Bman any further updates-know they were tied in third at 1-1. U R lucky-don't have cable and since Agassi is out all hopes for Jen Jen, but Serena is tough and good-finding her stride.Bated breathe waiting for final results.

Got update.5-2 Serena..Jen's in a big hole..seems to have lost steam losing tie break..Serena picked up her level of play.Good for her, but my heart still belongs to Jen Jen.Looks like another Williams sister battle this weekend-This time I hope it's Serena's turn.She has been playing amazingly the past couple of months.

Serena won. Great women's tennis. It's hard to pick anyone to root for with so much talent and so much diversity amongst the top echelon players. I'm hoping for Serena to beat her sister in the finals, but anyway the women's French Open is far and away more exciting than the men's unless you're a Spainard. In which case you can root for 3 out of 4.Looking forward to the final in Paris.

Serena picked it up in the third set and closed things very convincingly. JenCap's brilliant defensive play through the first set or so worked against her in the third set. She needed to go for some more winners because Serena just picked up in the end. Another great match though, and JenCap certainly had her chances especially right at the end of the second set. Tough loss, great win.

Hard to pick a winner from the Serena/Venus likely final. I hope they both equally want the title and are willing to battle one another for it...otherwise it could be another awkward Williams sisters match.

Thanks Bryan D. I whole heartly agree..I don't want a replay of last year's US Open finals. I hope they both come out strong,determined, and swinging. May the best William's sister on that day win. It will be interesting to watch..anything can happen on clay..remember Hingis's breakdown and Jen's recoup last year?

Thanks Bryan D. I whole heartly agree..I don't want a replay of last year's US Open finals. I hope they both come out strong,determined, and swinging. May the best William's sister on that day win. It will be interesting to watch..anything can happen on clay..remember Hingis's breakdown and Jen's recoup last year?

Meanwhile, it took Venus a scant 19 minutes to win the first set over Fernandez 6-1.

I think the sisters are both too geared up for this title not to have their best inter-family match yet. It won't be flawless tennis, but i bet it will be the most competitive meeting of the two.

Who would have imagined that the power players in women's tennis would come to dominate the French Open on clay.There was a time when a crafty player like Sanchez-Vacarrio or Chris Evert could keep them on the ropes at the French. Those days are long gone. The William's sisters will bang it out on the clay...proving that they can win on any surface. Anyone care about the men? They are so overshadowed here...put next year's women's quarters on center court and send the men to the secondary court. The women are where it's in Paris.

I went home to watch the Jennifer v. Serena match. Man, it was tense. At one point, Mary Jo's voice cracked, and Pam Shriver was like, "Yeh, we're pretty tense just watching this match."

I can't wait to watch the replay tonight.

Clarissa just saved a match-point against Venus (or, actually, Venus just made another unforced error)--got to see that C. Fernandez has made the match somewhat competitive. The score: V. Williams lead C. Fernandez, 6-1, 5-4.

Venus Williams has just defeated Clarissa Fernandez, 6-1, 6-4

Oh God, I was tense during the first two sets (I missed the third one completely and all of Venus's match.) What great play. What unbelievable tension.

And now they're 1 and 2. So <he says half-jokingly> does this mean the era of "Williams Worldwide Domination" is ahead of us. I wonder how Wimbledon will seed them.

Venus has yet to drop more than 4 games in any one set.

Two finals in three majors. Unbelievable.

1+2..the WTA is now the William's Tennis Association...they are incredible but Cap,the Belgians, and others will be gunning for them..and remember, there maybe a teen phenom lurking in the background. These two sisters have certainly changed the game just as Martina,Monica,+ Steffi did.It's Big Grrl tennis now..more power to all of them. They certainly make the game exciting to all of us who enjoy top notch competition.Can't wait for the final.

Did anyone else read Jen Cap's interview and think "Damn, what a sore loser!" or was I the only one?

Oh, and now that Serena's in the finals, does this mean the infamous Cameroon outfit is returning?

I thought the interviews were fine, actually. It was apparent, though, that the reporters/interviewers were fishing for a controversy/scandal (e.g., "Serena, Jennifer said x,y, and z: how do you feel about that?").

I thought Jennifer answered her questions appropriately and honestly. No doubt she's pissed as all get out that she's not back in the final. Her comments today, though, were really no different than comments she's made any other time.

Agassi, however, did seem a little jerky in his interview...

I dislike Agassi and always have. And my ire at Capriati has only increased since she complained about Seles.

Maybe it's reporters fishing for controversy, but Capriati has seemed to have taken Hingis's place as the Williams Sisters' biggest detractors.

Capriati's attitude has a way of magnifying itself when she's not winning. I haven't seen the coverage yet, but after reading the match report i'll be turning up the volume during the rebroadcast of the tie-breaker. This what the Roland Garros site had to say:

In the tiebreaker, a clearly tight Capriati was so frustrated with herself after she missed a forehand to go down 3-1 that she swore loudly and called herself a "choker."

She also sounded a little sour-grapey in regards to the sisters getting to 1 and 2, saying that "they were good at planning things." She went on to say that it might not have happened if Davenport & Hingis were healthy and playing. She said. "It's definitely gone in their favor. Maybe they would still be No1 and 2, but it would be nice to see people come back and see what happens then."

In all fairness, I'd probably be in a bad mood if i was up 6-5 in the second set and couldn't serve it out. Do you think she slaps Matt Perry Around when she's feelin' like this??

None of the three of them are scheduled to play between now and Wimbledon. You'd think one of them would play at Eastbourne.

It would be nice if the WTA site listed the tournaments players have played to get their points. Serena, for example, has played 12 tournaments. It would be nice if they listed which tournaments they were.

[ June 06, 2002: Message edited by: PCC ]

www.tenniscorner.net will give you all a players WTA match results for their entire career, and you can figure out the 12 tournaments by the dates. I think it also gives the number of points for their 18th tournament (all results beyond the top 18 are dropped). Unfortunately, it only seems to give the number of points received for the last couple of weeks of tournaments (unless that info. is archived somewhere).

I think there's a link from www.stevegtennis.com that gives all the men's tournament points, but I haven't seen one for women.

Last thoughts for today before running out to a book signing-I can understand Jen's dissappointment and anger at herself for letting this semi slip through her fingers, but possibly she could steal a few grace notes from former champs who have lost close and exciting matches. Possibly she needs to step up her training or tactics as Martina did when she found herself unable to break through in her career.I don't make any claims to having the answers but her drive and desire are starting to cloud her reputation. Listen Steffi never hesitated to go for it after Monica was stabbed and Hingis took advantage when there was a loll in the ability of the women to capitalize. Jen don't blame the missing or yourself. The Williams' sisters are talented and refocused. It just wasn't your day or your time. Keep at it, you'll get many more chances to test your mettle against them in the future. This is a great time to be a women's tennis fan almost like the mid seventies and early eighties. All that talent battling for the top..keep flipping..it keeps us on our toes.

I actually thought Jen was reasonably gracious (she did repeatedly comment on how well Serena played, for example) until she got asked that question about whether it had been "inevitable" that the Williams sisters would be #1 and #2 in the world. Then she was obviously irked. I think the reporter was fishing for a catfight--you notice the way he repeated Jen's comments to Venus & Serena? Fortunately, Les Williams weren't biting.

I think she was off-base on the "planning" comment, but recognizing that they might very well not be #1 and #2 if Davenport (who was #1 close to the end of last year) hadn't missed the entire year to date is hardly sour grapes.

From my reading of Jen's comment, it seems like sour grapes. Further, if one were to use Jen's logic then Jen's own reign at #1 also has to do with Lindsay being absent from the tour.

And as far as picking and choosing tourneys - I believe Venus has played (and won) far more tourneys than Jen this year.

I watched the Capriati/Serena match in my office today. It is destined to be a classic - so tense, so much emotion. You felt the players gunning for every point. I also got the feeling they don't particularly like each other either.

Don't be fooled by the score of the final set. Serena's service game at 4-2 in the third is the highlight of the match.

[ June 06, 2002: Message edited by: hanknyc ]

Dear Serena and Venus,

Well, your father's dreams have finally come true. Congratulations on becoming #1 and #2 in the world. You've both played some inspired tennis and certainly deserve to be where you are--another final of a Grand Slam. And on clay no less!

I have one request. Would you please play your best tennis and convince us that you both want the title? As you've told us many times, you're sisters and that will last far longer than your tennis careers. We got it, we really do understand that you're family and that's the most important thing. Now that that's out of the way, how about a tennis battle unlike any we've ever seen before? How about playing like the #1 and #2 players in the world? Go for it. Tennis is now.

Thank you. And while Ms. Capriati can be a bit crabby both on and off the court, I'll bet that the two of you realize that no Lindsay and no Martina does making getting to a Grand Slam final just a wee bit easier. And having the Belgiums crash out early didn't hurt either. But it doesn't matter, you two are in the final now. Please don't disappoint us...not after all these years of listening to your father wax poetic about the future of women's tennis.

May the best sister win....

Bryan

Corretja is barely holding on... Al Costa (who is kinda hot, actually...) leads Alex, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-2. Al is serving now...

I'm following along on-line; so far, Corretja has fended off two match points. Now Al Costa is serving for the match up 5-3 in the forth set.

Corretja was up on Costa's serve, 40-0
Costa fought back to deuce but made an error, which steadily increased in the fourth set.

On duece two, Costa threw in a big serve. He won the point, setting up a match point. He converted to win the match, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

Very nice win for Albert Costa, our first French Open finalist!

Some facts about Albert Costa

Best Previous Grand Slam Finishes
Australian Open, Quarters, 1997
French Open, Quarters, 1995 & 2000

Career Singles Titles
Eleven
* three titles in 1999
* no titles since 1999

Head to Head Records
vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero
2-2, Albert won their first match in 1999 and won their most recent match, which was this year in Hamburg; all of their matches have been on clay
vs. Marat Safin
0-1, they played on clay at Hamburg in 2000; Safin won in two tie-break sets

God I hate NBC!!! A curse on their network!!!

ESPN has done a fine job all week with live coverage. NBC steps in for the men's semis and they are tape delayed. Ugh! Also another year of the WOMEN'S FREAKIN' FINAL tape delayed! Double Ugh!!! The women's final in Paris is almost always a great, tension filled match and NBC treats it like crap. Meanwhile, the usually boring, meandering and much longer men's final is live.

In this day and age, I dare say most people that want to watch tennis have basic cable or satellite TV. Do us tennis fans a favor, NBC, and let ESPN, or USA, or TNT or the freakin' Food Network cover the entire tournament.

And I'll add to George's gripe: John Mac's commentary on NBC is almost always irritating.

Safin's getting beat pretty handily at the moment. If he's gonna lose, i hope it goes quickly. I don't think i can wait 5 sets of mens clay tennis to see how tour sweetie Ai Sugiyama and her partner, Fujiwara, do against the #1 doubles team in the semis! I'm psyched that they made it this far, knocking out the 3 seed along the way. Sugiyama always comes across as one of the nicest players on tour.

Suarez and Pascual are waiting for the winner in the final. Suarez has had an amazing slam and I think she'll top it off with the doubles title.

[ June 07, 2002: Message edited by: curtj ]

Drats, I was hoping Corretja might finally win a French title of his own; he's come so close and he's such a great player. But many tennis insiders consider Costa to the be the best player who hasn't won a big title so he's obviously delivering this year. Ferrero feels like the front runner though, especially if he gets by a very tough Safin.

Here in SF, the men's semi's are on both ESPN and NBC at the same friggin time?! And then later today, ESPN2 will show the first semi? Strange. Since the women's final live would have been at 6 am tomorrow morning, I don't really mind the two hour tape delay...

NBC is amazingly bad at this, but it's an old problem. Back in 1985 ,we got Chris-Martina (7-5 in the 3rd) tape-delayed with the entire middle set chopped out. But we got every minute of the men's final live (which year in and year out usually has 2 guys whose names I have trouble pronouncing). That men's final was boring, so after it was over, they did go back and replay the middle set of Chris-Martina from the day before.

We've missed out seeing live a Steffi-Monica 10-8 in the 3rd match, and I believe a Steffi-Martina N. 8-6 in the 3rd.

NBC must know something we don't know about ratings --- surely they'd have figured out by now how ludicrous their programming is, but they don't.

I totally agree! A pox on NBC's house!! I can't believe, with all the tremendous women's finals at the French, that NBC still broadcasts it on tape delay. Anybody else remember how NBC totally chopped up the thrilling 1985 final between Chrissie and Martina? They started cutting to commercial after every game, not just after change-overs, the commercial breaks ran forever, and as the final dash of salt in the wound, ended up skipping over games because of their nonstop commercials! Although they're not as bad with the commercial breaks, they still insist on tape-delay, a ridiculous notion in this age of instant information (like anybody's not going to know the result long before the broadcast starts?).

While most of the blame deservedly goes to NBC, I can't believe that the WTA hasn't made a bigger stink about this. The Roland Garros women's final is the only grand slam singles final broadcast on tape-delay. This has gotta end.

Looks like JCF is on his way to his first Slam. Found this on a website:

http://membres.lycos.fr/arribaferrero/anec3eng.htm

Yup! Juan Carlos advanced, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
This is a BIG win over Marat Safin!

I agree with everyone's gripes about NBC and it's outdated and outmoded tape delay tactics. We tennis fans get up every year for breakfast at Wimbledon and I certainly would get up for a live broadcast of an exciting Williams' sister final. Alas NBC thinks their ratings for their early morning blather are going to be higher than a Grand Slam final. It sucks all around.

I am watching the men on ESPN. Respectfully I have to disagree about an all Williams final being "exciting", to me its predictable. I get much more enjoyment out of the sisters playing different players,independently. Just me and my opinion.

Some of the best women's slam finals have been at the French; Steffi-Martina,Martina-Chrissie,Vacario-Graf including last years Capriati comeback-it sure beats a paid infomercial about hair replacement at 6am any day.

[quote]Originally posted by puckman1:
Respectfully I have to disagree about an all Williams final being "exciting", to me its predictable. I get much more enjoyment out of the sisters playing different players,independently. Just me and my opinion.

---

I have to agree Puckster. They have yet to prove they can overcome the nerves (or the machinations of Papa Williams) to play a truly competitive match. Until they do, I will always root against an all-Williams final. Last years US Open certainly was historic. Unfortunately, it was also sloppy and boring.

I agree, the Williams final might not be good tennis... it's a crap shoot. But still... Alberto Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrerro??? I follow tennis and don't even know these guys (OK, I know them, but we won't see much of either the rest of the year). NBC thinks they'll attract more viewers with them than the Williams sisters?

I am glad to read the NBC comments today. The network used to cover tennis pretty well (save for their repetitive French women's finals gaffes). Now, they pretty much suck. Today's semi on the men's side was not that exciting. However, we tuned in to watch tennis no matter how it went. NBC did the "due to time constraints, we move ahead in the match" and the second set (the one Alex won) went bye-bye. Then they started that crap of showing commercials after every game (at least for a stretch I was watching more closely). If you set aside three hours to show tennis, then show tennis.

And John McEnroe is a bane to the commentating game. He repeatedly made comments about how he wanted to see something more exciting. He actually said that he would prefer that Costa and Corretja (close friends) get mad at each other to make things more interesting. This shows very little respect for two men who are excellent on clay. It may be boring, but it is the way the game is played.

And if we have to endure John being in the booth for the women's final, I will write a letter to NBC on Sunday. They started this last year at Wimbledon with him joining Ted R and Chris to call the women's matches. Mind you, Chris is not invited into the booth for the men's matches. Apparently, some idiot executive at the peacock thinks McEnroe is more insightful than what he is.

And yes, the greatest travesties have come in Paris with the butchering of amazing finals. NBC did extend their coverage to three hours after the 1985 debacle, but they still don't do it justice sometimes.

I am so looking forward to TNT's coverage at Wimbledon. By far the best. Mary Carillo and a pretty good commentating staff, and they call the matches that are on the court. They don't do a lot of the tape delay crap.

You all are all late jumping on this bandwagon. I was griping about the women's final being tape delayed last week. Showing this tape delayed means you, basically, can't go on the internet or watch any television until the match is over.

For the life of me, I don't know why they're doing this.

I couldn't agree any more wholeheartedly about NBC total lackluster coverage of tennis! Lets be frank everyone...they just suck! And lets not hold back any fire power on CBS either! In previous finals, mens/womens, they just love to say, "due to time constraints, we now take you to the 6th game of set 2 where is 5-1..." OH MY GOD! Would they ever do that to a baseball game/World Series? Due to time contraints, we now take you to the 9th inning, 2 outs man on 3rd, 2 strikes.... I will never understand how a great SPORTS channel like ESPN/2 gets to show very well, I might add, the entire slam, and then NBC floats in and says..."we will show the finals!." Who wrote these contracts?? And do we need to mention the SAME commercials over and over and over. During the award ceremonies for both mens and womens, they kept cutting to commercials with that tired old, no-necked guy talking about investments (TD Waterhouse) or something? Was he a stuffed doll with a voice over?? I will say too that Mary Joe Fernandez/Pam Shriver and Patrick McEnroe/Cliff Drysdale are much better than John M. and Chris E. All Chris E. ever does is say that that she KNEW the eventual (1/2 thru the match and winning) winner was gonna pull thru this French Open!? UGH! She used to sing up Martina Hingis' skirt for so long it was nauseating, and always to see her out before the finals! She even coined her phrase "This is Anna K.'s year for a comeback." Comeback from what....the Kodak booty shot shoot" Give it a rest Chris!

Congrats to Serena and Albert for a well-played French Open! Lets all write ESPN and ask them to get FULL RIGHTS COVERAGE to the ENTIRE SLAM COUNT....all 4! They are the only true TENNIS viewing channel to watch tennis on.

YonexGuy

I was very disappointed with NBC's coverage, too. And I really dislike Chris Evert's commentating. She says some of the most ridiculous things. I've liked Martina's commentating - makes me laugh... Anyway, yes, it'd be nice to see ESPN have full coverage. Agreed.

I love Jon Wertheim's take on the tennis scene. His most recent column, once again addresses some of the same questions posed by our board. Is he one of our readers?

He and one of his readers summarily discount Capriati's gripes about the Williams sister's sudden climb to the top. The reader points out that the missing players Davenport and Hingis are a combined 0-10 in their last 10 matches against the sisters. So they haven't really thwarted the ascent. He dryly says Capriati "hasn't grasped the nuances of the ranking system." If they had played more tourneys, even the same ones, they could have been 1-2 last year.

His articles are always insightful if not hilarious.

Incidentally, in a slap to Williams critics, he ran the following quote regarding Costa's early 6-0, 6-1 lead over Ferrero:
[quote]Said one member of the press corps: "If they were brothers instead of friends, we would have said the fix was in."

---

The thought made my head spin.

[ June 10, 2002: Message edited by: curtj ]

Wertheim's mailbag was great. It always is. And he's usually right.

Coincidentally, I've had questions in there before (including one in this week's column.)

Not to revive an already beaten to death topic, but it's interesting to notice that the media has, in fact, taken exception to the Capriati comments and has actively defended the Williams sisters. Wertheim has said his piece, Curry Kirkpatrick at ESPN and Selena Roberts at the NY Times have both said almost explicitly that JEn Cap is a sore loser. Other writers have gone to great lengths to comment on the Williams Sisters sportsmanship.

Venus and Serena, I think, have displayed monumental restraint and dignity. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for Richard who has struck back and is giving Capriati the Hingis treatment.

[ June 10, 2002: Message edited by: Lev Stone ]