notes on a draw sheet

Martina Navratilova: the un-retirement
Reuters-AP clash of Sportsmen; Maria finishes behind Husky hoopster

By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Will Martina Navratilova be able to keep the years from showing?

Martina Navratilova is going to give plenty of reasons as to why she went against her vow that she would retire at the end of 2004, but has anyone considered that all the Christmas help positions at the local Whole Foods outlet in Aspen were filled?

Either that or she did take a position at the salad bar and was fired after she loudly berated the store Santa Claus for not bringing her towels quick enough to clean up the spilled vinegarette.

Martina N. is planning on playing doubles next year with Daniela Hantuchova, who she once mentored. Hopefully, her steady hand on court will aid Hantuchova in regaining her Top-10 stuff. But don't expect the pair to take the doubles circuit by storm; Navratilova is not the player than she was a few years ago.

CASULTY LIST
Lindsay Davenport's bad right knee is acting up again so she pulled out of next week's Hopman Cup. If she can't play the Aussie Open at full strength, retirement talk will surface again … from her. The early pick here for the Hopman Cup title are Russians: Anastasia Myskina and Marat Safin. Big limb to hang on there. Just to put to rest any bloated rumors, Kim Clijsters is very doubtful for Australia.

Reuters-AP clash of Sportsmen; Maria finishes behind Husky hoopster
There are too many awards given out in tennis, which is why if you are looking for the definitive player of the year awards, look now further than International Tennis Writers Association's honorees: Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. That vote was taken of some 90 folks who regularly analyze the sport.

The ITF named its champions the other day and, of course, tabbed Federer, but then picked Myskina over Sharapova. Their reasoning was based on her advancement to the Olympic semis and her seven Fed Cup wins. We'll give 'Nastia props for Fed Cup, but how could Myskina – who admittedly committed the biggest choke of her life against Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Olympic semis – be worthy of positive mention? It was a negative-even to the player herself. Moreover, she then lost the bronze medal match to Alicia Molik and was so upset that she tanked the US Open. Then, when she had a clear shot at nailing down the title of people's No. 1 slot at the WTA Championships, she was scalded by Sharapova, who went on to win the title over Serena Williams and consequently snared the ITWA award. Hopefully, in 2005, there will only be one set of awards so fans are not confused by ITWA's, the ATP's, the ITF's and the WTA's different versions. Like in other sports, it should be writers who are making the calls, not officials. (Full disclosure #1: I'm co-prez of ITWA.)

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Will Maria Sharapova be able to repeat as the world's top player?

Props to Reuters for naming Federer its Sportsman of the Year (Full disclosure #2: I sometimes write tennis for Reuters, but didn't have a vote). Federer topped Reuters poll with 53 points out of a possible total of 99, ahead of swimmer Michael Phelps, Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj and cyclist Lance Armstrong. Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and golfer Vijay Singh also scored high in the poll.

It's hard to argue too strongly against AP's choice of Armstrong as Male Athlete of the Year, but how in creation did three-time Slam champ Federer end up tenth behind the likes of Singh, Ichiro, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and even runner-up Peyton Manning? I think Reuters was smart to pick Federer over Armstrong because his 2004 feats were bigger than Armstrong's sole run to the Tour de France crown (even if it was his sixth), and I'll even concede that arguments can be made for Olympic demon Phelps and the Boston Red Sox's Curt Schilling, who led his team to the World Series crown.

But Singh did not match Federer when it came to performances at the majors. As for the rest of the group that finished ahead of the Swiss, only a strong bias toward the US's "big three" sports could have been reasoning that led American editors and writers to place him so far down the list. Ichiro's hitting record was tremendous, but he slapped singles and doubles for the horrific Seattle Mariners. Bonds not only disgraced his sport with the BALCO revelations, but also couldn't carry his team into the playoffs. Clemens had an excellent year for Houston after betraying the New York Yankees, but we didn't see his team in the World Series, either. And Manning? Nice work this season, but until he finds a way to beat the New England Patriots, all those sterling TD throws against the likes of the Titans won't do it for me. The award should be given to guys like Federer, who beat the best even under the most trying circumstances, not guys who miss out of the big dances.

With all that said, golf's Annika Sorenstam and her 10 titles did deserve AP's Female Athlete of the Year Award, but please don't throw the name of a college basketball player at us in the form of UConn's Diana Taurasi for second place. I bet if Sharapova had played the NCAAs this year, she wouldn't have lost a set, or even a handful of games. Wimbledon champ Sharapova's accomplishments far outweigh that of a woman who is playing a virtually minor-league sport against mostly inferior competition. In fact, I'll take any of the women's four Slam winners this year over Taurasi, a fine player, but one who regretfully competes in a sport that is at least seven times behind tennis in the level of play of its top females. In fact, I'll take soccer's Abby Waumbach, gymnast Carly Patterson, swimmer Natalie Coughlin, softball's Lisa Fernandez and volleyball's Misty May over Taurasi, too. Here's the amazing thing about the AP women's votes: Elena Dementieva received five votes, while US Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova got one and Myskina registered none. Some writers must be having trouble with their second serves, too.

Former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios of Chile "ended his career" by beating Argentine Guillermo Coria 6-4, 7-5, in a tribute match. It's hard to see how Coria could have lost this contest against the hobbled Rios, unless he too, was paying "tribute."

Siggi Bucher

Will Justine Henin Hardenne be in shape to defend her '04 Australian Open title?

JUSTINE RETURNS …
TO CONSECUTIVE LOSSES
Even though her body is feeling better, Justine Henin-Hardenne can't be too pleased after she took losses to Elena Dementieva and Nathalie Dechy in an exo in Charleroi last week. "I have to be positive, I still have a few weeks [left]," said Henin-Hardenne, who hadn't played a match since September because of a lingering viral illness. "My body has to get accustomed again to the stress, the rhythm. This is a new start. I have to recover my touch."

Henin-Hardenne told L'Equipe that's she's not sure whether she'll be strong enough to properly defend her Aussie Open title. "The doubt will be there; I know it," she said. She added that "patience and tolerance will be the keywords for my comeback in Australia."

Don't expect much from Jennifer Capriati in Australia either, as the American dropped out of an exo against Sharapova last week because of a right shoulder injury. … Fila dropped Capriati from its list of clothes endorsers. … Austria's Stefan Koubek of Austria was suspended for three months by the International Tennis Federation for failing a drug test at '04 Roland Garros. Koubek tested positive for the banned substance triamcinolon acetonid. He denied he knowingly took a banned substance.

Southern California is rearing its head nationally. USTA President-Elect Franklin Johnson named Billie Jean King as the Chair of the USA Tennis High Performance Committee and also announced that Jack Kramer has agreed to join the committee as a special advisor. Both are SoCal legends. LA's Eliot Teltscher heads the High Performance coaching team. LA Jolla's Bill Kellogg now heads up the Davis Cup committee. Three of the top four women pros are also SoCal natives. Davis Cup will be held in Carson in March, the site of the USTA's West Coast Tennis High Performance Training Center. Surf's up in between the white lines.