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Notes on a Draw Sheet
Myskina: Fed Cup heroine again
French to meet Russians in Parisian final; Hingis tearing up World TeamTennis
By Matthew Cronin, TennisReporters.net
 Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
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| Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva were opponents in the '04 Roland Garros final. But, they are making a formidable team in Fed Cup play. |
In the last two years, Venus Williams has been the only member of the US Fed Cup team really worth paying homage to. She's played three out of the last four ties and has only dropped one singles match.
Unfortunately for the US, that loss was a crucial one when she went down to Russian Fed Cup heroine Anastasia Myskina, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 on day one of the semifinals. That all but sealed the US's hopes of winning, as Elena Dementieva took down Mashona Washington 7-5, 6-4 and gave Russia a 2-1 lead.
Wimbledon champion Venus got used to the indoor clay on Sunday and wiped out Dementieva 6-1, 6-2 in the first match (How did that happen to the '04 RG finalist?), but then US captain Zina Garrison decided to sub Jill Craybas for Washington and the veteran went down to Myskina 6-2, 6-4 in the clincher.
"In sports, it's always that there's winners and losers, and it's impossible to always be the winner," Williams said. "At least, it's not just me losing this time, it's the whole team, and I can take some comfort in that."
Maybe a little comfort might be more appropriate. After her title run at the AELTC, Venus was too tired to win all three matches and even if she had won her two singles matches, the US might have went down in the doubles anyway, even if it was a live rubber. In the dead one, Venus and Corina Morariu fell to Vera Douchevina and Dinara Safina 6-1, 7-5.
This was the first time that Venus had been on a losing team in six appearances. She hadn't lost as singles match since the '99 final at Stanford against Russia, when she lost to an a then unknown Dementieva. She had won 12 straight until she lost to Myskina, who plays better in Fed Cup than she does anywhere else. "It's a great feeling to be back in the final again. I love playing in front of this crowd," said Myskina, who appeared to be almost all the way back after her first half slump.
Would the US have won this contest had the injured Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams had played? Maybe. But let's not forget that Russia was missing the injured Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova, too.
Outside of last year's debacle in Austria, when no US stars showed, at least Venus has showed a full commitment to the team. No other player can say that during the past two years especially Serena, who always seems to get injured when it's time to put her hard hat on. Serena has played three ties – one in 1999 and two in 2003. She's the best player the US has produced in the last decade (although Venus is a strong second and coming fast again) and she really doesn't care that much about the competition.
Garrison is one of the few people Venus' trusts, which is why the older Williams shows up time and again. Maybe Zina should hire Oracene Price as an assistant coach next year in hopes of enticing Serena to play.
French to meet Russians in Parisian final
The French defeated Spain 3-1 by taking all three singles matches. Russians will face the French in the final again, this time at Roland Garros Sept. 17-18.
You have to love the commitment of France's team, even if Amelie Mauresmo skipped last year's final.
Captain Georges Goven's team is very deep and very diverse. At Aix en Provence, Mauresmo showed for the semifinals and scored two wins, first over Anabel Media Garrigues and then over Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-3, 6-1 for the clincher. Mary Pierce also scored a straight win over Llagostera Vives. "Let's not hide it, throughout the week, people were telling us that everything was ready for the final in Paris, and how exciting it was going to be. But we didn't want to think about it. We had a job to do first," said Goven.
The FFT has decided to play the tie on Court Philippe Chatrier instead of on Suzanne Lenglen, because they believe they can sell 15,000 seats. "This proves that France is a great tennis nation. We all invested a lot in this competition. I just hope it's going to be a fantastic event," said Mauresmo. "This time we will play them at home. We will not be the favorites as Russia has a great crop of high-level players. Each one of them takes Fed Cup extremely seriously, so we will have to play above ourselves too. We will."
On the men's side on Euro clay, Rafael Nadal captured his seventh title of the year by taking down Tomas Berdych 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Swedish Open. Gaston Gaudio won the Swiss Open in Gstaad by defeating Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-4 for his fourth title this year. In Newport on grass (can we please, please begin the hardcourt season) Greg Rusedski defended his title by beating Vince Spadea, 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4.
Mark Lyons |
| Anna Kournikova has had a long layoff from tennis, but maybe not from the gym. She's back playing tennis for the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis. |
Hingis tearing up World TeamTennis
Of course, as some of the Fed Cup teams found out, there is some hardcourt tennis going on as World TeamTennis enters its second week. On Sunday, Anna Kournikova graced the Macy's men's store in Sacramento and then went out and played for her team, the Sacramento Capitals, and took her second straight loss in doubles with Elena Likhovtseva, this time a 5-0 shellacking at the hands of Carly Gullickson/Elena Tatarkova. Now, we all know that Likhovtseva is an excellent doubles player and we also know that their foes are not. So even though we didn't witness the match, it wouldn't be too far fetched to state that Kournikova is not even close to her former Slam-winning doubles level. In fact, it appears that her soft exo schedule is killing her game. She's a sideshow who on court, isn't even worth a bleacher seat anymore. You want to gaze at her body? Go buy her calendar, but serious tennis fans shouldn't putting money into her pockets anymore.
However, there is good news, as it appears that Kournikova's former dubs partner, Martina Hingis, is regaining her form. Playing for the New York Sporttimes, the Swiss, won all three of her matches, including a 5-0 shutout of Martina Navratilova in singles. She did take a loss to Meghann Shaughnessy (5-3), but then shut out Jamea Jackson. Hingis is now 18-6 in singles (second best in the league behind Shaughnessy, who should have played Fed Cup), 20-5 in doubles with Jenny Hopkins (best in the league) and 20-9 in mixed with Mark Merklein (best in the league). I won't say that comeback to the tour is imminent, but Hingis will be tempted in late July. … On another WTT note, Stanford's top guy, Sam Warburg, graduated in June and is playing for Sacto. His singles record is 5-15. That's a big ouch for advocates of collegiate play.
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