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The Tennis Today Newsletter - August 2011
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Tennis Today Newsletter
Editor’s comment
 Tennis Today continues to provide on-line coverage of tennis competitions at both national and international level and is dedicated to bringing news about UK clubs to club members and, for those starting out, junior tennis has its own Web presence.
The way we communicate with our readers is expanding to include social media. Our aim is to make our journal accessible by as many people as possible. With this in mind, I am pleased to announce that Tennis Today now appears on Twitter. You can find us by following this link: @TENNIS_TODAY. We would love to see you following us.
Read extended Editorial Comment.
HW
info@tennis-today.net
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This issue of the Tennis Today Newsletter is sponsored by Stuart Canvas Products.
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ADVERTISING FEATURE
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Editorial Comment
Looking ahead to the US Open
We are only weeks away from the US Open, the fourth and last of the year’s Grand Slam events which could well prove to underline what many pundits believe, namely that the sport is undergoing a major change at the top.
The organisers themselves are pleased that both the men’s and women’s draws are fielding their full complement of world ranked players. There are a few absentees but not amongst the group which will no doubt, be contesting the latter stages of the event and indeed, the two titles.
Read more...
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ADVERTISING FEATURE
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Rain Covers – Inflatable and Flat Covers
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Stuart Canvas Products has been manufacturing windbreaks and tennis screens for many years. The screens are ideal for home or club use and can be made to measure to your exact requirements.
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Looking ahead to the US Open
The Men
 In the men’s draw, world number one and reigning Australian and Wimbledon champion, Novak Djokovic is very keen to maintain his remarkable run of victories having lost just one match (at the French Open) during the first half of the year.
He is certainly favourite for this year’s American leg of the four Grand Slams having reached the final last year where he lost to a certain Spaniard.
Djokovic is in fact the player who is changing the face of the men’s game having stopped the dominance of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who, with 27 of the major titles between them, have dominated the Grand Slam scene since 2004.
 The Serb actually took over as world number one following his Wimbledon triumph and is the first player other than the Swiss or Spaniard to top the rankings since Andy Roddick back in 2003. Whether this is just a blip will be determined at Flushing Meadows in September.
 Five-time US Open champion, Federer, will be keen to re-establish himself while Nadal, the defending champion will be eager to add to the single title he as claimed in New York having secured a ‘career Grand Slam’ last year – that is winning all four majors outside of a calendar year.
In addition, world No. 2 Nadal will be chasing his 11th career Grand Slam singles title after winning the 2011 French Open for a sixth time.
Should world No. 3 Federer secure his sixth title at Flushing Meadows, he would overtake Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors in the table of most U.S. Open men’s singles titles in the Open Era.
Andy Murray makes up the top four but has yet to win a Grand Slam title having just failed at the final stage to at the US Open (2008) and twice at the Australian Open (2010 & 2011). While he has shown plenty of commitment and proven he has the game, he has yet to reap the benefit of becoming a Grand Slam title holder.
But the next champion could well come from a player outside the top four though in the last two Grand Slams, the top four were the players contesting the respective semi-finals, an unusual fact in this day and age.
The draw also features two former US Open champions, namely Andy Roddick and Juan Martin del Potro. Roddick, champion in 2003, is no longer the blue eyed boy of American tennis having been displaced as the nation’s top player by Mardy Fish who, since his marriage, has re-discovered some excellent form. With home backing he could well be in contention.
On the other hand, Del Potro at 22 years of age and the 2009 champion, could well be a strong contender having not only already proved he can do it, but to prove it wasn’t flash in the pan as it he was unable to defend it by a serious wrist injury which kept him out of the game for a year.
Other runners include Sweden’s Robin Soderling (world number 5), the French Open runner-up in 2009 and 2010, David Ferrer (6) of Spain, a 2007 US Open semi-finalist, France’s Gael Monfils (7), Tomas Berdych (8) of the Czech Republic, the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up, and the aforementioned Americans, Mardy Fish (9) and Andy Roddick (10).
In total the field includes six players who have won Grand Slam singles titles during their careers, including 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.
Continued below...
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ADVERTISING FEATURE
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Air Hall Structures
For those requiring a temporary shelter to guarantee cover from the rain we also have our Air Halls which come in a range of sizes ideal for the tennis coach and club requiring protection for either a full court 18m x 36m or Mini Tennis to go ahead without the planning and financial requirements of a permanent structure. Taking as little as 10 minutes to Inflate it offers a perfect instant solution to the elements.
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Looking ahead to the US Open
The Women
The situation in the women’s draw is not as clear cut, though, like the men’s, the field includes all the current top players but without there being a clear favourite.
 The two players who could well be battling it out in the final are Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters but that depends on the draw for Serena Williams (champion in 1999, 2002 and 2008) has plummeted down the world listings following a year’s absence and is only ‘in’ thanks to a ’protected’ ranking.
 Clijsters though, is the defending champion and is going for a third successive US Open title which would be her fourth in total. She is very experienced and her C.V. includes this year’s Australian Open and, despite missing the French and Wimbledon through injury, elevates her to ‘favourite’ with the younger Williams and ,should she be successful, she would become the first player since Chris Evert (1976-78) to win ‘three-in-a-row’.
Additionally, that achievement would extend the Belgian’s winning streak at Flushing Meadows to 21 consecutive matches as she has won the title each of the last three times she has played, namely 2005, 2009 and 2010.
The field also includes the current champions of France, Li Na, and Wimbledon, Petra Kvitova as well as former US Open champions Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova. All could produce the goods on the day and must be considered jokers in the pack.
 But the big question is whether the world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, has the mettle to win her first Grand Slam title.
To be acclaimed world number one without a Grand Slam title is anathema to many though she is definitely there by right having accrued her points by successfully contesting and collecting titles on the WTA Tour.
The pressure on the Dane is definitely on. She has the game but perhaps lacks the temperament despite having shown she can make the last two having reached the US Open final in 2009 where Clijsters, the current world number two, swept her aside.
In ranking terms expect Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, (world number 3), the 2010 US Open and Wimbledon runner-up to be in contention, as should the two shriekers, Victoria Azarenka (5) of Belarus and Russia’s Sharapova (5), the 2006 US Open champion, plus China’s Li Na (6), the reigning French Open champion, and Petra Kvitova (7) of the Czech Republic, the reigning Wimbledon champion, Italy’s Francesca Schiavone (8) , the 2010 French Open champion, France’s Marion Bartoli (9), the 2007 Wimbledon runner-up and Samantha Stosur (10) of Australia, the 2010 French Open runner-up.
Altogether, there are nine players contesting this year’s event, who have won Grand Slam singles titles during their careers including former world number one Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, winner of the 2008 French Open.
The Americans, apart from the Williams sisters, will be looking to Bethanie Mattek-Sands, at 30 the highest ranked home player in the field, to take the Stars & Stripes well into the second week.
Two players who will not be competing are Alisa Kleybanova who recently revealed she has cancer, and former world number one Dinara Safina.
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Looking ahead to the US Open
The Brits
 From a British point of view, the only hope is that Andy Murray can finally make the breakthrough he richly deserves.
While we might decry the fact that he has no one pushing him the rankings from these shores, the same is no longer applicable when it comes to the women.
For, for the first time since 1992, Britain has three representatives going directly into the main draw.
They are Elena Baltacha who leads the British challenge ranked at 60, followed by Anne Keothavong at 95 and teenager Heather Watson, the US Open Junior champion two years ago who, at 104, just scrapes in under the direct entry cut-off point of 105.
We can only look to the Qualifying tournament to see whether any other Brits can scrape into the first round, something which over recent years is as rare as hen’s teeth!
Warming Up
But to really see who the runners will be on August 29, one should keep an eye on the warm-up events leading into the US Open.
The men will be testing themselves at Washington (ATP 500), Montreal and Cincinnati (both Master events worth 1000 points) with a minor event in Salem (ATP 250) the week before the final major, while the women will be playing in New Haven, Toronto, Cincinnati and New Haven.
Picking the eventual US Open winner though, remains in the lap of the Gods.
The 2011 US Open is played Monday, August 29 through Sunday, September 11.
H.W.
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