ATP Backspin 3Q Awards

""It's important that people respect what I do, and I think over the past couple years that has happened. There were times I felt people were like... (shrug). It was a bit strange. But now I almost have the feeling (they know) they're watching greatness. Especially after that fifth Wimbledon, that really put me in a different league." -- Roger Federer, after US Open, from "Sports Illustrated"

Ah, isn't it great. Only King Roger (or maybe Mr. Woods) could get away with a comment like that, and even have people saying to themselves, "Well, everything he said IS true, so..."

**PLAYERS OF THE 3Q**
1. Roger Federer, SUI
... history is calling, and immortality is imminent. And, no, Roger didn't say that... at least I don't think so.

=============================
2. Novak Djokovic, SRB
... one step at a time, he's getting closer.
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3. Andy Roddick, USA
... born too late, born too early. Roger to the left, Rafa to the right. There he is, stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place... and now here comes Djokovic.
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4. James Blake, USA
... if Blake could ever put together a successful title run in New York City, the cheer-induced tremors at Ashe Stadium would probaby shake a SECOND book out of him.
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5. David Ferrer, ESP
... when you out-Rafa Rafa (at nearly 2 a.m., no less), you have something to shout (or run) about.
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HM- John Isner, USA & Frank Dancevic, CAN
... the North American revelations of the U.S. Open Series.
=============================

**RISERS**
1. Novak Djokovic
2. James Blake
3. David Ferrer
4. Juan Monaco
5. Tommy Robredo
6. Radek Stepanek
7. Igor Andreev
8. Paul-Henri Mathieu
9. Dmitry Tursunov
10. Nicolas Almagro
HM- Jose Acasuso & Filippo Volandri

**FRESH FACES**
1. John Isner
2. Stanislas Wawrinka
3. Philip Kohlschreiber
4. Gilles Simon
5. Sam Querrey
6. Donald Young
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
8. Viktor Troicki
9. Robin Haase
10. Ricardas Berankis
HM- Wayne Odesnik & Jerzy Janowicz

**SURPRISES**
1. Frank Dancevic
2. Steve Darcis
3. Potito Starace
4. Andreas Seppi
5. Simon Aspelin/Julian Knowle
6. Albert Montanes
7. Lukas Dlouhy
8. Hyung-Taik Lee
9. Ernest Gulbis
10. Kei Nishikari
HM- Zach Fleishman

**VETERANS**
1. Carlos Moya
2. Andrei Pavel
3. Lleyton Hewitt
4. Max Mirnuyi
5. Hyung-Taik Lee
6. Werner Eschauer
7. Juan Ignacio Chela
8. Guillermo Canas
9. Pavel Vizner
10. Mahesh Bhupathi
HM- Luis Horna

**COMEBACK**
1. Radek Stepanek
2. Nicolas Kiefer
3. Dmitry Tursunov
HM- Mardy Fish

**DOWN**
1. Fernando Gonzalez
2. Andy Roddick (vs. you-know-who)
3. Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi
4. Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor
5. Ivan Ljubicic
HM- Marat Safin & Rafael Nadal (at US Open)

*ROGER FEDERER - 3Q TOP 10*
10. After dropping the 1st set against serve machine John Isner in front of an excited NY crowd, Federer cooly figured out the solution to the puzzle and dispatched the American in four routine sets.
9. He won his 50th career singles title in Cincinnati.
8. "The Man in Black" look
7. Federer has now won three slams in a season in three of the last four years.
6. In the Open Round of 16 vs. Feliciano Lopez, he trailed 3-6/4-4 and was at 30-30 on his own serve. With match momentum in the balance, Federer held his own serve, then broke Lopez to take the 1st set. In game #1 of the 3rd, Federer came back from Love-40 on his own serve and won thirty-five consecutive service points, and 37-of-38 to end the match. Tight match? What tight match?
5. He's now won four consecutive US Open titles, and 27 straight Open matches (tying Ivan Lendl's record). With the bonus he received for sweeping both the US Open Series and the Open itself, Federer won a record $2.4 million with his win in the final over Novak Djokovic.
4. He defeated Roddick in the Open QF to run his career mark against the American to 14-1, and even out-aced him 15-14 in the match.
3. Federer has now swept both Wimbledon and the US Open four consecutive years.
2. His 12th slam title puts him just two behind Pete Sampras on the all-time list.
1. In New York, Federer reached his tenth straight grand slam final. The second-best final run in the Open Era is a "measly" four.

TOP PERFORMANCE BY A MERE MORTAL: Novak Djokovic had the best three-day weekend in Montreal in well, maybe ever, as far as tennis is concerned. On consecutive days, he defeated world's #3 Andy Roddick, #2 Rafael Nadal and #1 Roger Federer, becoming the first to defeat the top three-ranked players in a single tournament since 1994 (Becker def. Stich, Sampras & Ivanisevic). Against Federer in the final, he overcame the King leading 6-5, 40/Love and holding five set points to win 7-6/2-6/7-6.

*TOP MATCH*
US Open 2nd - Djokovic d. Stepanek
...6-7/7-6/5-7/7-5/7-6. If Djokovic hadn't survived this 4:44 match, we'd never have gotten to see the best moment of the entire tournament -- the Serb's dead-on impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova following his QF match.

NO OFFENSE, DUDE, BUT I HAD A HANDICAP: after losing to Frank Dancevic in the Indianapolis SF, Roddick admitted to a late night fast food run the evening before having led to his... umm... numerous trips to the rest room during the match against the Canadian.

WINNER OF THE "WILL A LOSS EVER BE CONSIDERED A LEGIT LOSS WHEN HE LOSES AGAIN (not counting matches against Federer, of course)?" AWARD:
...Nikolay Davydenko. Bet on it!

AT LEAST HE'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR SOMETHING: more people will likely remember Juan Monaco for losing an exciting four-set match against Djokovic at the US Open than for the fact that the Argentine quietly won his third singles title of the season during the 3Q.

FREEDOM NEVER SMELLED SO SWEET, OR PAID SO WELL: break up with Martina Hingis, win a singles title in Los Angeles. Rejuvenate your recently injury-marred career, even while losing in the US Open's match of the tournament. Win more money without having to bother with any "curses." That was the 3Q story of Radek Stepanek.

AN AMERICAN RENAISSANCE?: Americans John Isner and Donald Young both advanced to the 3rd Round of the US Open after having begun the 3Q without ever having won a main draw match on the ATP tour.

**BUT HE'S NOT MARRIED TO A 22-TIME GRAND SLAM WINNER**
...Fabrice Santoro tied Andre Agassi's record of 61 career grand slam appearances.

**THE GHOST OF ANDRE STRIKES... TWICE**
...in 2006, Agassi's final US Open included his final singles win (over Marcos Baghdatis) and his career-ending loss (to Benjamin Becker). In 2007, both Baghdatis and Becker lost in the Open's 1st Round.

WE WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO GET A BIG HEAD: James Blake finally won his first career five-set match at the US Open with a victory over Fabrice Santoro after having lost his previous nine five-setters. But even with that win under his belt, Blake ultimately was knocked out of the tournament by Tommy Haas in another five-setter... one in which he'd held three match points.

**INTRODUCING...**
...John Isner. In Washington, D.C., the #416-ranked, 6-foot-9 former NCAA champion Georgia Bulldog used a monster serve to win 3rd set tie-breaks over the likes of Tim Henman, Benjamin Becker, Tommy Haas and Gael Monfils before ultimately losing in the final to Andy Roddick. Before the tournament, Isner had never won a match on the ATP tour. After it, he was being hailed as the "next American star."

And finally...

*WHAT DO YOU DO TO HONOR A LIVING LEGEND WHO HAS EVERYTHING?*


...you have his likeness sculpted onto a Terracotta Warrior-style statue for display during the season-ending Masters Cup, that's what.


All for now.

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The Reign of the Bodysnatcher

It's still the same old story. The fight for New York glory. A case of do or die. The fundamental things apply... as time goes by.

Career grand slam title #12 came like clockwork to Switzerland's Roger Federer at the US Open on Sunday, moving him to within two of matching Pete Sampras' all-time major title record.



Sampras had a way of snatching victory from the jaws of near-defeat against opponents seemingly poised for greatness. Not coincidentally, it's a trait he shares with the current world #1. But while Sampras would pull out a few monster serves and/or penetrating volleys to violently rip out HIS opponents' hearts, Federer simply turns into a virtual bodysnatcher.

Federer will play Andy Roddick, who possesses the best serve in the game... and then manage to out-ace him. Federer played Andre Agassi, maybe the best returner in the history of the game... and by the end of the match the bald guy was forced to guess the direction of the oncoming Federer serve just to keep even a portion of his foot in the match. Against Novak Djokovic on Ashe Stadium on Sunday, Federer faced all the vigor and blood-rushing excitement that the 20-year old had carried with him through his entertaining run to the US Open final... and after rendering it but a novelty, he slowly drained the sting from "Number 3's" game.

Time and time again in the final, Federer led Djokovic to the edge of his "moment of truth," only to take his soul and shove him over the precipice... but in that ever-so-polite way that the benevolent King Roger has perfected over the last few years, of course.

In the 1st set, Djokovic led 6-5 and served an ace to go up 40-love... only to see Federer save five set points, then win a 7-4 tie-break. Rather than a moment of truth, the Serb experienced a symbolic one after he angrily gestured with a water bottle in his hand during the changeover. The bottle's top came off and half the water spilled out onto the court, causing a short delay before the start of the next set as the mess had to be cleaned up (it was the only time the Flushing Meadows courts were wet over the entire two weeks of the tournament).

In the 2nd set, up 6-5 again, Djokovic had two set points at 15-40 on Federer's serve. Federer held to force another tie-break, which he promptly won 7-2. Then in the 3rd, at 2-2, Djokovic had three break points that were soon nothing but an afterthought. Hitting a barrage of lines, producing a string of ridiculously angled shots, and either forcing or accepting the increasing number of Djokovic errors, Federer saw his first match point after the Serb fired a double-fault. It was all over in an instant, 7-6/7-6/6-4.

Djokovic did nothing at this event, or even in this match, to dissuade those who harbor the belief that he will one day be a grand slam champion. He's the youngest US Open finalist since Sampras in 1990, after all. Yep, the kid is all right... even if he IS now eligible to be hit up by Andy Roddick for dues thanks to his new membership in the club reserved for all the players who'd have a slam trophy waiting for them at home if Federer hadn't one day appeared on the other side of the net.

It's a club for which there is no shame to belong. One day the OTHER club -- the one which includes all the slam champs not named Roger -- will begin accepting new members. But not yet, and maybe not for a while longer. Much like that of his friend Tiger Woods', Federer's march toward history continues unabated and only sporadically challenged as 2007 nears its conclusion. In fact, the real competition might just be the mano-a-mano, cross-sport numbers battle going on between Federer and Woods. Their only TRUE sporting equals might be each other. So, by virtue of the most recent major-winning activity, the "advantage" now rests on the Swiss Mister's racquet.

Play it again, Rog. And he surely will.



*ALL-TIME MEN'S SLAM SINGLES TITLES*
14...Pete Sampras
12...ROGER FEDERER
12...Roy Emerson
11...Bjorn Borg
11...Rod Laver
10...Bill Tilden

*ALL-TIME MEN'S US OPEN TITLES*
[Open Era]
5...Pete Sampras
5...Jimmy Connors
4...ROGER FEDERER
4...John McEnroe

*ALL-TIME MEN'S SINGLES TITLES*
109..Jimmy Connors
94...Ivan Lendl
77...John McEnroe
64...Pete Sampras
62...Bjorn Borg
62...Guillermo Vilas
60...Andre Agassi
57...Ilie Nastase
51...ROGER FEDERER



*2007 U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONS ROLL CALL*
=============================
MEN'S SINGLES: Roger Federer / SUI
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Justine Henin / BEL
MEN'S DOUBLES: Simon Aspelin & Julian Knowle (SWE/AUT)
WOMEN'S DOUBLES: Nathalie Dechy & Dinara Safina (FRA/RUS)
MIXED DOUBLES: Victoria Azarenka & Max Mirnyi (BLR/BLR)
BOYS SINGLES: Ricardas Berankis / LTU
GIRLS SINGLES: Kristina Kucova / SVK
GIRLS DOUBLES: Ksenia Milevskaya & Urszula Radwanska (BLR/POL)
BOYS DOUBLES: Jonathan Eysseric & Jerome Inzerillo (FRA/FRA)



Previous 2007 grand slam final Backspins:

Ausralian Open: "Tranquility Base... Roger Has Landed"
Roland Garros: "Unbeaten, Untied and Unassailable"
Wimbledon: "Sweat & Tears"




All for now.

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Darn the Luck

On "Night of Champions II" at the US Open, the unquestioned stars were the King and Queen of Wimbledon.



With eighteen grand slam singles championships being represented on the court on Night 10, Roger Federer (11) and Venus Williams (6) made like Ashe Stadium was Centre Court of the All-England Club, where the pair claimed their most recent major titles two months ago. Of course, this sort of thing has become a habit throughout their careers. Williams swept through Wimbledon and the US Open in back-to-back "Summer of Venus" runs in 2000-01, while Federer has claimed both the grass and hard court slams the last three seasons. After Wednesday night, it'd be easy to say that they might just be on course to repeat history... or, in Federer's case, continue to create it in remarkable fashion.

In her QF match against Jelena Jankovic, Williams saw the Serb attempt to do to her what Justine Henin did to sister Serena on Tuesday night -- get up early and hold on. Jankovic began both the 1st and 2nd sets by breaking Venus' serve. She managed to fight off Williams to claim the opening set 6-4, but the American's gradual overpowering of her opponent in a 6-1 2nd stanza set the tone for the big moments that would soon decide the match.

Williams' forehand and second serve weren't in top form for most of the match, but they were there when she needed them, as has so often been the case in her previous slam championship runs. It was her play, for both good and bad, that dictated the flow of this match. And while Jankovic, for once using her loose-and-easily-distracted on-court game face to alleviate pressure rather than have it be the catalyst for her undoing as it was in last year's Open SF, didn't implode as she has at other times in big matches, she didn't step forward and take the match, either. Venus did.



Jankovic failed to convert a break point in the second game of the 3rd set, as Williams served an ace to hold in a five-deuce game. She didn't convert one at 4-3, either. As a result, the set rolled into a tie-break without either player losing serve. It was there that Williams' championship experience shined through the visible cracks that appeared in her game on Night 10 and she made quick work of her opponent to move into a SF contest with Justine Henin, who she hasn't lost to since 2001 (or even played since 2003, before the Belgian transformed into "La Petit Taureau" on Ashe).

Still, while Venus/Jankovic was a superior match to the Henin/Serena one of twenty-four hours earlier, it will hardly have the same impact since the matchup had none of the subtext and not-so-subtle underpinnings of animosity of Tuesday's match. Serena's comments AFTER the match about Henin winning because she hit "lucky shots" will linger in the memory longer than Venus' victory tonight, if only because they highlighted something that we already sort of knew: Serena's not the world's most gracious loser (unless her opponent is Venus, of course), so we should probably not pay very much attention to her sullen ramblings after a match that a champion of her stature SHOULD feel like she should have won, even if her opponent clearly outplayed her. After all, not everyone can be as consummate a professional as Mister Federer.

Speaking of which, Andy Roddick should be in a perfect position to commiserate with Jankovic's plight on "Night II." While the Serb was facing a woman with a different level of play which she could access on Night 10, Roddick's entire tennis career is trapped between a rock and a hard place named Federer. By accident of birth, Roddick will never be able to reach his full potential on the grand slam stage because he's alive in an era where to do so would mean tearing down a brick wall named Federer that might as well be The Great Wall of China. Try as he might, Roddick just can't do enough.

It says a lot about Roddick's ability -- well, either that or the hunger for an American star in the post-Sampras/Agassi generation -- that his meetings with Federer still manage to hang onto a cache of excitement despite the fact that a world #1 has rarely dominated another top player so thoroughly through their careers (he held a 13-1 mark against Roddick heading into their QF match on Wednesday). Roddick's only win over Federer came in 2003, before Federer was "Federer"... and it took a tie-break in the 3rd set for him to beat the Swiss star even then.

Meeting #15 was more of the same, as Federer once again showed why his name is increasingly being spoken with a tone of reverential awe.

Through the first two sets tonight, Roddick played pretty much perfect offensive tennis. He never faced a break point on his serve, and even held one on Federer's at 4-3 in the 2nd. But, still, he found himself down two sets after Federer won back-to-back tie-breaks. Then, after facing his first break point after two and a half sets of action, Roddick saw the King of Tennis seize upon the opportunity to break HIM for 4-2. The match was over in mere minutes, 7-6/7-6/6-2. Such is life against The Immortal One unless your name is Rafael, I guess. Federer has now won 26 consecutive US Open matches and is two additional victories away from winning three slams in a single season for the third time in the last four years, as well as a fourth straight SW19/Flushing Meadows two-fer.

At next year's US Open, Federer very well could be (that's code for "will be" in Federerese) looking for career slam title #15 to pass Pete Sampras for the all-time ATP record at age 27. Well, that is, unless he finally wins Roland Garros in '08... which would mean he could be playing for a true single-season Grand Slam. Oh, wait. Next year is an Olympic year, isn't it? Make that a "Golden Slam," on the 20-year anniversary of Steffi Graf accomplishing the same feat in 1988.

Really, what can you say about that kind of stuff other than, maybe, "good God?"

So, what did we learn on "Night of Champions II?" Well, Jelena Jankovic is no Justine Henin. At least at this Open, Venus is no Serena. And no one is Roger Federer... except for the original himself.

Of course, we already knew all about that "Federerism."



*NOTABLE US OPEN NIGHT RECORDS*
20-0...Pete Sampras / USA
16-0...Martina Navratilova / USA
14-0...Chris Evert / USA
10-0...Roger Federer / SUI*
10-0...Maria Sharapova / RUS*
8-0....Jim Courier / USA
7-0....Pam Shriver / USA
6-0....Tracy Austin / USA



All for "Night of Champions, Part Two."

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Three Times a Charm...and down goes Rafa

The US Open's two-part "Night of Champions" miniseries began on Tuesday with the owners of 17 of the cached 35 grand slam singles titles attributed to the players scheduled to play on Nights 9 & 10 taking the court.



The 2007 season was ushered in back in January by Serena Williams, who defied expectations in Melbourne but surprised no one by coming from "nowhere" to win her eighth career slam crown there. Justine Henin, six-time slam champion, didn't head Down Under, but her presence has been in evidence at the other three slams this year. Just ask Serena.

Like magnets, the two top players of their tennis generation had managed to come together in the QF of the two slams that followed the Australian Open. And both times the result was the same. Henin moved on, while Williams was sent packing. What happened in Paris and London took place again on Tuesday in New York, as the world #1 sailed through with a 7-6/6-1 victory.



In 2003 in Paris, Serena-Justine was about Henin waving a hand. In Wimbledon in July, the match turned on Williams' injured thumb. No body parts were supporting players on Tuesday... well, unless maybe Henin's mindset counts. In this twelfth meeting between the two, it was the little Belgian who was the aggressor from the get-go. She jumped out of the corner like a boxer rushing across the canvas, grabbed an early lead with a break of Serena's serve in the first game of the match, then labored to hold off the attempts by Williams to even the contest. It was a strategy that worked.

Williams didn't see her first break point opportunities until she was down 2-3, but an ace and a Serena forehand error pulled Henin out of the hole and she held for 4-2 when a wild swinging volley from Williams sailed long.

But Serena wasn't going down without a fight, at least not yet. After saving a set point against Henin at 4-5, she finally broke to knot the set at 5-5 when she buried a second serve into the corner with a stinging backhand. Then, after saving two break points, she won her own service game to inch ahead 6-5. The American held a set point of her own on Henin's serve immediately afterward, but the Belgian fought it off and ultimately forced a tie-break with a game-winning ace.

The first point of the tie-break was where the match turned, but in an ironic way. Serena won the point, racing crosscourt and back again to get to a short volley deposited just over the net by Henin and slipping it past her for the score. But it turned out to be Williams' only highlight of the tie-break and, as it turned out, the rest of the match.

Henin won seven of the next nine points in the tie-break to win the opening set, and ultimately claimed eight of the final nine games of the match after saving Serena's set point in the twelfth game of the 1st. She broke Williams' serve early again in the 2nd set, in game two, and cruised to a 6-1 win in her first hard court win over the younger of the Williams sisters. She'll now move to the semifinals where she'll either meet older Williams sister Venus (against whom she's 1-7, but hasn't played in four years) or Jelena Jankovic (who's never beaten Henin in seven tries).

With wins over Serena in Paris, then London and now New York, La Petit Taureau's dependability on the grand slam stage in 2007, a year after reaching the finals of all four majors in 2006, remains intact. But just like this "Night of Champions" miniseries, there's still an awful lot of work to be done.



In the evening's nightcap, David Ferrer provided quite an encore for "Night of Champions I." In fact, if you look out your window, he's probably STILL running. Up. Back. Side to side. Leave the guy be. After all, he deserves his alone time just as much as his moment in the sun after chasing Rafael Nadal out of this tournament.

At around 2 a.m., after 3:28, Ferrer finally took out his fellow Spaniard, 6-7/6-4/7-6/6-2. In a sense, he out Rafa-ed Rafa, as the world #2 clearly wasn't 100% as the match wore on, the end result of a summer that saw his injuries linger and turned his hard court season into a head-shaker rather than a prelude to a US Open championship run.



Ever since he winced through his 1st Round match, the question has been floating around about whether three-time slam champ Nadal was going to have enough to make it to a prospective final matchup with Roger Federer, or even one in the semis with Novak Djokovic. As it turned out, he didn't. To his credit, Nadal wouldn't throw in the towel before or during the tournament, even if he likely realized he might go out by TKO before the end of the two weeks.

That moment happened on Night 9.

And after surviving another fan-making, heart-stopping challenge from Juan Monaco in four sets earlier on Day 9, Djokovic now "officially" grabs the role of favorite to face Federer on Sunday.

Up to now, he's been wearing the "unofficial" label quite ably... even if he did have to work overtime to prevent a few people from swiping it out of his grasp.



All for "Night of Champions, Part One."

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Passing Grades & Stinky Shoes

Just in time for the start of school in America, several players harboring grand slam title dreams faced big tests on Friday.



Serena Williams made her way past a game Vera Zvonareva 6-4/7-6, while Jelena Jankovic escaped the upset bid by 17-year old qualifier Alize Cornet in three sets, 4-6/6-2/6-3. But no one went through what JJ's fellow Fantastovic Novak Djokovic did.

Facing the almost Mr. Martina Hingis, Radek Stepanek, in the 2nd Round with the weight of heavy expectations on his back, Djokovic's day almost turned into a disaster.

After losing the 1st set tie-break, Djokovic had to scramble to avoid going down two sets. He won a 2nd set tie-break, but after the two swapped 7-5 sets the 5th set beckoned... and Djokovic's US Open chances teetered on the edge of oblivion as he fought off cramps against a former Top 10 player finally returning to form after injuries -- or was it the "Martina Curse?" -- kiboshed the Czech's 2006 season.

This is when the true champion that Djokovic wishes to be is supposed to emerge. And that's just what happened. With his back against the wall in the third tie-break of the match, the Serb stepped into the spotlight. It only took nine points for Djokovic to earn the seven that he needed to advance to the final 32 by a 6-7/7-6/5-7/7-5/7-6 score.

It's matches like this one that build the foundation of a superior career, and implant the image of victory not only in the player's mind but also in that of every fan who witnessed the moment of Djokovic's ultimate triumph over Stepanek. A star is being born this summer, and it's only a matter of how quickly and brightly he'll truly shine.

In the end, rather than a disaster, Djokovic may have turned Day 5 into his own personal launching pad at this US Open... even if it took 4:44 and, as he noted, shoes that were really stinky after it was over to do it.

Hey, no one said it was going to be all wine and roses.



**NOT QUITE LIKE ANDRE, BUT STILL...**
Tim Henman's four-set 7-6/2-6/7-5/6-4 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Day 5 was the Englishman's final ATP tour match. He'll retire after playing Davis Cup for Great Britain at Wimbledon. Henman never accomplished the grand slam goals wished for oh-so-vociferously by all those fans who gathered on Henman Hill during every Wimbledon, but sometimes historical accomplishments aren't necessary for a player to be remembered. A gentleman to the end, Henman can hold his head up high as he exits stage left.

Tag, Andy... you're it.




All for Day 5.

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