5-2 down in the second; Dinara Safina.