May 9th, 2008
The latest in a growing number of brushes with the law is Paul Hanley, Australia’s top-ranked doubles player. Hanley was released on bail in London after being detained with accusations of date-raping a woman outside of his home near Wimbledon.
The incident supposedly occured in early March and with Hanley’s recent bail posted, the British tabloids have jumped all over the news. Hanley lost in the Rome Masters earlier this week and is expected to play Hamburg.
What is the deal with this rash of tennis players embroiled in illegal/criminal doings lately? Not to say Hanley is guilty - a thing like date-rape is difficult to prove. It’s going to be even harder to make the case stick against a person of Hanley’s status. (It’s not right, but it is how it is.)
It’s all a game of information and Hanley is staring at a love-40 hole, but I’m going to bet he’s got a few aces ready to send cross-court. Who knows? Maybe one of his aces is that he’s actually innocent.
Tags: date-rape, Paul Hanley, Tennis ScandalShare This
By Erica -- 0 comments
May 9th, 2008
Apparently Rafa was only the first in a string of toppled giants. Roger Federer lost a tightly-contested two-set match to Radek Stepanek in the Rome Masters quarterfinals 7-6(4), 7-6(7). I don’t know which type of loss is harder: the one where you get completely blown off the court or the one where you’re so incredibly close but can’t finish off the few vital points that would have swung the match in your favor. Either way a loss is still a loss and an exit from a tournament and that’s what Federer did in Rome.
Who’s going to win Rome now? Hercules was downed in the second round and now the King has bowed out after a tough battle. Andy Roddick is still in the mix and is a set up on Tommy Robredo. Behind Rafa and Roger losing, the fact that Roddick is still hanging around is the biggest surprise of this tourney.
But wait - there’s more! Serena Williams couldn’t hang on to her winning streak and Dinara Safina ousted Big Serve Serena in three sets. Safina dropped the first but dominated the second and managed to close out a tight third set to put her in the German Open semifinals. Safina…Safina…that name sounds pretty familiar. I feel like I just talked about her…oh yeah! She just beat the world No. 1!
Tags: Dinara Safina, German Open, men's tennis, Radek-Stepanek, Roger Federer, Rome Masters, Serena-Williams, womens-tennisShare This
By Erica -- 4 comments
May 9th, 2008
Well this will be short and sweet. Mostly because the Times of India didn’t embellish and partly because my threads of focus are nearly broken. But I’m still writing about it because it’s a freakishly bizarre incident.
Three top-ranked tennis players in the city of Varanasi in India were beat up by the police for “tripling on a motorcycle” and then thrown in the slammer. Now me, being a dumb American, took that to be there were three people on a motorcycle at one time. Since I’m assuming I’m right, a beating and a lock-up seem a little extreme for “flouting traffic norms”.
I mean - maybe just a punch or two to the face but a severe beat-down? That’s taking it too far.
Tags: Tennis ScandalShare This
By Erica -- 2 comments
May 8th, 2008
Her hope of using the German Open to get ready for the French didn’t materialize for Justine Henin after Dinara Safina used three sets to send Henin packing in the third round.
Henin had been to the last six German Open finals and won three of them. Two of those victories preluded her first two French Open titles. Her failure to make a deep run at this tournament may have a bigger effect than we all thought.
No surprise, Serena Williams breezed past Agnieszka Radwanska for her 17th-straight victory. She’s like a freakin’ train with no brakes and no engineer.
(Image: Newscom)
Dinara Safina celebrates her victory over top-ranked Justine Henin at the German Open.
Tags: Dinara Safina, German Open, Justine Henin, Serena-Williams, womens-tennisShare This
By Erica -- 2 comments
May 8th, 2008
Every time a player challenges a call and the television screen switches to Hawk-eye mode, I hold my breath with silent anticipation and then either let out a relieved sigh or an exasperated grunt.
There are times I wish we could go back to the days of the wooden rackets with the impossibly heavy balls instead of this high-tech tennis world we live in. I’m not against the use of Hawk-eye technology, but I think without it, it would force everyone to be even more on their toes.
That is one thing I adore about the clay court season. You can actually see a physical mark where the ball struck. When a player is contemplating whether a call was made correctly, instead of just watching him stand thoughtfully on the baseline, we actually get to see him walk forward, deliberate over a mark, hem and haw and then finally go back to resume play. What can I say? I’m a visual person.
So, as I said above, I’m not against the use of Hawk-eye but neither am I a rah-rah, mindless supporter of it. I think with the stipulations the players have on the challenges they are allowed per set, it keeps them from taking undue liberties with it. Can you imagine if there were no constraints on the use of Hawk-eye? Matches would take f-o-r-ever.
It would almost be enough to sway me towards watching golf. Almost.
Tags: Hawk-eye, tennis equipmentShare This
By Erica -- 2 comments
May 7th, 2008
When in Rome…don’t do as Rafael Nadal did. Rafa lost 7-5, 6-1 to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round of the Rome Masters, a tournament Rafa has won the last three years.
Bummer, dude. I’m not sure if I expected Rafa to sweep all the clay court tournaments this season or not. I never really thought that far ahead; all I knew was that he was on a roll. And I’m sure there are going to be some brainless nitwits out there who say Rafa has lost his mojo. Losing his second match in 105 on clay? It’s a slump!! Riiiiiiight.
I love tennis. I think it’s one of the best all-time individual sports. Hands down. But it’s still exactly that: a sporting event. Why do you think there has been all this controversy over betting the last few months? Because people do a lot of betting on sporting events, because *gasp* anything can happen! Novel idea, I know.
Hmm - I totally forgot where I was going with this. Other than the obvious fact that Rafa is not invincible on clay. I’d still roll out the red carpet for him though.
(Image: Newscom)
Tags: Juan Carlos Ferrero, men's tennis, Rafael Nadal, Rome MastersShare This
By Erica -- 2 comments
May 6th, 2008
Mike Robb, the Newport High School tennis coach, was killed in 2005 by a shotgun round to the head. Early this week, Robb’s killer Samson Berhe was found not guilty be reason of insanity and was acquitted of the murder charges. Berhe was sent to a mental institution indefinitely.
Yep…all I really have to say about this is that it’s a crappy situation. Beyond crappy. To make it even worse, Berhe had been in and out of psychiatric sessions prior to killing Robb. He’d also been pulled over about an hour before the 2005 incident happened but was released because a spelling error had failed to bring a juvenile arrest record to light.
I didn’t know Mike Robb. But odds are, he was a decent man. He coached tennis - he had an impact on a lot of young peoples’ lives and he had a family. And now what happens to his killer? According to King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum, Berhe “will stay at Western State Hospital for up to life unless he can prove that he is no longer a danger to society.”
Yeah…okay. Who’s making the call on whether he’s no longer a danger to society? Isn’t that the same system that had him in and out of psychiatric help before he turned around and murdered someone?
Tags: murder, tennis-coachShare This
By Erica -- 0 comments
May 6th, 2008
Rafa had a valid point when he said the clay court season was jammed into a tight time frame. I feel like I’ve just wrapped up one tournament, take a breath and then turn around and realize we’re already halfway through the next tournament. And I’m just writing about it!
So Roger Federer passed another clay test - actually at this point, it doesn’t really matter what surface it is although everything seems to be that much more of an accomplishment when it’s done on clay. Federer faced Guillermo Canas, a player he has traditionally had trouble with - to the point that Roger had a losing record with Canas. Federer came up with the big W though with a 6-3, 6-3 victory to level the series 3-3 between the two.
(Image: Newscom)
Andy Roddick dispatched Mardy Fish, having no trouble with the 6-1, 6-4 victory. Roddick has a 8-1 series advantage against his friend. As Andy said about his game on clay, “It’s okay. I only have one match to judge it on and that’s this one, so I guess it’s good.”
Hey man, if that’s all you’ve got to base it on, go with it. Better a win than a loss, right?
Tags: Andy Roddick, Guillermo-Canas, Mardy Fish, men's tennis, Roger Federer, Rome MastersShare This
By Erica -- 0 comments
May 5th, 2008
That’s kind of a scary title, isn’t it? Justine Henin has been one of my favorite players on the women’s tour for a long time. To hear Henin is ruminating retirement gave me pause. Seriously? How could she? Now I’ll have to pick a new favorite women’s player!
Thankfully for all of us Henin fans, it won’t be for awhile. But in the next 2-5 years, we can probably expect the Belgian to no longer be gracing the big stages with her presence.
“I’m young in life (Henin is 25) but starting to get old on the tour. I’m growing up, and I need different things,” said Henin. “Now I’ve been playing tennis for 20 years and it’s been my whole life but…you need to think about the future.”
I’ve noticed Henin’s reduced schedule over the past few months. And even though she hasn’t done anything so drastic as to pick a date when she’ll retire from the game, it’s still a little disconcerting to know it is a very real option for Henin in the not-so-crazy-distant future. Even so, Henin still securely tops the women’s rankings at No. 1. She’s still about 1700 points ahead of No. 2 Ana Ivanovic.
Hmm. So - new favorite women’s player. Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, yeah, I can’t think of anyone.
(Image: Newscom)
Tags: Justine Henin, retirement, womens-tennisShare This
By Erica -- 4 comments
May 5th, 2008
Rafael Nadal won the Barcelona title Sunday. It wasn’t in parade fashion as many of his recent victories have been. It took a three-set effort (6-1, 4-6, 6-1) for Nadal to dispatch David Ferrer. With the win, Nadal became the first man to win four consecutive Barcelona titles.
I wonder how it feels. That whole making history part. And winning a professional tennis tournament. And being a man.
Rafa owned Ferrer in the first and third sets; Ferrer just couldn’t carry his game plan from the second set to the third which is why Rafa is the one biting the trophy instead of his countryman. Is it a Spanish thing? A Rafa thing? Apparently that trophy literally tastes goooood.
(Image by Newscom)
Tags: Barcelona Open, David-Ferrer, men's tennis, Rafael NadalShare This
By Erica -- 0 comments
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