Redefining Rivalry

With under a week to go before the start of the French Open, the to players appear to be rounding into form. Aside from a bizarre inability to close out from Novak, Rome went pretty much as expected this past weekend. Serena did what she usually does when focused and playing cleanly and Nadal took ol' Fed to the woodshed again on clay. The thing I found most interesting in both matches was the commentators discussions of rivalries involving each player. Here's my thoughts on rivalry with both of Rome's Champions:

Serena: It was comical to me when the commentators made the effort to say that Serena had current rivalries with Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka. I'm not entirely sure what dictionary they are using, but my definition of rivalry has something to do with it being a two sided affair. With Sharapova, Serena has only a nail biting 13-2 advantage in the head to head stats. The last time Maria beat Serena was in 2004! In the last 6 years, Serena has dropped a whopping 2 sets in their matches. This smells of something, but I don't think it's rivalry...... Now let's look and Serena and Vika. Serena leads their head to head 12-2. Again, what a neck and neck match up! I will note that Azarenka does have a recent win over Serena this year in Doha. However, that merely seems to have angered Serena who is now on a career long winning streak. Here's the bottom line: Is Serena beatable by either of these two? Yes. Will take a fair amount of help from Serena herself? Yes. Let's face it, when Serena loses, it has more to do with sloppy play and a lack of focus than getting outplayed. If she stays as determined as she has been, it will take a breakdown from her or a flawless performance form someone to take her out.

Nadal: Now this one is a little bit muddier when you compare him and Roger. After all Roger does have more Grand Slams and more overall titles than Rafa. Again though, let's look at the head to head. After that beat down he delivered in Rome, Nadal now has a 20-10 lead head to head. Nadal also has a massive lead in their match ups that have occurred in finals. Hard courts have definitely been more back and forth than clay (shocking I know.) I think the real question here is if Roger can really be called the GOAT when he has such a dismal record against one of his contemporaries. I'm not saying he can't but I do think there's a debate there. Nadal fans will point to the head to head stats while Fed fans will go to his better ability to win consistently on all surfaces. Overall, it's probably an issue that will be debated for long past the time when they both hang their racquets up.

How do you define rivalry? Does it have to be two sided or is it just about the frequency of match ups?

Arrested Development

Ahhh John  Tomic. You are such a classy individual. Not only have you raised a son who has been a complete embarrassment success so far in Bernard, but now we can add your recent assault arrest to your sparkling resume. For those who haven't heard, Mr. Tomic was arrested prior to the tournament in Madrid for allegedly head butting and assaulting Bernard's hitting partner Thomas Drouet. Apparently, as the story goes, the assault was in response to Thomas disagreeing with John previously striking Bernard in Monte Carlo and stepping in between them again in Madrid. Up until this point, I had been content to lump John Tomic in the group of overbearing tennis parents that includes Melanie Molitor, Stefano Capriati and Richard Williams. However, now that he has graduated to assault, he gets to join an even loftier club. John Tomic, I would like to welcome you the the Insane Tennis Parent Club (ITPC)! Fellow members include Marinko Lucic (reported in 1998 as beating daughter Mirjana to help her focus), Jim Pierce (assaulted fans, beat daughter Mary and threatened her) and Damir Dokic (called officials "Nazis", ejected for fighting over cost of a plate of fish at US Open). Congratulations John for this tremendous achievement! Not only are you apparently a man who has no boundaries, but you are also well on your way to instilling your attitude and behavior into Bernard (see his recent run of great choices.) I applaud the ATP suspending John's tournament credentials and I hope it becomes more than temporary.

Parents, there is a lesson to be learned here. Tennis has a long history (just like any sport) of parents living out their own dreams and desires vicariously through their children. The results have ranged from the burnout and loathing of the sport experienced by Jennifer Capriati and Andre Agassi as a result of their parents to the actual outbursts of violence listed above. I think it is time for these parents to truly see the ripple effect their actions have on their own kids. I  for one hope that Tennis Australia suspends their funding of Bernard if he continues to use his father as his coach after this string of incidents. These people need to be directly shown that their actions not only negatively impact themselves but their children as well. For now, I encourage parents to encourage balance in their players lives. Make sure that when your child steps onto the court, it is their dream their are living and not yours. I'd prefer to limit the Insane Tennis Parent Club to the current members only.

Happy Tuesday!      

The Seeds of Disagreement

The clay season is in full swing on both the ATP and WTA tours. Nadal and Sharapova have both defended clay titles and Djokovic played spoiler to Nadal in Monte Carlo (on a side note, it has to be nice for Djokovic to be able to win the trophy and then just take it down the street to his house and watch a movie.) With the French Open rapidly approaching, an interesting topic has come up. There have been rumblings and discussions about whether or not Nadal should be given a seed at the French that is higher than his current ranking (#5). Let's play Yay and Nay with this idea:

Yay: I think by now we all know what Nadal's record on clay and at the French is. He definitely can't be considered the #5 player in the world when it comes to playing on the dirt. He has collected multiple titles on the surface this year and has throttled all the best clay court players with the exception of Djokovic. Taking history, injury layoff and recent performance into account, he would easily be above #5 when it comes to seeding. Allowing him to be #5 creates early match ups that would otherwise be later into the tournament. He could potentially see Djokovic in the quarters. Tennis needs its big names in big matches. The quarters are simply not going to cut it in terms of getting eyeballs tuned in. If Wimbledon can do it, why shouldn't another Grand Slam be allowed to use their own formula to create their seeding?

Nay: The idea of giving Nadal a higher seed into the French is the definition of a slippery slope. There is a reason that Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam allowed to utilize their own formula for seeding. Grass is an outlier when it comes to the playing surfaces on tour these days. The Wimbledon formula take into account current ranking, plus all current grass results and the best grass result from the previous season. Clay is a much larger portion of the tour schedule and should not be considered in the same light as grass as the percentage of play on the two surfaces is vastly different. The other portion of the issue involves the concern over match ups  What exactly is everybody worked up about if Nadal is seeded #5? It is an issue for the sole reason that it makes it likely for him to play Djokovic in the quarters. Obviously, everybody wants that match up to be deeper into the tournament than that. But allowing the seeding to be changed in deference to to the match up just opens way too many doors. By altering the seeding, the ATP would create a precedent for tournaments to be able to manipulate their draws more than they should. Tournaments could then shift seeds, etc to try and create their dream final. I'm not saying that this is guaranteed to happen but i think it makes it more difficult for the ATP to block if they have allowed the French to do it. There comes a point where everybody needs to simply play the hand they are dealt. Nadal is #5 for a reason. He was off for an extended period and has also had mixed results on surfaces other than clay in the last couple years. Despite his record against some of the players in front of him (17-4 against #4 Ferrer), he should have to play his way up the ladder just like anyone else would be expected to.  

Bottom line, I disagree with any seeding modifications for the French Open. Wimbledon is the lone established exception to how the seeding format works. The age old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," applies here. Nadal was broken, not the ranking system. If he should be seeded higher, then he needs to play, stay injury free and get results that warrant a rise in the rankings. Get your popcorn ready, it should be a heck of a quarterfinal round in a few weeks!!