Davenport in Trouble at WTA Championships; Pat Mac-Spadea Feud Firing for Davis Cup
Posted on November 13, 2004
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| Maria Sharapova has advanced to the semifinals at the WTA Championships. (WTA) |
On the same night WTA Championships promoters gave away free "bobblehead" likenesses of Lindsay Davenport, the world No. 1-ranked American bobbled her chances of perhaps advancing out of the semifinals and hanging on to the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Davenport lost Friday night in her second round robin match to French Open winner and No. 3 seed Anastasia Myskina 7-6(5), 6-4, putting her in a must-win situation today against the tutu-wearing Serena Williams.
After the match Davenport, perhaps due to the long season, rather than stoking her competitive fires had journalists looking for a pulse.
"If I finish the year two, it's been a great year," said Davenport, who spoke of retirement earlier this year after coming off foot surgery, but now says she will put in a full 2005 campaign. "If I finish one, great. If she plays well here and wins it, she absolutely deserves it."
Myskina also beat the American in their previous meeting last month in Moscow.
"I played her a couple of weeks ago, so the memory was pretty fresh. I knew what I had to do," said Myskina, who would have been eliminated from the semis with a loss. "I knew I had to move her around and she missed more forehands. When I first played her I was young and had huge respect. Now I know how to play the best players."
Serena needs only to win a set off of Davenport today to guarantee herself a spot in the semifinals, while the current world No. 1, depending on other results in her group, likely needs to beat Serena to advance to the semis.
"I probably have to win in two," Davenport said. "It's probably an uphill battle for myself."
In the other two matches on the night, No. 2-ranked Amelie Mauresmo, smelling blood in the water for her chance at the year-end No. 1 ranking, punished No. 4-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2, while No. 6 Maria Sharapova also upped her round record to 2-0 with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Vera "The Crying Game" Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5.
"I wasn't able to play my game," said Zvonareva, who finished the event with an 0-3 record. "The balls were so heavy. I hope I can come back next year and do better."
The wins secured semifinal berths for both Mauresmo and Sharapova.
On tap today are Davenport vs. Serena in an all-American (Serena leads meetings 9-3, but Davenport won their most recent encounter), Mauresmo vs. Sharapova in a first-time meeting, and Myskina vs. Dementieva in an all-Russian (Myskina leads 6-4, including both meetings in 2004).
Masters Cup Doubles Play Begins Saturday
Round robin play begins today for the Tennis Masters Cup Doubles in Houston, featuring the top eight teams on the ATP Team Rankings.
Last year's Masters Cup Doubles was held concurrently with the singles finale for the first time since 1985.
On tap for Saturday are Zimbabwe's finest (4) Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett vs. Czechs (6) Martin Damm/Cyril Suk (career meetings tied 2-2), Wimbledon champs (3) Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge vs. (5) Mahesh Bhupathi/Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (Bhupathi-Beast lead meetings 3-2), and defending champs (2) Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. Argentina's (7) Gaston Etlis/Martin Rodriguez (twins leads head-to-head 5-0).
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Former ATP employees Paul and Kathy Settles captured their third consecutive USTA National Husband-Wife Claycourt Championship, defeating Jonathan and Meredith Barth from South Carolina 6-0, 6-0 in the final. Time for Andre and Steffi to step to those two...From the Monterey County Herald: "Brett Ratner may be able to get Serena Williams into bed, but he struck out with Pierce Brosnan. After shooting nearly a dozen takes of Pierce and sexy Salma Hayek in bed together for the upcoming flick "After the Sunset" director Ratner decided to play a little prank on his leading man, climbing into bed in Hayek's place and cuddling with Brosnan. 'When he went to kiss her, he closed his eyes and I was literally a half an inch from making out with him and he screamed at the top of his lungs and literally jumped out of the bed,' Ratner told us. The fun continued when Ratner and actor Woody Harrelson decided to punk the Post's Page Six by staging a brawl during shooting. 'He jumped in the water in full wardrobe to beat me up, but it was completely staged so we could get off early, and we said, 'I'll bet you tomorrow this is going to be in Page Six,' Ratner laughed. Ratner also says he's made a deal with Robert Evans to get first refusal on Woodlands, the producer's fabled Hollywood estate, should the vampiric Evans ever exit his Eden. But don't expect to see Ratner out on Evans' tennis court with his girlfriend, tennis ace Williams. 'There is nothing she hates more than playing me in tennis, because I'm probably not that good,' he confessed."...ATP Masters Cup promoter Jim "Mattress Mac" McIngvale says he will try and get the WTA Championships in Houston, and the Masters Cup back after its three-year contract in Shanghai, beginning next year, runs out. Mattress Mac also told the Houston Chronicle he and Roger Federer, who last year criticized the sloping court, have patched things up: "Hey, Roger and I are fine. We've already spoken. He's really a great kid."...Apologies for the butt-shot of Serena that appeared on the site yesterday, that was deleted as soon as we found the interns had put it up. That was gross...Contemplating another possible run-in with his locker room biz-otch Andy Roddick, Roger Federer says there is no way to predict the outcome, or how the rivalry will turn down the road: "Remember, our careers are only at the beginning. I try not to be superstitious. If I practice well, it doesn't mean I'll have a good match and if I practice badly it doesn't mean I'll have a bad match. There are no signs."...Mike Ulmer in the Toronto Sun on the Maria Sharapova tennis porn: "They are supposed to scream for A-Rod when he comes to the plate, just as they did for Andre Agassi when he was in the middle of his unfortunate tie-dye denim and long hair phase. But it gets weird when the adults start leering over the kids. To use the clinical terminology, it's icky. Really, really, icky. The WTA, the Women's Tennis Association, soon to be known as the WT&A, is the purveyor of the eye candy still known as Anna Kournikova who parlayed Top 50 skills and a hot body into a staggering business empire. Kournikova is semi-retired, still a fetching lass at 23 but, perhaps by the sad standards of our culture, starting to look her years. So somewhere, deep in the WT&A, the call went out for a fresh face, and whatever else it was attached to. The WTA has taken it to a new level with Sharapova. A WTA tournament poster features Sharapova with the tag line: "The closer you get, the hotter she gets." Did I mention she was 17? Now, I am not going to get in the way of Anna, I mean Maria Sharapova, and her ability to make a living and I am absolutely sure that Canon, Motorola and all the other companies who have signed her up to endorse their stuff are fixated on her formidable skills and not the fact that she likes to wear low-cut tops and very short skirts."...Rod "Rocket" Laver is Roger Federer's No. 1 fan, speaking here to The Age: "Oh, I would be honored to even be compared to Roger. He is such an unbelievable talent, and is capable of anything. Roger could be the greatest tennis player of all time...Roger knows that he has the shots to beat anybody. A lot of the time you watch him, and realize that he is sizing up an opponent before he strikes his winner. He always seems to be in control. When he gets in the groove, Roger knows that he can really hurt an opponent...What he has achieved has all been down to confidence, he is a real confidence player...That is such a rare gift. So much of what he does is on instinct. You can't coach a lot of what he does as it is just natural talent. A lot of the shots that he produces are just totally uncanny. His backhand is the best shot he plays, as he can roll his racquet over the top of the ball, or hit it straight. I don't know how he manages to hit the ball so cleanly all the time...He knows that he is good, but he does not shout about it. He looks calm, but I think there is fire under the surface. But he plays well under pressure. And Roger does not want to get involved in stirring things up, and being controversial. All he wants to do is play tennis and win grand slam titles. It seems like he has every intention of being around for a long time. If he is, he can achieve whatever he wants to achieve. Roger is such a great player and such a great champion. Roger could be 'The Greatest'."...U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe on inexplicably putting Mardy "Silver" Fish, a net player with a shaky back-court game, on the red clay against Spain over baseline grinder Vince Spadea: "I believe Mardy has the best chance to win the match, based on his ability, based on his experience playing Davis Cup, based on the fact he's played well in the Olympics, he's played well in some big, big matches for us," McEnroe told Tennis Week. "I still believe Mardy's got a tremendous upside as far as his career goes. And I think he's got a lot of game. I don't think he's lived up to his potential yet." Says Spadea to Tennis Week: "The USTA's goal in selecting a team for Davis Cup should be to assemble the best players available and field the strongest team possible. That is never going to happen as long as the selection process involves the consideration of irrelevant and unjust factors like age or friendships. As for age, if it were a legitimate basis upon which to measure a player's ability then logically all of the players younger than me, including Fish and (Taylor) Dent, would be ranked ahead of me. They are not. In fact, at No. 19 in the world, there are few that are. You cannot argue with the rankings. You can ignore them, and offer other illegitimate reasons for selecting lower ranked players, but that does not change the fact that the rankings objectively, without regard to bias or personal preference, determine who the best players are."