Around the World with Mr. Ed (October 7, 2000)
by Ed Toombs



Bedanova breakthrough
Czech this girl out! Daniela "Daja" Bedanova, a 17 year old from the Czech Republic, set the Tokyo Princess Cup on its ear this week by marching to the semifinals, accounting for 15th-ranked Amélie Mauresmo and 23rd-ranked Amy Frazier in the process. Already ranked 87th in the world, young Daja is guaranteed at least a place near the top 60 next week, regardless of the outcome of a daunting semifinal matchup with Serena Williams.

Bedanova, a blonde, pony-tailed native of Ivan Lendl's home town of Ostrava, had been a solid performer in the junior ranks, albeit without any eye-popping results. Her best showing in junior singles events came at Wimbledon where she reached the semifinals, losing narrowly in three sets to last year's top junior, Lina Krasnoroutskaya. Doubles was a stronger event for Daja in the junior ranks, as she won Wimbledon twice and the U.S. Open once.

Despite Bedanova's lack of a big junior singles title, the man who guides Daja's career, father and coach Jan Bedan, had seen enough to convince him that Daja, at the tender age of 16, was ready to turn professional after the 1999 U.S. Open.

As it turns out, Jan Bedan's instincts have been correct. Entering 2000 ranked a lowly 298, Daja won her first tournament of the year, a $25,000 Challenger event in Rockford, Illinois. Now in a position to attempt to qualify for the big events, she worked her way into the main draw of the big March tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, reaching the second round in both. Finally, August saw her make the big breakthrough: Daja took out Nathalie Tauziat in Los Angeles for her first-ever win over a top te n player. Her triumphs over the solid Mauresmo and Frazier in Tokyo this week have confirmed the extraordinary progression of the young Czech.

Now based in Leonberg, Germany, Daja appears to be developing a power baseline game that, for better or worse, is the preferred style of the year 2000. Not many of us have seen Bedanova play yet, but one of her Tokyo victims, Frazier, supplies this scouting report: "She played well today, getting lots of balls back. She served well and moved really fast and was strong on the big points."

We'll be watching for the hard-working young Czech in the months and years to come.


Those other red-hot tennis siblings
Amidst all the commotion surrounding the sisters Williams, you might not have noticed a new brother act on the ATP tour: the diminutive Belgians Olivier and Christophe Rochus.

While most of the tennis world was transfixed by the Olympics, the Rochus brothers were wowing the gallery at a minor clay court tournament in the Sicilian metropolis of Palermo. They marched to the semifinals, where they had an brother-versus-brother showdown. All of Sicily held its collective breath as Christophe, who at 21 years old and 5'7" is two year older and 3 inches taller than Olivier (!), attempted to fend off his impudent little brother's challenge.

Normally the older sibling gets the better of these matches: ask Katerina Maleeva, Patrick McEnroe, Emilio Sánchez and Serena Williams, all of whom were generally unsuccessful in matches against Manuela, John, Emilio and Venus. Indeed, Christophe had won his only previous match against Olivier, on the Challenger tour last year. But this time Olivier struck a blow for younger siblings the world over by dominating big brother, 7-5 6-4. The undersized Olivier went on to win the event, outclassing local fa vourite Diego Nargiso in the final.

Don't look for the Rochus brothers to follow the Williams example and avoid playing the same events as much as possible. "We know that we are probably going to play against each other several times a year from now on," says Christophe, who often travels with his brother over the course of the season, often pairing with him in doubles events. "The later we play each other in the week, the better. When we were kids, I was always winning, because I was older. Now I think it's 50-50."

Christophe and Olivier had both made their marks this year with surprising performances at major tournaments. The older Christophe caught our attention by reaching the Australian Open round of 16 in January. Not to be outdone, little brother Olivier shocked the tennis world by ousting Magnus Norman at Wimbledon.

A disconsolate Norman mustered a witticism after his unexpected Wimbledon defeat. "He looked small at the beginning," said Magnus of his 5'4" opponent, "but he got bigger." It will be interesting to follow the Rochus brothers in the years to come, as they attempt to prove that bigger is not necessarily better.


You may read previous Mr. Ed columns by clicking here.

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