Back and Reattached

What's better than being quote-unquote "BACK" in women's tennis? Probably nothing, but having "ARRIVED" comes pretty close. Madison Keys doesn't fall into either of those categories at this point in her career, but she is in a third category, "RISING," one that the WTA loves too so much.

And rising she is, very quickly. After only moving ranking up six spots to no. 31 in 2014, Maddy has busted into the Top 20 after being the third straight 19 year-old to reach the Australian Open semifinals. Her serve and power off the ground is something to behold. When Maddy is on her game, you can't help but smile at the ridiculous winners that come off her racquet. At age 20, she's still got plenty of time to improve on her variety and learn not going for broke at inopportune times, but she's got the attitude and work ethic to build upon a champion-making playstyle. The outcome of matches tends to depend on how Madison plays, something that nearly all previous Slam winners have in common.

Which is why it was so surprising to see Angelique Kerber pull off the comeBACK win in a fantastic Charleston final against Madison, especially given their forms this season. While Maddy was being rightfully crowned the new "Next Big Thing," Angie entered the Family Circle Cup with a losing record in 2015. It seemed like she was rapidly following the Sara Errani trajectory: an outsider who made the most of her talent by winning a shload of matches, but couldn't sustain nor make an impact to against the very elite. Errani's even done Kerber one better by making the French Open final; Kerber has only gotten to two Slam semis (and just two other quarterfinals). 



Still, Angie was able to put her "Duncurrber" tendencies away for a week and play a really great match against Madison. Kerber likely will never be seen as someone who can win a major, but her ability to counterpunch (emphasis on "punch") is among the best and extremely entertaining. The points she and Maddy produced is something that I want to see all the time. The push and pull, the momentum swings, and the shotmaking from both was impressive, and both were playing well. More please, tennis gods.

Now that Kerbz seems to have gotten out of her funk, is she BACK? Only time will tell. Clay isn't usually good for her and winning Charleston doesn't shake that notion for me because the court doesn't play slow or seem very clay-like at all other than the whole sliding thing. But I hope she is. This title hopefully has restored her confidence in getting back to where Madison is heading: towards the upper echelons of the WTA.

(Sidenote: Maddy should totally adopt the "cow on ice" moniker.)

Hawk Eye

Tennis season is upon us! The season's first week is a deluge of matches and an abandonment of a human circadian rhythm, but it's always a fun reawakening to the sport that we love so dearly. Good thing, too, since we should get warmed up for the Australian Open right around the corner. As we become night owls for the next couple of weeks, there are a few players I will pay particularly close attention to in Melbourne:

Victoria Azarenka

The two-time Oz Open champ spent most of her 2014 on the sidelines plagued a variety of injuries and ailments that have derailed her momentum from the previous few seasons. Outside of training, her pre-Melbourne warm up will only consist of her very tough loss to Karolina Pliskova in the first round of Brisbane. 

Per @TennisReporters, Victoria Azarenka wanted but didn't get wildcard into Sydney, where she was 2012 champ. Instead, Gajdosova, Gavrilova.
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 9, 2015

Her lack of match fitness has been a key factor in her relatively snail-paced comeback during the grass season and summer hard courts. She'll go into the Happy Slam unseeded, a dangerous opponent for any of the top women to face early on. However, given her results the past 12 months, even a cushiony may not be enough to get her back to her winning ways.

Stan Wawrinka

With another Aircel Chennai Open trophy on his shelf, is Stanimal on his way to failing even better than last year? He's one of the most unpredictable players on tour, capable of beating everybody and losing to...well, nobodies. Fortunately for him, he's in form going into Melbourne, where he's defending his title and 2,000 precious ranking points. A repeat performance can really set himself up for another fantastic season. A first-week flop, however, can be the beginnings of a tailspin.

Agnieszka Radwanska

At last year's Australian Open, the award for Performance of the Tournament went to Aga hands down. But her murder of Vika in the quarters via carbicide only made the semifinal thrashing she received from Dominika Cibulkova more disappointing. The dark cloud of "what could have been" seemed to hang over the ninja's head for the entirety of her 2014 season, compelling me to go on Aga Ranking Watch for 2015. Hopefully her new coach, the legendary Martina Navratilova, has instilled new belief, as well as a new attacking mindset, in her as she goes into Melbourne. She should get a mental boost from her Hopman Cup performance, too, taking the title with partner Jerzy Janowicz (and giving hilarious on court interviews in the process).

Rafael Nadal

A scoreboard rout in an exhibition loss to Andy Murray is one thing, but getting beaten by Michael Berrer in his opening match in Doha is worrisome. The way he lost, winning the first set via breadstick and not being able to finish, was especially disconcerting. He may be a little competition rusty, but Nadal may be the most competitive athlete in any sport, let alone in tennis. Putting Berrer away should be an accomplishable task. Without much match play, Rafa goes into Melbourne a bit undercooked which won't suit him well. However, we'll see if his first round or two can help him round into find his form.

Caroline Wozniacki

Our favorite marathoner is coming into Melbourne with most of the momentum she built in the second half of last season where she surged from the depths of the Top 20 all the way back to No. 8. Caro seems to be a different player, going much bigger on her forehand than she has in the past. Her serve is clicking and her backhand is a legitimate weapon these days. Those boosts in power haven't sacrificed Woz's trademark speed; she'll always be the toughest wall for her opponents to break through. Still, heavy hitters like the Williams sisters, each of whom have afforded Wozniacki's last two defeats, can blast the ball past her, so it's hard for Caro to ever truly have any given match solely in her hands. A more worrying and immediate concern is her now bothersome wrist which forced her to pull out of Sydney (although it can be argued that she shouldn't have played there to begin with). It'll be interesting to see where her confidence is going into the first Slam of the year. Her fitness is renowned and she will be able to stand up against the oppressive heat radiating from the Australian summer sun. She's on the short list of favorites for the title, but if she comes up against a free-swinging floater, she could be sent packing prematurely.

Andy Murray

Official kit for the Australian Open (ausopen.com)

The runt of the Big Four has been making slow, sometimes steady strides back to where he was near the top of the game. While he finished 2014 with a strong record, his performance against his brethren have been much less than stellar, including a season-ending 0 & 1 embarrassment at the hands of Roger Federer in front of his hometown fans. Year 1 of Andy's comeback is now behind him, so it's only fair that expectations return to where they were pre-back surgery. Muzz has historically played well in Melbourne, reaching the finals on three separate occasions. Sadly, his ranking leaves him vulnerable to an undesirable quarterfinal meeting against Djokovic, Federer, or Nadal. A match against any of the Top 3 will be a must-see affair, the outcome of which will set the tone for Andy's 2015 season.

Dangerous floaters: Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Camila Giorgi, CoCo Vandeweghe, Victoria Azarenka, Aleksandra Krunic, Dominic Thiem, Jerzy Janowicz, Nick Kyrgios, Vasek Pospisil, Bernard Tomic, Juan Martin del Potro.

Early champion picks: Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic. See you on the other side, with a pot of coffee, of course.

Late Night Cool: Grigor on Spotify

Hey guys, Love preparing for my matches to Music. Thanks @spotifyjosh http://t.co/jImfUyfVVP
— Grigor Dimitrov (@GrigorDimitrov) April 21, 2014

Aside from watching tennis, two of my bigger passions are singing and listening to music. When these two worlds collide, my head explodes.

Divas galore

KABLAMO! Towards the beginning of his Bucharest title run, Grigor Dimitrov shared with us his Spotify account and a playlist he listens to pre-match. While this particular collection of recent hits was nothing to write home about, there are so many gems below the surface that everyone should know.

There is a playlist titled "Sweet" which contains a song from rapper Eve featuring Alicia Keys called Gangsta Lovin'. Another song, Sexercise, from synth-pop diva Kylie Minogue can be found in another playlist titled "Late Night." Maybe those were meant for Maria Sharapova's ears only.

However, my favorite playlist of his, has to be his "Retro" playlist; it's a place where Grigor and I truly connect given my love for music from the late 80s and 1990s. Here you can find a couple of random Michael Jackson hits, a solid selection of Madonna classics, a semi-obscure Bobby Brown jam, a sensual vocal from Toni Braxton, and the one of the Druest of Dru Hill love anthems.



How would one describe Grisha's music tastes? Well, they are kind of all over the place. According to his playlists, he's a big fan of Drake (ugh...), Kanye West (ughhhh...), and Jay-Z, but also "starred" a recent Selena Gomez release and I constantly catch him listening to Independent Women, Pt. 1 from Destiny's Child. I don't know what to make of these juxtapositions. Sometimes I think he's a closet thug, other times I think he's a closet case. Who really knows.

Regardless, I am 100% in favor of tennis players sharing their Spotify activity. Personally, I can connect to a player's individuality and likes through their music choices and I love that Grigor has given us this medium to get to know him a little better. I implore the rest of the ATP and WTA to do the same. I'll try not to judge you lol jk.

Anarchy of Tennis Professionals

Well, that escalated quickly.

I've sensed this quiet disturbance in the men's tennis force earlier this year. There have been patches of the 2014 season that made you question, is this the year the ATP gives us something new? Even though 'something new' came very quickly with Stan Wawrinka bagging the Australian Open title unexpectedly, it was a common exercise to point to Rafael Nadal's untimely back injury as the reason Stan won. Still, there were little sprinklings of evidence signaling the arrival of new blood and the weakening stranglehold the Big Four had on the rest of the tour.

Tele-Kei-nesis

Funnily enough, it starts with Rafa's Australian Open campaign, where he was subtly pushed by Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov in consecutive rounds. In both of those matches, Rafa couldn't fall back on his B-game to get him through. It made me think that maybe, just maybe, the Next Generation was ready to start making some noise. Maybe the oft-overlooked B-Squad was about to come out of the shadows.

As the season moved forward, the results slowly became more conspicuous. In February, Grigor outlasted Andy in Acapulco when, in the years prior, "Grigor" and "outlast" didn't belong in the same sentence. Milos Raonic turned himself into a ubiquitous presence in the quarterfinals of Masters 1000 tournaments. Kei stunned Roger Federer in Miami and was blitzing Rafa on Madrid clay before coming up lame with a back injury that forced him to retire in the final. Roger lost what looked like sure titles in Monte Carlo and Toronto to Stan and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Even 19 year-old Nick Kyrgios got in on the action with his takedown of Nadal at Wimbledon.

The men's locker room was buzzing about Stan opening doors for them and their increased belief. The impossible was proved to be possible. This U.S. Open is an even bigger feather in the Belief Cap. With just one round to go before the 36th thrilling installment of Fedole, Marin Cilic routined Roger and Kei played the role of Iron Man, having enough willpower to stand the humidity and Novak Djokovic after beating Milos and Stan in two physically, and mentally, draining five-setters. Not since the 2005 Australian Open have we had both Slam finalists come from outside of the Big Four. Either Cilic or Nishikori will become the second first-time Slam winner on the ATP this season. The last year there were multiple first-time winners was 2003.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? In 2003, Agassi won his last Slam in Melbourne before Juan Carlos Ferrero, Roger Federer, and Andy Roddick cleaned up the rest, beginning their own periods at the top of the game. 2003 can definitively be classified as a year of upheaval, harbinger of the Fed Era that we are still trying to wade through. Is 2014 the signal of another instantaneous shuffle at the top?

A large fact refuting this new regime is the current cream of the rankings crop compared to that of 2003. A-Rod, Fed, and JCF were the tour's Top 3 back then, a complete changing of the guard. The Top 3 now are Novak, Rafa, and Roger, and they will likely remain in their positions by season's end. The Big 3 still reign in that department. It also doesn't help that two of those three are holding Slam trophies, with the other having made a final and two additional semis.

So there is something strong in the air this year, but expect the same names to still be very relevant in the big picture of 2015 just with these new names in the mix on Sundays. The ATP is still very much the Big Four's world and they will still stand on the majority of podiums, but, as 2014 has shown, nothing lasts forever. It's about time we start to accept the idea of other champions in this sport. One will be forced upon us tonight. Nishikori in four.

What are your thoughts? Is this the first page of "The End of the Big Four" novel? Or is this a fluke? Leave a comment!

WTA Sidebar: you are ridiculous, Serena Williams. Congratulations on 18. And commiserations to Caroline. So glad to see her back near the top where she belong.

(Image from stevegtennis.com)

US Open Series: A Dash for Cash

Solid gold belts are now affordable

The US Open is hurtling towards us, with main draw play beginning just days from now. Final tune-ups are taking place in New Haven and Winston-Salem. Those venues also serve as a last opportunity to accumulate US Open Series points, which give the Top 3 finishers a chance to earn a significant amount of bonus cash-money depending on how well they do in Flushing Meadows. It sounds like a fun way to boost the stakes during the American summer hard courts, but what has it done for tennis exactly?

In terms of its importance, the players don't exactly treat this part of the calendar with any more reverence. It could be argued that they don't care that much at all given how relatively weak some of the fields at the Coupe Rogers, one of the two largest tournaments in the Series, have been over the last few years. There isn't any indication that the Series has been a boon to exposure, either, with ticket sales and television viewership peaking in 2009.

However, with all of this money on the line, wouldn't the players really hunker down and try to win the Series? You would think so, but there is no real correlation to winning the Series and winning the US Open. Out of the 20 winners from 2004-2013, only four have gone on to take the trophy: Kim Clijsters, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams. Of those, one can only argue that performance in the Series spurred on Kim, who had not won a Grand Slam at that point in her career; the other three were on the short list of GOAT candidates in their respective tours at the time of their title runs.

Still, Kim Clijsters' 2005 US Open was spurred by her desire to win a Slam, not by money. Unfortunately for tennis, money remains the primary selling point of the US Open Series, and it is my biggest peeve. You see it all the time on TV, whenever an ESPN crony whips out the Series standings; it never goes without mentioning the associated cash prize. The focus on money was made apparent during last year's trophy ceremonies for Serena and Rafa, both of whom won the 2013 Series. Mary Carrillo went down and presented their trophies, but then handed them a check worth $3.6 million, exuberantly pointing out to the viewers that they have made an extra million bucks for doing the best at their jobs for essentially two tournaments. For someone who might have been sitting in front of his 12-inch TV eating pasta for the umpteenth night in a row, these words can be a bit off-putting, especially considering Serena and Rafa are two of the world's richest athletes.

Yes, these players are trying to earn a paycheck. That's why they chase appearance fees, play exhibitions during their off time, commit to a plethora of sponsor obligations, and tout candy and cheesecake and watches and their Signature Statement collection. But the US Open, one of the four most prestigious tournaments in the world, should not be reduced to a cash grab opportunity. Most of these players want to win the US Open for glory, not for money, so to treat a moment in which one has won a Grand Slam as someone winning the lottery is unfair. Serena and Rafa didn't give everything they had to win the US Open Series just for a chance have some additional change in their pockets.

What do you think of the US Open Series? Totally game or totally lame? Leave a comment and leave a dollar for my troubles. I need every penny.

P.S. I will be on site for US Open qualies on Friday! Tweet at me or come say 'hi' if you're around!

A 'Murrican Tennis Outlook

My sleep/work schedule is rejoicing tennis being back in the States. Matches are so much more fun to watch when they're on primetime television with an adult beverage in hand or well-rested on a relaxing weekend afternoon. On Friday night I watched, with heavy eyelids, Serena Williams battle back to defeat Ana Ivanovic. On Saturday, an ultimately disappointed Donald Young held his own against Milos Raonic.

Besides the Williams sisters, American tennis is going through a long-winded lull. The players are less exciting (we kinda-sorta miss you, A-Rod, but you're doing a bang up job as an analyst) and the number of events on home soil has dwindled and become more scattered, but we'll focus more on the players, or lack thereof. Given Serena's roller coaster ride of a 2014, we're forced to gaze into the crystal ball and see the future landscape of American tennis, and it's exactly what you'd expect to be looking at when confronted with a crystal ball: fog and lots of it.

Really, really sad

To be fair, the Grand Slam prospects on the women's side look pretty decent. Madison Keys has had ups and downs, but has mostly made strides in 2014. Even through her ugly patches (speaking of roller coasters...), Sloane Stephens still has considerable talent that can be honed. Vicky Duval is in the Top 100 (and kicking cancer's ass in the process) and Taylor Townsend has shone brightly on and off of the court. However, the men are a totally different story. John Isner has been lumbering in and largely out of the Top 10, Young is getting his bearings together yet again, and Steve Johnson is only beginning to make a name for himself on the main tour. Jack Sock has seen steady improvement, but Sam Querrey has been...sad.

Among all of the aforementioned names, Big John is the only one that could feasibly win a Slam by 2015. However, Jizzner's game makes any given match a toss-up, and that amounts to a <1% chance of winning seven matches in a single event (yes, I did the math). We also seemingly lack personalities that we can love (or love to hate). Serena and Sloane started to give us some of that last year, but have largely been consumed by their respective on-court woes since. Madison, Vicky, and Taylor are all likable girls, but have yet to show their on-court prowess deep at the biggest stages, leaving them fairly anonymous with casual fans.

All of that said, Serena is still #1, the tournament favorite everywhere she plays, and a household name. Venus is still plugging away and doesn't seem to be hanging it up anytime soon. Taylor is a future star in training. Sloane is Sloane, as she would say, and is still giving us something to talk about, NuvaRings and all. There were seven American boys in the last 16 of Wimbledon's Boy's Championships, two of whom faced off in the final. We may have a bit more fog to wade through, but it can be cleared pretty quickly with some strong results, especially if they can come within the next five weeks on home soil.

Thoughts? Rebuttals? Leave a comment! #MERICA

Piling on the Princess

It's not a bad thing to be Eugenie Bouchard today. She's young and good looking, she has legions of fans and admirers, and, as the 2014 Wimbledon finalist, she's wildly successful at her job. A pretty fun job, at that.

With that success, however, comes visibility, and with visibility comes scrutiny, the one not-so-great aspect of Genie's life right now. And there has been a lot of it, too. From handshake-gate at Fed Cup to not wanting to make friends on tour to the fallout with former bestie, Laura Robson (who's popular and widely well-liked), Genie has been forced to deal with the negative press that comes with it and has handled it with...ambivalence?

She doesn't show much in terms of emotions, good or bad, which is a testament to her competitive focus and determination. But when you're being marketed as the fresh personality of the WTA, it's a bit off-putting to learn that Genie...isn't very personable, at all.

As fans, we like our tennis stars to have a superhero(ine)'s air about them on court, for the most part, but to show their vulnerability and their human side off of it. At the height of her dominance, there were many people who couldn't stand Serena Williams. Slowly, as her insecurities regarding her health and age began to surface, there are many more people on her side than not. Something similar could be said about Monica Seles (although her situation was much more heartbreaking), Maria Sharapova, and even Victoria Azarenka, who's injury luck and recent return have softened those who criticized her the loudest. No, she doesn't need an injury or incident to get on the public's good side. But right now, Genie's guard is up so high, it's hard to get to know who she truly is other than someone who only takes pleasure in winning and very little else.

Still, she's very young, and it's still incredibly early in her career. There will be ebbs and flows, peaks followed by valleys, and in due time, we will learn something about Genie that helps us relate to her. She will someday reveal something about herself that garners no scrutiny, but appreciation instead.