Volvo Car Open begins with major doubles upset

The second-seeded doubles team of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka went out in the first round of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston Today. The former French Open champions were defeated 6-4, 6-2 by Spaniards Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja in the only doubles match played on opening day of the event's main draw.

One lucky loser and one qualifier advanced today in singles play. 2014 runner-up Jana Cepelova, who got into the main draw as a lucky loser, defeated Anastasija Sevastova, and qualifier (and 2012 runner-up) Elena Vesnina defeated qualifier Cindy Burger.

One seed lost. 16th seed Misaki Doi was defeated 4-6,  6-3, 6-1 by Kateryna Bondarenko.

2009 champion Sabine Lisicki defeated Irina Falconi in straight sets. Caroline Garcia, who was seeded last year, lost in a third-set tiebreak to Irina Camilia Begu. Last year, Begu (who was also seeded in 2015) gave eventual champion Angelique Kerber one of her toughtest challenges when they competed in the quarterfinals.

Daniel Island local Shelby Rogers lost her first round match to Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

One of tomorrow's most interesting matches, I think, will be the one played by Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Kiki Mladenovic. Mladenovic beat Tatjana Maria today, but not without a bit of racket tossing.

Photo by Daniel Ward

Another must-watch tomorrow will be played by 2010 champion Sam Stosur and Aleksandra Krunic. Krunic, who has performed extremely well for the Serbian Fed Cup team, can be a tough competitor, and could make things interesting if Stosur's serve is a bit off. Also of interest--Genie Bouchard will compete against Alexandra Dulgheru.

Tuesday's night match features defending champion Angelique Kerber, who will face off against Spain's Lara Arruabarrena.

Defending champion Kerber fit and ready for action in Charleston

Photo by Daniel Ward

Charleston defending champion Angelique Kerber looked very fit and relaxed today as she chatted with the media during the Volvo Car Open All Access Hour. Kerber reported that she had taken a couple of days off, undergone treatment for her leg, and that she has been practicing without having the leg taped. She said she was happy to be in Charleston, and talked about her appreciation of the locals' friendliness and hospitality.

Kerber joined the other top seeds in emphasizing the need for equal prize money in professional tennis. Her countrywoman, Andrea Petkovic, the 2014 champion, said that she was angry about the way the equal prize money issue has been represented in the press--that news stories lead the public to believe that equal prize money exists in places that it doesn't. Petkovic said she had hoped that more progress would have been made in this area by now, and that it saddens her to realize the level of sexism that continues to exist.

Photo by Daniel Ward

Venus Williams, whose 2006 op-ed in The Times led to the establishment of equal prize money at Wimbledon, spoke at length about the issue. "It’s important," she said, "for men to get on board because these same men have daughters, they have wives, they have sisters, and they should want those same opportunities for those people in their family." Williams said that she thought things had progressed a bit more than they have. "It’s a wake-up call for me to not sit still, and it’s made me examine what else I can do, not just for women’s tennis, but for women everywhere."

Also attending All Access Hours were Sloane Stephens, Sara Errani, Belinda Bencic, and Madison Keys. Stephens, who has partnered with Soles4Souls and is collecting shoes while she is at the Volvo Car Open. (Donation of a pair of gently used shoes gets you a pair of tickets to one of her Charleston matches.) The 7th seed good-humoredly responded to a question about her memories of Charleston that "I must like it here--I've won only one match and I keep coming back."

Sara Errani talked a little about her health issue: The Italian star has iron deficiency, and is taking supplements to correct the problem. Iron deficiency is not uncommon among athletes; however, Errani says hers is an inherited health issue.

Photo by Daniel Ward

Belinda Bencic, when asked what it was like to have people recognize her on the street, said that no one recognizes her when she goes out, so there is no problem (I probably wasn't the only one who was thinking "yet"). The young Swiss star talked about how much she has learned from her coach, Melanie Molitor, and from Martina Hingis, about how to handle off- as well as on-court concerns on the tour. I asked her if she likes to read, and she became quite animated, saying she loves to read, but "no ebooks"--she likes to hold the books in her hands.

Kerber heads Charleston field

Photo by Daniel Ward

2015 Family Circle Cup (now the Volvo Car Open) champion Angelique Kerber will be on hand in Charleston next week to try to defend her title. Kerber's thigh was strapped this past week in Miami, where she lost to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. The strapping was supposedly there as a preventive measure, but some wondered whether she was a bit hampered by pain.

Of course, the 2016 Australian Open champion won the Charleston title last year with a heavily strapped shoulder, and in the course of the tournament, she tweaked her thigh on two occasions, so any strapping we see may not be relevant.

Photo by Daniel Ward

Last year, Kerber--who is seeded number 1 in Charleston--had to play friend and countrywoman (and defending champion) Andrea Petkovic in the semifinals, an occurrence which added to the eventual champion's already-dramatic draw (dramatic because of injuries and close calls). This year, the two Germans could play each other in the quarterfinals. Also, Petkovic could play close friend Jelena Jankovic in the third round; Petko beat JJ in 2014 during her title run.

Last year's runner-up, Madison Keys, is in the same quarter as 2nd seed Belinda Bencic. Last year, Bencic was upset in the second round by Danka Kovinic. In 2014, the Swiss player lost in the semifinals to Jana Cepelova in one of the best matches I saw that year.

2004 champion Venus Williams is seeded third. Seeded fourth is Lucie Safarova, who--if she is match-tough enough--should be seen as a potential champion. The Czech player, whose career was interrupted for a lengthy period by illness, has won the doubles championship twice (once with Kiki Mladenovic, with whom she had never even practiced before). Playing in Safarova's quarter are Daria Kasatkina, Daria Gavrilova and Genie Bouchard, so the Czech has her work cut out for her. Safarova was the runner-up in singles in 2012.

Williams and Jankovic, like Petkovic and Kerber, are former Charleston champions, winning in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Other former champions in the draw are Sabine Lisicki (2009) and Sam Stosur (2010).

Commentators and writers make much of the green/red clay divide, and many tennis writers forget to include Charleston in the clay season altogether, preferring to reference the European clay season. Every year, for the past several years, the players have mentioned that green=slow and red=fast is, at this point, a myth. Jankovic remarked a couple of years ago, in fact, that the green clay in Charleston is slower than some of the European red clay.

The first annual Volvo Cup Open is introducing some new features. More seating has been built into the Althea Gibson Club Court, and AGCC matches will now feature an announcer and music, as well as post-match interviews.

Another innovation: The tournament has partnered with Stre.am to broadcast live video from all outer tournament tennis courts, including practice courts. Five courts will be affixed with multiple cameras showcasing different angles of the court. Fans can tap into the URL (https://stre.am/volvocaropen), which went live today, and get a live look at the action happening on various courts. This is the first time Stre.am has provided a platform for its users to view multiple channels at one time.

Finally, an additional jumbotron has been added to Billie Jean King Stadium Court.  The 11' x 17' screens are located at the northeast and southwest ends of the stadium.

Tennis, a subject for poetry

As some of you know, I am a poet. To celebrate National Poetry Month, I'm presenting

the tennis poetry I've written over the past few years.

First, some blank verse originally published in 2013 in The Barnstormer:

The Lesson of Caroline

Up and down and side to side she sprints
without fatigue. The match can last for hours;
the Dane will scarcely shine a bead of sweat
or fail to stretch and meet the ball right on
the sweet spot. With those metronomic swings,
Wozniacki can wear down the stalwart grinders,
the spinners, steely veterans, braided upstarts.
But Wozniacki needs to take it from you.
She takes it, but she doesn't dish it out.
To run the risk, to grab control, feels wrong
somehow--no Sunshine in that raw aggression.
So Wozniacki never wins the big ones;
she doesn't get to lift the silver plate
or see her smile reflected in a statue.
To guard and to defend is something learned;
it propels you to the line, but never over.
Watching Wozniacki's hesitation,
I confront the Caroline who lives in me.


Also published in The Barnstormer:

Watching Them Play On Clay

This is not the tennis you learned in school
in New York, California or Wisconsin.
This is dirty. Socks turn red, feet slide
like sandpaper on the smoothest pine
surface. The thwack of clay knocked
out of shoe soles, the tiny bits of brick
that stick to sweaty thighs, quivering
ever so slightly as muscles twitch--
and then the wait. The long wait.
No first strike here, but rather, patience,
as minutes seem to swirl past while the yellow
departs the red, and spins toward the white.
There is art in the slice, grace in the grind.
Thinking is required. And stretching, bending,
beholding the big picture in fluid angles.
The rain can fall, the game goes on,
the court a wash of cinnabar.
This is not the tennis you learned in school;
this is dirty and beautiful.


An Elizabeth Barrett Browning satire from the 2014 Family Circle Cup, written after one of Errani's
inimitable net performances:

The Errani-Browning Riff

How do I drop thee? Let me count the ways.

I drop thee to the depth and breadth and height
My racket can reach, when feeling out of sorts
For the ends of lobbing and ideal grace.
I drop thee to the level of every game's
Most quiet slide, by sun and stadium-light.
I drop thee freely, as women strive for rights;
I drop thee purely, as they return my second serves.
I drop thee with the passion put to use
In my old beliefs, and with my Fed Cup's faith.
I drop thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost ranking. I drop thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my career; and, if God choose,
I shall but drop thee better after Charleston.

Haiku written when Wozniacki ran the New York marathon:

Haiku For Wozniacki

Leaves of red-gold blur
past the Lady, past the past
Caroline, you run!

And Haiku written just before a Wimbledon tournament:

Haiku For Kvitova

White-clad women grace
perfect, verdant lawns in June
Petra, mow them down!

Anxiety and the professional tennis player

A year ago, I wrote about my concern that professional tennis players' mental health issues may be under-addressed. One of those issues, anxiety, is worth a more thorough exploration, since its prevalence is obvious among many players.

We see it all the time--choking, getting tight during a match, losing successive "winnable" matches, alternating between firing aces and hitting a series of double faults. Dinara Safina, aka Thrill Ride (on this blog), perhaps the WTA's most quotable player, once said, when asked about her failure to be mentally tough: "If I would know explanation, then of course I would do it on the court." She also said: "...First to find the reason what's going on, what are the mistakes, and then to work on them. Not to go blindly on the court and killing your ass for like five hours. Sometimes it makes no sense."

And it does "make no sense" until a player addresses the anxiety that is behind repeated errors, choking and erratic serving. Anxiety is natural to all of us, but--like every other emotion--too much of it creates problems. Anxiety among tennis players (and the rest of us) has many causes:

1. Childhood trauma
This is undoubtedly the main cause of excessive anxiety.  A child who feels unsafe because of emotional, physical or sexual abuse, or because of poverty or war or constant re-locating, will grow up to be an anxious adult.

2. Adult trauma
Living through traumas such as accidents, assaults, natural disasters and war is likely to create posttraumatic anxiety. Having unresolved past trauma (such as childhood trauma) makes someone more likely to develop symtoms.

3. Poor coaching
A coach is like a parent. If s/he manages the player through constant criticism, harsh words or lack of praise, the player will respond with anxiety about her performance. (Safina knew a thing or two about that.)

4. Left-handedness
Left-handed people, as a rule, feel more fear than right-handed people. The "fear" part of the brain, on the right side, is reversed--and therefore dominant--in left-handed individuals, who are more apt to be afraid of making mistakes.

5. Cultural expectations
Certain expectations are placed by our cultures on various groups. These expectations can involve gender, nationality, profession, etc. Not "living up to" these expectations can create anxiety. To make things worse, these expectations tend to be very unhealthy, and ignore the individual's right to evolve at her/his own pace. They also tend to reflect values that are harmful to human psychological growth.

The good news is that anxiety is fairly easy to reduce. The bad news is that people often do not seek treatment, or the only treatment they receive is from medication. I don't know how much (good) anxiety treatment pro tennis players are getting, but I suspect it isn't enough. There are a number of treatment modalities (I use them in my own practice) which can significantly reduce anxiety and create the relaxation response in its place.

Limerick for Indian Wells

There was a director named Ray

Who chose a press conference to say

Lady players should please

with their looks (on their knees).

And he's still the director today.

Back in the desert

Perhaps our favorite pic from Wednesday: Welcome back, #Venus #BNPPO16 pic.twitter.com/3zyKInJ0BT

— BNP Paribas Open (@BNPPARIBASOPEN) March 10, 2016

In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain 

From "A Horse with No Name," by Dewey Bunnell

Maybe. The BNP Paribas Open comes at a time when many questions abound, and some may have painful answers. The biggest one, of course, concerns a player who isn't even there, but whose name has dominated the headlines for the last several days. More about that later.

If it weren't for the Sharapova controversy, we might be hearing more about defending champion and world number 5 Simona Halep, who--not that long ago--was world number 2. Halep has faltered repeatedly at big moments for much of the past year. As defending champion, the pressure is on, and Halep's recent history indicates that she doesn't buy into pressure being a privilege.

Halep is now working with coach Darren Cahill, but her propensity to change coaches makes me wonder how long that relationship will last. Since the season began, the defending champion has been dealing with a chronic illness and an achilles injury. She canceled her scheduled surgery in order to play for Romania in Fed Cup competition, and then later declared herself free of pain and injury. Whether she had the good sense to avoid an unnecessary surgery, or whether the inevitable is just being postponed, is something we cannot know.

If Halep is illness- and injury-free, then she has a chance to turn her career around. But there's something mentally fragile about the Romanian star, whose talent on a court is stunning. And then there's the reality of having had an incredible season (2014) and having to face one's new celebrity and all the expectations that go with it. Here's hoping 2015 was Halep's season to make that adjustment.

Meanwhile, the new world number 2, Angelique Kerber, steps into the desert as the Australian Open champion. In a recent interview, Kerber said that, after her early Doha loss, she took some time off to relax, and that she feels ready and confident at the BNP Paribas Open.

World number 1 Serena Williams has returned to Indian Wells, and this year, Venus Williams has also returned after a 15-year absence. Unfortnately, in 2015, Serena's long-awaited return to the event ended with her retirement in the semifinals because of a knee injury. That gave Simona Halep a walkover, and then Halep beat Jelena Jankovic in the final.

Of interest in the draw: Serena and Venus could face each other in the quarterfinals. There's also a potential meeting between Kerber and Johanna Konta, which could be good, and it's also likely that Doha champion Carla Suzarez Navarro will be waiting for Kerber in the quarterfinals.

There could also be a quarterfinal clash between Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova, though there are some pesky players in their part of the draw who could cause trouble. Chief among them is the eternally unpredictable Svetlana Kuznetsova. Under "normal" conditions, Lucie Safarova would be considered a major threat in that section, as would Dominika Cibulkova. They still could be, but both players have been recovering from physical challenges. I'll add Madison Keys to that list, too.

Also of note: Ekaterina Makarova and Lucie Safarova formed a team to play in Indian Wells. They are already out of the tournament, but should they continue to play together, they have the potential to do well. Makarova and Elena Vesnina were a successful team, but upon Makarova's return from a long injury layoff, the pair did not reunite.

I'm now going to be the laziest blogger ever and say that my sentiments about the Maria Sharapova issue are summed up beautifully by Todd Spiker, so I'll just let him speak for me. I'll add, however, that while I expect so-called tennis fans to speak from positions of ignorance and prejudice, it still distresses me (though I expect this, too) when the news and sports media do it. The amount of misinformation and distorted information that has been spewed by tennis writers and commentators has been really disheartening. Equally disappointing have been a couple of the player reactions--one full of pompous self-righteousness (not to mention hypocrisy), and the other just plain vicious and crazy.

We will never know all of the facts behind this situation, nor will we ever know all of the motivations--from all parties involved.  Historically, as I see it, Sharapova certainly has a better character rating than the ITF, but that doesn't mean she didn't do anything wrong. I hope for a fair accounting and a fair judgment. In the meantime, thank goodness, we have Indian Wells.