This week Mr Ed looks at the Davis Cup semifinals, marked by the sad fate of a Dutch hero and a little respect ("just a little bit, just a little bit") won by the Swedes. We then visit La Vieille Capitale to appreciate a temporary but successful coaching stint on the women's tour, before contemplating some controversial rules changes proposed by the International Tennis Federation.

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Davis Cup fever!

The long and sometimes perplexing road to the Davis Cup is nearing its conclusion.

France was the first team to qualify for the final, by sweeping out the plucky Dutch side 3-0. The tie was clinched by a surprisingly easy straight-set doubles win by Cédric Pioline & Fabrice Santoro over the ace Dutch pair of Paul Haarhuis & Sjeng Schalken.

Were they to have been successful, the Dutch probably needed another strong showing by their Davis Cup hero of this season, Raemon "Mini-Sampras" Sluiter. In the absence of Dutch ace Richard Krajicek, Sluiter had been the motivating force in the first two rounds, contributing key Friday points with surprising wins over Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero and Germany's David Prinosil. Raemon appeared poised to cause another shocker against Frenchman Arnaud Clément this week, taking a 6-3 lead. But early in the s econd set he aggravated an ankle injury, and finally abandoned the match at 6-3, 2-6, 2-1.

Sluiter left the court in tears, and commented after the match, "I was playing well and felt I had the match in my pocket. I was sure we would be going to the final." Clément felt for his opponent, whom he called a "nice guy". "My goal was to win the first point for France," said the Frenchman. "It's a pity to get it this way."

Speaking of Davis Cup heros, France's Nicolas Escudé appears to be assuming this role for France. It was Escudé who derailed the feared Roger Federer in the quarterfinals in Switzerland. The bony Frenchman again took out the opposition's top player this week, with a gripping 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 8-6 marathon win over Sjeng Schalken.

France will do battle in the November final with either Sweden or Australia. As of this writing, Australia holds a 2-1 lead over the underdog Swedes. The Australian press, in view of the formidable nature of the home side led by top-ten stars Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter, had been guilty of crying victory before the tie began. But the proud Swedes took the first point thanks to a stirring comeback win by Thomas Johansson over Rafter, and surprise singles selection Jonas Bjorkman then gave U.S. Open champion Hewitt all he could handle before bowing out, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-2).

The fiery Bjorkman confessed after his loss that the Swedes were motivated by the crowing in the Aussie press. "Everyone is planning the final in Melbourne, and there has been a little bit too much of that talk I think," said Jonas after his brave loss to Hewitt. "We know we were underdogs but we thought it was not enough respect for players who have been around for so long and been part of three Davis Cups before in the last seven or eight years, but definitely helped us to get more motivation."

Australia is in the driving seat now by virtue of the narrow win by their doubles tandem of Wayne Arthurs/Todd Woodbridge over Bjorkman/Magnus Larsson, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3). But regardless of the final outcome, Sweden will have gotten its R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Coach for a week

At the WTA event in Quebec City, a local tennis coach found himself thrust into the role of Alexandra Stevenson's personal coach, and didn't do a bad job!

At the start of the week, a Quebec City coach named Hugues Laverdière, who trains promising young players at the city's Club Avantage, told tournament organizers that he was available to act as a hitting partner for any players who wanted one. Stevenson took him up on the offer, and on the first day he worked out with the former Wimbledon semifinalist.

The local coach took this as a learning experience for himself, and after their practice scribbled some notes in a notebook about Alexandra's strengths and weaknesses. Curious, Stevenson's mother Samantha came over to ask Laverdière what he was writing. "Very humbly," Laverdière told the Quebec daily Le Soleil, "I told her. To my surprise, she was not only impressed, but she asked me to transmit my impressions to her daughter. Since then, I am Alexandra's coach and will be as long as she is in Qu ebec City."

Stevenson seemed to profit from her unexpected coach's counsel. She had one of her best tournaments in recent months, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to top seed Meghann Shaughnessy in a 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (7-9), 7-6 (7-4) thriller.

Laverdière enjoyed his experience, and was impressed with both the technical and personal qualities of Alexandra Stevenson. "When players reach a certain level, they sometimes go overboard and get a big head. But not Alexandra. She is always very relaxed and good-natured." What about her mother Samantha, who gets a lot of bad press? "She is very nice," noted the temporary coach of Alexandra Stevenson.

The ITF juggles the rules

Much was made this week about several rule changes implemented by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

One change involves the introduction of different balls, depending on the surface used. A faster ball will be used on clay courts, a medium-speed ball on hard courts, and a slower, slightly larger ball on grass courts. The idea is to speed up the game on clay and slow down the game on grass and carpet.

We expect that this change will have little effect on the ATP and WTA events. The pro tours are not under ITF jurisdiction, and it is unlikely that they will implement the larger ball because of player fears that it would cause arm and shoulder injuries. In any event, the pro tours are already using slower balls on fast surfaces and faster balls on slower surfaces, to attempt to give all types of players a fighting chance to win matches.

The ITF rule change that is more likely to have an effect has to do with match scoring. A new "super tiebreak" was approved as an experiment until the end of 2002, to replace the deciding final set in a three or five set match. The match would be won by the first player to reach ten points with a margin of two.

The super tiebreak has already been used in mixed doubles at the Australian and U.S. Opens, and we expect that its use on the pro tour will be confined to doubles. This, for two reasons. First, lengthy doubles matches can delay important singles matches, and it's singles that interests almost everyone except for doubles specialists. Second, the doubles finals can be used as a "curtain raiser" for the singles final. As it stands now, the doubles finals are usually played after the singles finals, generally in front of a lot of empty seats. The new rule would allow the time taken by the doubles final to be more or less predictable, allowing the tournament organizers to program the doubles in front of the singles without fear of a lengthy wait for the singles finalist.

Those purists among us who fear that the super tiebreak might be used for singles can sleep in peace. When asked by the Daily Telegraph if the experiment might be extended to singles, David Higdon, of the ATP, said: "Absolutely not."

Let's hope he's right!