Throwing Mud

The ATP headlines from Umag are about Guillermo Canas's 'marathon' win over Boris Pashanski. I don't know if you can call a three set match of any description a marathon, but that's a different matter. I'm going to talk about Canas today. Because I can.

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I'm under the impression that Canas is not a very popular player, and I have to say that I am not really a fan. I think that whenever a drugs scandal clouds someone's career, they're going to lose a lot of fans, fast, even if they turn out to be innocent. Canas did his time and came back - and kudos to him for having the guts to come back - but when you throw mud, it sticks, and Canas is never going to get rid of that. Ever.

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I'm not going to weigh in on the issue of whether or not he did the drugs, because I don't know and I don't follow him closely enough to care. But the thing is, it is his defining characteristic. I couldn't tell you a single thing about him and his career other than he served out a drug suspension, and came back to beat Federer twice in two weeks at Indian Wells and Miami last year. So what makes Willy tick? I have absolutely no idea.

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In retrospect, that fact considered, it didn't make a lot of sense to try to write a blog post about him. I'm kind of out of things to say.

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Sadly, Ivan Ljubicic - about whom I am quite capable of writing a post! - had to retire before his match began, handing Roko Karanusic a free pass into the next round. He said he felt sharp pains in his back at dinner, and although he tried to get himself ready to play, it was just about impossible. You've got to wonder what kind of injury that is - a back injury that shows himself at dinner. How bizarre. But poor Ivan.

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Kitzbuhel got basically rained out again. That will learn them for having a clay tournament this week. Because clay and rain are clearly connected.

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I'd really love to write more about Indianapolis, but as I write this, the matches of the day are still continuing there. Which is sort of a pain. The one tournament I give my blessing to, and they have to carry on at such unsuitable hours.

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You may be able to tell that I don't have very much to say today. I'll stop now and end the misery!

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Today's Results

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Austrian Open (Kitzbuhel)

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Jurgen Melzer def. Leonardo Mayer, 6-4 6-2

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Dutch Open Tennis (Amersfoort)

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Jose Acasuso def. Edouard Roger-Vasselin, 6-3 6-4

Marcel Granollers def. Ivan Navarro, 6-4 6-4

Albert Montanes def. Pablo Cuevas, 6-4 6-4

Oscar Hernandez def. Jesse Huta Galung, 6-3 6-2

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Studena Croatia Open (Umag)

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Roko Karanusic def. Ivan Ljubicic, walkover

Guillermo Canas def. Boris Pashanski, 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5

Maximo Gonzalez def. I Karlovic, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Igor Andreev def. Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 6-2 7-6 (7-3)

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Indianapolis Tennis Championships (Indianapolis)

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Bobby Reynolds def. Alejandro Falla, 6-1 6-1

Yen-Hsun Lu def. Rajeev Ram, 6-1 7-6 (7-1)

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Bank of the West Classic (Stanford)

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Aleksandra Wozniak def. Sybille Bammer, 6-4 7-5

Patty Schnyder def. Alisa Kleybanova, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4

Serena Williams def. Michelle Larcher de Brito, 4-6 6-3 6-2

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Gastein Ladies (Bad Gastein)

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Patricia Mayr def. Rossana de los Ríos, 6-3 6-3

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And today in Stars of the Past, Stars of the Future: Fabrice Santoro.

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Marat Safin, at the height of his dominance, said that being told he had to play Santoro was like being told he had to die. He was not the only player who felt like that. The little Frenchman was never going to hit anyone off the court, but the wizard of the men's game was capable of some shots that were nothing short of amazing. A recent article for DEUCE magazine called him the Harry Potter of men's tennis. He plays with cunning and cleverness, not with power.

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Santoro is one of the oldest men on the tour, but he is still going strong. This is because his game is not as hard on his body as that of the power players. He is almost Federesque in the way he glides round the court - and while he has never attained the heights that the current #1 has, he is by no means the poor man's Federer. Santoro has his own brand of magic. His racquet is his wand, and with it he creates spins and angles to bamboozle the best in the world.

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For example, in his quarter final match against David Nalbandian at the 2006 Australian Open, Santoro hit a drop shot of such exquisite precision and with such incredible spin, that by the time Nalbandian had reached it, it had bounced back onto Santoro's side of the net. Santoro did not win that match - the second two sets were 6-0 6-0 in Nalbandian's favour - but it is points like that that people remember. That is what Fabrice Santoro brings to tennis - his Gallic charm, his big grin and a little bit of magic.