Graf, Hingis, Kournikova on Display in World Team Tennis
Posted on July 12, 2005
Davis Cup Preview: Netherlands at SlovaksThe Davis Cup quarterfinals begin this weekend and Tennis-X will preview one tie each day leading to the beginning of play on Friday. Squaring off in the quarterfinals this weekend are the Netherlands at the Slovak Republic, Argentina at Australia, France at Russia, and Romania at Croatia:
Netherlands at Slovak Republic
Site: Sibamac Arena, NTC -- Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Surface: Hard indoors
Ball Type: Dunlop Fort Duck
Got to love the clean play of the Fort Duck, eh? No Top 25 competitors means a shaky tie this weekend in Bratislava, where Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty attempts to lead the Slovak crew of Karol Beck, Karol Kucera, and Michal Mertinak into the semifinals, under the tutelage of captain Miloslav Mecir.
"Everybody Loves" Raemon Sluiter, who is 3-0 career vs. The Dominator, leads the charge for the Netherlands with Peter "Nuclear" Wessels, and potential doubles players Dennis Van Scheppingen and Rogier Wassen.
The Slovaks are still riding high after shocking the defending champ Spaniards in the opening round, and take an advantage of their own in the head-to-head, with Kucera leading Sluiter 2-1, and Wessels 1-0 in career meetings.
The Netherlands received a free pass into the quarterfinals when world No. 1 Roger Federer said 'no thanks' to Switzerland's opening-round match. This is the Dutch's third consecutive away tie, where they will find the Slovak home court advantage to be the deciding factor.
No. 4 Seed Domachowska Trips on First Hurdle at WTA Modena
Zi Yan underlined the burgeoning powerhouse that is Chinese tennis on Monday at the calendar-fresh WTA stop in Modena, Italy, ousting No. 4 seed Marta Domachowska 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.
Yan had previously qualified in all five of her WTA Tour-level appearances this year, and in her last event lost in the final of the ITF minor league stop in Beijing, to countrywoman Ting Li. Yan and all her countrywomen are no doubt still smarting from missing Wimbledon after their federation's decision to hold their national championship during the same week.
Other un-seeds into the second round were Frenchwoman Emilie Loit (d. A.Bondarenko) and Czech Zuzana Ondraskova (d. Cervanova).
The final round of qualifying was also completed with four more onto the main dance floor in Agnes Szavay (HUN), Elena Vesnina (RUS), Melinda Czink (HUN), and Katerina Bohmova (CZE).
On tap for Tuesday in funky cold Modena are Szavay vs. Camerin, Adriana Serra "Nevada" Zanetti vs. Smashnova, Cohen-Aloro vs. Garbin, Schiavone vs. Weingartner, Ruano Pascual vs. Pennetta, Melina "The Fifth Element" Czink vs. Marrero, Bohmova vs. Kostanic, Antonella Serra "Nevada Pale Ale" Zanetti vs. Bychkova, Martina "Nurse, I Need a" Sucha vs. Sanchez Lorenzo, Matevzic vs. Vesnina, Parra Santonja vs. Pastikova, Mamic vs. Gagliardi, and Diaz-Oliva vs. Schruff.
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TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
Could former NCAA champ Amer Delic get tougher draws of late? Top seed Taylor Dent in the first round last week in Newport, and top seed Paul Goldstein this week at the Aptos Challenger, ouch...While ESPN crushed in the ratings with its Wimbledon coverage, NBC was up and down for their broadcast of the finals in the U.S., with the all-American women's final generated a 4.0 rating, up 3 percent from the 2004 women's final, and the Roger Federer-Andy Roddick men's final drew a 2.5 rating, down 31 percent from the 3.6 rating during their 2004 final-round encounter...Tim Lane writing for The Age: "For much of the past 25 years, the men often have been made to look crass and unpleasant by their female counterparts. Yet in the past two years, it's been the women's finals that have produced overblown celebration. Last year, it was Maria Sharapova who delayed and defaced the presentation ceremony by indulging herself in an on-court mobile phone conversation. This year, the understandable jubilation of Venus Williams bubbled into total obliviousness towards the disappointment of her opponent, Lindsay Davenport...It was only when interviewer Sue Barker prompted Williams towards recognition of her opponent that such was forthcoming. Even then, the response was cursory and the answer to the question finished somewhere else."...Justine Henin-Hardenne will not compete again until Aug. 1 at the WTA stop in San Diego...TR.net's Matt Cronin bringing out the hammer down on Anna Kournikova playing World Team Tennis: "On Sunday, Anna Kournikova graced the Macy's men's store in Sacramento and then went out and played for her team, the Sacramento Capitals, and took her second straight loss in doubles with Elena Likhovtseva, this time a 5-0 shellacking at the hands of Carly Gullickson/Elena Tatarkova. Now, we all know that Likhovtseva is an excellent doubles player and we also know that their foes are not. So even though we didn't witness the match, it wouldn't be too far fetched to state that Kournikova is not even close to her former Slam-winning doubles level. In fact, it appears that her soft exo schedule is killing her game. She's a sideshow who on court, isn't even worth a bleacher seat anymore. You want to gaze at her body? Go buy her calendar, but serious tennis fans shouldn't putting money into her pockets anymore."...Klara "Kouky" Koukalova pulled from the WTA stop in Modena this week with illness...Sania "The Indian Sharapova" Mirza has dumped adidas for Lotto. adidas is retaliating by teaming with Porsche to make tennis shoes...Kevin Curren is stepping down as the South African Davis Cup captain, interested parties should send their CV to the South African Tennis Federation...Roger Federer's mom Lynette on her son learning that the 2012 Olympic tennis would be played at Wimbledon, excited as a schoolboy: "He phoned up from his holiday as soon as he heard that London had got the Games. He was so thrilled. He was saying 'Mum, can you imagine having the Olympics at Wimbledon?' I tried to calm him down a bit by asking how old he would be in 2012. But we worked out that he'd be only 30 so it's certainly possible. He even said that he might be able to win the Olympic gold medal at Wimbledon and then retire." Lynette needs to get out of the mode of talking to the press as if her son is 12 years old...Steffi Graf on playing World Team Tennis: "It's hard for me to call it a comeback," Graf told The Associated Press. "It's too early to say if there will be more. It's hard with all the schedules. If it works out, maybe there is another one...Time is a big factor. For a few years, I barely played. It's not easy with my husband still on tour. It's been a challenge to stay in shape...This year I just picked up the racket more frequently than I have in the last five years. I've practiced quite a bit the past two weeks, but before that it was very sporadic."