Devonshire Park was still closed to the public yesterday evening, as the work deconstructing the stands around Court One, and the south and most of the east stand to Centre Court, continues for a couple more days. And the grounds that included the outer courts for the Aegon International are being prepared for public and tennis club use once again. There will be several tournaments throughout the rest of the summer, of course - including the county championships that Andy Murray surprisingly competed in a couple of years ago, before heading to the ATP Masters Series events in North America - but nothing on the professional scale of last week.
No sooner has the curtain gone down on Eastbourne's Aegon International, of course, before the curtain goes up on Wimbledon. This year, it seemed there wouldn't even be a day's break in-between, as bad weather threatened to spill the final matches over into Sunday. But with Centre Court less than a quarter full at 8:30pm on Saturday evening (in stark contrast to the packed house that saw Marion Bartoli defeat Petra Kvitova in the women's final a few hours earlier), the event was declared over as Janko Tipsarevic retired at 3-5 down in the deciding set of the men's final, Italy's Andreas Seppi taking his first ATP Tour title. Tipsarevic had been complaining about bad light since the start of the final set, around 7:15pm, and after a 20 minute rain delay he slipped and took a heavy tumble on the grass. He continued playing after treatment before pulling out as Seppi served for the match. His Wimbledon fears appeared justified, as yesterday he withdrew during his first round match against Ivo Karlovic.
On Saturday evening the crowd was told that the Eastbourne tournament was over for another year, and the decision had been taken to cancel the men's doubles final, the title to be shared. As I mentioned in my previous post, the final was to feature hotly-tipped youngster Grigor Dimitrov, teaming up with a certain Mr Andreas Seppi, taking on the recently reformed partnership of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram (who are no strangers to Eastbourne - the Israeli duo winning a crucial doubles match en route to a win over Britain in a 2006 Davis Cup tie). There was later a change of heart, however, with the final played on Sunday, not in Eastbourne, but Roehampton, South London, the site of the Wimbledon qualifying matches. Seppi was denied another title, with Erlich and Ram triumphing.
So, the circus has packed up and left town for another year. The international tennis tournament is a huge boost to a southern English resort, but of course it's only one of tens of stops on the WTA and ATP tours during the course of the January to November tennis season. In such a global sport as top level tennis, the contrasts of this big wide world were evident last winter (the English winter, that is), as I walked through Devonshire Park, days after the ten inches of snow had cleared (an unusually large amount for this part of the UK). I popped into the cafe which has the newspaper cutting on display, the one that features Caroline Wozniacki extolling the virtues of the cafe's ice creams. Wozniacki raved about these ice creams during her post-match press conference back in 2008, after her career's first big win, a second round triumph over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Now, two and a half years later, she was world no. 1 (and indeed, six months later, still is), and on the other side of the planet, the tennis world was preparing for the Australian Open. Down Under the climate was, of course, considerably different.
But last Australian summer, Queensland bore the brunt of the extraordinary, horrifying floods that brought catastrophe, and even tragedy, to large areas. I was in touch with my relatives in Brisbane, who were extremely lucky to avoid the waters that temporarily engulfed many parts of the city.
Days after the Brisbane International - a combined ATP and WTA tournament (and it was announced a few weeks ago that from next year the WTA event will be upgraded to Premier status) - the centre court was under water.
Sam Stosur, who had encountered the devastating effects of flooding as a child, when the Queensland town she lived in experienced such a fate, was among the tennis stars involved in fundraising.
Last week I had the pleasure of finally speaking with Sam Stosur (in 2008 I was present at her press conference at the beginning of her return to form after a lengthy lay-off through debilitating illness, but was only taking notes). I'd received an email from my uncle in Brisbane to say that he'd noticed she was playing in Eastbourne. I told her that my relatives were very proud of her as a fellow Queenslander, and she appeared genuinely chuffed.
This was after her great quarter-final win over in-form Vera Zvonereva. Sadly, this was one of her few really good recent victories. She fell 6-3, 6-1 to Marion Bartoli in the Eastbourne semi-finals, never getting her game going in very windy conditions, and yesterday tumbled out of Wimbledon in the first round to Hungary's world no. 262 (though former world no. 37) Melinda Czink.
It was the second year running Stosur has crashed out in the first round at Wimbledon after reaching the Eastbourne semi-finals. Indeed, she has reached the Eastbourne semis three times in the last four years, but has never progressed beyond Wimbledon's 3rd round. She can clearly play on grass, even though she believes it's possibly her worst surface. She can volley to back up one of the best serves in the women's game, and has a stellar doubles history, topping the world rankings for over a year in 2006-07; and has won four Grand Slam doubles titles (two Womens, two Mixed).
But she hasn't really lived up to expectations since her terrific run at last year's French Open really put her on the map, in terms of the singles game. There, she became one of the few players to beat both Henin and Serena in the same tournament, on her way to the final, where her surprising loss to Schiavone perhaps knocked her confidence. That's a shame, as she is one of the most enjoyable players to watch.
Many of Stosur's early round losses this year aren't as shocking as they appear, however, when you look at the names she lost to - mainly top players who have slightly slipped down the rankings, but enjoying a, sometimes brief, resurgence in form - or up-and-coming starlets: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Maria Sharapova, among the former; Petra Kvitova, Julia Goerges, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, among the latter. But her 3rd round French Open loss to Gisela Dulko, and now this Wimbledon defeat, are highly disappointing. She is a genuine contender to win any of the four Grand Slam events, but post Roland Garros 2010 has yet to play like that when it really matters.
Yet she's one of a large number of players who have a game, and a back-story (in Stosur's case, recovery from serious illness to reach new heights in her singles career), for crowds to savour; and hopefully there will be many such players gracing the Eastbourne tournament for years to come.
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Friday 17 June 2011
Watch Out For Those Youngsters!
So the Williams sisters may both now be out of the tournament, but there's no doubt their presence in Eastbourne has helped the event enormously, and probably given them both extremely useful work-outs ahead of Wimbledon, considering the lengthy lay-offs they've both endured.
In some ways, it's a similar situation to when they last played Eastbourne, in 1998, when they were both contenders for the title, but their defeats in the quarter-finals weren't devastating setbacks. Except that then they were hotly-tipped newcomers, with their futures as global superstars, and all-time greats of the game, by no means certain.
I still like telling anyone who'll listen about Venus's first tournament in Britain - Eastbourne 1997 - when she'd been sporadically playing tournaments for nearly three years, had been tipped as a future Wimbledon champion for even longer, and came through qualifying (having declined a wildcard in order to get more grass court practise) to reach the second round. Many of my friends hadn't heard of Venus Williams, or Anna Kournikova, who was playing Eastbourne's under-21 event that year.
These were the days of the Williams sisters' distinctive hair beads, and watching Venus play was their mother Oracene, and little sis Serena, fifteen years old, yet to make her debut on the Tour, but some predicting she'd be an even better player than her sibling.
One of the great features of an event like Eastbourne is that spectators have a chance to see players near the beginning of their careers. Over the years, numerous little-known youngsters have graced Devonshire Park and gone on to become tennis superstars.
Not all predictions are accurate, of course. But keep your eyes on up-and-coming Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Just turned 20, and tipped as the new Federer by, among others, Roger's former coach Peter Lundgren, Dimitrov's helped maintain interest in a men's draw badly depleted of big - or even medium-sized - names, since the exits of Tsonga, Hewitt, Dolgopolov and Garcia-Lopez. He nearly lost to British wildcard Daniel Evans in the first round, but went on to reach the quarter-finals, where he lost to Janko Tipsarevic. But there's still a chance to see him play tomorrow, weather permitting, when he's due to play the men's doubles final, third on court one, not before 2pm. Dimitrov is partnering singles semi-finalist Andreas Seppi, and they take on Israeli duo Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
If you're reading this, Jan and Lesley, two ladies I was talking to on Thursday (by the way, thank you for the strawberries, ladies!), I must apologise for telling you that the Dimitrov versus Tipsarevic match would follow the Stosur - Zvonareva epic on Centre Court. I later discovered it had been moved to court 4, following the rain-induced delayed start to the day, and the marathon opening matches on Centre.
It looks like Grigor Dimitrov won't get to play on Eastbourne's Centre Court this year, even if he wins the doubles title. But maybe - just maybe - those who saw him play will be able to tell future generations of the all-time great they watched at the beginning of his career.
In some ways, it's a similar situation to when they last played Eastbourne, in 1998, when they were both contenders for the title, but their defeats in the quarter-finals weren't devastating setbacks. Except that then they were hotly-tipped newcomers, with their futures as global superstars, and all-time greats of the game, by no means certain.
I still like telling anyone who'll listen about Venus's first tournament in Britain - Eastbourne 1997 - when she'd been sporadically playing tournaments for nearly three years, had been tipped as a future Wimbledon champion for even longer, and came through qualifying (having declined a wildcard in order to get more grass court practise) to reach the second round. Many of my friends hadn't heard of Venus Williams, or Anna Kournikova, who was playing Eastbourne's under-21 event that year.
These were the days of the Williams sisters' distinctive hair beads, and watching Venus play was their mother Oracene, and little sis Serena, fifteen years old, yet to make her debut on the Tour, but some predicting she'd be an even better player than her sibling.
One of the great features of an event like Eastbourne is that spectators have a chance to see players near the beginning of their careers. Over the years, numerous little-known youngsters have graced Devonshire Park and gone on to become tennis superstars.
Not all predictions are accurate, of course. But keep your eyes on up-and-coming Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Just turned 20, and tipped as the new Federer by, among others, Roger's former coach Peter Lundgren, Dimitrov's helped maintain interest in a men's draw badly depleted of big - or even medium-sized - names, since the exits of Tsonga, Hewitt, Dolgopolov and Garcia-Lopez. He nearly lost to British wildcard Daniel Evans in the first round, but went on to reach the quarter-finals, where he lost to Janko Tipsarevic. But there's still a chance to see him play tomorrow, weather permitting, when he's due to play the men's doubles final, third on court one, not before 2pm. Dimitrov is partnering singles semi-finalist Andreas Seppi, and they take on Israeli duo Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
If you're reading this, Jan and Lesley, two ladies I was talking to on Thursday (by the way, thank you for the strawberries, ladies!), I must apologise for telling you that the Dimitrov versus Tipsarevic match would follow the Stosur - Zvonareva epic on Centre Court. I later discovered it had been moved to court 4, following the rain-induced delayed start to the day, and the marathon opening matches on Centre.
It looks like Grigor Dimitrov won't get to play on Eastbourne's Centre Court this year, even if he wins the doubles title. But maybe - just maybe - those who saw him play will be able to tell future generations of the all-time great they watched at the beginning of his career.
Sunday 12 June 2011
Sunshine, Rain, and the "Who's the Greatest?" Debate
Well, after such a promising opening day to the event yesterday, today has been a major frustration. We've been incredibly lucky to avoid major rain interruption for some years now. From memory, I think this is the first time since 1997 that an entire day's play has been washed out. The decision that there would be no chance of play today was announced at 4:50pm, not long before it was confirmed that the highly anticipated Aegon Championships final in London, between Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, would also not be played today. Speculation grows as to whether Tsonga will make the jouney to Eastbourne after all.
Sunday's bad weather was well forecast, and the prediction for Saturday wasn't brilliant. But the first day was almost entirely sunny, albeit with a cold wind (quelle surprise!). There was some high quality tennis on a variety of different courts, as qualifying matches were crammed in. Perhaps the best match on centre court was between Brit Anne Keothavong and France's Alize Cornet. Keothavong overwhelmed higher-ranked Cornet, 8th seed in the qualifying event, but was the only one of five British women to reach the next stage.
All the men who won their first qualifying matches were back later in the day - and that included five Brits. All second round men's ties were also completed, with only Alex Slabinsky left to fly the flag for the UK in the final qualifying round. The biggest tennis names in that final round are Germany's 35 year old former world no.5 Rainer Schuettler, and America's former child prodigy Donald Young.
It seemed a day for players who were once tipped to reach the very top, are yet to achieve that, but when they play well, it's hard to take your eyes off them. Mirjana Lucic, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals as a 17 year old in 1999, lost in the quarter finals of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham on Friday, but beat Yaroslava Shvedova at Eastbourne on Saturday. Indian superstar Sania Mirza won her opening match in three hard-fought sets. Austrian Tamira Paszek beat the USA's Vania King and is now the first woman through to the third qualifying round - without striking a ball - after her next opponent Greta Arn withdrew. Hungary's Arn beat Russian-born Australian Anastasia Rodionova, who won gold medals in singles and doubles at last year's Commonwealth Games. But Arn had a fall late on in the match, and completed it with a heavily-bandaged knee.
And Melanie Oudin, who wowed her home crowd - and much of the rest of the world - when she reached the US Open quarter finals as a 17 year old in 2009, easily beat China's Xinyun Han. I had the pleasure of speaking to her briefly, and telling her that I like the way she plays tennis, and the fact that her principal idol is the great Justine Henin.
When I referred to Serena Williams as the "Queen of Tennis" in my last post, I should explain that, in my opinion, if everyone had played close to their best, consistently, in the last few years, the rankings would have been a no-brainer: Henin first, Serena second, and Venus third. When Henin shocked the tennis world by retiring as world no. 1 in 2008, she had won seven Grand Slam titles - just one less than Serena (plus Olympic singles Gold, which Serena has yet to win), and the same number as Venus. By the time of Henin's return to the game at the start of 2010, Venus had won another Slam (Wimbledon 2008), and Serena had taken three more. As Henin tried to regain form in what turned out to be all-too-brief a comeback, Serena won a further two Slams, taking her career total so far to 13. Were it not for Henin's absence, the story could have been very different.
But Henin's absence, and difficulties in regaining form on her return, cannot be compared to Monica Seles's absence, and subsequent difficulties, which occured of course due to the most appallingly unnatural of circumstances - that stabbing incident. In Seles's case, her career total Grand Slam titles (9) versus that of her great rival Steffi Graf (22) have to be taken with a massive dollop of salt when assessing each player's greatness.
In the case of Justine and Serena, however, I can't object to Serena being declared the greatest of her generation.
And Venus isn't too bad a player, either.
I finally met her this Saturday. "Venus, it's so great to see you back in Eastbourne," I crawled, but meant it. "I remember when you first came here when you were 17 or 18."
"Thankyou," she smiled. "It's been a while."
Sunday's bad weather was well forecast, and the prediction for Saturday wasn't brilliant. But the first day was almost entirely sunny, albeit with a cold wind (quelle surprise!). There was some high quality tennis on a variety of different courts, as qualifying matches were crammed in. Perhaps the best match on centre court was between Brit Anne Keothavong and France's Alize Cornet. Keothavong overwhelmed higher-ranked Cornet, 8th seed in the qualifying event, but was the only one of five British women to reach the next stage.
All the men who won their first qualifying matches were back later in the day - and that included five Brits. All second round men's ties were also completed, with only Alex Slabinsky left to fly the flag for the UK in the final qualifying round. The biggest tennis names in that final round are Germany's 35 year old former world no.5 Rainer Schuettler, and America's former child prodigy Donald Young.
It seemed a day for players who were once tipped to reach the very top, are yet to achieve that, but when they play well, it's hard to take your eyes off them. Mirjana Lucic, who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals as a 17 year old in 1999, lost in the quarter finals of the Aegon Classic in Birmingham on Friday, but beat Yaroslava Shvedova at Eastbourne on Saturday. Indian superstar Sania Mirza won her opening match in three hard-fought sets. Austrian Tamira Paszek beat the USA's Vania King and is now the first woman through to the third qualifying round - without striking a ball - after her next opponent Greta Arn withdrew. Hungary's Arn beat Russian-born Australian Anastasia Rodionova, who won gold medals in singles and doubles at last year's Commonwealth Games. But Arn had a fall late on in the match, and completed it with a heavily-bandaged knee.
And Melanie Oudin, who wowed her home crowd - and much of the rest of the world - when she reached the US Open quarter finals as a 17 year old in 2009, easily beat China's Xinyun Han. I had the pleasure of speaking to her briefly, and telling her that I like the way she plays tennis, and the fact that her principal idol is the great Justine Henin.
When I referred to Serena Williams as the "Queen of Tennis" in my last post, I should explain that, in my opinion, if everyone had played close to their best, consistently, in the last few years, the rankings would have been a no-brainer: Henin first, Serena second, and Venus third. When Henin shocked the tennis world by retiring as world no. 1 in 2008, she had won seven Grand Slam titles - just one less than Serena (plus Olympic singles Gold, which Serena has yet to win), and the same number as Venus. By the time of Henin's return to the game at the start of 2010, Venus had won another Slam (Wimbledon 2008), and Serena had taken three more. As Henin tried to regain form in what turned out to be all-too-brief a comeback, Serena won a further two Slams, taking her career total so far to 13. Were it not for Henin's absence, the story could have been very different.
But Henin's absence, and difficulties in regaining form on her return, cannot be compared to Monica Seles's absence, and subsequent difficulties, which occured of course due to the most appallingly unnatural of circumstances - that stabbing incident. In Seles's case, her career total Grand Slam titles (9) versus that of her great rival Steffi Graf (22) have to be taken with a massive dollop of salt when assessing each player's greatness.
In the case of Justine and Serena, however, I can't object to Serena being declared the greatest of her generation.
And Venus isn't too bad a player, either.
I finally met her this Saturday. "Venus, it's so great to see you back in Eastbourne," I crawled, but meant it. "I remember when you first came here when you were 17 or 18."
"Thankyou," she smiled. "It's been a while."
Wednesday 8 June 2011
The Queen of Tennis To Hold Court in Eastbourne
It's that time of the year again.
I'm back in Eastbourne after the French Open, and it's the start of those few weeks of the year in Britain when tennis seems to matter to the man or woman in the street. In this town, in particular, of course, with the tournament beginning this coming weekend. The promotion seems very good this year, in terms of omnipresence, with the giant posters of Tsonga and Ivanovic seemingly everywhere, and the controversially airbrushed pictures depicting Eastbourne as having a sandy beach, rather than the pebbled one it seems many residents are extremely proud of.
The financial benefits to the town are enormous in many different areas. Just last night a taxi driver was telling me that he must make sure to do several shifts next week. And, while tennis isn't necessarily the top topic of conversation with everyone in the town, it's clear that interest is growing. This morning I saw people stopping, doing an about-turn to confirm that they read correctly the headline on the newspaper stand: "SERENA JOINS VENUS AT TENNIS".
Yep, it's something of a coup. Many people thought Serena Williams wasn't likely to make her comeback until later in the summer, but now she's announced that she'll play her first tournament in nearly a year right here on the south coast of England.
If you didn't know, days after winning her 4th Wimbledon title - and 13th Grand Slam - last July, Serena suffered a freak mishap, cutting her foot on broken glass while at a restaurant. She still managed to play an exhibition extravaganza in Belgium, in front of a record crowd for a tennis match, standing in for an injured Justine Henin in what was originally billed "The Best of Belgium". She lost to Kim Clijsters, underwent surgery, and was out of the game for the rest of the year. Earlier this year the world was shocked by the news that the 29 year old had needed emergency surgery for blood clots on her lung. A few weeks ago she posted pictures of herself back on a tennis court, in practise, on her twitter site.
In many people's minds, whatever the rankings say, she's still the queen of tennis. Time will tell whether that crown can be officially restored.
I'm back in Eastbourne after the French Open, and it's the start of those few weeks of the year in Britain when tennis seems to matter to the man or woman in the street. In this town, in particular, of course, with the tournament beginning this coming weekend. The promotion seems very good this year, in terms of omnipresence, with the giant posters of Tsonga and Ivanovic seemingly everywhere, and the controversially airbrushed pictures depicting Eastbourne as having a sandy beach, rather than the pebbled one it seems many residents are extremely proud of.
The financial benefits to the town are enormous in many different areas. Just last night a taxi driver was telling me that he must make sure to do several shifts next week. And, while tennis isn't necessarily the top topic of conversation with everyone in the town, it's clear that interest is growing. This morning I saw people stopping, doing an about-turn to confirm that they read correctly the headline on the newspaper stand: "SERENA JOINS VENUS AT TENNIS".
Yep, it's something of a coup. Many people thought Serena Williams wasn't likely to make her comeback until later in the summer, but now she's announced that she'll play her first tournament in nearly a year right here on the south coast of England.
If you didn't know, days after winning her 4th Wimbledon title - and 13th Grand Slam - last July, Serena suffered a freak mishap, cutting her foot on broken glass while at a restaurant. She still managed to play an exhibition extravaganza in Belgium, in front of a record crowd for a tennis match, standing in for an injured Justine Henin in what was originally billed "The Best of Belgium". She lost to Kim Clijsters, underwent surgery, and was out of the game for the rest of the year. Earlier this year the world was shocked by the news that the 29 year old had needed emergency surgery for blood clots on her lung. A few weeks ago she posted pictures of herself back on a tennis court, in practise, on her twitter site.
In many people's minds, whatever the rankings say, she's still the queen of tennis. Time will tell whether that crown can be officially restored.
Saturday 4 June 2011
Li Na, The Chinese Confounder
I remember watching Li Na on Court One during Eastbourne 2008, an early round match against Nadia Petrova. I didn't know her game very well, and was wondering how, a couple of years earlier, she'd become the first ever Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam quarter final (Wimbledon 2006), and break the world's top 20. After she lost the first set and wasn't making much impact in the second, I texted a colleague to say, "I'm still wondering."
But she hung in there against a dominant Petrova, somehow eeking out the second set on a tie-break. She lost the final set, however, and my impression was of a solid and gritty but relatively unspectacular player.
Today I must eat my words as, at 29 years old, she celebrates becoming the first Asian winner of a Grand Slam singles title.
Her game has been gathering momentum for some time, of course. A couple of months after Eastbourne 2008, she beat Venus Williams in the quarter finals of the Beijing Olympics. And Venus didn't play particularly badly, Li was dominant and aggressive. Winning a medal for her country - at home - proved a step too far, however, as she lost to Dinara Safina in the semi finals, and then to Vera Zvonereva in the Bronze Medal Match. With Elena Dementieva beating Safina to take Gold in the final, it was a clean sweep for the Russians.
There had been a lot of talk, in the few years before the Beijing Olympics, of China being on the verge of making the kind of breakthrough in tennis, particularly on the women's side, comparable to Russia in the mid '00s. It still doesn't look very likely that there can be the sheer number of dominant players in the immediate future when you consider that Li (first Chinese player to reach the top ten, and now top five) and Zheng Jie (semi-finalist at both Wimbledon 2008 and Australian Open 2010) are the only ones from this new generation to have so far made top level impacts in singles. Also, the games of these top contenders can look easy to overpower when compared to the taller, more physically intimidating presences of most of the modern Russians.
But Li Na and Zheng Jie, despite being of smaller stature, can pack mighty punches. And, having gradually developed her game and confidence, Li has, incredibly, looked like the power player in the women's game this last fortnight. She beat hot title contenders Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round and the quarters, before overwhelming Maria Sharapova - a player who has a far better serve and less of the matchplay frailties of many of her fellow Russians - in the semis. Li Na's ability to take the ball early, find the right angles at the right time, and an increasingly confident volley, have swept all before her. And, as she said herself, clay has always been her least best surface!
Defending champion Francesca Schiavone also confounded expectations by reaching the final. She could have won, but didn't manage to produce enough of her best tennis to overcome the formidable challenge Li posed today. I can't help feeling a bit disappointed that 30 year old Schiavone is one of the very few players able to provide old-fashioned flair and compete with modern power in the wake of Henin's departure.
But I can't help but be happy for Li Na. And the fact that such a big part of the world as Asia now has a Grand Slam champion has to be a good thing.
But she hung in there against a dominant Petrova, somehow eeking out the second set on a tie-break. She lost the final set, however, and my impression was of a solid and gritty but relatively unspectacular player.
Today I must eat my words as, at 29 years old, she celebrates becoming the first Asian winner of a Grand Slam singles title.
Her game has been gathering momentum for some time, of course. A couple of months after Eastbourne 2008, she beat Venus Williams in the quarter finals of the Beijing Olympics. And Venus didn't play particularly badly, Li was dominant and aggressive. Winning a medal for her country - at home - proved a step too far, however, as she lost to Dinara Safina in the semi finals, and then to Vera Zvonereva in the Bronze Medal Match. With Elena Dementieva beating Safina to take Gold in the final, it was a clean sweep for the Russians.
There had been a lot of talk, in the few years before the Beijing Olympics, of China being on the verge of making the kind of breakthrough in tennis, particularly on the women's side, comparable to Russia in the mid '00s. It still doesn't look very likely that there can be the sheer number of dominant players in the immediate future when you consider that Li (first Chinese player to reach the top ten, and now top five) and Zheng Jie (semi-finalist at both Wimbledon 2008 and Australian Open 2010) are the only ones from this new generation to have so far made top level impacts in singles. Also, the games of these top contenders can look easy to overpower when compared to the taller, more physically intimidating presences of most of the modern Russians.
But Li Na and Zheng Jie, despite being of smaller stature, can pack mighty punches. And, having gradually developed her game and confidence, Li has, incredibly, looked like the power player in the women's game this last fortnight. She beat hot title contenders Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round and the quarters, before overwhelming Maria Sharapova - a player who has a far better serve and less of the matchplay frailties of many of her fellow Russians - in the semis. Li Na's ability to take the ball early, find the right angles at the right time, and an increasingly confident volley, have swept all before her. And, as she said herself, clay has always been her least best surface!
Defending champion Francesca Schiavone also confounded expectations by reaching the final. She could have won, but didn't manage to produce enough of her best tennis to overcome the formidable challenge Li posed today. I can't help feeling a bit disappointed that 30 year old Schiavone is one of the very few players able to provide old-fashioned flair and compete with modern power in the wake of Henin's departure.
But I can't help but be happy for Li Na. And the fact that such a big part of the world as Asia now has a Grand Slam champion has to be a good thing.
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