our take on the wimbly seedings

Andre's bad hip, Taylor nabs last Olympic spot
Will Jen go to Athens? Also: Anna, Monica, Brits, Dokic, Dani

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Andre: It's hard to be hip at the age of 34.

Gillette

Anna: Why not play a real tournament?

Don't believe for a second that Andre Agassi's hip injury is not a chronic condition; it's been bothering him for a solid year and a half. Give Agassi credit for almost never using an injury as excuse for a loss, but one has to think that his hip was sore during his last three defeats.

The 34-year-old, who pulled out of Wimbledon on Tuesday, says he may return to the AELTC, but the hard fact is that if he doesn't go very deep at this year's US Open, he will seriously consider retiring.

As Guga Kuerten and Magnus Norman might tell him, major hip injuries don't get significantly better without surgery. If Agassi's hip has been bad for 18 months – even though he's been playing somewhat sparingly – it's a major injury. That likely spells surgery somewhere down the line.

Taylor Nails Last Olympic Spot
Unless US Olympic captain Patrick McEnroe radically changes his mind in the next two weeks, the US Olympic men's team will be as follows: Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, Vince Spadea, Taylor Dent and the Bryan Brothers in dubs. The second dubs team will likely be Roddick/Fish, since Dent rarely plays dubs and Andy wants to play. Robby Ginepri's failure to post a few wins since March cost him dearly.

The US women's Olympic team will be announced a week from Sunday. Zina Garrison will likely tab the Williamses, Chanda Rubin, Lisa Raymond, Martina Navratilova and (this is a not-so-wild guess) '92 gold medallist Jen Capriati. That's assuming that Lindsay Davenport bows out. If Jen says no to the Fed Cup and the Olympics, will Zina have to play Amy Frazier and Raymond on clay against Austria? Will Zina pick old Amy for the Olympic team, or let Raymond play singles and doubles? The possibilities are endless.

DID ANNA STRIKE OUT IN EXO?
My friend Tom Tebbutt of the Toronto Globe and Mail was a little harsh on Anna Kournikova about her appearance in an exo during the BC Decker Challenger last weekend. But, if Anna can't beat 40-year-old Gigi Fernandez any easier than 6-4, 7-5 on clay, than she's is really going to struggle when World TeamTennis kicks off next month. If she really struggles in WTT, than a smashing return to the tour is in doubt.

In our own Six Degrees of Separation world, we received word from 14-year-old Alexa Glatch of SoCal that she had reached the BC Decker final (where she lost to Canada's Stéphanie Dubois, a 17-year-old) before we realized that Anna and Gigi had played the exo in between Glatch's and Dubois' semis. Which begs the question: Would Anna have won the Challenger had she played?

Some summer tournament directors have inquired whether she's interested in taking a wild card, but Kournikova hasn't made her mind up as to whether the tour is in her immediate future. The same goes for Monica Seles – who is still scheduled to play World TeamTennis – but who's future remains very much up in the air.

BRITISH BULLISH ON GRASS
What is it about the Wimbledon warm-ups that bring out the best in the Brits? Why outside of Tim Henman, have none of them done a single thing of note all year? In the cases of Greg Rusedski (who's reached the Nottingham quarters) and 26-year-old Amanda Janes, who toppled China's Jie Zheng 7-5, 6-3 at Eastbourne, you could argue that it's the grass and little more. But that does not explain how British wild card Jonathan Marray took former Wimby champ Lleyton Hewitt to two tiebreaks in a quarterfinal loss at Queens. That result shows potential on any surface. But will we hear for the "Marray Eel" after July 4?

Britain's most talented woman, Ukraine-born, Scottish-raised Elena Baltacha, scored a win at the Eastbourne qualies before falling to Cara Black. Baltacha has had kidney problems and has been off the tour much of the past two years.

DOKIC TAKES DIVE
It's hard to tell what Jelena Dokic is getting out of playing anymore, other than massive frustration. It's easy to like Tina Pisnik's colorful game, but she has no business spanking the former Wimby semifinalist 6-2, 6-2 at Eastbourne. Dokic is back in England, where press loves to roast her. Her loony father, Damir, told the Telegraph, "I want the WTA to ask for additional psychiatric and doping tests for my daughter to confirm whether she uses illegal substances," Damir said. "I will approach her in a civilized way. If she won't listen, I predict it will be the end of her career."

His record of predictions have held up as well as those 100 or so horse-riding scribes who picked Smarty Jones to win the Triple Crown. Jelena is obviously not using any performance enhancing drugs, or you'd think she have better results. She hasn't won two straight matches since Miami in March and now has lost five straight singles contests.

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Daniela: Cites confidence in winning match vs. Sprem.

"My play was appalling in general," the 21-year-old Dokic said after the Pisnik defeat. "I started on the tour when I was 16. Six years later, without stopping, it may be hurting a bit. I've played the amount of tennis of someone's career. That's a little worrying. But I like tennis, otherwise I wouldn't be playing it."

She may just be playing for a paycheck, partially to support her one-time hitting partner and now coach, Borna Bikic, and Tino, his brother and her reported boyfriend.

WOW! HANTUCHOVA BEATS SPREM
Another former Top-5 player, Daniela Hantuchova, appears to be turning the corner a little. She reached her first quarterfinal since February and notched her best win of the year with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 defeat of wild yet talented Karolina Sprem. "I feel so good right now, so much better than last year," Hantuchova said. "Winning these matches has given me so much confidence and that's so important going into a big event like Wimbledon. The difference between the confidence in match wins comes from sticking to your game plan. When you're not winning you start to make bad shot selections on the court."

How's this for irony: Bob Bryan, who almost never plays singles, beat Olivier Mutis in the Wimbledon qualies. Mutis was the man who shocked Andy Roddick at RG. Andy and Bob are good buddies. Roddick must have suggested "trying" in the third set.

RG sensation "Hot" Potito Starace lives in the Wimbledon qualies, as do his countrymen, Daniele Bracciali and Stefano Pescosolido. Justin Gimelstob, just back on tour and fresh off his win at the Forest Hills Challenger, is still alive, as is US vet Glenn Weiner and South African Wesley Whitehouse.

It is certainly China's month on tour: Tape's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang is one win a way from a main draw spot. … Thailand's Danai Udomchoke is also around looking to make his countrymen forget Paradorn's slump.

The underachieving Alexandra Stevenson also lives, even though the '99 Wimby semifinalist is being forced to qualify. She beat Russian Galina Voskoboeva 10-8 in the third set and now will play Czech Eva Birnerova for a spot in the main draw.

"There are 'ova's' everywhere," she told Wimbledon.org. Taylor Dent's girlfriend, Jenny Hopkins, is also still swinging, as is Mashona Washington.

Wimby's Odd Seeds
Let's quibble a bit with the Wimbledon seedings. Heck, if Wimbledon.org's Ron Atkin's is allowed to, why not me? How Tim Henman is seeded No. 4 behind both Guillermo Coria and Davis Nalbandian is beyond comprehension. If you are going to seed by surface (and yes, I believe in seeding by surface at every tournament), then by all means do so. While you could argue that '02 finalist Nalbandian deserves the No. 3 seed over Henman, Coria (who's ranked No. 3) has never done squat on grass and never won a match at the AELTC before. By no means should he be placed above the Brit, who's reached the semis four times there.

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Our Russian dark horse: Svetlana Kuznetsova.

I would have also put '02 champ Lleyton Hewitt above Juan Carlos Ferrero at No. 6, and would never have moved '03 finalists Mark Philippoussis up eight spots to No. 11 given how horrible he's been this year. Plus, if you are going to bump up Taylor Dent, why not put him at No. 24 over Fernando Gonzalez and Dominick Hrbaty, rather than at No. 26 behind them?

The women's seedings also have a variety of acidic pine needles keeping them from sprouting. Two-time defending champion Serena Williams was given the top seed, a fine choice, but seeding Roland Garros winner Anastasia Myskina at No. 2 is absurd, given that she's never advanced beyond the fourth round here. Two-time winner Venus Williams was given the No. 3 seed, but a better choice would have been Amelie Mauresmo, who's had a better year and has reached the semis here.

I like Svetlana Kuznetsova at No. 8, but would have given No. 13 Maria Sharapova the eleventh seed of Ai Sugiyama and Vera Zvonareva. The hobbled Chanda Rubin is seeded too high at No. 17 and Dokic is seeded way too high at No. 23. Based on her run to the Birmingham finals, I would have thrown in No. 50 Tatiana Golovin at No. 32, because at this point, Meghann Shaughnessy doesn't deserve to be seeded anywhere, except in a bed of sharp pine needles that will wake her up and remind her what a lethal return game she once had.