Left field

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.

Think Clijsters is world’s most famous Belgian? Not so fast…

I was very disappointed to log on to FamousBelgians.net this morning and see nary a mention of Kim Clijsters. How much more famous can a Belgian get?

According to the interweb’s leading authority on all things Flanders and Walloon, the world’s most famous Belgian is, currently, Eddy Merckx, who last raced professionally about 20 years ago.

How Clijsters isn’t top is beyond me given her astonishing return to grand slam tennis at the U.S. Open. She’s even been overlooked by the Belgian Tourist Office. Ho hum. Here’s their full list anyway:

1. Eddy Merckx, five times winner of the Tour de France

2. Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone

3. Herge (Georges Remi) , the creator of TinTin

4. Audrey Hepburn, actress

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).

Federer is still the daddy

All eyes will be on new dad Roger Federer at the U.S. Open next week to see if he really can combine nappy changing duties with a successful run to another grand slam title.

The five-times Flushing Meadows champion, whose wife Mirka gave birth to twins Charlene Riva and Myla Rose last month, will be aiming to become the first parent to win a tennis major since 2003.

While parenthood has effectively ended the careers of many professional athletes, former world number one Stefan Edberg believes Federer’s pedigree sets him apart from everyone else and will allow him to buck the trend.

“Statistics tell you something of the past, it doesn’t tell you the future,” six-times grand slam champion Edberg, who will be competing in The Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall in London in December, told Reuters.

“I think the biggest relief for Roger was probably winning the French Open. That’s really extended his career, I really believe so. He’s got the confidence, he’s got the momentum and I think having twins could have a positive effect, at least to start with that’s for sure, so I don’t see any problems for him at the U.S. Open.”

But that is not what the record books say. The last time a mother won a singles grand slam crown was in 1980 when Australian Evonne Goolagong triumphed at Wimbledon. Since then, only eight men have captured a major after embracing the joys of fatherhood.

While four — Pat Cash, Andres Gomez, Petr Korda and Albert Costa — were one-slam wonders, multiple champions Boris Becker, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andre Agassi managed to add just one further slam to their haul after becoming parents.

With one final shriek, Sharapova is gone

It’s beyond me how anyone can deride women’s tennis as being dull. The relentless changing of the guard at the top of the world rankings and the general air of a free-for-all that the grand slams are cited as weak points in the game, when the sheer unpredictability of women’s tennis (compared to the men’s game) is precisely the reason it should be celebrated.

What many of the critics are really bemoaning, I suspect, is that Maria Sharapova didn’t go on to become the women’s Roger Federer. And while you couldn’t help be enthralled by her Wimbledon match against Gisela Dulko of Argentina on Wednesday, the Russian’s nailbiting defeat beneath the sunshine on centre-court is only going to bring more tut-tuts about the state of the game.

Which is a shame… because this was an absolute humdinger — the best match, involving men or women, on centre court so far this year.

When Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004 at the age of just 17, the breathtaking power and accuracy with which she hit her shots seemed set to usher in a long spell as the game’s dominant force.

It didn’t happen that way. It was Justine Henin who established herself as the world number one and almost as soon as the Belgian had retired, Sharapova was struck by a shoulder injury that forced her out for nine months.

Sharapova is making her way back up the rankings but it’s been slow going. She went out at the quarter-final stage at Roland Garros and here she just made too many errors in her defeat by Dulko, who five years ago to the day beat Martina Navratilova at the same second round stage.

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?

Mum’s the word as Clijsters bids to match Goolagong

Kim Clijsters’s return to the WTA Tour during the U.S. hardcourt season later this year will inject more excitement into the unpredictable world of women’s tennis.

Since the retirement of her Belgian compatriot Justine Henin last May, the world number one ranking has changed hands so many times that most fans must be thinking they are suffering from blurred vision.

Serena Williams won the latest round of musical chairs with her victory at the Australian Open, the seventh change at the top of the rankings since last May, but her decision to boycott last week’s event in Indian Wells meant she came close to being toppled by Russia’s Dinara Safina.

While Williams, her sister Venus, Safina, Jelena Jankovic, French Open champion Ana Ivanovic and Olympic gold medallist Elena Dementieva will want to keep their rivals at bay, chances are that Clijsters could soon invade their territory.

The popular Belgian is still only 25 and after taking a two-year hiatus to get married and have a baby, she is eager to make a mark when she returns in August.

Although she has only pencilled in the Cincinnati Open, Toronto Cup and the U.S. Open into her 2009 diary, they are three of the biggest events and she must be confident of doing well if she has chosen such a high-profile comeback.

Recent records have shown that she could do well since Lindsay Davenport remarkably came back just three months after giving birth to her first son in 2007 and won three of her first four tournaments on the WTA Tour.

Can Clijsters make a winning return to tennis?

Former world number one Kim Clijsters has said she will return to the WTA Tour.

The 25-year-old Belgian, who had retired from the sport two years ago because of injury, told a news conference in Bree she was coming back to tennis.

“I have asked for wildcards for Cincinnati, Toronto and U.S. Open, that’s all for the moment. I want to see if I can still do it,” she said.

Clijsters, U.S. Open champion in 2005, won 34 singles titles and held the top ranking for a total of 19 weeks.

Martina Hingis made a similar comeback but struggled. Can Clijsters succeed where Hingis failed?

Furthermore, why do young tennis players, and sports people in general like Lance Armstrong, announce retirements only to inevitably reverse their decisions at a later date?

Sports picture of the day: Venus Williams in Dubai

The WTA tournament in Dubai has been a big talking point this week, after Israeli player Shahar Peer was denied a visa by the UAE and was forced to pull out (click here for Pritha Sarkar’s blog on the issue) and Sports Pictures Editor Greg Bos has chosen a frame from the tournament as his picture of the day. Over to Greg:

I like this tennis picture taken by Jumana El Heloueh in Dubai for its shape and simplicity. It’s a nice action moment – albeit without the ball – shot from a high angle with a nice clean background and lots of space to one side.

Here’s the original caption: Venus Williams of the U.S. returns the ball to Alize Cornet of France during their match on the fourth day of the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships February 18, 2009. REUTERS/Jumana El Heloueh (UNITED ARAB EMIRATES)

For the previous day’s picture, click here