Weaving A Tangled Web

It occurs to me that I never once mentioned that major controversy that happened a couple of days before the end of the tennis event in the Olympics. I got so caught up in the Swiss doubles victory that I forgot about it entirely. So let's talk about it today.

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The story: Fernando Gonzalez and James Blake are facing off in a match. The winner of the match is guaranteed a medal, the loser will have to play off for the bronze. It's getting tight. Third set, the drama, the drama. Blake hits a shot that goes out. Gonzalez is at the net, shies away. The ball goes out. Blake swears it ricocheted off Gonzalez's racquet, Gonzalez said it didn't. The match continues. Blake, unsettled, loses. The drama, the drama.

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Now, I haven't seen the replays or anything, so I have no opinion on whether or not Gonzalez touched the ball. In fact, I might have even described the situation wrong, but it's roughly correct at least. So what do you do in a situation like this?

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Let's put ourselves in Blake's shoes. You want this match, yeah, you want it bad, and you could swear it came off the other guy's racquet. I wouldn't even consider the option that Blake lied - that would just be terrible sportsmanship, and I don't think James Blake is that kind of guy. Could your eyes deceive you? Possibly. But does it happen too quick for you to able to tell? Probably.

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But you might hear it, you might see the ball change direction. I have no idea what level of perception tennis players have out there. How much do they listen, how much do they rely on their eyes? What feasible chance does Blake have to be sure?

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Now, let's consider Fernando Gonzalez. He definitely doesn't want the ball to have hit his racquet. Again, I doubt he would have lied - though his post match comments were certainly a bit dodgier than Blake's, if that makes sense. He said something along the lines of not being 100% sure of what had happened. Now, I'm sure it would be hard to see or hear the ball, with the speed and maybe the crowd and stuff, but surely you'd be able to feel it? Those guys hit the balls like a rocket. How can you be not sure?

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But I'm not fully acquainted with the circumstances, and if Gonzalez says he's not sure, then I'm sure he's not sure. There aren't many players - or any, really - on the circuit that I would ever think capable of full-out lying. I wonder if the fact it was Gonzalez on the other side of the net influenced Blake at all...? I'm not aware of any dislike or anything between them, but imagine if this had happened when Blake had been playing Federer. Blake has come out and talked about his respect for Federer on numerous times. If Roger said he didn't hit the ball, I'm pretty sure Blake would believe that Roger didn't hit the ball. But it was Gonzalez. So was this an influence?

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The upshot of all this is that I have no idea, and in fact, no opinion about what happened. I'd be prepared to take both guys at their word, and I would severely doubt that either one is deliberately lying. But it's interesting. I'm generally impressed with the high level of sportsmanship and lack of gamesmanship on the ATP tour, but they can't all be perfect. Could you live with yourself if you won something under false pretences? A lot of people would go a long way for an Olympic medal. Maybe I'm idealistic, but I just can't believe that either of these guys would deliberately lie about this.

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There is today's tangled moral issue. I am taking my position firmly on the fence. What does everyone else think?

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It's one of those dull weeks of tennis before a major tournament again. The US Open starts next week, which will be big fun and very interesting and stuff, but this week is pretty dull. The only real tournament is New Haven (men and women), and due to the Olympics, none of the big guns is playing. The top seed is Nando Verdasco, and while he's a good player, he's not a world-changer. For the women, it's Anna Chakvetadze (is she not ranked higher than Zvonareva? Why wasn't she at the Olympics? Or did she genuinely not qualify?) So this might be one of those uninspired blog weeks, unless we have some more interesting issues. I suppose I could always talk about McEnroe's exclusion at some point... putting me about a week behind the news!

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Juan Martin del Potro is not playing, although he was originally scheduled to... but I think that's a smart move. You don't want to come into a Slam having played two solid weeks of tennis - because if he was here, he would stand a great chance of winning. And if you had a streak like that, you'd want to take it in to the US Open. If he's in the right part of the draw, he stands a good chance of being the random semi finalist. Actually, I'd like him to be in Djokovic's quarter, so he can pull a Safin. He's currently at #17, so he could potentially meet one of the big guns in the third round... wouldn't that be interesting?

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It occurs to me that del Potro is only twenty, and is totally only at the beginning of his career, though he seems to have been round for a while. I am now officially adopting him into the Tennis From The Backseat Stars of the Future program. Currently, he's my star performer - so Ernests and Marin might need to move over! Or, alternatively, they need to do some serious shining!

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Today's Results

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Pilot Pen Tennis (New Haven)

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Men's Draw

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Fernando Verdasco def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 6-4

Potito Starace def. Jiri Vanek, 6-2 7-6 (9-7)

Denis Gremelmayr def. Marcos Daniel, 3-6 6-3 6-3

Olivier Rochus def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-4 6-4

Steve Darcis def. Vince Spadea, 7-5 5-0 retired

Fabio Fognini def. Nicolas Lapentti, 6-4 4-4 retired

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Chris Guccione, 7-5 6-3

John Isner def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-4 6-4

Wayne Odesnik def. Sebastien Grosjean, 7-5 6-4

Luka Gregorc def. Ramon Delgado, 6-2 3-6 6-0

Robby Ginepri def. Luis Horna, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Arnaud Clement def. Thomaz Bellucci, 6-4 6-4

Viktor Troicki def. Alex Bogomolov Jr., 7-5 2-6 6-1

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Women's Draw

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Patty Schnyder def. Jill Craybas, 6-4 7-6 (7-2)

Alizé Cornet def. Nicole Vaidisova, 6-3 7-6 (10-8)

Caroline Wozniacki def. Dominika Cibulkova, 7-6 (9-7) retired

Katarina Srebotnik def. María José Martínez Sánchez, 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2

Casey Dellacqua def. Virginie Razzano, 6-3 6-1

Sorana Cirstea def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 4-6 6-3 7-5

Sara Errani def. Mallory Cecil, 6-2 4-6 7-6 (7-1)