| WIMBLEDON:
DAY 10
Reality check for Jen, Hewitt
Also: Federer, Roddick, Seb, Ancic, Mauresmo,
Connors, Andre & Anna K.
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
Jennifer Capriati was upset that
her rivalry with Serena Williams was over-hyped, so much so that
she stung the press for building it up too much and increasing
the pressure on her before their Wimbledon quarterfinal. But what
she really meant to say and will likely concede when she gets
over arguably one of the worst losses of her career is that she
never believed she could beat Serena on grass.
A 6-1, 6-1 defeat proves that.
Unless she was willing to go for broke early and believe a whole
hell of lot more in her serve and return, Capriati had no chance
of winning. She didn't believe she could trade knockout punches
with the in-form Serena and it clearly showed. There was no exhausting
Serena a la Roland Garros on this day.
An in-tune Serena is far more adaptable to grass than Capriati
is. Her first and second serves mean business on turf, as do her
slap shot returns. Jennifer's stroke are simply too long and without
proper conditioning, she's not fast enough off the mark. She has
tremendous work to do before Athens and the US Open. Her new trainer
had better get to work fast.
Roddick on the match: "I was in the bathroom. I came out
and it was done."
Does Amelie Mauresmo really have a chance against Serena? Not
if she's going to land forehand loopers into the mid-court area
like she did against Paola Suarez. She's going to have play ultra-aggressive
yellowball and pray that Serena has an off-day on her serve, or
she'll be French Toast without the benefit of a long bath in eggs
and cinnamon. … And what of Suarez, who backed off the net
in third set. Waiting for a choke in a Slam quarter is never the
way to go.
BIG HITTING GOOD FOR BIG LINDSAY
Don't overrate Maria Sharapova's chances against Lindsay Davenport
on Thursday. Lindsay loves to play clean-hitters and given that
they are virtual-play alike's considering that coach Robert Lansdorp
helped teach them their primary strokes, Davenport won't be fooled.
Davenport has a much cleaner forehand, although Sharapova moves
a lot better and is a more aggressive returner. Davenport rarely
loses to kids without huge, consistent serves and who can't play
standout defense (re: the Williamses and Kim Clijsters), so it
will take an extraordinary effort from Sharapova to take her down.
Davenport simply won't give back off points like Amy Frazier and
Ai Sugiyama did. Plus, if Lindsay serves well, she'll have Maria
guessing all day long. Sharapova needs to get off to a very fast
start and not hit herself out of rallies too early. She needs
to remember that the key against Davenport is to extend her beyond
three balls. She should go to Ms. Clijsters-Hewitt and ask her
for some advice. Kimmy owned Lindsay last year. If she can't locate
Kimmy, the vanquished Karolina Sprem could offer a word to the
wise, too.
DOUBLE FAULTS KILLS LLEYTON
It's rare to see Lleyton Hewitt choke and it's obvious
that Roger Federer is a better player than the Aussie is right
now. But he double faulted on a break point at 4-3 in the fourth
set and then on a match point shows a fair amount of nerves. Either
that, or he feared the Federer return. The Swiss really worked
Hewitt from the backcourt and hit his one-handed backhand as well
as he ever has. His forehand was also more forceful than Hewitt's
was, as well as his serve, volley, etc.
Look who's looking like a dominant No. 1 now, Lleyton? Certainly
not you and, if you don't develop a few more weapons, you could
soon be soon be joining your wife-to-be in the secondary contender
category.
"I was a better player the
whole fourth set and have very little to show for it now,"
Hewitt said. "One minute, you're up a break, 4-all. I had
breakpoints. On a couple he came out with big serves. 5-4, I felt
like I didn't play that bad a game. He attacked and went for it
a little bit and it paid off then. Then you're in the locker room. …
He's a good competitor. He's a lot better than he probably was
a couple years ago. He gives a hundred percent out there. It's
not too often that he goes away. That's a part of his game he's
probably worked on over the last couple of years that's really
made him be one of the best players around."
Hewitt said a quad injury he suffered in the fourth round against
Carlos Moya helped do him in, especially on his serve. "My
serve was the worst. It got worse and worse as the match went
on." It also appears that the Olympics are a definite no-no
for the super-patriot from Adelaide.
Federer will facing the flying Sebastien Grosjean, who reached
his second successive Wimbledon semifinal with a 7-5, 6-4, 6-2
win over Germany's Florian Mayer. It should be a delightful semifinal
and don't expect the veteran Frenchman to fade easily. He has
a load of talent and a lot to play for.
A-ROD slams schalken
In his 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 over No. 12 seed Sjeng
Schalken, Andy Roddick hit a number of impressive shots, but our
favorite was his leaping overhead on match point. Pure Sampras.
His confidence in his second serve is also Pete-esque. What's
really impressive about Roddick right now is his ability to change
his style match to match depending on who he plays. Credit Brad
Gilbert a great deal, but also give Andy his own props. He's keeping
his head in matches which allows him to think properly.
"I'm older," he said. "It's just a matter of experiences.
Last year at this time [against Federer] it was probably my biggest
match to date. I played the semi in Australia, but I wasn't a
hundred percent fit, so I didn't really consider that the same
kind of level. Since last year's semi, I've played a lot of big
matches, whether it be in the US Open, the finals of Masters Series
events, matches where the No. 1 ranking is on the line. I've been
in a lot more pressure situations, and I think that helps."
HOW TALL MUST YOU BE TO BEAT RODDICK?
After two years of teasing the tennis world, Mario Ancic has become
a prime-time player. Do you think he and Goran scripted it that
way? Andy is going to have a hell of a time returning his serve,
but Mario doesn't return that well and will eat a number of Andy's
flat blasts into his chest. The much-talked about Federer-Roddick
final is looking very, very good.
"He's serving great," Roddick said of Ancic. "I
don't know what's in the water in Croatia, but it seems like every
player is over seven feet tall. He's more experienced. He's committed
to coming in on every shot. There's not a lot of indecision in
his game right now. He's kind of saying, 'This is what I got,
you know, deal with it.' And I think that's a good mind set for
him to have."
Quote of the day from Ancic on what advice Goran has given him:
"When I was small, 15, 16, 14, I was more playing from baseline.
He was said keep on improving that volley game, keep on going
to the net. He also said when I was 12, 'You know, keep on breaking
racquets.' "
Notes from all over
Anna Kournikova is house shopping in Brentwood, California.
… Jimmy Connors put himself through a one-hour softball
interview with the BBC's Sure Barker and then refused to be interviewed
by NBC. … The AP surprisingly reported that Andre Agassi
could miss the US Open. But he'll begin playing World Team Tennis
next week for the Sacramento Capitals, so how that was deduced
it beyond me. Andre on his hip injury: "The jury is still
out on my hip and it's something I've struggled with on and off
for a while now. Not playing the clay season and then going straight
out to the grass compromised how it's feeling. I knew I wasn't
physically in a position to be anywhere near my best. I'm hoping
this time off, combined with being back on the hard courts, will
be a good opportunity for me to feel a lot better. It's one step
at a time." Hard courts being good for a bad hip? Not in
anyone's lifetime.
Now here's a piece of info that slipped out during the Agassi
conference call: His son, Jaden Gil almost sustained an injury
worse than his dad's. "I try to allow my children to distract
me as much as possible when I'm not training. Nothing can take
your mind off Wimbledon more than seeing your boy fall down and
almost break his nose." Ouch.
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