Around the World with Mr. Ed (March 3, 2001)

Around the World with Mr. Ed (March 3, 2001)
by Ed Toombs

Latin America wants a piece of the action

Both the women's and men's tours are winding up a successful series of clay court tournaments in South America this weekend, with a mixed male-female event in Mexico. While the fields in locales such as Bogotá, Viña del Mar and Buenos Aires during the last month have been relatively weak, crowds have been large and enthusiastic to see some of the well-known pros such as reigning world #1 Kuerten, Moyá, Dementieva, Suárez and Bruguera perform.
Nowhere was this enthusiasm more evident than in Buenos Aires. Argentina is a tennis hotbed these days, with a legion of talented young male players following in the footsteps of past greats Guillermo Vilas and José Luis Clerc. The women have had trouble replacing the top talent of Gabriela Sabatini, but hope appears on the way with the progression of talented teenagers María Emilia Salerni and Gisela Dulko.
One wonders how much longer the tennis powers can avoid the temptation of placing a major tournament event in South America. The most important events on the men's tour, the Grand Slams and Masters Series tournaments, are located exclusively in Europe, North America and Australia. The women's tour is slightly less centered on these three continents, as they have a Tier I competition in Tokyo, but in general the same is true: the marquee women's events are almost exclusively in the traditional tennis stro ngholds.
Last month we saw signs that we might soon be seeing a significant event in Argentina. Mark Miles, the CEO of the ATP Tour, made the trek to Buenos Aires and commented repeatedly on how impressed he was with the tournament organization and the enthusiasm of the spectators.
But more significantly, reports from Argentina indicate that a major tennis promoter is quietly working to bring big-time tennis to the country. Butch Buchholz, the man behind the highly successful Ericsson Open in Miami, has apparently lined up investors and architects, and is looking for a suitable site in Argentina on which to build a modern tennis facility capable of hosting a top-level tournament. Buchholz has said that his dream is to see a Master Series / Tier I level event involving both women a nd men brought to South America.
Given the growing economic and tennis importance of the region, it seems a logical and desirable move.

Random early-season thoughts

As we head into the big events of this time of year, the hard court slugfests in Indian Wells and Miami, here are a few random thoughts about the first two months of the 2001 campaign
The race for number one:
On the men's side, reigning #1 Gustavo Kuerten is back in form after his usual nightmares in Australia, with strong showings in Argentina and Mexico. Although the fields were relatively weak there, Guga has at least established some rhythm and a winning feeling in the run-up to Indian Wells and Miami. Guga's rival of last year, Marat Safin, had staggered until this week, when he announced his intention to work with Swedish legend Mats Wilander and played by far his best tennis of the season to reach the Dubai final. Australian champion Andre Agassi could be in the hunt by season's end as well, as the veteran is intelligently dosing his efforts and playing well when he plays. The same cannot be said for Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, who is also dosing his efforts but playing apathetically when he gets the chance. Look for Pete to be in better form when the time comes to defend his championship in Miami this month, however. Aside from his disappointing Australian Open, Yevgeny Kafelnikov is quietly off to a very nice start and looks fitter than ever.
On the women's side, Martina Hingis has been unapologetically padding her lead at the top by beating up on weak fields in the Middle East. But she has also shown well against the top players when given the chance, beating both Williams sisters and splitting two close matches with Lindsay Davenport. Davenport appears poised to make a charge at number one as well. And the Williams sisters are apparently waiting for a signal of some sort before playing some serious tennis?.
Rising fast:
We have our eye on some names coming out of the the pack who might contend for the top spot this year. Foremost is Roger Federer, who, in addition to beating the United States almost single-handedly in Davis Cup, won a title in Milan and reached the Rotterdam final. Roger stands #5 in the Champions Race standings. While the undersized Frenchmen Arnaud Clément and Sébastien Grosjean have also had splendid starts, I suspect the strong and talented Federer will be the one with the bes t chance of worrying the best in the world on a consistent basis. Ultra-newcomers Andy Roddick, Guillermo Coria, José Acasuso and Dmitry Tursunov are perhaps poised to do some serious damage as teenage prodigies.
The women's dark horse would surely be Jennifer Capriati. The shock Australian Open champ has shown her resurgence in Melbourne was no fluke, as she has followed with strong showings in Oklahoma City and Scottsdale. One of the most puzzling things about women's tennis is the inability of anyone in the post-Hingis-Williams generation to firmly establish themselves in the elite. Talented youngsters like Kim Clijsters, Justine Hénin and Elena Dementieva have results good enough to rais e the hopes of their supporters, but invariably stumble in the big match that would get them over the top. Super-kids such as Daniela Hantuchova and Daja Bedanova might be moving into the crowd near the top soon. And say, wherever did Monique Viele disappear to?

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

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