Notes on a Draw Sheet

Can the Spaniards hold off the South Americans?
Berlin: Kim’s poor decision; Jennifer’s best win of the year

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

ATP

Is Pope John Paul II imagining a Clement victory at Roland Garros?

By the time the clock struck midnight in St. Pete's square on Thursday, Pope John Paul II was already deep into his dream cycle, imagining a Roland Garros final between James Blake and Arnaud Clement, two men who had kissed his ring this week after falling out of the Telecom Italian Masters.

Always an ardent supporter of the underdog, the Pontiff blessed Blake with a huge backhand and Clement with Sampras-like nerves. But before this dream-match was concluded, the Pope abruptly woke up on Friday morning to find that Roma having been turned into South American bazaar: With the suddenly peeking Nico Massu coming off a huge win over Marta Safin, he is set to face revived Argentine Mariano Zabaleta, who outlasted Tim Henman 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Another Argentine, the sometimes nebulous but mostly lethal David Nalbandian, had taken down the last Italian in the draw when he scurried past Fillipo Volandri 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4. Nalbandian is set to play the only American left with a true love or red clay, Vince Spadea, who schooled Nicolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Al Costa is back, at least for this week, and will play Czech Jiri Novak. Carlos Moya's match against qualifier Ivo Karlovic (who by the way was recently playing Challengers) was delayed, as was Andrei Pavel's contest against David Sanchez.

All the aforementioned eight can play on dirt but with the exceptions of Moya and Nalbandian, no one else left in the quarters is more than a long shot to win Roland Garros. Even the Spanish veteran and the Argentine with a problematic wrist are no more than B-list candidates. It’s hard to imagine Moya not being shocked by a Martin Verkerk again or Nalbandian flashing his smarmy smile at the Tour Eiffel on the final Sunday.

MASSU MIGHT RISE
Maybe it's Massu's time to paddle down the Seine. Somewhat remarkably, the Chilean is ranked No. 11, but entered the tournament with a 10-12 record on the year. He's played an incredible 32 tournaments during the past year, but this year hasn't advanced beyond the quarters. That means that his ranking is deceiving and if he wants to prove that he’s a legit Top-15 player, he’ll need a couple more authoritative victories in Rome. He’s flashy and quite dangerous from the ground, but his conditioning has been suspect, his game is a bit underdeveloped and his heart has been as suspect as Marcelo Rios’ once was. Maybe Massu’s finally turning the corner or maybe he’s merely the "Zoner of the Week." We’ll find out come Sunday.

The pope was also seen blessing Bob Bryan. (We can safely assume that his twin bro, Mike, was there, too.) He likely said something to the effect of "Go with the grace of God," which the lefty will need when he and Mike complete their doubles match against the monstrous duo of Mark Philippoussis/Safin.

The South Americans appear to be trumping the Spaniards on dirt, but it would be unwise to prematurely make that leap of logic. If teen whiz Rafael Nadal hadn’t gotten injured and forced to take off most of the clay season, he certainly would have been a force. If JC Ferrero recovers from the chicken pox, he will be heard from at RG. Costa and Moya are still hanging tough, although not performing brilliantly. And there’s no reason to dismiss Tommy Robredo’s move into the Top 20.

Berlin: Kim’s poor decision; Jennifer’s best win of the year

WTA Tour

The Russian five in Berlin: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Anastasia Myskina, Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva. Only Kuzy and Myskina remain.

Kim Clijsters is a play-aholic of the most problematic kind. She never should have returned this early from her left wrist fracture and now she’s paying for it. Of course she should be given props for leading Belgium to a Fed Cup victory in Bree two weekends ago, but there’s no reason why she should have attempted to play Berlin if she was experiencing any pain whatsoever.

Clijsters has given no indication that she’s anywhere close to 90 percent healed, let alone 100 percent. Either she and her doctors haven’t developed a sound enough routine of physical therapy that allows her to play for days upon end, or she’s pushing the envelope because she has an overwhelming desire to play. Select "B" if you re interested in the probable answer.

It’s nice to hear Clijsters saying that her injury produced a diamond in the rough – more work and a subsequent improvement of a one-handed backhand slice – but let’s be realistic. Her two- handed backhand is by far the most forceful and consistent shot in her arsenal and without it, she’s not a Top-5 player.

Clijsters says she’s 50-50 for Roland Garros. I’d say that 80-20 to play is more accurate, and 50-50 to withdraw from the tournament before the quarters. She may be better off taking the next two months off and hoping to heal for the summer hardcourt season, where she’ll have a bigger impact anyway.
Had Clijsters played, she would have had a chance to whip Karolina Sprem again. But the Croat got the walkover and now will have to keep the ball well inside the lines for a couple hours against Fabiola Zuluaga, who overcame Ai Sugiyama 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4. You can bet that – after retiring with cramps against Paolo Suarez in Fed Cup two weeks ago and then being unable to step on Fabi – Sugiyama doesn’t want to see another Latin American until she steps on green cement again.

Speaking of Paola, although it’s her doubles that continues to grab headlines, she’s had an outstanding year-and-a-half in singles and notched a nice 6-1, 7-6(6) win over Nadia "When am I ever going to …" Petrova. Now Suarez will get a shot at stopping the tour’s hottest player, Venus Williams, who soared past Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi 6-3, 6-1. If someone can legitimately explain to me how the Israeli stays in the Top 20, I’ll give you a shout out on Roland Garros radio.

Jennifer Capriati, who’s trying out Heinz Gunhardt as her coach, scored her most impressive win of the year by pounding past Maria Sharapova in three. Gunhardt is hoping that he has as much success with Capriati as he did with Steffi Graf, and not with Jelena Dokic.

Capriati will face No. 4 Anastasia Myskina, who advanced when Patty Schnyder withdrew with a left upper arm strain. Injuries are attacking the women’s top to bottom faster than the Sasser virus. No stranger to controversy, the word on the boulevard is that Schnyder is not happy with the direction of Switzerland’s Fed Cup team and is demanding that changes be made.

Both Myskina and Capriati will get a great indication of where their games are when they match up. It’s certainly the match of the day for RG prognosticators.

KUZY TAKES OUT ELENA
Here’s a contest we all should have seen: Svetlana Kuznetsova battling past compatriot Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4. Kuzy will have to muscle up even more when she faces Amelie Mauresmo, who blasted Denisa Chladkova 6-1, 6-2. If Kuzy gets past the Frenchwoman, she just may inch past Myskina for "Russian to watch" at the French.

Since we ended the men with dubs, let’s flash to the Berlin women’s competition, where two former French champs, Mary Pierce and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario are playing together and were down 6-2, 1-0 to Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva before darkness fell. The semi-retired Sanchez is pulling a Navratilova and would like to play in the Olympics in doubles. But, the last time we checked, Pierce was playing for France and living in Amsterdam. But one never knows what will occur in Olympic politicking and even the Pope knows that the Dutch could use a few good women players.