My righteous anger over the Serena Williams/Meghann Shaughnessy debacle has abated a little - a bit of research shows that Shaughnessy is off to play the tournament in the Gold Coast next week, and dropped in to cover for Serena as a favour. But still, I think it's extremely poor form of Serena. Mild illness... forgive me, but that's hardly an impressive excuse.
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I actually sat down and watched a match from beginning to end today - the first for the '08 season! Jelena Jankovic versus Hsieh Su-Wei... it was actually really interesting. I like Jankovic and I like the way she plays but I was gunning for Hsieh from the start - not because she's an underdog and I'm wired to go for her (like all good Australians are supposed to be) but because she had this really unusual game that I found really appealing.
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Jankovic is 3 in the world. Hsieh is 157. Hsieh had nothing to lose - and she was really going for it, especially in the first couple of games. She was actually up an early break in the first, but then it was like she got all nervous when she was ahead. I don't think she was the strongest player mentally, but she had some great shots. She went for the corners and created some beautiful angles. And she had a few Clijsters/Jankovic-esque splits moments as well... though I have to say that I always wince whenever I see players doing that. It's like you can almost hear the muscles tearing. Actually, Djokovic did a couple of times in his match and it made my skin crawl. I'm not Djokovic's biggest fan, but it'd be really sad if he were to injure himself and put himself out of the Australian Open.
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But back to Hsieh Su-Wei. She's a tiny person - the commentators were discussing how much bigger and heavier that her Jankovic was, and how it must make such a huge difference in terms of power - and her serve had nothing on it. But she still hung in there really well. It reminded me of a first round match Maria Sharapova played last year - it might have been at the Australian Open, actually. She was playing this tiny little Frenchwoman, Camille Pin, and got taken to something like 8-6 or 9-7 in the third, and it was so obvious that Pin would have won if she had anything even vaguely resembling a serve. If Hsieh had a bigger serve... Jankovic still would have won, I think, but Hsieh would have been able to put her under much more pressure. A great serve combined with that ability to scramble... and she clearly has a decent strategic mind as well. At set point in the first (I think) she was serving, and she just randomly pulled out this serve and volley. It was great - and it caught Jankovic totally off guard. She changed it up really well - she had really soft hands for the finesse shots... a bit of a strange playing style though. Effectively, she had no forehand - her 'forehand' was a really a left-handed backhand. Considering the forehand is generally one of the biggest shots in the arsenal, that's got to be crippling.
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But you don't need to have the most power to be a great tennis player. Look at Martina Hingis.
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I didn't watch the men's match as closely, but it was great to see Lu Yen-hsun take Djokovic to three sets. Good on Chinese Taipei - they did themselves proud. Meanwhile, is it just me, or is Djokovic always injuring himself? I don't think I've ever seen a match where he hasn't called a medical timeout. I wonder if he's a) a hypochondriac, b) accident prone or c) faking it... he wouldn't be the first to do it.
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Today's Results
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Australia def. Czech Republic 2-1
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I actually sat down and watched a match from beginning to end today - the first for the '08 season! Jelena Jankovic versus Hsieh Su-Wei... it was actually really interesting. I like Jankovic and I like the way she plays but I was gunning for Hsieh from the start - not because she's an underdog and I'm wired to go for her (like all good Australians are supposed to be) but because she had this really unusual game that I found really appealing.
_
Jankovic is 3 in the world. Hsieh is 157. Hsieh had nothing to lose - and she was really going for it, especially in the first couple of games. She was actually up an early break in the first, but then it was like she got all nervous when she was ahead. I don't think she was the strongest player mentally, but she had some great shots. She went for the corners and created some beautiful angles. And she had a few Clijsters/Jankovic-esque splits moments as well... though I have to say that I always wince whenever I see players doing that. It's like you can almost hear the muscles tearing. Actually, Djokovic did a couple of times in his match and it made my skin crawl. I'm not Djokovic's biggest fan, but it'd be really sad if he were to injure himself and put himself out of the Australian Open.
_
But back to Hsieh Su-Wei. She's a tiny person - the commentators were discussing how much bigger and heavier that her Jankovic was, and how it must make such a huge difference in terms of power - and her serve had nothing on it. But she still hung in there really well. It reminded me of a first round match Maria Sharapova played last year - it might have been at the Australian Open, actually. She was playing this tiny little Frenchwoman, Camille Pin, and got taken to something like 8-6 or 9-7 in the third, and it was so obvious that Pin would have won if she had anything even vaguely resembling a serve. If Hsieh had a bigger serve... Jankovic still would have won, I think, but Hsieh would have been able to put her under much more pressure. A great serve combined with that ability to scramble... and she clearly has a decent strategic mind as well. At set point in the first (I think) she was serving, and she just randomly pulled out this serve and volley. It was great - and it caught Jankovic totally off guard. She changed it up really well - she had really soft hands for the finesse shots... a bit of a strange playing style though. Effectively, she had no forehand - her 'forehand' was a really a left-handed backhand. Considering the forehand is generally one of the biggest shots in the arsenal, that's got to be crippling.
_
But you don't need to have the most power to be a great tennis player. Look at Martina Hingis.
_
I didn't watch the men's match as closely, but it was great to see Lu Yen-hsun take Djokovic to three sets. Good on Chinese Taipei - they did themselves proud. Meanwhile, is it just me, or is Djokovic always injuring himself? I don't think I've ever seen a match where he hasn't called a medical timeout. I wonder if he's a) a hypochondriac, b) accident prone or c) faking it... he wouldn't be the first to do it.
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Today's Results
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Australia def. Czech Republic 2-1
Tomas Berdych def. Peter Luczak, 7-6 (9-7) 6-4
Molik/Luczak def. Safarova/Berdych, 7-5 6-3
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Serbia def. Chinese Taipei 3-0
Jelena Jankovic def. Hsieh Su-wei, 6-4 6-4
Novak Djokovic def. Lu Yen-hsun, 7-5 2-6 6-3
Jankovic/Djokovic def. Hsieh/Lu, 3-6 6-2 7-6 (10-8)
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France vs. Argentina 1-1
Tatiana Golovin def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-3
Juan Ignacio Chela def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-1
Molik/Luczak def. Safarova/Berdych, 7-5 6-3
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Serbia def. Chinese Taipei 3-0
Jelena Jankovic def. Hsieh Su-wei, 6-4 6-4
Novak Djokovic def. Lu Yen-hsun, 7-5 2-6 6-3
Jankovic/Djokovic def. Hsieh/Lu, 3-6 6-2 7-6 (10-8)
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France vs. Argentina 1-1
Tatiana Golovin def. Gisela Dulko, 6-4 6-3
Juan Ignacio Chela def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 6-1
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