notes on a drawsheet

All shaky on the Venus front after Kuznetsova loss
JCap’s long road back; Old Rosset corners Coria; Davis Cup to Delray Beach

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

Venus is pressing with horrible 2004 results.

Venus Williams has played in three tournaments this year and hasn’t yet reached a semifinal.

It’s hard to remember anytime in the past six years when that has happened in three straight tournaments to the vexing V.One would probably have to go back to 1997 to find such a lousy streak in her remarkably consistent elite career.

After she was crushed 6-2, 6-3 by Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova in Dubai on Thursday, Venus said that she’s not worried. She’s obviously still rusty after taking the second half of 2003 off, but signs are not pointing in the proper direction for her. In her heyday, Venus would have blown Kuznetsova off the court. Unless Kuzy has improved her forehand a ton over the past few months, even Venus in her 2003 form would have won this contest in straight sets.

Somewhat remarkably, it appears that Williams has returned to tour no better than she was when she left last July. That is a troubling development.

Venus might recall that when she walked off court after losing the ’03 Wimbledon final to Serena, she was still a lesser player than her younger sister and that Justine Henin-Hardenne was charging hard for her No. 2 spot. Even then, she needed to improve her second serve and her transition game.

It’s all fine and good to say that it was her abdominal tear that kept her from winning her third Wimbledon title last year and that it was her sore tummy that lead to her upset to Vera Zvonareva at Roland Garros. It could also be argued that she should have never been expected to win the Australian after so much time off and that Lisa Raymond played the match of her life in scoring a three-set win over her. Then her camp could say that she would have won Tokyo if she hadn’t had hurt her leg and would have faired better against Kuznetsova if she would have had more practice.

But those are a lot of ifs.

WHEN WILL THE INJURIES END?
Here’s what we do know: Venus has now become a chronically injured player. She’s pulled out of tournaments with one injury or another each of the past five seasons and has fragile wrists and battered legs.

This is her eighth full season on tour and for the first time, Venus is showing signs that she’s coming back to the pack. Even when her wrists were aching in 2000 and 2001, she could find a way to beat the likes of Kuznetsova and Raymond. Even when her stomach was killing her in the Wimbledon semis last year, she found a way to raise her level and knock off Kim Clijsters.

But now her once impenetrable defense from the baseline is full of holes and her forehand has reverted to its inconsistent 1999 status.

"There's still a long way to go," Williams said. "I want to look at it in a positive way. It's very difficult to play against such players, they are very good and there are so many out there. In a way, I'm glad I can be out there and play. Now, I'm going to rest and practice and next is NASDAQ. I'm not concerned about today; it's just lack of practice. I need to get out there on the courts and practice and play and that's going to make the difference. I'm happy I got to the quarterfinals, it was a good result for me here. Usually, I wouldn't be happy with the quarters, I would be expecting to win the event, but under the circumstances, this is good."

I prefer to differ and wonder why Williams isn’t trying to get a wild card into next week’s action in Doha, where she can hang out with Serena and get in a few more matches. Now, she’s facing another three and half weeks off before she faces a real opponent again at the NASDAQ, unless she and Serena decide to take the gloves off in practice.

If she’s going to win a Slam this year, Venus is going to have to strap on her hiking boots and face the longest climb of her career.

JCap’s long road back

Siggi Bucher

Jennifer Capriati returned from a back injury in Dubai and promptly lost to Eleni Daniilidou. JCap’s road back to the Top 5 will be as long and as winding as Venus’. She appears to have started where she left off in November, not delivering at closing time. "I'm proud of my performance despite my loss and I'm not too disappointed," Capriati said. "I still need mental toughness and confidence especially during the nerve-wracking points."

Heni-Hardenne crushed Conchita Martinez and will now face Meghann Shaughnessy in the semis, who upended No. 4 Anastasia Myskina 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3. The Arizonan started the year by losing three of her first four matches, but says she’s been training hard. Myskina is another one who needs to learn how to win three-setters.

Columbia’s Catalina Castano has shown up again, this time in her home country tournament in Bogota, defeating No. 5 Anabel Medina Garrigues 4-6, 6-1 7-6 (5). American wild card Megan Falcon fell to Ludmila Cervanova 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Old Rosset corners Coria

Art Seitz

Coria fell to the 33-year-old Rosset.

Why Buenos Aires champ Guillermo Coria decided to head across the Atlantic to play indoors in Marseille and not stay in South America and play on clay at the Brazil Open is beyond us. He must be regretted the decision after losing to Swiss Davis Cup captain Marc Rosset 7-6, 6-1.

"I was really keen to meet him as it was the first time. You don't meet Top 10 guys in Challengers these days," said the 33-year-old, semi-retired Rosset. "The fact that he was returning from playing on clay helped for sure but I took lots of risks on his serve and it paid off. I had been looking for moments like this for some time. It's hard at my age to keep the motivation." Sounds like he needs a pep talk from Andre Agassi.

Other results of note: Slovak Dominik Hrbaty overcame Albert Costa 7-5, 4-6, 7-6, and Swedish teen Robin Soderling took down France's Gregory Carraz, who had ousted the exhausted Juan Carlos Ferrero in the previous round. Soderling beat Davis Cup teammate Thomas Enqvist in round one.

Back to Brazil, where an entire nation is hoping that Guga can win at Costa Do Sauipe. Fans were entertained on Wednesday by Kuerten’s 7-6(3), 6-3 win over French teen Richard Gasquet. … What’s happening with the talented Gaston Gaudio, who fell 6-2, 7-6(4) to Spanish vet Galo Blanco. … Relative unknown Argentine Jose Acasuso is hoping to make a name for himself and will face German Tomas Behrend in the quarters.

Davis Cup to Delray Beach
The USTA made a sound choice for the players by deciding to play their Davis Cup quarterfinal in Delray Beach, Fla., just up the road from the NASDAQ, which ends five days prior to the tie. We Californians would have preferred to see the tie played in Carson, but in this case, keeping the players happy is critical to success, because probably starters Roddick and Fish are both part-time Florida residents and are likely to have an impact at the NASDAQ.

If either go deep, Captain Pat McEnroe doesn’t want to have to ask them to hop on a plane to SoCal on Monday when the guys should be resting. Moreover, Roddick and Fish are much more accustomed to the sometimes-sticky weather of South Florida than they are the dry winds of LA.

Note to the ITF on the dates of the April 9-11 tie: Some of us go to great lengths not to work much or at all on Easter weekend – especially on Good Friday. How about a Saturday-Monday stint?