Federer/Davydenko like Safarova/Bartoli?!

Written by: Tennischiro on 19th February 2012

Federer/Davydenko like Safarova/Bartoli?!

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns to Bernard Tomic of Australia in their fourth round match at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 22 January 2012. EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG |

How is the Federer/Davydenko match like Safarova/Bartoli? Well, I’ve been watching a little tennis the last couple of days on TennisTV from Doha, Rotterdam and Sao Paulo. I even caught a little bit of Raonic/Harrison in San Jose today on LSHunter.com. Most of it was rather blase. Of course, there were a lot of great shots. But nothing like watching the last few matches of the Australian or even last weekend’s USA Davis Cup upset of Federer and the Swiss. So I got to thinking, what is it that makes some of these matches so riveting.

Well, first of all, it’s the intensity. Watching those men’s semis and finals and women’s semis from Australia, you got the feeling those players were fighting for their lives. Granted, these are not major championships this week; still, these players should be going for it, at least by the quarters and semis. While the men’s level of play may be actually quite high, there was just no feeling of commitment; a little too much egg and not enough bacon (“the hen is involved, but the pig is fully committed!”). And those Davis Cup matches truly mattered to the players on the court, all around the world. And the US victory was tremendous.

Del Potro was just too good for Berdych today. The pace of the hitting was amazing and there was no question both players were going for it, but there was just no drama. And so we should really try to watch Delpo play Federer. Juan Martin is ready to do some real damage to the top 4. But I was looking forward to a knock down/drag out battle between the two giants today. Just didn’t happen. Not really Berdych’s fault. Del Potro played too well.

I thought maybe Ryan Harrison was ready to make a move with a chance to play Raonic in the semis for a shot at Istomin or Benneteau in the finals of San Jose (it’s Istomin). He had a fortunate draw and played some good tennis this week to get to that chance. Ryan played about as well as could be expected, but when your opponent is throwing 150 mph first serves at you and backing that up with 115 mph second serves, indoors, it’s tough to hang. Ryan was getting 74% of his first serves in during the first set and winning 80% of his first serve points as well as 64% of his second serve points: 74% of his service points overall. However, in the meantime, his opponent was getting in 75% of his first serves and winning 85% of those points as well as 67% of his second serves: 81% of his service points overall and he was actually able to maintain that pace in the second set. He made it look all too easy. Look for him to cruise against Istomin in the final. And be dangerous next week in Memphis. But there was no riveting drama there, despite the close first set. It was just too easy.

In the Doha women’s semis, Stosur looked strong (of course, she does always look strong, even when she’s weak!) until Bartoli folded due to a tweaked calf muscle (and I think, perhaps, too much left on the court against Safarova). I didn’t watch the whole thing, but Azarenka’s dismantling of little Radwanska complete with valiant effort to ignore a sprained left foot was just too predictable and, basically, boring.

In Sao Paulo, the outdoor red clay adds a different dimension: more time to get bored as they played the ball even further behind the baseline. Belluci showed that he still can’t handle pressure and Almagro showed that he was indeed the class of the field and deserved his number one seeding. He should be too much for Volandri, but Italy owes so much payback to Spain for all the damage done to it over the last few years. And you know it is Carnival down there (Mardi Gras is February 21) so no telling what kind of condition the players might be in for the final….No! I expect Almagro to mechanically take Volandri apart and then go celebrate right through Tuesday night!

But Thursday’s match between Safarova and Bartoli was entirely different. Through the first two sets, these two were going toe to toe, striking the ball with everything they could possibly muster. No, the ball wasn’t nearly as fast as Berdych/Del Potro and the level was probably not as high, but at the end of every point both women looked like they had to summon all their focus just to play the next point. Perhaps the winners look more spectacular because they are simply slower than the men and can’t cover as much court, but there was real drama. And wouldn’t you rather look at Safarova’s pretty face and figure rather than her old boyfriend’s scowl?! I certainly would. Lucie couldn’t keep up the pace and Bartoli got away from her in the third set (boy, would I love to help her with the rhythm on her service toss). But those first two sets had that riveting character we were getting used to during the final days of the Aussie Open.

And then there was the Maestro taking on Davydenko. The fans in Rotterdam owe Nicolai a special thanks for not listening to the naysayers. He came out and put aside his 2-12 record against Federer. He pushed out of his mind the time he lost with the broken wrist and the lackluster results that have him ranked outside the top 40. He put it all on the line and went for it. He had to win the first set twice because of a bad call, but he did it. He made it a tight match right up to the end. And, again no, they didn’t hit the ball nearly as big as Delpo and Berdych, but they kept the points interesting with a simple little tactic. They both play the ball early, at or even in front of the baseline. It’s just a few feet, but it is everything in making the character of the rally capture the viewer’s attention. There is no waiting for the ball to go up and come down. It’s a bang bang game with no chance to catch your breath. It’s like the difference in using the Internet on a dial up modem (remember when we used to think 56K was fast?!) as opposed to a broad band cable connection or WiFi. The moment the connection is fast enough to answer you at a conversational pace, that computer can hold your attention for hours on end; but, if you have to wait just a few moments more for the fast dial up, your mind has better things to do. Well, our minds wander while these players wait for the ball to go up and come down 5 to 10 feet behind the baseline. But when two players go at it like Davydenko and Federer did today, it is…yes, riveting.

The must see match on Sunday is Federer vs Del Potro. Is Federer really back at the form he showed at the end of 2011… or was his loss to Isner last week a sign of that his dominance of players outside the top 10 is, in fact, eroding as many have feared. Or … is Del Potro ready to retake his place among the top 5 or 6 players in the world and maybe even displace one of the top 4?

It would be interesting to see if Stosur could hold the good form she’s been demonstrating against the rest of the field, but if Azarenka really sprained that ankle, she is not going to be very mobile tomorrow and it will not be a good test. It’s bad enough having to listen to Vika’s grunting; we don’t want to listen to her groans as well.

Another light week with Memphis, Buenos Aires and Marseilles for the men and Memphis and Monterey for the women. There are a few questions to be answered in those events, but the more challenging examinations will come the following week in Dubai for the men. Then we ramp back up with 3 1/2 weeks of Indian Wells and Key Biscayne. Then we’ll see some tennis that’s … riveting!!

10sChiro

Topics: Bartoli, Davydenko, milos raonic, Roger Federer, Ryan Harrison, Safarova