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January 2009
January 20, 2009
JJ Gets Defensive. Again. Yawn.
JJ's blogging for The Age while in Melbourne. I wonder if she's sick of those "#1 without a Slam questions":
I am a positive person who laughs a lot and am always happy, but deep down on the inside, I am also a very sensitive person. Believe it or not I am a bit of a crier! I do tend to be quite emotional and cry easily.
It is not something that I particularly like about myself, but that is how I am as a person.
I am not as cold as a rock. But I don't pay too much attention to what others say about me. Everybody has the right to think what they want and speak their mind if they want to. But I don't really focus on that, and when you are successful there are always going to be critics, as well as people who compliment you. That's just the way it is.
If I was ranked 1000th in the world or if I wasn't doing well, no one would talk about me. Nobody would say anything, so I guess this is the way it has to be and I have to accept that.
I have my own team and I have the people who believe in me and wish me the best.
I just try to get my results and don't feel that I have to prove anything to anybody. I'm No. 1 in the world and everybody wants to be in my shoes, so I don't have anything to worry about. I'm just a girl who enjoys tennis. I go to the court with a smile on my face, and that's what matters … I enjoy what I do and I'm happy. I love my sport. I love running after balls.
That's what matters to me and that's what counts.
Seriously, you guys. Don't make JJ cry. She's very sensitive. Especially on the soles of her feet.
AO: Day 2 Nightcap
Rafa showed no mercy against wee Rochus, winning 0, 2, and 2. Love the new Nike kit though:
The cut is obviously more consdervative but the colors keep it young and fun. Yup, Nike will be selling a lot of these.
In the other night matches, stupid Blah just gets blaher in his powder blue Fila gear. Doesn't it look like Fila gave him the most generic Fila gear possible? And four sizes too big to boot.
Anyway, he won, as did Flava Flav, Julie !@#$ing Coin, and Sam Stosur.
Ladies Day 2 Roundup
Some of the other interesting/notable results on the ladies side:
- Domi issued a double bagel to Scheepers
- Vika destroyed Kvitova, 62 61
- Sorana Cirstea lost 2 and 2 to Czink
- Sabine Lisicki upseat Wozniak 4 and 3
- Nikki V lost to Bremond, 2 and 1
- Razzano beat Jarkka Gajdosova, 61 67 64
- Kuz was pushed to three but survives, beating Rodionova 62 36 63
Stosur and Flava Flav are still playing. Flavia's stuck in a third set, though she's up a break. And Stosur is on serve in the first.
Gonzo Downs Lawnmower Lleyton
Gonzo edged out a semi-resurgent Lleyton in five sets, 57 62 62 36 63. Lleyton looked to have the momentum going into the fifth set when Gonzo called for the trainer for cramping. That break in the action changed everything and Gonzo took control of the match and closed out the win.
Meanwhile, a few big names came through with little fanfare. Jo, Ernie, and Fernando all came through easily in straight sets. Mario also came through, beating Wayne Odesnik in four.
Pic This: This Stuff Promotes Tennis? Really??
Ski Boots doing her best Michelle Pfeiffer impression on the back of a hog.
"I need a Coooooool Rider. I need a Coooooool Rider. If he's cool enough,
he can burn me through and through."
Super Cutie Evgeny Koralev (Baby Marat, anyone?) does his best Spicoli impersonation.
Seriously, what is up with those Kournikova genes?
They need to learn how to bottle that shit.
Asia In Da House!
It started out as a rough day for Team Asia, as we saw Project 45 go down listlessly to the douchestamped Melzer. The kid just didn't look right all match and I wonder how much of it had to do in the drop in confidence because of the arm injury that forced him out of Auckland last week. He lost 75 62 61.
But the ladies kept their end of the bargain. The un-Nike'd Zheng Jie won in straights over Camille Pin, 63 63. And Shuai Peng scored a bit of an upset when she beat Tranny Schiavone 76 61.
Too bad Na Li isn't here.
Sisters Through Without A Hitch
Boy, yellow is clearly the color of the season. Venus looked fantastic in her yellow Eleven frock. And she played well, too, beating Kerber, 3 and 3. A small hiccup here and there with a loss of concentration, but the woman served well and got to the net. If she keeps that up, there's no reason to think she doesn't take this. I thought she looked better than Serena.
Both fashion wise and game wise. Someone alert the Go Fug Yourself girls because this is a hot tranny mess. The sillouette is fine but the weird pattern? I seriously had no words to describe what exactly I was seeing. It looks like a horrible 80's reject. Luckily it didn't effect ReRe's play, as she won in straight sets at 3 and 2.
January 19, 2009
Vive La France
A reluctant congrats to France who are so far having a solid tournament after two rounds. Cornet, Dechy, Mono, and Mathieu won yesterday and the big names took care of business today and Julie Coin is on court against Vesnina, leading 4-1 in the first set. A plate of Freedom Fries to you all!
Momo and Gilles had easy straight set wins today. Momo took out Olga Govortsova, 64 63, and Gilles had a quick day, winning 64 61 61. Monfils had a bit of tough go in the third, but he came back to take it in straights, 61 63 75.
But the story of the day was Reeshie, who's balls finally dropped in the sweltering heat of Australia. The kid looked like absolute crap in the first set, losing to a Ron Jeremy look-alike, 76(5). But then he finally got pissed at himself and at the world, threw a racquet, and refocused to take the next three sets, 76(3) 63 64.
Nice job, Baby Fed. But please don't emulate your namesake. Keep the shirt on:
Muzz Gets A Free Pass
Well that was kind a bummer. Andy basically got a free pass into the second round after Pavel retired after losing the first set. But for those who are on the MAndy bandwagon (not me, I'm all about Fed winning the tournament) this bodes well only because it'll keep him fresh.
So congrats, MAndy fans. Too bad your boy is going to lose spectacularly to the All Might Fed in the finals.
Houston, We Have an Upset
Well our first top 10 upset goes to A-Rad. She lost a three setter to K Bond, 76 46 61. A breadstick in the third set? Someone should probably work on her fitness. That's just sorry.
Lena D had a tense first round match too and the way she played she should be out of the tournament. She pulled out a tense one 76 26 61 over Barrois. She was sluggish in her movement and just seemed all discombobulated on the court. Barrois actually had a 5-3 lead in the first set before Lena came back. Hopefully this scares the crap out of her and she wakes up for her second match.
Bar Banter: AO Day 2
Feel free to vent, scream, crack wise, request streams, etc., here.
Game on!
Pic This: Rafa With A Couple Of Losers
Rafa, Felo, and Chuck at the IMG player's party.
Pic This: Quick, Hide The Bleach
It's getting awfully close....
Pic This: Fed's AO Kit
Yup. Looks like Fed.
Be Sure To Catch Some Sights Before You Leave
Really disappointing loss for Sammy, who fell in straight sets to PEHK. But you know, you really shouldn't be playing a tournament the week before a Grand Slam. Jarkko Niemenen is also out, having to retire in his match. Sam says he just got to Melbourne on Sunday and only had a 30 minute hit before taking the court. He couldn't get used to the court speed. Tough luck.
But in happier news, DB Chuck is out, losing to one of Sven's charges, Evgeny Koralev. Nice win for Koralev who I've always had a soft spot for because I think he's adorable. And I always felt bad for him seeing as how he's Anna K's cousin. If you think life was hard for Dinara in the locker room, imagine what it must be like for him.
The Prodigal Daughter Returns
Welcome back, Jelena Dokic. The former #4 scored a hard fought first round win over Pazcek, 62 36 64. Matt Cronin rewards her with a nice write-up:
For the first time, Dokic was a real crowd favorite, too. She’s
had an up and down relationship with the country that she spent much of
her youth in, fighting for her family while her father fought every tennis
authority in sight. She played for her homeland, then left it and played
for Serbia. She said the Australians misunderstood her and she lashed
out at those her took her father to task. She was out off her element
emotionally and eventually, as her relationship with her abusive father
was destroyed, her game fell off the cliff. Given how little she played
from 2004-2007 and how deeply she fell into an emotional abyss, it’s
amazing she’s still holding a racket.
“I battled severe depression for about two years,” a tearful she said. “ Didn't play for months at a time. Was really seriously thinking about not playing. But tennis is not the most important thing in the world, but it's something that I love. I was very disappointed when I couldn't play well. It was a tough time in my life. I had a lot to go through, a lot of family issues. It's really a miracle for me. What I had to go through, it's really great to have this win. I don't think a lot of people know what it means to me.”
Dokic’s awful relationship with her father Damir is well chronicled, but that she still is still attempting to mend fences with her mother Liliana, who lives in Sydney, and her younger brother, Savo, who lives in Belgrade, is troubling. She hasn’t spoken to her father for years.
“I talk to my mom. We're mending that relationship,” she said. “As soon as I left home, my relationship, went down the hill with my dad. It went down the hill with my whole family. The biggest thing I regret is my brother, who is eight years younger than me. I didn't have contact with him for years until the last 12 months. That was the hardest thing to deal with. But I still feel like I've lost them. I will try my best to do what I can to patch up my things with my brother and my mom. It will be difficult. But it's not just that. I had so much to go through while my dad was on the tour. I was just so young and just had no real idea what was going on. But it was real difficult to take all that, what was going on off the court, all the outbursts. It was not easy to play with that. I played with a huge pressure on my shoulders. I kind of just cracked by the time I was 19 already.”
Dokic credits her longtime boyfriend, Croatian Tin Bikic, the bother of her coach, Borna, as sticking with her through thick and thin. What she hasn’t mentioned was that it partly her relationships with the Bikic’s that caused a wedge with her family. The Bikic brothers have been accused by some in the Croatian and Serbians media or almost ruining the careers of Dokic, as well as Borna’s girlfriend, Karolina Sprem, who qualified for the Austrian Open but went down on Monday.
“My boyfriend was there. We've been together for six years,” Dokic said. “So it was probably even tougher for him at times than it was for me because he had to watch me go through all that. It was a constant battle every day, just how I will be, whether I will be able to get out of bed. He was there the whole time no matter what.”
“I battled severe depression for about two years,” a tearful she said. “ Didn't play for months at a time. Was really seriously thinking about not playing. But tennis is not the most important thing in the world, but it's something that I love. I was very disappointed when I couldn't play well. It was a tough time in my life. I had a lot to go through, a lot of family issues. It's really a miracle for me. What I had to go through, it's really great to have this win. I don't think a lot of people know what it means to me.”
Dokic’s awful relationship with her father Damir is well chronicled, but that she still is still attempting to mend fences with her mother Liliana, who lives in Sydney, and her younger brother, Savo, who lives in Belgrade, is troubling. She hasn’t spoken to her father for years.
“I talk to my mom. We're mending that relationship,” she said. “As soon as I left home, my relationship, went down the hill with my dad. It went down the hill with my whole family. The biggest thing I regret is my brother, who is eight years younger than me. I didn't have contact with him for years until the last 12 months. That was the hardest thing to deal with. But I still feel like I've lost them. I will try my best to do what I can to patch up my things with my brother and my mom. It will be difficult. But it's not just that. I had so much to go through while my dad was on the tour. I was just so young and just had no real idea what was going on. But it was real difficult to take all that, what was going on off the court, all the outbursts. It was not easy to play with that. I played with a huge pressure on my shoulders. I kind of just cracked by the time I was 19 already.”
Dokic credits her longtime boyfriend, Croatian Tin Bikic, the bother of her coach, Borna, as sticking with her through thick and thin. What she hasn’t mentioned was that it partly her relationships with the Bikic’s that caused a wedge with her family. The Bikic brothers have been accused by some in the Croatian and Serbians media or almost ruining the careers of Dokic, as well as Borna’s girlfriend, Karolina Sprem, who qualified for the Austrian Open but went down on Monday.
“My boyfriend was there. We've been together for six years,” Dokic said. “So it was probably even tougher for him at times than it was for me because he had to watch me go through all that. It was a constant battle every day, just how I will be, whether I will be able to get out of bed. He was there the whole time no matter what.”
I just caught a clip of her very emotional presser. She teared up quite a bit throughout. This really was a very emotional win for her.
Headlights Are For Cars
Flashes of brilliance in a sea of poo. That's the only way to describe the 2+ hour match between Dani and Fosters Dellaqua. It was a battle of nerves as both ladies were broken over and over again. Fosters had every right to win this match, but she just couldn't shut the door on Dani. The key was the first set tiebreak, which Dani eventually won 13-11. She would go on to win the match 76(11) 64.
On the fashion front, I love the blue on Dani. Also love that she's left her ponytail loose instead of that uptight braid she was rocking last year (it made her look like an insane control freak for some reason). But please, Dani, invest in some Low Beams. It's so damn awkward watching you play sometimes.
Nice win for Chakky over AKO, but my heart goes out to Anne. Tough draw for her. She played well in Auckland and deserved to make it to the second round here. But she showed a lot of heart coming back from a set down. Unfortunately, in today's heat, she just ran out of gas.
One thing that stood out to me watching today's matches was the gulf in fitness levels between the top players and the second tier players. It's mindboggling to me to see players completely tank in second and third sets because their fitness prevents them from dealing with the conditions. I totally agree with Brad Gilbert (reluctantly) that it's inexcusable. This is the first Slam of the year and you've had two months to get into proper shape.
And yes, Strawberry-Lemonade Nads is still in the mix. There's just so much unnecessary color going on in that shot.
For The Record
My pick on the men's side is Fed. I'm too lazy to do a full blown analysis, but there it is. I think it'll take some time for Rafa to warm up for the season and I don't see him getting past Muzz. And let's face it, Nole's not right in the head right now. Jo's hurt so I don't have faith he can play 7 clean matches. And while I love Elf and Gilly, no way. Did I forget anyone? Oh yeah, A-Rod is just not in the same league as thte Big 4. So Fed FTW.*
*I'm totally trying to jinx him. I'm rooting for Muzz.
*I'm totally trying to jinx him. I'm rooting for Muzz.
I'll Give You $100 If You Hit The Opera House.
Gonzo posing with the biggest spitballer ever.
I can never take Gonzo seriously. Too much Barry Watson for my liking.
Gonzo takes on Lleyton tomorrow.
Marat Lives To Be Hot Another Day
Nice straight set win for Maratski, beating Navarro 3 3 and 4.
Gut Check
Nice article by Matt Cronin on Baby K. Here's an excerpt:
That would be great news for the sport, because with Maria Sharapova still sidelined, Ivanovic has the most engaging personality of any of the meaningful young players. When she's on, she also owns an extremely attractive game, which offers a lot more variety than she given credit for, with nifty volleys, a one-handed backhand slice and soft drop shots.
But the Serbian's mind appears to be wandering on court,
perhaps because she lost a little clarity off court, not allowing
herself enough mental breaks and obsessing about her tennis, even when
she should be taking breaks. She's also engaged in an extraordinary
amount of promotional opportunities, trying to market her persona (and
the WTA Tour) to a wider audience.
In order to reach her peak, however, Ivanovic will have to temper some of her off-court activities when preparing for the majors, especially during a period when she's been pressing.
Today, she's no longer the cute brunette who learned to play tennis in a swimming pool. She's a worldwide sex symbol who has been on the cover of dozens of magazines and whose recent romance with Spanish player Fernando Verdasco made the celebrity columns. According to one of her friends, Ivanovic broke up with Verdasco a few weeks ago, but that has not stopped the paparazzi from stalking the practice courts trying to get a shot of "Anando" together.
But the cold white lines of the tennis court have no room for such fanfare, and if Ivanovic is going to challenge for the Australian Open title or any other major in 2009, she's going to have to develop a bit of a harder shell. Instead of merely saying that her biggest desire is to give it her all, taking Olympic champion Elena Dementieva's tact might be better.
After winning her second straight Australian summer title in Sydney last week, the Russian Dementieva spoke of how she invited the pressure of going to the Australian Open as a talked-about player, one who could legitimately be called a tournament favorite. Dementieva wants to be the hunted one.
When told of Dementieva's comments, Ivanovic saw her point.
"I think it's important to have a pressure coming into the Grand Slam, because if you feel pressure it means that you're in a position to do something well," Ivanovic said. "That's what you work for. It definitely gives you confidence."
Currently, the talk in the Australian Open hallways is that Ivanovic is ripe for an early upset and that once she is forced to confront a talented player — say, 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round — she'll become unraveled. She is thought to lack back-up plans, ways to win matches when she is not outright dominating with her forehand.
But that's a bit of a stretch. If you look closely at Ivanovic's history, there are plenty of matches that she has gutted out when she hasn't been clicking. Those types of wins haven't been as frequent recently, but she wasn't kissing the lines against Georges and still came away with the win by changing up the speed and locations of her groundstrokes.
I love Cronin's writeups on Ana because he is one of the few tennis journalists that actually recognizes her variety of shot. He also does a great job of taking a player's pressers and putting them into a narrative and giving them context. And he lives in the East Bay, which mean's he's automatically awesome.
Er, sorry. Hella awesome.
A Good Day For Adidas
Nice wins for Sania and Ski Boots to kick off their campaigns.
Sania had a straight set win over Marta Domachowska, 61 64. Does Sania not have the most awesome off-hand action ever?
And Caro had a straight set win over the "Can we finally write her off?" Shahar Peer, 3 and 2. Awkwardly, the two are doubles partners for the tourney.
Dinara had a solid straight set win over Alla Kudrywhatever. Alla was cracking the ball but as expected just couldn't keep that level up over the course of the match. She had chances to put pressure on Dina and couldn't do it. Still though, Dina's not looking as sharp as she needs to right now. Hope a little "pep talk" from Zeljko will do the trick.
Oh, and in case you haven't gotten the memo, Dinara wants to go as Safin-a as opposed to SaFEEna. So noted.
It Was Fun While It Lasted
FoxSports is confirming that Ana broke up with Fernando during the Brisbane tournament. It's coming from Matt Cronin so I believe it.
Sad face. But she seems ok with it, so whatever.
Soak It In Boys, Cuz This Is All You're Gonna Get
MaKiri got dumped by Sara Errani, 60 64. I love the color combo on the new Stella dress. Hate the doily embellishments at the hem.
Not that the guys are looking at either the colors of the hem anyway.
Gotta give her credit though. She was throwing everything at Errani to try to distract her:
January 18, 2009
Pic This: Yup, That's About Sums It Up.
Rafa and Roger at the IMG player party.
(Pics from HCFoo's Blog)
The Future's So Bright He's Gotta Wear Shades
Well, Australia has something to be excited about. Controversial youngster Bernard Tomic bounced Mr. Potito Head in four sets, 76 16 76 76. Not bad for a 16 year old kid, no? He'll play an exhausted Gilles Muller in the second round. If he takes that match, Australia's going to forget all about one purple clad 'ic, and focus in this one.
The Boys Duke It Out
A fairly straighforward morning for the boys. A-Rod waxed Rehnquist, 60 62 62. I have to say, A-Rod looks great. He's lost some weight, is moving well, and whacking that forehand when he gets the chance. He's still no match for the big four, but good for him.
A somewhat slim and trim (I mean, by Baggy's standards) got through in straight sets over Apricot Bars. And Big Byrd took out Ginepri in straights as well.
And the Crazy Train keeps on rolling. The kid has really impressed this season. He just looks solid. He won in straights, 3 4 and 2.
Nole's also through, not without having to come back from 4-0 down in the third. But he came back and got off the court in under two hours. Nice show of sportsmanship at the end with the soccer-style shirt swap.
Of course, it's not the first day of a Slam without some drama. Daveed was all over the place in his match, a match that should never have gone 5 sets. Someone get that kid a pack of smokes for game days. I think it would help. Luckily, he pulled through in the end, 61 67 61 67 64,
And then we had the longest match in AO history between FeLo and Muller. I got heat stroke just from watching. Muller eventually won this war of attrition, winning 16-14 in the 5th. Poor FeLo.
Ana Battles, JJ Cruises
It wasn't pretty but a win's a win at this point. Baby K struggled with her serve and left the ball way to short on for Goerges, who went for broke and was really crushing the ball. All power to the German. She had her chances, especially with a chance to get a double break on AI in the first set. But Baby K fought and battled her way through to win a set she had no business winning. The second set was a bit better, but in the end Goerges wilted in the heat and succumbed to the pressure and BK won, 75 63.
She'll play Alberta Brianti in the second round.
JJ debuted her green ANTA gear (yes, with shoes) and she's stolen some of Ana's mojo by adopting the wristbands. Love the Oakland A's colors, kinda don't love the dress. It's a full on Monet. Looks good on screen but it looks SO cheap up close.
Memo to JJ: I don't care how much ANTA is paying you, but you need to wear white spankies. Immediately.
But back to the match. JJ's definitely got some more pop on the serve and on her groundstrokes. She's hitting clean angles and moving. She really shouldn't have any problems getting to the quarters. No cause for concern. She'll play Flipkens in the round 2.
The Cone and Bepa also came through in straight sets. So all in all, no major surprises in the top half of the bracket so far.
Lock and Load.
Let's Get It On.
Well That Was Anti-Climactic.
Leave it to JJ to come out of left field.
She's announced her clothing deal with ANTA.
They'll be designing a separate line for her called "JJ Generation." No financial details have been released.
What's ANTA? Good question, and let me tell you, it was hard getting any real information on the company.
- Started in 1994
- Their slogan is the ever so JJ appropriate, "Keep Moving"
- Their website plays "We Will Rock You"
- As of late 2007 they had a 3.2% market share, far behind Li Ning
- Steve Francis (aka, Stevie Franchise) signed a deal with them in 2007.
Reaction around the interwebs seems to be pretty "meh". Lots of questions about the product quality and reputation and what not, but I guess we'll just wait and see. It's just so odd to me that the world #1 is signing with a brand that is unknown in the western world.
The disconcerting thing is that she's been practicing all week with her Reebok shoes. Shouldn't be she breaking these ANTA shoes in? They look awfully cheap and inflexible. If she gets plantar fasciitis it's all on her.
Uh. Whoa.
So...in case you haven't heard, Muzz has been working out:
And he's can't keep that shit under a bowl.
On the serious though? Totes hot.
January 17, 2009
Nole Rocks His Lucky Shorts
An intense Novak hit the courts in Melbourne Park wearing his lucky Shanghai shorts, a USO t-shirt, and his summer collection wristbands.
An interesting choice.
I gotta say, Intense!Nole? Super hot.
Rafa and His Hairbrained Scheme
Heh. Kinda cool.
Rafa on the practice courts again today. Seeing as how this is the third time he's worn the new shirt it looks like he's stil trying to get used to the sleeves.
But the hair? It cannot be contained:
Ode to a Superfan.
There was a Superbowl commercial a few years ago asking us why we cheer so hard for our teams. It cuts between shots of a guy preparing to kick a field goal and fans all over the country holding their breaths, engaging in superstitions, standing up, etc. And the basic premise of the commercial is that we cheer hard and do stupid shit because in the back of our minds, no matter how rational we are, maybe, just maybe, our actions will influence the flight of the ball. Thus the mind of the SuperFan.
Peter Bodo has a great piece on what it means to be a SuperFan in the context of professional tennis. And I don't know about you, but it really does capture my POV perfectly:
Sitting here at the farm, with a green piece of ash hissing as the wood stove boils out the moisture inside the log, I'm thinking about fans (as many of you know, I loathe what is commonly known as "bracketology") and the exquisite torture they'll be putting themselves through over these next two weeks.Two-hundred and fifty-six players will sally forth in quest of the men's and womens' singles titles, and only one man and one woman's mission will be a complete success. That gives you a rough idea of how perilous it is to be a fan.
I've often written that, to my mind, there are two kinds of fans out there: general tennis fans, for whom the game overshadows the transient individuals who play it (even though those fans have their heroes and villains), and those who sometimes seem more enamored of specific individuals than of the game in general.
I suppose that's true in all sports, but in tennis the pool of fans who attach their devotion to a single player (or players) is much greater - this is why you still find the occasional outlier who bangs his fist on the virtual table in a place like this and says something like: tennis ain't been the same since the days of McEnroe and Connors! He has a point, of course, but it's the self-evident one: nothing is ever the same as it was 10, 20 or 100 years ago. That's what happens when your interest is rooted in individuals, not the enterprise itself.
Team sports are in many ways much easier on the fan. Every day, I see guys wearing nylon New York Giants red, white and blue windbreakers, or OSHA-certified hard hats modeled on the Giants' helmet, complete with the logo. These guys are willing to sit in Giants' stadium in freezing rain in December, so you know they're committed. Yet very few of them are first and foremost Eli Manning fans - what they are is Giants fans, and if Manning happens to wreck their dreams, they're more than happy to throw him under the bus. Oh, they like some players more than others, but their allegiance is to the institution (the Giants), not to one or another of the people who, at any given time, happen to play on the team. This is a liberating and generous mandate for the fan, because it allows him to be a fan as well as a critic. Nobody questions the Giant blue blood of a fan who boos a missed tackle by Antonio Pierce. How often does your typical Novak Djokovic fan boo when Nole blows a passing shot?
But tennis isn't a team sport (even Davis Cup in certain ways fails the smell test). Only those who are fans of the game in general are given latitude for dissent when it comes to the players, but they also are denied the heart-wrenching agony and the spiraling, concentrated joy experienced by fans of specific players. In some ways, those who resist - or keep in perspective - the siren song of personality issuing from each player are realists; those who do not, the diehard fans and KADs, are romantics.
I've often wondered, why would someone live and die by how Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal did on a given day? What's in it for them? Why make that investment?
Not to get too heavy about it - okay, I'll get all heavy about it - I think having a specific, overwhelming favorite, while a narrow and in many ways unforgiving undertaking, gives the fan a way to express and perhaps experience unconditional love. And that's something most of us have spent at least portions of lives hunting. The born-again Christian will understand what I mean; the secular parent will also know -all he has to do is think about how he feels about his kid. We feel good about ourselves when we love unconditionally; we also long to be loved unconditionally, at least partly because it allows us to, well, get away with stuff. But by entering into this kind of relationship with a hero, we stake a partial claim to his or her conquests. When Ana Ivanovic wins, I win too, because I love Ana and this win is my reward for it - unconditionality be damned.
At some level, it's risky to transfer powerful emotions and loyalties to someone you don't know, or know only in his or her limited context as a tennis pro (that is, at some level, a machine. Because anyone who does anything "professionally" is just that, and the lengths to which players go - think Venus or Serena Williams - to try to demonstrate that they aren't "just" tennis players shows it.) How do you know that Janko Tipsarevic really is a "good" person - because he has a Dostoyevsky quote tattooed on his arm? Hey, maybe at heart he's more like Raskolnikov, an axe murderer!
We'll never really know how justified our love is, but isn't that moot, when the love we're trying to give is unconditional? Besides, expending unconditional love on a tennis player is only risky in theory - unlike, say, expending unconditional love on a girlfriend, or spouse. It isn't like any of you guys are going to have to run out for milk because Jelena forgot to pick it up on the way home. The problem with being a uber-fan is that there's only one way to express that unconditional love (or to even show if it really exists, which really means that you have the capacity for giving it), and that's by loyalty.The fan who doesn't understand or accept that is on his or her way to becoming a stalker. And while loyalty to an institution, like a team, leaves you free to criticize anyone who appears to be an impediment to the success of that organism, you can't really do that with an individual. You're in for a penny, you're in for a dollar. Every tennis player out there is an institution unto himself, and his wins and losses are an open and shut case in which the glory or blame is undistributed.
The down-side of unconditional love is also the true test of the effort: It's easy to give when you get something in return, but what do you do when you get nothing in return? That almost never happens in tennis, where everyone lives to fight another day, and those upon whom we're most likely to shower our unconditional love tend to be the ones who pay us back in spades. There's a reason the world is crawling with Federer and Nadal fans, while a Vince Spadea or Igor Andreev manages only a bemused "well done!" now and then. We are, after all, human, and our urge to express and/or experience unconditional love is neatly offset by a considerably more rational desire to see a return on our investment. This explains the gallows humor and wry resignation exhibited by so many fans of Marat Safin. Being his fan is like giving money to that irascible but adorable con man, cousin Charley. It's just the toll you pay for being in his good graces.
Perfectly said.
Posted by C Note on January 18, 2009 in Commentary | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
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