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by Prip Venus Williams (USA) [2] vs. Monica Seles (USA) [3] Finally, the first major clash of the women's tournament, fittingly enough between the top two remaining seeds. In what could be considered the "final" match of the tournament, the American team enjoyed themselves thoroughly, reminding everyone in the stadium at every chance of their presence. Venus Williams won the toss, and not surprisingly opted to serve. For once, Venus actually started the match serving well, and jumped to a quick 3-0 lead. The chink in Monica's armour was obvious -- not only was she the obvious slower of the two, she was simply not hitting the ball like she used to. Instead of the hard flat shots that have won her all the respect and adoration she has, she was simply top-spinning the ball into the court. Not only did her shots have little angle and velocity to speak of, most of them were landing around the service line. Not something you can get away with against Venus Williams, even if you are Monica Seles. As if something in her head switched on, Monica abandoned the safe game she was playing, and gradually started to hit the ball harder and flatter, going more and more for the lines, and even passing Venus at the net. The change worked, and Monica finally held serve to get on the scoreboard. It looked like Monica might get the break back when she smacked an all-too-familiar service return winner down the line to open Venus' service game, but Venus managed to hold with the help of a lucky netcord and an ace. Showing the versatility she has adopted into her game, got a nice dropshot on the way to earning 3 break points. An ace from Monica saved one, but an unforced error gave Venus a 5-1 lead. Venus didn't have too much trouble serving out the set, and hit the chair with the satisfaction of knowing that she had taken the first set only dropping one game, in similar fashion to their last 4 meetings. Monica looked determined as she walked out onto the court, but any air of confidence she exuded was shattered by a double-fault to open the set. She couldn't have been too distressed, though, and actually served-and-volleyed to get the next point. But double-faulted again on the next point. I couldn't quite locate the reason why she was serving so much better on the ad side, but a strong serve down the middle evened it up again at 30-all. Whatever it was that caused her to double-fault twice on the deuce side stopped bothering her soon enough, and another strong serve followed by a net approach put Monica ahead for once in the game. Capping it off with a clean ace, Monica managed to stem the bleeding to take a 1-0 lead in the second set. Both players continued to serve well, holding serve without too much trouble. In the second game of the set, the stadium experienced an amusing incident, when three small black birds kept circling around Venus Williams, flying very low around her court, as she waited for them to fly away so that she could get on with her serve. The birds refused to go away, adamant that they get a close view of just how she cracks that big serve, and after a couple of minutes, finally decided that there wasn't enough action on court and flew off. The first break of serve came at 2-all, when Monica had a lapse in first-serve percentage. Seeing the opportunity and making sure to take it, Venus was all over Monica's second serves, and went on to hold serve comfortably to go up 4-2. Crunch time for Monica, and the champ she is, she picked up her first serve percentage, even serve-and-volleying on one point to keep her hopes alive in the match. With the US team continuing their chants of "Yew, ess, AYY!" during the changeover, Venus Williams must have felt the pressure of playing in her first Olympic competition for the first time. Up 40-15, she let the lead slip with an unforced error, followed by a double-fault. If there is one time where Venus' game is vulnerable, it was at this point of the match. Trying to finish the point off quickly, Venus hit a nice hard serve that swung out wide, but Monica dug in and flicked the ball back down the line for a winner. Break point for Monica. Saved by a clean ace. A second ace in a row set up game point, but another untimely double-fault kept Monica's hopes alive. This is where things started to go really wrong for Venus. In an all-too familiar scene, Venus cracked what looked like an ace down the middle of the court, but was called on a foot-fault. Monica pounced all over the weak second serve, and was given the break back on the third double-fault of the game. Venus' troubles carried on to the next couple of games, and Monica took every opportunity that came her way. All of a sudden, the match looked like it could go either way, and the crowd started to really get into it, mostly cheering for the sentimental favourite. Both players held serve easily to open the final set, but Monica once again faltered with her first serves. Facing 2 break points, Monica double-faulted to give the game away. Then, in an amazing game, Venus actually hit 4 aces in a row to consolidate the break. Half the crowd sat in disbelief, while the other showed their appreciation of the feat by cheering madly. The momentum was now firmly with the younger players, and Venus got a second break, helped by a lucky netcord. As former player Vijay Amritraj once noted, netcords seem to go to the player who has the momentum more often than not. And he had said that in perfect seriousness. Now putting in everything she had, Monica started playing like she had nothing to lose, going for the lines and nothing less, the familiar grunt clearly heard throughout the stadium. Holding 2 break points, Monica came in on a short ball, and smacked a swinging backhand volley to get one break back. Playing the next game with just as much determination, Monica held serve, dropping only one point when she double-faulted on the first point. The tables were most definitely turned, and down 0-15 on the most crucial game of the match so far, Venus hit her 7th double-fault of the match to go down 0-30. Too many errors from Monica blew her chances, though, and Venus escaped with her service game to go up 5-3. The noise from the crowd had to send shivers down anybody's spine, despite the stadium having a very modest capacity compared to those of the Grand Slam events. The match appealed to nearly every type of tennis fan, featuring both the experienced and the young. Serving to stay in the match, Monica served a strong serve down the middle to force a weak response from Venus. 15-0. A service return straight into the net gave Monica a 30-love lead. A better return from Venus set up a baseline rally, and heavy groundstrokes forced an error off Moncia's racquet. 30-15. Feeling the fatigue now that the adrenaline was running out, Monica's balls started to land a little short, and cost her the lead. The air was thick with tension, as Venus Williams found herself a mere 2 points away from a chance at the gold medal. An unforced error from Monica set up match point. The crowd was at the edge of their seats, watching the players trade groundies, when Venus hit a gutsy down-the-line backhand winner, which landed just on the inside of the line. The stadium erupted, acknowledging both players' efforts. The players had a nice exchange at the net, and acknowledged the crowd's support before heading off for their respective press conferences and interviews. The match had been a nice warmup for most of the spectators -- the "real" match of the day was about to start, between Jelena Dokic and Elena Dementieva. Jelena Dokic (AUS) vs. Elena Dementieva (RUS) [10] Jelena Dokic won the toss, and elected to serve. Elena was still sporting a reasonably heavily taped right wrist, and I couldn't help but wonder if the youngster would take a bit of time off after the Olympics to give it a chance to heal. Tendonitis in the left wrist (as with Anastasia Myskina) is one thing, but tendonitis in the right wrist should surely be regarded with much more caution. Jelena started to set slowly, squandering a game point with a double-fault, and had to save two break points before holding serve thanks to a lucky netcord, and a close call on the baseline. Elena fared no better, and found herself facing 3 break points. An errant shot from Dokic saved the first. In a very cocky display, Jelena stood 3 feet inside the baseline to receive a second serve, and could barely get her racquet on a nice wide serve from Elena. Elena couldn't make it 3 out of 3, though, and lost serve to go down 0-2. The main problem in the first set was definitely with Elena. Jelena wasn't doing half bad, but Elena clearly had trouble keeping the ball in the court, just like in her match against Babsi the previous day. I have little doubt that this is most likely due to her wrist. Showing typical Russian composure, Elena picked herself up after every unforced error, with a look that said, "That's okay, the point is done with, now try and get the next one in." Making error after error, and with Jelena hitting the ball cleanly and reasonably deep, Elena quickly lost the first set 6-2. The second set started a little differently, with Elena getting 3 early break points from unforced errors off the Aussie's racquet. Jelena got herself out of it by playing better tennis. Elena managed to get two strong returns in to set up her points, and finally managed to get the break. Calling for a bathroom break, the Russian returned looking fresher, and picked up her game to easily hold serve. For the first time in the match, the Russian actually looked like the favoured player in the match. The Russians momentum was halted when 2 very close line calls and a lucky netcord went against her, but the Russian kept her cool, not giving them a second thought. She held 2 game points on her service game, but couldn't convert either. A winner from Dokic gave her break point, and the youngster yelled "Come ON!!!", shaking her fist in her trademark style. An unforced error from Elena gave Jelena the break back, to the delight of the crowd. Elena was determined not to let the second set slip away, though. Putting pressure on Jelena to come up with something good, she got a double-fault to go up 30-0. The next point showcased her excellent footspeed, barely getting to the ball but flicking a hard backhand down the line for a winner and 3 break points. Another double-fault gave her the lead again. Hitting the ball with more conviction, Elena forced Jelena to come up with the goods, and the Aussie tried to go for too much too early in the point. Error after error, coupled with much higher quality tennis from Elena turned the match around, and the Aussie looked a little shaken at losing her one set lead without gaining another game. The first two sets were split between the players with identical scores. As the match went into the final set, Jelena continued to play streaky tennis. Elena got the break to go up 2-1, but Jelena stepped up the pace a little, playing aggressively and not thinking twice about coming in to net. She got the break back, and pumped herself up with another "COME on!" to even it up at 2-all. She carried her momentum into the next game, and held serve after a minor threat from the tenth seed. Elena held steady, knowing that when push came to shove, she was more likely to be able to play a cleaner game than her opponent. Holding serve, the long baseline rallies started to go her way more often than not, and the Russian's perseverance paid off when she held one break point at 3-4. As happens with young players, the pressure to perform got to Jelena, and she double-faulted to give the break away, drawing a collective sigh from the crowd. Having time to collect her thoughts on the changeover didn't help things much, and Elena managed to hold serve despite a double-fault. In stark contrast to the start of the match, Jelena now went up to serve, knowing that she'd have to make the play if she was to stay in the match. Still not too comfortable venturing beyond the baseline, Jelena made the effort to come in to net, but didn't approach on the best of shots. She managed to get in, though, but Elena was prepared, and got a nice low sliced passing shot. Two careless errors from Elena let Jelena off the hook, but Jelena blew it again with a double-fault. A much better serve from Jelena put her at an advantage early in the rally, and Elena threw a defensive lob up only to watch it land long. In a total lapse of concentration, Jelena hit an easy forehand way wide, bringing the game to deuce. The crowd went wild -- the match couldn't get any more dramatic short of being at 10-all in a third-set tie-breaker. A good serve out wide got an error off Elena's racquet, setting up game point, and another strong serve into the body finally got Jelena out of the red light. The applause could not get any louder as Jelena stood up to get back on court after the changeover. Elena, on the other hand, took her time, waiting for the umpire to call "Time". After the previous game, this one was somewhat anti-climactic, the Aussie coming up with a slew of unforced errors to throw the match away. Watching the final ball land long, Elena dropped to her knees amid a huge roar from the crowd, still probably unable to believe all that had happened in the last month or so - first, the semifinal of the U.S Open, now, a chance at a gold Olympic medal. Zvereva/Barabanschikova (BLR) vs Marosi/Mandula(HUN) As soon as the last point was over, I rushed out of my seat and ran over to Show Court 2 to see how the Belarussian women's doubles team was doing against the surprise package, the Hungarians Katalin Marosi-Aracama and Petra Mandula. Both are ranked just outside the top 100 in singles, as is Kata in doubles, while Petra is ranked #130 in doubles. I haven't had much opportunity to see Petra in doubles action, but Kata is a reasonably capable doubles player. When I got to the court, it was 1-all in the second set, and the Belarussians had taken the first 6-3. Olga was up to serve, and was up 40-15, but squandered both game points before taking the ad and the game. The Hungarians took a timely bathroom break, and when they came back, Petra went up to serve. Kata had a very strong presence at net, and was doing a very good job of putting the pressure on. She got 2 clean volley winners, but the third one landed just long. A strong return from Olga gave NZ an opportunity at net, evening it up at 30-all. Olga was a very amusing sight throughout the match. She had her whimsical look about her, looking totally casual chewing her gum. Standing at net, she was looking up in the stands intently, watching a small kid who was coughing while NZ returned the serve. As soon as NZ's shot crossed the net, though, she turned her attention to what was happening on court, but NZ missed a half-volley coming in to net. Olga was getting some very good service returns in, and blasted a winner down the line, passing Kata at net. The next few points were extremely entertaining, showcasing good doubles play from both sides of the net. The Hungarians got the advantage thanks to some lousy service returns from NZ, but Olga would save the day with a brilliant one. Finally, after 5 deuces, the Hungarians managed to hold serve, thanks to a beautiful pass from Petra Mandula, which NZ could only watch whiz past her. The Belarussians had far less trouble holding serve, thanks to some good moves from Olga at net and an ace from NZ. Kata went up to serve, and had a much stronger serve than Petra. There were a couple of crowd-entertaining points, one where Olga managed to actually return a hard overhead from the service line, and one where all four players traded volleys at net until NZ missed one. Close to the big three-oh now, NZ's reflexes just aren't as sharp anymore, and her quick reflexes were exactly the edge she needed to make up for her streakiness. Having slid down to the 70's in singles and around the 15 mark in doubles, it might not be long until "The 'Z' Woman" has to make a serious career decision. I just hope that when the time comes, the tennis community honours her for the brilliant player she is instead of just letting it slip by like they have with many players. The Hungarians looked determined to at least push the match to 3 sets, and were all business as they prepared to try and get the break. Two hard returns put Olga down 0-30, and the Hungarians looked good to break. Now, Show Court 2 is at the edge of the tennis center, between the Centre Court, the Hockey Stadium and close to the main Olympic Walk. The Olympic Walk has music piped in at all times, and all of a sudden, "Hey Big Spender" started playing very audibly. The showy tune must have suited Olga, and she played 4 big points in a row to hold serve. Next to the Williams/Williams vs. Myskina/Likhovtseva match, this was turning out to be the most entertaining doubles match so far. Nearly all the games went the distance, with both teams fighting hard for the games. Petra went up 40-15 on her service game (at 3-4), but lost both points and really had to struggle to hold serve. Things got really tight, and a beautiful lob from Kata put her team ahead on NZ's serve. Appropriately enough, "I Will Survive" started blasting on the speakers, and Olga started to have a very serious look on her, no longer chewing gum. The Hungarians got 1 break point, but lost it on a service return into the net. NZ had to save another break point before getting an ace and a strong serve to go up 5-4. Serving to stay in the tournament, Kata served two good serves in a row, followed by a good cross by Petra at the net to go up 30-love. A double-fault brought it to 30-15. Kata got the next point for her team when she top-spinned a tight-angled backhand which dipped just after it crossed the net, staying just out of Olga's reach. Natasha saved the first game point with a service return winner, clenching her fists at the net, and Olga took the cue to hit a service return winner of her own down the line. A big smile on her face, she high-fived NZ on the way to the net. The winner left her a little over-confident, though, and she made a very ambitious move at net when she should have left the ball for NZ, sending it into the net. A strong serve from Kata set the point up for her team, and the Hungarians managed to stay alive. Olga lost the first point on a tactical error, and bounced her racquet hard on the ground. From the sound of it, the racquet must have cracked pretty badly, but it looked fine. Noticing the sound herself, Olga had a look at it, and realized just how hard she had thrown it. She went up to serve anyway, and actually played a pretty good shot to open a window of opportunity for NZ at net. As soon as NZ smacked the volley winner, Olga went over to grab a new racquet, saving herself a warning for racquet abuse. Olga followed her serve to the net on the next point, and Petra Mandula threw a pretty good offensive lob up, but both players managed to get to it. NZ flicked the ball back with surprising velocity, and got the error off Petra's racquet. Olga again followed her serve to the net, but a better effort from Petra saw her hit a nice shot past Olga. Looking frustrated, Olga went up to serve again, and hit two hard serves to forced errors off both the Hungarians' racquets, giving her the game. Once again, Petra Mandula went up to serve, and this game promised to be no shorter than the previous. The first point saw an unforced error from NZ. Olga managed to bring it to 15-all with a hard service return that Petra couldn't control. NZ chipped the service return and came in to net on the next point, and the Belarussians did a good job of really putting the pressure on, NZ finally getting a volley winner to put her team 2 points away from a chance at an Olympic medal. Having a very good service return success rate so far, Olga totally mishit the shot, sending the ball flying into the stands. 30-all. A volley from Olga landing long put the Hungarians ahead, but the Belarussian made up for it with a fantastic return of serve, bringing it to deuce. Trying to come up with a good shot, NZ couldn't control the return of serve, and once again the Hungarians held game point. An equally bad unforced error from Petra lost the point for them. NZ engaged Petra in a baseline duel on the next point, but a shot flew just a little too high, and Kata made the cross to get the winner. Only to be lost yet again when Petra totally mishit her backhand, quite nearly giving the ballboy at net a concussion. The next point was a perfect opportunity to hold game point again, but an overhead from Petra landed just long, giving the Belarussians match point for the first time. Talking about coming up with the goods under pressure, Petra blasted a beautiful serve out wide, and Olga didn't have a chance at it. Kata had a big smile on her face, and a few nice words for her partner. An error from NZ gave the Hungarians their fourth game point, but Petra returned the favour, bringing it back to deuce. Here's how the rest of the game went:
Gustavo Kuerten (BRA) [2] vs. Yevgeny Kafelnikov (RUS) [5] If it looks on tv that the hordes of Brazilians always come out in full force to support their athletes, that picture could be just a tad misleading. Throughout the Games, there are always a couple of guys who target a specific section of the crowd and hand out the yellow Brazilian shirts. In my staying to watch the end of the women's doubles match, I had missed the entire first set, and was told that Yevgeny had gotten the break the very end of the first set to take it 6-4. The score was 2-all, and Guga had just gotten the break to go up 3-2 as I took my seat. Guga was having trouble keeping up with the Russian in rallies, though, and more often than not, would come up with the first error. Very erratic playing from Guga gave Kafelnikov the break back. The story of the match was simple -- Guga's first serve percentage was down, and Yevgeny was striking the ball harder and more consistently than the Brazilian. The crowd was mostly behind Guga, though. Perhaps his laid-back appearance and personality struck a chord with the Aussie lifestyle. Too many errors eventually gave the match to Yevgeny, who managed to get 2 aces on the way to holding serve at love to go up 6-5. Two confident service return winners gave him 30-0 in the next game, but Guga got a good serve into the body to avoid facing 3 match points. Trying to play a more aggressive point, Guga ventured beyond the baseline, but dumped a volley into the net to set up 2 match points for the Russian. Symbolic of the entire match, the two players engaged in a short baseline rally before Guga hit a wild shot that landed wide, giving the match to Kafelnikov. And thus ended the second seed's Olympic medal campaign. Stubbs/Dokic (AUS) vs. Boogert/Oremans (NED) Instead of watching the Woodies take on Spaniards Alex Corretja and Albert Costa, I decided to head over to Show Court 1 instead to see how Rennae Stubbs and Jelena Dokic would hold up against Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogert. The match had been abandoned the previous day due to rain at 6-2 6-7(4) 4-5, with Stubbsy serving at Deuce. This had to be one of the most crucial points in the match for it to be abandoned in a very long time, and the stands were packed to the brim. Stubbsy paid extra attention to warming her serve up, continuing to practice her serve even when the umpire ennounced the end of the warm-up and the other three players headed to their chairs to get rid of their track jackets. Rennae got a decent serve in, but her first shot wasn't too good, and Kristie Boogert made a good cross to get the winner. Match point for the Dutch. The next point must have definitely sent the adrenaline pumping through Stubbsy's veins. She followed her serve in to net, but Kristie threw a deep lob over her head. Stubbsy turned and sprinted, trying to hit the ball before it landed, and barely managed to block the backhand overhead back over the net. Her effort paid off, though, when Kristie slammed a backhand into the net. Match point saved, and the crowd went wild. Rennae played a much smarter serve on the net point, serving into Miriam's body to get the point. The crowd was really cheering their team on, and was very vocal despite the crummy weather. Rennae blew it when she pushed the volley long, and found herself back in square one. Again, Rennae put a huge spin on her serve and followed it up to net, but couldn't get there fast enough, and Miriam managed to get the return in near her feet, causing Rennae to hit the half-volley into the net. Match point number 2 for the Dutch. In another dramatic point, Rennae serve and volleyed, and put the pressure on Kristie to come up with a good shot. The Dutch tried to get a volley error, but after a couple of shots, realized that she couldn't risk one of the Aussies getting a volley winner, and threw a lob up at Jelena. Rennae panicked, yelling, "Come on, GET IT!" and Jelena had to jump a little, but got the ball back over the net. The ball was landing short, though, and Kristie was setting up to really cream the ball. She decided to go for Rennae, and blasted the ball. Showing good reflexes, Rennae let the ball go, calling "NOPE" just in case Jelena went for it, only to let the line judge call it in. It certainly looked long to me, and it looked long to most of the spectators, who were so stunned that there was silence for a couple of moments. The Aussies stared in disbelief, and when it sunk in that the call was never going to come, the audience started to boo the line judge. Rennae contested the call with the umpire while the Dutch hugged each other, and when the line judge wouldn't change the call, she just stood there, staring at the line. The Dutch had waited for quite a while at the net to shake hands, and when it looked like the Aussies weren't going to come up to net anytime soon, they shook hands with the umpire and sat down, celebrating their victory. The spectators were all disappointed to say the least. They felt robbed, in more ways than one. They had expected more of a match instead of a mere 6 points, and for the match to end on a dodgy line call... The spectators gave a good round of applause for the Dutch as they left the stands, but saved their best cheers for the dejected Aussies. Rennae looked absolutely crushed as she walked off, and could barely wave to acknowledge their support. It had to really tear into her that she was the one who was more experienced in the team, calling the shots, and it was she who had let the ball go on the final point. The stands soon emptied, despite the announcer announcing that the Dutch would most likely play their next doubles match on the same court. As people headed to either the stadium court or to the exit, the announcer announced that indeed, the Dutch would play their match against the Thais, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Benjamas Sangaram in a short time, but hardly a third of the people were in the mood to watch the match. Having seen enough tennis for the day and feeling that the Woodies wouldn't have too much trouble taking on the Spaniards in their final run, I head home for the day, still wondering how Stubbsy was holding up in the locker room. |