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SANEX
WTA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW
It's
Capriati vs. Davenport for top spot
By
Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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Susan
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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When
the Sanex WTA Tour opens play in Munich this week without the
best player in the world, Venus Williams, the most accomplished
talker on the women’s tennis planet, Martina Hingis, and
without its grandest old champion, Monica Seles, fans may be questioning
exactly why they paid substantial marks for a ticket.
They may be hoping for a major breakthrough from one of the teens
– Kim
Clijsters, Justine Henin, Jelena Dokic or Elena Dementieva – or
being pulling for a feel good story, No.1 Jennifer Capriati or
the retiring Nathalie Tauziat or home country woman Anke Huber.
There should be a handful of Lindsay Davenport fans in the stands
who are praying that their gal can regain the top spot again and
there will almost assuredly be a few members of the Amelie Mauresmo
fan club up from Paris who still hold out hope that this wonderful
physical specimen can find the head and the nerves to finally
fulfill her potential.
Serena Williams is scheduled to show up, which is pretty shocking
considering that she has never played a major championship without
big sis Venus around, but given her engaging smile and style of
play, she should gain a few hearty rounds of applause from the
yellowball aficionados of Munich.
Somewhat surprisingly, Lindsay is the hands down favorite, as
she has won the last three tournaments in a row and no other player
in the draw seems much of a threat to her right now, including
Capriati. Jennifer was irritated by questioning on Monday as to
whether she is the legitimate No.1, given that Venus beat the
heck out of her at the U.S. Open a few months ago. Jennifer did
make a sound point, saying that if Venus wanted the top spot so
bad, she would be playing more, and 12 tournaments on the books
out of a possible 18 just isn’t going to cut it. However,
Capriati's game has significantly fallen off since her wonderful
run to the Roland Garros title and she isn’t moving with
the same speed nor going for the lines with the same amount of
confidence.
It’s nice that Jenny realized her dream of reaching the top,
but if she doesn’t watch out, Lindsay will take over No.
1 in no time. Although Davenport hasn’t won a Slam this year,
credit her with this: despite being injured until late June, she
seriously competed for every major title where she was in the
draw. The only player who owns her right now is Venus. The same
cannot be said of Jennifer, who has lost to more than a few elite
players since June. Lindsay bashed her the last time they played
and you can bank on this: Davenport truly believes that when she's
healthy, she’s the better player. If Jennifer wants to disprove
that, she must light a fire under herself and take Lindsay down
in Munich.
Clijsters and Serena are the only two other players who appear
to have a decent shot at the title. However, Clijsters has to
prove that she has the guile to hang in with Lindsay on a quick
surface and Serena is so rusty that it’s hard to believe
that she can reproduce her U.S. Open form. All the other teens
could use a solid showing: Henin because Serena wasted her at
the Open; Dokic because Lindsay completely owns her; and Dementieva
because she hasn’t had a big win over a superstar all year.
Mauresmo also needs to step up in a big way, but she never seems
to answer the bell when she’s needed most.
Don’t expect any of the other veterans to do much – save
for Huber, who may
be propelled by the crowd in her last tournament before retiring – and
it would be nothing but wishful thinking to think that the hobbled
Meghann Shaughnessy will last more than a round.
First round matches that should produce some sparks are Clijsters
vs.
Dementieva and Henin vs. Huber. Maybe the tour can convince Florida
residents Venus, Martina and Monica to stage a round robin in
Key Biscayne this week to determine who really might have won
the Munich title. But Venus’wrist hurts, Martina’s ankle
is still too sore and Monica needs to rest her bum feet, right?
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