Monday, August 29, 2005
U.S. Open
The U.S. Open began today and like always there's gonna be predictions of who will remain standing two weeks from now. While the men's side is pretty much narrowed to three or four people, the women's draw is as wide open as a door. So who should you place your bets in favor of? I'll begin with the men.
There's no surprise here that the heavy favorite to win the Open is Swiss man Roger Federer. How this guy remains unnoticed in his own country much less the rest of the world still puzzles me. This guy is an amazon of a tennis player whose tournament it is to lose. Having lost only three matches all year(two of them at majors), he's set to dominate the men's field even though he hasn't played much since winning the Wimbledon. His closest competitors include the teenage sensation Rafael Nadal of Spain. Nadal has won only two hard court tourneys this year. Though they were both impressive, it will be hard to pick him over Federer on any surface other than Clay. American Andy Roddick is also another player to consider. He's been a winner here before so he knows what it takes but he's had problems beating Federer, doing so only once in his career. He may have a shot if Federer falls victim to someone else in the earlier rounds. Lleyton Hewitt the Australian is also a past champion who creates all sorts of problems for players with his gritty and never-give-up style of play. However he also has fallen victim to Federer on numerous occasions. The last man to think about is the elder statesman Andre Agassi. Using the crowd's sentimental support and a couple of easy early rounds you cannot count him out. These are probably Federer's biggest threats with the exception of Safin who would be considered a threat(albeit his sometimes nonchalant style of playing) if he did not pull out with his nagging knee injury.
On the women's side, the draw is so open that any of 6-8 players can hoist the trophy at the end. perhaps the heavy favorite now is Belgium's Kim Clijsters. She's the hottest player going into the tournament having won the U.S. Open series. She leads the tour with the most no. of titles at six. The problem with Clijsters' is she has always fallen apart when it counted mosts. She's lost big matches where she's had huge leads(think Serena's 5-1 comeback at Aus. Open) and her French Open '03 loss to country woman Justine Henin-Hardenne where it looked like she didn't show up. Both times she was the favorite to win it all; so we'll see how she handles it this time. Perhaps the two other players that could break Clijsters momentum are veteran Lindsay Davenport and new sensation Maria Sharapova. However coming into this tourney, Both players are battling injuries and are both facing different kinds of pressure: Sharapova just took over the no. 1 spot on the rankings even without a major this year so she'll need to justify her rankings as well as her marketing value as the next "it" girl. Davenport needs to prove that she still has at least one more major in her after losing in two major finals this year to both Williams' sisters. She has the most favorable draw of all the contenders so expect her to at least get to the semis. Speaking of The Williamses; everyone knows you can never count them out of any tournament even if they are not at their bests. Both holders of two of the three majors of this year, you'd have to consider them as a threat. They are scheduled to meet in the round of 16 so players will have only one sister to deal with going into the second week. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Mary Pierce(France) and Svetlana Kuznetsova(Russia) are the other dark horses with a chance, but Pierce after starting the series hot, cooled off with injuries that may threaten her chances. Hardenne still hasn't gotten into a rhythm since coming back fully to the tour and Kuznetsova just hasn't been able to may much of an impact since winning the Open last year.
My predictions are Roger Federer and Venus Williams( if she gets past her sister).
There's no surprise here that the heavy favorite to win the Open is Swiss man Roger Federer. How this guy remains unnoticed in his own country much less the rest of the world still puzzles me. This guy is an amazon of a tennis player whose tournament it is to lose. Having lost only three matches all year(two of them at majors), he's set to dominate the men's field even though he hasn't played much since winning the Wimbledon. His closest competitors include the teenage sensation Rafael Nadal of Spain. Nadal has won only two hard court tourneys this year. Though they were both impressive, it will be hard to pick him over Federer on any surface other than Clay. American Andy Roddick is also another player to consider. He's been a winner here before so he knows what it takes but he's had problems beating Federer, doing so only once in his career. He may have a shot if Federer falls victim to someone else in the earlier rounds. Lleyton Hewitt the Australian is also a past champion who creates all sorts of problems for players with his gritty and never-give-up style of play. However he also has fallen victim to Federer on numerous occasions. The last man to think about is the elder statesman Andre Agassi. Using the crowd's sentimental support and a couple of easy early rounds you cannot count him out. These are probably Federer's biggest threats with the exception of Safin who would be considered a threat(albeit his sometimes nonchalant style of playing) if he did not pull out with his nagging knee injury.
On the women's side, the draw is so open that any of 6-8 players can hoist the trophy at the end. perhaps the heavy favorite now is Belgium's Kim Clijsters. She's the hottest player going into the tournament having won the U.S. Open series. She leads the tour with the most no. of titles at six. The problem with Clijsters' is she has always fallen apart when it counted mosts. She's lost big matches where she's had huge leads(think Serena's 5-1 comeback at Aus. Open) and her French Open '03 loss to country woman Justine Henin-Hardenne where it looked like she didn't show up. Both times she was the favorite to win it all; so we'll see how she handles it this time. Perhaps the two other players that could break Clijsters momentum are veteran Lindsay Davenport and new sensation Maria Sharapova. However coming into this tourney, Both players are battling injuries and are both facing different kinds of pressure: Sharapova just took over the no. 1 spot on the rankings even without a major this year so she'll need to justify her rankings as well as her marketing value as the next "it" girl. Davenport needs to prove that she still has at least one more major in her after losing in two major finals this year to both Williams' sisters. She has the most favorable draw of all the contenders so expect her to at least get to the semis. Speaking of The Williamses; everyone knows you can never count them out of any tournament even if they are not at their bests. Both holders of two of the three majors of this year, you'd have to consider them as a threat. They are scheduled to meet in the round of 16 so players will have only one sister to deal with going into the second week. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Mary Pierce(France) and Svetlana Kuznetsova(Russia) are the other dark horses with a chance, but Pierce after starting the series hot, cooled off with injuries that may threaten her chances. Hardenne still hasn't gotten into a rhythm since coming back fully to the tour and Kuznetsova just hasn't been able to may much of an impact since winning the Open last year.
My predictions are Roger Federer and Venus Williams( if she gets past her sister).
