April 23, 2001 - Just in case you missed it!
Gustavo Kuerten proved again this week that his game is the most beautiful, artistic, scientific,
charismatic, effortless, magical, sophisticated and fundamentally sound on the planet.
The Points race may have Andre Agassi on top, as he should be for this year, he's doing really well, but it's a race, with 7 months to go.
The Entry system may have Marat Safin on top, as he should be, he had the strongest last 52 weeks, BUT...
The reigning champion and number one in my book is: Gustavo Kuerten.
He finished last year as the number one player and until someone takes his crown, he will remain so, whether he can
successfully defend it remains to be seen, (I think he will) for now, he holds the belt!
Guga is king!
April 24, 2001 - The Grass is not splendid!
Getting seeded is very beneficial to a player even if it's his worse surface, as a matter of fact, this is where
such a player needs the rewards of being seeded according to his ranking to camouflage his weakness. He does not want to face top players on his worse
surface in the early rounds, but when properly seeded he can still get through several rounds by beating weaker players.
Clay court specialists for many years have been getting zero respect from the officials at Wimbledon, the tennis establishment backs them up by saying, "well they had no chance in winning any way, that's why they are boycotting".
That's the wrong way to look at it, if a player earned his points honor it, no matter what the surface is. He may win his early round matches and get hot later on in the tournament.
If the officials are going to dismiss such possibilities before the event starts, why play? I hope more players put their foot down and demand changes, after all it is suppose to be the player's tour.
April 25, 2001 - Not my fight!
If the players revolt, if many of the top "clay courters" decide not to play Wimbledon, if their decision
and impact is similar to 1973, (the year that Jan Kodes won the
tournament, mainly because the top players sat out in protest) I guarantee you that Andre Agassi will not be among the players who pass on the grass!!
It's not because he is not sympathetic to the concerns of the clay courters, ( he's probably not) it's because
he's in line for the grand slam, as a matter of fact, he would love to see the field dwindled and diluted.
Keep fighting boys he's yelling, he's probably sending faxes to Alex Corretja
right this moment, "Don't let them do you like that Alex do something"
Andre you sly dog you.
April 26, 2001 - The Wolves are knocking!
Mama's gone, there are no guards at the door!
They are lined up for miles, people with briefcases, people with great smiles, people with great ideas, people who declare themselves to be "Nice", and they have one thing in mind, get to Martina Hingis before she crumbles and fails and runs back to her mother.
Now that the two have eliminated the coaching relationship, the true legacy of Martina Hingis will be written, which will be more successful? The super teen, grand slam winning, number one player or the new alone and adult Martina, it's too early to tell, but if the last few months
are an indication, it would appear that the days of the dominating Martina
is over, yes she will continue to beat on the pretenders, but gone are the days when she
could count on wins against the bigger, powerful and consistent ladies.
If she does not win the French this year, I would not be surprised if she never wins another slam again.
I personally believe that she should not have broken coaching ties with her mom,
if the move was necessary, do it gradually - continue to travel together and slowly pull back, to do it all
at once is a mistake.
Good luck Martina, you'll need it!
What's your
point
April 27, 2001 - The Entry system!
As mentioned before on many occasions, I like and prefer a points race or a ranking system that looks at the calendar year, not a rolling 52
week system.
I do not like the idea that that Marat Safin who has not done anything this year can be number one, or Kafelnikov jumping up to the
top spot by losing 6 tournaments in a row.
The entry system could stay the same but give out more points to the
current calendar performance, here's how:
Let's say it's June 2001 and a player has 10 tournaments played this year and 10 tournaments played last year, all points earned at tournaments last year would lose 20
points, and all tournaments played would earn an additional 20 points for calendar year performance.
If the player is doing just as well this calendar year as he did last year, all would even out, if he is doing worse
than he did last year, he would get a big hit and still not lose all of his points.
But his decline based on effort in the current calendar year would be reflected in his points.
What do you think?
(c) 1stserve