Frank Deford, one of my favorite sports writers, has a great article on the Williams sisters:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_ga...6/26/viewpoint/

He wrote an article on Monica Seles a year or so ago that brought tears to my eyes -- perfectly written, and making the point (as if it needs to be made again) that she was so unfairly robbed of her sport when she was at the top of the game. Great stuff.

Great article, but the sisters aren't in the final yet. Grass is the great equalizer as proven today by the huge upsets in the men's game. Of course, the ladies field is much different, but it ain't over till it's over. I'm still not sure that both of them are going to get there. If they do, I think it'll end up being their greatest match against each other.

I think its going to be really hard for anyone outside of Capriati, Henin, or Clijsters to beat them. (I don't care what BMan says about Hantuchova. )While grass may be the great equalizer in the men's game, I think tends to make the exacerbate the already large difference between the haves and the have nots (except for the extreme clay court girls).

I once read where Jon Wertheim said that surface didn't matter as much in the women's game as it does the men's.

The way they are playing, it will take an outstanding match by anyone else to prevent an all Williams final.

On the women's side, I'd say it's clay that's the great equalizer--and the French is generally the most unpredictable of the slams.

Kim Clijsters has been ousted by Elena Likhovsetva 7-6, 6-2. Highest women's seed to lose so far. A huge win for Likhovsetva, who has kind of collapsed after reaching #15.

Venus breezed over Ruano-Pascal 6-3, 6-1.

Former champ Conchita Martinez took out Patty Schnyder and will take on Lisa Raymond in the next round.

and monica collects her third bagel in two matches. not bad.

You know what I think would be cool?

A mixed doubles match featuring:

Philippousis/Neffa-De Los Rios v.
Sa/Tu

I would crack up looking at the scoreboard!

That would be hilarious.

Can you tell I'm bored at work?

Monica has been playing extremely well. I predict that she will roll over Henin in the quarters (that is if Henin gets there). Henin's play has been very erratic and lack-luster of late.

Monica has played two good matches on grass against two mediocre clay courters...

Now here comes the wishful thinking posts stating that she's going to take the tournament by storm. She very well might do that, but its b/c of everyone else performing poorly, not b/c of her.

I never underestimate her fight and spirit. I say good luck, but I'm being a tad more realistic.

So what's up with Clijsters? Is she injured? She's been in the dumps for the past 2-3 months. No real threat to fall out of the top 10 this month, but she's certainly headed in that direction.

And what about Shaughnessy? She's always been a little streaky -- huge wins followed by bizarre losses -- but she's headed out of the top 20 based on her results here.

Great to see Chanda Rubin doing so well here! Not much chance she'll get past Serena, but good to see her on the right track.

Clijsters, I think, is having a crisis of confidence, possibly as a result from injuries. Plus, she and her coach just parted ways, so she went into Wimbledon kind of blind.

Shaughnessy, I think, just overachieved last year and is starting to settle into where she should be.

I don't think anyone, including us Monica diehards, are thinking that Monica's going to take out Venus if they both reach the semi's. She's far more capable on grass than given credit for though, and this year the grass is playing like a hard court so far.

Venus won't have Cljisters waiting in the quarters for her now. Henin has definitely been off though and Monica's beaten her a few times. Monica and Venus could easily square off for the third time in three slams in 2002..But there's still more tennis to play for both of them before that happens and neither champion has faced a test yet..

Damn you, Iva Majoli! My women's bracket was looking awful good until you knocked of Zvonareva. I picked Casanova & Likhovtseva, and even Tu to advance to the third round, and while I missed Baltacha, I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Henin v. Casanova could be interesting. Justine is seemingly hanging on by a thread these days, and she seems to have lost some confidence in her backhand. Oh, by the way, did anyone see Chladkova's hair this morning? Does that haircut mean DEFINITELY a lesbian, or just probably? I don't keep up with lesbian hair laws.

Venus's draw is rediculously easy. If she loses a set before the final, I'll be amazed. And given how tough the bottom half is, whoever faces her may be too tuckered out to produce anything great.

Finally, doubles. Congrats to Anna & Chanda for winning their first-round doubles match in remarkably easy fashion.

Capriati & Hantuchova won a tough three-setter to set up a match with Conchita & Pierce, also three-set winners today. The winner of that will face Raymond & Stubbs. What a section!

The Williamses won easily, and Martina & Zvereva are up a set against the Serra-Zanetti sisters. Imagine - a doubles lineup in which you've actually heard of the players. Seen them on TV even!!

The haircut means DEFINITELY a lesbian. I like to pride myself as being down with the lesbians (I met my partner in a lesbian bar), and I've only seen that haircut on the butchest of the bunch.

As for the now empty top half of the draw, the only person capable of taking a set off Venus would be Lisa Raymond, but I don't see that happening either. Monica also has a good draw to the quarters and I agree that Henin is fragile with a capital F these days, but for some reason I don't see her losing to Casanova. When oh when will the 4th round start!?!?!

I disagree with the prior comments on Monica. She's playing better tennis than Henin and having an easier time at it. I'm still sticking with my earlier prediction - Venus and Monica in the semis.

GO MONICA!

Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves...there's plenty of tennis in the 3rd round. Myskina-Mauresmo could be classic stuff. Maleeva - Farina-Elia should be interesting--my money's on Maleeva, but Farina-Elia has played better than I expected so far. Conchita Martinez was shockingly effective against Schnyder (was any of that match shown?) and could be a challenge for one of the few serve-and-volleyers left in women's tennis, Lisa Raymond. Dementieva-Majoli could be entertaining; you just never know with either of those players.

Is the depth in the women's game improving significantly, or are the top players just playing that poorly? Even though there weren't any major 3rd round upsets, a lot of top seeds looked shaky. Veteran minor leaguer Maureen Drake was apparently jumping all over Venus' first serve in the first set, before Venus put it together. Serena struggled mightily against Els Callens--Chanda (who seems, amazingly, to be headed back to the top 10) will clobber her if she plays like that again. Seles had all kinds of problems with Ai Sugiyama. Henin was adequate, but not dominant against Casanova.

If these players continue to play like this, it's not hard to imagine some upsets striking in the fourth round. I think every player left in the draw, with the possible exception of Laura Granville, is dangerous.

Monica looked pretty good today against her opponent, but I think she knows if she draws a Wiliams sister, she is going to have to elevate her game at least a couple of nothces, that and watch the unforced errors. But having said that, Go Monica!!!!!

Monica was very sluggish coming out today and the fact is that Ai S. is very chipper on the grass...MOnica got through, possibly because she plays very confidently against Ai and she's simply a better player...She won't hang around long though if she plays that way against Justine or Venus...so, Monica, the loose match is behind you, just: Jam On It!

Meanwhile, back on the Steppes .....

Me So Kourney.....

Okay, I want to head this off at the pass before it becomes an issue of "Venus has no respect."

The Associated Press has an article "Williams says Graf not good grasscourt player." Here's what was actually said at the press conference.

Q: How much bettter are you now than you were when you lost to Graf here?
A: It was so disappointing. I just didn't want to win.

Q: Is she the best player you ever played on grass?
A: I can't say that, no.

Q: Who would be?
A: I don't know. I haven't really actually played a grass court player. I think Serena played Els Callens the other day. I think she was a good grass court player. Maybe Natalie Tauziat.

Q: Do you put those two in the same category as Steffi?
A: Not in the same category. But I didn't consider Steffi a grass court player. I considered her a champion, sure. She never really came in, never served and volleyed. I don't think that was exactly grass court tennis.

Q: You said you were so sad, you didn't want to win that day.
A: Not that I want -- I didn't do what it took to win.

Q: In what way?
A: Just missing, just not stepping up. But that was years ago. I'm a different person. I don't even know who that was anymore.

While I understand what Venus is saying in that Steffi is not the quintessential grass court serve and volleyer, it was kind of foolish (perhaps even a tad self-serving?) to include Els Callens in the list of who she considers good grass courters. There are plenty of examples of, using Venus' parameters, players who are not "grass court players"-Bjorn Borg, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Martina Hingis, Andre Agassi and Venus herself who have all managed to win Wimbledon without having a true grass court approach.

And Steffi won many of her titles when there were such grass courters as Navratilova, Zina Garrison, Jana Novotna, Natalie Tauziat and Pam Shriver in the field. Venus has no such competition, even if you include Els Callens!!!

See this is what I wanted to cut off - there's a difference. Venus did not say "Steffi played poorly at Wimbledon."

What she said was that Steffi's game is not designed around grass court style. Which is true. Els Callen and Natalie Tauziat are serve-and-volley players. Their style is developed specifically for Wimbledon (whether they use it or not, is of no account.) The only thing that suprised me was the omission of Novotna.

And there's more to the interview in which Venus does say that she's a baseline player.

She's not taking from Graf, just talking about her game. She was specifically asked if Graf was the best grass court player she ever played (not best player) and she said that she didn't Graf was a grass court player.

foolish? self-serving?? you lost me there, George. i think it's pretty clear that venus was saying Steffi's game doesn't fit the true grass player profile. of course wimbledon has been won by plenty of other players that don't fit that description. that's why it's fun to watch. the media has clearly taken more quotes out of context to create a story where there is none.

I have to agree with George here. That state i totally out of place even if that is what she thought. You do not have to be a serve-and-volleyer to be a great grass court player. Obviously Steffi was one of the best, she won 7 freakin Wimbledon titles only Martina has more. And the fieldof talent that she had to play against was much more difficult than that of today. There's no way you win 7 Wimbledon titles without being a great grass player. I don't think venus can have anything to say about Steffi until she remotely begins to get close to what Steffi has done.

Da Kid.

[quote]Originally posted by curtj:
foolish? self-serving?? you lost me there, George. i think it's pretty clear that venus was saying Steffi's game doesn't fit the true grass player profile. of course wimbledon has been won by plenty of other players that don't fit that description.

---

I think that's exactly what I said. My only critcism of her comments were to include Els Callens. Maybe I should have said misguided rather than foolish. By self-serving, I guess I meant that Callens was thrown out there because she had given Serena a tough match in recent days and not because she is necessarily a "good grass court player" (Venus' words).

Also, baseliners are given short-shrift when it comes to playing on grass. Considering the nasty bounces that come into play as the tournament proceeds, playing and winning from the baseline can be a much tougher, more challenging task.

[ July 01, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

After getting her butt kicked 6-1 in the first set, Daniilidou (she of many vowels) came back and took the second set from Capriati 6-3. Now play is suspended for rain. D's confidence has to be pretty high right now, coming off the big wins she scored in that WB warm up -- successive wins over Mauresmo, Henin, and Demetieva in the finals for D's first WTA title. Let's see if D can keep it going. Should be an interesting third set.

In deciding who I think will win the slam, I usually look at the round of 16 to see who is making the best angle shots. I said Serena at the French. Here, I've gotta go with Venus. Hows that for going out on a limb?

It is unfortunate that Jennifer did not continue to roll and get through her match. Now she gets to play four days in a row. While that may not prove overly demanding from a physical perspective, it is from a mental preparation standpoint.

It is interesting. Serena and Daniela both completed their matches today, but neither are on the schedule for tomorrow's quarterfinals. Either they are playing Wednesday to even things out for Capriati/Danilidou vs. Mauresmo, or since they both had to play through the rain delay, they are getting an extra rest day. Either way, it is kind of unusual.

The big boomer men's match got postponed until tomorrow. I hope Mark wins that one.

I thought Serena actually looked the sharpest today. She hit some really great shots on a very capable Chanda Rubin. Venus played Lisa Raymond, who struggles in big matches at the best of times. Today, she camped out at the baseline and let Venus dictate from the start. Not Lisa's game at all, and a poor strategy.

Well, Les Williams were back on form in the Round of 16. It's hard to imagine Venus losing to Likhovtseva...Serena has a much tougher opponent, who could make things interesting. But the really intriguing match-ups are the two middle quarter finals.

Daniilidou has been torrid on the grass this year; it's not difficult to imagine her making it to the semis. But Mauresmo has been quietly playing extremely well. Even if JCap wins her 3rd set, I think she's going to have her hands full with Amelie. Mauresmo's been going to the net frequently and successfully. While that's obviously risky against Jen's powerful groundstrokes, it's not impossible to be successful at the net against Cap (e.g. Henin at Wimbledon last year, Hingis in Oz this year). With Mauresmo out of the top 10 and lacking a win against a top opponent this year, the pressure will all be on Capriati (again, if she beats Daniilidou).

Henin/Seles should also be interesting. Seles is the only player in the top 7 that Henin has never beaten, and Seles has been playing better at Wimbledon this year. On the other hand, none of Seles opponents have attempted to charge the net. Henin will go there fairly often, which will put Seles under pressure to make good passing shots. If (as some players have suggested) the surface has been slower than normal due to dry weather, the rain today could tilt the balance in Henin's favor. Should be a great match.

Random thoughts ...

Hooray for Chanda Rubin!!! After being out so many years with all sorts of injuries, she must be so happy to be back, healthy, and playing good tennis. While I'm sure she's a bit disappointed, there's certainly no shame in going out in the Round of 16 to Serena Williams.

Venus's victory over a good grass-courter, Lisa Raymond, was impressive. Some players just feel at home on grass (Becker, Sampras, Graf), like a duck to water. Whatever niggly problems and frustrations she might have been having during the clay season seem to have evaporated away. She's still my pick to win! (granted, not exactly the boldest of picks)

Hantuchova looks like she has a heckuva a future on grass courts, if not a heckuva "present". She'll have to iron out her serve (1st-serve %-age less than 50% and a lot of short second serves today) to challenge Serena.

Monica and Henin are an interesting pairing. Neither are playing their best tennis right now (Henin seems a bit off, and Monica's not moving all that great), but I'm sure both are very motivated to win their QF match. I like both players, but I'm afraid whoever comes through will get crushed by Venus.

I'm not going to fret about Jenny's 3rd set tomorrow against the booming Daniliidou. Both hit very hard, but JenCap moves a lot better, so I gotta think she'll come through. I'm pretty sure that Jennifer will beat Amelie, but after that, I'm not so high on her chances.

Did anybody read the NY Times article about Mauresmo and the swirling speculation that she's on steroids? What, is she gonna try to walk onto the San Francisco Giants next season?

Seles levels the first set with Henin at 4-4 just in time for a rain delay. The suspense may very well kill me if not make me jittery for a few hours. I wish I could leave the live scorebox open and have it beep at me when play resumes so i don't miss anything.

come on monica!

Yeh, the Seles v. Henin match looked tight. But play was suspended after Monica went up 5-4. What's the word?!

I'm officially pouting the rest of the day. Henin pulled out the tie breaker to beat Seles 7-5, 7-6(4). The stats couldn't have been much closer. They went into the tie breaker dead even on number of points won. I didn't get to see it, but judging on both of them being in the positive for winners over errors, it must have been a fairly clean match.

Kudos for Henin not choking under the pressure. Monica did save a couple match points. One more would have put her back on her serve.

But the way Venus played today, I don't think Henin will be a threat.

I am sorry to hear about Monica losing today as I have been really pulling for her. She just does not have the speed she needs now adays unfortunately. I don't see any one beating Venus, cept maybe Serena..

Re: Henin and Seles, looks like a great result from both players; really, for Monica to play that closely with last year's losing finalist is a good performance, if you ask me.

Capriati really stuck it to Daniilidoui in the revival of their match. Jenny won the third set 6-1. I thought she looked amazing yesterday: she way moving very well, playing extremely aggressive tennis, even for her!, and looked very fit.

anyone else get the feeling than Danildou is "family"?

[quote]Originally posted by puckman1:
anyone else get the feeling than Danildou is "family"?

---

how aboutn justine henin? my gut tells me she's family.

Daniliidou, definitely. If I ever got into an arm-wrestling contest with her, I'm afraid she'd break my arm. Henin has a boyfriend, and was supposed to get married last I heard.

Just surfed through my tape of the Seles-Henin match. While I was bummed that Monica lost, it was great to see both women play so well. Monica's just not a grass-court player, never was. Even in her salad days, she couldn't beat Steffi on grass. For the first time in this tournament (if not a number of tournaments), Henin looked rock-solid. I still don't think she'll beat Venus, but hopefully look at the match like she's got nothing to lose and play great match.

WEBTV Doesn't let me see all the messages! But I wanna add a grass court player Venus and all of you missed in Hana Mandlikova, I can forgive you for missing Claudia Kodhe-Kilsch, Kathy Jordan, and Helena Sukova! But Damn-it Mandlikova was a natural on grass! She just never managed to get the job done! (The only major she didn't collect BTW)

I didn't see Henin/Seles, but I was surprised by some of the stats. Henin didn't go to the net all that much (15 times)--maybe she figured her speed would more than compensate for Monica's power on grass? Or was Monica just hitting the ball really deep consistently and making it hard for her to come in?

On the other hand, Monica came in 25 times, winning 18 points. That's an awful lot for her. Was Justine throwing a ton of drop shots? If she did, I guess it wasn't a very successful strategy. Though she did win the match, so...I guess it might have had the effect of having Monica try to play in too close in the baseline rallies.

Looking ahead, I can't help thinking that with all the close matches Justine has had against Venus, she's just got to win one eventually. But I doubt it will be here.

One last thought (maybe I should have started a Henin thread)...is Henin really weak on hard courts? She's shown she can beat everybody on clay and top players (Cap, Clijsters, Seles) on grass, but I don't think she managed any major wins on hardcourt. Just a slump last year or is hardcourt just too fast for her to handle the more powerful baseliners and too slow for her net game to be really effective?

[quote]Originally posted by LAKERSRDABOMB:
But I wanna add a grass court player Venus and all of you missed in Hana Mandlikova, I can forgive you for missing Claudia Kodhe-Kilsch, Kathy Jordan, and Helena Sukova!

---

Well since Venus was asked about the best grass court players she has played, those gals would be out of the conversation. They were all long retired before Venus came on the scene. Certainly they were all fine serve and volleyers. But the names I mentioned were all Wimbledon champs who contradict Venus' comments (non-traditional grass courters).

Mo has taken the first set from Jenny, 6-3. Never, in a million years, would I think of predicting Amelie Mauresmo as a Wimbly semifinalist... An upset would be exciting, though...

Before I left for work this morning, some TV sportscaster was comparing Hantuchova's looks and athleticism to Anna Kournikova again. That got me thinking about how often that tag "the next Anna Kournikova" seems to get tossed around so much lately. Maria Sharpova is the latest russian junior to hear it.

Well, sure enough, I just ran across an article that queries her on this trend. Her response is classic: [quote] When asked about other players being dubbed "the next Kournikova," the lady herself smiled and said: "A copy is never as good as the original."

---

God bless Anna K. She does have a presence that I just love. Currently she's in a tough mixed doubles match with Bjorkman against two other doubles stars Navritilova and Woodbridge.

and ummm.... Mauresmo is ROUTING Capriati at the moment. 6-3 first set and up serving at 4-1 in the second!!

go amelie!

Mo wins, 6-3, 6-2
I came home to see the very end of the match.
McEnroe could not say enough about how well Amelie played--he complimented her movement, her serve, her volleys...

Wow.

AMELIE!!

I am so thrilled for her. She played so well. No one had even given her a chance at beating Capriati. Woo Hoo!

Bring on Serena! (I'm assuming Serena will win.)



PS -- I don't know what the steroid flap is about. The NY Times article's tone is clearly in defense of Amelie. She's a big girl and she's in shape, but it's not like she isn't dwarfed by the likes of Serena Williams. Any whispers about her smack of homophobia, in my opinion.

[ July 03, 2002: Message edited by: Gaga4Gaby ]

I was never good at math, but doesn't JCap's loss in the quarters here (she was defending SF points from '01) mean that Monica will be Number 3 in the world after WB since she wasn't defending any points and made it to the quarters??? Amazing, if true. Go Monica!

And it looks like Serena will pull ahead of Venus for Number 1 after WB (assuming she continues to dominate Hantuchova in their rain-delayed match and then gets past Mauresmo to the finals) (Serena has never lost to Mauresmo, but the three matches they have played were tight, and given Henin's prior record against Seles, a good record is no guarantee. The best of all worlds -- Venus defends, Serena is the new Number One, and Monica is Number Three.

Serena prevailed over Daniela, 6-3, 6-2
Despite the score, I think it was a pretty good performance from Hantuchova. Serena was simply incredible.