Future Tennis Stars

Roger Federer had a much harder time than most people thought he would. Personally I thought he looked really sluggish in the first couple of sets and was among those who thought Tipsarevic would pull the upset. Still, this is a great match and an amazing win for Federer. Like many have said, it’s rare when Federer gets into a tough situation and has to fight his way out like he did at Wimbledon against Nadal. It was a gut check for him against Tipsarevic and he came though.

Here are the last couple of games to Agnieszka Radwanska’s win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. This is the second time that Radwanska has upset a Russian seeded second in the third round of a Grand Slam. Think Chakvetadze or Dementieva would want to try their luck against her at the French Open? I doubt it.

Maria Kirilenko finall broke through at a Grand Slam with a 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2 win over sixth seeded Anna Chakvetadze.

While a lot of people are calling it shocking, I would say it’s more surprising than anything. This wasn’t the first time that Agnieszka Radwanska was facing a second seeded Russian in the third round of a Grand Slam on the main court. It was the second consecutive time and like her upset of Sharapova at the US Open last year, Radwanska came through with ease, upsetting Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4.

The reason it’s not surprising is that the upset was over Kuznetsova, the one player of the top 4 seeds that no one ever talks about unless it’s a footnote with the other results. Many have said that Kuznetsova is undeserving of her No. 2 ranking and while I wouldn’t go that far, it doesn’t look like she will have that ranking for much longer.

The question remains then, with Agnes Szavay out, Victoria Azarenka gone and Tamira Paszek out in the first round, is Radwanska the best of the newcomers? She will be the favourite in her next match against either Nadia Petrova or Ekaterina Makarova and as we noted before, has pulled a big upset once before and is comfortable playing the top ranked players.

We’ll have to wait and see, she could get as far as the semifinals before having to play either Venus Williams or Ana Ivanovic.

Man, if we were tired of Maria Kirilenko always losing in the first or second round of a Grand Slam, imagine how she felt.

“Usually I’m losing like every time in the first round in a Grand Slam” said Kirilenko after her 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-2 win over Anna Chakvetadze who trained at the same club in Moscow as Kirilenko when they were both juniors.

This has been a long time coming for Kirilenko who has had some success on the WTA Tour especially at the end of last year winning the title in India and losing a three set match to Venus Williams in Seoul.

Kirilenko will next face either Virginia Ruano Pascual or Daniela Hantuchova.

Man, I cannot stand Pam Shriver.

At every Grand Slam, ESPN tortures us with the ever annoying Pam Shriver. Why do they do this to us? Her voice is not great to listen to, of all the commentators, hers is the worst. Her biggest success was at the 1978 US Open. That’s it. Oh sure she did manage to win a bunch of Grand Slam doubles titles but who did she win them with? Martina Navratilova. That’s not saying much old Pammie. Martina could have played doubles with a lawn chair as a partner and used a rolled up newspaper as her racket and won as many Slams.

The worst thing about Shriver is that she just cannot relate to today’s game. She hasn’t played against any of these players and while not many commentators out there know what it’s like to face Sharapova’s serve, Shriver pulled out the worst comparison tonight after Fernando Gonzalez was upset. Gonzalez was the runner up last year and with his loss tonight he will now drop out of the top 20. Shriver dusted off the fact that she reached the finals of the US Open and lost to a qualifier in the first round the next year and dropped a lot of points (I can’t remember what her ranking was, I tend not to pay too much attention to her). And just what year did she reach the finals of the US Open? 1978. That’s 30 years people! Can’t they get someone who is a little more……recent?

If I can give Pam a little advice and not like she gives a crap what I think, but it’s this: talk a little less, talk a lot less about your career, don’t ever try and relate to today’s players considering they are less than half your age. Just stick to general questions and comments and we will all be better for it.