THE SCOOP: FRIDAY, April 16

Henin-Hardenne has mono as WTA is ravaged by injuries
Roddick, Ferrero, Safin headline men's events

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA

Mono takes down another WTA star: Justine Henin-Hardenne

tennisreporters.net readers will recall that on the day that top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne won Indian Wells, she immediately came under criticism for having decided not to put the NASDAQ-100 Open on her 2004 schedule, which was to be Serena Williams' first tournament back in eight months.

Henin-Hardenne's coach Carlos Rogriguez set off an ominous warning shot. "The [rash of injuries] has scared me. Justine has a lot injuries in past and she gets sick," he told tr.net. "She a great athlete and is very fit, but she's very fragile, when she changes weather, food and surfaces she has to take time off. I've learned over the years that she needs time to get prepared."

A couple days ago, Henin-Hardenne pulled out of the Family Circle Cup and Fed Cup after being diagnosed with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Until those two pullouts, Henin-Hardenne was the only elite player over the past year who hadn't taken substantial time off due to injury or illness. Now it appears that Henin-Hardenne has mono, which is sure to keep her out for at least another month.

For whatever reason, women players are going down like flies in front of a can of Raid.

After winning the NASDAQ, Serena complained her surgically repaired knee was sore in a loss to Nadia Petrova at Amelia Island and then pulled out of the Family Circle Cup and Fed Cup. No. 2 Kim Clijsters missed Indian Wells and Miami with a wrist injury and said she may not be in full health until Wimbledon.

The list goes on and on: Monica Seles hasn't played since Roland Garrros because of a foot injury; Anna Kournikova hasn't played in a year due to an alleged back injury; No. 4 Amelie Mauresmo just returned from a back injury and then had to pull out of Family Circle; No. 5 Anastasia Myskina has missed three events with a shoulder injury.

Venus Williams returned at the year's outset from an abdominal injury and has been slow to find her form and Jennifer Capriati is battling multiple injuries and has been struggling.

"We made the decision to the say to the WTA, 'Look, there needs to be a better balance," Rodriguez said at the time. "The game suffers because the quality goes down. Over the past five years, we've had the most amount of players ever with charisma and power. But when they don't play, it takes a big part of the excitement away. We've arrived at that point because all of us – coaches, sponsors, agents, the WTA – have pushed to gain something, but sometimes we forgot the players. Now we've arrived this moment of injuries. Everyone has to do something together."

Just because tr.net is at the Family Circle Cup doesn't mean that we are going to ignore the women of Estoril. Czech Iveta Benasova continued her fine '04 play by knocking fourth seed Denisa Chladkova, 6-2, 6-2. The cagey lefty and Acapulco champ will take on take on Frenchwoman Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, who defeated Slovakian Martina Sucha, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Spaniard Marta Marrero continued her best season ever with a 6-0, 6-2 devastation of the permanently slumping Barbara Schett. Marrero will face lefty Frenchy Emile Loit, who knocked off Benasova's Fed Cup teammate, Klara Koukalova, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Roddick, Ferrero, Safin headline men's events
For unknown reasons, the men's draws in Houston, Valencia and Estoril are as diluted as airline coffee. Juan Carlos Ferrero is still alive in rainy Valencia; Andy Roddick in Houston; Marat Safin in Estoril, but many of the ATP Tour stars are no where to be found this week.

But there is still fun to be had by a number of contenders who could use a few big wins. Tommy Haas continues to make progress and will face the on-again, off-again Dmitry Tursunov in Houston. James Blake will have a very tough quarter against Andrei Pavel, who may be the best clay-courter in the Houston field, Roddick included. Blake badly needs that win.

Top seed Roddick, who's 16-1 at the tournament, will more than likely knock off Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who he ate up in Davis Cup. The biggest surprise in Houston comes from American vet Todd Martin, who reached his first quarter of the year and will play Peru's Luis Horna. Martin had lost in the first round four times this year.

By the way, the women aren't the only gender that are dealing with injuries. Spanish teen sensation Rafael Nadal underwent X-rays Friday, which revealed a small fracture in his left ankle. Nadal has to pull out of his quarter against Irakli Labadze "I had some ice and all the treatments that I could do but still I was in a lot of pain," Nadal said.

Siggi Bucher

Marat Safin is showing his best stuff since Melbourne.

Coming off of two tough, three-set losses to Roddick and Vince Spadea at Indian Wells and Miami, Russian Marat Safin must be feeling very good about himself after edging Tommy Robredo 7-6 (2), 2-6, 7-6 (5) to move into a semifinal for the first time since the Aussie Open.

"We were both fighting against each other and fighting against ourselves," said Safin, who will play the rising lefty Labadze. "Neither us of wanted to lose, and I think that given the (windy) conditions, we played good tennis."

Safin will play the rising lefty Labadze, who he has known since they were nine. "We played in the Under-16 European championships and he beat me in the quarterfinals. He's one of my best friends and I really like him. It will be nice to play him and hopefully get revenge."

Forgotten Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela (are you listening Davis Cup captain Gustavo Luza?) knocked off Olivier Patience 6-3, 6-2 and will face German qualifier Floridan Mayer in the other semifinal.