I was all geared up for a huge day of tennis yesterday, and then it had to go and rain. I was all nervous for Roger, and then he got rained out. So he has to wait till today for his match - third match up, after Rafa. I hope that he doesn't get too nervous! But we all know how he once said, 'under pressure, I see things very clearly.' I'm sure he - and he in his incarnation as Fedrinka - will do just fine.
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The big news is, of course, the withdrawal of Ana Ivanovic. I know she has every right to withdraw and all, but doesn't it seem just a little late? She was there marching in the Opening Ceremony! She is in Beijing - right there! Unless you injure yourself in practice - which she didn't do - surely you'd realise before you went all that way? She says she's been carrying this injury since after Wimbledon, and now it's probably going to have be immobilised. News flash, Ana - the longer you leave it, the worse it gets! I know that - and I'm not a world class athlete! Surely you should have learnt that by now! If you sprain your ankle, you don't keep playing on it till you end up breaking it or something and needing it reconstructed. Prevention = better than cure.
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It's sad, really, because I was really hoping Ana would do well. I'd like to see her take back the #1 spot from Jankovic, because she seems to deserve it more. Actually, it would be really interesting to see what Jankovic does now - you know how she's injured, like, all the time? Now that Ana is out, maybe the pressure will be off and we'll see her go too, as she can hold onto #1 longer and get in better prep for the US Open.
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With Sharapova out as well, there is such a power vacuum in women's tennis at the moment. It's not like men's tennis, where you have #1 players flying round left, right and centre. Certainly, both Federer and Nadal deserve to be #1, and, although I wouldn't, one could make a case for Djokovic as well. And then you've got some other guys, like Murray, that could be #1 if the field were not so strong - if men's tennis were in the state that women's is. Ivanovic and Jankovic are Murrays. They're good - very, very good - but I seriously doubt that either of them is going to be remembered as one of the greats of women's tennis. Their rivalry is not the rivalry of Graf and Seles, that's for sure.
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Henin was a Federer, but without the determination and drive - in her latter days, anyway. Maria Sharapova is perhaps a Djokovic - exceptional, maybe even a deserving #1, but not yet great, and with a little, indefinable something missing. The Williams sisters are sort of lazy Nadals - they could be great, like he is, if they had his relentless and will to just play tennis. They're excellent when they want to be, and either could probably be #1 if they tried a bit harder, but they lack focus when it comes to tennis. They come to Wimbledon and then drift about for the rest of the year, occasionally having a hot streak, like Serena earlier this year when she won three tournaments on the trot, but certainly not playing to the best of the ability, on the whole. And so the Murrays of the women's game are on top.
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When it comes down to it, there is one player playing like a real #1 on the women's circuit right now, and it's Dinara Safina. If you want to give her a male counterpart, I don't think you can go farther than her brother - but not her brother now. She is playing like the Marat of 2000, the Marat of back in the day, but she has something which is uniquely her own: a real determination. She doesn't give up. Perhaps she is morphing from a sketchy Marat into a Nadal or a Hewitt in his heyday - someone playing relentless, 'come and get me if you're hard enough' tennis. Like John Boland, one gets the feeling she'd play in leather clogs if she had to - and she'd damn well win, too.
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And my pick for the gold medal, Svetlana Kuznetsova? She's a Davydenko, or a Ferrer. Consistent, excellent, but generally unremarkable... but sometimes she can break the back of the big guns with sheer willpower.
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As far as the Australians go, we had a mixed day yesterday. Guccione lost to Blake, but no one really expected him to win, so that was fine. But Sam Stosur had a great win over Sara Errani, who has been on real hot streak at the moment, so good work Sam. I admit I am a little more patriotic about tennis when it comes to the Olympics... but not so patriotic that I don't still want Federer to win! Hopp Roger!
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Oh yeah, Juan Martin del Potro beat Andy Roddick. Ha ha. I have gone right off Andy since he decided not to play the Olympics. And why is Juan Martin del Potro not in Beijing? You can't tell me there isn't some Argentinian player he could replace? Juan Monaco, for one. (He is Argentinian, yesno?) Juan Martin del Potro has now won three tournaments in a row. What has Juan Monaco done this year, hmmm?
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Today's Results
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Games of the XXIX Olympiad (Beijing)
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Men's Draw - Singles
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Nikolay Davydenko def. Ernests Gulbis, 6-4 6-2
James Blake def. Chris Guccione, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)
Fernando Gonzalez def. Peng Sun, 6-4 6-4
Tomas Berdych def. Xinyuan Yu, 6-1 6-2
Guillermo Canas def. Frederic Niemeyer, 3-6 4-2 retired
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Women's Draw - Singles
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Francesca Schiavone def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-4 6-2
Caroline Wozniacki def. Selima Sfar, 6-4 6-1
Tsvetana Pironkova def. Marta Domachowska, 6-3 6-4
Samantha Stosur def. Sara Errani, 6-3 6-2
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Countrywide Classic (Los Angeles)
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Juan Martin del Potro def. Andy Roddick, 6-1 7-6 (7-2)
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Legg Mason Tennis Classic (Washington)
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Nicolas Mahut def. Wayne Odesnik, 4-6 6-4 6-4
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