Remember Vaidisova?

Nicole Vaidisova--yesterday's phenom, today's world number 80--has always been a head case. Of course, she has a lot of company in that department, as far as the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour goes. But it is past the time that her age can be used as the reason for her mental lapses and temper tantrums. Vaidisova, who showed great promise at age 15, did not turn out to be Chris Evert or Martina Hingis. Rather, she turned out to be streaky, temperamental, and given to meltdowns at important moments.

The 19-year-old Czech player split with coach David Felgate earlier this year, will not play in challenger tournaments, according to a Globe and Mail feature by Tom Tebbutt. Tebbutt reports that a source close to Vaidisova says of her: "She basically cannot compete. And there's a difference between that and trying. The minute things go wrong, she can't handle it. There's a complete irrationality about her when that starts to happen on court."

This is an important year for Vaidisova--the year that she either gets it together or disappears from the top 100.

Krajicek into Monterrey main draw

Michaella Krajicek has made it through qualifying and is into the main draw of the Monterrey Open. Krajicek, a wild card in the qualifying rounds, defeated Chanelle Scheepers, Rossana De Los Rios and Mara Santangelo.

Joining Krajicek as qualifiers are Lenka Wienerova, Vania King, and former junior world number 1 Arantxa Rus.

Note to Flavia: Watch the video

I was just browsing over at Women's Tennis Blog, and I saw this comment from Flavia Pennetta on her loss to Venus Williams in the Acapulco final:

What happened to me? Venus Williams is what happened to me. The number 5 player in the world is what happened to me! She was just playing so strong, serving so well, it was hard to fight against her power. I didn’t feel I played badly, she just overpowered me.

I beg to differ. Pennetta played terribly throughout much of the match, including the entire first set. As well as Williams played--and she played very well--almost any good tour player could have beaten Pennetta in that match.

Venus Williams is a very good and powerful player who is really in form these days, but--and I say this as a Pennetta fan--it doesn't work to say "she overpowered me" when you give her the match on a plate. Oddly, many fans came to the same conclusion, and I have to wonder whether they actually saw the match, or just followed it on the scoreboard.

Wickmayer defaulted in Clearwater

Yanina Wickmayer and Julie Coin reached the final of the 50k ITF tournament in Clearwater, Florida over the weekend. Wickmayer won the first set, 6-3, and at 1-all in the second set, something happened. Wickmayer hit a "linesman" (I am pretty sure, from what I've heard, that this "linesman" was actually a woman) on the shoulder with a ball during the course of play. According to Wickmayer, up until that point, there had been no official standing in that spot, and suddenly, one appeared.

I really cannot get a grasp on exactly what happened, but the result was that Wickmayer was defaulted for the match and lost all of her points and prize money for the tournament.

Interesting first rounds in Monterrey

There is still another round of qualifying that has to take place to set the main draw in the Monterrey Open, but--in the meantime--we already have some first round matches worth watching:

Agnieska Radwanska vs. Li Na--Li is still formulating her return to the tour (we say that every year, don't we?), but may nevertheless be a threat to Radwanska on a hard court.

Marina Eraovic vs. Maria Kirilenko--This could easily be a first-round elimination for the Russian.

Gisela Dulko vs. Nathalie Dechy--This has the makings of a very good match, and could easily go to three sets. Both players are streaky, both can be excellent shot-makers.

Melinda Czink vs. Alla Kudryavtseva--Czink has raised her game to another level this year, but may get some trouble from Kudryavtseva.

Urszula Radwanska vs. Zheng Jie--Radwanska recently broke through and defeated her sister, though she is likely to have a harder time defeating Zheng.

Top seed Paszek out of Monterrey qualifying

Tamira Paszek, top qualifying seed at the Monterrey Open and mystery phenom of the Sony Ericsson WTA, was defeated today in the second round of qualifying by Betina Jozami. Jozami did the job impressively, too, recording a score of 6-1, 6-1. Paszek's first serve was successful only 46% of the time, and her second serve was successful only 21% of the time. She was broken five times, and failed to convert any of the twelve break chances she had.

It has been one thing after another with Paszek--coaching changes of a dramatic nature, problems with her father (involving the coaching changes, and--one surmises--other isues, too), injuries, etc. At one time, all eyes were on her, but as she continues to struggle, she is fading from view.

Billie Jean King Cup--could the promotion be worse?

HBO is broadcasting the Billie Jean King Cup live on Monday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m. EST. The photo on the HBO site looks more like a "want to be a model"? reality show ad than an ad promoting some of the world's leading athletes. God forbid we should ever promote female athletes as athletes. And the HBO promotional video itself is about as cheesy as they come. This is HBO!--ccouldn't they have done better?

But that isn't as bad as one of the other promotional videos floating about, in which Billie Jean King mispronounces Jelena Jankovic's name. (Almost all Americans mispronounce Jankovic's first name, but King mangaes to mispronounce, a la Justin Gimelstob, her last name.)