Oh, Elena.
First, Dementieva goes out and plays a pretty wack match against Venus Williams. Screaming all over the place, too, gesturing to her mom, as though her mother has the answers to her serve -- and Venus' forehand, which looked fairly solid for a change. Then in the presser, she's asked about the potential of an all-Williams final, and she says: "For sure it's going to be a family decision." It could be considered a case of struggling with a second language, as she later claimed, but a few years back (also after losing to Venus) she said of the Venus-Serena faceoff: "I don't know what Richard (Papa Williams) thinks about it. I think he will decide who's going to win." Uh-huh. English isn't her first language? I wonder if she knows the term "BS". I'm guessing she does. Another phrase she might want to learn is "No comment."
Anyway, let's talk about good semifinal opponents. Really impressed with "Mini" Jie Zheng. Too bad she couldn't push it to three, and way too bad she double-faulted on match point. That's just not fair. She fought really hard against Serena, and for such short stuff, had Serena sprawling after those backhands. Hopefully, there'll be good things coming in Zheng's career. Like a semifinal against Dementieva.
So, the sisters are back in the big show. Just as I predicted, right? Right. Let's hope it's better than their previous matchups. If I'm getting up early to watch this final Saturday, girls, it'd better be good. I am not a morning person.
And a nod to the fellas: Nice effort from Rainer Schuettler in his marathon semifinal against Arnaud Clement. I predicted Schuettler in straights, but didn't factor in the fact that it was the biggest match of their recent careers. Gotta give it to 'em for leaving it all on the court. Unfortunately, it doesn't leave a lot of time for Rainer to get "it" all back in time for his match. More on this in a minute.
Tomorrow's matches:
Roger Federer v. Marat Safin: Here's what Safin has to say about this match: "I’m playing semifinals, but that doesn't mean that I have a chance there, because the guy has won how many times already here? To beat Federer you need to be Nadal and run around like a rabbit and hit winners from all over the place. It's just a little bit too difficult." Yeah, Marat. All that running and hitting the ball -- that's not tennis at all. Just when you think Safin's back on track, he says something like this to remind you that he's still a little bit of a head case. If he's not a head case, then he's probably just a little too honest for his own good. Anyway, this match will depend largely on which Safin shows up. He could make it very hard for Fed or make it very easy, but the result, I suspect, will be the same. Fed in four, with a side of busted racquets.
Rafa Nadal v. Rainer Schuettler: Hmm. This one's a toss-up for me. See, I can't decide if Schuettler will get more or less than six games in this match. I'm going with the under. Nadal! Next!
2 comments:
Here's my take:
1.Lost in translation right?
2.Doesn't change the fact that she(Dementieva) is an average tennis player.
3.All the anti-Williams animosity is what I call "loser complex".If its not your team winning,then you hate them.eg Patriots,regardless of the external factors.They deal with the bottom line.
4.Since when does it matter if your pretty(based on some artificial standard)?Lets see,would I rather look like Dementieva and be average or look like the Williams and be a winner.Hmmm,tough decision.I'll take winner.2nd place is 1st loser.Fullstop.
5.I think its pretty scary that the Williams are almost semi-pro and can still compete(in Wimbledon's case=domination).Imagine if Michael Jordan ran a sports equipment shop during the week,trained here and there and still humbled you as a full time pro.
6.Whats sets them apart besides the usual commentary ie strengt h&speed.Their mental toughness.Dementieva is really good when there little or no pressure.Against a top player,average.Technically sound,mentally weak and looks very rigid in terms of her game plan.
I sense you're a person of mystery, mostly because of your anonymous tag. Welcome! Yeah, I'm going to get into the whole Williams animosity in my next post. I will say they're having an incredible tournament, but I also wouldn't call what they did at the French "competing". Their inability to dominate after long breaks shows that it's not easy to be a "semi-pro" with much success. But I digress, only because I'm about to write most of this again. Thanks for stopping in!
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