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Notes on a Draw Sheet
Vera: Russian desert flavor of the week
Safin's mental yo-yos
Amelie: the new Novotna - stylewise
Hewitt primed for El Aynaoui
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
FROM THE PACIFIC LIFE OPEN IN INDIAN WELLS – Some tournaments have odd trends, others have down right bizarre ones.
Why the Pacific Life Open has become the annual breakthrough tournament for Russians and former Eastern Bloc women is beyond even the most grizzled desert veteran. Three years ago, Elena Dementieva reached the semis here and had a break out year. In 2001, Elena Bovina pounded her way to the quarters and developed a name for herself. Last year, Daniela Hantuchova won the tournament and became a star. It must be the Absolute Lemon in the Coachella Valley's rapidly dwindling water supply.
This year, it's 18-year-old Vera Zvonareva of Russia who's burning down the palace gates. On Monday, she wiped Stadium 2 with No. 23-seed Meghann Shaughnessy 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. She'll face second seed Jennifer Capriati in the quarterfinals, who pasted Dementieva 6-4 4-6 6-1. Dementieva may now own the worst serve for any player in Top 20 history, as she is so overcome by the yips that she is dribbling in 71-mph first serves down the middle. It's a real tragedy for the Olympic silver medallist, who arguably has one of the game's top three forehands.
But on to Vera, who's smart, gritty, and has a heck of a forehand herself. She played a far more intelligent match than the wayward Shaughnessy under the oppressive sun, never allowing the American to dominate the court with her forehand.
"My level had to be really high to win this match," the 39th-ranked Zvonareva said. "She's a really good player and she doesn't give up. When I play someone I haven't played before, I try not to make a lot of mistakes and when I get a short ball, I hit it."
Capriati is clearly a better player than Vera is right now, but Jennifer has yet to find her rhythm and could be seriously pressed on Wednesday.
Safin's mental yo-yos
Courtesy of
Pacific Life Open
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Speaking of Russian head cases, who's more mentally erratic than Marat Safin amongst the elite on the men's tour, other than Roger Federer and Andy Roddick? Well maybe Juan Carlos Ferrero, but he's another story all together.
You have to appreciate that the Russian giant is trying to gut out matches. He could have folded his tent against Austria's Stefan Koubek in the first round, but waited out the wild lefty and came away the winner.
Safin, who has seriously struggled since pulling out of his third round match at the Australian Open with a shoulder injury, didn't hang his head too low, even when Koubek was kissing lines with his Muster-like forehand and leaping two-handed backhand.
"He was playing great in the third set," said Safin, who committed 46 unforced errors while his opponent committed a whopping 54. "That's when you have to go for an extra ball, but a really tough one, because he was going from all over the court. But from 3-0 down, I knew I still had a chance because he cannot play that type of game for a long time and at the end he will probably miss those shots. And he did."
As the sometimes light, sometimes dark Safin told tennisreporters.net, he'll never be a gym rat like No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. He has frequently been accused of partying too much and not making the most of his talent, but he needs some diversions to keep himself interested in his job.
"If I was the type of person who had tennis, tennis, tennis all the time and I went to bed and ended up dreaming about tennis, I would go nuts," he said. "I understand that tennis is my job and I try to do it very well, but I need to have a private life, just like everyone else. It's not a bad thing. Everyone likes to have fun."
When Safin thinks about why Hewitt is ranked No. 1 and he's not, he points to mental toughness as being the key.
"Lleyton has a different personality and is a different person," a clearly irritated Safin said. "I can't have his focus. He cannot be me and I cannot be him. He has something on court I don't have and I have things that he doesn't have. I have everything – the strokes, the tennis, the fitness, but focus is what's missing. That's why he was No. 1 last year and I was No. 3."
With a blowtorch serve, huge groundstrokes and a decent volley, the big Russian is unquestionably one of the most talented players out there. But since winning the U.S. Open as a 20-year-old over Pete Sampras, Safin has been a yo-yo.
On the other hand, after he won the US Open in 2001, Hewitt has been remarkably consistent.
"Lleyton's a big fighter," Safin said. "He's very focused and wills his way to win. He just waits and waits for you have to have that 10-15 minute lapse of concentration and then he's on you and all of a sudden the match is over."
Even though he failed to win a Grand Slam last year, Safin did win the Tennis Masters Series-Paris title and led his country to its first ever Davis Cup title, winning both his singles matches in a 3-2 victory over France. But the campaign exhausted him. He went to Australia in January, injured his shoulder and was forced to pull out of the third round of the Australian. He took three weeks off and returned in Rotterdam, where he lost to countryman Yevgeny Kafelnikov. The next week in Dubai, he fell to Tommy Robredo. Now, his confidence is shaky at best.
"Mentally it's a question of being motivated," he said. "Everyone likes to play against the big names and when I play those guys I can play great, but when I play a guy ranked 40 to 50 it's very tough. I find something missing in my motivation. I'm working on that."
What really gets under Safin's skin is when the subject of why he's never fisted the year No. 1 is brought up. In 2000, Safin tried his darndest, playing tournament after tournament in the fall and ending up just short as Gustavo Kuerten won the ATP Championships and edged him.
"It's too much pressure," he said. "You have to think match by match and moment by moment or it drives you to distraction. I'm tired of all the talk about it. Everyone is obsessed with it."
Amelie: the new Novotna - stylewise
It's a true joy watching Amelie Mauresmo accomplishing what so many women's players say they want to do and never can: transform herself from a baseliner to a net rusher. She knows that it's the only way she's going to get to the top.
"Even in 1999 I was talking about it , but it didn't click,' she told tr. net. "But I made the decision to change last year and it was time for me to do it. I had to be sure that it was the right way to go. I know I'll improve doing this because the more things you can do, the more choices you have in your game and the better you are. If you only know how to do one thing and your opponents know how to play you, then what do you do?"
On Monday, Mauresmo used tremendous variety to unearth Magui Serna, a tricky Spanish lefty who attempted to trip up the Frenchwoman with her slice backhand and rolling forehand. Mauresmo charged the net, kept the ball deep from the ground and pounced on her opponent's second serves.
"I'm very happy with how I played tactically," said Mauresmo. "I didn't let her control the match likes he loves to do. I didn't give her any rhythm so she couldn't put enough pressure on me."
Fans have known Mauresmo since, as a virtual unknown, she stunned Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals of the 1999 Australian Open. In the final, she lost a difficult two-setter to Martina Hingis. But although she has racked up eight titles and a number of wins over elite players since then, Mauresmo didn't repeat her early Grand Slam success until last year, when she reached the Wimbledon and US Open semis. Some of that had to do with a back injury, which kept her out of play for decent portions of 2000 and 2001, and some of it had to do with her immaturity.
"I'm a very different player now and I've improved a lot in all the different areas of the game, mentally, physically, and even technically I can do many different things," she said. "I'm happy about that. I've become a better person, more mature and more experienced. I love this life. Before I didn't realize that I was lucky to do what I love to do and not to really work and only play tennis. I didn't really sit down and think about my life. Now I realize it. When I was out with my knee injury for a long time, I finally realized I have a good life and I'm proud of it. When you can play and you want to compete, it's very frustrating. That's when you realize you want to play again even if it's hard."
The 23-year-old Mauresmo believes that her increasing maturity and newfound commitment to attacking the net could eventually lead her past the Williamses, who have combined to win seven of the last nine Grand Slams.
"My goal is to reach No. 1 ," Mauresmo said. "Whether it's going to happen in a month, a year, or five years, I don't know. Everyone has a goal in life and in my tennis life, that's mine."
While the eighth-ranked Frenchwoman did have success last year, Venus and Serena still had her number. At the All-England Club, Serena wasted her in straight sets. In New York, Venus outfought her in a tough three-setter. But after successfully recovering from off-season knee surgery, the muscular all-courter is now confident that she won't be staring up at the top forever.
"After I lost to Serena at Wimbledon I was so frustrated that I said I'd only play for the number three spot," Mauresmo said. "But now I'm thinking nothing is forever. There's going to be a time that I'm going to improve a little and Serena's going to go down a little. You can't be 100 percent all the time."
Hewitt primed for El Aynaoui
After winning Scottsdale without dropping a set in five matches, top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt appears primed for his first round revenge match against Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui in the first round.
"To go through tournaments these days without dropping a set, I'm pretty happy with that," said Hewitt. "I feel good about the way my games been progressing over the last four or five days."
But first Hewitt will have to get past El Aynaoui, who served him off the court in four sets in Melbourne. Hewitt said it was a winnable match and you don't hear that from the introverted Aussie too often.
"He played too well," Hewitt said. "It was one of the few matches where I didn't break serve in the whole match But I felt I had some chances. He's a tough player for anyone. But he probably played as well as he could that day."
When asked to respond to Safin's opinion that it's harder to get up for the lower ranked guys – Hewitt agreed – slightly.
"I love going out there and getting on court and having that one on one battle," Hewitt said. "It's obviously a lot easier to get motivated for the Grand Slam, Davis Cup, etceteras. I'm trying to peak for the big tournaments but, then again, I don't want to go out there and not give 100 percent at the smaller tournaments. Obviously, my goals and priorities have changed since I first came on tour when I was 16. Then it was like every tournament was a slam final. Now after I've won a couple Slams and Davis Cup, my goals and priorities change a lot. I love to go out there and put it on the line. But I know in the back of my mind what are the most important matches."
The Australian will have no easy task in defending his title. Should Hewitt get by El Aynaoui – who stunned him in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January – he'll face former two-time Grand Slam champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the second round. Third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain is also in his half of the draw, as is eighth seed Albert Costa.
"You've got to step it up again," Hewitt said. "There's a lot of tough matches here. You've got the best guys in the world playing this week. If I'm going to go and win another five matches, I'm going to have to go out with all my guns firing."
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