Oudinisation

I suppose the match of the day we have to talk about is Sergiy Stakhovsky and Ryan Harrison. And don't get me wrong, this was a good match. Very entertaining stuff.

But... USA, I say this with love. I say it because I am from a country that does exactly the same thing to its sportspeople (hello, Casey Dellacqua?) You do not do your up and comers any favours when you deify them as the next big thing. It is possibly the most spectacularly unhelpful thing you could do for their careers.

It's a horrible process called... Oudinisation. And Ryan Harrison is being Oudinised.

I bet Harrison is kicking himself that he lost that match - any self respecting tennis player would be. But you know what? For the sake of any future career he might have, I reckon it might be a good thing. If he had got to the third round, had gone further, the Oudinisation process would have gone further. He must have become fully Oudinised. And that is not a good thing.

Players that are Oudinised have incredible expectations placed on their shoulders. Tennis is a game where only the toughest survive, and it is only the extremely rare player in whom that toughness is innate (Rafa and Serena come to mind). In most others, it is learned. I would include Roger Federer in this category, so this is not necessary a bad thing - look how he turned out. But the process of Oudinisation does not help.

Look at what happens to British players at Wimbledon. This is an extreme case of Oudinisation which can affect even those who are legitimately the next big thing (hi, Andy Murray). But when you heap the expectations of a nation on the shoulders of someone as young as Ryan Harrison or Beatrice Capra or Melanie Oudin, you are not allowing them that necessary growth period. The time when they can play their way into toughness.

It so happens that sometimes young players have good results. We know this happen. Melanie Oudin had a spectacular run at the US Open, and this cannot be denied. But when players this young have that one run and then get expected to repeat, that is when you open the mental floodgates to the demon. These players can be literally destroyed by hope - the hope of a nation desperate for someone to be the next be thing - and a lot of the time, that second result is going to be a long time in coming. If it ever comes. Oudinisation can mess with your head.

So what I'm saying is that just because one young player had one young result, do not go and make them your Messiah. You may have dodged a bullet when you fluffed those three match points, Ryan Harrison - it might all work out better for you in the long run.

And in other news, Dustin Brown has awesome hair. This is all.

Ladies' Hot or Not in Miami

So we're in that interesting stage before the seeds turn up to play and we get a whole lot of first round tennis. It's a big melting pot at this level of the rankings, but some people are definitely way more awesome than others. So today, we're doing a hot or not of the women's draw.

Hot: Justine Henin. Yes, she may have been outclubbed by A-Kley in Indian Wells, but she's only just outside the seeds here and I think she's rad. I don't expect her to win the tournament, but let's just say I don't expect her to lose in the next round.

Not: Alize Cornet. I do expect her to lose in the next round. In fact, I'm pretty well flabbergasted she won the first one.

Hot: Carla Suarez Navarro. Not the most consistent player ever, but she plays crushworthy tennis. Her single handed backhand is the only one in the women's game fit to be mentioned in the same paragraph as JuJu's.

Not: Patty Schnyder. She's on the way down, and I don't think she's going to come back up again.

Hot: Elena Baltacha. Where has this girl come from? She's been burning it up - Anne Keothavong better not sit too pretty in that #1 British girl spot and Laura Robson better not start thinking British women's tennis is all about her...

Not: Tamira Paszek. I used to be a huge fan, but she hasn't really done anything to warrant this huge fandom. Come back to me when you've done something slightly more awesome, Tammy P.

Hot: Kimiko Date Krumm. Enough said. She's, what, 40, and still rolling strong? Love and respect.

Not: Melanie Oudin. People rave about her. I don't get it. Get off the stage.

Agreements? Disagreements? Happy to take all views into consideration...

I Don't Care What It Says On Your Shoes

You know who is a disappointing player? Michelle Larcher de Brito. Seriously, why does she get talked about so much? I don't understand it at all. Maybe it's just that she's young and hasn't grown into her game or something and wiser people than me have seen some kind of Ultimate Tennis Potential in her, but she does absolutely nothing for me. Nothing at all. Exhibit A: she got crushed today by Alexandra Dulgheru. Like, crushy mcrushed with a side of orange crush. Not good.

I'm almost positive the reason she gets discussed so much is because of her shriek. She's freaking loud. Anyway care to gainsay me?

And this is so not trendy to say, because she is the next big thing and all, but you know who else does nothing for me? Melanie Oudin. Yes, I know she'll probably grow up awesome and she made the quarters of the US Open last year and she's the best thing since the Williamses and sliced bread for American tennis and she has 'believe' on her shoes and whatnot, but I just don't feel her. I saw her play at Hopman Cup - she was playing Sorana Cirstea in a dead rubber, if I remember correctly - and even though she won, I really could have cared less. She was great at Hopman Cup for comedy value when she stood next to John Isner, but that was pretty much it.

Anyway, I'm not quite sure Oudin is going to be quite as great as everyone seems to think she is. I'm quite willing to be proved wrong on this, but I just do not feel her. No matter what her shoes say, I do not believe. And results like getting beaten 6-0 in the third by Roberta Vinci? Not helping.

...on a more positive note, you know who I really am feeling? Anastasija Sevastova. She beat Nuria Llagostera Vives in three today and I liked it. But maybe I just have a weakness for those Latvians...

Russian Kryptonite

All of Russia must be cursing Melanie Oudin. This is the fourth Russian in a row she's taken out - and I bet she's praying for Svetlana Kuznetsova to come up with the goods against Caroline Wozniacki to make it Russian #5. Unfortunately she can't play Russians ALL the way to the final... but she can get a good way there.

Anyway, we've talked a lot about the seeds in the women's draw falling, but we haven't talked much about the players that have got through, with a few notable exceptions, like Clijsters and Oudin - and Serena, I suppose, the only one of the top five seeds to remain in the draw. Everyone's talking about how it could be a final between two unseeded players, but two players that haven't received much attention are the two seeds who are facing off tonight - Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki. Both are ranked within the top ten and you've got to think that whichever one of them comes out on top tonight will make the final, whatever Melanie Oudin has to say about that.

It's pretty rare for two players of this calibre to get swept under the carpet, but it's happened. Caro shares the teen queen crown with Victoria Azarenka, and though she's underperformed at the Slams thus far, she's got some serious game. And Svetlana Kuznetsova won Roland Garros this year. How did we forget about these two?

I know Oudin is the fairy tale, but I'm calling it. Either Sveta or Caro will make the final, where they will play Serena. Le prediction de Jodi d'official, excuse my franglaise.

And a shout out to two other players in the quarters, one of whom will be in the semis. I don't think Yanina Wickmayer vs Kateryna Bondarenko is quite the match that the tournament organisers would have been hoping for, but big kudos to both of these girls for making it this far. Awesome work.

And speaking of awesome work - Roger Federer's into the quarters. Again. He looked brilliant beating Tommy Robredo - I'm hoping his third round match against Lleyton Hewitt was his token yippy match and it's all smooth sailing from here on in. It'd be great if he won and Clijsters won on the women's side - victories for the parental units!


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Roger Federer def. Tommy Robredo, 7-5 6-2 6-2
Fernando Verdasco def. John Isner, 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4
Robin Soderling def. Nikolay Davydenko, 7-5 3-6 6-2 retired


Women's Draw

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Gisela Dulko, 6-0 6-0
Melanie Oudin def. Nadia Petrova, 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3
Yanina Wickmayer def. Petra Kvitova, 4-6 6-4 7-5

USA Fairy Tale

I talked yesterday about the lack of consistency on the WTA tour as opposed to the ATP- all top sixteen men are through to the round of thirty two for the first time in history, whereas eleven of the top twenty women have fallen. Generally, you'd take le tour de bloke any day, given as good opponents = good matches and whatnot, but you know what? There is an upside to this whole WTA scattiness.

It leaves the door open for a fairy tale.

And that's exactly what has happened to Melanie Oudin.

I just realised I sounded like I was suggesting that the fact that the top girls are playing crap has sort of made her win by default, which is not what I mean at all, just to clarify. What she has done is analogous to what Casey Dellacqua did at the Aussie Open in 2008 - knocking off some top players by playing some completely great, out of the blue stuff. And that's what the WTA is allowing room for at the moment - someone to come out of the blue.

This is the second Slam in a row where Oudin has fought her way to the big W against top ten moments. Her Slam scalps now include Jankovic, Dementieva and Sharapova - and can I just say I am very sad to see MaSha go. I was kind of pulling for her to go deep - but how can you resist a fairy tale like Oudin? Hometown girl with a lot of fire... she's such a great story and I think she proves that if she can keep this up, the future of American tennis is in same hands.

One result of hers that hasn't been much talked about is her first round, where she totally demolished Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - I think it was 6-2 6-1 or something similar. Readers of this blog will know that I think very highly of Pavlyuchenkova. She's very young as well - eighteen, I think - and has about 237048948239 junior Slams under her belt. I think she's going to be very, very good in a few years.

And Oudin, who is her generation, effectively, totally destroyed her. The victories over the top seeds are sending a message to the current field, but I feel like the one over Pavlyuchenkova sent one to the future. Oudin is here, she's here to stay - and she's got her eyes on the top prize. And as no one else seems to want it that much... how about Mel?


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Roger Federer def. Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-3
Novak Djokovic def. Jesse Witten, 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 7-6 (7-2) 6-4
Radek Stepanek def. Philipp Kohlschreiber, 4-6 6-2 6-3 6-3
Nikolay Davydenko def. Marco Chiudinelli, 6-4 7-5 7-5
Robin Soderling def. Sam Querrey, 6-2 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1


Women's Draw

Melanie Oudin def. Maria Sharapova, 3-6 6-4 7-5
Nadia Petrova def. Jie Zheng, 6-4 6-1
Gisela Dulko def. Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-3 6-4

Humility and Respect (or lack thereof)

I am totally out of my writing rhythm. I need to start writing in the mornings again instead of the evening. This is totally weird.

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Another good win for Lleyton Hewitt last night - thought I'd put this out there now before I forget to talk about it, because he's not my main topic of conversation today. He took out Philipp Petzschner in three pretty decent sets - it was an entertaining match. Most entertaining match award of the day has to go to the end of Haas/Cilic, which finished 10-8 in the fifth - you have to feel for Cilic but if this hasn't tired Haas out I can totally see him making the semis. He has such a good shot.

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Also impressive in five was Radek Stepanek, who beat David Ferrer despite suffering some bizarre injury. If it actually is a badness, then Lleyton Hewitt is NOT the player he wants to be facing in the next round, considering the amount of balls the little guy gets back. This'll be an interesting one to see, that's for sure.

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But on the subject of injury, this brings to me to my main subject today - Jelena Jankovic, who had approximately fourteen thousand injuries in her match today, and who always seems to carrying a few. I don't have an issue with that - players get injured and some get injured more than others. This happens, I'm all right with that.

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But what I am NOT cool with is what she said about her opponent.

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JJ, when you lose, there ain't no one can take the blame but you. YOU lost. There might be extenuating circumstances, but at the end of the day, YOU LOST. Deal with it. You DO NOT come out and say that your opponent 'has no weapons' and 'can't really hurt you'. That is absolutely not cool. That is totally disrespectful of Melanie Oudin, and if she holds a grudge against you for the rest of eternity, I totally do not blame her. She beat you, JJ. You lost. Deal with it.

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I know that JJ isn't exactly enamoured of my man Roger Federer due to some comments he made about the WTA rankings when she was #1 (I think we all agree that the rankings are totally f*cked), but she needs to take a lesson from him. When was the last time you heard him go 'yeah, my opponent had nothing and I was sick'? The man kept glange secret for months! Sure, that's a bit extreme, but you must ALWAYS give credit to an opponent. To do otherwise demonstrates a total lack of sportsmanship.

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So JJ is in my bad books. And if she doesn't improve her attitude, she's staying there. I'm glad Oudin beat her. I hope Oudin beats her again. JJ needs to learn that humility and respect is one of the most important parts of sport. And I hope Oudin makes her eat her words.

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Two lovely girls that played off against each other were Kuznetsova and Lisicki, and much as I like Sveta, I'm glad Lisicki won that one. I'd be happy to see her go deep in this tournament. She is such an ebullient, lovely sportswoman - and Sveta gave her fair credit. That is the way to do things.

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Shape up or ship out, JJ.

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Today's Results

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The Championships (Wimbledon)

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Men's Draw

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Andy Roddick def. Jurgen Melzer, 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-2) 4-6 6-3

Andy Murray def. Viktor Troicki, 6-2 6-3 6-4

Tomas Berdych def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-2 6-3 6-2

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

Tommy Haas def. Marin Cilic, 7-5 7-5 1-6 6-7 (3-7) 10-8

Lleyton Hewitt def. Philipp Petzschner, 7-5 7-6 (7-3) 6-3

Igor Andreev def. Andreas Seppi, 6-1 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-6 (7-5)

Gilles Simon def. Victor Hanescu, 6-2 7-5 6-2

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Jesse Levine, 5-7 7-5 6-3 6-3

Radek Stepanek def. David Ferrer, 7-5 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Venus Williams def. Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-0 6-4

Sabine Lisicki def. Svetlana Kuznetsova, 6-2 7-5

Dinara Safina def. Kirsten Flipkens, 7-5 6-1

Ana Ivanovic def. Samantha Stosur, 7-5 6-2

Amelie Mauresmo def. Flavia Pennetta, 7-5 6-3

Melanie Oudin def. Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8-10) 7-5 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, 6-2 6-2

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Na Li, 6-4 7-5