Odds and ends from the Aussie Open:
* Good showcase on Day 6 from 18-year-old Bernard Tomic (say “toe-mich), the Australian who was born in Bosnia. He displayed the smooth form and full repertoire of shots that could make him a top player one day. There’s a bit of Andy Murray in him in his ability to play defense and his ability to use a wide variety of strokes — surprising in one so young. But he’s also inclined to be more aggressive than Murray was at this age. He had Rafa Nadal down 0-4 in the second set and — I found this a bit peculiar — let up, thinking he had the set bagged. “I thought it was over at 4-0,” he said. Hey, kid. This is the No. 1 player in the world.
* The other young (ahem) “sensation” is 20-year-old Milos Raonic, also into the fourth round. He’s a Canadian born in Montenegro and, at 6-foot-5, one inch taller than Tomic. He took down Mikhail Youzhny in four and he’s going to move up significantly from No. 152. His game took off when he moved to Barcelona three years ago after training in (brrrr) Montreal. He’s already getting needled by the Canadian press about whether he’s going to abandon the country to take money from his original homeland. Your reference here? Former Canadian Greg Rusedski, who found the LTA more profitable than Tennis Canada.
* Nadal was having a waltz of a first week until he was pressed a bit by Tomic. He needs to pick up his serve (only 68% winning points of his firsts) and cut out the double-faults (four of them vs. Tomic).
* John Isner’s five-set loss to Marin Cilic (another marathon) leaves Andy Roddick as the only Yank in the tournament — men and women combined.
* What now for Venus Williams? And Serena? And, how close could the sisters be (one or both) from retirement? All good questions and I don’t have any definitive answers because getting personal information about injuries out of the Williams Compound is tougher than finding out how much the new health care reform package is going to cost. But let’s see what we know for sure. We know Venus has a hip flexor injury, which normally does not require surgery. What it requires is rest, ice, stim treatments and then stretching and strengthening the complex of muscles than make up the hip flexors. This injury generally comes from either (a) overuse, (b) bad flexibility or (c) compensation from some other injury. I don’t see Venus as lacking flexibility, so I’d put my money on (c). Like momma Oracene said, Venus shouldn’t have played this Slam until she was completely over her other injuries.
* As for Serena: We know that she talked about coming back last year from her mysterious cut foot (I’d still like to know how you cut the bottom of your foot on glass if you’re wearing shoes in a restaurant. . .but of course if you’re barefoot. . .) when she suddenly announced she had reinjured her foot in training. Come again? A sprain? A strain? Turned her ankle over? These don’t take months to cure. Essential question: Given the multiplicity of their lives, which hardly depends any longer on the riches they’ve gained from tennis, how long before they decide that the succession of injuries and accompanying pain simply isn’t worth playing any more?
* AOL Fanhouse continues to go after IMG top exec Ted Forstmann for betting on the 2007 Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer match at the French Open. In fact, it’s become an obsession over there. There’s no problem zinging Forstmann for betting on tennis or anything else, from a purely subjective point of view. But the fatal weakness in this Fanhouse story is that nothing Forstmann did was illegal or in violation of any ATP regulations at the time it happened. It would be a violation now, but it wasn’t then, which makes the story just one big yawner.
* And, finally, those inevitable press questions about players “sliding under the radar,” as one reporter suggested to Robin Soderling the other day. I never really get this question. We all understand that Nadal and Federer, as No. 1 and No. 2, will get most of the publicity, but if you’re a competent tennis writer, you’re keenly aware of every other player who is doing well. So to whom is he sliding under the radar? To the dilettantes who are tuning in for 30 minutes of tennis on the telly or to the writers there to cover the event? The guy hasn’t lost a set yet and he’s not sliding under the radar of anyone who knows what they’re talking about.