|
Spectral tennis
TWO THOUSAND TWO is a great sporting year. There's the Winter
Olympics at Salt Lake City, Utah in February, the FIFA World
Cup in Japan and South Korea in June and the Asian Games in
Busan, South Korea. The Philippines may be a tropical country
but sports such as skiing, figure skating, ice hockey and
bobsled are quite a treat for sports fans. Hermann Maier may
not heal in time for the Games but it would be great to find
out if the most graceful figure skater of all time, Michelle
Kwan, will finally win an Olympic gold medal or a Russian
siren named Irina Slutskaya will steal her thunder.
In football's World Cup, undoubtedly the greatest spectacle
on earth, Argentina is still the favorite to win despite the
country being plunged into its worst economic crisis. Filipinos
aren't really interested in football but to us who follow
sports with all the fervor and passion, this month long festivity
would engulf our waking moment.
The Asian Games in Busan in October has the first top three
places sewn up for China, Korea and Japan, but I'm curious
whether we will win a single gold medal in any sport-- maybe
in pool. A bronze medal in boxing could be a cause of celebration.
But this piece is about tennis. Tennis you see is very popular
in the Philippines. And with the Australian Open unfolding
in Melbourne from January 14-27, it's an apt topic. Not that
taxi drivers discuss the merits of Yevgeny Kafelnikov's backhand
or the latest clay exploits of Guga Kuerten the way they do
Mike Tyson fights. But it's popular enough to be frequently
the featured cover sport of the Philippines only legit sports
mag. When Lleyton Hewitt won the US Open, he was on the cover.
Ditto when he captured the Sydney Masters Series Championship
to cap the 2001 as the youngest year-end number one as a 20-year
old.
Maybe in a way, the young Aussie deserved the long profiles,
but if you dig deeper, 2001 was a weird year for tennis. It
was weird not because Pete Sampras, an all-time great, didn't
win a single title. It was weird not because Goran Ivanisevic,
the perennial big server, has finally collared a slam he dearly
coveted. It was weird because Lleyton Hewitt finished the
year number one.
Sure, Hewitt's immature tantrums turn me off. But that's not
it. When Kuerten won in Rolland Garros, I thought he would
replicate his form of 2000 when he finally proved to skeptics
that he's more than just a clay-courter, but after Wimbledon
in June and July, which he deliberately missed, he became
a shadow of his former self, unable to win in faster surfaces
and getting thrashed by lower-ranked players. Weird.
Lleyton Hewitt, a baseliner, has the groundstrokes alright.
It wouldn't be insulting if I say not the serve nor the class.
To go with the irrepressible footwork is the cockiness and
the on-court temper. In a CNNSI interview, Hewitt revealed
that it's not arrogance but the way he plays the game. Of
course, there are fans who embrace a John McEnroe impression
anytime but those outbursts have no place in tennis' holy
grail.
The key game that catapulted Hewitt to the summit was the
US Open final he didn't win but the final that Pete Sampras
lost. Sampras entered the contest proving his critics wrong
by dismantling Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi and Marat Safin,
former US Champions all. Hewitt on the other hand barely escaped
the dashing big-server Andy Roddick in a five-set thriller
and a cakewalk against an out of sorts Kafelnikov.
On paper, Sampras should have won; he has the game, period.
But the fleet-footed Australian whitewashed the future Hall
of Famer in straight sets. Mind-boggling. That Sampras may
be a decade older is no excuse. He came into that game unprepared,
again losing in a final he should have won. Sampras has been
unraveling in finals since getting hitched September 2000.
However, in a career so idyllic, everything he does right
now is merely icing in the cake.
Now it's the 2002 tennis calendar. Will Hewitt continue his
winning ways? He's young, he's got the legs but that remains
a big if. I see a Michael Chang not an Andre Agassi. I would
only be a believer if he'll dominate the way Sampras dominated
the tour. Quite a tall order. Actually, I'm waiting for the
coming of age of Andy Roddick. *
Back to top
Next: Sports bits
|
