A Failure of Serve, A Failure of Nerve

The early demise of the world number one woman, Maria Sharapova, and the number one man, Roger Federer, in Miami recently has fueled speculation as to what this portends, if anything. Could it be that a minor upheaval may be taking place that could render the game of tennis very interesting? If they can’t be dominant, who can step up in their place?

We are wondering. For Sharapova, Miami was the tournament where her serve really went south. Suddenly, the best serve in women’s tennis (Serena is a very close second) had degenerated into something resembling her countrywoman’s, Elena Dementieva. She had some injury concerns, shoulder and hamstring, and that may have been just enough of a problem to throw her off. Her toss and approach to the ball look normal, although not having a fully healthy leg to plant and push off from was troublesome.

After watching the tape of her loss to Serena Williams, Maria appeared to be having more problems with the finish of her serve, how her wrist pronated at the end of the shot, or failed to. She was alternately spraying balls long, or dumping them into the net. Whether this derived from the hamstring problem or is symptomatic of mental yips we can’t tell yet. I am leaning toward the former.

While Maria was suffering from a failure of serve, Roger Federer was coping with another failure of nerve. He should have won his match with Canas. It was there on his racquet just as it was last spring against Nadal in Rome and again at Roland Garros.

His comments afterwards are revealing, both for what they disclose, and what they don’t.

I was really expecting myself to win tonight, but it’s one of those matches I should have never lost.”

Well, Roger, why did you lose? I kept waiting for some intrepid soul in that presser to step up to the plate and wrestle him to the ground with a question like, “What happens to your nerves at those points?”

Or this: The big points didn’t go my way in today’s match, but that happens.

Well, Roger, why didn’t they go your way? You speak as if something untoward came down the pike and had its way with you. Like there was nothing you could do. Nobody ever wants to admit that they choked the victory away. But that’s all it was.

Or this: I guess he played well against me both times, and I couldn’t put him away unfortunately.

These comments raise the questions: is Roger Federer too much of a nice guy? Can he stick the knife into an opponent? Normally we say yes, we’ve seen him beat players week after week for what seems an eternity. But every once in a while, the nerves beset even Roger, he grows tentative at a crucial moment or two.

In tennis these days, a blink of a moment is all you need to lose a match. What I liked about Roger Federer from the get-go was that he belied the old saw that nice guys can’t win big and win steadily. He showed us otherwise. I would hate to see anything in his make-up as a person change drastically to adapt to new circumstances but I would love to see him return to his winning ways. Even if he has to get up a little crankier in the mornings.

It bothers me that he speaks of the disaster as if it happened to someone else, in a galaxy far far away. Partly that is a protective device people develop to distance themselves from the catastrophe. Look at Djokovic after losing last year at Roland Garros to Nadal. To hear him talk, he was in total control of the match even though he lost. You store the evil stuff until a later time when you are more ready to process it.

Clearly, there should be some processing going on here. For starters, Roger should say what the problem is. Don’t talk around it, guy, smack it on the head. Maybe Roger does this alone with Tony Roche, his coach. I hope so, because he hides himself in his public comments.

In another television interview I saw recently, Roger Federer was quoted as saying that what he needed to do now was to remember “how to play the big points again.” Sometimes, the big points come and the player is not ready, the nerves close in. Even though Federer felt he played a high quality match against Canas in Miami, I have never seen Roger look so tight on a tennis court before. It was the most nerve-wracking match I’ve ever sat through with him, and believe me, I have sat through many. I think the nerves really got to him at key moments; enough that anyone would forget how to play the “big points.“

After it was over and Federer was packing up his bags, I thought, “My God, Roger Federer was frail today.” Suddenly his body even looked frail. He is not exactly a physical specimen with that rather bony frame and those pointy elbows. For a moment I even thought I detected a tear or two rolling down his cheek. Because we know Federer doesn’t sweat, right?

But does anyone really think he won’t find his way back on track? He has to. Now he’s on a Swiss stamp, it was revealed today, holding his Wimbledon trophy in that lovely white jacket. No backing down off the mountain now, Roger. Onward!

As for Maria Sharapova, she’ll be back too. Hopefully when she is physically ready this time. Then we can really see more clearly if her service hiccups are injury-related, or signs of other, deeper troubles.

They will both regroup because they have high standards and they know there is a level of competence that they, as leading tennis players, cannot slip below. If anything, their losses will be a wake-up call of rather major proportions. I think they will still be the number one players by year’s end. Anyone want to be bet otherwise?

Whew, hang on, folks, the end is in sight! We know that because the level of play has started to fall off after ten days of hectic upheaval and upsets galore. It was probably bound to happen simply because so much outrageous stuff has occurred already. Like the decimation of the seeded players, especially on the men’s side of the draw. The number one male and female player bit the dust in rather shocking fashion. We had to be brought back to earth. Today we crawled our way into the semifinals hoping for something normal we could sink our teeth into. Surely we could count on at least one of the matches being half-way decent. But today, no cigar, babies.

The first match between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray promised a really good semi-final. Same age guys, they know each other well and their games well too. They have been two of the hotter, most interesting players this year. But like many a match-up that looks great on paper, the actual event can often be lacking in drama. Such was the case today. Unless one considers it “dramatic” to watch one of the more dismal performances I have seen on the men’s side in quite a while. Let’s be plain: it was a disgraceful performance from Andy Murray.

If I were Brad Gilbert, I’d want to reach for my spanking rod at this point. 6-0, 6-1. Guy, next time just phone it in, don’t bother waking us up, puleese! I hope some intrepid reporter at his presser piped up with, “Do you think you played like a real woman today, Andy?” For those of you who may not know the story, Andy Murray made a faux pas in describing one match he played with an opponent as one where “we both played like women.” He was flamed on all sides for that one. Wouldn’t you love to be the fly on the wall and overhear the first crack out of Gilbert’s mouth to his star pupil? Maybe the thought even crossed Gilbert’s mind, “What did I sign up for?”

Well, certainly not this. Murray came out like he had just tumbled out of bed. The energy wasn’t there, the shots weren’t there. Instead, Djokovic played like he was the guy with the all-around game, which I still don’t believe he has much of. His natural inclination is to stay on the baseline; he comes forward only when he must. He served big, he came to net and he ran Murray ragged with his expert drop shots. These two guys have only one guy between them in the rankings here in Miami, but today that gap looked like a chasm.

The evening match featured Ivan Ljubicic and Guillermo Canas, a match that also promised lots of goodies. Ljubicic probably felt like this was his golden moment. Federer was gone and Ivan must have liked his chances. After all, he pushed Roger in all three sets in last year’s final, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6. If he felt like he was entitled, he should think again.

Canas again came out and outplayed his opponent. Ljubicic had three break points early in the first set and he could not convert any of them. That experience must have been so debilitating that the big Croat never recovered. Even though he did not lose a point on his serve until well into the first set, it did not matter. He played too cautiously when he should have been expanding on his already pretty big game. His brain just didn’t seem to be working out there. He could not play the big points well.

Sound familiar? Federer had the same problem against Canas. Here I was thinking Ljubicic had the game to stand up to Canas, more so than Federer. His strokes seemed longer and deeper, he’s taller, his backhand up the line was working well, and he was serving well – at least through the first set. Canas on the other hand struggled to hold and fought off numerous break points. Eventually, that gave him confidence. Canas turned the corner after breaking Ljubicic late in the first set then served out to win the set. Ljubicic waved his racquet a bit in the second, but you never felt like he was going anywhere. It wasn’t the dismal performance of Murray, but certainly a letdown in terms of how well Ivan has played before in big matches. The final score was 7-5, 6-4.

Canas? Wow! I am over the loss Federer took on the chin because Canas has convinced me he belongs back on the big stage. This man has the heart of a lion. But on Sunday he will be playing a man ten years his junior. He’s not yet a full blown lion himself but look out for Djoko, he has some claws. Patrick McEnroe picked him to beat Canas and I am inclined to agree. But Canas may end up having a supreme week wherein he can accomplish everything.

If he wins, let’s take him out into the bay, surely he can walk on water too?

As for the women, well, thank God for Serena. She has certainly redeemed the women’s side, what with the loss of Sharapova and Kuznetsova. Clijsters and Hingis went too, along with one of my favorites, Jelena Jankovic. She went out rather early to make it two early exits in successive events. Henin and Williams are playing the best tennis right now so we should be able to hope for a decent match in the final.

Djokovic versus Canas should be excellent too. These guys are at the peak of their competitive abilities; they have ferocious, and voracious appetites out there on court. They know how to grapple with an opponent. Djokovic has more finesse in the end, more natural ability, and better court sense than Canas. But it could likely be a very close duel to the end. We need a few more three setters here. At least give us one in the final. Let’s hope all the manly parts hold up physically so we can get through it successfully.

If you thought the tennis from Miami would be more orderly for the seeds than the last event in Indian Wells, well think again. Day one for the main draw started with seeds going down and the trend continues. James Blake was the first of a long line, followed by Safin, Baghdatis, Hrbaty, Hewitt (he retired) and Tommy Haas. And that’s before the television coverage kicked in. On Sunday we lost Gonzalez and Youzhny. Yesterday it was Davydenko, Gasquet, Berdych and Nalbandian. Is there something in Miami about the water that we should know about?

Still, it’s been a fun tournament. Why I don’t know, it just feels fun, the matches have been all over the place and if you are a spectator you have probably enjoyed yourself. In fact part of the viewing fun has been watching the crowd. Unlike the desert of Indian Wells, where people have both time and money on their hands, Miami has a more urban proletariat feel. This bunch could have wandered in from the beach. Crowd Control? What’s that? Changeovers? Huh? Large groups of people are allowed to file into the stadiums at the most inopportune times, annoying the hell out of the players who are about to serve. Crandon Park looks like it’s situated in a swamp, so I was half-expecting a few gators to come wandering in too. It’s been that kind of tournament. Weather has been a problem too with rain backing up the first few days, and it seems to be perpetually windy here as well.

The pleasures of this event for me are coalescing around the budding careers of some new babies on the block. One of them is Juan-Martin Del Potro. Just last week I mentioned to my co-writer Nina Rota that we should probably start speaking more about this kid. Then he went out and upset Youzhny, so now we really have to talk about him. The Argentines are extremely fond of his prospects and now I see why. He’s only 18 but his head and his nerve seem about 28. He’s got great height at 6’5”, but he moves nimbly for a big guy. He’s got a two-handed backhand that looks solid, as does his forehand. He takes both shots with elbows quite bent and arms close in to his body, but he gets his shots off effectively. His serve is solid and he is not adverse to coming forward given his chances. He’s still got to get through Nadal in the next round, but given how things have gone so far here no match can be said to be nailed down. Look for a free-swinging battle in that match-up, since Del Potro looks too young still to be scared. And last but not least, he has hair. Lots and lots of it! Yum.

The other find out of this tournament is one of ours, sort of. Amer Delic emigrated nearly ten years ago with his family from the war in Bosnia, and that’s good news for Americans. I can’t remember when I ever saw Nikolay Davydenko being so frustrated on a tennis court as he was yesterday. He could never figure out the riddle of returning Delic’s powerful serves. This guy’s name has appeared on the horizon over the last year, and his win yesterday should give him a big leg up in confidence. Delic is 6’5”, lean and strong, with a muscle T he looks like he belongs in. He reminds me of Safin, with the same power and rangy speed that allows him to get around the court well. He started the match inauspiciously, his serve wasn’t quite grooved and his one-handed backhand let him down a lot. Towards the end of the first set he fought his way into the match, getting an early break back and forcing Davydenko into a tiebreak. Normally the Russian returns well but Delic was such a new item that Davydenko had trouble reading his serve. Then Davydenko’s normally reliable game started breaking down, particularly the forehand. Davydenko had four set points and couldn’t close the deal. Delic was off to the races, winning in two sets.

The other stand-out is a veteran, Guillermo Canas, who is as hot as he was in Indian Wells. This guy is a dream competitor, he has energy and perseverance up the wazoo. Being out of the game for such a long time seems to have focused his desire to get back to the top. The guy is honed in now like a laser beam. He continues to serve well and cover the court like he was born to play the net. He had too much firepower and consistency for Richard Gasquet yesterday. Next up is the dream rematch of Canas with Roger Federer. I want to see Roger get his own back, but the way Canas is playing…..gulp! That’s why this has been a great spectator’s tournament, the match-ups have been terrific.

Yippie tai yai yay, as the cowboys say. Maria Sharapova will be yelling that too. It’s Tuesday, 11:34 a.m. and Serena Williams just stuck the knife into her. We’re going to start calling Maria “Yippie,” because she’s got the service jitters really bad. 6-1, 6-1 was the score, and it felt like we barely saw the players warm-up. The problem started for Maria down in Australia, and her service motion is not getting any better. As Pam Shriver said, it’s all mental, there’s just nothing you can do about it in practice. It only shows up for a player during a match. You wonder what advice her current date Andy Roddick has offered up. Maybe he should wonder if it’s catching.

My picks going into the round of 16:

Murray over Mathieu (Murray dropped the opening set, but came back to win).

Delic over Chela: Chela’s had a good run, clipping Tomas Berdych yesterday, but I like the American’s chances, and if that big serve is working he could pull this out.

Robredo over Stepanek (right now they are going into a third set).

Nadal over Del Potro – Much as I would love to see Del Potro shine again, Nadal may have too much experience and firepower. Besides, don’t we all want a Roger Nadal final? Sorry, Juan.

Ljubicic over Nieminen – Lots of craft and guile in this one. Both guys had some trouble getting here. Too much height advantage and firepower from the big Croat.

Djokovic over Lopez – Feliciano has great hair too, and he had for him a great run this week, taking out Safin early on. But Djokovic is a steely kid, and he’s caught a good draw here.

Roddick over Ferrer – Ferrer does amazingly well for a little guy, and he nearly forced Roddick into a first set tiebreak today. But way too much firepower and consistency now from Roddick.

Federer over Canas – I still say bet the entire house on Roger. We will see entrails scattered about here, as I wrote earlier in the week. I just hope they’re not Roger’s.

That’s it, folks. Four Spaniards, three Argentines, two Americans, one Frenchman, a Scot, a Croat, a Serb, a Czech, one lonely Finn and that Swiss guy what’s ‘is face. Shake well, cocktails are on the way. It’s going to be one powerful brew.

Before there were two classes – qualifiers and direct entries – and now there are three: qualifiers, direct entries, and the “ruling class”.

I’m spending Christmas in the small town of Menomonie, Wisconsin, U.S.A. It sits on the beautiful Menomonie River as you can see here. This is the kind of town where people make peanut butter chocolate chip kiss cookies for holiday gatherings (one stick of butter, a few cups of brown sugar, Hershey’s kisses, and a huge mound of peanut butter) and the local sports section runs an apology from the Department of Natural Resources to local hunters who recently donated deer heads to a study on Chronic Wasting Disease. Evidently some hunters were not told that the deer processing plant was not accepting headless deer from the study and so they were left with a headless body and nowhere to put it.

This year it’s a brown Christmas in Menomonie – snow has not yet arrived – so it’s easy to get around. I must say, though, that I’m concerned about walking through the woods and stumbling over a headless deer.

I’m returning home next Wednesday and by the end of the week the new tennis season will be upon us. Jeez, they can’t even wait till next year. The event in Adelaide, Australia, starts on Sunday, New Year’s Eve, and it’ll be a round robin tournament. A “32-Player Hybrid Format Round Robin” event to be exact and it’s no easier to explain than it is to say. The tournament has four parts:

1. Qualifying: 16 players, 4 qualifiers progress to playoff round.
2. Play-off round: 16 players (12 direct entry, 4 qualifiers) play one match for 8 play-off spots in the round-robin.
3. Round-robin: 24 players in 8 groups of 3. Each player will have two round robin matches against the other players in their group.
4. Knockoff round: the 8 winners of each group progress to a single elimination playoff starting with quarterfinals.

What this means is that 16 players will enter the qualifying tournament for 4 spots in the tournament, same as usual. That’s followed by a one round playoff of 8 matches with the 4 qualifiers and 12 direct entry players. The 8 players who win their playoff match will then go into one of 8 round robin groups with 3 players in each group. The winner of each group then gets into the quarterfinals of the single elimination knockoff round.

The first thing to note is that there is new class of ATP player. Before there were two classes – qualifiers and direct entries – and now there are three: qualifiers (they have to qualify and win a playoff round), direct entries (they have to win a playoff round) and the “ruling class” (they go directly into round robin play). The second thing to note (besides the fact that this whole thing seems ridiculously complicated) is that qualifiers and direct entries have to win 6 matches to win the tournament and a member of the ruling class only has to win 5.

I grew up in England in a working class family so I’m no fan of class systems but I approve of this change and here’s why. When I write my fantasy tennis posts every Sunday during the season, I keep track of something called a Zero Counter: the number of matches between players who’ve never met each other before. Last year, almost 30% of the matches in 32 player tournaments were Zero Counter matches. That is ridiculous because tennis doesn’t have any rivalries. How you have rivalries when players never meet each other?

Tennis is also short on marquis celebrities. If the tournament is filled with the recognizable names of top players instead of nameless qualifiers and lower ranked players, tennis should be able to build better name recognition and sell a better product.

Notice also that the 16 player ruling class is guaranteed to play at least two matches. A qualifier could fail to get into the tournament, a direct entry could go out in the playoff round, but the ruling class will always play the other two members of their group. This helps sell tickets because fans know they can see Roger Federer or Andy Roddick or Rafael Nadal at least twice during the week.

That’s about the only thing you can be sure of. What if you play fantasy tennis and you’d like to know who’s going to be in round robin play? First of all, you don’t know who the qualifiers are when you submit your team because the submission deadline is on Saturday and qualifying isn’t complete until Saturday. Second, you don’t know which players will get out of the playoff round. The only players you know for sure are the 16 ruling class players.

And that’s the point of this whole complex ordeal: put the focus on the best players on the tour. It’s entertainment folks. People want to see Roger Federer and Andy Roddick, not Andreas Seppi and Potito Starace.

Meanwhile, let’s keep our eye on the ruling class and see how the experiment in tennis class warfare plays out.

You know you are in the off-season of tennis when odd ideas start seeping into the brain. Maybe it’s just my own withdrawal symptoms kicking in, but lately I have found myself thinking of Guillermo Coria, of all people. In fact this column could easily be called, “Whatever Happened To….”

Coria has suffered through one of the more disastrous free-falls in recent tennis memory this year, spurred in large part by a shoulder injury that seems reluctant to heal. In particular this has affected his serving motion, leading to what people term “The Yips.”

This is a player I was not especially fond of, for starters. I have to admit that upfront. He had too much of that testy little guy mentality for my tastes, right up there with that other pit bull on the tour, Lleyton Hewitt. In fact you could call Coria kind of a Hewitt Junior. No surprise they played one of the more contentious Davis Cup matches in recent time when they duked it out in 2005’s series before Hewitt prevailed in four sets.

So why is it I find myself vaguely missing the little creep? With that wiry, ultra mobile body of his, and that small ferret face with those high cheekbones, Coria seems like an alien from another planet. He should have hooked up with Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, one of the women’s new good young players on tour, whose exotic features have led some to call her the Alien. Think of the offspring these two could crank out. I find them rather beautiful in their oddity. But Coria is married to Carla, a stunning brunette from Croatia, who has been a rock of security for him in this downward spiral in his career.

Mind you, the Argentines have generally seemed to me like they are from another planet. There is alienation even among themselves. Nalbandian is referred to as the Armenian, and with his blond hair and blue eyes he certainly looks an anomaly among his countrymen. Gaudio is more their mainstream guy, he is good-looking and popular and more “one of us.” But lately his career has been all over the place too. At least Gaudio and Nalbandian have not been caught with their hands in the cookie jar of illegal substances. That’s the other thing about the Argentines, they appear blithely indifferent to the things they put into their systems. Canas and Puerta are coming back on tour in the new year after serving out their drug suspensions apparently none the worse for wear.

The 24-year-old Coria, nicknamed “Guille” (pronounced gee-jay), had a suspension too a few years back, but right now his main problems are keeping his shoulder healthy and hoping his mentality doesn’t sink too low in terms of confidence. He’s had several operations on the shoulder, and may have tried coming back too early.

We could view his career as a cautionary tale of how a player can become obsolete in a very short period of time in today’s power game. You cannot simply endure out there on court, you need a few weapons to fight back with. I’m scratching my head to describe a weapon Coria has; there really aren’t any. Yet he made it to Number 3 in the world in 2004 with 7 titles on clay, his best surface, and 9 wins overall.

He’s not just a clay courter, though, as evidenced by this interesting statistic. In 2004 Coria was one of only three players, besides Roger Federer and Andy Roddick to win titles on all three surfaces. And in ’05 he was one of a bare handful (Federer and Nalbandian) who made it at least to the Round of 16 in all four Slams.

His game relies on speed, movement and compact strokes, and, in particular, mental tenacity. He seemed to float effortlessly about the court, retrieving everything in sight, and his technique always appeared pretty good. But as the game kept getting bigger, and as someone as fierce on clay as Nadal came along, Coria realized he had to up the ante. His strokes needed more pop, he tried to play above and beyond what his body perhaps was ready to take on. An injury was probably ready to happen.

It turned out to be the shoulder, spreading down to tendinitis in the elbow. His results started to head south in 2004, highlighted especially at Roland Garros, where he was up two sets on countryman Gaudio in the final when cramps set in, Gaudio got a second wind, and Coria ended up the one left in the dust. It was a meltdown of nuclear proportions, and I would be very surprised if Coria managed to put it entirely behind him.

Coria began 2006 ranked #8 in the world; now he’s down to #116. He could manage to put together three wins in a row only once this year. Here is a sampling of how it went: He beat Youzhny in straight sets in the opening round of Monte Carlo, then came back from 6-1, 5-1 down to beat Mathieu in the next round. Then he beat another tricky player, Nicholas Kiefer, in a three-set war of who could double-fault the least. How do you say “rollercoaster ride” in Spanish?

Never one to take a loss lying down, Kiefer bad-mouthed Coria in the post match press conference, saying he “never saw a player making so many double faults except Kournikova in the women’s game.” I think he really meant to say Dementieva but we’ll let that pass for now. Never one to let an insult go unpunished, Coria retorted with, “But I won the match, I broke his serve more than he broke mine.”

Not too long ago we were so afraid of tennis being dominated by power servers that we may forget what awaits on the opposite end of the spectrum, namely a match where the least double faults wins it. Just for laughs I went to Coria’s stats. He had 287 double faults this year. I nearly fainted. That’s spread over only 25 matches played all year. That’s about 11.4 something double faults per match. Major Yips.

Coria’s high point were those three wins in Monte Carlo, but then he got blasted 2 and 1 by Mr. Nadal on his way to victory. Coria then went out in the first rounds of Munich, Rome and Hamburg this year, losing to Gremelmayer on clay in Munich. Seventeen double faults attended that match, followed by 23 more in Monte Carlo.

“What goes through your mind when you’re serving?” inquired a reporter at one of Coria’s press conferences. Coria explains it thusly: “What happens to me is that I forget the movement. So what I have to do is remain calm….what is important is to keep concentrating.”

To his credit I have to say Coria still keeps his feisty outlook even in these troublesome times. He doesn’t like speaking English in his press conferences so he mostly talks to the Spanish speakers. He has no hesitation about defending someone like Canas during his drug suspension trouble. “Canas is not a criminal,” Coria said in an interview, “He didn’t kill anyone. I know him very well and he would never take anything to give himself an advantage. It was an accident…The ATP and ITF must look at things more on a personal level and less in black and white.” Irascible still, and proud of it we suppose.

As for psychological counseling, Coria shoots that down just as quickly. “I am not working with a psychologist,” he says. “I tried it for two weeks and I didn’t like it at all.” So much for those snotty mental health professionals. Blowing off Kiefer is one thing; blowing off your therapist is another. I’d never have the nerve in a million years to do that. Maybe this is why I have grown fonder of the little squeak.

Coria is also good at blowing off coaches, too. He’s been through four of them this year. The latest quit just recently, saying Coria wasn’t motivated enough to make a return. A coach I thought would last a bit longer, Jose Higueras, told Coria his basic technique was sound and he needed to keep focusing on his movement. Coria has been one of the top three most sparkling movers on a tennis court so that sounded like good advice. Concentrate on what you do well and try and make that your engine to pull the serve along.

Fellow Argentine Hernan Gumy has entered the coaching fray just recently. Let’s hope he can restore some order to the troubled house of Coria. Coria had a smallish operation recently of undisclosed origin that sidelined him for a week, but he claims he has rested his body for a good six week period and he is working now with both a fitness trainer and a new coach to prepare for ’07.

Mostly it’s up to the brain of Coria to decide if he really wants it enough to dig out of this hole. Some people in chat rooms are wondering if he still feels the passion to compete. Does the beautiful Carla occupy too much of his time? Are there personal problems? Have his success and fame and money gutted his competitive zeal? Have the injuries sapped his confidence? Or has the game simply abandoned him, as newer and bigger players come on tour and the ante gets upped for little guys?

Now we’re at the heart of the matter. What I like about Coria is that there’s still a lot of fight in this little dog, as the folks in Texas like to say. I want to see him get back in the mix. Tennis needs the Wee People. For every Safin, Roddick or Berdych, we need a few more Corias, or the Hewitts, or the Rochus brothers, or someone like Justine Henin-Hardenne on the women’s side. They are figures closer to our reality, they are not bigger than life, they have to work harder for their success. We can relate to that. I can relate to that at least.

Coria is part of the infinite variety that our sport needs to maintain its growth. Let’s hope he finds that gear which can bring him back to his former level.