Horse-Flogging... In The Metaphorical Sense

The Aussie boys finished sixth in junior Davis Cup, beating Hungary but losing to Sweden. Still, this whole week has been nothing to sneeze at. Maverick Banes, James Duckworth and Jarryd Chaplin can all be justifiably proud of what they have achieved. You wait. I don't know if any of them is a future #1, but they're going to grow up great. I'm not exactly sure when I started flogging this horse, but I seem to have started at some point, and so I'm going to stick with it. Australian tennis is going to great... in a while. Just not now.

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Though one thing that I did find troubling is that we either didn't send a team to junior Fed Cup or we didn't qualify. The boys are doing all right - what about the girls? We do have a few good juniors - Jess Moore won her first match in a senior Grand Slam this year - but none under sixteen, apparently. Where are the girls? Though it is well within the realms of possibility that there simply are none - we are a small country, after all. And look at today's generation. We aren't exactly a powerhouse of Australian tennis.

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That said, Sam Stosur was just in a final. Unfortunately, she went down to Maria Kirilenko, but it's a pretty decent achievement anyhow. She's never won a WTA singles title - Stosur, that is - but she's shown she's got the capability. Here's hoping she can go one further sometime in the near future - and get a few more doubles Slams under her belt as well!

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And speaking of winners, how about that Jo-W? Vengeance is sweet! Take that one, Novak! I was praying for someone to beat him this week after that whole Marko incident, and Jo-W did me proud. It was his first ATP title, and I think it's great that he beat Djokovic to do it. Monsieur Tsonga is serving notice. He's back - and he's back bigtime. I would love to see him make a good run at the Aussie Open next year - though obviously, with my proclivities, I want Federer to win it. Jo-W is just such an exciting player to watch. He's explosive, and he's fun, and he's not a complete dickhead, like certain Djokovics I could mention. Here's hoping that the rest of his year is shiny!

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(On the Djokovic subject, how long do you think it'll be before Novak gets his other little brother a wildcard? Spew.)

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Roddick and Jankovic round out our winners this week, taking titles in Japan. I confess I was hoping for Sela to come through with the goods, but Roddick did give a whole stack of his prize money to charity, which earned him extra brownie points. Still, he should have played the Olympics. There is another horse I'm going to flog for as long as it has legs to stand. (How 'bout that metaphor, eh?)

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Today's Results

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Thailand Open (Bangkok)

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Novak Djokovic, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

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China Open (Beijing)

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Men's Draw

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Andy Roddick def. Dudi Sela, 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-3 6-2

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Hansol Korea Open (Seoul)

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Maria Kirilenko def. Samantha Stosur, 2-6 6-1 6-4

Tenacious JC

I am still steaming under the hat after the Djokovic saga of yesterday, but will attempt to put my rage behind me. The older Djokovic won. Spit spit. I was hoping he would crash out in the earliest possible round to vindicate me, but alas, 'twas not to be. But there is still time for him to lose to a player ranked a long way below him! A LONG TIME!

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Let's talk about the junior Davis Cup instead. I don't have much to say, except c'mon Aussie! The boys (being James Duckworth, Maverick Banes and Jarryd Chaplin) slaughtered Peru in their second rubber and will now face top seeds Russia tomorrow. And they can so win. I've said it once, I'll say it again - Australian tennis sucks right now, but when these boys grow up, it's going to rock the socks of the tennis world.

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Onto another sporting nation of greatness, being Spain. They have had some interesting mixed fortunes in Beijing. David Ferrer was the top seed, but he's been knocked out by Dudi Sela - le drama! Ferrer really has gone away a bit towards the end of this season. He had some good results earlier but he's gone off the boil... which is sad, because I find his game interesting. He has to be one of the best returners on the circuit, which means the proportion of rallies in his games is high, and that makes for interesting tennis, even if he does play largely defensively, which can be dull.

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But on the flip side for Spain, Juan Carlos Ferrero scored an upset victory! Sure, it was over Fernando Verdasco, another Spaniard, but still. JC is a funny one. He's a former #1 and he had a bit of mystique for a while there, but it's like no one really takes him seriously any more. It's not like with Safin, where everyone still fears him because they know the potential for his explosive game is still there. No one fears JC any more... and, to be fair, he hasn't really given them reason to. He's certainly capable of excellent play - we must remember that it was he who beat Rafa in Rome, which is no mean feat, even if Rafa did have blisters the size of dinner plates. But he just doesn't bring it much any more. The mighty have fallen. But he's clinging on, JC, clinging on tenaciously.

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Meanwhile, anyone else looking forward to the Ana Ivanovic/Zheng Jie Wimbledon rematch? Put it this way - I would not be betting on Ana...

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Today's Results

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Thailand Open (Bangkok)

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Novak Djokovic def. Simon Stadler, 6-1 6-3

Tomas Berdych def. Simone Bolelli, 7-5 6-1

Nicolas Mahut def. Jarkko Nieminen, 6-4 3-6 6-3

Robin Soderling def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-1 6-3

Jurgen Melzer def. Viktor Troicki, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Philipp Petzschner def. Mischa Zverev, 7-6 (7-3) 3-6 6-1

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China Open (Beijing)

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Men's Draw

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Dudi Sela def. David Ferrer, 6-3 6-3

Andy Roddick def. Brendan Evans, 6-4 6-3

Fernando Gonzalez def. Go Soeda, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1

Richard Gasquet def. Yen-hsun Lu, 7-5 6-1

Juan Carlos Ferrero def. Fernando Verdasco, 7-5 6-4

Tommy Robredo def. Ivo Minar, 6-2 6-3

Rainer Schuettler def. Jean-Claude Scherrer, 6-1 6-4

Bjorn Phau def. Sam Querrey, 5-7 6-3 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Ana Ivanovic def. Alizé Cornet, 6-1 7-6 (7-1)

Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-2 6-3

Vera Zvonareva def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-6 (7-5) 6-2

Dominika Cibulkova def. Anna Chakvetadze, 6-3 6-2

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Agnes Szavay, 6-2 6-2

Zheng Jie def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-1 6-2

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Hansol Korea Open (Seoul)

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Maria Kirilenko def. Lucie Safarova, 6-3 6-3

Kaia Kanepi def. Anastasia Pivovarova, 6-1 6-1

Pauline Parmentier def. Stéphanie Dubois, 6-3 6-2

Yanina Wickmayer def. Chan Yung-Jan, 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 

Blood Privileges

Let's take a reality check for a moment. Do you think there is a chance in hell that Marko Djokovic would have got a wildcard into the Thailand Open if he wasn't Novak's brother?
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Marko is ranked #1734 in the world at the moment. He's made exactly three appearances on the Futures circuit, two echelons below the ATP main circuit. Let's have a look at the players ranked around him. There are a whole stack of people ranked at this number, with exactly one point. Have you ever heard of Patrick Knobloch? Ricardo Azzarita? Jesus Bandres?

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I didn't think so. And can you see any of these players getting wildcarded into a tournament? Hell, look at Bernard Tomic. He is ranked half that, at #811, which means, one would think, he would walk all over Marko Djokovic and assorted cohort. Can you imagine him getting wildcarded into the Thailand Open? The Australian Open, or the Medibank or something maybe, but that would be more on the grounds of him being Australia's most promising junior rather than being ranked #811. In fact, we have three Australians also ranked #1734 - David Bidmeade, Phillip Lang and Alan Poric. In what alternate universe would they get a wildcard into any ATP tournament, even the Australian ones? Hell, we have players ranked in the #300s - like Rameez Junaid, or Matthew Ebden - that will never see an Aussie Open wildcard, let alone one in a country not their own.

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So why should Marko Djokovic be treated any differently? Excuse while I bellow 'NEPOTISM!' at the top of my lungs.

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There are plenty of players that deserve wildcards much more than Marko Djokovic. So why should he get special treatment just because he's Novak's brother? I am not amused.

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What was amusing was that Jarkko Nieminen pounded him into the ground, 6-2 6-0. Nonetheless, there are a lot of players ranked much higher than Marko Djokovic that would kill for the opportunity to be whipped by Jarkko Nieminen. I hope they all frown at him in the locker room - on the Futures circuit. Or the Pro circuit. Or whatever is below the Pro circuit. Nick Lindahl and Monique Adamczak are winning things on the Pro circuit, and they're both ranked in the #200s. Marko Djokovic would be hard-pressed to qualify.

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In happier news, well done to the Australian Junior Davis Cup team! Maverick Banes, James Duckworth and Jarryd Chaplin accounted for Tunisia in fine form, 3-0. We're seeded #7 in the event, but we won last year (Bernard Tomic played on that team, along with Mark Verryth and Alex Sanders) and I reckon we can do it again. Australian tennis is going to be in SUCH a good place in a few years. Tomic will be the spearhead, but we have some other good kids coming up too.

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So why aren't they given wildcards into tournaments lightyears ahead of their playing range, hmmm?

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Today's Results

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Thailand Open (Bangkok)

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Lukas Dlouhy, 7-6 (11-9) 3-6 7-6 (7-1)

Gael Monfils def. Robert Kendrick, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Jarkko Nieminen def. Marko Djokovic, 6-2 6-0

Jurgen Melzer def. Donald Young, 6-3 6-3

Viktor Troicki def. Fabrice Santoro, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2

Simone Bolelli def. Thomaz Bellucci, 6-3 6-3

Mischa Zverev def. Robert Smeets, 6-4 6-4

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China Open (Beijing)

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Men's Draw

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Fernando Verdasco def. Bobby Reynolds, 6-3 6-3

Sam Querrey def. Jesse Levine, 1-6 6-2 7-6 (7-4)

Ivo Minar def. Hyung-taik Lee, 6-3 3-6 6-2

Dudi Sela def. Nicolas Devilder, 6-4 6-3

Go Soeda def. Yan Bai, 6-4 7-5

Brendan Evans def. Roko Karanusic, 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-6 (12-10)

Jean-Claude Scherrer def. Peng Sun, 6-4 7-6 (9-7)

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-3 7-5

Daniela Hantuchova def. Tamarine Tanasugarn, 6-1 0-6 7-5

Zheng Jie def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2 6-3

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Hansol Korea Open (Seoul)

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Shahar Peer def. Ayumi Morita, 6-4 7-5

Ekaterina Makarova def. Klara Zakopalova, 6-3 6-2

Jill Craybas def. Akgul Amanmuradova, 7-6 (7-1) 6-2

Samantha Stosur def. Sabine Lisicki, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-3