Henin Happy in Retirement

Here is a link to a recent interview with Justine Henin where she discusses her retirement last May.

Agassi to Return to Exhibition Play

It seems like Andre Agassi will be picking up his tennis racquet again soon. Agassi is scheduled to play an exhibition match at Wimbledon with wife Steffi Graf in May to celebrate the completion of the overhead roof on Centre Court. Other retired stars Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman will also be on court.

Agassi will also take to the court in July as a part of World Team Tennis. See the following link for more details.

Hopefully Agassi gets back into the grove quickly enough after an almost three year layoff. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would like to see an exhibition match against Pete Sampras if it could be put together.

Venus Wins 40th Career Title in Dubai

By Mike McIntyre

The women's Dubai Tennis Championship ended on Saturday with Venus Williams as deserving champion. Williams defeated Virginie "The Razzer" Razzano 6-4, 6-2 in an anti-climactic final match. Williams tore through the draw with ease, with the exception of a semi-final matchup with her sister Serena. There is no doubt that the Williams sisters were the most dominant players in the draw despite Serena's erratic play. If it weren't for frequent mental lapses, the younger Williams may well have been hoisting the champions trophy. Venus was the more steady of the two, yet Serena showed flashes of brilliance when she seemingly chose to.

The play of the two sisters this week makes me wonder how they "only" have seventeen Grand Slams between them. The way Venus is playing tennis at the age of twenty eight and Serena at twenty seven makes me believe that several more are on the way. They have won three of the four Slams since Justine Henin retired last May and on hard court appear to be unchallenged at the moment.

While nobody else in Dubai impressed me with their level of play as the two Williams sisters did there were still some noteworthy performances. Razzano had what she described as the best performance of her career. Along the way she knocked off number two seed Dinara Safina, number five seed Vera Zvonareva, and former top ten player Daniela Hantuchova. Razzano won over the fans in Dubai with her emotional response after defeating Kaia Kanepi in the semi-finals. She could hardly maintain her composure in the on-court interview after the match, as tears of joy flowed freely. Even after being defeated by Venus in the finals she was clearly quite proud of her achievement as she clutched the runner-up trophy tightly.

Estonia's Kaia Kanepi also had a strong showing this past week as she defeated Jelena Jankovic and attained the semi-finals. Twenty two year old Elena Vesnina from Russia also looks like a player on the rise. Starting 2009 strong in Auckland, New Zealand she made her first WTA tour final. Here in Dubai she knocked off last year's finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova and another seeded player in Dominika Cibulkova. Russia seems to keep pumping out top level tennis talent on the female side - but where is the United States equivalent???

So the women's stop in Dubai has now completed and seems to have survived the Shahar Peer incident. The WTA has fined the tournament $300,000 for it's blatant act of racism towards the Israeli player and compensated her for being left out of the draw. Earlier in the week I was critical of Venus for not using her position as an athlete on tour to speak loudly on the issue and she totally redeemed herself last night. Not only did she end her trophy acceptance speech by criticizing the actions of the UAE and the tournament in excluding Peer, but she also spoke of the progress being made with the inclusion of Andy Ram this coming week. In the post match press conference she also spoke at length about the situation.

“I felt like I had to talk about her,” Williams said. “I thought it was brave of her to come here and try and play despite knowing that it is not going to be easy for her. My dad grew up in an area where if you spoke too much, it was your life. So I felt I had a small opportunity to say something where everyone will listen. Obviously, Andy Ram got his visa, so I’ll be happy to come and defend next year. If everyone is not given the equal opportunity to play, I’d rethink."

The men's tournament starts Monday and is without several of the big names you would normally find here. Federer and Nadal have both withdrawn due to injuries, while Andy Roddick could not make it in time as he is in the finals in Memphis and also cited the exclusion of Peer as a reason to stay home. A round table media session that was supposed to happen today at the exclusive Burj al Arab hotel was canceled, no doubt due to the lack of star presence in the draw. Without the top two players in the world, Dubai will still get plenty of excitement from Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and of course Andy Ram.

Williams Sisters Dominate in Dubai

By Mike McIntyre

Tennis fans in Dubai were treated to a blockbuster Thursday night to kick off their weekends with both Williams sisters in action on Stadium Court. Earlier in the day Kaia Kanepi continued her recent winning streak by defeating qualifier Elena Visnina 6-3, 7-5 and Virginie Razzano knocked off number five seed Vera Zvonareva 7-6(7), 7-5. This was just a warm-up for the two main events that would follow. The court was packed for the first time all tournament to get a glimpse of the Williams sisters back to back. Most were hoping for an all-Williams semi-final to emerge and they would not be disappointed.

In the first match Venus Williams defeated Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-3 with relative ease. She was never in trouble against the Russian despite the fact that Dementieva had never lost in Dubai and has been on fire so far in 2009 with a 21-2 record coming into the match. Dementieva seemed unprepared for the power that Venus unleashed on her throughout both sets. In the first set especially there was never any doubt of the outcome as Venus finished if off in a quick 31 minutes. While Dementieva is having a terrific year thus far, and her serve is much improved from the last time I saw her play, she could not match the powerful groundstroke’s that Venus launched at her all night long.

The second set began much closer and after 31 minutes this time the score was tied at 3-3.  Dementieva's errors decreased and the rallies lengthened. The quality of the match was reflected in the buzz of the crowd who cheered equally for both players. Serving at 3-3 Dementieva's serve would let her down however with two double faults to give Williams the crucial break. She would lose the match 6-3, 6-3 and fail to advance to defend her title from a year ago.

Dementieva was noticeably upset in the post match press conference after having her Dubai streak come to an end. Speaking about the reason for the loss she said,

"I just feel like I did too many mistakes. I was missing every single return; it's really hard to play like that. I was not aggressive enough today."

Venus was asked about what she might have to look out for if playing Ivanovic or her sister the next day and replied,

"I'm gonna go out there and play my game to the best of my ability that's pretty much what I do every time."

The next match was slightly closer than the first, yet Serena was never truly troubled by Serbia's Ana Ivanovic. Ivanovic brought a more varied approach against Serena then Dementieva tried against Venus in the previous match. She came to net from time to time although this tactic received mixed results and often Serena was able to blast the ball right through her it seemed. One thing that impressed me about Ivanovic was that she never seemed to get frustrated on court no matter what the score was. That calm composure under pressure is something that many of the players on the WTA tour seem to be lacking.

Serena won the first set 6-4 in 40 minutes and then seemed to take a mental break from the match to start the second set. She went down an early break and I noticed that she stopped shrieking when she hit the ball which signaled a lack of aggression. It was as if she was a completely different player. This lethargic behavior did not last long though, and she broke back quickly enough. At 4-4 Serena stepped it up and ripped a couple of returns on Ivanovic's serve that the Serb could not handle. She would move on 6-4, 6-4. It really came down to too much power for Ivanovic to handle.

In the post match press conference Ivanovic was all smiles and did not seem bothered at all by the fact she was out of the tournament. This approach was in stark contrast with Dementieva's dejection, and showed me that perhaps Ivanovic never really expected to beat Serena.

For her part, Serena exuded confidence in every statement she made afterwards. When asked about Ivanovic's approach to the match and frequent trips to the net she said,
 
"I think she hit really, really hard and I think that was her whole game was to go for broke. I like when people come to the net against me, I really do, next time I'll play her I'll know what to expect more and I'll look forward to her coming to the net a lot."

Although both Venus and Serena played similar power games on the court, their responses on the Shahar Peer/Andy Ram visa situation were quite different. It had just been announced earlier in the day that Ram had secured a visa and would be competing in the ATP doubles tournament here next week.

Venus took a distanced approach from the issue when she said,

"I think it's great because we're here just as athletes, we have no platform, we just play tennis and we're entertainers and that's it."

I was surprised that she felt as athletes, or entertainers as she put it, they had no platform. Who apart from them has a better platform to speak out about this issue? Fans across the globe will be far more inclined to listen when Venus Williams speaks on the issue rather than tour Chief Larry Scott.

Serena was more passionate in her response and stated,

"I think due to the press and the WTA talking about it and talking with the tournament, and the pressure they felt after Shahar Peer not getting the visa opened the opportunity for this other player (Ram) to get a visa. Because we didn't sit down and just say, "oh it's ok", we kind of stepped up to it and opened the doors for someone else which I think is great. Obviously I'm not for discrimination, clearly...I think that in the day and age like this everyone bleeds red blood and everyone is at equal opportunities."

Tennis continues Friday with the Kanepi/Razzano semi-final in the morning and the much anticipated all-Williams sisters clash in the evening. The winner of that night match will be heavily favored to defeat either of the two giant-killers from the daytime session. I'd have to give Venus the edge in the night match as she seems to be the fresher of the two and has been more mentally solid so far this week. Although the sisters seem to be trading wins lately against each other, so perhaps Serena is due for a victory tonight.

Zvonareva Continues Moving Forward

By Mike McIntyre

Russian tennis player Vera Zvonareva continued her impressive 2009 campaign today in Dubai with a quick victory over Marion Bartoli of France. Bartoli retired down 2-5 in the first set due to multiple blisters on both of her feet. Zvonareva was relieved to be done so quickly given that the temperature here was a blistering 29 degrees Celsius / 84 degrees Fahrenheit with very little wind.

Zvonareva continues to build upon an impressive start to the season that saw her first Grand Slam semi-final appearance at the Australian Open. She mentioned that she took a lot of confidence from that run and it is paying dividends on the court.

"I always believe in myself, I'm always confident. I think I just have much more experience right now. I know how to cope with all the obstacles I can have on my way during the matches. I think I'm just a better player in general."

"You’re never satisfied until you win the whole tournament…but still the semi final is my first grand slam semi final so of course I was happy about that. It’s great to win five matches in a row at a Grand Slam. It just gave me another experience."

Speaking of the mental strides she has made with her game this year, Zvonareva revealed that, "I think mostly it's the maturity and the experience that comes first and I always believe in myself. You can be physically tired, you can be mentally tired, but I think now I know now that I can really rely on my head. Just tactically I can think and I can execute different styles of play."

Given the multiple changes in the number one ranking, I asked her if she felt it was within her grasp.

"I’m not really thinking about rankings. Of course any tennis player would like to be number one in the world one day and I’m not an exclusion. Of course I will try my best to do so. I think it’s just great competition for women's tennis in general."

I'm not sure if Zvonareva has enough of a weapon to contend consistently for the top spot in the women's game. Watching her game up close reveals a solid if unspectacular arsenal. She hits solidly off both sides, yet her shots were not nearly as deep into the court as were Bartoli's today. Still with her confidence blooming and the mental aspect of the game so important, Zvonareva could be one of the players to look out for in 2009.

Statement from Dubai Tennis Championships

By Mike McIntyre

This afternoon the tournament in Dubai issued the following statement to members of the media in respect to the Shahar Peer incident. We were not allowed to ask any questions after the statement was read by an un-named tournament spokesperson. Here is the text of that address:

The Tournament is a longstanding and loyal supporter of women's tennis and the WTA Tour and respects the rules and regulations of the Tour.

The tournament also respects Ms. Shahar Peer as a professional tennis player on the Tour and understands her disappointment.

There were several elements to be considered concerning her participation:

*Public sentiment remains high in the Middle East and it is believed that Ms. Peer's presence would have antagonized our fans who have watched live television coverage of recent attacks in Gaza.

*Ms. Peer personally witnessed protests against her at another tournament in New Zealand only a few weeks ago.

*Concern was raised about her wellbeing and her presence triggering similar protests. Given public sentiment, the entire tournament could have been boycotted by protesters.

*We do not wish to politicize sports, but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the region and not alienate or put at risk the players and the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have here in the UAE.

Ends

Controversy in Dubai

By Mike McIntyre

I haven't even been in Dubai twelve hours yet and already a huge story has unfolded here surrounding first the women's and now the men's tennis tournaments. The denial of a visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer earlier this week in Dubai may only be the tip of the iceberg for this growing political controversy. Peer, as I'm sure most of you already know, was denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for the Dubai Tennis Championships due to the fact she comes from Israel. Despite being ranked in the top fifty players in the world on the WTA tour, Peer could not overcome the blatant prejudice towards Israeli's that is prevalent in the region. As with most Arab countries, the UAE has no diplomatic ties with Israel and routinely denies entry to its citizens.

Larry Scott, the chief executive of the WTA tour, had this to say about the Peer incident. "We don't want [the decision to proceed with the tournament] to be interpreted as complacency and accepting what has happened, because it's not." Should the situation not be rectified for the 2010 tournament, the WTA would not proceed with the event as they have done this time around.

Peer said that, "I am very disappointed that I have been prevented from playing in Dubai, I think a red line has been crossed here that could harm the purity of sport. I have always believed that politics and sports should not be mixed."

While the WTA tournament is already underway, the upcoming installment of the ATP tour set to begin on Sunday may in fact be in jeopardy due to another potential conflict. Doubles specialists Andy Ram and Jonathan Elrich are also from Israel and have put in a request for visa's to partake in the tournament. I would be shocked if the duo were allowed entrance after how the Peer request was handled.

Should Ram and Elrich be denied entry the ATP tour will be in a precarious situation. Rumor around the grounds here in Dubai at the moment is that they may in fact cancel the tournament all together. It would be a bold move for sure, but one that seems to be warranted given the tour's inclusive and co-operative mandate.

It is a double-edged sword for the UAE, although one they have entirely brought upon themselves. If they do not allow the pair entry into the country then they risk abruptly losing one of their top sporting events, and if they do allow them into the country then they have basically said that women and men are not viewed as equals here in the Emirates. 

Many player's on the WTA tour spoke out this week on the Peer situation, and already one ATP player has commented as well. American Mardy Fish said "That seems pretty crazy, that seems insane. I think the WTA and the tours should step in and do something."

With all of the sponsorship money that both tournament's generate and the high level of international prestige they bring with them, I'm surprised that the UAE has responded in this manner. Did they not believe there would be an uproar in response to their decision? With the ATP tour apparently giving consideration to canceling the men's tournament here, the country may soon come to realize the full implications of their intolerant stand.

Nadal Calls for Fewer Hard Court Tournaments

Apparently now that he has won a hard court Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal figures he carries some clout on the matter of hard court tennis. He is calling for fewer hard court tournaments as they take an excessive toll on the body. Read on below for further details.

Nadal Advocates Fewer Hard Court Tournaments

Nadal Wins Australian Open

Another remarkable Grand Slam final display from Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Nadal would ultimately prevail in the match 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-2 in 4 hours 23 minutes of intense tennis. Nadal proved his continued dominance over Federer by beating the Swiss for the first time on hard courts in a Grand Slam match. In the process he denied Federer a chance at tying the all-time Grand Slam record of 14 set by American Pete Sampras who no doubt had a close eye on the outcome.

See the link below for a more details review of the match along with some revealing quotes from both players.

Nadal Wins Australian Open

The Week Ahead

By Mike McIntyre

Now that the first Grand Slam of the year is behind us, it is time to turn our focus to multiple locations and the resumption of the 250 level tournaments. The three stops this week include Vina de Mar, Chile, Zagreb, Croatia and Johannesburg, South Africa. While Nadal, Federer and many of the big boys are taking some time off, there are still some notable names in action this week.

Vina del Mar

The first clay court tournament of the year will be underway at the Movistar Open in Vina del Mar, Chile. Many of the usual names you would expect on the red dirt will be present, including Juan Monaco, Augustin Calleri, Jose Acasuso and Juan Ignacio Chela. As I was going through the draw I was half-expecting to see names like Mariano Puerta, or Gaston Gaudio, but no such luck. Mariano Zabaleta is making a return to the pro tour here after making his way through two tough qualifying matches. The thirty year old is trying to resurrect his once solid career after being plagued by injuries in 2008.

Look for top seeded Fernando Gonzalez to go deep in the draw, as he has won the tournament three times before - in 2002, 2004, and a year ago as well.

Zagreb, Croatia

For those of Croatian ancestry or simply looking to avoid the outdoor elements, then the indoor hard court tournament in Zagreb is for you! Won a year ago by lucky loser Sergiy Stakhovsky, expect a more familiar name this time around. With the draw sprinkled with homegrown talent, the deck is heavily stacked in their favor. Mario Ancic, Ivan Ljubicic, Marin Cilic, and Ivo Karlovic are all lurking in the draw. I would expect one of them to give the home crowd something to cheer about come next weekend.

Johannesburg, South Africa

A brand new stop on the tour this year is in Johannesburg. The draw is very weak with the exception of three bigger names who have made the journey; Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga, David Ferrer and Marcos Baghdatis. Tsonga leads the charge as number one seed, and I would not be surprised to see him face number two seeded Ferrer in the final. This could be a good opportunity for Baghdatis to put a few much needed wins under his belt or for a relatively unknown player to pick up some points and confidence. Rik De Voest is the strongest local hope with a wild card entry. Oddly enough a photo of Gael Monfils remains on the tournament website - perhaps a late withdrawal.