Tennis, the season that never ends.
As someone who blogs about tennis and as a fan of the game I
really do sympathise with the players when they talk about burn out, tiredness,
lethargy and general disinterest. It is
really hard to have that get up and go every single day of the year. I am not a professional athlete, but I am a
professional, and even I find it difficult to get out of bed sometimes and make
my way to work. I am counting down the
days until vacation and trying my best to have my desk cleared before I jet off
to parts unknown. In that way I truly do
sympathise with tennis players.
The break between Wimbledon and the USO Series is a welcome
one as it gives the pros a chance to take a break, recharge their batteries,
work on aspects of their games that did not work during the French
Open/Wimbledon stretch and make one last push at the last Major of the year.
Today, I am not really going to be talking about the USO
Series as I find it a bit depressing. While it is good that there is a road to
the US Open, it always seems a bit forced and it is made even worse when a lot
of the women’s matches never see the light of day.
Every year the CitiOpen in Washington, D.C., which is a
combined event, but the women’s portion is not part of the USO Series gets
absolutely no coverage. Last night’s
match (Tuesday 29 July) saw Sloane Stephens going up against fellow American
Christina McHale. From what I understand
the stands were wall to wall packed with fans who from reports from Twitter got
their money’s worth. On the main show
court was a men’s match and I understand that there were about 40 people in the
stands watching that one. Now some will
say that the reason for the disparity was because it was 2 Americans playing,
but we have always been told that the ATP is a more popular option than the WTA
so go figure.
Odds and Ends
Victor Troicki
Tennis has to decide whether it is serious about doping
control or it is just going through the motions. Victor Troicki has been welcomed back with
open arms into the tennis community by being given a wildcard into an ATP
event. Compare that to Wayne Odesnik to
whom many of his fellow players were ready to form a lynch mob against
him. I can’t help but wonder why the
disdain for one and support for another.
Serena Williams
In other news, Serena Williams makes her return to
competitive tennis after falling ill and withdrawing from her doubles match at
Wimbledon this year. Pete Bodo has a bit
of a sarcastic take on it. One wonders what Mr. Bodo’s views are when it comes
to Victor Troicki and his homecoming to the ATP.
Tennis, Doping and
What The Fuck?
There was a brilliant article from Garry Doyle in the Irish Post that a friend of mine
forwarded to me recently that had to do with doping in cycling. The mention of tennis in the
article in such disparaging terms makes me see red, even more so after reading
about Andy Roddick’s attempts to play doubles at the USO with his friend Mardy
Fish. In case you missed it, Andy
Roddick retired from professional tennis a few years ago. During that time he
has been making his living working on Fox Sports as a quasi-journalist/sports
announcer whatever. Roddick, since he
has retired is no longer bound to adhere to WADA’s rules about doping and he
would have had to submit to doping tests at least 3 months prior to return to
the Tour. Sports Illustrated has an article featuring Roddick's comments.
Lest we forget when Kim
Clijsters and Justine Henin planned their return to the women’s Tour they
actually had to undergo dope testing from WADA before resuming their tennis
careers. Last time I looked both Henin
and Clijsters have had pretty long careers and have had many great
accomplishments and are poised to enter the Hall of Fame. What is the difference between both of those
ladies having to adhere to WADA’s doping rules and Andy Roddick? The answer, both women did not consider that
they were entitled to play without adhering to the doping rules but Roddick in
some way believes he should be exempt.
What irks me is the fact that tennis fans seem to think that
Roddick should have been given a pass. The question is why? Why after all that
has happened in other sports should someone be given a pass about sticking to
the rules of the sport. This is the same
reason why Roddick was always given a pass when he took on tournament
officials. He, for whatever reason, has
always felt that he is bigger than the sport of tennis. He is not.
Bank of the West
Classic
It was fun to see Venus Williams play great tennis last
night. This was my first time seeing
her opponent Paula Kania play and I will really be keeping my eye on her as she
has a really interesting game.
I am looking forward to see how Pliskova (no clue how to
separate the twins) does against Serena Williams today.
