| 12 April 2010
It's been kind of sloow in tennis this past week, with a couple of smaller events taking place. You could pick from the women down in Florida, where an old-new kid Wozniacki dusted off a rising newcomer, Olga Govortsova. One big blonde pony-tailed woman slugging it out from the baseline against another big blonde pony-tailed woman. What a novel idea! One we haven't seen in a while...er, well for at least a week or so. Does women's tennis feel to you like a hall of mirrors? We like to say the women play the same game for the most part: hugging the baseline like your life depends on it, and venturing forward to the net only if your life depends on it. But now it seems the women are even starting to physically resemble one another. Egads! It was inevitable we suppose. This pairing wore the same white outfits with no sleeves, and it got kind of tiresome trying to tell them apart. Wozniacki won. I am trying to work up a liking for her, but without much success. She seems pleasant enough, but her game is just more of the same. People hope she advances a bit by developing a transition game, and maybe that will help the cause, but right now she is just too boring to watch on a steady basis.
Further out west you could have tuned in on a couple of manly men, Querrey and Chela, dukking it out in the Houston final, also on clay. This could have been Querrey's very first clay title, but Chela, a veteran now at 30, and sidelined for quite a while due to injury, came out with other ideas. He prevailed finally in three sets. Good to see you back, Juan I.
It nearly ended up being Wayne Odesnik, the notorious cheat, who made it into the semi-finals yesterday before losing to Querrey. Gee, I wonder how the ATP would have felt had he actually MADE the final. His case will be taken up soon by the powers that be, but until then Wayno gets to play. Odesnik got caught bringing in HGH into Australia, a no-no that brought flame down upon his person, with Andy Roddick leading the charge in publicly bashing the guy. Querrey followed suit in his own fashion as the semi-final played itself out, with a few sarcastic comments of his own. Nobody wanted to see Wayno play in anything, yet as the week wore on the guy kept hanging around, winning matches. The nerve!
George Bush Sr used to attend this event like clockwork; sadly, these days his health keeps him closer to home. But he used to entertain the players with a party over at his digs, and you have to wonder how such a skilled diplomat would have handled Odesnik. Do you invite him over too? Do you NOT invite him over? And if he's invited, does he spend a lovely afternoon alone in a corner by himself? Maybe Pere Bush wanders over for a little sit-down that begins with, "So tell me, Wayne, what's this HGH stuff all about and what's it do for me?"
Sadly, there is no respectable way to handle this furry critter. We hope tennis moves on quickly from this low moment. Fortunately, it's springtime in Europe! This coming week brings us the most beautiful venue in all of tennis, the clay event in Monte Carlo. It is no longer a required event, so many of the top guys are taking a pass, including Federer. But Nadal will be there, he's the defending champ and it's red clay, the stuff that courses through the Spaniard's system like blood itself. Djoker and Murray don't need to play it either, but they're both in the draw; they had better show their shining faces, 'cause they have questions-smestions hanging over both their heads. Like, "What on earth has happened to you this year?" Their Failure To Launch has emerged as the most noteworthy news about the men so far this year.
My favorite tennis hit from the past week I save for last - Sania gets hitched! I hope some earnest producer lines this one up as a soap opera destined for primetime telly, because it sure sounded like it had all the makings. Her first Intended got to take a hike at the end of January, seems they were "incompatible" but still friends. Hhmmm, I would take that as an omen of ill and not want to proceed into marriage at all, but not Sania apparently. Another groom stepped forward, a cricket jock from Pakistan. In one week they were engaged, and in another week they were to be married. Then it got delayed when it was found the guy may have already taken a wife. Then it all got sorted out and the pair got married this past week. At least we think so. Makes you wonder about Indian weddings, huh? Do they always keep a potential groom waiting in the wings, just in case?
In tennis, we just open a new can of balls and off we go. Is marriage in India like that too? I can only hope.
Enjoy Monte Carlo!
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