Bali Blues

So, Bali. In all this Federer winning a title excitement, I pretty much totally forgot about you. And as you are the last women's event of the year, probably I should write about you.

I'm not quite sure what the point of you is. Are you like the year ending championships for woulda shoulda coulda players? If you are, why do you happen? Why do woulda shoulda couldas get their own year ending championship? What is your rationale for selecting players? Please, Bali, enlighten me, because I do not understand you.

And then you were won by the perenially underwhelming Ana Ivanovic, who has managed to scrape her way back to #17 in the world, and I just can't be too happy about that. I'm not an Ana hater, but then I'm not a Ana fan either... but both of these things are irrelevant. Fact of the matter is that Ivanovic should never have slid so far down the rankings that winning Bali was even a thing.

But that ship sailed a long time ago.

Like Ana Ivanovic and her victory and her certain seeding at the Australian Open, I am just not sure how to feel about Bali. It is an anomaly of a tournament and I don't quite know what the point of it is. Weird.

History And Stuff

So, as suspected, That Wimbledon Final The Sequel turned out to be no big deal. Despite getting broken (and, indeed, facing his first break points) of the tournament, Federer cruised to an easy win in this one. I suppose you could say that it's proof that he really did break Roddick in That Wimbledon Final, but when the record stands at 19-2 I think you have a little more history than one match to back it up.

Anyway. Djokovic beat Troicki (who, once again, proved his complete inability to win anything after failing to close out a set after being 40-0 and three set points up) and so he will face Federer in the final. Now this could be an interesting match. Djokovic will want to retain his title, Federer will want some revenge - and the shades of the US Open are still hanging over them. I don't know how significant it will be in the greater scheme of things, but in the world leading up to the World Tour Finals, I think it will be very interesting indeed.

Speaking of the WTF, apparently David Ferrer is in qualifying contention. Um, really? He's having a gun of a tournament in Valencia at the moment, but I seriously cannot point to one major result he has had all year. This may not necessarily be his fault - I guess it's proof that the Big Four (plus maybe Soderling) tend to skew proceedings - but I seriously would not have picked Ferru as a contender. Hope he does well in Valencia, though. That would be an awesome result for him, and I do have a bit of a soft spot for him in my heart.

And oh yeah, Bali - aka the tournament I completely forgot was happening. Apparently Ana Ivanovic is in the final. What's up with that? Since when has Ana been in the final of anything? I mean, good on her and stuff, but I read that someone is now putting her on their list of major contenders for the Australian Open. I think I speak for a whole lot of people when I say HELL NO.

Disappearing David

I'm never quite sure what this weird Bali tournament the week after Doha is for the women - like, you didn't get into the year ending championships, so nice try, you can be the postscript? - but whatever, I'll roll with it. There's usually some reasonably interesting matches going on there... and it would be hard to be less interesting than Doha turned out to be. Looking forward to watching it, in any case.

Now, over to the dudes.

Daveeeeeeeeed! You are back! You are beating some twobit journeymen again! I had almost totally forgotten you existed! Remember when you were all up there in the favourites for the US Open and then you somehow disappeared off the face of the earth? me too! No more of that! You are a fun guy to watch! You keep on with your badass Jan Hajek-beating self!

...I apologise for all that unnecessary exclamation.

Seriously, though, I had totally forgotten about Nalbandian. I had no idea he was playing in Basel and I'm glad he is. He's been conspicuously absent for a while now and - well, not conspicuous, really. I forgot about him. But now I realise how much I subconsciously missed him.

I hope he has a good run this week - not a title winning run or anything, because, hello, Roger, but maybe a nice semi or something. That could be nice.

Oh, and Marin Cilic won a match. Seems like a long time since that last happened.

Basel Dystopia

Yet another reason I Severely Dislike Novak Djokovic - he went and beat my beloved Roger Federer in the final of Basel, the Roginator's home tournament. I am appalled and disgusted and this is a universe gone topsy turvy and if Federer doesn't keep the year end #1 I am going to punch a wall. Or something.

I don't think there's an epic chance of him losing it, but I understand that it is within the realms of possibility, and I don't like that very much. It makes me sad that a tournament that's been so great as Basel ended with what is obviously the wrong result. Hmph. Screw you, Novak.

Yes, I am a paragon of maturity.

Everything came up Muzz in Valencia, which is really hardly surprising. Much as it would have been nice for Youzhny the Make-Himself-Bleed man to pull an upset, it was never really going to happen. Still, great run for Youzhny, and nice title from Muzz, so maybe he can climb back over Djokovic to that #3 spot. Stranger things have happened.

And then, in Bali, Aravane Rezai won the tournament... whatever the hell it was. I still don't understand the point of Bali, but I guess it's nice that she won. It was such a classic WTA match, though... Bartoli has been playing great all this week, and then bam! final! ...

...retire!

An ignominious end to what really has been a pretty ignominious year for the WTA. Kim Clijsters' US Open win aside, I don't think we've seen much amazing stuff there... and I really, really hope next year is better.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3 6-2


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Novak Djokovic def. Roger Federer, 6-4 4-6 6-2


Commonwealth Bank Trophy of Champions (Bali)

Aravane Rezai def. Marion Bartoli, 7-5 retired

Computer Problems =/= Crystal Meth

Let's get the actual tennis out of the way for starters. Just about everything came up Swiss in Basel overnight - Novak Djokovic took out Stan Wawrinka, but it's smooth sailing for one Mr R Federer, who made short work of Evgeny Korolev, and for his bestie Marco Chiudinelli the Resurgent, who also made short work of Richard Gasquet. Eminently satisfactory. It looks on track to be a Federer/Djokovic final and that would be pretty fun to watch... though not as fun as watching two childhood mates battle it out! I'm sure a lot of Swiss folks would love to see Roger vs Marco.

Everything fell the way it was supposed to in Valencia, pretty much - Gilles Simon was the only one who fell that, seedtastically speaking, probably shouldn't have, but he was playing Mikhail Youzhny, who has been made of awesome of late, so that's hardly surprising. Murray, Kolya and Nando all live to fight another day. Fun times, fun times.

And Bali is still as WTF? as ever - except for one thing. Vera Dushevina has been brought in as an alternate to replace Yanina Wickmayer. Why? Because the Flemish Doping Authority has banned her for one year, effective immediately. Same with her countryman Malisse.

I confess that the Malisse ban doesn't bother me as much - not because his circumstances were any more or less dodgy or anything, but because he's getting on and the better part of his career is definitely behind him. But Yanina Wickmayer? Title-winning, US Open semifinalist teenager Yanina Wickmayer? This could derail her whole career.

And the reason for the ban? She failed to report her whereabouts for testing three times over eighteen months. She claims this is due to a dodgy password, and technology being what it is, I see no reason why she shouldn't be believed. There's not a whiff of drugs about the girl. And three times over eighteen months? I could understand her getting a warning, or a slap on the wrist, or even a fine - but a one year ban is much, much too harsh. A one month ban, maybe, if you were being really mean - it'd rule her out of Bali but she'd be back by the Aussie Open. But this is frankly ridiculous.

The case of Malisse is also ridiculous - I can't remember what his offence was, but it was something else stupidly minor - but it doesn't tug at my heartstrings the way Yanina's does. She seriously has her whole career ahead of her, and this is not going to help. One can't help but think that is the backlash to the Agassi thing (about which I still have not been able to bring myself to write) and if it is, then that is stupid, reactive and unfair. Just because Yanina Wickmayer had computer problems doesn't mean she was off doing crystal meth somewhere.

Both Wickmayer and Malisse are planning to appeal, and I seriously hope these rubbish bans get overturned. Sure, drugs in sport is a big issue. However, tennis - whatever Andre Agassi might write - is pretty clean now. The biggest scandal we've had of late has been Richard Gasquet, and his poison of choice was cocaine, which isn't exactly performance enhancing. And he got off with, in the end, a slap on the wrist. If Wickmayer and Malisse's bans get upheld when they weren't guilty of anything more than being a bit cavalier with reporting, with no evidence they were actually doing drugs at the this time, then that is absolutely stupid. Slap on the wrist, tell them they were naughty and not to do it again - but you can't destroy someone's career over a password that didn't work.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Andy Murray def. Albert Montanes, 6-4 6-2
Nikolay Davydenko def. Guillermo Garcia Lopez, 6-4 7-6 (7-3)
Fernando Verdasco def. Tommy Robredo, 6-3 6-2
Mikhail Youzhny def. Gilles Simon, 6-4 6-4


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Evgeny Korolev, 6-3 6-2
Novak Djokovic def. Stanislas Wawrinka, 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2
Marco Chiudinelli def. Richard Gasquet, 6-1 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Marin Cilic, 4-6 6-3 6-3


Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions (Bali)

Marion Bartoli def. Shahar Peer, 6-3 6-2
Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Samantha Stosur, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5
Vera Dushevina def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 2-6 6-1 7-5
Sabine Lisicki def. Melinda Czink, 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-4

The Zeballos Mystery

Feddy McFeddenpants won his match in Basel overnight! Hurrah! In fine form! Hurrah! I do so love it when the R-Fed is cruising. It makes me feel like something is right with the world.

Other Basel winners include Mighty Marin Cilic and Swiss Mister Stan Wawrinka, so congratulations to both of them. I also am glad when they are winning - especially Stan, for whom times have been a little lean 0f late. Star of the Future Jeremy Chardy also won, knocking out seventh seed James Blake - and, may I ask, why is James Blake seeded? Because really, he has not done one single thing this year. One. Single. Thing. Chardy beating him was technically an upset, but I would have thought Chardy was higher in the rankings any day. Oh well. Evidentally not.

One question about Basel, though - who is this Horacio Zeballos fellow? He seems to have suddenly emerged from nowhere over the last few weeks and bam! finals in St Petersburg and assorted other results of goodness. He went out here in Basel (Richard Gasquet did the deed) but I just don't understand where he came from. Anyone got any answers for him?

Meanwhile, in Valencia, Tsonga is out injured. I'm pretty sure he was one of the contenders for the last spot in the Masters Cup, and so an injury at this stage = so not good. Other contender Fernando Verdasco has stayed alive, though, so maybe he will clinch that eighth spot. (Has Kolya officially scored that seventh spot yet? I'm not sure.)

And in the land of the women, I still don't know what exactly this Bali tournament is or what it hopes to achieve, but it seems to have a very arbitrary group of players playing there. Interesting ones, however, so I'm not complaining. Sabine Lisicki, my special favourite, took a loss (boo) but Sam Stosur had a solid win over Agnes Szavay, and that made me quite happy.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Gilles Simon def. Tomas Berdych. 6-4 4-6 6-3
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Gael Monfils, 6-2 7-5
Mikhail Youzhny def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6-7 (3-7) 6-0 3-0 retired
Fernando Verdasco def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-1 0-1 retired
Janko Tipsarevic def. Victor Hanescu, 6-4 6-3
Feliciano Lopez def. Alberto Martin, 7-5 6-3


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Florent Serra, 3-6 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-1)
Marin Cilic def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-4 6-4
Stanislas Wawrinka def. Ivan Ljubicic, 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4
Jeremy Chardy def. James Blake, 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (6-8) 6-4
Richard Gasquet def. Horacio Zeballos, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4


Commonwealth Bank Trophy of Champions (Bali)

Marion Bartoli def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-4 6-4
Samantha Stosur def. Agnes Szavay, 6-2 3-6 6-1
Yanina Wickmayer def. Kimiko Date Krumm, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3
Aravane Rezai def. Sabine Lisicki, 1-6 6-3 6-4

The Bali Enigma

So, um, Bali. What is it?

I mean, obviously I know what and where the island of Bali is and stuff, but what is this women's tournament that's going on there, all round robin and stuff? I thought the year ending championships were, you know, year ending. But apparently not, it seems. Does it count towards the rankings? What is it? What is the point of Bali?

Oh well. I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

Over to the boys, and R-Fed is back on court! This makes me very, very happy. He had a solid win over little Olivier Rochus... yeah, I don't have much more to say than that. I really hope he defends his title here. I know there's still a possibility that Nadal could overtake him in the rankings before the end of the year, and much as I love Rafa, I'd rather that didn't happen. After the French and Wimbledon, this year belongs to Roger. So I want him to defend all those points, please.

So Roger's off to a flier in Basel, and the other boys' tournament going on is in Valencia. Kolya is one of the high seeds there and I confess I'd like to see him win it, cardboard personality and all.

...yeah, I thought I was going somewhere with that and I wasn't. Talk amongst yourselves.


Today's Results

Valencia Open 500 (Valencia)

Nikolay Davydenko def. Alejandro Falla, 6-2 6-1
Tomas Berdych def. Paul-Henri Mathieu, 6-3 6-4
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez def. Simon Greul, 7-5 6-2
Albert Montanes def. Roberto Bautista-Agut, 6-1 3-6 6-4


Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel (Basel)

Roger Federer def. Olivier Rochus, 6-3 6-4
Radek Stepanek def. Rainer Schuettler, 6-2 6-0
Andreas Seppi def. Stephane Bohli, 4-6 6-1 7-5
Florent Serra def. Ivo Karlovic, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4

Corruption Monkey

Well, I guess today's big tennis news is that Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vassallo Arguello have both cleared of allegations of corruption over that match they played in Sopot last year, where Davydenko forfeited and bets were suspended by a major gambling site because the amounts of money being bet on the match were strangely large. (I had no idea people even knew the Sopot tournament existed, let alone bet on it, but there you go.)

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So they're innocent. Good for them. But why on earth did it take the ATP this frigging long to decide that? The Sopot tournament was in June last year. That's nearly fifteen months ago. Can you imagine being a professional tennis player having that hang over your head for that long?

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I suppose it's not too bad for Martin Vassallo Arguello, as no one really knows who he is for a start, and also because he wasn't the one that supposedly threw the match. I know I've been ragging on Kolya for over two months now for being an embarrassment to professional tennis players everywhere what with his poor attitude, but you really have to feel for the guy. If he's innocent - which the ATP has finally decided he is - he's had this monkey on his back for more than a year for no reason. Can you imagine the locker room glares he must have got?

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Actually, that's an interesting issue - what did the players think? Did they assume he was guilty and do some quality shunning? Or did they stand behind him? I haven't been able to find any comments on the subject... surely someone must have asked someone about it in a presser at some stage. I don't get the feeling that Davydenko is one of the locker room's most popular guys... and with the label of 'corruption' hanging over his head, I can't imagine that won him too many new pals either.

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Tennis is supposed to be a gentlemen's game. It's very seldom that you get allegations of match-fixing and stuff like that - even cricket, the other gentlemen's game, has more scandal than tennis does. So I can't imagine Kolya was too pleased to be the one that opened the door. Is this the first match-fixing scandal in tennis? It can't be the only one, surely...

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Oh, and on a happier note, well done to the finalists this weekend! Gilles Simon takes on Carlos Moya in Bucharest, and Tamira Paszek, who upset a few biggish names on the way to the final, takes on Patty Schnyder in Bali. Should be interesting matches both!

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Today's Results

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BCR Open Romania (Bucharest)

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Carlos Moya def. Richard Gasquet, 6-2 6-4

Gilles Simon def. Jose Acasuso, 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

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Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (Bali)

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Tamira Paszek def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-2 5-7 6-4

Patty Schnyder def. Nadia Petrova, 7-5 6-1