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by Christopher Gerby After leading the New York Buzz to an important road win over Hartford on Friday night, former world # 1 Lindsay Davenport was scheduled to skip the team's next match. With the Delaware Smash (league doormats with an 0-3 record) across the net on Saturday evening, Davenport's services might not have been needed anyway. However, to the surprise of a rather sparse crowd which had paid $11 a pop to see lesser-known players, Lindsay turned up after all. Returning to action after knee surgery laid her up for eight months, the 26-year-old decided to continue her rehab by playing another set of doubles for the Buzz. "We got in really late last night and I was just sitting around all day, so I said I'd play a little bit," she explained afterwards. "I was a little sore. I haven't played any kind of competition and I just felt like women's doubles would be good." (Benched in favor of Davenport was Buzz veteran Nannie de Villiers, who spent the bulk of the evening chatting on her cell phone.) First set: women's doubles -- Davenport/Huber vs. Reeves/Sharapova Wearing one of those scandalous "skorts" popularized by Daniela Hantuchova, leggy 15-year-old Maria Sharapova was an early contender to steal the show from Davenport. However, the three-time Grand Slam singles champion showed her who's boss right out of the blocks, opening her love hold with a booming ace. Sharapova's teammate Samantha Reeves needed a couple clutch first serves to bail the Smash out of trouble in Game 2. Liezel Huber then held serve easily to give the Buzz a 2-1 lead, despite one fairly miraculous reflex volley by Sharapova. (The young Russian was simply trying to protect herself, sticking the racket in front of her face and getting a lucky winner for her trouble. Smash coach Craig Kardon deadpanned, "Great shot, Maria! Just what you've been practicing.") New York's third break point of the evening was converted when Sharapova sent a backhand long. Kardon, the most involved coach I've seen in Team Tennis this year, gave his charges some quick doubles tips during the changeover at 1-3: "On anything low, go. Low, go. Low, go." Delaware's spirits are what were low in Game 5, which saw Davenport blast two more aces. The end came quickly, as Sharapova badly butchered volleys on the last two points of the 5-1 set. "I don't think she's natural at doubles yet. She's very young," Davenport later observed of Sharapova, whom she'd never seen before. "She seems very nice. I mean, I talked to her for a few minutes, but I don't know anything about her. I haven't been around, so all these new people I don't know." OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 5, DELAWARE 1 Second set: women's singles -- Liezel Huber vs. Samantha Reeves Any anticipation which might have built for a marquee matchup between Davenport and the reigning Wimbledon juniors finalist was snuffed out when Huber and Reeves instead took the court to warm up for singles. Reeves is a fairly hard-hitting baseliner from Wisconsin who was able to dictate play in most of her rallies with Huber. However, the first three games went to winner-take-all 40-40 points and it was the South African prevailing on all three occasions. Angry at herself for making impatient errors and angry with the officials over questionable calls, Reeves looked out of sorts. Already trailing 0-3 in the set and 1-8 in the match, Coach Kardon got out the hook, sending in Maria Sharapova to sub for Sam. One of the highest ranked juniors in the world, Sharapova has more to her arsenal than just photo shoots and endorsement deals. Coached by Davenport's old tutor Robert Lansdorp, Sharapova gets quite a bit of pace on her groudstrokes, each of them accompanied by an interesting exhale. (She sounds like she's trying to blow out candles on a birthday cake.) However, she sprayed errors in much the same way Reeves had and fell behind 0-4. "Good serve," Huber remarked after one powerful delivery from the teen. It was one of only two victorious points for Sharapova, though. "Don't worry about it," Kardon told her as soon as the 5-0 drubbing was complete. A very good showing against two different opponents by Liezel Huber, who hopes to crack the Top 100 when she returns to action on the WTA Tour. OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 10, DELAWARE 1 Third set: men's doubles -- Bhupathi/Bower vs. Goldstein/Haygarth "Welcome back," a fan shouted to Brent Haygarth as he took the court for set number 3. The veteran doubles specialist logged a couple seasons in a Buzz uniform and was recognized even though his homecoming was, like Davenport's appearance, unscheduled. Haygarth was filling in for Scott Humphries, who himself has been spelling John-Laffnie de Jager on the woeful Smash roster. Mind you, all the losing and lineup changes haven't dimmed their senses of humor. Haygarth and Paul Goldstein engaged in a mock chest bump while Coach Kardon told Samantha Reeves (who wandered over to the Buzz bench between sets) "stop fraternizing with the other team." The comedy continued on the set's first point: Haygarth helped win it with a terrific reflex volley and got some backhanded praise from Goldstein, who dubbed Brent "the old man." After all four players won their opening service games, Justin Bower found some trouble in Game 5. He threw in a second serve ace (which skimmed the tape) to save one break point, but a winning return by Goldstein did the trick for 3-2. Bower unhappily smacked a ball into the trees, drawing a code violation for his tape measure shot. After getting angry, the Buzz got even, reeling off eleven points in a row for a 4-3, 0-40 lead. Triple set point in hand, Mahesh Bhupathi netted a backhand return. There would be no Smash comeback, though -- Haygarth failed to dig out a low forehand volley at 15-40 and the set came to an end. Darkness hadn't even fallen yet in Schenectady as the Buzz carried a staggering 11-point lead into halftime. OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 15, DELAWARE 4 Fourth set: men's singles -- Justin Bower vs. Paul Goldstein If heart and brains were all it took to win tennis matches, Paul Goldstein would be racking up Hall of Fame credentials. Arguably the most articulate player in professional tennis today, Goldstein is an on-court scrambler whose off-court credentials include a degree in human biology from Stanford University. Alas, Goldstein is 155 pounds soaking wet and lacks the weapons to consistently beat top players. That said, he did break from his traditional counterpunching style in his meeting with New York's Justin Bower. Goldstein used some daring serve-and-volley plays to rally from a 15-40 deficit and hold serve in the set's opening game. Despite cries of "C'mon Paul!" and "Goldie!" from teammate Samantha Reeves, Goldstein did wind up surrendering the first break of the set on a backhand error. A perfect drop volley on a game point then took Bower to 3-1. Goldstein responded by ripping the ball into an empty corner of the stands, earning a ball abuse warning of his own. The umpire was on the hot seat again in the very next game when a linesman hesitated before calling a Bower shot out. "That call was about 7 1/2 days late," Justin complained before marching up to the net. "If my girlfriend was that late, I'd think she was pregnant," he quipped, patting umpire Candy Pantano on the hip. As Bower self-destructed a bit, Goldstein took advantage, tying the set at 3 games apiece. Goldstein's finesse and hustle were gelling with Bower's fluid one-handed strokes to produce the kind of all-court "conversational" tennis you don't always see in the men's game circa 2002. Goldstein has really been struggling to win matches lately, though, and he fell short in the clutch here. After going up 40-30 in Game 7, he bricked an overhead and pushed a running forehand into the net. Bower put his foot on the accelerator at that point, scoring two aces and a big service winner as he closed out a 5-3 win of the set. OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 20, DELAWARE 7 Fifth set: mixed doubles -- Bhupathi/Huber vs. Haygarth/Reeves Not since the perenially putrid Kansas City Explorers sputtered into Schenectady last summer had I seen a Team Tennis match turn so lopsided before the fifth set. Nothing was cooperating with the Delaware Smash on this evening, including Samantha Reeves's cell phone, which started buzzing just as the final set was about to get underway. Cheerfully muttering an expletive as she ran over to turn it off, Reeves realized that the alarm she thought she'd set for 9 AM was going off at 9 PM instead. With a 13-game deficit, the wake-up call was coming a little late for Delaware. Playing with nothing to lose, Reeves and Haygarth kept pace with Bhupathi and Huber, easily holding serve to 3-3. Craig Kardon finally stopped giving advice to his players, choosing instead to groove to the between-points music. But a funny thing happened in the seventh game -- popping up out of the I-formation, Bhupathi buried a reflex volley in the net on game point to give up the first break of the set. Haygarth made the highlight reel in the following game, drawing a smile from Bhupathi with a nifty behind-the-back volley. At 40-all, Reeves laced a service winner to give Delaware a 5-3 win of the set and keep them alive...technically, anyway. OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 23, DELAWARE 12 A hush fell over the crowd as Umpire Pantano explained the overtime concept. The match would continue until the Buzz won a game or the Smash won enough of them in a row to tie the overall score. The hush ended when a laughing Lindsay Davenport blurted out "12 games!" Eleven to tie, actually, but it was indeed an uphill battle facing Haygarth and Reeves. A loose service game from Bhupathi and a good one from Haygarth kept hope alive at 23-14. Haygarth spanked a winning return to open the next game and give Liezel Huber something to think about. She finally did serve it out, though, with an errant Samantha Reeves backhand serving as the last nail in the coffin. FINAL SCORE: NEW YORK 24, DELAWARE 14 "If they needed me, I would have come back in, but they seemed to handle it just fine," Lindsay Davenport said after her team's no-sweat victory. Davenport's comeback from knee surgery began with a 5-2 loss in singles to Meghann Shaughnessy on Friday night, but she feels like things are progressing well. "I'm really happy to be out here and be, first of all, pain-free. And second of all, I knew it was gonna take time to get back into the swing of things. I started off with the singles and I didn't play great, but the last couple sets I played doubles, it's gotten better and better... I feel like I'm serving well. I feel like I'm hitting the ball well. Just a little bit unsure at times of where to go." Swimming and working out for six months has done wonders for Lindsay's physique. "My whole plan since surgery was all about rehab and all about what it takes to get back to the top of tennis. I feel like I'm in better shape than I was before and I really think it's just a matter of time until my tennis comes back around." Her next test will come on Sunday evening, with her regularly scheduled Schenectady appearance against Patrick McEnroe's New York Hamptons. Departing from the Davenport interview to see if any other players were available to take questions, I was flagged down by a quartet of rabid On The Line fans. They peppered me with compliments, surely in an effort to get free OTL pens out of my stingy possession. (They were very nice, actually, and the positive feedback was greatly appreciated.) So I missed out on interviewing anyone from the Smash, but I'll try to grab Paul Goldstein and/or Maria Sharapova when they return for July 17th's rematch. |