Sorry I have been absent from the bloggingsphere lately but being a junior in college is a lot harder then people make it out to be, and unfortunately school comes first. Another reason for being dormant lately is the fact that, for those of you who have been watching, there really hasn't been much to write about. Everything has pretty much gone as expected, those who were supposed to win, won, except for the early exit of Sharapova.
However, last night, or technically this morning down in Australia, something occurred that shocked the tennis world, especially me. Kim Clijsters, the winner of the 2009 US Open lost to Nadia Petrova. The thing is, she didn't just lose, she got killed, swept off the court 0 and 1. Unfortunately the match was on too late over here that I was unable to watch how she played, so I can't make a clear analysis to why she lost, but I think we can all agree on how disappointed we are. Personally, I was rolling out my Belgium flag for the potential match up between the two returnees Clijsters and fellow country woman Henin.
Henin on the other hand beat her third round opponent, Alisa Kleybanova 3-6, 6-5, 6-2. Now with Clijsters out of the way my money is on Henin going all the way and doing exactly what Clijsters did last August.
I think when players come out of retirement it is a little bit easier for them, not technically (they usually have one of the toughest draws since they aren't seeded), but mentally. There is no pressure, if they lose it's because they haven't played this level of competition in years, if they win that's just great.
On the men's draw Roddick advanced, but probably the most interesting story is the other US man left in the draw. I know, who knew there could be two going into the round of 16. It is the big man coming in at 6 feet 9 inches, John Isner.
Now, I have seen Isner play during one of my visits to the US Open and I was really disappointed with his game. All he had was a big serve, but he was almost too big to move around the court. Also, you would have thought that someone of that size would love to come into net because of his height and wingspan but no he rarely did. But this is the past, John Isner is a new man, and quite a man at that. His match against Monfils was unbelievable. His serve is not just hard anymore but he has developed a huge spin serve to the ad court that literally bounces over his opponents. Not only that but Isner actually used his size to his advantage and came into net. When he did his volleys looked to be as fast as a normal person's ground-stroke. They were deep and hard, making it impossible for Monfils to get.
Isner's next match up is against the best returner in tennis, Andy Murray. It could be an exciting match, a huge serve against one of the best returners. It will be interesting to see how Murray handles the match. It's going to come down to composure and in the end I think Murray is going to have the advantage, he has more experience in situations where there is a lot of pressure. Either way it should be exciting.
you are dead on with your comments about the huge improvement in isner's game and the high quality of his play over Monfils. one thing that also struck me on the points tht i saw was the improvement in Isner's groundstrokes, that he was much more solid off the ground and was able to stay in points a lot more now than previously. ONe thing that I would say about your preview of his next match against Murray, i agree that Murray will have the edge in experience, having played big matches like this before, but there will also be huge expectations and pressure on murray to win, he is seeded higher and expected to win, sometimes that can be too much of a burden. either way it should be a fun match.
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