Once upon a Wimbledon time I can remember when Americans playing at the Big W over the July 4th weekend would actually take the occasion to heart and go out and win some matches. Alright, you say, so we aren’t quite into the holiday weekend. But still, given the hype going in to nearly all of these matches one would have thought…. But times are changing, but I don’t think we are slacking off. Everyone in fact is working like a dog. But something went out of the game of the Yanks at Wimbledon yesterday, and today, Saturday, for differing reasons. Five Americans took it on the chin, surprisingly, after it seemed they had much going for them.
Only Shenay Perry hung on to win, in two sets over Sybille Bammer of Austria. With a name like that you’d think she’d work it to three sets at least, but no. Perry whipped her in two sets, and was the only American player to survive the first week. She had to mentally steady herself at the very end, before teetering on the brink of a full-scale implosion.
James Blake got bombed big time from big-serving Max Mirnyi on Friday, winning two of the first three sets but losing rather ignomiously in five, with a bagel job in the final set. You have to admire the aplomb James showed in his post match interviews. But Lord, to go out like that when the road seemed so open before you, and expectations finally so legitimately high.
Blake’s loss here confirms for me a certain mental fragility that seems to overtake him in crucial moments. And then the relative quickness with which he can beat himself up, and even implode from that is startling, now, given how much his game has progressed in just the last year. Maybe someone should tell James he needs to be kind to himself during the match, and denigrate himself to death when it’s over. Rather than the other way around, which is how it seems now.
Mirnyi played really well, meaning he served relentlessly perfectly fine. With that chiseled angular face and his big raw-boned strength, Mirnyi must look like a wall of imposing granite when he comes in to net. Much as I hoped for Blake to win, nonetheless I still personally found an appeal in seeing a real serve and volleyer at work. Mirnyi is one of the last. In his late 20s, and with a budding new family in tow on the tour, I hope personally he squeezes out a few more years. He is a tremendously fit guy, and with his type of game he can specialize in certain events throughout the year, like grass and hard hard courts. Then he comes into the draw and came make quite a dent. One of the surprising and sad things to hear, like a tolling death knell over the grounds at Wimbledon, is that serve and volley is no more. Not even here.
But still, you expected James to come through over Max.
Before we could barely tuck that upset away in our heads, Andre Agassi was going down today in three to Rafael Nadal, in what was a rather predictable match after all. I felt my anxiety level rising for Andre nearly from the start, I just was holding my breath. It did not seem to be going his way. Nadal showed no weak spots. He served really well, and Andre just could not make a dent in it.
But that was just half the problem, because afterwards in his press conference Andre indicated that, once he realized the service return was no go, he himself almost seemed to feel at a loss. He did not have enough game to beat Nadal with. Not on this day, maybe not ever under any conditions. Nadal is just too much of a higher grade of Andre Agassi. Sadly, I realized with a moment of pain how limited Agassi’s game is, in a way, at the risk of inviting reader wrath. He does not have that extra gear that Roger Federer has. And hell, even Roger isn’t sure anymore, at least when it comes to clay. But we all feel he has the ability to outplay Nadal in a way that the kid can’t stay with him. At least not yet. That’s where I am assuming Roger would be in relation to Nadal were they to fortuitously meet here in the final.
Nadal is an amazingly fast learner, and what’s more, he’s fully engaged in the battle to become the conqueror of grass. That is the key, and it will carry him a long way. Borg did this. Nadal could be certainly in the mold of Borg. I hesitate to say Cy-Borg, it’s probably been done, but so what.
As much as I would love a Federer-Nadal final, I don’t think it will happen this year. But sometime soon.
Mardy Fish had to retire in his match due to illness, his was perhaps the most fortunate draw as it opened up, but he caught some virus that did him in after several days of trying to fight it off. Take heart, Mardy, you showed some game here and you can show us more in the hard court season.
Surely after Andre’s loss, Andy Roddick would come out and handle Andy Murray in three sets. I felt that if Roddick really wanted to announce himself going into the second week, he would need to handle Murray in three shell-shocked sets. But not to be. Murray showed a surprising resiliency against the power game of Roddick, handling his serves with a seemingly mild touch, but getting them in play. For some reason Roddick just found him completely impenetrable. Murray showed an all court presence that Roddick would do well to emulate, if he could. He made Roddick look old. And as Mats Wilander would say, he’s becoming more and more ordinary looking as a player. But Murray, well, maybe his game is made to be a continuation of the dying serve and volley line someday. Because he covers court well, has really nice touch, a smooth service motion, and a great drop shot. He can come to net. They say this type of all-court style takes longer in years to develop. Rafter came into it around twenty five, but perhaps that is the high end. Murray is only nineteen, and he looks to be getting along with it. A long long flight home for Andy Roddick.
Venus Williams went out in three sets, and this was surprising to me. She had shown how she could play through bad patches in her earlier matches, but today was maybe one patch too many. Venus admitted later that her lack of match toughness kept her from reaching her top level, and I agree. The errors were just too many to have any hope of winning at this level, not against as fierce a player as Jankovic appears to be. I was not sure at first Venus would survive this far, so overall she can take some measure of confidence from this tournament; it bodes well for her summer play, once she gets more matches under her belt leading up to the Open.
Let’s mourn the loss of other big names, like David Nalbandian, who crashed out as if in anticipation of his national soccer team doing the same. Kuznetsova went out in three, the biggest seed on the women’s side to lose so far. And my Fantasy pick Mr. Tursunov resurrected his sorry self to come back from two sets down, and beat my former money winning guy, Ljubicic. Did we see even a smidgeon of this match? Not at all, unless you consider the handshake a portion of the match. I don’t.
Like we said, a week of good blood-letting on Ye Olde Courts.
Most Interesting Visual:
Before and After Photos, highlited on air by Cliff Drysdale.
We saw the Wimbledon lawn in the time of Connors, when the net area was heavily worn out by the end of the first week. But in today’s
photo, it’s the baseline that bears the brunt.
RIP serve and volley.
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