Across The Net 09.10.07: The Living Legend and Justine the Machine: Federer and Henin Conquer New York
Posted by ikabod Crane on 09.10.2007
The 2007 U.S. Open is in the books, and the #1 seeds each claimed championships. However, more stories also emerged this year in New York.
Top Seeds Hold Form
If one wants to dig into my archive, I did say it was boring to pick the top seeds to win the men's and women's singles titles at the U.S. Open, but I also predicted that is what would happen. Picking 3 of 4 men's semifinalists also helped me recover from Marcos Baghdatis losing in the first round. Roger Federer won his 4th consecutive U.S. Open and only dropped 2 sets along the way. However, this title run was far from easy. Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko and Novak Djokovic all pushed Federer despite each losing in straight sets. That gets to the greatness of the men's champion. Roger Federer is so good that his opponents have frozen up or failed to win sets when opportunities to do so presented themselves. Between Super Saturday and Championship Sunday, it could easily be argued that Roger only out played Davydenko and Djokovic in 2 of the 6 sets he won. In boxing one has to win to take the belt, the same was true of these two matches.
Justine Henin did make things look easy in winning her 2nd U.S. Open title. Henin won 21 sets and lost 0 sets over 2 weeks of tennis. Her draw was not kind either. She defeated 2007 Australian Open champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals 7-6, 6-1. In the semifinals, Henin defeated 2007 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 7-6, 6-4. Finally, Henin defeated the 4th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3. Henin now holds 7 career Grand Slam titles and is a clear cut #1 in the women's game. Henin generates a great deal of power due to her racket head speed. Her shot making ability is similar, relatively speaking, to that of her fellow #1 Roger Federer.
Federer Rewrites History
Roger Federer gets a lot of ink (or pixels), but the reason for this is that he plays tennis at such a high level that he is rewriting history. A male player winning three Grand Slam titles in a single year only happened twice between 1973 and 2003. Jimmy Connors took home three majors in 1974, and Mats Wilander equaled the feat in 1988. Roger Federer has won 3 majors in 2004, 2006, and 2007! Federer also completed his 4th amazing season in Grand Slam play. His Grand Slam records in these years have been 23-1 in 2004, 24-2 in 2005, 27-1 in 2006 and 26-1 in 2007.* Pete Sampras' best single year record in Grand Slams was 23-2 in 1993 which is worse than 4 different Grand Slam years by Federer. Not to reopen an old debate, but if one athlete out performs another athlete's best year 4 different times it says something. Federer will also start his 189th consecutive week at #1 tomorrow. He will likely hold the #1 ranking uninterrupted through at least January 2008. That will leave Federer with at least 209 consecutive weeks at #1 when the old record that stood for 30 years was 160 consecutive weeks at #1 set by Jimmy Connors.
A growing number of people are already calling Roger Federer the greatest player of all time. Charlie Rose interviewed a number of tennis luminaries regarding Roger Federer on PBS. John McEnroe said he placed Federer slightly above Sampras due to his ability to make 3 serious runs at the French Open title. Jim Courier argued that Federer is the most complete player he has ever seen. The CBS football crew, led by James Brown, all boisterously claimed Federer is the greatest ever. When JB is behind you, you know you have arrived.
Henin is More than Lucky
Serena Williams implied that Justine Henin beat her because she hit a lot of lucky shots. That is simply not true. At one time, Serena could play part time tennis and still be the best in the world. Fact is, Henin hits almost as hard as Serena from the baseline and even on the serve, but Henin is far more versatile and can also generate tough angles. The ability to slice the ball and generate angles means Henin can break Serena down over the course of a match. Henin did break an in form Venus Williams down by using all of her versatility. Beating Serena and Venus Williams back to back proves no luck was involved in Henin's triumph in NY. Of course, the #1 ranking also implies that Henin is excellent rather than lucky.
Djokovic, Isner, Roddick and Nadal
Novak Djokovic has been sublime in 2007. He has won 2 masters series events, been runner-up at the U.S. Open, and a semifinalist at the French Open and Wimbledon. He lost to Federer at the Australian and U.S. Opens and lost to Rafael Nadal at the French Open and Wimbledon. He is clearly 3rd in the men's tennis food chain. Djokovic should have won the 1st set of the U.S. Open men's final. Losing set points on Federer's serve in the second set is one thing, but leading 6-5, 40-0 with a huge serve means one big bomb would have put Djokovic up by a set. How the match would have proceeded from there is hard to say. Federer struggled in the championship match and a lot of that had to do with Djokovic's power and precision. Djokovic may be the next #1 in tennis, but he will need to learn to not get as nervous in big situations to become #1. Djokovic is already #1 at tennis comedy. His impersonation of Maria Sharapova is spot on.
John Isner is 6'9" and already possesses one of the best serves in men's tennis. If he learns to volley at even an average level, Isner will be a threat at any tournament with a fast surface. Isner was the story of the 1st week of the U.S. Open, and he took a set off of Roger Federer. It will be exciting to follow Isner in the indoor tournaments between now and November 2007. I expect the big guy to pull off at least 2 or 3 big upsets.
Andy Roddick has pushed his game to new heights under Jimmy Connors. Roddick is playing far better tennis than he played in 2003 when he finished the year #1. Roddick is serving bombs, blasting forehands and making judicious improvements on his backhand. Still, Roddick could not take a set off of Roger Federer in his 7-6, 7-6, 6-2 loss to the world #1. Roddick needs to keep doing what he is doing, but time is running short. He is 25, and other than Federer, is holding up best among his generation. Beyond Federer, the problem for Roddick is that Nadal, Djokovic, Gasquet and others are all chomping at the bit for their chances at major titles. Roddick has a 2 to 3 year window to win another major title.
Rafael Nadal lost in the round of 16 to a determined David Ferrer. Nadal credited Ferrer in defeat, but his body was never right during the U.S. Open. His knee has been hurting since Wimbledon. By the time he was eliminated from the U.S. Open his foot was also in serious pain. Nadal has had two stress fractures in his young career and will likely take most of the remaining season off so as to not risk 2008. Nadal is 21, but his style of play is hard on his body. He likely needs to manage his schedule better in 2008 to be in contention for the U.S. Open and the #1 ranking. Luckily, Nadal's foot problem at the 2007 U.S. Open was not a 3rd stress fracture.
Broadcasting Stars: Courier and Agassi
Andre Agassi joined the broadcast both during the Federer-Roddick match. Agassi gave great insights into how a tennis player ought to approach big matches. Agassi explained how a player always seeks to "engage their primary weapon" during a match. As much as I love Johnny Mac, sometimes he could give more deep insights during matches. Jim Courier did some work for Yahoo Sports prior to the U.S. Open. Courier described Maria Sharapova as playing "ball machine tennis" in that she just tees off on every shot during the match as though they were fed by a ball machine in practice. Courier also noted that most of the women were playing "V tennis" meaning they want to stand in the middle of the court and hit the ball up the line rather than cross court. Such insights go a bit beyond the "she played the big points well today" analysis we as tennis viewers are normally subjected to. I hope to have those two former #1 players in the boradcast booth more in the future.
Final Thoughts: No SI Cover for Roger, but Sportsman of the Year?
Since the U.S. Open championship Sunday is also the lead off week for the NFL, I would not expect Roger Federer to break his own version of the Sports Illustrated cover jinx. However in 2007, Federer once again won 3 majors and was runner-up at the French Open. Tiger Woods only won 1 major in 2007. Tim Duncan is not as marketable as 2006 Sportsman of the Year Dwayne Wade. Federer ought to take home this subjective title and add it to his trophy case. Since 2008 is an Olympic year, Federer better win Sportsman of the Year in 2007. Federer does have 3 Laureus Sportsman of the Year awards and may not care much about SI's failure to respect the world's most dominant athlete.
* - Roger Federer moved past Tommy Haas in the round of 16 at this year's Wimbledon in the round of 16 due to an injury. An injury walk-over is not considered a win by the ATP tour so Federer finished 26-1 in Grand Slam play in 2007 despite reaching all four Grand Slam finals.
