May 31st, 2007
* I poked fun at Serena Williams for how out of shape she was at the Australian Open, so let’s give credit where it’s due: She looks like a Mac Truck this week. She’s shed the weight and looks back in fighting trim–and it shows in how well she’s moving and running down balls. Good for her.
* In a radio interview earlier this week, John Feinstein was asked why tennis has died in America. His answer: Because the players are so totally inaccessible. Feinstein’s argument (I’m paraphrasing) was that in most sports, it’s hard to get close to the top players (Kobe, Tiger, P. Manning). But on the ATP, it’s not just the Sampras and Federer who are impossible to talk to, it’s guys sitting at #57 in the rankings, too. And because the players are so insulated from both fans and the media, fans don’t form attachments to them.
It’s an interested theory. (And if you haven’t read it, go read his Hard Courts right now. You’ll love it.)
* It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a player not named Hewitt act like a bigger jerk than Novak Djokovic did in the first round. Djokovic, the #6 seed, was beating up on Columbian Santiago Giraldo, a Lucky Loser qualifier, cruising through in three straight sets. Closing the match out in the third, Djokovic starts screaming, flexing, and posing after points like some weird, skinny Serbian version of Triple H.
I was kind of hoping Giraldo would get the Dragon on his ass.
* Meaningless bit of trivia: During his last seven Grand Slam victories, only three players not named Nadal have even managed to get a set off of Federer: Roddick, Baghdatis, and Agassi, who came the closest to pushing R. Fed to a fifth set.
On Novak Djokovic — Jonathan Last Online July 3, 2012 at 11:37 am
[…] In the 2007 French Open, Djokovic is facing Santiago Giraldo. Djokovic is the the #6 player in the world. Giraldo is a lucky-loser qualifier. It’s the […]