Notes on a Draw Sheet

Anna's and Arantxa's disasters
Blake and Costa prosper

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Fred Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

FROM THE U.S. OPEN – Someone asked whether Anna Kournikova 's 6-3 6-0 loss to Angelique Widjaja in the first round of the U.S. Open was worse than her disastrous defeat at the hands of Christina Wheeler at '02 Roland Garros, and a booming "Yes" exploded out of the throat of this tennisreporters.net writer.

Kournikova was still in the in the beginning stages of retooling her game back in early June and wasn't coming off a solid six-week stretch where she had beaten a handful of solid players and pushed a few elite ones.

All you have to know about Anna's loss to the former junior standout is this: Widjaja had one winner and Kournikova had 40 unforced errors. Anna wasn't confident in any of her shots and didn't show any game plan whatsoever. Anna was riddled with fear and nerves and as a result, suffered her fourth first-round loss at a Slam this year.

"I wasn't there. It was very disappointing," said Kournikova. "I played totally the wrong way. I was going for winners after the second shot. I was not in the match for some reason. It was kind of weird because I had all the opportunities. I set up the point and then I when I had to put it away, I was missing it. That was kind of horrible."

HOW HORRIBLE WAS IT?
It was Apocalypse Now kind of horrible. The inventive, determined and somewhat confident Kournikova whom we saw in Palo Alto and San Diego was nowhere to be found. It was the Anna of Paris and London, so unsure of herself, not able to calm to nerves nor find any rhythm. "I didn't expect to be this way at all," she said. "I thought I had a pretty good draw. Obviously I didn't expect it to be that easy for her."

Susan Mullane Camerawork USA, Inc.

Harold Solomon can do all the technical and strategic changes with Anna that he wants, but he can't be in her head and heart when she goes out on court. At this point, she needs to visit with a sports psychologist to see whether she can rid herself of her choking demons. There's no question she committed. In fact, she's so committed that when asked whether she was concerned that if her losses mounted and the photographers didn't show up anymore, she snapped, "Oh, good if they don't come anymore." The only thing Anna wants right now is to win some significant matches on the big stage, but she's having a whale of a time figuring out how to do it.

ARANTXA OUTTA HERE
Anna isn't the only one who suffered a shocking a loss on Monday. How about former U.S. Open champ Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who continues her free fall down the ranking charts when she was bullied by '01 U.S. Open Girls' champ Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-1. Sanchez has told some folks that she considering hanging it up in the near future, and others that she has no intention at all in stopping. While it's apparent that she's still good enough to have a profitable doubles career, her singles game is in shambles. She doesn't have the speed she once used to and is unable to counterpunch the hard-hitting kids. She's made plenty of cash in her career so why she wants to be driven out of the top-100 by a phalanx of mediocre players is befuddling.

You want another disaster story? Try Alexandra Stevenson's three-set loss (courtesy of 18 double faults) to Stephanie Foretz. It was the first time Alexandra was seeded here and the fifth time she has lost in the first round. Stevenson called the defeat "devastating" and said that she's mentally breaking down at the Slams. Alexandra added that if she doesn't find a way to rid herself of mental cramps, "its going to be a long 10 years on tour."

Blake and Costa prosper
On to the positives: Albert Costa scored a solid four-set win over Magnus Norman, and the Roland Garros champ spoke of the fairness of the speed of the surface. If he manages to best Wayne Ferreria for the first time this year in the second round, he could have an impact. With his tiger's legs, huge forehand, improved serve and eye-popping backhand, there's few reason's why Costa can't go deep here.

"I'm feeling more confident because before I never knew I could win a Grand Slam," he said. "Now I know that if I play good, I can win."

James Blake got through a very tough four-setter against Brian Vahaly on Monday and now appears to have a puncher's chance at Lleyton Hewitt in the third round. He's seeded here for the first time and after winning Washington, is expected to do damage. He has the game to play with most of the elite players and has always hard the heart but his nerve is still in question. America wants him to shine and he knows it.

"The American public has been a little spoiled in the past with (Pete) Sampras, (Andre) Agassi, (Michael) Chang, (Jim) Courier, (Todd) Martin, (Mal) Washington," he said. "That's the best generation of tennis players ever, from any country .Fans are looking, expecting, 'Okay, they're getting towards the ends of their careers. Who are the next group of guys that are going to do that?' Unfortunately, that's not easy to do. There's no bones about it. That's what I am. I'm a young American guy. I've heard it over and over for the last two years but it's just something I've kind of accepted and it's not going anywhere. I just try to make the best of it."

Blake called Davis Cup teammate Andy Roddick "the leader of the young guys." "We're proud of the way he's doing it," Blake said. "To continue to play well, not buckle under any of that pressure, is very impressive. He showed us all kind of the way to do it."

Roddick has a decent, but not standout summer hardcourt season and could face compatriot Taylor Dent in the second round, who is enjoying the best three months of his career. It's a lousy draw for the players, but the winner has a terrific shot at the quarters as the other seeds in their quarters include Alex Corretja (who Roddick wiped out last year), the streaky and very beatable Juan Ignacio Chela and the injured Tim Henman. In fact, even Andy or Taylor's potential quarter looks decent – the struggling Sampras, the injured Tommy Haas, the declining Thomas Enqvist and his grass court master, Greg Rusedski.