| 08 May 2010
Since we've had earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tsunami, not to mention man-made disasters like the housing crash, recession, terrorist attacks, the BP oil spill, maybe it's only, ahem, natural that the tennis tour is also seeing its share of nuttiness, albeit on a much smaller scale.
Just in the last hour I watched the final in Rome, where Jelena Jankovic fell to Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez, an, ahem, natural serve & volleyer, whose doubs results have far outshone her singles play until recently. Even as I type, she's contending for the doubles trophy too. The singles trophy was a beaut – those Italians can design, gotta give'em that. Then I saw someone who looked like Roger Federer try to do something against the gap-toothed journeyman Albert Montanes and lose in straights. Yesteray it was Djokovic retiring in Serbia against rhe baby-faced 19-yr old Krajinovic in the first set. Breathing problems. Remember those? Last year Djokies was the home boy/conquering hero at his own tournament. Then there was Davis Cup. He hasn't been the same since. How soon you have to defend those points.
Let's discuss the girls. When I first saw Maria Jose play, it was great to see that style of play again, especially from a woman – what's more, a Spanish woman, and a Spanish woman who's 27 and 5'9 1/2”. A Spanish woman who's 27 and 5'9 1/2” and a LEFTY. Outrageous. Big serve, soft hands, fearless at net. Groundies less impressive. That was about two years ago, and she's continued to make a mark as her groundies have improved too.
When she beat Ana Ivanovic yesterday, the British commentator remarked that Ana, who seems finally to have found some form again, was struggling because she had never played against someone like Maria Jose before; it's probably fair to say that about 95% of the girls playing right now. Oh, and did I mention MJ has a killer dropshot? And I mean KILLER. In her runner-up awards speech, Jelena mentioned just that - “she killed me with those dropshots” - I lost count of how many MJ hit, and at least two were service return winners. OMG, what chutzpah, though I'm not sure it work too well on the guys' tour against Ivo or Isner. Jelena was at least as bugged as Ana was yesterday. They both looked befuddled, out to sea. Backcourters are rhythm players, not used to being attacked like that, aced, dinked, and dropshotted. Nothing makes them feel more insecure than being dropshotted out of the blue.
I'm expecting nice stuff out of MJ at the French. She could make serious noise at Wimbledon. I wanna see a JUSTINE-MJ MATCHUP!! Add Samantha Stosur into the mix, and we now have THREE women who can seriously trouble the rest of the tour! A new day has dawned. Last spring I was totally bored by the girls, but now I am totally hyped!!! Even if MJ just lost her doubs final. She's going home with her gorgeous surprise singles trophy.
Onto less cheerful commentary re the pseudo-Rogi vs Montanes match. Rogi has been struggling this spring, no question about it. Fatherhood is affecting him, after all. Less practice, fewer matches. Let's face it. The third-tier 29-yr old Spaniard with the hangdog expression wasn't the player the crowd paid to see. It was embarrassing. Rogi thinks about going home, drinking coffee out of his expensive Jura espresso machine, consoles himself by considering the hundreds of more millions of $ he has than Albert, and decides to head for Madrid to practice for next week, because he needs to man up quick to have any face-saving chance at the French. Stay tuned.....
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