Ross Hudson & Tennis

Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon Champion - Can I Feel Smug?!

2011-07-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

On the first day of the women's main draw matches at this year's Eastbourne tournament, a taxi driver told me he was considering taking his young son to the event. He asked me what they could expect to see with a ground pass that day. I told him that, among the attractions of the matches on the outer courts were some reasonably big name women players. I explained that a ground pass gives you access to part of Court One as well, and that one of the players scheduled to play there was Petra Kvitova. I said, "She's not hugely well-known if you're not an avid follower of tennis, but she could win Wimbledon."
I wonder if I was allowed to feel very smug today, as Petra was outhitting Maria Sharapova to strorm to stardom in the Wimbledon final.
The truth, of course, is that I was far from the only person tipping big things for the 21-year-old Czech. And, although I thought she was marginally ahead of Victoria Azarenka in being the most likely finalist from the bottom half of the draw, after the defeat of Venus Williams, before today's match I was picking Maria Sharapova as the most likely champion. I thought Maria was the slight favourite for the title from the start of the tournament. Lindsay Davenport made the same prediction, but shrewdly changed her mind before today's match.
Many other pundits, like me, persevered with the Sharapova pick. I didn't, however, agree with a couple of commentators who last night described it as Maria's match to win or lose. I thought it was more likely the other way round, as Kvitova has a little more in her game, but I wondered whether, when push came to shove, she was really ready to take her first Grand Slam title here and now. I thought she might well make too many errors, like she did in the Eastbourne final.
I'm happy I was wrong. She played an exhilirating match, at times the tennis was electrifying from both players, although Sharapova didn't produce enough of her best to make it a classic. But Petra's triumph over any gremlins that could have hampered her from playing her glorious game in the Wimbledon final was a joy. And a very positive sign for the future of women's tennis. Her game continues the new tradition of huge aggression off both forehand and backhand sides, as pioneered by Monica Seles, and extended by the likes of Lindsay Davenport and the Williams sisters, but adds some extra variety and flair, showing that maybe Martina Hingis and Justine Henin's brief periods of domination have left some kind of legacy.
The prediction now from several pundits is that Kvitova's Grand Slam triumph is "the first of many". That phrase has been banded about whenever a relatively young player has won a debut Major. More often than not, it seems, their career doesn't turn out to be as trophy-laden as predicted. There is, however, more reason in this case to believe we're talking about a multi-Grand Slam career. But that possibility is way too far in the distance to try to look at in close-up focus now. Wimbledon Champion 2011 is a pretty good achievement, to say the least.

Tennis All Over the World

2011-06-22T05:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Watch Out For Those Youngsters!

2011-06-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Sunshine, Rain, and the "Who's the Greatest?" Debate

2011-06-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

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."

The Queen of Tennis To Hold Court in Eastbourne

2011-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Li Na, The Chinese Confounder

2011-06-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

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.

Two Hundred Miles from Eastbourne

2011-05-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

Bonjour from Paris!
I feel privileged to be attending the second week of the greatest clay court tournament in the world, in one of the world's greatest cities. The weather provided a pleasing welcome yesterday evening when, an hour or so after cold and rain in Rouen, I was greeted by warm sunshine as I headed into Port d'Auteuil.
Having been offered a full press accreditation pass for either myself or my colleague to take up, to be brutally honest, I drew the short straw! So I made do with a visitor ground pass, while my colleague had access to Philippe Chatrier and Suzanne Lenglen Courts. But you make the best of things. I'd been on Centre and Lenglen before anyway, and for the first time I tasted the Court One experience.
And there was an added bonus of a match previously scheduled for Suzanne Lenglen Court. Maria "Maria, you're hot!" Kirilenko (I'm just remembering the chants from some local boys when she played Eastbourne a couple of years ago) took on the rising German star Andrea Petkovic. Like her slightly more hotly-tipped - but lower-seeded - compatriot Julia Georges, Petkovic is entered for this year's Eastbourne event.
And she'd already progressed further than Georges at Roland Garros by reaching the 4th round. Stuttgart champion Georges's loss to Marion Bartoli in the 3rd round was one of many shocks in the women's event so far. Even though Bartoli is ranked higher (11th to 17th), clay is certainly her least best surface.
Maria Kirilenko - an excellent doubles player who's scaled the world's top 20 and is seeded 25 - received some loud support in the less than half-full but atmospheric mini-stadium of Court One. One man was particularly vociferous, and led some of the crowd in noisy chants and songs. I was sitting very near to him at one point. I'm sorry, but I had to move. I love that kind of passion from fans and players, but I was virtually next to him, and it was ear-bleeding.
I was surprised by the mixture of seats on Court One - conventional "bucket-style" chairs at the lower levels, and benches on the top rows. You probably wouldn't want to sit on the benches all day, but they added to the more open-air, less formal atmosphere of a smaller show court.
Kirilenko and 15th seed Petkovic were very evenly matched, both being hard-hitting grunters with superbly powerful shots off both wings, enough tactical know-how, but not exactly the flair of a Henin, Mauresmo, Schiavone or even Radwanska.
It's a sign of the times that this style of play, once unique when pioneered by the revolutionary, individual Monica Seles, is now so common-place in the women's game that there are literally hundreds of women who play like this. Kirilenko and Petkovic do it better than most, but last night they looked very much like players a little below the top level. Sharapova, on Centre Court, was doing it so much better.
Still, it was an entertaining, competitive match, and the more likely winner took it in three. Petkovic performed her trademark dance at the end after sealing it 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. She was receiving vociferous support of her own by the end. No doubt some of it from German fans understandably excited by the best period in their national women's game since the days of Steffi Graf and Anke Huber, and Petkovic's delight was infectious.
Court One is a monumental sight from the outside, with all the singles champions' names engraved on individual slabs at the top. We're talking over a hundred slabs, of course. It circles from H Briggs in 1891 through to Nadal and Schiavone in 2010, with around ten to twenty slabs spare for engraving the forthcoming champions, before the circle is complete. I wonder if the organisers have considered what to do then?
If you don't know, the French Championships, as they then were, were only open to French residents until the 1920s. So it was quite a surprise for me to discover that Mr H Briggs (I've still to trace his full first name) was British. The sole non-French champion before Kornelia Bouman of the Netherlands took the women's crown in 1927, was however a resident of France. Only one British man has won the title since - Fred Perry in 1935. Could Andy Murray change all that this weekend?
The first six slabs have just one name on them - women didn't compete until 1897. The first female champion was F Masson. In my research, I've found her named, sometimes "Francoise" and sometimes "Adine Masson". Whichever she preferred, she won the Championships for the first three years, and took the title a further twice. Hope that helps for trivia anoraks like me.
There is, of course, also plenty of opportunity to share in the atmosphere of the crowd around the Place des Mousquetaires, between Court Philippe-Chatrier and Court One, watching the big court action on the gigantic screen. It's comparable to Wimbledon's "Henman Hill" (or is it "Murray Mound"? Take your pick.)
Today saw Andy Murray complete his match against Serbia's Viktor Troicki, which was stopped at two sets all due to bad light yesterday evening. A true comeback win - two sets to love down and trailing 2-5 in the final set, he played more aggressively at key moments to seal the decider 7-5.
Gael Monfils saw his impressive run end with a straight sets loss to an under the radar Roger Federer. I've been used to seeing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's adverts for Kinder Bueno on mainstream French TV each time I've visited France in the last few months. Now, I regularly see Monfils in a milk or orange juice or something advert (sorry to the brand, I clearly haven't seen it enough times to remember it yet). Both men are extremely marketable and exhilarating for French tennis. They're both Grand Slam title contenders, but still always a very outside bet.
The images of Tsonga and Ana Ivanovic have been plastered all over Eastbourne in the last few weeks. They both have charisma and considerable tennis talent. The biggest "names" entered into the tournament are Venus Williams and Lleyton Hewitt. But perhaps organisers feel that, as they've both been out injured for some time - as well as being nearer to the "dirty thirty" age mark - that Tsonga and Ivanovic are safer bets. They both have extra time to prepare for grass, having lost in the 3rd and 1st round respectively, at Roland Garros.
Also today, Francesca Schiavone scored a win for flair with a 1-6, 7-5, 7-5 triumph over an impressive Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (another Eastbourne 2011 entrant). And Marion Bartoli - who brings to mind more of the spirit and game of Monica Seles - delighted her home crowd by beating two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
So it's Schiavone versus Bartoli in the semi finals. Both Eastbourne regulars, entered again for this year's event, and a guarantee, in my opinion, of an interesting player in the French Open final.

Henin Heartbreak

2011-01-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

I couldn't believe it when, as I started to read a report on Justine Henin's emotional "End of Career" address on her website, the record that began playing on my radio was Johnny Cash's version of Hurt. This stunning track is often featured on TV soundtracks when reflecting highly charged sports moments, where you presume the original themes of Trent Reznor's song - self-harm and addiction - aren't meant to be taken too literally.
I love Johnny Cash, particularly his later work. Coldplay, on the other hand, I like and respect but am not a passionate fan (similar to my feelings regarding Pete Sampras, I suppose). Yet a few years ago, a friend of mine, who was a Taekwondo champion before suffering a horrendous injury, told me what the song The Hardest Part meant to her: it reminded her of not being able to participate in the sport she loved. I wondered why, until I realised that, like a lot of songs, it was one I'd heard for years, but hadn't paid much attention to until I'd been heavily directed towards it. When I heard the lyrics, "And the hardest part/ Was letting go/ Not taking part", I understood.
What song could be more appropriate to such a situation as Justine Henin being forced out of tennis with an elbow injury? So you can probably guess what song was played, on BBC Radio 2, just a couple of hours after the Johnny Cash moment - at the end of a very bad day, not just for Henin fans like me but, I believe, the women's game, tennis, and sport as a whole? It's one of Coldplay's lesser-played records. I doubt its relevance to the day was recognised by the radio programmers here in the UK, where Henin's retirement heralded a mention in the sports bulletins, and zero attention in the general news. Synchronicity? As Melbourne's "housewife superstar" Dame Edna Everage might say: "Spoooky!"

Tickets On Sale NOW

2010-10-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not the only person to be taken by surprise by this: Tickets for the 2011 Aegon International are ALREADY on sale! The 2010 event saw the move to a centralised box office - which was by no means universally popular, shall we say? - and the distribution of tickets wasn't announced until around three months before the tournament.
I received my first free text alerts regarding the 2011 event on Friday (hopefully I'll be involved in sending them out again, come the event), from eastbournetennis.com and eastbournetennis.net. More info on ticket availability is now on the aforementioned websites.
If you're in the Eastbourne area, there's still a couple of hours left to buy your tickets on site this afternoon (open till 5pm at the International Tennis Centre, Centre Court Building, Devonshire Park). The ONLY other dates you'll be able to buy tickets ON SITE before Saturday 11th June next year, according to the letter sent out by tournament director Gavin Fletcher, will be next weekend (Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st October, 10am - 5pm, both days). The other options, of course, are online or by telephone. There's a slight reduction (generally around £1 for a daily ticket, £5 for a weekly one) if you purchase before 4th January 2011.
I know there've been problems submitting comments to these blogspot pages, but if you are able to submit comments or experiences regarding buying tickets, they will of course be very welcome.

Everyone's a Critic...

2010-07-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite writers is actually Alison Graham, TV editor of the Radio Times. If you don't know the publication, that isn't an oxymoron - the magazine was founded in the 1920s to cover the fledgling BBC radio service. Still run by the BBC, it now covers all British TV and radio. Her funniest work was the now sadly erstwhile "Soap and Flannel" coverage of the top British soap operas, but her previews and weekly TV column are brilliantly written, entertaining and often thought-provoking. Of course, you're never going to agree with everything a critic says. And, as befitting someone who's TV preferences I feel tend to veer more towards style than substance, I sometimes wonder if she spins a roulette wheel to decide which opinion she's going to have, before wrapping her wonderful writing style around it. Ah, the curse of having those empty column inches to fill!
This week, she's gone for the particularly contentious, rejoicing at the axing of Where the Warm Heartbeat Practice Is - or is it just called Heartbeat? - the zenith of those cosy Sunday night dramas. A few years ago she remarked on the torrent of disagreement she received when criticising the show.
Oh, and there's a little aside about Wimbledon: "Tennis commentary is the most pointless of all sports' commentaries. What's to say about two people who thump a ball with metronomic tedium, to and fro, across a net?"
As pointless as writing millions of words about a few moving pictures on the front of a box, perhaps?

Reasons To Be Cheerful?

2010-07-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

So, it was an even bigger "must-win", and "should-win", tie than team GB's previous few Davis Cup match-ups; but this time they obliged. Britain is safe from relegation - for now - to the lowest possible tier of the competition. With a perfect 5-0 win last weekend, they're free to continue playing at the dizzying heights of Euro-Africa Zone Group Two. If things go well, they could play, at the end of next year, for promotion to Euro-Africa Zone Group One.
Which means it's hardly a cause for spectacular celebration. Accordingly, the festivities were a little subdued - from the team and the crowd - as Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski secured the tie victory by winning the doubles rubber on Saturday. They knew they'd done what they had to do, hopefully part of a building block.
With no south stand or additional rows to the east stand - those temporary seats are taken away at the end of the Aegon International - the remaining seating never looked more than sixty percent full, and that was probably a generous estimation. BBC local radio was told that around 2000 of the 5000 available tickets had been sold.
Considering July weather is as unpredictable as the rest of the year in Britain, the weather was the same as the last Davis Cup tie to be held in Eastbourne (July 2006) - far hotter than the June tournament's been in the last twenty years. In '06 I was in the east stand, and a slight lack of sun lotion on my wrist led to my first sunburning in Britain since I was a child! This time I was in the west stand, and later in the afternoon, given all the empty seats, was able to move up into the shade.
The "tennis village" of shops also wasn't as large in terms of number of stalls as during the Aegon International, but there was still some decent memorabilia on sale.
So, a pretty good weekend for all who attended. And the few Turkish supporters, who were barely visible in the crowd, probably didn't have too many expectations of a tie win. Though they might have harboured realistic hopes Turkish no. 1 Marsel Ilhan would beat James Ward in the second rubber. Although he'd lost to Ward in two close matches earlier this year, he's ranked 200 places higher than the Brit, and recently qualified for Wimbledon and reached the second round. But Ward showed some of the great form that saw him beat Feliciano Lopez and Rainer Schuettler at Eastbourne three weeks before.
The criticism of British tennis goes on, of course, and justifiably. Brit Richard Bloomfield, who had a terrific run to the semi-finals of the ATP tournament in Newport last week, has joined the seemingly endless number of people to question the LTA's running of the British game.
But Ward, Fleming, Skupski and Jamie Baker look like impressive late bloomers, albeit at a modest level. It was particularly cheering to see Baker play his first Davis Cup since the World Group match against Argentina in early 2008. Although Britain lost the tie, Baker impressed with his wholly unexpected victory in the dead rubber, defeating Agustin Calleri on clay in Buenos Aires. But his progress was shockingly derailed by life-threatening illness. Now thankfully recovered, he's risen back up from 1000 in the world to just outside the top 250.
Right now, and in the immediate future, Britain of course need Andy Murray if they're to do anything noteworthy in the Davis Cup. And there's no chance of being back in the World Group before 2013. But at least there are tiny signs of some back-up for Murray in big ties, providing he plays.

Davis Comes To Town

2010-07-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

So, Eastbourne isn't quite done with world class tennis events this year. Just three weeks after the Aegon International, and the Davis Cup has come to town. It's the first time the prestigious men's team event has been hosted in the town since Great Britain faced Israel in a Euro/Africa Zone Group One tie in July 2006. GB needed to beat Israel to avoid a relegation play-off. They lost.
Four years on, if they lose to Turkey, Britain will be relegated to the lowest possible tier: Euro/Africa Zone Three. It's scarcely believable that the country that gives the world Wimbledon - and, of course, makes considerable money from the Grand Slam event - should be in such a position.
The Davis Cup is more low-key in its preparations than the Aegon International. Devonshire Park was still open to the public yesterday, as both the British and Turkish teams practised ahead of Friday's opening rubbers.
There isn't the buzz surrounding the event that there was in 2006. Much of it surrounded Andy Murray, whose singles rubber win against renowned Israeli doubles specialist Andy Ram was not only his first career win from two sets down, but also his first ever five sets triumph.
This time there aren't the star names to excite the crowds, and there's louder disappointment at the continued stagnation of the British men's game below - well below - Mr Murray. But Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski are becoming quite a useful doubles pairing - 2 ATP titles and the Eastbourne final among their highlights in the last year - and James Ward played way above expectations at the Eastbourne singles event. But, even though few fervent tennis fans outside Turkey can tell you much about the Turkish players, British fans know only too well that no opposition can be written off.

Practise Makes Perfect?

2010-06-18T17:30:00.000-07:00

For the first time this week, the practise courts weren't in use much today. It was a different story earlier in the week, as many players vanquished in the early rounds remained at the tournament, presumably considering the courts good preparation for Wimbledon. They included James Blake, Caroline Wozniacki, and Shahar Peer. And there was the great experience of seeing the retired Amelie Mauresmo hitting tennis balls again - and playing football -with Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra.
The happiest sight of all had to be Nicolas Almagro yesterday, a day after being stretchered off court with a suspected groin injury. Hopefully the injury wasn't nearly as serious as first feared. He seemed to be swinging and moving unhampered. Obviously a practise is very different to a proper match, but the chances of him making Wimbledon looked a lot more promising than 24 hours earlier.

Let the Music Play!

2010-06-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

"Please don't stop the music," trilled Rihanna on one of the tracks played on Centre Court today. Not everyone's sentiment. "Too Americanised," is how some have described the atmosphere between matches.
Of course, many American tournaments play music each changeover. Personally, I love it, I feel it adds to the entertainment and emotion of a match. But I appreciate it isn't everybody's cup of tea, and wouldn't quite suit the ambience of many tournaments, including Eastbourne.
But I feel the idea of music between matches works fine. Okay, as you'd expect there are song choices as obvious and cheesy as a Richard Curtis film soundtrack - how many times do you hear "The Power" by Snap at a sporting event? But already this year there's been a wider range of music than the automatic rock classics. I wouldn't've bet on Norah Jones' "Sunrise" cropping up, but it did.

Ticket Prices

2010-06-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

One of the talking points around the grounds this year has been the increase in ticket prices, and the new system for buying them. Many people have been dissatisfied with the new system, and the prices have dissuaded some regulars from buying tickets.
An Eastbourne resident wrote to the local newspaper in March to say that, having been notified of the new prices, neither she nor her friends who regularly travelled to the tournament would be attending this year. I met people today who usually buy tickets but are only here this year via spare tickets from friends.
The grounds seem as busy as ever, but the Centre Court not so.
I know some people have had problems posting comments on this site, but if you can, it would be good to hear your own comments and experiences.

Men's Main Draw Begins

2010-06-13T14:08:00.000-07:00

The men's main draw got underway today. Although it was mostly qualifying matches, there was a smattering of first round ties and even a doubles match.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez has significant rankings points to defend, having reached the semi-finals here last year. He narrowly avoided an upset, overcoming 33 year old Frenchman Marc Gicquel 7-6 in the third, after over two hours. In that decisive tie-break, Gicquel was persistently complaining a la Andy Murray. Not quite sure what about - my guess is he may have felt, at nearly 7pm, that the grass was becoming slippery; or it may have been line calls. The absence of hawk-eye was noticeable last year, as it was earlier this year in the similar Brisbane tournament.
Due to the late-finish to this match, the doubles -originally scheduled for Centre Court - had already been moved to Court 1.
British pair Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski have surprisingly risen up the rankings in recent months, and won ATP titles in Metz and St Petersburg towards the end of last season. They took on Israel's Andy Ram and Austria's Julian Knowle.
Accomplished doubles player Ram has also made an impact in singles in Eastbourne before. In the 2006 Davis Cup tie, he won the first two sets against Andy Murray, before the Brit came back to record his first ever five-set victory. Ram received some vocal support from a few in the crowd this evening, but it was the British pair who recorded another impressive win - 6-4, 7-6.

First Day

2010-06-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

So it's here! After 51 weeks, it's that time of the year again, and the gates to the Aegon International are open.
The first day was sunny but cool. The most high profile names on the match courts - as opposed to the practise courts - were probably last year's semi-finalist Alexandra Wozniak versus former world no. 7 Alicia Molik. Wozniak won in straight sets. All qualifying today. More tomorrow, but also the first matches in the men's main draw.
Don't forget that both days this weekend you can see all matches -including those on Centre Court - with a ground pass.
Kim Clijsters struggled momentarily with her daughter's buggy and the bumpy pavement as she left the grounds after her practise session this evening. And that reminds me to warn you, if you don't already know, that parts of the pavement all round the outside of Devonshire Park - College Road, Blackwater Road, etc - are uneven in places.

Wozniacki's ice creams, Devonshire Park preparations, and The Sound of Music!

2010-06-05T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hot weather is back again in Eastbourne! After a week of more familiar coolness, the last couple of days have been a bit of a scorcher by UK standards.
The proof? Last night it was still warm enough at 7pm to eat an ice cream in the sun on the seafront. I got the ice cream from the parlour opposite Devonshire Park so raved about by Caroline Wozniacki.
At the famous "a star is born" press conference after her breakthrough win against top seed Kuznetsova during Eastbourne 2008, she commented: "There's a great ice-cream place just across the road from here!"
After her run to the title at last year's event, the cafe's been displaying a newspaper cutting, from a national broadsheet by the looks of it, reporting on Wozniacki's love of their Casablanca ice cream, declaring it one of her favourites in the world.
Devonshire Park is now closed to the public as the preparations for a world-class tennis event hit their stride.
Meanwhile, despite scaffolding covering the entrance to the adjacent Congress Theatre, this is no deterrence to all the eager fans entering to see the touring production of The Sound of Music. It stars reality-TV winner Connie Fisher, and former Dynasty star - and Eastbourne college pupil - Michael Praed. The show runs until Eastbourne finals' day. No Sharapova or Kirilenko on the entry list, but there is Martinez Sanchez, so maybe there will be a problem like Maria to solve! Ba-boom!

Schiavone's stunner!

2010-06-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

Well, who'd've predicted this? Francesca Schiavone, French Open champion!
29 years old, 5'5" tall, a one-handed backhand, a gritty competitor, and emotionally demonstrative on court - mainly in a positive way, when things are going well. Always good to watch, but usually overpowered by the top players, and never beyond the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam before.
True, she didn't have to beat Henin and Serena (Stosur did that), Dementieva pulled out injured in the semis, and Stosur didn't play as well as she can in the final. But Francesca played brilliantly to beat Caroline Wozniacki in the quarters, and her tactics and execution in the final were close to perfection. To play one of the best matches of your life in such a high-pressure situation is some achievement. Her adrenaline in the second-set tie-break, as she won the match 6-4, 7-6 (2), and right through the presentation ceremony, was infectious.
Hopefully tennis will get some overdue attention in her native Italy, despite most eyes being on the country's soccer team's attempts to retain the World Cup.
Her net play was exceptional, suggesting that she could be a force to be reckoned with at Eastbourne and Wimbledon. But Eastbourne organisers must be hoping she won't still be partying this time next week, and decide to pull out of the tournament.

Could Eastbourne help Almagro breakthrough on the fast stuff?

2010-06-02T15:21:00.001-07:00

As expected, Nicolas Almagro didn't have enough to beat his fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the French Open quarter finals today. He lost in three close sets: 7-6(7-2), 7-6(7-3), 6-4. But with his big serve and aggressive groundstrokes - including a powerful one-handed backhand - it's surprising he hasn't had more success on faster surfaces.
The majority of Spanish players will probably always be best suited to clay, but the stereotypical view of a Spaniard thinking "Grass is for cows" seems to be firmly in the past. These days it's rare to find a Spanish player not wanting to develop an all-court game.
As an Eastbourne entrant, the tournament provides the perfect opportunity to take his game to the next level. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, another Spaniard with a one-handed backhand, had a surprise run to the semi-finals last year, and his game isn't nearly as big as Almagro's.

Bad News: Henin out of French Open; Good News: Eastbourne awaits??

2010-05-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

As much as I like Sam Stosur - and admire how she's starting to fulfil her game's massive potential - I'm devastated Justine Henin's out of the French Open. I know I'm far from the only person who finds her the most thrilling player to watch from this generation, man or woman. Her return to the sport's been my greatest joy of the tennis year so far.
"The female Federer" is the familiar description for her creativity, but the difference is the visual "triumph against adversity" factor that always adds extra spice. Unlike Federer, her great shots do not look effortless, and her arrival at the top level of the game when it was appearing that talent might count for nothing if you weren't 6ft tall, was inspirational. Her sudden, shock decision to retire as world no. 1 in 2008 left a gaping hole in the women's game, that only her return has filled. Mixing old school flare with the modern style ("go for your shots, hit huge forehands and backhands, murder any weak second serve") has seen her become both a happy throwback and a pioneer. I'm gutted she won't be winning her fifth Roland Garros crown and eighth Grand Slam title this week.
But there may -and it's only a may - be a good side to this for Eastbourne tennis fans. Although I thought it quite likely Henin would make a late entry to Eastbourne even if she won the French, there's been suggestions that playing Eastbourne so soon after winning in Paris in '06 and '07 hurt her Wimbledon chances. Both years she won the Eastbourne final 7-6 in the third, but lost winnable matches at SW19 - to Amelie Mauresmo in the '06 final and Marion Bartoli in the '07 semis. Both times she suggested that she didn't have enough energy left.
Yet Justine is a player who generally needs more match play than some to acclimatise to a new surface. Winning the one Grand Slam to so far elude her has been her biggest stated goal for her second career. So she'll no doubt be thinking carefully about how best to prepare for her Wimbledon assault. Here's hoping a wildcard at Eastbourne is part of her plans.

The Surprise Rezai Factor

2010-05-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

When the entry list for the women's event at this year's Eastbourne tournament was announced a few weeks ago, the name "Aravane Rezai" wasn't exactly the first one that most of us noticed. But after her astounding win in Madrid - coming from a set down to dismiss Henin in the first round, right through to demolishing Venus in the final - she is certainly an eagerly anticipated arrival to the pre-Wimbledon event. Aged 23 and ranked 24 at the start of the Madrid tournament three weeks ago, it was stunning that her phenomenal power finally became consistent. "I don't think I've ever played someone that hits the ball so hard on every shot," said Jankovic, another of her victims that week. "If she keeps this up, she will be unplayable," said a commentator, adding that it's a major "if".
Personally, I'd be extremely surprised if she becomes a multiple Grand Slam winner, but out of almost nowhere she's arguably the most exciting "new" player in the women's game. How consistent she can be is the big question. More will be known after her big match against Nadia Petrova (another Eastbourne title contender) in front of her home crowd at the French Open tomorrow, but win or lose, she's a thrilling prospect.

Eastbourne Gets Ready

2010-05-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

I've just received an email from Eastbourne Borough Council, highlighting the town being recently confirmed the official sunniest place on mainland Britain, and Virgin Money Travel Insurance naming the town the UK's most holiday-friendly resort. Not the sunniest day today, but probably more brightness, and certainly less rain, than at the French Open. The legendary wind, so often commented on by the tennis stars who've played at the tournament, has been cold, a major contrast to last weekend and the summer's first mini heatwave.
But despite the predictable unpredictability of the British weather, it feels like the summer season is in full swing. The Borough Council's newsletter publicised the Bandstand Concerts, the tourist attractions and, of course, the "hugely exciting" tennis tournament returning to Devonshire Park. The photograph they show of the sun-drenched tennis courts isn't hopelessly unrealistic, given the dry and mainly sunny weather the tournament's been blessed with for most of the last decade. During tennis week in 2007, when most of the country was rained on, Eastbourne remained protected by the micro-climate from the surrounding downland for the entire tournament. Here's hoping we're blessed with the same good fortune this year!
As the first UK coalition government since the Second World War beds down, I reflect on going to cast my vote at my local church hall in the General Election just a few weeks ago, and then taking a walk round to Devonshire Park. Each May, with the Centre Court South Stand not yet erected, it's hard to imagine that it's just a few weeks before this quiet park is filled with thousands of people, picnics on the grass, the strawberry's and cream atmosphere of a mini-Wimbledon and, of course, some top class tennis.