Thursday, August 23, 2007
Not-so-wide Open
Tennis has flipped. It used to be that the women’s draw was fairly predictable, while the men’s was thrown into upheaval by the opening of the third round. No longer. The draw for the 2007 US Open was announced yesterday and there is little reason to believe that the top four seeds on the men’s side—Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko—will not be in the semifinals.
Nadal has the cleanest path to the semis and Djokovic, who a lot of people truly believe can win the tournament, has a tough fourth round matchup with a re-born Lleyton Hewitt, but few worries otherwise. Federer is a more interesting case, having drawn 2003 champion and 2006 finalist Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. Roddick was the No. 4 player in the world heading into a recent tournament in Cincinnati but lost early—and the loss proved costly. A No. 4 seeding would have meant he could have avoided Federer, Nadal and Djokovic until the semis. Now he gets the three-time defending champion in the quarters. Davydenko is the most vulnerable of the bunch, and could face a quarterfinal matchup with either American James Blake, Tommy Haas or Marcos Baghdatis, any of whom are capable of beating him.
Final: Federer over Nadal
Semifinalists: Davydenko, Djokovic
Possible semifinalists in the upset department: Hewitt, Baghdatis, Marat Safin
The women’s side is loaded on the top half, with Justine Henin, Serena and Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic all residing there. That means Maria Sharapova should have a relatively clear road to the finals, but this surprisingly isn’t the case. Sharapova faces potential opponents who are due for Grand Slam breakthroughs, Nicole Vaidisova in the fourth round and Anna Chakvetadze in the quarterfinals. Moreover, Sharapova has battled injuries and has suffered three dismal losses in Grand Slams this year, winning a total of 10 games over six sets of her losses (two to Serena, one to Ivanovic). Still, Vaidisova has yet to show nerves of steel in Grand Slams and Chakvetadze (0-5) has not fared well against Sharapova, so the Russian from Florida remains the pick.
The match to watch is the potential quarterfinal matchup between Henin and Serena. Serena hasn’t played since Wimbledon with a thumb injury. If she’s not completely healed, Henin will win this match and, most likely, the title. If Serena is healthy, however, she is still the best player in women’s tennis.
Final: Henin over Sharapova
Semifinalists: Ivanovic, Kuznetsova
Possible semifinalists in the upset department: Vaidisova, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka
In other news:
My favorite stat from last night’s 30-3 Rangers’ victory over the Orioles? After allowing 30 runs on 29 hits, the Orioles dropped from seventh in AL ERA to 11th.
Why won’t they just leave poor Joey Harrington alone? All he wants to do is carry a clipboard, play some occasional piano and collect a paycheck. So he goes to the Dolphins and Daunte Culpepper gets hurt. Then he goes to the Falcons and Mike Vick goes to jail.
By the way, as Budds and I discussed the other day, who would have thought that Marcus Vick was the good egg in that family. I certainly won’t miss Mike Vick—but I do hope he gets out with a different perspective.
Things are looking up for the Mets. Mota is god-awful, but Beltran is as hot as a non-juiced baseball player gets and they suddenly have the biggest lead of any division leader in baseball.
Nadal has the cleanest path to the semis and Djokovic, who a lot of people truly believe can win the tournament, has a tough fourth round matchup with a re-born Lleyton Hewitt, but few worries otherwise. Federer is a more interesting case, having drawn 2003 champion and 2006 finalist Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. Roddick was the No. 4 player in the world heading into a recent tournament in Cincinnati but lost early—and the loss proved costly. A No. 4 seeding would have meant he could have avoided Federer, Nadal and Djokovic until the semis. Now he gets the three-time defending champion in the quarters. Davydenko is the most vulnerable of the bunch, and could face a quarterfinal matchup with either American James Blake, Tommy Haas or Marcos Baghdatis, any of whom are capable of beating him.
Final: Federer over Nadal
Semifinalists: Davydenko, Djokovic
Possible semifinalists in the upset department: Hewitt, Baghdatis, Marat Safin
The women’s side is loaded on the top half, with Justine Henin, Serena and Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic all residing there. That means Maria Sharapova should have a relatively clear road to the finals, but this surprisingly isn’t the case. Sharapova faces potential opponents who are due for Grand Slam breakthroughs, Nicole Vaidisova in the fourth round and Anna Chakvetadze in the quarterfinals. Moreover, Sharapova has battled injuries and has suffered three dismal losses in Grand Slams this year, winning a total of 10 games over six sets of her losses (two to Serena, one to Ivanovic). Still, Vaidisova has yet to show nerves of steel in Grand Slams and Chakvetadze (0-5) has not fared well against Sharapova, so the Russian from Florida remains the pick.
The match to watch is the potential quarterfinal matchup between Henin and Serena. Serena hasn’t played since Wimbledon with a thumb injury. If she’s not completely healed, Henin will win this match and, most likely, the title. If Serena is healthy, however, she is still the best player in women’s tennis.
Final: Henin over Sharapova
Semifinalists: Ivanovic, Kuznetsova
Possible semifinalists in the upset department: Vaidisova, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka
In other news:
My favorite stat from last night’s 30-3 Rangers’ victory over the Orioles? After allowing 30 runs on 29 hits, the Orioles dropped from seventh in AL ERA to 11th.
Why won’t they just leave poor Joey Harrington alone? All he wants to do is carry a clipboard, play some occasional piano and collect a paycheck. So he goes to the Dolphins and Daunte Culpepper gets hurt. Then he goes to the Falcons and Mike Vick goes to jail.
By the way, as Budds and I discussed the other day, who would have thought that Marcus Vick was the good egg in that family. I certainly won’t miss Mike Vick—but I do hope he gets out with a different perspective.
Things are looking up for the Mets. Mota is god-awful, but Beltran is as hot as a non-juiced baseball player gets and they suddenly have the biggest lead of any division leader in baseball.
# posted by EJ @ 3:01 PM 
