First of all, I would like to apologise for the title of today's post. It was, like the results of the women's semi finals, an exercise in inevitability.
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But let's talk about boys. I don't know if Rainer Schuettler is quite the player (or Man) that Federer, Nadal and Safin are, but he certainly put in a very Man-like performance. Odd, isn't it, that the least anticipated of the four quarter finals is the one that was the best match, in the end? Who on earth would have picked Arnaud Clement and Rainer Schuettler to get to a quarter final? Both sort of one-Slam wonders, in their way. One Grand Slam final each between them, one loss to Agassi apiece. What a great result for the thirtysomethings!
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It was an awesome match - a real classic. 8-6 in the third... Clement had a match point, which Schuettler saved. As far as nailbiting tennis goes, this was it. I love a good five set match, especially when I don't really mind who wins. If it's Federer going to five sets, I'm a nervous wreck - I much prefer a three set blowout, for the sake of my nerves, if nothing else! (The one exception to this rule is the Federer/Safin semi from the Australian Open in 2005 - because both players played such amazing tennis than winning was pretty much irrelevant.) But when I'm not particularly bothered about the result, I love the challenge of it, the gladiatorial struggle of it all. And this was a real gladiatorial match - and Schuettler was the gladiator that came out on top.
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As a Classics student, I just wounded myself mortally with the historical inaccuracy of that metaphor.
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Gladiatorial as Schuettler might have been, I don't think he stands much chance against Rafa, however... that one might just be a massive blowout. Schuettler has got to be tired from that marathon match, and Rafa is just playing so well... Rafa in three easy ones. Likewise Federer... though slightly more difficult ones. You can never count Marat out. But judging by his presser yesterday, I think Marat has counted himself out. He said that to beat Federer you need to run round like a rabbit and get everything back... like Rafa. If Marat believed he could do it, I think he's totally capable of giving Federer a run for it - though I think Roger would still come out on top. But it might be tighter...
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This match is wonderful and difficult all at the same time... because Federer is my favourite, he's The Man, he's the best thing ever. But Marat is... well, he's Marat. And I love him very dearly. But Roger is Roger! And of course I'm going for Roger. But I want Marat to do well too... why, oh why, wasn't he in the other side of the draw?
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Of course, then he wouldn't have beaten Djokovic... if only those two quarters had just been switched! Then Safin could play Nadal, though I'm really fond of Rafa, I could feel free to go for Marat. And then Roger could play Schuettler and all my loyalties would be solved!
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Sigh.
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The story of yesterday, of course, was the Williams sisters. Gee, I was shocked. Their run to the final was in no way a story of tedious inevitability. Cough cough.
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I was glad to see that Zheng Jie at least gave Serena a bit of a run for it in the second set, and she should be very proud of how she played. I don't think she was ever going to be any threat to Serena on grass, but she tried, and she acquitted herself very well.
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Now, I don't want to say that Dementieva didn't try, because she was clearly trying her hardest. But I would like to point out that she was in fact seeded above both Venus and Serena here - and this isn't a seeding based purely on ranking, but also on past grass court results. But Venus totally wiped the floor with her. I have no idea how she managed to stay with Venus through that second set. How has she got to #5 in the world with a serve like that? And that's the improved version... honestly, all she does is tap the ball into play. I lost count of how many return winners Venus cracked. Even on the first set, Venus was almost standing on the service line to receive. How does Dementieva ever manage to win a match when she has no serve? It reminds me of Camille Pin, actually, who totally would have beaten Sharapova in the first round of last year's Aussie Open if she'd had anything that even resembled a serve.
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Dementieva does have a good return game, I will grant you, and she had break points on a number of Venus's service games in that blowout first set, so it's not like she was totally out of it the whole time. It's not like serve = tennis. You need to have more than that. But surely you should have something that's at least a tiny bit of a weapon. Look at Rafa Nadal. His service is excellent now, but even in previous years, when it was one of the lesser weapons in his arsenal, it was still not something to be taken lightly. Sometimes I wondered why Dementieva just didn't dink the ball over the net to begin the point. It might have had the same effect. It's fluff. Her serve is the fairy floss of the WTA. There was a great line in Alix Ramsay's article about the match:
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'Dementieva won the toss and elected to serve, which did seem a little like a lemming booking a trip to the white cliffs of Dover for its summer holidays.'
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Too true. Ramsay also made reference to Dementieva's infamous comment before her final at the US Open against Kuznetsova, where she said that her serve was her secret weapon. Why? 'Sveta will think it's a drop shot.' Not too much has changed, really.
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Venus, to her credit, played well - not her best, but solidly. Compared to her sister, her tennis fashion has had relatively little press this tournament - in fact, the only publicity it really has had is through Nadia Petrova wearing EleVen designs - but I really like her tennis dress. Simple, but kind of interesting, too. And isn't it terrible that I've just started about tennis fashion instead of her tennis game? Shame on me.
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I think there's a litmus test for a lot of players where you can gauge how hard they're trying in a match. For Rafa Nadal, it's the sweatiness of his hair. For both Venus and Serena, it's how much they shriek... and both were pretty quiet today. Venus especially.
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So it'll be an interesting couple of days at chez Williams. People have been asking them constantly if playing in a final damages their relationship or whatever. I can see why they ask it, but really, it's pretty self evident. They're sisters. Of course they both want to win for themselves, but they're still sisters... and they're still in the doubles together. They don't exactly need to scout each others' game. They know each other so well... and that'll make the final very interesting. They're mirrors of each other, in many ways. Overall, I might give Serena a slight edge as a player all round, but I like Venus to win this one... in three sets. Tight sets. Possibly two tiebreaks and a marathon third. But I would not really put any money on the match either way.
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What I would put money on is them winning the doubles. The Channel 9 commentators consistently say that if the Williams girls played more tournaments they would be #1 and #2 in singles. This, I think, is unfair, but I don't think it's unfair at all to say that if they played more doubles, that would be the top team in the women's game. They're seeded #11. That's a bit of a joke, really. Shows that the Wimbledon seeding system isn't totally infallible.
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But the really interesting question, and the note on which I'll leave you... are the Williams parents going to go for Venus or Serena?
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Wimbledon Results - Day #10
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Men's Draw
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Rainer Schuettler def. Arnaud Clement, 6-3 5-7 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (7-9) 8-6
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Women's Draw
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Venus Williams def. Elena Dementieva, 6-1 7-6 (7-3)
Serena Williams def. Zheng Jie, 6-2 7-6 (7-5)
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