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justine henin

The Greatest Four U.S. Open Matches In The 50 Years Of The Open Era

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By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher

Steve Flink is not only recognized as the International Tennis Hall of Fame journalist and historian, inducted in 2017, but also as the leading authority on the greatest tennis matches of all time. So much so that he wrote the book on it, not surprisingly called “The Greatest Tennis Matches of All Times”

In his book, Flink describes in great detail and ranks the 31 greatest tennis matches of all time. (A last minute entry just before press time bumped the number of matches featured in the book from 30 to 31, as you can read here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/6294)

As part of his collection, Flink includes four that were played at the U.S. Open and we present them to you in US Open and All-Time order below.

US OPEN #4, ALL-TIME #21 – BILLIE JEAN KING d. EVONNE GOOLAGONG 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, final, U.S. Open, Forest Hills, grass, 1974

The last edition of the U.S. Championships to be contested on the grass courts, Billie Jean King and Evonne Goolagong played one of the most iconic major finals of all time, featuring some of the most exciting points that are still shown on highlight reels. “King and Goolagong produced some of the most spectacular points ever played in a match of this importance,” wrote Flink of this battle between 1970s tennis icons.

“In many ways, none of her competitive victories matched her triumph over Goolagong at Forest Hills in 1974,” Flink wrote of Billie Jean King. “She had played better tennis matches before, from a purely technical standpoint, but she had never shown more gumption under such trying circumstances.”

“My greatest high,” Goolagong would say years later to Flink, “was to hit a ball well, to try to do it perfectly, to try different things with my shots whether they came off or not. I can think back to matches I lost where I played one or two points perfectly, and that gave me a thrill. The most exciting match I ever played was the 1974 U.S. Open final against Billie Jean, and I lost it. What I recall most about that match was standing there in the Forest Hills stadium. Billie Jean and I had just had a great point. I looked down at my arms and there were goosebumps.”

US OPEN #3, ALL-TIME #19 – JIMMY CONNORS d. BJORN BORG 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-4, final, U.S. Open, 1976

In 1974, Jimmy Connors dominated tennis, winning all three major tournaments he played (he was not allowed to play the French Open, due to his participating in World Team Tennis). However, Connors was shutout of major titles until beating Bjorn Borg is this riveting and important final at the U.S. Open, capped with perhaps the most exciting tiebreaker played in the history of the event under the lights on clay at the West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills.

Said Connors after the victory, “If the sun rose and set only on Wimbledon and Forest Hills,” he reflected, “there would be a lot of guys without tans.” Wrote Flink, “That was a fair comment, but Connors fully realized that he could not settle for minor triumphs. He had built his reputation on getting the job done when the stakes were high and this triumph over Borg on a landmark occasion was one of the shining moments of Connors’s career.”

US OPEN #2, ALL-TIME #17 – JUSTINE HENIN d. JENNIFER CAPRIATI 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4), semifinal, U.S. Open, 2003

In my “On This Day In Tennis History” book, ebook, audio book and mobile app, I list two of Justine Henin historic wins on the same date, September 6, 2003, because her epic semifinal win over Jennifer Capriati ended at 12:27 am, so technically the same date as her final-round win over Kim Clijsters the next evening.

Wrote Flink, “Henin had recorded a singularly impressive triumph over a keynote rival, somehow eclipsing Capriati 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (4) in three hours, gaining the win under adverse circumstances in front of a partisan crowd heavily favoring her opponent. Henin had overcome one Jennifer Capriati, the frenzied nighttime crowd, two bouts of cramps, and whatever demons were surely invading her mindset, to reach her first U.S. Open final. That was no mean feat. For Capriati, the defeat was devastating in many ways, deeply wounding, even bewildering. She had been on the edge of winning the match so many times that to come out second best in such a scuffle was almost more than she could bear.”

Said Capriati after the match, “You have to give her [Henin] credit for the way she was feeling, to stay out there and win. But I definitely feel I had the match in my hands, and it was my match to win….When I came off the court, I just felt the whole world was coming down on me. My heart was being ripped out. It was a great match and I gave it all I had. She did, too…Some losses that stay with you forever, the same as the wins.”

Said Henin, “In the first set I think it was a very high level of tennis. I was leading 4-1 but Jennifer was playing very well. I was playing unbelievable. And then the crowd gave her a lot of support. It wasn’t easy for myself in the first set, but I stayed very calm…Then she was leading me 5-3 in the second set. That was the key of the tournament, 30-30, I come to the net. It’s a big save I did at this point. In the third set I was cramping. I wasn’t able to think at all because I thought the match was over many times. It was an amazing feeling [to win]. Unbelievable.”

US OPEN #1, ALL-TIME #9 – PETE SAMPRAS d. ANDRE AGASSI 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), quarterfinal, U.S. Open, 2001

It is interesting that Flink places a quarterfinal match and not a final as his greatest U.S. Open match, according to the rankings in this book. However, there is no denying the brilliance exhibited between all-time greats Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in this night-time spectacle. Wrote Flink of Sampras and Agassi, “They had never played simultaneously at a loftier level against each other. They had produced what many considered the best match ever at the U.S. Open. They had joyously shared in a masterpiece of a match, and it was a contest that would linger forever in the minds of all who were there to witness it.”

Said Sampras to Flink in 2012 of his triumph, “It is rare in tennis when two guys are playing great at the same time. I was doing what I do really well that night, and Andre was solid as a rock and wasn’t making any errors. So we just got into this dogfight. Physically I felt like I was doing more of the work because of the stopping and starting with my serve-and-volley, so I was feeling it in my legs a little bit at the end of the match. Andre was mentally very strong that night. It was two great players playing really well and it resulted in one of the best and most dramatic matches that I was ever a part of. People to this day still ask me about that match. It was ironic that it was a quarterfinal but people were ready for this match and I felt both of us lived up to it.”

“THE GREATEST TENNIS MATCHES OF ALL TIME,” a hard-cover book that retails for $28.95, can be purchased via this link http://m1e.net/c?136411417-LVOB7oNCoIRGc%407612075-eWVmYMp7oSMI2 at www.NewChapterMedia.com and where ever books are sold.

Flink, one of the most respected writers and observers in the game, is currently a columnist for TennisChannel.com. A resident of Katonah, N.Y., he is the former editor of World Tennis magazine and a former senior columnist at Tennis Week.

The book has received high praise from some of the most respected names in the sport, including Chris Evert, a winner of 18 major singles titles, who wrote the foreword to the book.

Said seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, “Steve Flink was there reporting on almost every big match I played in my career. He has seen all of the great players for the last 45 years. I encourage you to read this book because Steve is one of the most insightful writers on the game that I have known and he really knows his tennis.”

Said former U.S. Davis Cup captain and player Patrick McEnroe, “As a writer and a fan, Steve Flink’s knowledge of tennis history and his love of the sport are second to none, which is why you should read his new book.”

Said ESPN’s Cliff Drysdale, “To see tennis through the eyes of Steve Flink is to wander through a wonderland. These are not fantasies because Steve captures the essence of tennis matches in graphic detail. There is no one more passionate or caring about his subject. In this absorbing book, I can relive matches that I have called on television.”

Said CBS, NBC and Tennis Channel commentator Mary Carillo, “The GREATEST TENNIS MATCHES OF ALL TIME is a masterful tennis epic. Its pages are brimming with insight, hindsight. And as always with Steve Flink, the 20/20 vision of the subtleties and complexities of a match. From Budge to Nadal and “Little Mo” to Serena Williams, Steve will guide you through the greatest matches you ever saw, or never saw. The game’s finest players and brightest moments will come alive and play again, right before your eyes. This book is a tennis treasure.”

Founded in 1987, New Chapter Press (www.NewChapterMedia.com) is also the publisher of “Roger Federer: Quest for Perfection” by Rene Stauffer, “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” by Bud Collins, “The Education of a Tennis Player” by Rod Laver with Bud Collins, “The Wimbledon Final That Never Was” by Sidney Wood, “Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match” by Cliff Richey and Hilaire Richey Kallendorf, “Titanic: The Tennis Story” by Lindsay Gibbs, “Jan Kodes: A Journey To Glory From Behind The Iron Curtain” by Jan Kodes with Peter Kolar, “Tennis Made Easy” by Kelly Gunterman, “On This Day In Tennis History” by Randy Walker, “A Player’s Guide To USTA League Tennis” by Tony Serksnis, “Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games” by Tom Caraccioli and Jerry Caraccioli (www.Boycott1980.com), “The Lennon Prophecy” by Joe Niezgoda (www.TheLennonProphecy.com), “Bone Appetit, Gourmet Cooking For Your Dog” by Susan Anson, “How To Sell Your Screenplay” by Carl Sautter, “The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According To Hoyle” by Stewart Wolpin, “People’s Choice Guide Cancun” by Eric Rabinowitz, “Lessons from the Wild” by Shayamal Vallabhjee among others.

1974 US Open Final Billie Jean King and Evonne Goolagong
1974 US Open Final Billie Jean King and Evonne Goolagong

Who Has The Greatest Backhand In The History of Tennis?

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Who has the greatest backhand in the history of tennis? Tennis historian and author Steve Flink throws out his thoughts on the debate ranking the top five men’s and women’s backhands of all time in his new book THE GREATEST TENNIS MATCHES OF ALL TIME, available on Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greatest-Tennis-Matches-Time/dp/0942257936/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354551927&sr=8-1&keywords=greatest+tennis+matches+of+all+time The except of the best backhands is excerpted below.

Men

1. DON BUDGE When he captured the Grand Slam in 1938—the first player ever to realize that feat—Budge had it all, but the single biggest strength in his game was his majestic backhand. Most of those players who preceded Budge at the top of tennis were better off the forehand, but his backhand was the first of its kind. His aggressiveness off that side was ground breaking in many ways. He drove the backhand essentially flat and all students of the game marveled at its magical simplicity.

2. KEN ROSEWALL The diminutive Australian’s backhand was legendary. He prepared early, turned his shoulders unfailingly, kept his eyes glued to the ball, but, most significantly, Rosewall’s backhand was a slice. Across the history of tennis, many slice backhands have been used primarily for defensive purposes, but not Rosewall’s. His slice backhand worked in every way: as a rally shot, as a passing shot, for the lob, and on the return of serve. It was multi-faceted. It was incredibly versatile. And above all else, it was unmistakably elegant.

3. JIMMY CONNORS Watching Connors launch into one of his two-handed backhand drives was one of the great joys for all erudite observers from the early seventies until the outset of the 1990’s. Connors retained the old fashioned flavor of a flat, one-handed backhand, producing flat and penetrating two-handers of unrelenting depth and immense power, yet gaining stability with his right hand. His backhand was the picture of purity. It was his signature shot.

4. NOVAK DJOKOVIC A mesmerizing athlete, Djokovic can be forced well off the court by wide balls to his two-handed backhand and still recover in time to play the shot with assertiveness and astounding control. He returns with unswerving authority off that side, and in long rallies from the baseline, his two-hander is rock solid. Djokovic finds just the right blend of flat and topspin shots with his two-handed backhand. This shot made him the great champion he became.

5. LEW HOAD and GUSTAVO KUERTEN One match away from winning the Grand Slam in 1956, Hoad at the height of his powers was impenetrable. The gifted Australian had every shot in the book, could perform brilliantly on any surface and was universally admired for his immense talent. Off the ground, his one-handed backhand was widely appreciated. He drove through the ball with an essentially flat stroke and was lethal off that side. To be sure, he was a streaky player, but when he was on, there was nothing he could not do on a tennis court, including cracking the backhand mightily. Kuerten’s one-handed backhand was the cornerstone of his game—a majestic, sweepingly beautiful, fluid, one handed stroke that carried him to three French Open crowns. Kuerten sparkled off that side, hitting winners at will, driving the ball both crosscourt and down the line with extraordinary pace and minimal topspin. His backhand was singularly inspiring in its time.

 

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic

Women

1. CHRIS EVERT While both Connors and Borg made substantial contributions toward the cause of the two-handed backhand, it is safe to say that Evert’s impact was larger. Her success charted a new course for women’s tennis and the two-hander became a staple. But that did not mean it was easy to replicate the geometric precision of her backhand. The daughter of an outstanding teaching professional named Jimmy Evert, she worked diligently on her two-hander. It was the shot that never deserted her across the years. In rallies, her depth was unmatchable and she seldom missed. Her returns were crisp and solid and her passing shots were unimaginably precise and unerring. Meanwhile, the topspin lob was always at her disposal. In my book,  the Evert backhand was the best in the history of women’s tennis and the precursor for so many great two-handers to replicate.

2. MONICA SELES Just as Djokovic broke new ground by taming the Rafael Nadal forehand with his backhand, Seles did essentially the same thing with her lefty two-handed backhand against Graf. The German always was more comfortable running around her backhand to play the inside-out forehand, but if you could keep her pinned deep in her forehand corner, she was not able to control rallies in the same manner. Seles forced Graf to do that by virtue of the depth and speed of her two-handed backhand crosscourt, forcing Graf back on her heels. That was no mean feat. The Seles backhand was immaculately executed.

3. JUSTINE HENIN The Belgian brought an awful lot to the table of competition. She was a complete player with all of the tools to succeed in her trade. Yet her one-handed topspin backhand was her trademark. Henin’s backhand was sweepingly beautiful, a spectator’s dream, an opponent’s nightmare. She was willing to miss off that side because her goal was to make things happen off the backhand, and, if that meant making some aggressive errors, so be it. But she more than balanced the scales by sprinkling the court with clusters of topspin backhand winners, going down the line or crosscourt, long or short.

4. LINDSAY DAVENPORT At nearly 6’3,” Davenport was an imposing physical presence on a tennis court. Over the years, she became decidedly better as a tennis player and athlete by losing weight, gaining momentum in the process. Across time, her two-handed backhand was strikingly effective, particularly crosscourt. She kept it uncomplicated, going for one deep, penetrating and flat shot after another until she could break down the defenses of her adversaries.

5. EVONNE GOOLAGONG The Australian often looked like a ballerina on tennis court, but never more so than on the backhand side. She was very flexible, using the slice backhand to keep herself in rallies, raising the tempo whenever she saw an opening to release her glorious topspin backhand. She did not have to think when she hit a backhand— it was all flowing and instinctive. The Goolagong backhand remains frozen in the minds of tennis fans everywhere.

 

Andy Murray gives Great Britain its first Grand Slam title since 1936 — Mondays with Bob Greene

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STARS

US Open

Men’s Singles: Andy Murray beat Novak Djokovic 7-6 (10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2

OTHER

Irina Begu beat Donna Vekic 6-4 6-4 to win the Tashkent Open in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

Kirsten Flipkens beat Lucie Hradecka 6-1 7-5 to win the Bell Challenger in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Hsieh Su-Wei beat Zhang Shuai 6-2 6-2 to win the Ningbo International Challenger in Ningbo, China

DAVIS CUP

World Group
Semifinals

Spain beat United States 3-1 at Gijon, Spain
Czech Republic beat Argentina 3-2 at Buenos Aires, Argentina

World Group II Playoffs
(Winners advance to World Group in 2013)

Kazakhstan beat Uzbekistan 3-1 at Astana, Kazakhstan
Germany beat Australia 3-2 at Hamburg, Germany
Israel beat Japan 3-2 at Tokyo, Japan
Belgium beat Sweden 5-0 at Brussels, Belgium
Canada beat South Africa 4-1 at Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Brazil beat Russia 5-0 at Sao Jose do Rio Preto, Brazil
Italy beat Chile 4-1 at Napoleon, Italy
Switzerland beat Netherlands 3-2 at Amsterdam, Netherlands

World Group I First Round Playoff

Asia/Oceania: India beat New Zealand 5-0 at Chandigarh, India

World Group I Second Round Playoffs

Americas Zone: Ecuador beat Peru 4-1 at Lima, Peru

Europe/Africa Zone: Slovak Republic beat Portugal 3-1 at Bratislava, Slovak Republic

World Group II Third Round
(Winners advance to Group I in 2013)

American Zone: Dominican Republic beat Mexico 3-2 at Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

Asia/Oceania: Indonesia beat Philippines 3-2 at Jakarta, Indonesia;

Europe/Africa: Ukraine beat Latvia 3-2 at Liepaja, Latvia; Poland beat Belarus 3-2 at Lodz, Poland

SAYING

Andy Murray

“Novak (Djokovic) is so, so strong. He fights until the end in every single match. I don’t know how I managed to come through in the end.” – Andy Murray, after beating Djokovic in the US Open final and becoming the first British man to win a Grand Slam tournament singles title since Fred Perry in 1936.

“It feels great to win a title. I’ll take back sweet memories from the Tashkent Open. I’m glad I made the last-minute decision to play here, and I will surely come back to defend my title next year.” – Irina-Camelia Begu, after winning her first tournament title.

“I don’t think like a 16-year-old. In tennis one has to grow fast, and I think I have matured fast. I love tennis and want to be playing. I have to get stronger physically and mentally and develop my game. I hope to first get into the Top 150 and probably play at a Grand Slam tournament in the near future.” – Donna Vekic, a 16-year-old qualifier who reached the final of her first WTA tournament.

“I just told her she’s one of the greatest of all time. ‘Go have fun and hit your shots.’” – Leander Paes, on what he told Venus Williams before she led the Washington Capitals to the WTT title.

“It was a complicated decision to leave a world you have lived in intensely. But I have had a tough year and you start to notice that you don’t have the same ambition and motivation.” – Juan Carlos Ferrero, announcing his retirement from tennis next month.

“’Once you win, you have no doubt that you can win.” – Ivan Lendl, when asked if Andy Murray can win another Grand Slam tournament.

STRUTTING

With an Olympic singles gold medal already in his trophy room, Andy Murray snapped the British curse and won a Grand Slam tournament men’s singles crown in record time. Murray became the first British man to win a men’s Grand Slam singles title since Fred Perry captured the US Championships in 1936. And the four-hour, 54-minute match equaled the record for the longest US Open final. Another record came when Murray and Novak Djokovic battled through a 22-point first-set tiebreaker, the longest in US Open men’s final history. The tiebreak lasted 25 minutes. Murray’s victory came in his fifth Grand Slam tournament final. His coach, Ivan Lendl, also lost his first four Grand Slam tournament finals before tasting victory for the first time. “I have been asked about it many times when I got close to winning Grand Slams before,” Murray said. “I hope now it inspires some kids to play tennis and also takes away the notion that British tennis players choke or don’t win, or it’s not a good sport.” Earlier this year Murray became the first British man to reach the final at Wimbledon since Bunny Austin in 1938. A few weeks later, he defeated Roger Federer to win the gold medal on the same Wimbledon Centre Court at the London Olympics.

STOPPED BY INJURY

Argentina lost its top player in its Davis Cup semifinal, resulting in the Czech Republic earning a spot in the final against Spain. Argentine Juan Martin del Potro withdrew from the competition because of an injury to his right wrist. Czech captain Martin Jaite said del Potro almost withdrew earlier in the week when he felt more pain in his left wrist in Friday’s three-set win over Radek Stepanek.

SIGNAL ACHIEVEMENT

Playing the best tennis of her career, Irina-Camelia Begu captured her first WTA title by beating 16-year-old Donna Vekic in the final of the Tashkent Open. Begu last year was in two finals as she reached 38th in the WTA world rankings and was named Newcomer of the Year. This year, her ranking dropped to 96th in the world, but it all began to turn around at the US Open. That’s when the Romanian shocked former world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round. Begu backed that up by winning the tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. “My serve is what got me through,” Begu said. “Donna played very well and I was happy to break her in both sets.” As champion, Begu received a Chapan, which is a traditional Central Asian coat. “I saw Sorana Cirstea wear this when she won the title here in 2008, but now I have one of my own.” Begu said.

Until the final, it was Vekic who was the star of the tournament. She had to qualify for her first WTA main draw and was the youngest player in six years to reach a WTA final – the youngest since Tamira Paszek won a tournament in 2006 when she was 15. “I’m happy I had a good week, but a little disappointed of not being able to win the title after coming close,” Vekic said. “But I will come back.” Before Tashkent, Vekic had lost in qualifying in both of the WTA tournaments she had entered.

SPECTACULAR START

Paula Kania and Polina Pekhova apparently believe in starting at the top. The two young players captured the doubles title at Tashkent, Uzbekistan, when Anna Chakvetadze and Vesna Dolonc had to retire following the opening set because of a back injury suffered by Chakvetadze. Kania, a 19-year-old from Poland, and Pekhova, a 20-year-old from Belarus, were playing their first WTA event as a team. “We are thrilled and speechless,” the winning duo said. “We were the last pair to get in and to win the tournament is amazing. We played as juniors but this was our first WTA event together, and we hope to play more tournaments now. Our goal is to make it to the Grand Slams.”

STEPPING IT UP

Venus Williams beat Coco Vandeweghe in a last-game tiebreaker to help lead the Washington Kastles to their second straight undefeated championship World TeamTennis (WTT) season. Williams and Anastasia Rodionova won the women’s doubles match to put Washington in front 8-6. Then, after Sacramento took the men’s doubles to lead 11-10, Williams and Leander Paes teamed to win the mixed doubles in a last-game tiebreak. That sent the WTT championships into a final women’s singles showdown tied at 15. “I really felt like I came out on fire in all my matches,” said Williams, who was named the WTT finals MVP.

SAYS NO TO TWO

Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna will not represent India in Davis Cup play for at least two years. The All India Tennis Association (AITA) said in a statement that it had “decided not to consider” for selection until June 20, 2014. Bhupathi has been a Davis Cup player since 1995 and Bopanna for 10 years. Both players refused to play doubles in the London Olympics with Leander Paes. The AITA said it will instead use two of the following four players: Yuki Bhambri, Vishnu Vardhan, Divij Sharan and Sanam Singh.

SHARAPOVA SIGNS

At least three Grand Slam tournament champions will be in the field when the Brisbane International gets underway December 31-January 6. “Going into Australia after a long off season you always want to have the best possible matches,” reigning French Open winner Maria Sharapova said in a news release. It will be the first time Sharapova will compete in the tournament, which also will feature US Open champions Serena Williams and Andy Murray.

SWINGING AT LETS

There will be a new look on the men’s tour this year. The ATP board of directors approved the elimination of lets on the Challenger Tour for the first three months of next year. ATP Executive chairman Brad Drewett says the board believes “a trial at the ATP Challenger level will be a good way to test this initiative in a competitive environment and get feedback from players and the public before deciding if it could be adapted more broadly.” The board also announced a change to the penalties for a time violation that goes into effect next year. The move changes the penalty for a second and all subsequent violations of the 25-second rule by a server to a fault. Currently, the penalty for multiple violations is a point for the server and receiver.

STARTING A FAMILY

Like her former Belgian teammate, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin is going to have a family. The seven-time Grand Slam tournament champion announced on her Facebook page that she is pregnant and expecting her first child in March. “Soon there will be three of us,” Henin said of her and her partner, Benoit Bertuzzo. Henin won four French Opens, two US Opens and one Australian Open. She retired for the first time in 2008. After making a comeback in 2010, Henin retired for good the following year with an elbow injury.

Now that she has a baby, Yan Zi is returning to the WTA tour. One of the original Chinese trailblazers, Yan is making her comeback at the GRC Bank Guangzhou International Women’s Open in Guangzhou. Yan and Zheng Jie won China’s first Grand Slam tournament title when they captured the Australian Open women’s doubles in 2006 and followed it up by adding the Wimbledon title later that year.

SHOULDER HURT

Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak was forced to withdraw from the Bell Challenge in Quebec City after injuring her right shoulder during a warm-up session. Wozniak had been scheduled to play American Melanie Oudin in a second-round match. When she was unable to play, Wozniak apologized to the large crowd that had expected to see her take on Oudin. Canada’s top female player, Wozniak said she would return next year to the Bell Challenge in Quebec City. “I apologize to all my fans who came out to see me play tonight and to the Bell Challenge, which always does a great job and treats me so well here in Québec,” Wozniak said.

SAYING GOODBYE

Juan Carlos Ferrero is calling it quits. The former world number one says he will retire after playing in his hometown Valencia Open next month. Now 32, the Spaniard won the French Open in 2003 and reached the final of the US Open later that year, losing to Andy Roddick. In his career, Ferrero won 15 titles and helped Spain win two of its five Davis Cup titles, in 2000 and 2004. Ferrero said he plans to spend more time to his tennis academy and hotel.

SPENDING TIME ON COURT

Now that he’s retired, Andy Roddick is ready to play tennis. Exhibition tennis, that is. The 30-year-old Roddick retired from the men’s tour after the US Open earlier this month. But he will play Canada’s Milos Raonic in an exhibition at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre. Also on the card will be a match between US Open women’s champion Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska. The four – Roddick, Raonic, Williams and Radwanska – will also play mixed doubles.

SERENA UPSET

The United States Tennis Association’s (USTA’s) decision to hold a top American junior player out of competition because of her fitness has caused Serena Williams to raise an eyebrow. “If that happened, that’s obviously a tragedy because everyone deserves to play,” Williams said of 16-year-old Taylor Townsend, the world’s top-ranked junior girl. “She’s so sweet and she works so hard. For a female, particularly in the United States, in particular an African-American, to have to deal with that is unnecessary. … Women athletes come in all different sizes and shapes and colors and everything. I think you can see that more than anywhere on the tennis tour.” The Wall Street Journal reported the USTA withheld funding Townsend’s tournament appearances while she focused on getting in better shape. “She’s still number one,” Williams said. “That’s saying something.”

SET FOR ISTANBUL

Wimbledon and US Open champion Serena Williams and two doubles teams have qualified for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, October 23-28. The WTA’s season finale will feature the world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams. Besides Williams, others who have qualified include the doubles team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka, as well as the American duo of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond.

SOUTH AFRICAN-BOUND

Venus and Serena Williams will play each other in an exhibition match in South Africa in November. The sisters will also attend a coaching clinic in Soweto township when they travel to the country in support of a women’s charity. They will face each other on court for the first time in Africa in Johannesburg. Venus and Serena have combined for 13 Grand Slam tournament doubles titles and won Olympic gold in the doubles in 2000, 2008 and this year.

SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD

American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan and Australian Samantha Stosur are the first winners of the US Open sportsmanship award. The Bryan twins won their Open era record 12th Grand Slam tournament doubles title, while Stosur, the 2011 women’s US Open champion, last in this year’s quarterfinals to top-ranked Victoria Azarenka. The USTA sportsmanship award comes with a USD $5,000 donation to the charity of the winner’s choice.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Ningbo: Shuko Aoyama and Chang Kai-Chen beat Tetiana Luzhanska and Zheng Saisai 6-2 7-5

Quebec City: Tatjana Malek and Kristina Mladenovic beat Alicja Rosolska and heather Watson 7-6 (5) 6-7 (6) 10-7 (match tiebreak)

Tashkent: Paula Kania and Polina Pekhova beat Anna Chakvetadze and Vesna Dolonc 6-2 retired

SURFING

Metz: www.opendemoselle.com

St. Petersburg: www.spbopen.ru

Szczecin: www.pekaoszczecinopen.eu

Seoul: www.hansolopen.com/

Guangzhou: http://sports.21cn.com

Tokyo: www.toray-ppo.co.jp

Bangkok: www.thailandopen.org

Kuala Lumpur: www.malaysianopentennis.com/

Orléans: www.opendorleans.com/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)

MEN

$509,114 Moselle Open, Metz, France, hard
$410,850 St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia, hard
$136,148 Pekao Szczcin Open, Szczcin, Poland, clay

WOMEN

$500,000 Korea Open, Seoul, Korea, hard
$220,000 Guangzhou International Women’s Open, Guangzhou, China, hard

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$850,000 Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hard
$551,000 Thailand Open, Bangkok, Thailand, hard
$140,000 Open Orléans, Orléans, France, hard

WOMEN

$2,168,400 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, Japan, hard

Venus Williams condition can be traced back four years

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The Williams family has not previously been so open about the sisters’ tennis injuries, but I can inform you that the problem Venus Williams is facing today is traceable to at least four years ago, and probably accounts in large part for the steady decline of her play over that period of time.

Venus Williams

This dizziness, now identified as Sjogren’s Syndrome, first became evident at the 2007 U.S. Open, where one hour and 42 minutes into a 7-6 (2), 6-4 loss to No. 1 Justine Henin in the semifinals she did something neither she nor Serena rarely do — she called for a trainer.

Henin had just fought back from love-40 to hold serve and stabilize a 4-3 edge in the second set and Williams looked exhausted. You could see her breathing hard on court. There was a look of consternation on her face, like someone who knew there was something wrong but who couldn’t relate it to some normal tennis injury — like a knee or shoulder.

“I’m OK. I was just feeling dizzy, a little sick to the stomach,” Williams said bravely after the defeat. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. But, you know, credit to her for playing well.”

After the press briefing, I located mother Oracene in the tunnel leading to the women’s locker room and asked if she was worried enough to urge Venus to get a full workup. “Yes,” she said. “I want her to go to the Mayo Clinic.” Oracene also disclosed that after Wimbledon a few months earlier, Venus had been diagnosed with anemia and had come down with similar dizziness at San Diego a few weeks later, during the start of the U.S. Open Series.

I never found out if Venus went to the Mayo Clinic, but if the best anyone could say is that she was suffering from “anemia,” that wasn’t good enough. Now she knows why she’s anemic. It’s Sjogren’s Syndrome, and she believes it’s treatable and that she’ll be back on the WTA Tour, perhaps this year.

It is a tribute to Williams’ competitiveness that she not only played that match at the Open semifinals four years ago, but finished it.

“Unbelievable courage,” said Henin’s longtime coach, Carlos Rodriguez, who was in rapture not only over his own player but Williams as well. “I’ve never seen Venus play like this in years. I’ve never seen her come to the net so often and so well. With this performance,” Rodriguez declared, “she’s back at the top.”

If only Rodriguez knew that Venus had deeper problems.

After that disturbing experience at Wimbledon, Venus took a month off, possibly to get that complete work-up, then went to the Far East for three small tournaments, winning 12 of 14 matches, though never facing a top-10.

In 2008, she won her last Grand Slam, at Wimbledon, and was 40-11 overall. In 2009 an hend 2010 she won only two tournaments each season — at Dubai and Acapulco. She finished 38-16 in ’09 and 38-7 in ’10.

She was now pushing 30 years of age and her best tennis was behind her, but she was also still fighting flareups of the fatigue that began in 2007. When she pulled out of the U.S. Open this week, it was only her fourth tournament of the year. She is 8-3 for the season without getting past a quarterfinal.

She put on her usual brave face this week at the Open, insisting her career is not over. It may not be, but her championship days are. Between her age and her physical problems, she’s no longer strong enough to win the seven matches required to capture a major.

Williams sisters show their rust – and age – in Wimbledon losses

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When Serena and Venus Williams lost Monday afternoon at Wimbledon, it probably came as something of a shock to the men who set betting odds for a living or to tennis journalists whose newspapers or magazines have grabbed the closest available body and told them to cover the tournament, even if they don’t know a butt cap from an overgrip.

Venus Williams

But if you played the game, still play the game or simply have been around tennis long enough to know the dynamics of what it takes to win a major, you would have found it more than slightly amusing a week ago if someone had told you one of the sisters was going to Wimbledon.

If you’re placing a wager or just betting dinner with your doubles partner, you’re unwise to grasp at the magic names of “Serena” and “Venus” and think, at their ages, they can just walk into a Grand Slam and, virtually cold turkey, win it merely because their surnames are Williams.

I’m not gloating here. OK, maybe a little. But here’s the salient part of my Wimbledon forecast more than a week ago:

“Venus gets the heavy hitting Akgul Amanmuradova in the opener and Jelena Jankovic is a probable third-round opponent. It’s extremely unlikely that one of the sisters will win this tournament and about 50-50 that neither makes it to the second week. How long Venus and Serena last in this tournament with rust dripping off their 30- and near-30-something bodies is a legitimate question.”

I wasn’t perfect. They made the second week. . . . barely.

If they were five years younger, I would have had to think twice about suggesting they wouldn’t reach the quarters. But Venus just turned 31 and Serena will hit 30 on Sept. 26. The body doesn’t respond the way it used to, even for great athletes like the Williamses, and especially not after the succession of injuries they’ve had.

Furthermore, as debilitated as the women’s tour is right now with Justine Henin re-retired and Kim Clijsters ready to join her, there are no gimmes out there from the third round on if you’re not seeded in the top four.

Marion Bartoli may look goofy out there with all the schtick she goes through before serving and with her two-handed backhand AND forehand, but she’s been to the Wimbledon final. She has great accuracy and that deceptive serve of hers was good enough on Day 9 to win 80 percent of her first serves and allow Serena only one break in a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win.

Meanwhile, Venus lost 6-2, 6-3 to Tsvetana Pironkova, the human wall who coaxed Williams into lots of long rallies and won most of them. Venus and Serena can tell any number of gullible reporters that they’re fully recovered from their sundry ailments and 100 percent fit, and, strictly speaking, that might be true. But I can tell you from long years of experience in this sport and countless conversations with players that if you’ve got joint injuries, as the matches build up over a limited period of time, those knees or shoulders or elbows or wrists begin throbbing.

Plus, this was the second time Pironkova has beaten Venus is a Slam, having won in three at the 2008 Australian Open. This should have been a 50-50 match at best on the betting line. Pironkova is only 23 years old and ranked No. 33. She has a future. Venus Williams has a past and while she still has a future, those glory days in the winner’s circle are no longer there.

The last time she won a significant tournament with a star-studded field was at Dubai in February of 2009.

As for Serena, she’s younger, but she’s also got intermittent injury problems, though whatever happened to her foot in that German restaurant months ago didn’t seem to affect her movement in the opening week. She’s just rusty.

Serena probably is the greatest woman player in the history of tennis, but no matter how great you were, if you can’t stay relatively free of injury this game will suck the life out of you. Even if your name is Venus or Serena.

Chris Evert and Mike Greenberg lose in US Open National Playoffs

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Six-time US Open champion Chris Evert and ESPN’s Mike Greenberg came up short in their bid for a wild card into the 2011 US Open Monday, losing their mixed doubles second round match at the US Open National Playoffs USTA Eastern Sectional Qualifying Tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y. Evert and Greenberg lost to a pair of local teaching pros, Bea Bielik, the 2002 NCAA singles champion, and Darrin Cohen, a former standout at the University of Virginia, 6-1, 6-4. Bielik made her return to the site of the US Open, where she reached the third round in 2002 and lost to Justine Henin.

Evert and Greenberg were eight matches away from reaching the main draw of the 2011 US Open.

“It has always been Mike’s dream to play in the US Open and I was happy to help him with his dream,” said Evert, who admitted that her partner exceeded her expectations.

“Also, I’m impossibly charming,” added Greenberg to Evert’s point. “You know, she was my first love, Chris Evert. I’ll come back every year and play in this event, provided I get to team with her. We had a great time.”

The US Open National Playoffs USTA Eastern Sectional Qualifying Tournament is the second of 16 Sectional Qualifying Tournaments taking place nationwide through June. The winners of each of the 16 sectional qualifiers advance to the US Open National Playoffs – Men’s, Women’s and Mixed Doubles Championships held during the New Haven Open at Yale, an Olympus US Open Series women’s event, in August.

The US Open National Playoffs mixed doubles champions receive a main draw wild card into the 2011 US Open. The US Open National Playoffs men’s and women’s singles champions again earn a wild card into the US Open Qualifying Tournament, held the week prior to the US Open.

Photocredit to Jennifer Pottheiser/USTA

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Agassi beats Federer for 700th win; Youzhny’s bloody head: On this day in Sony Ericsson Open history

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The Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., is the biggest, most prestigious tennis tournament in the United States next to the US Open. Its history dates back to 1985 and is documented in pages in my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com). The following are events that happened in the history of the tournament – also previously called the Lipton Championships, the NASDAQ-100 Open and the Ericsson Open – as excerpted from the book from March 31.

2001 – In one of the most gripping finals in the history of the WTA Tour, Venus Williams fights off eight match points to win her 16th title of her career at the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., defeating Jennifer Capriati 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4). Williams clinches the match on her fourth match point to win her 18th consecutive match at the tournament.

2002 – Thirty-one-year-old Andre Agassi wins his 700th career match, defeating 20-year-old Roger Federer 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the final of the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne. Says Agassi, “I think as you get older, you have a greater capacity to appreciate everything. Those moments are not promised. Who knows if it will ever happen again? The older I get, the more I keep that in perspective.”

2007 – Serena Williams stages an incredible comeback and fights off two championship points in the second set to defeat Justine Henin 0-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the final of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla. Says Williams, the reigning Australian Open champion, who nine months earlier languishes at No. 140 in the WTA rankings, “When I get down, a part of me just plays better. I think all champions have that.” Says Henin of Williams, “She’s a fighter. It’s tough to close the matches against her, because she goes for it. She’s a champion, and that makes a difference from the other players, for sure.”

1996 – Goran Ivanisevic is stricken with a sore neck which forces him to quit trailing Andre Agassi 0-3, 0-40 after only 10 minutes of play in the men’s singles final at the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla.

2008 – Mikhail Youzhny of Russia gains more exposure and international attention for an strange outburst of anger in the third round match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., than he does in coming back from two-sets-to love to clinch the Davis Cup title for Russia in 2002. Trailing Nicolas Almagro 4-5 in the third set of their third-round match, the No. 11-ranked Youzhny bangs his head three times with his racquet strings, causing him to bleed down the front of his face. The video becomes a viral video sensation on the internet, registering 500,000 hits on YouTube within 24 hours. Youzhny wins the match 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-6 (6).

Blake and Safina highlight Sony Ericsson Open wildcards

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The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open announced its wildcard entries and this year it features former World No. 4 James Blake and former World No. 1 Dinara Safina. A total of five wildcard slots were granted to the men’s draw and also include Jack Sock, Ryan Harrison, Milos Raonic, and Bernard Tomic. While six were given on the women’s side which feature Heather Watson, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Madison Keys, and Coco Vandeweghe.

Dinara Safina

Women’s main draw begins on Tuesday, March 22, while the men’s main draw kicks off the following day on Wednesday, March 23. The qualifying rounds will be held Monday and Tuesday, March 21 and 22.

Tickets to the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open are on sale now and can be purchased by phone (305-442-3367) or via internet at www.sonyericssonopen.com. An electrifying two weeks of tennis conclude with the women’s final on Saturday, April 2 and the men’s final on Sunday, April 3.

Blake will make his return to Miami, hoping to improve on his career-best quarterfinal showings in 2006 and 2008. Safina made her last appearance on the purple courts in 2009 as the No. 2 seeded player advancing to the third round. She recorded her career-best finish in 2008 when she advanced to the quarterfinals.

Blake, always a fan favorite, earned his first ATP win in 2002 becoming the fourth African American to win an ATP title in the Open Era. In 2005, Blake grabbed the national spotlight at the U.S. Open when he played a thrilling five-set match in the quarter finals against his idol, Andre Agassi. From there, Blake’s career blossomed tremendously as he reached his career-high of No. 4 in the world in 2006 becoming the first African American to crack the top-10 since his role model, Arthur Ashe.

Safina made her professional debut in 2002. The Russian star recorded a breakout season in 2008 winning a career-best four singles titles. In 2008, she was awarded the WTA Most Improved Player, and was the first player in history to defeat three reigning World No. 1s in the same season (Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, and Jelena Jankovic). Safina reached a career-high rank of No. 1 in the world in 2009, and joined her brother Marat Safin as the first brother-sister combo to both achieve World No. 1 rankings.

In addition to Blake and Safina the tournament wildcards include many of the Tour’s next generation of tennis stars.

Other men’s highlights include, Ryan Harrison who is a promising 18-year-old American who last year became the first American teenager to beat a top 20 opponent in a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick. At the 2010 U.S. Open, Harrison defeated the 15th seed Ivan Ljubicic in three sets in the first round for his first win in a Grand Slam tournament.

Young Canadian tennis star, Milos Raonic, captured his first ATP World Tour title earlier this year inSan Jose becoming the first from his nation to win an ATP World Tour title in 16 years. Afterwards, Raonic rose to a career-high No. 37.

On the women’s side Romanian Sorana Cirstea reached a career-high rank of No. 23 in 2009 after recording a quarterfinal appearance at the French Open and advancing to the third round at bothWimbledon and the U.S. Open. Cirstea won her first WTA Tour singles title in 2008 at Tashkent.

German Sabine Lisicki has one career WTA Tour singles title to her credit having won in Charlestonin 2009. That year she recorded a career-high singles ranking of 22 in the world. Lisicki will look to better her career-best fourth round finish in Miami in 2008.

The addition of the wildcard entries adds to what is already a Grand Slam quality player field including defending Sony Ericsson Open champ Andy Roddick; 16-time Grand Slam Champion and three-time Sony Ericsson Open winner Roger Federer; reigning Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic; and 2009 Sony Ericsson Open champion Andy Murray.

The women’s field is also loaded with the world’s best players including defending Sony Ericsson Open champion Kim Clijsters; three-time Sony Ericsson Open champion Venus Williams, current World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki; and three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova.

Are the Williams Sisters Close to Retiring?

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I see a major publicity crisis, with its incumbent economic impact, on the horizon for women’s tennis and if, as I suspect, the Williams sisters are not far from declaring retirement, it could happen sooner than later.

The star-quality players of the WTA are disappearing and a great deal of the tour’s future depends heavily on how well WTA executives generate new stars whose appeal is more far-reaching than just their home countries.

Here’s what the WTA is facing:

Gone: Justine Henin, who declared after her relatively early defeat at the Australian Open, that she has retired a second time, and this time for good, with elbow damage.

Venus and Serena Williams

Soon to be gone: Kim Clijsters, winner of the Aussie Open, who announced this is probably her last year and I think you can rightly assume that if she contracts a serious injury, meaning at least a month of down time, she could retire immediately.

And maybe gone: Serena and Venus Williams, who have played exactly one tournament since last year’s Wimbledon and only 15 tournaments combined (nine for Venus, six for Serena) since the 2010 Australian Open. If you need a benchmark here, the average number of tournaments over the last 52 weeks for the other eight top-10 players is 19.5.

I can’t tell you with certainty what the Williamses plans are. They live in a tightly controlled tennis environment where their injuries are never fully divulged to a public that supports their multi-million dollar lifestyles.

But after 17 journalistic years of hustling around professional tennis, my best hunch is that retirement announcements for one or both are not out of the realm of possibility this year.

Why? They don’t need the money. They’ve had their Grand Slam successes by the bunch. They have rather extensive lives outside of tennis, so this isn’t like Pete Sampras, who had little else to do but play golf five times a week when he quit.

And there is the inescapable facts about their injuries, whatever they may be. We may not know how Serena stepped on a piece of glass with a bare foot in a restaurant. Or how much damage it did. Or why she had a relapse during her training to get back on court. But we know both sisters have had injuries, chronically, and that those injuries have cut deeply into their time on court.

We’ve lost Henin and if we lose Clijsters and the Williamses, what’s left out there.

* Caroline Wozniacki. Suspect world No. 1 because she’s never won a major, but a very fine player. You can appreciate her talent if you’re a hard-core tennis fan, but she doesn’t have the game or the on-court personality to draft in television viewers who don’t normally watch tennis. Not in this country, anyway. Not like Serena and Venus. Not like Martina Navratilova or America’s sweetheart, Chris Evert.

* Vera Zvonareva. Solid top-5 player who now goes deep into every major draw. While Wozniacki gets a lot of internet time because of her looks, Zvonareva is under-publicized. Of the top players in the women’s game, she is the least known.

* Sam Stosur. Aussie living and training in Tampa, Fla. The main viewer attraction is the bulging biceps and the admirable high degree of fitness. You see her for the first time and you see a woman of average build who looks fantastic, physically.

* Francesca Schiavone. She got a faceful of red clay when she kissed the soil after winning the French Open. Good TV moment. But, other than that, she’s an unknown Italian.

* Jelena Jankovic. Great personality that comes out beautifully on the tube. Great sense of humor. But she’s not winning, so how often are you going to see her or hear her?

The TV ratings, for men and women, are in a plunge and, though I haven’t seen the numbers for the Clijsters-Li Na final, I wouldn’t expect anything significant, mainly because of the 16-hour time difference from the East Coast of the U.S. to Melbourne.

Women’s tennis was once heavyweight. The 1981 U.S. Open final between Tracy Austin and Martina Navratilova drew a 7.3. Williams vs. Williams in 2001 hit 6.8. And two years ago, when Clijsters beat Wozniacki in the U.S.Open final, a 1.1.

You can argue that the U.S. Open women’s finals have been hit hard by rain delays the last couple of years, but that’s a minor reason why ratings are down. At the U.S. Open, U.S. viewers want American players or at least players that attract their interest, and they’re not getting them often enough.

Of course, the United States isn’t the only country that watches or economically supports tennis, but this is the most lucrative tennis nation in the world — at least until China catches up.

Can the WTA “build” stars? Through the use of the internet and video, the WTA can always do a lot more to make “Wozniacki,” “Zvonareva,” and “Stosur” better known names in households where tennis isn’t but could be a priority sport for viewing.

I strongly suspect that stepped-up publicity for the top players isn’t going to be just something the WTA will want to do, even if the Williamses don’t retire, but it’s something it needs to do.

Women’s tennis went through a bad publicity patch when Martina Hingis was on top, during those non-descript years between the end of the Steffi Graf and the start of the Williams eras. The WTA has a fine product, but the electric personalities on which it has survived have either left the game or are soon to be gone. It’s time to get aggressive.

Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez Picks Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, Vania King and Liezel Huber for Belgium Clash

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The USTA and U.S. Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez announced today that her core group of Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Melanie Oudin, and former world No. 1 doubles player Liezel Huber will be joined by 2010 US Open and Wimbledon doubles champion Vania King in representing the U.S. against Belgium in the 2011 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group Quarterfinal in Antwerp, Belgium, February 5-6.  Mattek-Sands, Oudin and Huber have led the U.S. to consecutive Fed Cup finals the past two seasons, while King returns to the U.S. Fed Cup roster for the first time since the 2009 final.  Three-time US Open champion Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin, winner of seven major titles, are expected to compete for Belgium.  The quarterfinal tie will be contested on an indoor hard court at the Sportpaleis Antwerp.

The best-of-five match series begins on Saturday, February 6 with two singles matches and is followed by two reverse singles matches and the doubles match on Sunday, February 7.  Tennis Channel will present daily live coverage beginning at 7:30 a.m. ET on both Saturday and Sunday.

“Once again Bethanie, Melanie and Liezel have answered the call and are ready to start another Fed Cup campaign.  Venus (Williams) was going to play until her injury in Australia. Vania King will join the team and is able to help us in singles or doubles,” said U.S. Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez.  “We are facing a tough opponent on the road and competing against two of the world’s best players in Kim (Clijsters) and Justine (Henin).  It is a big challenge, but our team always welcomes the opportunity to represent their country and compete on the Fed Cup stage.”

Mattek-Sands, 25, will make her fifth Fed Cup appearance for the U.S since making her debut in 2009. With the U.S. trailing Russia 2-1 in the 2010 Fed Cup semifinal, Mattek-Sands won the fourth singles match to force the decisive double rubber then partnered with Liezel Huber to beat Elena Dementieva and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-1 to clinch a spot in the final for the U.S. It was the first time in U.S. Fed Cup history that a player won two live consecutive Fed Cup matches on the final day of competition since the best-of-five match format was instituted in 1995.  Mattek-Sands has a 5-4 career Fed Cup record, and is undefeated in three doubles matches.  She is currently ranked No. 48 in singles and No. 17 in doubles, and reached the 2010 Wimbledon doubles semifinals with Fed Cup teammate Huber.

Oudin, 19, has been named to the U.S. Fed Cup team for seven consecutive ties since making her debut in the 2009 World Group quarterfinal.  She owns a 5-4 career singles record in Fed Cup competition, and earned the only point for the U.S. in the 2010 final when she beat 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in straight sets.  In 2009, Oudin defeated former World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic en route to a fourth round appearance at Wimbledon, and made headlines when she upset 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist Elena Dementieva and former World No. 1 Maria Sharapova in three set matches to become the youngest American quarterfinalist at the US Open since 1999.  She is currently ranked No. 64 in the world.

King, who will turn 22 the week of the quarterfinal, will make her first Fed Cup appearance for the U.S. since the 2009 World Group final, when the U.S. lost to Italy 4-0.  She is 4-6 all-time in Fed Cup matches, but holds a 3-2 record in doubles.  King rocketed up the WTA doubles rankings in 2010 partnering Yaroslava Shvedova to win Wimbledon and the US Open.  King reached five other doubles finals, winning two. She has won 12 doubles in all and also reached the mixed doubles final at the French Open in 2009.  King is currently ranked No. 88 in singles and No. 4 in doubles.

Huber, 34, has won five of her six career matches for the U.S. Fed Cup team, including tie-clinching semifinal matches in both 2009 and 2010 with partner Mattek-Sands.  Currently the No. 3 doubles player in the world, Huber owns four Grand Slam women’s doubles titles and won the 2010 US Open mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan. Born in South Africa, Huber spent four years on the South African Fed Cup team (1998-00, ’03) where she posted a 9-3 overall record (9-2 doubles) in 12 ties.  She became a U.S. citizen on July 25, 2007, with the hopes of playing for the U.S. at the 2008 Olympic Games (where she teamed with Lindsay Davenport to reach the doubles quarterfinals).  Huber and Martina Navratilova are the only players in Fed Cup history to have represented another nation before playing for the U.S.

The U.S. is 5-1 all-time against Belgium in Fed Cup competition.  The U.S. defeated Belgium 5-0 in the last meeting between the two countries in the 2007 World Group first round in Delray Beach, Fla., as Venus and Serena Williams combined to win three singles matches and Vania King recorded victories in both singles and doubles.

Fed Cup by BNP Paribas is the world’s largest annual international women’s team competition with 90 countries competing this year.  The United States leads all nations with 17 Fed Cup titles – the last coming in 2000 – and is one of eight nations which will compete for the 2011 Fed Cup title as part of the Fed Cup World Group.  For more information, including access to player and historical Fed Cup records, please go to www.usta.com.

Mondays with Bob Greene: A Summary of the First Week of the Australian Open 2011

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STARS

Australian Open

(First Week)

Alexandr Dolgopolov beat fourth-seeded Robin Soderling 1-6, 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-2

Andrea Petkovic beat fourth-seeded Venus Williams 1-0 retired

Petra Kvitova beat fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur 7-6 (5) 6-3

Peng Shuai beat seventh-seeded Jelena Jankovic 7-6 (3) 6-3

Li Na beat eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-3

Stanislas Wawrinka beat eighth-seeded Andy Roddick 6-3 6-4 6-4

Flavia Pennetta beat 10th-seeded Shahar Peer 3-6 7-6 (3) 6-4

Miles Raonic beat 10th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 7-5 4-6 64

SAYINGS

“It’s super-disappointing because this is just not how I envisioned my Australian Open being. I’ve never had to retire from a Grand Slam, especially after working so hard to pull out the match the other day. Just hoping for some magic that I could recover. But I have peace of mind that I really gave more than my best to be out there.” – Venus Williams, after an injury forced her to retire from her third-round Australian Open match.

“I know I’m not 100 percent. I knew it before walking on the court. That’s why I say there are no excuses. I decided to play not being 100 percent. It’s been difficult in the last three days on my elbow and I just did everything that I could that it will be OK, but it wasn’t enough.” – Justine Henin, after losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova.

“You can’t win a Grand Slam in the first week, but you can lose it.” – Roger Federer, after needing five sets to beat Gilles Simon of France in a second-round match.

“It wasn’t really that I was the best player in the world, but it’s all the Grand Slams I won. That’s what gives really the emotions.” – Justine Henin, speaking about players who have reached number one in the rankings without having won a Grand Slam tournament title.

Roger Federer

“It just wasn’t a good day at the office. – Maria Sharapova, after being upset by Germany’s Andrea Petkovic.

STOP THE PAIN

Screaming in agony, Venus Williams fought through a painful muscle injury to win her second-round match, downing Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 6-7 () 6-0 6-4. But the injury proved to be too much, and Williams retired from a Grand Slam tournament match for the first time in her career. The injury occurred on the final point of the first-set tiebreak. She took a medical timeout between sets and, when she returned to the court, Williams had her right thigh heavily taped. Despite grimacing in pain through the next two sets, Williams rode her big serve and power game to victory against Zahlavova. The seven-time Grand Slam tournament champion said she had strained a psoas, a lower back muscle with tendons linked to the spine and hip. “I think this is probably the most acute one that I’ve ever had,” Williams said when asked to compare the strain with other injuries in her career. Against her next opponent, Germany’s Andrea Petkovic, Williams called it quits after the first seven points. “I obviously couldn’t play,” said Williams, who was playing in her first tournament since injuring her knee at the US Open.

SODERLING SHOCKER

This was supposed to be the tournament where Robin Soderling would seriously challenge for a Grand Slam title. Alexander Dolgopolov had other ideas. The young Ukrainian pulled off the shock of the Australian Open so far when he ousted the fourth-seeded Swede in a five-set battle. Until meeting Dolgopolov, Soderling had not lost a set in 2011. That changed when Dolgopolov won the second set. Soderling jumped out to a 4-0 led in the fourth set, eventually winning 6-4 to level the match at two sets apiece. And he broke his opponent’s serve to begin the final set. But he lost his own serve in the very next game and Dolgopolov closed out the victory on his fourth match point.

STEPPING

Andrea Petkovic has danced her way into the second week of the Australian Open. Best known for being on the other side of the court when Venus Williams retired for the first time in her career from a Grand Slam tournament match, Petkovic has been best known for her on-court hip-shaking dance after her victories.  “It started off as a bet with my coach,” the 23-year-old German said. “Going into the US Open last year I was playing terrible. I got to the first round and he said, ‘OK,  if you win this, you have to do something special.’ I won 7-6 in the third (upsetting Nadia Petrova) and I wanted to flee the court. But my coach said, ‘Hey, the dance.’ So I did it. And it became popular. Also, I am superstitious – I have played much better since I do the dance. So the dance stays.” When she moved into the fourth round because of the injury to Williams, it was same old thing for Petkovic. At the US Open in September, she advanced to the fourth round when her third-round opponent, China’s Peng Shuai, withdrew after hurting her arm. “I hope I’m not jinxing the other girls,” Petkovic said. “I really feel terrible that everybody has to retire against me in the third round. I hope next time I will make the fourth round with playing the third round.”

SUCCESS DOWN UNDER

The Australian Open is one of Andy Murray’s favorite tournaments. Ever since he won the junior title at Flushing Meadows seven years ago, the Scot has said the tournament he loves most is the US Open. But his successes Down Under over the last two years has caused the Melbourne event to rise rapidly in his affections. Murray was a finalist at Melbourne Park 12 months ago when he played the best tennis of his life before losing to Roger Federer in the title match. Now, he has returned to the fourth round of the Grand Slam tournament with the loss of just 17 games, fewer than he has conceded in the first three rounds on any of his previous Grand Slam tournament appearances. “I like the surface here better than the US Open,” Murray said. “It’s slower and I prefer that. I do like the surface here. It’s very similar to the courts I practice on in Miami. I really enjoy this tournament. It’s definitely one of the easiest to get yourself ready for, because they make life really comfortable here.”

SPEAKER KING

Billie Jean King will give the 2011 commencement address at the University of Vermont on May 22. Known for both her accomplishments on the court and as a champion for equality in women’s athletics, King was recognized by Life magazine as one of the 100 most important Americans in the 20th century. In 1972, King was the first woman named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year. In 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. And the United States Tennis Association named the site of the US Open the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

SAYING THANKS

Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu visited Melbourne Park to thank all those involved with the Australian Open for their efforts in raising money for flood victims.  Joined by Australian tennis player Alicia Molik and others Baillieu commended the efforts of the tennis community in assisting people affected by the devastating floods throughout eastern Australia. “This has been one of the most extraordinary natural disasters in Australia’s history. It’s going to cost Australians an awful lot, and anything that can be provided to support individuals and families on the ground is going to be much appreciated,” he said. Tennis Australia’s “Rally for Relief” before the tournament began featured some of the biggest names in tennis, including Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Kim Clijsters, Samantha Stosur, Novak Djokovic, Lleyton Hewitt and Caroline Wozniacki. So far the campaign has raised USD $2.3 million.

STRAIGHT TALK

When Tennis Channel aired Caroline Wozniacki’s third-round victory at the Australian Open, announcer Bill Macatee fielded a text message from a “Chris in Florida” who wondered if the top-ranked Danish player “feels like the number one player in the world, never having won a Grand Slam?” Sideline reporter Lindsay Davenport asked, “That wouldn’t be the Chris from Florida who is a Grand Slam winner herself, would it?” It turns out it was former number one Chris Evert, who was watching the match on television. In the booth next to Macatee was led analyst Martina Navratilova, who agreed that the point Evert was making has become an issue for Wozniacki because she is started to get asked about it more and more. Davenport admitted that upon reclaiming the top ranking at one point in her career she didn’t feel like number one in the world since she had not won a Grand Slam title in some time. Evert, Navratilova and Davenport all won Australian Open singles titles during their playing days.

STOPPING PLAY

The start of Maria Sharapova’s third-round match against Julia Goerges of Germany was delayed because of a bubble on the court. When she was approaching the umpire’s chair for the coin toss before the match began, Sharapova noticed something under her left foot. “All of a sudden I looked down and there was a pretty big bubble there,” the Russian beauty said. Umpire Kerrilyn Cramer took a look and the warm-up was halted. Tournament officials called in a technician who used a cordless power tool to drill a couple of holes in the rubberized surface. With the problem fixed, the match went on. Sharapova won. “Maybe it was comical to you; it wasn’t really comical to us. We warmed up and had to sit and wait for a while,” she told reporters. “They took care of it pretty fast.”

STRAIGHT IN

Andre Agassi read aloud a love letter to his wife when she was inducted into the International Tennis hall of Fame. Now, the former world number one joins her in the Newport, Rhode Island, USA, shrine. The announcement of Agassi’s induction was made at a Las Vegas, Nevada, charter school named for the tennis star, the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. The students, who range from kindergarten through Grade 12, joined Agassi to celebrate his being named to the Hall. Agassi is the sold 2011 inductee in the Recent Player category. Additional 2011 inductees in other categories will be announced at a later date. The induction ceremony will be held July 9 at the Hall in Newport in conjunction with the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, an ATP World Tour event. Now 40, Agassi’s 60 tournament titles include four Australian Opens, two US Opens and one victory each at the French Open and Wimbledon.  He also won the singles gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and had a career 30-6 record in Davis Cup play, leading the United States to Davis Cup titles in 1990 and 1992. When he won the French Open in 1999, he became the first male player in history to win all four Grand Slam tournament titles on three different surfaces: clay, grass and hard court.

SPECIAL PLAYERS

Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his doubles partner, Rohan Bopanna of India, have won the Willi Daume World Fair Play Trophy. The Indo-Pak Express will receive the prestigious award in Lausanne, Switzerland, on January 27. They also want to play an exhibition match across the Wagah border crossing between the two countries. Qureshi and Bopanna received the prize for their message of peace. The pair has been advocating peace between the two arch-rival countries, and their efforts have started to bear fruit with their: Stop War Start Tennis’ campaign. “A lot of good things have been achieved, the ITF is now supporting this, Peace and Sport is also supporting this,” Qureshi told Pakistani media.

STRUCK DOWN

Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli will be sidelined for six weeks after tearing a calf muscle during her second-round match against Vesna Manasieva. Bartoli, who raced through her first-round match 6-0, 6-0, lost to Manasieva 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. “It felt like an explosion inside my muscle when I pushed off at one point,” Bartoli said. “After that, it was very complicated because I couldn’t use my right leg. … The doctors asked me how I had managed to play another hour and a half. But I’m a competitor. I was up a set; it’s not easy to give up. It might not have been the best decision to take.”

SOUND THE ALARM

An exploded racquet enlivened one match at the Australian Open. Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland defeated 40-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan in a first-round battle, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5, but not without an incident. With the 12th-seeded Radwanska leading 6-5, deuce, Date-Krumm served the ball. As Radwanska returned the serve, her racquet exploded, leaving the player with only a portion of the handle in her hands. The 21-year-old Radwanska grabbed another racquet and won the match three points later. Observers said Radwanska had been rapping her racquet on the court in anger during the third set, and that could have contributed to the racquet breaking.

SQUASHED

Dinara Safina’s game, at least, failed to show up for her first-round match. Third-seeded Kim Clijsters, the reigning US Open champion, hammered her Russian opponent 6-0, 6-0. It was just two years ago that Safina was ranked number one in the world before her career was derailed by a back injury. Playing on center court, Clijsters took only 44 minutes to trample her opponent. From midway through the first set, the only question was whether Safina could avoid the “double bagel.” She couldn’t. “I don’t know how to win a point … embarrassing,” Safina said of her performance, which came just a week after she lost 6-0, 6-1 to Marion Bartoli of France in the Moorilla Hobart International, an Australian Open warm-up tournament. ”Something was not right. I have to figure out the answers,” the 24-year-old said. “To lose two tournaments in a row 6-0, 6-1 and now 6-0, 6-0 – it’s really to scratch the head and thing, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ It’s not that I don’t want (to play). I want to come back and I want to play better. Definitely it hurts.”

SURE IT’S STEFFI?

Was it or wasn’t it Steffi? The man who won the auction to buy a plate from Andre Agassi and see a naked picture of Agassi’s wife said he is not positive the naked back in the photo belonged to Steffi Graf. While participating in the auction while he was in Taiwan earlier this month for an exhibition tennis match, Agassi spurred on the lagging bidding by holding up the plate and saying: “You pay more than $4,000 and I will show you a picture of my wife on my phone naked.” Franz Chen, chief executive of Taiwanese porcelain manufacturer Franz Collection, said he won the auction by bidding the equivalent of USD $7,000. Agassi showed him his phone which had a photo of the naked back of a blonde.

SWITCH

Just after Australia’s Jelena Dokic began her first-round Australian Open match against Zuzana Ondraskova, Channel Seven switched from the tennis to its 6 p.m. newscast. Television audiences were warned in advance that this would happen throughout the two weeks of the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. The conclusion of the Dokic-Ondraskova match could have been viewed on the digital channel 7mate until coverage resumed on Channel Seven at 7 p.m.

SERBIAN NO-NO

Ana Ivanovic can’t win even when she’s winning. Not only did the former world number one from Serbia lose her opening round Australian Open match, she also has been retired from the TennisReporters.net Sexiest Female Player reader poll. The reason? Because she’s a winner. Ivanovic won the poll five straight years, from 2005 to 2009, by such a large margin that tennis writer Matt Cronin, who co-owns the website, said they had little option but to take the Serbian beauty off the ballot. “She’s just plain unbeatable in that category. It was time to give other players a chance,” Cronin said. It wasn’t all grim news for the 23-year-old, however. In her honor the award has been renamed the “Ana Ivanovic Sexiest Player Award.” With Ivanovic no longer in the running, Russia’s Maria Kirilenko won the voting, followed by compatriot Maria Sharapova and Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki.

SAD NEWS

Jim McManus, a former player and founding member of the men’s tennis tour, is dead at the age of 70. The ATP said McManus died of complications following a battle with cancer. He was a member of the ATP’s original board of directors in 1972 and was employed by the tour for 28 years. ATP president Adam Helfant called McManus “a true pioneer of the game of tennis” and “one of its greatest and most significant figures.” McManus is survived by his wife and two children.

SNUBBED

Immigration officials have turned down Russian-born Arina Rodionova’s bid to become an Australian citizen, while at the same time approving the citizenship of her sister, Anastasia Rodionova. A glowing endorsement from Tennis Australia touting Arina failed to impress Australian officials, who in a letter of rejection said she was “not the same caliber as her sister.” The 21-year-old Arina has been living for the past five years in Melbourne with her older sister, who won two gold medals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. But an application for a residency visa in August was denied by the Immigration Department. “She wants to be an Australian,” the 28-year-old Anastasia said. “We will appeal, and hopefully the government will see her a bit different. Maybe after her results here at the Australian Open they’ll see she has the potential.” The Rodionovas were the only sisters playing in this year’s Australian Open, a far cry from last year when there were four sets of sisters in the tournament. It is believed the Rodionovas are the first sisters to represent different countries in the same Grand Slam tournament since Manuela Maleeva of Switzerland and Katarina Maleeva of Bulgaria played in the 1990 French Open.

SAYONARA

Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti said he is retiring because injuries have impeded him from playing at his full potential. “It took me a lot to make the decision, I didn’t want to rush, I wanted to be 100 percent sure. I’m leaving tennis without regret,” said Lapentti. The 34-year-old was surrounded by his family when he made the announcement at the Tennis Club in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Last year Lapentti was hampered by several injuries. He currently has a tendon injury in one of his knees. “I’ll have a farewell match, but I don’t know when and against whom. I have to get over the injury first,” he said. Lapentti started his career in 1993 on Ecuador’s Davis Cup team when he was just 16 years old. He played his first ATP match in 1995 and won a Challenger in Santiago, Chile. His was ranked sixth in the world in November 1999.

SPONSORS

The Aegon International will be played at Eastbourne, England’s Devonshire Park until at least 2013. The venue has been the site of the tournament since 1974. The event began as a WTA-only tournament, but since 2009 has hosted a joint ATP and WTA event. “We’ve had a good track record with the women here,” said Roger Draper, chief executive of the34 Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). “We brought the ATP competition here a couple of years ago and we’re building on that. We’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve to keep the fans happy.” This year’s tournament will be held June 11-18.

SITES TO SURF

Melbourne: www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html

ITF: www.itftennis.com/

Tennis Australia: www.tennis.com.au/

Heilbronn: www.heilbronn-open.de/

Fed Cup: www.fedcup.com

Johannesburg: www.satennisopen.co.za/

Zagreb: www.zagrebindoors.com/

Santiago: www.movistaropen.cl/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN AND WOMEN

Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia, hard (second week)

MEN

$113,000 Heilbronn Open, Heilbronn, Germany, hard

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

MEN

$486,500 PBZ Zagreb Indoors, Zagreb, Croatia, hard

$442,500 SA Tennis Open, Johannesburg, South Africa, hard

$358,250 Movistar Open, Santiago, Chile, clay

FED CUP

World Group

Australia vs. Italy at Hobart, Australia, hard

Russia vs. France at Moscow, Russia, hard

Slovak Republic vs. Czech Republic at Bratislava, Slovak Republic, hard

Belgium vs. United States at Antwerp, Belgium, hard

World Group II

Estonia vs. Spain at Tallinn, Estonia, hard; Slovenia vs. Germany at Maribor, Slovenia, clay; Serbia vs. Canada at Novi Sad, Serbia, hard; Sweden vs. Ukraine at Helsingborg, Sweden, hard

Group I

Europe/Asia Zone, at Eilat, Israel, hard, round-robin, four pools: Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Switzerland

Americas Zone, at Buenos Aires, Argentina, clay, round-robin, two pools: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru

Asia/Oceania Zone, at Nonthaburi, Thailand, hard, round-robin, two pools: China, Chinese Taipei, India, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Republic, New Zealand, Thailand, Uzbekistan

Group II

Asia/Oceania Zone, at Nonthaburi, Thailand, hard, round-robin, two pools: Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Turkmenistan

Missing her Flash, Henin Falls to Kuznetsova

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More than a few someones will call this an upset, No. 26 ranked Sveta Kuznetsova taking out No. 13 Justine Henin in the third round at the Australian Open on Day 5 by 6-4, 7-6 (8).

But, really, an upset occurs when a superior player at a given moment is beaten by a lesser opponent, and, rankings aside, Henin isn’t the better player right now. Not that Kuznetsova looks that dominant, but she’s a darn sight better than the still-raw, still-needing-matches Henin at this stage of the young season.

Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova

The classic Henin flash just isn’t there yet. She had so many butchered forehands in this match, some on gimmes inside the service line. And nine double faults, the last coming at 8-8 in the second-set tiebreak on a slapper off the net that caromed long.

But what is most pointedly missing is Henin’s rhythm to the ball. The quickness is there. No debate here about her foot speed, which looks as swift as ever. But when Henin is in full flower, she flows in perfect synchronicity to the ball, and that means not only getting to the ball quickly but in perfect rhythm with her stroking.

That’s what is missing most of all and she’ll get it back, I expect, some time this spring. It’s going to take time.

Some will wonder why Kim Clijsters could come back so quickly from a long layoff to win a Grand Slam where Henin is going to take longer. The answer is that Clijsters is essentially a power player, so that even if her court rhythm is missing, she’s powerful enough to hit her opponents off the court.

That’s not Henin, who is essentially a finesse player. She is absolutely reliant on that movement-to-the-ball rhythm.

The Aussie Open was her first event since she lost to Clijsters in the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, taking a spill and fracturing a tendon in her elbow. She got healthy. She trained hard late last year and got back on court in a glorified series of pre-Australian Open exos at Hobart, where she won four matches against players of little distinction.

At Melbourne, she got by a rusty Sania Mirza in the first round and easily beat Elena Baltacha in the second. That was the end of the stiffs, though. Kuznetsova may have dropped in the rankings after a rough finish last year, but she’s got one of the toughest serves and forehands on the women’s tour and she came out pounding in this match.

The only time she looked suspect came as she served for the win at 5-4 in the second. Classic Kuznetsova tightness. She virtually gave the game away and the two women, who were playing for the 19th time (Henin leads 16-3), stumbled into a tiebreak, where Kuznetsova won it on her fourth match point.

Just about all you need to know about Henin’s statistical performance was 20 winners and 41 unforced errors.

I sort of doubt that she’ll be deeply disappointed about this three-and-out Slam because she knows how rough around the edges she is. She played with a brace on the elbow — the kind you use for tennis elbow. But there was no indication the repaired injury was flaring up. She just needs time.