Left field

A tale of two draws at Flushing Meadows

It has been a tale of two draws at the U.S. Open, with the men’s seeds advancing full steam ahead and the women’s field in disarray.

Eight of the top 16 women’s seeds have been given the boot at Flushing Meadows, while all 16 men have strolled forward — the first time men’s seeds have marched in lock step into the third round of a grand slam.

Even more of the top-rated women could be getting the dickens beaten out of them going deeper into the tournament, especially considering the dangers that returning champions Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters pose after layoffs that pushed them down the rankings list.

Was a time that the early rounds of the women’s tournament was a yawner until the second week. Not so in 2009.

Meanwhile, the top 10 in the often volatile men’s draw have barely felt a ripple of opposition. Going into Friday’s fifth day of play at Flushing Meadows not one had lost a set.

“That’s shocking,” fifth-seeded American Andy Roddick said after his second-round victory Thursday. “Not to lose one set, not even a set? Not a quick little break at 11:00 (a.m.) out on grandstand? That’s pretty surprising.”

Andy Murray of Briton gained the unexpected distinction of becoming the first man among the top 10 to drop a set when he took one misstep Friday in a 6-2 3-6 6-0 6-2 second-round victory over 87th-ranked Paul Capdeville of Chile.

Expect Federer v Murray to decide US Open again

The final grand slam tournament of the year, which begins on Monday at Flushing Meadows, will welcome the world’s two highest ranked players in intimidating form.

Two Masters tournaments, the level below a grand slam, have been played this month with Murray triumphing in Montreal and Federer in Cincinnati. 

Rafa Nadal has struggled to recover from the knee injuries that kept him out of Wimbledon, while a supporting cast of Djokovic, Roddick and Del Potro does not look strong enough to challenge the dominating duo on their favoured New York hard courts.

Looking just at the top two, Federer has the edge. The Swiss won his most recent encounter with Murray, in the Cincinatti semi-finals, has won three of the past four grand slam tournaments. And, oh yes, he is the five time defending US Open champion.

On top of that, when the two met in the final last year Federer won at a stroll. He played beautiful tennis as he destroyed Murray 6-2 7-5 6-2. The first set of the match was telling. A nerveless Federer repeatedly held serve with ease, and waited for first-night errors from his opponent, a grand slam final debutant. They duly came in the sixth game. The Fed broke for 4-2 and never looked back.

So what hope can Murray cling to as he embarks on his quest this year? Well, to get to last year’s final he had to beat the then world number one Nadal over five sets and two days — by far the greatest triumph of his career to date. Even if he wasn’t tired after that, and remember Murray is ultra-fit, a man who does sets of 400 metre sprints in the heat of Miami for fun, the mental effort would have been extraordinary. 

Then there is their head to head record, which Murray leads 6-3. The Fed is nearly six years older and has made it clear he feels uncomfortable playing against Murray’s attritional style. And his wife Mirka has just had twins, with one of them called Charlene — suggesting a serious lack of judgment on Roger’s part (sorry Roger, only joking).

Nadal loses battle of wounded knee

Rafael Nadal will not be able to defend his Wimbledon title after losing his battle to recover from a knee injury.

“Unfortunately this year I won’t be able to play at Wimbledon,” he told a news conference.

The Spaniard, who has been struggling with tendinitis in his knees since being knocked out of the French Open last month, tested his fitness in two exhibition matches this week.

After losing both matches he decided not to defend his Wimbledon title, just three days before the start of the major.

Nadal will be the first man not to defend his All England Club crown since Croatia’s Goran Ivanisevic skipped the grasscourt grand slam in 2002.

“Not to play Wimbledon is one of the toughest decisions in my career but the decision was made easier because I don’t feel ready to compete at 100 percent,” said Nadal, who becomes only the third man unable to defend his title at the championships.

Cold, damp and on the losing side: A British sporting summer

If you were being uncharitable you’d call it a typical scene from a British summer: a few hundred hardy fans braving the cold, the damp and the threat of travel chaos to stay on long after the TV cameras had packed up and watch Andy Murray partner Lleyton Hewitt in a meaningless doubles match at Queen’s.

“Come on Andy!” “Come on Muzzah!” they shouted from deep within their coats and under their blankets but the chants seemed more to encourage themselves on another gloomy evening than for the British number one.

In any case, it was all to no avail, as Murray and Hewitt lost 6-4 6-3 to Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach in the second round.

It’s easy to see why the fans were prepared to bear the cold, many of them for a second day running, all for a glimpse of Murray before he makes his debut in the main draw. As a singles player, Murray is ranked at number three in the world and is the country’s great hope of a first men’s title at Wimbledon since Fred Perry in 1936.

The doubles is just a sideline but considering Queen’s is his first appearance at a home tournament this year, for many of the fans it was worth the sacrifice of staying on late when a major strike on the London Underground was getting underway.

“I didn’t come here specifically to watch Murray, it was just a coincidence — a lucky coincidence,” said Katherine Sellon as she changed seats towards the end of the first set. “Anyway, I came in my car.”

Is Federer now the G.O.A.T?

We’ve heard what some of the great and good of tennis have said about Roger Federer’s achievements but can we now rank him as the best player ever to have picked up a racket? Here, Ossian Shine considers the arguments, while in the post below Miles Evans urges a spot of caution.

At first it looked as though the world’s tennis pundits were bickering about whether or not Roger Federer was a herbivorous bovid.

But what in fact was grabbing their goat was whether or not the Swiss phenomenon was the GOAT – or Greatest Of All Time.

The argument is likely to rage for years, or at least unless Federer grabs so many grand slam singles titles that he kills off the claim of his own hero Rod Laver.

Federer now sits level with Pete Sampras on a record 14 major singles wins, but pips the American in the GOAT stakes by virtue of the fact that Federer has won all four grand slam titles — Australian, French and U.S. Opens, plus Wimbledon — whereas Sampras never conquered Paris.

Despite all the froth this sort of argument excites, Federer refuses to get caught up in it.

Let’s not be so quick to crown Roger the Greatest

Any debate about the greatest player of all time in a given event is naturally laden with ‘what ifs’.

Roger Federer’s tearful victory in the French Open final on Sunday prompted an undignified queue of pundits and former players to conclude that the elegant Swiss was undoubtedly the best tennis had ever seen. But what if…

What if Rod Laver hadn’t been in professional exile in the years before 1968?

What if Rafa Nadal hadn’t come along and had the temerity to stop Federer winning everything in sight?

What if Bjorn Borg hadn’t retired at 26?

What if Pete Sampras had truly applied himself to winning at Roland Garros?

What if my PE teacher hadn’t grabbed the racket from my hand said ‘stick to your swotty stuff’?

Nadal is human too

That’s the headline in the Spanish sports newspaper Marca tonight after Rafa Nadal’s defeat by Juan Martín del Potro in the quarter-finals at Key Biscayne.

Nadal hadn’t quite looked at his best this week so perhaps the result was not such a shock. But could this be a sign that the world number one is vulnerable? Maybe, but I wouldn’t read too much into it … not with the clay court season fast approaching.

Click here for the full story from Simon Evans

Serena survives scare as women’s tennis continues to enthral

Serena Williams just survived a real scare against China’s Li Na at the Sony Ericsson Open here at Key Biscayne, Miami. The world number one’s bid to reach her sixth title in this event hung in the balance during a second set tie-break after she had made a dreadful start losing the first set 6-4.

Serena won that tie break to two and then cruised through the third set for a hard-earned victory in intense Floridian heat but hers would not have been the first shock at this tournament.

In fact, in the women’s event, Serena is the only member of the top five in the world rankings who was capable of reaching the last eight.

Russian world number two Dinara Safina, Serb Jelena Jankovic and Russians Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva all suffered surprise defeats along with the poster girl of the tournament, Serb Ana Ivanovic.

In the men’s event though all the top five are through to the quarter-final stage and this is becoming a familiar scenario – upsets galore on the WTA Tour and business as usual in the ATP.

It used to be the exact opposite with great volatility in the men’s rankings and predictable results between the women. So why has tennis gone full circle?

Is it because of the emergence of so many talented women players from countries not known in the past for tennis prowess (Russia, Serbia, China?) Or simply that the leading men of this generation, particularly Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are just on a different level from the chasing pack?