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Ring Of Honor

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By Wyman Meers

Also: Our Tennis Discussion Forum

In contrast, American hard courts reward no one game in particular. Moreover, every player has had the opportunity to fine tune their strokes and strategies by late summer. This makes the U.S. Open the perfect culmination to a riveting year in the tennis world. The seed of intrigue that is planted each January swells with every tournament played over the subsequent nine months and arrives now in New York pregnant with a prodigious mix of established veterans and hungry newcomers.

Fittingly, therefore, the USTA has chosen this year’s tournament to officially rename its grand sporting complex in honor of Billie Jean King, the woman who gave birth to the Women’s Tennis Association. Women’s tennis has become a conglomeration of megawatt stars with million-dollar endorsement deals. The U.S. Open has been at the forefront of acknowledging the contributions of women’s tennis in recent years, becoming the first major event to offer equal prize money to its female champions and moving the Saturday women’s final into prime time. Such stratospheric success would not have been possible without the earth mother King, whose tears and sweat on and off the court were the epitome of a labor of love.

One Man’s Shadow

Another king will hold court at this year’s U.S. Open and, for as long as he remains in the tournament, will overshadow even the greatest of matches. America’s own Andre Agassi has chosen the final Grand Slam of the year to be the culminating event of a uniquely inspirational 20-year career.

Agassi is a former champion in New York and the holder of eight major titles overall, a self-assured man of presence who understands his own talents and place in the history of the game. It is hard to believe he is one and the same with a gangly and flashy shot-maker teen that emerged on the ATP Tour during the late 1980s in a blaze of neon colors, denim shorts, and tall highlighted mullets. Two decades ago, Agassi’s endorsements tagged him with an “image is everything” label that he would be forced to play down for the first half – but not the better part – of his career. The passing years revealed that it would not be the ‘image’ but the ‘everything’ to ultimately define Andre Agassi. He has been a punk phenom; a chronic underachiever; a surprise Wimbledon champion; a fallen hero; the comeback kid; a student of the game; a metamorphosis incarnate; a fitness zealot; a rival for the ages; an elder statesman; one half of tennis royalty; and now nothing short of a living legend.

Agassi’s impending retirement means that defending champion Roger Federer will have to accept the role of second fiddle, at least temporarily, something to which the classy world number one is unaccustomed but that he will no doubt happily accept. As Agassi makes his way into a well-deserved sunset, the history-making Federer now takes over as the game’s greatest active player.

Federer has already won the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles this year and remains the prohibitive favorite to finish the fortnight as champion of New York, having surpassed and subdued all the contemporaries of his generation. Lleyton Hewitt is now married, mellow, and often injured; his status to even compete at this year’s U.S. Open is in doubt. The combustible talent Marat Safin has suffered a myriad of injuries, both real and imagined; and Andy Roddick is mired in a year-long mojo-sapping slump that he only now seems to be thrashing his way out of, recently claiming the Cincinnati title for his first tournament victory in over a year. All three of these men are Federer’s peers, former world number ones, and past U.S. Open champions. Each man can still challenge any opponent on their best days. Still, two weeks of sustained brilliance seems behind the trio. If Federer is to lose his crown, it will more likely be at the hands of the new generation of men who are rapidly making their presence felt on the ATP Tour.

The leader of that new generation is second-ranked French Open champion, 20-year-old Rafael Nadal. Nadal has been a thorn in Federer’s side, having beaten him six of the eight times they’re played. Nadal thwarted Federer’s attempt to win the only major trophy to elude his grasp by defending his French Open title in Paris, and Nadal’s lone loss to Federer in 2006 came in the Wimbledon final on Roger’s best surface. Nadal nonetheless managed to take a set from Federer on the unfamiliar grass. Rafa’s dominance of Roger has resonated to the other young men who are starting to make their names among the tennis elite. Although none of them have yet won a Grand Slam, they all share an eagerness for the fight and – thanks in large part to Nadal, no doubt – they relish rather than fear a face-off with Federer. Most surprisingly, of all the young guns on the men’s tour this summer, Nadal’s results have been the least impressive. The best-of-five set matches that comprise a men’s Slam, however, are well suited to Nadal’s competitive grit and overwhelming physical style of play. He should be dangerous in New York.

Also dangerous will be 19-year-old Scotsman Andy Murray, who has retained Brad Gilbert as his coach and has perhaps played the best tennis of any man this summer, which culminated in a victory over Federer in the second round of the Masters Series warm-up event in Cincinnati. Murray joined Nadal as the only two men to beat Roger Federer this season, although France’s Richard Gasquet looked as if he may also join that list during a scorching run to the final of the Roger’s Masters in Toronto. For the first set of that championship match, Gasquet was superior to Federer from every part of the court as he easily raced to a one-set lead over the world number one.

Federer was able to raise his level of play and come back for the victory, but Gasquet nonetheless served notice that he is now mastering his many talents. Dangerous too will be Czech Thomas Berdych, a big-serving machine who powered Nadal off the court in Canada earlier this summer and who first got the tennis world’s attention by upsetting Federer at the Olympic games in 2004. Neither Roger nor Rafa will want to see Berdych in his half of the draw. Delightful Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis has impressed at the majors this year, finishing second in Australia and making the semifinals of Wimbledon, and Russia’s Dmitry Tursanov has turned in a strong summer as well. The freshest faces of this exciting pack – Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils – are also growing in confidence with each event they contest and could play spoiler to would-be champions.

A few men who are not of the new generation but not quite over the hill may demand not to be overlooked, chief among them Ferando Gonzalez. The go-for-broke power hitter from Chile has learned to find the court more often than not of late. Former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero has resurrected the form that carried him to a Grand Slam championship in Paris once upon a time, and France’s Arnaud Clement was a surprise victor at the Legg Mason Championships in Washington DC. Meanwhile, James Blake is now the top-ranked American, possessed of the game and home crowd support to go far at the U.S. Open despite a lackluster summer swing.

Survival of the Fittest

As each summer winds to an end in New York at the U.S. Open, gone too are the days when women’s tennis was dominated by one or two top players. The best ladies in the game are all capable of beating each other. More importantly, the current women atop tennis are as likely to be sidelined by the injuries that come along with extended play and increased competition as they are to succumb to one another’s powerful games. So varied are today’s champions and the list of injuries that afflict them that it has become easier to confirm the reasons contenders will not go home with the U.S. Open trophy rather than to predict who might actually win the event.

Heading that list is would-be defending champion, Begium’s Kim Clijsters. The affable Clijsters had her Grand Slam breakthrough here one year ago, capping a remarkable comeback from not one but two career-threatening wrist injuries. Tragically, Clijsters has suffered yet another injury to her fragile left wrist and will not be able to compete at this year’s championships, thus assuring that there will be no repeat on the women’s side and placing the future of Clijsters’ career in doubt.

Top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo of France has an all-court game and universal talent to match. Mauresmo is capable of winning on any surface and has overcome her well documented mental demons in 2006, at long last triumphing on the game’s biggest stages. She somewhat infamously claimed her first major title by default in the final of the Australian Open in January, but legitimized her top ranking and championship mettle by winning her second major championship at Wimbledon less than six months later. A shoulder injury kept her from competing in Toronto and is the biggest question mark surrounding her ability to win a third Grand Slam title this year.

Justine Henin-Hardenne has contested the final of all three majors this year, finishing second to Mauresmo in Melbourne and London, but solidifying her status as the best clay courter in women’s tennis when she defended her title at The French Open to claim her fifth career Grand Slam title. Besides nursing a sore knee this summer, Henin-Hardenne has not been able to consistently dominate opponents since she contracted a mysterious energy-sapping virus two years ago.

Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova won the Acura Classic warm-up event, but then withdrew from subsequent tournaments citing “fatigue.” Yet with no discernable injury and a recent history of falling to the eventual champion at majors, Sharapova is overdue and aching for a second Grand Slam title.

The still powerful but physically frail Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, continue to struggle with injuries. Excepting her run to the Wimbledon title last year, Venus has not been able to stay healthy long enough to shake off rust and find the form that won her two consecutive US Open titles in 2000-2001. Venus’s latest struggle is with a sore wrist, which doesn’t bode well for her chances in New York nor for her ability to keep an unreliable forehand in the court. Serena has missed the majority of the year with injuries and seen her ranking plummet, forcing her to obtain main draw entry into this year’s Open via a wild card.

The younger Williams has displayed improved fitness in tournaments since returning, but has lacked the match play to come through in the latter stages of contests. Perhaps the most delicious early development in the women’s event will occur when the draw is announced, as Serena will be unseeded and could potentially face any of the marquee players during the opening rounds. Serena as spoiler is far more likely than Serena as champion, but both she and Venus are capable of going into a zone for two weeks and should never be entirely counted out.

Yet another former champion here that will be returning from injury is Lindsay Davenport, for whom a trip to the second week would most likely be considered a triumph due to lack of preparation and match play.

So much uncertainty atop the women’s game opens the door for opportunists and there is none more clever than Martina Hingis, who is now back in the top ten by virtue of her runner-up finish in withdrawal-plagued Montreal. The U.S. Open is easily the Swiss Miss’s best chance to return to the Grand Slam winner’s circle after coming back to the WTA Tour this season. Chronic double-faulter Elena Dementieva has been to the final of the U.S. Open before and overcame herself to win a warm-up event in Los Angeles, which included a victory over Maria Sharapova in the semifinals. Dementieva lost the 2004 final to Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova, who took advantage of a fortuitous and injury-riddled draw to claim her only major title in New York two years ago and will be looking to repeat her personal history.

The new generation in women’s tennis hasn’t been able to emerge as a solid force in the way the men have, but there are young women capable of causing trouble in New York nonetheless. French Open semifinalist Nicole Vaidisova has matured most quickly, but as is the hallmark of the current women’s game, she too has suffered this summer with injuries. Right on her heels is Montreal champion Ana Ivanovic, who will enter the U.S. Open with the confidence to match her punishing ground strokes. The physical health of Jelena Jankovic and Anna Chakvetadze is questionable, but both women have enjoyed strong results on hard courts, while Dinara Safina also has the firepower for big time success. Chinese players are also beginning to make a name for themselves on the women’s tour, most recently when Zheng Jie captured her third career title in Stockholm.

If You Can Make It Here, You Can Make It Anywhere

Not yet gone and never to be forgotten, there will be another retirement after this year’s U.S. Open concludes. The greatest female player in history, Martina Navratilova, hung up her singles racquet (mostly) in 1994 and will now retire from doubles as well at the close of the 2006 season.

But the fortnight will no doubt belong to Andre Agassi. Only in the last year has time caught up with the ageless chameleon. Almost equally as unbelievable as Andre’s career arc is his recent history at America’s Grand Slam, for it was just one year ago that Agassi was runner-up at this very event. A step slower and physically fragile in 2006, Agassi enters this year’s Open with hopes of one more magical run. Fans, prognosticators, and perhaps Agassi himself know that a two-week encore to his brilliant career seems all but impossible; yet no one with an understanding of the great game of tennis dares wish otherwise, for we all hope that there a few blank pages left in Andre Agassi’s tennis story. Perhaps there is just enough room for one more character.

Picks:

Men's Semifinals
Roger Federer d. Andy Murray; Richard Gasquet d. Rafael Nadal

Men's final
Federer d. Gasquet

Women's semifinals
Maria Sharapova d. Martina Hingis; Elena Dementieva d. Henin-Hardenne

Women's final
Sharapova d. Dementieva

Wyman Meers is a writer living in New York. He is Gaga4Gaby on the Outsports Discussion Board.

Aug. 24, 2006