NOTES ON A DRAW SHEET

Americans Gambill, Stevenson flame out
Hewitt, Guga matchup looms; Anna's angst

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Courtesy of the WTA

What a disappointing day Down Under for American tennis, when understudies No. 27 Jan-Michael Gambill went down to Felix Mantilla, 5-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, and Alexandra Stevenson was crushed 6-2, 6-2 by the mundane game of Denisa Chladkova.

Gambill got off to a fine start this year by reaching the Doha final and Stevenson ended 2002 red-hot by making a major impact on the Euro indoor circuit, but once again, these two mentally suspect big hitters melted down at a Grand Slam.

No doubt, Mantilla is a tough player, but he hasn't played consistent elite ball in three years and Gambill should have found a way to keep the Spaniard from wearing him down five feet behind the baseline. With a loss like that, Gambill takes himself out of serious contention for a Davis Cup spot.

Alexandra's horrific performance at the majors should tell her that she needs to visit with a sports psychologist and spend, say, 120 hours on the couch prior to Roland Garros. It should also tell her mother and coach, Samantha, that she should step aside as her daughter's main tutor. Brad Gilbert is more than available – at least for a look-see.

Andy Roddick smoked 19 aces and 60 winners in his 6-7 (9), 6-2, 7-6 (0), 6-3 victory over Croatia's Zeljko Krajan and said he just needs a little more time to mature before he can play at the same level as the American legends.

"It's tough being in the shadows of Pete and Andre, but that's the way it is and I have to deal with it," said Roddick, who hasn't been past the third round of a major except the US Open. "As far as the Slams go, I definitely want to make a dent on one this year. I'm definitely looking to improve on that." With the depleted field in Melbourne, he has a terrific chance at another crack at Lleyton Hewitt in the second week.

Hewitt, Guga matchup looms
Speaking of Hewitt, he had a tough draw when he had to face qualifier and former top 10-er Magnus Larsson in the first round, who can still pound the ball. Hewitt can't be pleased that he need 3 hours, 13 minutes to win the contest 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-2. Hewitt called his match "a little bit of a wake-up call in some ways … [but] I don't press the panic button as much as I probably would have a couple years ago."

Also take note of Guga Kuerten's 6-4, 7-6 (8), 6-3 win over the Hicham Arazi. Just one more win for the Brazilian and Lleyton will be across the net.

If Serena Williams plays as badly as she did in repelling the mediocre Emilie Loit 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 , her hope for a "Serena Slam" will be extinguished quickly. Careening 55 unforced errors isn't going to cut it.

"The whole problem was me not looking at the ball or hitting late and just not doing my techniques right. … I just had a bad day," Williams said. "This match is just a heads-up that everyone wants to try to beat me, and I probably just need a reminder."

Anna's angst

And now to Anna Kournikova's 6-0 6-1 wipeout at the hands of fifth-seed Justine Henin-Hardenne. We picked Justine to win this contest in three sets on Foxsports.com, but we couldn't imagine that the Russian would only manage to get one game. It was Kournikova's most humiliating defeat to an elite player at a Slam ever and is substantially worse than her 6-2 6-1 to Steffi Graf at the '96 US Open.

Obviously, Justine is no Steffi, but the Belgian always has been an adept huntress and can sense a kill when it's close by. It's apparent that Kournikova played with no patience and forgot her coach Harold Solomon's mantra about how she needs to focus on constructing points, rather than deconstructing her own game to a point where all it's made up of is wild, off-balance groundstrokes and a powderpuff serve.

Here's our friend Ossian Shine of Reuters' description of her effort:
"She could barely keep a ball in court, her serve was wildly erratic and she lost the opening set 6-0 in only 18 minutes. Attempts to switch tactics came to naught. Her touch deserted her, shots ricocheted off the frame of her racket as she rushed in desperation, swinging wildly at the ball for winners, her consistency a distant memory. Kournikova finally held serve in the second game of the second set to mildly uncomfortable cheers from her fans in the crowd. It was a temporary blip on the chart, though. A game later a horrendous second serve which bounced before it hit the net meant she was broken again before Henin served out for a 4-1 lead. Two games later it was all over, to the relief of Kournikova and her fans. What had begun as a tennis match had swiftly become a humiliation, one from which even the ever-sanguine Kournikova may struggle to recover."

Anna said, "I really had no weapons against her today. I tried to find a way … but it was too hard."
Kournikova is now 21 and although it appeared she was making major progress last summer, she took a huge step backward on Thursday. Her confidence has to torn and tattered and her prospect of becoming a top-10 player again is as dim as her explanation of the status of her game.

"I think in general my game has gotten better," she said. "Before I was hitting the ball hard, now I am playing smarter."

Against who?