Left field

“You just can’t speak to umpires like that” – Rusedski on Serena

Week two of the U.S. Open had many stories. Would the weather destroy the momentum of the event? How would the courts hold up? Will the U.S. Open finally make plans to build a roof? Who would be the men’s and woman’s U.S. Open champions?

On the woman’s side Serena Williams made the finals easily and was the big favorite to win the title against Sam Stosur. Stosur had the longest match in US Open history and played the longest tie breaker in U.S. open history as well, to make the finals. Nobody except Sam Stosur thought she would win. If she won, she would become the first Australian woman to win a major since 1980. She played the match of her life and won 6-2 6-3.

But playing Serena is never dull. At 6-2 30/40 break point down Serena, shouted ”come on” during the point which you are not allowed to do because the rules say you are not allowed to distract your opponent during the point, which she did.

The chair umpire rewarded the point immediately to Stosur to give her a set and a break lead. Serena blew up and lost it. Unfortunately for Serena she let herself down and showed poor sportsmanship. It is easy to be gracious when you win, but when you are losing we see a players true sportsmanship.

Rusedski makes his picks for the US Open

The men’s side of this year’s US Open is going to be very interesting.

Will Novak Djokovic’s shoulder hold up and can he win his third major of the year? Will Roger Federer win another major with one of the toughest sections of the draw? Can Rafael Nadal get his form back to defend the title? Will Andy Murray win his first major? And finally, who are the dark horses?

Djokovic’s first two rounds look comfortable, then his route gets interesting with a possible match up against Nikolay Davydenko in the third, Richard Gasquet in the fourth and Tomas Berdych in the quarters before he most likely meets Federer in the semi-finals, if Federer gets there! Berdych could be the danger man in the section if his shoulder recovers from Cincinnati.

Federer’s opening match should be comfortable, but from the second round onwards it will get tough. He will most likely play the big serving Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci, then the dangerous Marin Cilic in the third, Victor Troicki in the fourth, and in the quarterfinals either Mardy Fish or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the semi-finals against Djokovic. Tsonga or Fish are definitely capable of upsetting Federer at the quarters-final stage.

Murray’s section looks very good. His first test will be Feliciano Lopez in the third, but I believe he will come through in four sets. Then he will likely play Stanislas Wawrinka in the fourth round who knocked him out last year. He won’t falter this year because of the experience and help of Darren Cahill and Sven Groenveld. He is having his best results in majors with their help. In the quarter-finals he could play Gilles Simon or Juan Martin Del Potro. Expect Murray to be in the semi-finals, with a great chance to get to the finals this year.

Nadal’s first two rounds look pretty comfortable, but he needs to get his confidence back, maintain depth of ground shots and serve better. Nadal is one of the greatest players who has shown in the past that he’s able to get his form back during an all-important major. From the third round it gets interesting. He will most likely play Ivan Ljubicic, then Jurgen Melzer or Mikhail Youzny in the fourth round, with David Ferrer in the quarter-finals. I’d say that Nadal will get to the semi-finals just because of his sheer desire.

Mercury rises on Wimbledon’s ‘Manic Monday’

A record crowd for a Wimbledon second Monday witnessed some breathtaking tennis while finding the time to take onboard plenty of liquids as temperatures soared in London.

The Williams sisters found the going tough and their so far impressive comebacks hit the buffers, while women’s number one Caroline Wozniacki’s route to a first grand slam title also came unstuck, but in the men’s draw there were no real dramas as the top four all hit their straps and made the quarters.

All eyes will be on team Nadal on Tuesday, after the world number one injured his foot during his epic win over Juan Martin Del Potro, especially British ones as the Spaniard could face home hope Andy Murray in the last four.

First up on Tuesday however are the women’s quarter-finals, and 2004 winner Maria Sharapova is the favourite to clinch her fourth grand slam crown, though among the other seven women in contention lurks German Sabine Lisicki, seeking to become the first wildcard to win the women’s title.

Finally a word on Bernard Tomic, the story so far of the men’s draw, who at 18 became the youngest man to reach the last eight since a certain former winner Boris Becker in 1986. Good omens if you like that sort of thing. The young Aussie already has plenty of fans and with his all-round play he’s set to win many more. He next faces Novak Djokovic.

Picture: The shadows of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (L) and a ball boy are reflected onto a wall-covering on the court during the match against David Ferrer of Spain at the Wimbledon tennis championships in London June 27, 2011. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

Don’t bet against Serena defending Wimbledon crown

For most players the idea of returning from a year out with injury and illness a week before Wimbledon and then defending your title would be impossible.

But, then again, Serena Williams in not any old player.

The 29-year-old American, the dominant force in women’s tennis for a decade, has taken a wildcard for next week’s Eastbourne grasscourt tournament and then will head to the All England Club, not just for appearances, but to win a fifth title there and draw level with older sister Venus who is also returning from a six-month lay-off.

While Eastbourne organisers will be rubbing their hands together, and the WTA Tour welcomes back the 13-times grand slam champion, the sight of Serena with a racket in her hand again will frighten the life out of some of her potential rivals.

Such is Serena’s presence around the grand slams that even at 60 percent of her powers she would be a handful, particularly at Wimbledon where the softer under-foot conditions will be less demanding on the foot she sliced open on broken glass last July, triggering a turn of events that threatened her career.

Since then Serena suffered life-threatening blood clots on her lung but, with a clean bill of health, she is back and will be dangerous.

While she will have just a handful of matches at best under her belt when she walks out on opening Tuesday to begin the defence of her Wimbledon title, the street-fighter instincts that have made her such a great champion will more than make up for being under-cooked.

Is Wozniacki a worthy number one?

Worthy number one or just a sad reflection of the way women’s tennis has evolved into a game of low-risk baseline slugging?

That is the question being asked after Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki was confirmed as the new world number one.

Is she worthy? Well, the WTA rankings system would suggest that she is — just as Jelena Jankovic and Dinara Safina were when they rose to the top without winning the game’s top prizes.

Over the course of the year the 20-year-old has proved the most consistent performer on Tour and the best-placed to benefit from the injury which has sidelined 13-times grand slam singles champion Serena Williams since she won Wimbledon.

Wozniacki claimed her fifth title of the year in Tokyo last week, the first player to achieve that feat since Justine Henin won 10 in 2007. Yet she did not even reach the final of a grand slam this year and has managed that just once, her run to last year’s U.S. Open final where she lost to Kim Clijsters.

There is no denying that Wozniacki is one of the toughest players on Tour and it would be churlish to deny her place at the top of the pile as on current form she is the best there is.

Just like Safina and Jankovic before her, she will not be given due praise for the number one ranking because of the glaring omissions on her CV.

Serena Williams beats Henin in Australian Open final – how it happened

Justine Time, Henin makes one of the great grand slam returns

Justine Henin’s storming run to the final of the Australian Open illustrates exactly what women’s tennis has been missing in her absence.

The Belgian played just one tournament in the run-up to the Melbourne grand slam following an 18-month “retirement” but it looks as though she has never been away.

Her brutal 6-1 6-0 demolition of China’s Zheng Jie in Thursday’s semi-final means she is now just one win away from emulating compatriot Kim Clijsters who won the U.S. Open last year in her first grand slam since also coming out of retirement.

World number one Serena Williams awaits in the final and logic suggests the American should be favourite. But such has been the level of Henin’s play that it is too close to call.

Either way it will be intriguing to watch two great competitors, who have not always enjoyed the best of relationships, go toe to toe on a grand slam stage again.

Sport needs great rivalries and men’s tennis has been blessed with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The WTA should be thanking their lucky stars that Henin decided she could no longer do without tennis because in her absence no one player has stepped up to the plate to take on Serena when it matters most.

Fatigue could be her Henin’s biggest obstacle on Saturday as her body reacts to the rigours of a seventh match but in terms of shot-making the diminutive Henin still has no equal in the women’s game. Her return might even inspire a few more youngsters to learn an all-court game rather than just stand on the baseline belting groundstrokes backwards and forwards.

Dangers of joining the sporting Twitterati

New Zealand All Blacks coach Graham Henry played the part of the befuddled old fogey bemused by modern life and confused by new technology with a certain wry amusement towards the end of his team’s European tour late last year.

Neemia Tialata and Cory Janes revealed on Twitter they had been left out of the team to play England 24 hours before Henry formally announced the side.

“I had to find out what Twitter was,” Henry said. “I thought it was a new guy playing five-eighth for England.”

Tialata has 1,513 followers, who discovered their man had been supplanted by Owen Franks at tighthead prop a day before the media were informed. Serena Williams possesses 1,513,847, who were invited to help her with a recipe shortly before Xmas.

The disparity is a fair reflection of the respective standings of Tialata and Williams in the sporting community, although the more important difference between the pair is the gulf between team and individual sports.

Athletes in team sports are now carefully coached to say little and reveal less at the media conferences which are now a part of life in professional sport. They certainly would not dream of telling a reporter if they had been selected or not in advance of the official announcement.

All of which makes a string of indiscretions this year via Twitter the more gratifying for those forced to endure the string of platitudes masquerading as considered answers at compulsory media conferences.

Agassi’s confessions could have knock-on effect for Serena

Andre Agassi’s decision to open his soul and tell the world he took drugs and then hoodwinked his governing body, the ATP, into believing his failed drugs test in 1997 was a mere mistake could not have come at a worse time for Australian and Wimbledon champion Serena Williams.

While Agassi has been condemned by players and pundits alike for tainting the image of his sport, tennis authorities have come under fire for not investigating the matter thoroughly and believing Agassi’s lies.

One of the accusations against the ATP was it brushed the whole episode under the carpet as it could not afford to ban one of its biggest draws on the men’s tour.

In light of the Agassi debacle 12 years ago, Williams knows she could be in for some stiff punishment from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) even though the cases are so different.

Williams is in many ways the face of women’s tennis as she has won more grand slams than any other active player – her tally currently standing at 11 – and is also the world number one.

But her foul-mouthed rant at a lineswoman during her U.S. Open semi-final defeat against Kim Clijsters has left the ITF, who run the four grand slam tournaments, facing a real dilemma.

Should they make a stand by banning one of the sport’s biggest stars from taking part in one or more grand slam tournaments? Or should they simply hit Williams with a larger fine than the $10,500 she was handed at Flushing Meadows so that tournaments do not suffer financial consequences by the no-show of the biggest names in women’s tennis.

Vlog – U.S. lose Fed Cup as Serena stays away

Italy clinched their second Fed Cup final with a 4-0 victory over the United States on Sunday.

The U.S. were hampered by Serena and Venus Williams opting not to compete. But as Mark Meadows discusses above, would it be better for America if the pair definitively ended their Fed Cup careers?

(additional reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian)