A week late with this, however, it's worth mentioning that the first round of the Davis Cup is history.
The defending champs, the USA, took on Austria in Vienna and won easily. All the guys who have played so faithfully for seven years showed up. Kudos to Blake, Roddick and the Bryans for making the trip so quickly after the Australian Open. You didn't see Nadal or Federer in action, did you? Nope. A match on clay in Austria was actually dangerous and one we could have lost. For once, they played well on clay. You have to think the team is playing with a lot of confidence right now.
The Yanks take on France in the next round. This will be a blockbuster between two traditional Davis Cup powers. The French boast one of the world's best doubles teams, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llorda, and top singles players Richard Gasquet, Jo Tsonga and Sebastian Grosjean. They easily defeated the Romanians.
Speaking of traditional powers, it seems strange not to see Australia in the World Group this year. This marks just the second time Australia was relegated to zonal play. Australia has won the Cup 28 times, second only to the US (32 titles).
Russia hasn't lost in Moscow since Pete Sampras beat them singlehandedly to win the 1996 Davis Cup. The streak held, as the Ruskis beat a flu-decimated Serbian team that should have been a threat to win this year's cup. But Joker missed the opening singles match with stomach flu, as did Tispsarevich. That left doubles specialist Nenad Z and a player I never heard of playing singles on the opening day. The player I never heard of, Troiki, almost came through, losing a five-set epic. Joker played and won the doubles and made it halfway through the second singles day before having to quit and go to the hospital. The Serbs managed enhance their reputation even in defeat.
Span dominated Peru but promised to help Peru build tennis courts. The country is still recovering from an August 2007 earthquake. The Spanish Federation is celebrating its 100th Anniversary.
Sweden narrowly avoided an upset at the hands of the Israelis, who put on a show for the home crowd in a hotly contested 3-2 loss. Good for Erlich & Ram, the doubles champions in Australia, for making it competitive.
Sweden faces Argentina in the next round, in South America. This one should be interesting.
Oz has come and gone but I didn't want to forget about Joker's victory over Tsonga to win the title.
Tsonga has all the tools. Now comes the hard part: dealing with sudden fame, learning about consistency, figuring out how to use all those tools to win matches, and staying healthy. To be fair we really ought to evaluate him 18 months from now to see how he handles himself.
Joker's straight-set domination of Federer was shocking. However, I did predict his ascent to the top of tennis. Hey, I'm wrong enough to make sure I point out that when I'm right, I'm right. When I first decided Joker was going to insert himself into the debate between Nadal and Federer, it seemed a little preposterous. The Mighty Fed and Nadal have such a rivalry, and their tennis is so many levels above everyone else it seemed hard to imagine anyone else joining the party. But when I saw him win Miami and I heard him talk, I just knew that the Serb with the unpronounceable name had the game and charisma to be an unlikely star.
Many observers are now noting that it's hard to remember another 20-year old with a such a complete game. Joker was already a mega-star in Serbia so I doubt his win will affect his ability to get through life. His work ethic is already phenomenal and he's not satisfied with one grand slam. As he said two years ago, his goal is to be number 1. To do that in this era you really have to want it, because Fed and Nadal aren't going anywhere. Having Joker get some of the attention will probably temporarily help Nadal, who has some issues in his game that he needs to work through. It takes the pressure off Rafa to be Fed's main rival. But clay is just around the corner for him so he will be fine. Fed, however, may not get his mojo back until Wimbledon.
Speaking of Wimby, Joker had this to say:
“And Wimbledon? My first memory of tennis was watching Pete Sampras lift the trophy. I think I was 6. I felt I should have been in the finals last year, but I was hurt. I have always imagined myself as Sampras.
“To be Australian Open champion is wonderful; to win Wimbledon, that would be amazing.”
Sun and Nenad defeated Indians Mahesh Bupathi and Sania Mirza to win the mixed doubles title.
This is a little bit of an upset since Mahesh has been ranked number 1 in doubles and has several grand slam titles under his belt, while Mirza is a top 20 singles player.
Sun is one of a handful of good Chinese women who have made an impact on the WTA Tour. She and Li Ting won the 2004 gold medal in women's doubles, a huge upset at the time. The pressure on Chinese players to win this summer is intense and insane. Last year the Chinese were not allowed to play Wimbledon because the Chinese Federation wanted them to play a local tournament. China was widely criticized for that move. Sun said winning in Australia will hopefully be a good experience for her Olympic Games preparation. She sure knows what the locals demand to hear, right? Winning the lowly Australian, not good enough. Winning the 04 gold was good, but not as good as winning at home in Beijing. Hopefully a Chinese team will win, so the government will allow them to continue to play professional tennis.
Nenad had won two grand slam titles in the mixed before the 08 Australian (French and Australian). Another triumph for Serbia. I remember when Slobodan "Bobo" Zivojinovic was the top Yugoslavian player in the 1990s. He was a good doubles player and a top twenty singles player for a year or two. I wonder what he thinks about all the Serbs excelling in tennis.
The 2008 Australian Open is over and Dodo was unusually quiet, for two reasons. First, no one paid for him to fly his sorry ass to Oz. Second, he is writing a book with Pete Sampras. Yes, I've known about it for a while now. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.
I hate the word "interesting."
Now Dodo did have a little macho-outbreak after Fed won that five-set marathon against Janko Tipsarevic (this blog's favorite player). Dodo said this was Fed's first "warrior moment." This is a reference to an argument that went on for weeks on his blog, after one of his attacks on Fed's masculinity. You know, attacking Fed for not having won a match after being down a few sets is suspiciously like those people who are always pointing out that Tiger Woods has never had a big comeback on the last day of a major....
Of course he hasn't -- that's because he's usually winning by more than 8 shots, fools!
Earlier this week Dodo did come up with a fine post about what Fed's loss to this blog's other favorite player--new champion Novak Djokovic--means. It was measured, as it noted that Fed is far from done, but it is the biggest evidence yet that Fed is going to be in for some rough times. Rough compared to the smooth waters he usually cruises.
Look, Fed is still going to break Sampras' record. His reign, which includes many stunning statistics (like the 10-straight slam finals) has been unprecedented because it has been so long. Other players have had spectacular years. John McEnroe in 1984, for example. To sustain that level of play for 4 YEARS is something no one thought possible. In my estimation, 75 percent of that accomplishment is all Fed. The other 25 percent is due to what Bodo called the "seam" that occurred when Sampras and Agassi were gone, and Lleyton Hewitt was on top. Bodo correctly notes that Federer pushed Hewitt out of the picture, but that the next generation of greats wasn't yet mature. (A similar situation happened when Hingis was number 1).
I thought Bodo was right-on with his assessment. He did not say "the sky is falling" he just noted that Fed can't play untouchable tennis forever. But Dodo's groupies did not like that, oh no, what a bunch of whiny Fed Kool-Aid Drinkers (I can't take credit for that; KAD is a term of art on that overly chummy blog). They've lost their shizz over this one.
When I first started following tennis all those many years ago, part of its appeal was that it was an international game that taught me a lot about geopolitical issues. Boris Becker, for example, burst onto the scene in 1984 at an interesting time in German (then West German) history. It seems like ancient history now, but there was considerable tension for Germans as they made their way in the world, and German athletes were certainly not immune to it. When the 17 year-old Becker won Wimbledon the newspapers ran headlines about "Blitzkrieg Becker" and "Bombs Over Britain."
A funny thing happened on the way to that title though. The British people fell for Becker like game, set, match. From then on it was Beckermania. His cultural impact was huge. You may dismiss it, but over the years there have been many articles examining Becker's significance to Germans. As they tell it, Boris was the first thing they could feel proud of, both publicly and privately, since WWII. Bekcer's entry onto the world staged marked the first time they could express any kind of nationalism that was enencumbered by guilt, shame, fear and international admonishment. Becker of course, was easy to love. (Click here for a 2001 Time Magazine article examining the effect these things had on Becker the man. Put simply: it freaked him out. Becker was so frightened of what the Germans would do after reunification he refused to support the country's Olympic bid. Becker later married a black woman and that relationship became the subject of public debate, leading Boris to become an anti-racism activist).
I bring this up in part to prepare you for a later post about my favorite topic of the last two years - the Sensational Serbs - but also because the ugly side of geopolitics really hit the fan yesterday when police subdued 10 Greek-Cypriots with pepper spray. One of those people was the president of a nationalistic group of Cypriots called Hellas Fan Club. What in the world does this have to do with Marcos Baghdatis?
Well let's back up. Tuesday night the police subdued about ten tennis fans with pepper spray (I am not making this up) during Chilean Fernando Gonzalez's match with Greek player Konstantinos Economidis. The officials took a hard line against the fans, including the aforementioned Greek-Cypriots, because of last year's giant mess, when 150 Serbian and Croatian tennis fans beat the shit out of each other with flag poles. It is rare to see this kind of behavior away from Davis Cup, but we are learning that these old blood feuds die hard.
So what did Marcos Baghdatis do? Well, back up again, just for a minute. Melbourne has the largest number of Greeks outside of Greece itself, and is considered the largest Greek city outside of Greece proper. Baggy is a Greek-Cypriot and he really packs the house Down Under. His matches are a rollicking good time for all, he has enough fans support that the matches feel like soccer games. Apparently last year ourBaggy attended a barbecue thrown by the Hellas Fan Club and was caught hanging with the president, Mr. Expelled-from-the-Open, in a series of videos that found their way to You Tube. In the videos Baggy says some things about Turk-Cypriots, chanting nationalistic slogans about kicking the Turks out of Cyprus. The Turks living in Australia are in an uproar. They want him thrown out of the tournament and out of the country.
"The community and I have view this breaches the state Racial Vilification Act and when someone gets a visa to come to Australia to play tennis there are certain visa conditions and he's breached all these conditions."
The Australian Greek community is also outraged. Their spokesperson pointed out that in the video you can't tell what Baggy is saying because his arm is in front of his face and he's in a crowd of people who are chanting. They also claim that whatever was said was not racist because "It's not exactly expressing a view which doesn't conform with the UN resolution or with the general global view of that incident." The "incident" refers to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the continuing hostility that has partitioned the island.
As his country's only star that burns brightly beyond their borders, Baghadtis shoulders an extra burden. When he made his incredible run to the finals of the Australian two years ago, Cyprus declared the day of the finals a national holiday. It wasn't just that he did it, it was how he did it. We tennis fans are smitten with the exuberant personality and style that he is capable of on his best days. (If he isn't eating bonbons with Serena in the locker room). Baggy's popularity at home is such that deals with issues that are bigger than the 46-weeks a year tennis grind. Being the public face of your country is a role fraught with land mines and he just found one.
Baggy had this to say in his defense:
"There has been a lot of coverage of me appearing in a video on YouTube.com."
"In that video from 2007, I was supporting the interest of my country, Cyprus while protesting against a situation that is not recognized (sic) by the United Nations.
"Now I would like to concentrate on the tournament and ask everyone to respect that.
"I love the Australian Open and want to do well here."
I have no opinion on his appearance at the barbecue or whatever he said or did not say. As always, I completely reject throwing someone out of the country for words. I am not an expert on Australian law or the Racial Vilification Act, but I do not like this kind of legislation, wherever it appears. I can agree with it in spirit, but when it comes to free speech I tend to be something of an absolutist.
Above: the incendiary video with commentary from Aussie tv, whose tv personalities can be heard chuckling about a roe started by a barbecue. You have to love them for that.
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