The Last American Hero?

I was reading through Tennis Australia's little Off the Court article that they put out every week (it was very short - clearly they aren't the only ones struggling for something to write about!) and something struck me. There was a story about John McEnroe thinking about retiring from Blackrock after losing so badly in London, and then a story about Pete Sampras saying that there are dark times for American tennis ahead.

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These guys are two of the major figureheads of the US tennis pantheon, yeah? And they are so incredibly different. McEnroe is all racquet-smashing and fire and temper and swearing, whereas Sampras is more gentleman-like -not quite to the epic standards of Federer, but still. He could be accused of being boring sometimes. And yet they're both still beloved - and, I might venture to say, probably disliked by equal amounts of people.

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And now we come to the point - what does US tennis have now?

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Andy Roddick, who probably drew more attention from his engagement to Brooklyn Decker than from his tennis this year, and James Blake, who was a bit of a non-event this year, apart from at the Olympics. Then I suppose there's Fish and Querrey and all that crew, but there is no real American tennis god right now, no McEnroe, no Connors, no Sampras, no Agassi. I guess Australia isn't the only place seemingly in a tennis recession. And Sampras seems to think there are dark times ahead for America - no one coming up, no one coming through. (I still pray at the altar of Tomic for the sake of Australian tennis every day. Go Bernard - though not with your little temper tantrums, please.)

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Tennis is almost wholly European at the moment. Look at the top - a Spanish guy, a Swiss guy, a Serbian guy, a British guy. Europe's got the monopoly on the top. Not that I'm complaining - there's nothing wrong with it. But how on earth did we go so quickly from a USA-USA duopoly in Agassi and Sampras to a Hispano-Suisse one?

Lucky Star

And so the last, LAST event of the year has finished, with the Pro circuit event in Sorrento wrapping up. I can't say I am too familiar with the people that won - Marinko Matosevic in the men's and Olivia Rogowska in the women's. I don't have too much more to say about that, except that this Matosevic character has apparently won four Pro circuit titles this year... maybe he'll graduate to Futures or even Challengers at some stage. He is exactly four years younger than Roger Federer... I suppose you could say he was thus born under a tennis lucky star.

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And how about Cedric Pioline? Knocking out Pete Sampras - God, I bet that felt sweet, though I'm sure he would have preferred to have done it a little earlier in his career! - then going on to beat Greg Rusedski for his first seniors tour title. I confess I don't follow the seniors tour very much, which I suppose is a shame, because it looks kind of interesting... actually, Jonas Bjorkman said when he retired that he'd played on the regular tour for so long he could go straight on the seniors tour. Ah, Jonas...

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So what is the point of the seniors tour, exactly? Is it just a chance to set up epic grudgematches, like the Sampras/Pioline rematch? How serious is it? Is it just a group of old guys kicking around having fun or do they really get down and dirty?

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I would like to note that I exempt John McEnroe from this question. He would get down and dirty with anyone, anywhere, anytime...

Blast From The Past

It hasn't been a good week for the legends of the sport - and I'm not talking Federer and Nadal, our current legends, here. No, we're going old school. Tennis is clearly fraught with drama, even from beyond the proverbial grave.

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First, Boris Becker gets dumped by text message. I thought this was pretty hilarious, to tell the truth. Tennis Australia does this piece every week called 'Off The Court' - here's a paragraph from their article on the Becker incident:

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'Becker has led a tortured personal life in recent decades, divorcing from the mother of his two sons, Barbara Feltus, in 2001. He later gained playboy notoriety after fathering a child, now eight, with a Russian model, after a tryst in a London restaurant broom closet.'

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Can you tell me that he doesn't deserve to get dumped by text message? He seems like a bit of a tool, really. Maybe this is some kind of grand karmic revenge. Ha ha ha. That's pretty much all I have to say on the matter.

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And then Jimmy Connors goes and gets arrested at a basketball game. Guess he took his break up (presumably not by text message) with Andy Roddick pretty hard, returning to his old badarse ways after a brief stint as a respectable coach type. John McEnroe got sent off the court in a seniors match a while back for being a dickhead - guess Connors couldn't stand to be beaten and had to one-up him.

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It kind of makes you wonder - what will today's tennis heroes be like in twenty years? I would bet you any money that Roger and Rafa will be tennis statesmen in the model of Laver and Agassi, the classy guys: still making the sport proud, quiet family types, some endorsements, light commentary duties. (Can you imagine Rafa the commentator? Hilarious!) Djokovic, on the other hand, will still be trying to seduce Paraguayan javelin throwers and Slovakian singers, and will probably be getting dumped by text message for his troubles...

Thirty-One Grand Slam Titles... and James Blake

Okay, so a question. This exhibition event in Macao that Federer's playing with Borg and McEnroe. Why, why, WHY is James Blake the other guy?

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Not that James Blake isn't a great player. I had that whole discussion yesterday about the insane achievements of anyone who makes it anywhere near the top hundred. He's a wonderful player. He has mad tennis skillz. But... he hasn't exactly won multiple Slams. He hasn't exactly won ONE Slam. Federer has thirteen. Borg and McEnroe have a pretty healthy number between them. I would feel like such a schlep if I were James, such a ring-in. You have these three major tennis greats... and James Blake. Poor guy.

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Federer beat Blake in a scrappy match, and McEnroe overcame Borg. I'm not sure what happened in the doubles. I'm not exactly sure what the point of this exhibition was, but it sounded like fun. Pity that that other one had to get cancelled - I think it was supposed to be in Penang. Still, the Macao thing sounds like it would have been fun to watch.

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Speaking of fun to watch, who else would kill to see that Sampras/McEnroe showdown in the BlackRock masters event in London? That one will be a dogfight of the old guys. I bet they'll sell a whoooooole lotta tickets.