Sharapova suspension reduced

Maria Sharapova’s drug suspension was reduced on appeal to 15 months from 24 months.  Sharapova criticized the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for not having a rigorous and reliable system in place that would keep players informed about updates on the banned substances list etc.  The ITF has not responded at length to her criticisms.  Sharapova will be back in time for the French Open next year.

This blog has discussed the banned substance issue before, so there’s no need to go over it again.  Suffice it to say that athletes have short careers, so if they are to be banned for up to four years, the ITF or any sports organization that makes such decisions needs to adhere to the following principles:

1) Drugs should not be banned unless there is clear scientific justification for doing so.

2) An airtight information apparatus should be in place to make absolutely sure players know what’s on the banned substances list and when any changes to the list are made.

            A related issue that has come up since Sharapova’s suspension relates to medical exemptions for use of banned substances.  Russian hackers cracked the database of the World Antidoping Agency (WADA) and found that several players, including Serena Williams, have been given medical exemptions that allowed them to take banned substances.  The players have done nothing wrong here, but the exemptions raise further questions about the rigorousness of rules regarding banned substances and who, if anyone, has ever really benefitted from their use. 

            Sharapova has stated that she has found her sabbatical from the game both interesting and satisfying.  What I hoped she would say is that she used the time to get rid of her grunt!  But no such luck, apparently.

Will the Real Petra Kvitova Please Stand Up?

On her way to storming through the Wuhan Open, Petra Kvitova destroyed the always-tough Simona Halep, then did the same to Dominika Cibulkova in the final.  Neither of these two opponents are pushovers by any means, but Petra made very quick work of both of them.  Kvitova also beat world #1 Kerber in this tournament. 

Throughout the week Kvitova played tennis befitting of a world No. 1.  So why does she not play this well all of the time?  We’ve seen this level of play before in her two Wimbledon wins, where she decimated Sharapova and then Bouchard in finals.  Kvitova remains one of the great enigmas of women’s tennis.  Her movement is good for someone so big, she has good touch in the forecourt, she has a very daunting lefty serve, and her groundstrokes are very penetrating from both sides.   Why then is she ranked outside the world’s top ten?

            Kvitova has had respiratory problems over her career that have been attributed to allergies.  This problem, along with her discomfort when playing in the US, has probably contributed to her losses.  But these explanations do not account for the fact that many of her matches, regardless of where, go three sets.  When you’re losing a set in most of your matches, you are more likely to fail to go all the way in tournaments.  She is currently playing without a coach, which suggests to me that she should remain coachless until she finds someone whose communications don’t inadvertently run at cross purposes with her success. 

            Kvitova is a very well liked player and a tremendous talent.  If she can play consistently great tennis she can add a lot of intrigue to the women’s game.

On the men’s side, Thomas Berdych beat Gasquet to win the Shenzhen Open.  He is now 300 ranking points away from displacing Nadal from the year-end championships.  That fact speaks eloquently to Nadal’s problems.

Tennis Happenings

The tennis schedule is a bit light right after the US Open, but here are some interesting recent events:

Del Potro looking good.   Juan Martin del Potro defeated Andy Murray in a 5-set Davis Cup match.  This match was important to both players, so a victory over Murray in a 5-setter indicates that del Potro is back in force.  Let’s hope he stays healthy.

Raonic loses, Zverev wins in St. Petersburg.  Milos Raonic, the defending champion, was ousted from the St. Petersburg Open by Mikhail Youzhny, a good player who has not played his best tennis for quite some time.  The significance of this loss was the way Raonic lost.  He won the first set and got up 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker.  With two match points on his own serve, he failed to close it out, and lost the third set.  In addition to being unable to win key points on his own serve in the second set, Raonic was broken 4 times in the match.

Raonic, who has one of the biggest serves in tennis, has been tinkering with his first serve this year.  He has added variety by altering the spins and speeds.  The rationale for this effort is that variety will be more effective because players won’t know what’s coming.  However, the disadvantage of this approach is that if the player guesses right on a slower first serve, he can hit a better return.

This result tells me that Raonic has tinkered with his serve too much.  Considering his awesome stats on holding serve last year, I’d say that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  He should go back to the power ball more in my opinion. 

The tournament was won by Alexander Zverev, the teen star.  He was able to beat Berdych and Wawrinka on his way to the title.  This was a fabulous performance by Zverev, who didn’t make the same mistakes with Wawrinka that he did with Nadal at Indian Wells, where he missed an easy volley on match point and subsequently fell apart.  Look for Zverev to become a major force very soon.

Lucas Pouille wins in Metz.  Pouille has really announced himself this year with several big wins, including a victory over Nadal at the US Open.  In this final he downed Dominic Thiem, one of the most successful players on the tour this year.  This was a very well played match, and Pouille impressed with his power, quickness and variety.  The French have a new star here. 

On the women’s side…

Wozniaki wins.  Sporting a very attractive green outfit, Caroline Wozniaki marched through a very tough draw to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open.  After defeating Bencic, Suarez-Navarro and Radwanska, she downed the hard hitting teen Naomi Osaka in the final.  Wozniaki has always covered the court unbelievably well and simply never gets tired.  She seems to have added some sting to her forehand, and is hitting it to the ad side of her opponent’s court more often than in the past.  She has been ranked #1 in the past, so look out for her.

          Tennis pundits are very high on Osaka, who really clubs the ball.  So far her weakness has been similar to that of Madison Keys: if opponents keep the ball in play, she is first to make the error.  Hard hitters need to learn to tame their games and construct points.  Osaka is very young and has plenty of opportunity to harness her power and round out her game.  Time will tell if she is able to do it.  

US Open Postscript

            We learned a few new things from this interesting tournament as follows:

1) The big 4 is no more.  Stan Wawrinka has now won his third major, beating Djokovic in two of the finals.  Federer has not won a major in several years, though he has contested for titles.  Nadal did not make the quarterfinals of any major this year.  Cilic won the US Open in 2014 and beat Murray in the final of a Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati this summer.  All of these facts add up to one thing: the era of the big 4 is over.  That’s not such a bad thing for tennis, and it simply acknowledges that in sports, time flies.  Upcoming tournaments will be a bit more suspenseful, which is good.

2) Top players are vulnerable.  Both Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic have dominated the women’s and men’s tours for quite some time, but both now show clear signs of vulnerability.  That will encourage their opponents and make their matches even tougher down the road.

3) Kerber is the real deal.  Now that Angie has won two majors and earned the number one ranking, we have to consider her, like Stan Wawrinka, to be a legitimate superstar.

4) Pliskova arrives, Wozniaki returns.  Karolina Pliskova added some mental toughness to her power game and made her statement as a serious threat to win majors.  Caroline Wozniaki, coming off injury, knocked off Madison Keys and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and bumped her ranking by 35 points.  Expect it to go up further.

5) WEATHER was the real winner in several matches.  The extremely warm and humid weather was a major factor in this tournament.  As pointed out in a previous post, climate change has arrived and must be reckoned with.  In matches I saw, the following players were severely affected by the weather:

Jared Donaldson

David Goffin*

Milos Raonic*

Karolina Pliskova

Novak Djokovic

* Players who probably lost matches because of weather effects

In my opinion, professional tennis must recognize that warmer oceans mean more evaporation, and warmer air means that the atmosphere can sustain higher levels of humidity before rains begin.  Thus, the oppressively heavy weather at the US Open.  Human activity has changed the world, and I believe the tennis tour must respond with three changes:

1) Invoke the heat rule in men’s tennis to allow a 10 minute break after two sets if the temperature/humidity index exceeds set limits.

2) MOVE THE US OPEN TO A LATER DATE IN SEPTEMBER.  It was just too hot this year!

3) Encourage directors of summer tournaments to raise awareness among fans of the risks of extreme heat, and to make sure facilities,  resources and trained personnel are available to fans who suffer from heat effects. 

US Open Men’s Final

Wawrinka Wins!

            I did not pick Stan Wawrinka to go far in this tournament because of his dodgy play this year.  It’s a funny thing, though, how fate can affect these big tournaments.  Stan was in trouble early in the Open, with a match point against him in the third round against Daniel Evans of Great Britain.  After surviving that, he faced a tough one against Kei Nishikori in the semis, but Nishikori had done Stan the favor of eliminating Andy Murray and exhausting himself in the process.  Nishikori started strong against Stan, but the previous match and heavy weather soon did him in.

            In the final Stan started slowly, but when serving at 2-5 down in the first set, he hit a couple of blistering winners to keep from going down two breaks.  He lost the set, but that eighth game seemed to wake him up.  Djokovic looked very sharp early on, but once Wawrinka got going Novak became a bit more uncertain with his play.  His uncertainty manifested as unforced errors off both sides and some tentative hitting.  The best example of the latter problem was at 0-3, 0-15 in the third set.  Djokovic got himself into a dominating position and had two fairly easy overheads.  He hit them tentatively, though, and Wawrinka was able to lob them back and eventually steal the point.  Novak also threw in a second serve at under 80 mph during the match.  The problems with Djokovic’ play have been apparent for several weeks.  How Novak’s game has changed is illustrated by a comment made by Patrick McEnroe during the match - that long rallies favored Wawrinka!  That is not a statement we would have heard 12 months ago, when Djokovic was playing the best baseline tennis I’ve ever seen.  As I’ve pointed out in a previous post, it is hard to withstand the demands of maintaining the number one ranking for periods of more than about 3 years.  Although he is still number one, of course, Novak is perhaps becoming weary of that pressure. 

            Some great points were played in this match.  My favorite was with Wawrinka serving, down 0-2 in points in the first set tiebreaker.  

            Although he lost the match, Djokovic demonstrated his mind-bloggling quickness and agility in this point and in many others throughout the match. 

            Grats to Stan Wawrinka for once again producing his best tennis when it matters most!