French Open

Mens Tournament

The biggest news of the tournament came in the form of world number 1, Rafael Nadal, whose unbeaten run at this Grand Slam Tournament coming to an end at 31 matches with an upset defeat to Robin Soderling in the fourth round.

Although there have been a number of speculations about the reasons for Nadal's loss, including the fact that Nadal may have been injured, in my view, Soderling was exploiting Nadal's weakness with his gameplan. Soderling's gameplan was similar to Novak Djokovic's gameplan in Madrid - to take the ball early and out shotmake Nadal. This worked at the French Open for Soderling as Nadal was hitting a bunch of short balls which gave Soderling an opportunity to step into the baseline and he went for his shots. This was evident due to the 61 winners and 59 unforced errors by Soderling. What is shocking about this result is the fact that the two men met a few weeks before in Rome on clay with Nadal taking that match 6-1 6-0.

Such a loss would have a great effect on the confidence of Nadal, and it will be interesting to see how he is able to come around this defeat.

Other top players did not have much success at the red clay in Paris either. Fourth seeded Novak Djokovic was ousted in straight sets in the third round by Philipp Kohlschreiber, while number three seeded Andy Murray lost to a firey Fernado Gonzalez in their quarter-final encounter.

As a result, Roger Federer became the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slam singles titles when he produced an exceptional performance to defeat Swede Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6(1), 6-4 in the final. Victory for Federer also saw him tie Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14 major singles titles.

Federer's path to victory was not without hiccups, as he had to come back from two sets down to beat Tommy Haas 6-7(4) 5-7 6-4 6-0 6-2 in the 4th round, and Haas was actually 5 points away from winning that match.

Federer is now in a prime position to also regain his Wimbledon title and his win at the French will provide him with the confidence he has been lacking in the past year. What a difference a few months makes.

Women's Tournament

The two in-form player on clay, world number 1 Dinara Safina and No.7-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, met in the final of the French.

Since ascending to the world No. 1 ranking on April 20, Safina compiled a win-loss record of 20-1, with her only loss to Kuznetsova in the Stuttgart final. Since then, she went on a roll, winning 16 straight matches - the longest winning streak on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour this year, and including a revenge win over Kuznetsova in the final of Rome.

Kuznetsova has been impressive throughout the tournament, beating a trio of fellow seeds - Agnieszka Radwanska, Serena Williams and Samantha Stosor in 3 sets, each time dropping the middle set before coming back to win the third.

In the final, a No.7-seeded Kuznetsova was just sharper than No.1 seed Safina, who hit seven double faults and lost her serve six times. Safina seem to be too nervous, and cracked under the pressure of playing in another Grand Slam final. Kuznetsova was, in contrast, cool, calm and collected, and after a tight first set and tight start to the second set, she burned through four games in a row to complete a 64 62 title victory.

The issue for us to consider is whether Safina has the mental ability to win a major in the future.

Another point to note is the resurgence of Stosor, who made it all the way to the semi-finals and the emergence of up-and-coming player, Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia who also made it to the semi-finals.

Madrid Matters

Men's Tournament

ATP World Tour No. 2 Roger Federer ended his title drought in style with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over rival and reigning ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal in the final of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. This ends Nadal's 33 match clay-court winning streak.

This win should give Federer the much needed confidence to regain his supremacy in tennis, but his win is marred by the fact that Nadal seem tired and possibly injured in the final, courtesy of his epic semi-final match when he saved three match points in a dramatic final-set tie-break to beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(9) in four hours and three minutes. Djokovic's attacking style in the semi-final match may possibly be a successful formula against the clay-court king Nadal in the future.

Women's Tournament

Dinara Safina continued to prove herself as the best player in the world, winning her second straight Premier-level Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open with a 62 64 victory over the Top 10's newest member, Caroline Wozniacki.

Veterans, Patty Schnyder and Amélie Mauresmo, both unseeded, also made lots of noise in Madrid, coming into their own and winning through to the semifinals.

Rome Results

Men's Tournament

Result

World number 1 Rafael Nadal won a record fourth Internazionali BNL d’Italia title with a hard-fought 7-6(2), 6-2 victory over defending champion and world number 3 Novak Djokovic at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tennis tournament in Rome.

Analysis

Rafael Nadal - Nadal has already won 5 titles this year, including his first hard court Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo. His win can be attributed to his ability to raise his level of play in the first set tie break in the finals and the continual pressure he placed on Djokovic especially in the second set.

Novak Djokovic - His come-back-from-behind win over Roger Federer in the SF, when he was down early breaks in the second and third set, showed the improvement in his mental ability. He is gaining confidence with each and every match.

Roger Federer - An improvement in this tournament, beating Stepanek along the way (whom he lost to in the same tournament last year). However, his loss to Djokovic was without excuse, as he was up a break in the final two sets before succumbing to the Serb. Hard to see him regain his prior dominance given his current lack of confidence.

Andy Murray - A rare early exit in this tournament.


Women's tournament

Result

Newly crowned world number 1 Dinara Safina won her first title of the year at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia against her country-women, the rejunenated, Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3 6-2.

Analysis

Dinara Safina - Her ascent to number 1 had attracted recent controversy, as she has not won a Grand Slam in the past 12 months, and have cumulated enough ranking points to be number 1 through the number of smaller tournaments she has played. But attached to the number 1 ranking is confidence, and this was on display during this tournament, especially in her epic 3 hour win over Venus Williams in the SF, a player she had never won a set off of, 67(3) 63 64.

Serena Williams - The loss of her number 1 ranking seems to have taken some edge off her, and she again made an early round exit, despite telling the media that she deserved the number 1 ranking based on her 2 Grand Slam wins and 1 Grand Slam final result in the past 12 months. It will be interesting to see how Serena will perform in the next Grand Slam.

Monte Carlo Memories

Result

World Number 1 Rafael Nadal captured his fifth straight Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters title with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory over third seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia to extend his winning streak to 27 matches at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay-court tournament and become the first player to win an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament for five consecutive years.

Analysis

Rafael Nadal - The best player in the world by far, especially on clay. His ability to finish a tight match against Djokovic in the finals, and to come back in all his matches in the tournament from an early break, shows how tough he is in the mental department.

Roger Federer - A wildcard into the tournament due to a late entry, a newly-married Federer lost his QF match against his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka. It is worrying to see the once invincible Federer not able to win more points on his return of serve, and his lack of confidence is once again shown in his unforced forehand errors. These are the type of matches Federer must win to have any chance of regaining his dominance.

Novak Djokovic - A recent return to form from the Serb, reaching his first final in this event, and losing the match on a few key points, when he rushed the ball or went for too much.


Andy Murray - A good effort from the Scot, in reaching his first clay semi final, losing to eventual champion, Nadal.

Ivan Ljubicic - A wild card into the tournament, the former world number 3 regained some of his old form, by defeating current world number 5, Juan Martin del Porto, in the second round, before losing to Nadal in the QF.

Tying the Knot

Love is in the air!

Roger Federer recently wed his long-time girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec in his hometown of Basel, while Andy Roddick and his fiancée, Brooklyn Decker, exchanged vows in a candlelit ceremony before close family and friends in Austin, Texas.

Both top players, who could have chosen lavish ceremonies and celebrations for their momentous events, opted for a low-key simple gatherings with close family and friends. Such a choice may be a reflection of the humble nature of these players, or the fact that they did not want their personal life to take over the spot-light of their tennis careers.

In a world where materialism prevails, and people compete on all levels, it is encouraging to see these top tennis players bucking the trend, and sending a message to the world that love and happiness can exist through simplicity.

Miami analysis

Men's tournament

Result

World number 4 Scot, Andy Murray, defeated world number 3 Serb, Novak Djokovic, 6-2, 7-5, to win his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament and became the first British champion at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Analysis

Here are some observations and analysis from the tournament.

Andy Murray

There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that he is currently the best player in the world (behind Nadal). The Scot is the first player this season to win three ATP World Tour titles. He also captured the Doha title (defeating Federer and Roddick on route) and the Rotterdam title, when he defeated World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. Two weeks ago he finished runner-up to Nadal in the final of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells. The only disappointment this year is a fourth-round exit at the Australian Open where, as a pre-tournament favorite, he was defeated by Fernando Verdasco in five sets.

In the Miami final, Murray showed off his great repertoire of shots as well as great footwork in retreiving shots from all corners of the court. He was able to successful fight off a change in strategy by the Serb (who proceeded to rush to the net more often to keep points shorter) and came back from 1-4 down (as well as two set points down) in the second set to claim the title.

Rafael Nadal

He was clearly not playing at his best, but still, he only lost to a top 5 player (Del Potro) in a third set tie-breaker. This shows how tough mentally he is.

Roger Federer

With Nadal bowing out in the QFs, and with no tournament victories this season, it was a chance for Federer to reestablish himself by winning this major tournament. Instead, he lost in the SF against Djokovic, making plenty of unforced errors with his forehand, and letting out his steam by breaking a racquet in a process. He has only won one single match in his last 11 matches against Nadal, Djokovic and Murray, his sole win being over Djokovic when Djokovic retired half way through that match due to dizziness. Hard to see him reexerting his greatness again with these kinds of results.

Novak Djokovic

It was evident that he found it difficult to handle the heat, and this is an area that he must improve if he is to stay at the top. However, he showed his resilience by changing his game half way through the final by attacking the net to try to catch Murray off guard, with some success.

Juan Martin Del Potro

The QF win over Nadal is the Argentine's most significant win to date, and to be able to come from behind in the final set against one of the toughest player on tour is extremelyt impressive.

Women's tournament

Result

World number 1 Serena Williams, battling injury and erratic groundstrokes, was upset 6-3, 6-1 by 19-year-old Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Analysis

My observations and analysis of the women's tournament relate to one player only - the winner of the tournament, Azarenka.

Victoria Azarenka

As predicted in my previous blog entry, this is a girl you should be keeping your eye on now. Her rise to the top has been quick, and with solid groundstrokes, and courageous play, this significant victory may signal a changing of the guard in the women's game.

Kim Clijsters announces comeback

News

Former world number 1, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, gave a press conference to announce her return to competitive tennis after two years from retirement.

The 2005 US Open winner will be playing some exhibition matches from May to July (including an exhibition against Steffi Graf and a doubles exhibition with Tim Henman against Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi under the new roof at Wimbledon, an exhibition against Michaella Krajicek at the Ordina Open and participation in the WorldTeam Tennis Pro League). She will then be playing in tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto, before competing in the US Open. She is also expected to play in Antwep at the end of the year.

Clijsters quit professional tennis in 2007, and since then, she has married basketball player Brian Lynch, and gave birth to their first child, Jada.


How successful will this comeback be?


There are a number of factors which may affect the successfulness of this comeback.


Mental frailty

The biggest issue that Clijsters has in the past is her mental frailty, especially at big events. Who could ever forget the number of matches she lost at big stages due to her mental breakdown, such as her loss in the third set 12-10 to Jennifer Capriati in the 2001 French Open final where there were four times where she was within 2 points from winning the title, as well as the 2003 Australian Open semifinals, where she was leading 5-1 in the third set and held a match point at 5-2 against Serena Williams, before losing that match 7-5 in the third. To be able to be successful in her comeback, she will need to overcome this aspect of her game, so as not to give her opponents any chances or opportunities.


Focus

Being a mother now means that her attention may be divided between her family and her career. To be able to be part of the elite group of players, she will need to be completely focused on her game, or otherwise, she will be easily overtaken by the aggressive hungry youngsters.

There is doubt as to whether she is fully focused in this comeback. It is only 2 years ago when she made the followings statement during her announcement of retirement:

"Time to marry. Time for children? Time for cooking and playing with my dogs. And particularly a lot of time with my friends and family. No more travelling. No more stepping in and out of planes. No more having to read gossip or lies in the papers."

It is only recently, while during her practice for the Wimbledon exhibition, that she rediscovered her drive and challenge for the game again. Whether this focus can be sustained is yet to be seen.


Previous comeback

Clijsters has previously made a successful comeback in 2005, after a year of inactivity plagued by injuries. That year, she was able to win her lone Grand Slam, the US Open. Therefore, she knows what she needs to do in order to succeed on the tour.


Emotional drive

Her sole Grand Slam win in 2005 came at an emotional time for her, as her relationship with Lleyton Hewitt ended around that time. Her father has recently died, and this may be the emotional drive that may help her to succeed in her current comeback.


Conclusion

The current state of women's tennis seems to be the most opened in years, with no one dominant player, as evidenced by the fact that four different women have attained the number 1 ranking after the retirement of Justine Henin last year. This is a perfect time for Clijsters to return to the tour, and will present her with opportunities to succeed.

However, as we can see from the comeback of another mother, Lindsay Davenport, it is difficult to return to the height of the game once a player is a mother. Davenport's most recent comeback has been successful on one level, as she won a number of lower tiered tournaments, but she was never a threat at any of the majors.

Therefore, given the question mark over Clijsters' mental frailty and focus in this comeback, it is more likely that Clijsters will find success in some tournaments, but will never be viewed as a threat to win a major title.

Whether she succeeds or not, her return is good for the fans and the game of womens tennis.

Indian Wells wrapup

Men's tournament

Result

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal disposed of Andy Murray 6-1, 6-2 despite the windy conditions, to recapture the BNP Paribas Open title, being the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament of the 2009 season, at Indian Wells.

Analysis

Here are some of observations and analysis on some players from the tournament.

Rafael Nadal - There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that Nadal is the best player on the tour at the moment. Not only was he able to handle the windy conditions in the final, he actually worked out a way to use the wind to his advantage against a determined Murray. His win over Nabandian, whom he has never beaten before, in the fourth round, and saving five match points in the match, showed his determination, will-power and self-belief, qualities that will make him a threat in any tournaments he enters.

Roger Federer - Apart from Nadal being his nemesis, let's now add Murray to the list. Andy Murray has beaten the great Federer four times in a roll since losing to Federer in the US Open final of last year. Federer's untimely unforced errors actually cost him the semi-final match, and such errors may stem from his mental fear of opponents like Nadal and Murray. The advent of his new baby does not really help his cause to regaining his dominance (see my earlier blog).

Novak Djokovic - Defending champion losing to Andy Roddick in the QFs. It is amazing to witness his fall from popularity over the past year, from being the joker and imitating other tennis players to the delight of fans, to a player who is now perceived by fans as lacking in sporsmanship and this is evident by his comments after his QF match:
“Overall it was a very bad day. There's not much to say. He played very solid. I mean, he didn't do anything special. It was all me making incredible amount of unforced errors. I just didn't have any momentum on the court. No feel for the ball, no movement. Just no solutions.”

Andy Murray - If he continues to play the way he has been in the past few months, he will no doubt rise to No. 2 in the world behind Nadal before the US Open this year.

Andy Roddick - A steady resurgence after losing the pounds during the off season. Have reached at least the SF of all 5 tournaments he played this year.

Women's event

Results

Russia's Vera Zvonareva defeated Ana Invanoic 7-6(5) 6-2 to win the BNP Paribas Open. She also won the doubles tournament.

Analysis

Here are some of observations and analysis from the tournament.

Williams sisters - Despite the WTA's tough talks of making four premier tournaments compulsory for Top 10 players, the Williams sisters continual snub of this mandatory event did not attract a suspension from the WTA. Instead, their penalty is to participate in some promotional activities down the road. You just wonder whether WTA is too scared to actually suspend top players for missing their premier events.

Top 6 players - Apart from the Williams sisters, none of the world's other top 6 female players (Safina, Jankovic, Dementieva and Zvonareva) have won a single grand slam title between them.

Victoria Azarenka - Although losing to Zvonareva in the SF, she has already having won two titles this year, making her one of the players to keep an eye out for in 2009.

Should sports and politics mix together?

Incident of Shahar Peer and Dubai

"There should be no place for politics or discrimination in professional tennis or indeed any sport" exclaimed Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer, in February this year, after being denied a visa from United Arab Emirates to enter into the city Dubai to participate at the Dubai tournament.

Peer was entered into the draw of this year's Dubai tournament, but was removed from the draw after being denied a visa for safety reasons, due to the negative public sentiments surrounding Israel's invasion of Gaza.

Most of the top female players spoke up for Peer, including current world no. 1 Serena Williams, and her older sister, Venus Williams, who paid tribute to Peer after winning the tournament, but all of them continued to play in the tournament despite their verbal protests. Andy Roddick, who was the defending men's champion, was the only player who boycotted the tournament in support of Peer.

The WTA took action, fining the organisers of the tournament a record $300,000, and providing Peer with compensation in the form of ranking points and money, and also ensuring Peer would be able to compete in next year's Dubai tournament. Another Israeli player, Andy Ram, was also permitted to enter the city of Dubai and play doubles in the men's tournament the week after.

So was it really wrong for the Dubai organisers to mix sports and politics in the Peer incident?

Why shouldn't sports and politics mix?

Sport is commonly defined as an organised, competitive and skillful activity requiring commitment and fair play. Sports people should be rewarded for their efforts, and not be discriminated by other issues such as politics.

Sports often provide relief for people from the harsh reality of their everyday life. Think about the great racehorses which provided that sort of escape for people during times of trouble and economic crisis, such as the heroics of Sea Biscuit in the US during the Great Depression. By injecting the realism of politics into sports, we take away this escape channel for people.

By not mixing sports and politics, sports may also be used as a diplomatic channel to reconciliations.

As a result of these arguments, most people see themselves in this light, supporting the notion that sports and politics should not mix. That was reflected in the huge attention that the Peer incident got from the media as most people thought that it was not wise for the UAE to mix sports with politics in that incident.

But do we accept the mixing of sports and politics?

At this point, you would think that most people would not accept the mixing of sports and politics. But surprisingly, there have been alot of situations where people accepted the mixing of sports and politics.

Think about most interviews of tennis players after their matches. Alot of questions asked at those interviews are political in nature. For example, Venus and Serena Williams were asked to give their comments about the inauguration of the first black president Obama at the Australian Open earlier this year. This was a blatant mix of sports and politics. But we all seem to accept it.

What about a sports person boycotting certain events? We can all recall the refusal of some of the English cricket team a few years ago to play at Zimbabwe on the basis of that country's human rights records. What about the US boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics due to the host country's occupation of Afghanistan? What about the withdrawal of Eric Widdell from his event in the 1924 Paris Olympics due to his personal religious convictions? In the tennis world, the Williams sisters have been boycotting the Indian Wells tournament for the past few years due to a racist incident a few years ago. All of these actions are well accepted by the general public, as the refusal to participate in a sporting event allowed the sports person to send a moral message to the world.

But ironically, these sports people are also mixing sports with politics. If we take the view established in the earlier section, their non participation should not be accepted by the public. These sports people should be separating their political beliefs from their sports. It can be argued that they participate in sports as a sports person, not as a politician, and so they should not be sending their personal moral convictions through their participation in sports.

However, as we all know, the general public is more than willing to accept such a situation to occur, and even praise the sports people for standing by their beliefs.

Double standards

It seems like we have a double standard in relation to the issue of mixing politics and sports. Most people are willing to accept such a mix, by accepting a sports person's individual moral beliefs as a basis of refusing to participate at a sporting event. But if a sporting event mixes sport with politics, by exercising some sort of beliefs of its own, then people are not willing to accept that.

We can easily view the Peer incident from the point of view of the Dubai organisers and the UAE. The UAE may have a strong conviction against the actions of Israel in relation to the Gaza occupation. The inclusion of an Israeli player may result in protests from the public. This may threaten the security of other players and the people attending the tournament. As a result, Peer was denied entry into the Dubai entry.

Conclusion

The point of the above analysis is not to judge who was right or who was wrong in the Peer incident. It is more for each one of us to be aware that at times, we are applying double standards to similar situations, depending on circumstances.

Should we be applying the same standards in all circumstances?

It is hard for us to say whether it is right for us to mix sports and politics. But one thing we need to be aware of and to accept is that there is already a mix of sports and politics if we really open our eyes.

Federer is going to be a father

News

Roger Federer, the current world number 2, announced on his website recently that he is going to be a father.

The Swiss star announced that his girlfriend, Mirka Vavrinec, who he met at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, is pregnant.

"Mirka and I are excited to let you know that we will be parents this summer! Mirka is pregnant and we are so happy to be starting a family together. This is a dream come true for us. We love children and we are looking forward to being parents for the first time. Mirka is feeling great and everything is going well."

After the announcement of this news, Federer expressed his excitement at his subsequent interview in Indian Wells, where he is currently playing a tournament:

"I mean, like I think in a way I always had the dream that once I became No. 1 in the world that if I have a child I hope I have it early enough so he can see me playing, you know. So this is very exciting, you know."

Federer also stated that this would not really affect his mindset to tennis "a whole lot".

Analysis

This new excitement in Federer's life may well bring him the stimulus he needs to regain this authority in the men's tennis game, as his child is now an added motivation for him to do well.

However, raising a child is a lot of hard work. Federer's mentality and focus will be divided between his family and his tennis.

Furthermore, history is also not on his side. In the Open Era, there are only six male tennis players who have won majors after becoming a father, being Boris Becker, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Pat Cash, Andres Gomez, Petr Korda (all of which won only one major after being a father) and Jimmy Connors (who won three majors after being a father).

With the intensity of Nadal's game, and his edge over Federer, and the fearless challengers in the form of Djokovic and Murray hot on the heels of Federer, it will be hard for Federer to regain his dominance at the slams, given the competing loyalties he now have between family and tennis.