Thursday, May 17, 2007
How hot are Jankovic, Roddick? The Knowles-Nestor split: top doubles duo gets splintered

	Jelena Jankovic continues to play like an elite player, taking down Maria Sharapova on grass.

JANKOVIC SURVIVES SHARAPOVA AT BIRMINGHAM: Wouldn't you know it … No. 3 Jelena Jankovic showed up big time away from the Slam again, this time coming from a break down in the third set to best grass lover Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. The Serb has been remarkably consistent this year and lethal against every player save for Justine Henin and Serena Williams.

The victory will give her confidence that she can go far on the Big W's lawns, but there are still four players with more impressive weapons and Slam resumes who should fair better at SW 19: Serena, Henin, Amelie Mauresmo and yes, even Sharapova, who needs to begin playing more outside of herself if she's going to make serious waves in two weeks time.

RODDICK WINS 4TH QUEENS TITLE: Except for his third-round belch against Andy Murray at '06 Wimbledon, Roddick has been very dependable on grass and it was no surprise that he won his fourth Queens title with a 4-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(2) victory over the talented yet enigmatic Nicolas Mahut of France. The American badly needed a title going into the AELTC. (It was his first in 10 months.) Although he was never spectacular during the week, he was sounder on the big points. But here's two things that his coach Jimmy Connors knows very well: Roddick was to improve his return and transition game or he has no shot at Roger Federer on the big lawns.

BERDYCH SIGNALS HE'S A CONTENDER: After blowing his Roland Garros chances by overplaying at World Team Cup, the huge-serving Czech Tomas Berdych rediscovered his form at Halle, besting '06 Wimbledon semifinalist Marcos Baghdatis 7-5, 6-4 for the title. Put the Czech in your Top-7 picks, along with the Bagman and hope they don't face Federer before the quarters.

PAT CASH CALLS FOR HENMAN TO RETIRE: In a Sunday Times column, the former Wimby champ drew an instructive analogy to his own woes at 32: "I ignored the fact that the only player I had beaten in a sparse six-month run was the doubles specialist Mahesh Bhupathi," wrote Cash. "Since returning to the Tour after missing the Australian Open with a knee injury, Tim has also chalked up just one win. To my way of thinking, I was playing some stunning stuff on the practice court and more than a few of the defeats could easily have gone the other way. So just a couple of wins were bound to turn things around, and the most important thing was to maintain a brave face. Henman came out with exactly the same statement as he tried to come to terms with another defeat. … I took the view that I had once been ranked No 4 in the world and a decade earlier had been one of the big draw cards in the sport. … In hindsight, such thinking was simply delusional."

FOUR INTRIGUING FINALISTS FOR WTA CHAMPIOPSHIPS: The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced that Bangalore, India; Doha, Qatar; Istanbul, Turkey; and Monterrey, Mexico has been selected as the finalist bid cities to host the '08 Sony Ericsson Championships.

One of those cities (Doha) already hosts a major event; two host second-level tournaments (Istanbul and Bangalore). Monterrey, which is on the US border, has come out of nowhere, but with big cash and hopes of highlighting the progress of Mexico's major industrial city. Only one nation has a decent player (India with Sania Mirza), only one has hopes of joining the EEC (Turkey), only two are democracies (India and Mexico), only two have even a modicum of women's rights (India and Mexico), two are major oil producing nations (Qatar and Mexico), and three have major problems with air pollution (Bangalore, Monterey and Istanbul). Doha has to be frontrunner, because its relationship with the WTA brass has a deeper and "richer" history.

Mark Knowles	Daniel Nestor

KNOWLES-NESTOR SPLIT BECOMES A NEWS ITEM: You want to talk about an ATP doubles marketing revolution? How about the forthcoming split between No. 2's Daniel Nestor and Mark Knowles becoming a hot news item. Here's what the Globe and Mail's Tom Tebbutt wrote: "Daniel Nestor has not had to do any jail time but, in terms of melodrama at least, his parting of the ways with long-time doubles partner Mark Knowles has begun to turn into an ongoing soap opera a la Paris Hilton and her travails with the Los Angeles penal system." Wow, it's that hot of a story? What's next? Knowles caught without his boxers on getting out of car with a scantily-clad Britney Spears in Las Vegas?

WTA HOLDING KLEMENSCHITS FUNDRAISER: The WTA is holding a special auction this week to benefit the Austrian twin players, Daniela and Sandra Klemenschits, who were diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer. Go make a bid on one of the items. They need all the help that fans can offer.

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