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Talking Points 2005

Comebacks? Bah! Humbug! So Martina Hingis, Anna Kournikova, John McEnroe and Monica Seles are all flirting with the idea of making some kind of comeback or other in the new year. WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott said Hingis' return "will add another level of excitement to the sport and enhance the incredible rivalries and roster of big-name stars." Bah! Humbug! Retirement represents a major milestone in most people's lives - the long-awaited opportunity to enjoy the fruits of our labours. The problem for many sportsmen and sportswomen, however, is that retirement comes very early and the fruits often appear to be unripe. Accustomed to the barometer of self-esteem rising and falling with the vagaries of sporting success, retirees can often find themselves in the doldrums. Many have become addicted to the buzz and camaraderie of professional competition and don't know what to do with themselves when the limelight is switched off. Some cannot resist the forbidden fruit of sporting retirement - the comeback. Sport is littered with tragic tales of ill-judged comebacks. Muhammad Ali's comeback at the age of 38, for example, turned into a nightmare of Scrooge-like proportions when he was cruelly beaten up by Larry Holmes and Trevor Berbick. Diego Maradona made more comebacks than Jacob Marley's ghost. He finally retired from playing football in 1997 after a series of abortive comebacks, each more disastrous than the last. In tennis, Bjorn Borg wielded his wooden racket in a wretched display of vanity on his return to the men's tour at Monte Carlo at the age of 34. If Spain's Jordi Arrese had felt any generosity of spirit towards one of the game's greatest icons, he didn't show it as he humiliated the Swede in straight sets. You could argue that we witnessed some exceptional tennis comebacks this year. Following a particularly barren 2004, Serena Williams started it all off by winning the Australian Open title. Justine Henin-Hardenne re-emerged to claim her second French Open crown and Venus Williams stunned everyone during her triumphant Wimbledon campaign. James Blake put his annus horribilis behind him and soared up nearly two hundred places in the rankings. Kim Clijsters started the year outside the top 100 but finished it at No. 2. Mary Pierce also rolled back the years to reach a couple of grand slam finals. However, these were not comebacks from retirement and Lance Armstrong has already proved beyond doubt that comebacks from ill-health or injury can be stunningly successful. Temptation initially led Hingis astray back in February when she entered a low level WTA event in Pattaya, only to be knocked out in the first round by German Marlene Weingartner. It should have been a salutary lesson for the former world number one, but no, she remains convinced that her quick thinking tactical brain will restore her to the upper echelons of the game where everybody else is bigger, stronger and far more aggressive. Bah! Maybe, like Scrooge, I'll be visited by three ghosts tonight and maybe I'll have a change of heart about this. But, until then, I shall continue to say comebacks from retirement are a humbug. D.W. (19 December 2005) Back to the topics

Federer sees red! Earlier this year, researchers at the University of Durham published a report suggesting that wearing red can give competitors the winning edge in sporting contests. They studied 441 competitions in boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling and found that competitors in red outfits came out on top in disproportionately high numbers. The report demonstrated that competitors wearing red won 55 per cent of the time in the Athens Olympics. "Across a range of sports, we find that wearing red is consistently associated with a higher probability of winning," said the researchers. Actually, a deeper analysis of the data showed the colour advantage tipped the balance only when competitors were relatively evenly matched. David Nalbandian This phenomenon was attributed to the colour red being associated in the natural world with fitness, aggression and high levels of testosterone. "Red seems to be the colour, across species, that signals male dominance and testosterone levels," said British anthropologist Robert Barton. "In animal displays, I would say red is an honest signal of the condition or quality of the individual. Blood flow to the periphery of the body - to the muscles and to the face - is not something you can fake." According to his hypothesis, competitors may feel subconsciously intimidated when they come up against an opponent in red. He acknowledged that factors such as skill and strength could not be discounted. "If you're hopeless, wearing red isn't going to make you a winner," he conceded. In view of all this, it may be instructive to consider the recent Masters Cup final between world number one Roger Federer and David Nalbandian. Federer came into the match on 35 straight wins, an unbeaten record in 24 finals and an 81-3 win-loss record for 2005 (one win short of John McEnroe's Open era record for the best win-loss ratio in a season). After losing the first two sets, Nalbandian won 16 of the next 19 games and swept into a 4-0 lead in the deciding set. Federer mounted a late recovery but could not prevent the Argentine from completing a stunning victory. So, what had made the difference? After the second set, Nalbandian had changed his perspiration-soaked black shirt for a fresh red one! D.W. (22 November 2005) Back to the topics

The WTA Championships - angst or aspiration? The Los Angeles landscape has served as the ubiquitous backdrop for the portrayal of angst and aspiration in a plethora of films and television shows for many a year now. Aspiration should certainly be in evidence when the city hosts the WTA Tour Championships this month, not least because the end-of-year number one ranking will be at stake. Lindsay Davenport is enjoying her eighth period as the top-ranked player after first claiming the spot in October 1998. However, Kim Clijsters and Maria Sharapova are breathing down her neck. So you would think that local fans of women's tennis will flock to witness the crown jewels of the WTA Tour with its promise of fashion, drama, tension, excitement, joy and tears. But no, that's not necessarily the case. The event has been echoing away mournfully inside the cavernous Staples Center for the last three years. In 2002, Monica Seles memorably remarked: "A lot of my friends had no idea why I was in town” when she arrived for the tournament. Mixed reviews and poor attendances have already prompted its banishment from the disinterested City of Angels in 2006. The Championships is the largest and most lucrative women-only sporting event in the world and dates back to 1972. It was held in New York’s Madison Square Garden for 22 consecutive years before a brief sojourn in Munich in 2001 and then the ill-fated move to California the following year. To be fair to Los Angeles, attendances were dwindling in New York, plummeted in Munich and never recovered. The tennis fans of Madrid may or may not be itching to get their hands on tickets for 2006, but in truth, the prestige of the event has been severely dented by the effects on the players of the gruelling 11-month season. Several of those who are fortunate enough to avoid injury in the run-up to the Championships turn in uninspired performances followed by embarrassing press conferences in which they complain of fatigue. The WTA Tour (and the ATP Tour) must take action to shorten the season and reduce the wear and tear on players' bodies before aspiration is totally consumed by angst at the climax of the season. D.W. (28 October 2005) Back to the topics

Doubles players get animated After 15 years at the helm, Mark Miles has been replaced as ATP Chairman by former Walt Disney executive Etienne de Villiers. Miles has not completely relinquished his magical hat - he will remain in the capacity of Senior Advisor until the end of 2005. Just as well. De Villiers has been honest enough to acknowledge he's not ready to dabble with spells just yet. "I know enough right now to be absolutely lethal," he joked when his appointment was announced earlier this year. "Let me loose right now and I'll kill the sport." Given his background, de Villiers will be familiar with the tale of an apprentice awakening to waves of water crashing over him. In this case, de Villier's chair is floating on waves of protest over rule changes affecting doubles on the ATP Tour. When changes in the scoring system were accompanied by the revelation that lower-ranked doubles players would in future only be allowed to compete if they qualified for the singles draws, 45 players dropped a lawsuit on the departing chairman's lap. In retaliation, the organisers of the Masters Series tournament in Madrid decided unilaterally to drop its doubles competition, only to grudgingly reinstate it under pressure from the ATP board. "It is another episode where I am embarrassed to be a part of this tour," said doubles specialist Mark Knowles. "It's a circus." Circus or not, de Villiers will need to draw on all Miles' experience in the next few weeks - just like Dumbo getting lessons in confidence from Timothy Q. Mouse - as the controversy wells up. "Doubles is like water, it has to find its own level," said de Villiers, as if nervously eyeing the rising waters lapping around him. "We have to discover what will make it a more attractive proposition for everyone, because if you have a product that's not desirable, obviously you have to improve it. What I want to do is talk to these guys about implementing change in a measured way, because that is how problems are solved in business." He and Miles may need to apply themselves with a tad more urgency if they mean to break this particular bad spell. It's in no one's interests for the ATP to be regarded as a Mickey Mouse outfit. D.W. (14 October 2005) Back to the topics

Why is Sania Mirza the object of a fatwa? Even in the current climate of religious tolerance (or tolerance towards Islam, anyway), it is impossible to acquiesce in the kind of bigotry that results in a fatwa being issued against 18-year-old Sania Mirza for simply wearing normal tennis outfits on court like her fellow players. I don't pretend to know enough about Islamic culture to fully understand the implications of the fatwa issued by Hasheeb-ul-Hasan Siddiqui, a senior cleric of the Sunni Ulema Board, but it must be a disturbing predicament for Mirza, who apparently comes from a devout Muslim family. The popular player, who recently became the first Indian woman to reach the fourth round of the US Open, has wisely endeavoured to keep out of the controversy generated by Siddiqui's ruling. Warning of Mirza's "corrupting influence", Siddiqui has insisted she should follow the example of Muslim women who wear long tunics and headscarves to compete in the Asian Badminton Championships. Oh boy, religious leaders seem quite happy to give religion a bad name! It might be tempting to think that the Islamic community would simply ignore the utterings of hard-liners like Siddiqui, but, unfortunately, these clerics are powerful people precisely because large sections of Muslim societies agree with their opinions and are willing to follow their diktats. In the 1992 Olympic Games, Hassiba Boulmerka, an Algerian Muslim, took the gold medal in the 1500 metres wearing contemporary running shorts. Instead of celebrating her accomplishment, fundamentalists denounced her for "running with naked legs in front of thousands of men." She was forced into exile. In many Muslim societies, women are only allowed to play sports if they kow-tow to their religious leaders' insistence on modesty. It usually means covering up completely, but in some countries, like Iran, women are actually prohibited from participating in sports where men can see them. Of course, modesty is no bad thing. Islamists are entitled to challenge the idea that western societies liberate women by encouraging them to abandon more and more clothing. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be up for discussion and Siddiqui is yet another religious leader guilty of adopting astonishingly inflexible and over-literal interpretations of ancient teachings. I would hope that many Muslims deplore his lack of forbearance. According to the Qur'an, the Prophet Mohammed once challenged his wife, Aisha, to a foot race. He finished a good distance behind her, but won in a rematch! So how can it be un-Islamic for Muslims - both men and women - to embrace sport and other athletic pursuits? And why are so many obstacles thrown in the way of young athletes and sportswomen like Boulmerka and Mirza? Dogmatism and oppression are not endearing qualities in anyone. The process of human civilisation is jeopardised by such attitudes. As long as they persist, we must salute the courage and determination of sporting heroines like Hassiba Boulmerka and Sania Mirza as they conduct themselves with dignity and pride in the face of irrational hostility, opening doors to Muslim women all over the world. D.W. (15 September 2005) Back to the topics

Hawkeye and the last of the line judges So the USTA has chickened out of making electronic line-calling technology available to umpires at this year's US Open. Extensive tests carried out by the ITF established that Hawkeye and Auto-Ref were only 86 percent accurate on balls that fell within five millimetres of the lines, so the USTA pulled the plug on both systems. Unfortunately, that means they'll stick with the existing system - namely an umpire and a team of line judges - which produced one of the worst examples of officiating in the history of the game when Serena Williams took on Jennifer Capriati in the US Open quarter-finals last year. Four highly questionable line calls went against Williams at a crucial stage of the match, prompting USTA chief executive Arlen Kantarian to apologise to her after the match. And we are not talking about five millimetres - more like five inches! It's unclear how an electronic system would have been used if it had been approved. Would the players have been allowed to challenge calls or would overrules have been exclusively the prerogative of the chair umpire? Perhaps there was not enough time to resolve issues like this in time for the 2005 US Open. Perhaps it would have been pushing the envelope too much too soon. But there again, perhaps there was a commercial consideration. Apparently, Dr Stuart Miller, technical manager of the ITF, confirmed that the British-based Hawkeye system performed better in the tests than its American rival Auto-Ref. Could that have had any bearing on the USTA decision? Could it be they were just buying Auto-Ref a little more time to get it right? I really shouldn't be so cynical. Australian Open chief Paul McNamee has quite rightly stated: "The players want something that is not necessarily perfect, but better than the human eye, and impartial." It's already available. It's called Hawkeye and it scouts the lines better than the rest of the competition . Let's see if McNamee backs up his words at the 2006 Australian Open. D.W. (18 August 2005) Back to the topics

Ashes to Ashe's Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Arthur Ashe won the US Open in 1968, heralding the start of the Open Era by becoming the first black man to win a Grand Slam event. And now, like a phoenix literally rising from the ashes, the stadium named in his honour towers over the USTA National Tennis Center in Queens, New York. I say literally, because the home of the US Open was once a landfill known to locals as "Mount Corona" and described by F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby as the "valley of the ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens." To Fitzgerald, it symbolised the dividing line between the rich of Long Island and the urban masses of New York City. The image of tennis as an upper-class sport enjoyed exclusively by a privileged elite vanished pretty quickly when the venue of the Open switched from the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills to the Flushing Meadow Corona Park in 1978. The working-class people of Queens filled the stands and enjoyed a new kind of tennis entertainment offered by loud, abrasive players such as Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe - the very antithesis of traditional country club types, even though McEnroe himself hailed from Long Island. These two often turned the air blue with some of their language. This year, it's not so much the air turning blue as the courts themselves. To enhance the ball's visibility for television viewers, spectators, players and officials, the USTA has given the green light to a blue court, or rather, a blue inner court surrounded by a green outer court. The other change proposed for the 2005 Open could have had far wider implications if it had been implemented. After extensive testing, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) has decided not to sanction the introduction of an electronic ball-tracking system such as Hawkeye and Auto-Ref. The technology is deemed insufficiently reliable at this stage, so disputed line calls will no doubt feature again this year, although hopefully not as prominently as they did in last year's quarter-final between Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams when Capriati benefited from a number of bad line calls and a shocking overrule. Despite the controversy surrounding that match, players are by no means unanimous in their support for the technology. "I have a very strong opinion about it," said world number one Roger Federer recently. "I'm absolutely against it. I think it's going to cost too much money. We can use that for other reasons than a couple of calls a match." Equally sceptical is Lindsay Davenport, who has asserted that players will only accept a system that is proved to be 100% accurate. Nevertheless, the momentum is gathering and it can only be a matter of time before a system is approved and John McEnroe-style tantrums become a thing of the past. One man who seldom batted an eyelid when line calls went against him was the aforementioned Arthur Ashe. When Sports Illustrated named him the 1992 Sportsman of the Year, they described him thus: "Arthur Ashe epitomizes good works, devotion to family and unwavering grace under pressure." He certainly understood his responsibility as a role model. Just as Queens now celebrates its status as the most culturally diverse neighbourhood in the world, so the US Open can celebrate being a melting pot of different player types and personalities, from the McEnroe's to the Ashe's. Diversity certainly has its attractions, but actually, when it comes to character attributes, I would personally prefer a few more Ashe's and a few less McEnroe's and it would be wonderful if Arthur Ashe's legacy of integrity, humanitarian qualities and sportsmanship were to endure at least as long as the stadium that bears his name. So, yes folks, just to round this off in the cheesiest way possible, it would be wonderful if the story of Flushing Meadows were to follow the principle of ashes to Ashe's! D.W. (27 July 2005) Back to the topics

The demise of the doubles specialist The ATP has come in for some criticism for its plans to "revamp" doubles on the tour. From September, ATP doubles matches will feature no-ad games and sets played to five games rather than six (with a tie-break at 4-4). Scheduling policies will be changed to ensure that doubles matches are prominently featured on show courts. Tournaments will be encouraged to introduce a variety of promotional initiatives to showcase doubles and enhance its appeal to fans and sponsors. "Matches have to go on centre court whether they like it or not," said Andre Silva, the ATP's vice-president of player relations. "If they don't agree, they have to pay the consequences. We fully expect them to do it. If not, there will be fines and penalties." The scoring and scheduling proposals go hand in hand. They are the sort of changes that attract the kind of initial resistance expressed by the outgoing Players' Council vice-president Todd Woodbridge: "I think they all should resign because they've gone ahead and made changes without even asking what the rest of the tennis world thinks. They've made a scoring system that doesn't even exist. It's not an approved system by the International Tennis Federation." The introduction of the tiebreaker met with hostility back in 1970, but it soon became a universally accepted method of shortening and enlivening sets. However, not content with improving doubles by allowing less time for it (by means of shorter games and sets), the ATP is also seeking to weed out the doubles specialists. In 2008, only players in the main draw singles will be allowed to enter doubles. Tournaments will still be able to award wild cards and there will be transitional exceptions based on players' rankings, but as Horst Klosterkemper, ATP President for Europe and player relations, revealed: "Most of the doubles teams will be made up of players from the singles draw." Now, that is a lot more radical than just tinkering with the scoring system and bullying tournament directors into scheduling an hour of doubles as a curtain-raiser for their show court programmes. I suppose it's a bit like saying only novelists may write poetry. Are they specialists because they are particularly good at the tandem game? Or is doubles simply the fall-back scenario for failing singles players? Would the Bryan brothers win doubles titles if they were up against the likes of Federer and Henman? Anyway, the logical consequence of their eradication will be either mandatory doubles for singles players or ridiculously depleted doubles draws. And if it turns out to be the latter, professional doubles will not survive at all. Tournament directors have been increasingly reluctant to pay good money to doubles players for a speciality which does not appeal to the fans, the media or the sponsors. Cynics warn that these changes are part of an agenda to phase out professional doubles altogether. Whether you agree with that or not, it's a very courageous move on the part of the ATP. A little too courageous, perhaps? D.W. (19 July 2005) Back to the topics

Another gold for Coe If the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square is still vacant, there's no doubt in my mind it should be occupied forthwith by a statue of London's Olympic bid chairman Lord Coe following today's announcement that his team have won the honour of hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. "It is the most fantastic opportunity to do everything we've ever dreamed of in British sport," said Coe, who led the presentation that helped London beat favourites Paris in a vote by IOC members. "We have a chance over seven years and way beyond that to change the face of British sport." Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell, who is now expected to become Olympic Minister, said: "When we were waiting for the final result there were 30 kids here with us from east London. I said 'how many of you are going to go for gold medals?' and they all put up their hands. That is what this is for - to unlock their ambitions and their dreams." It's a tremendous shot in the arm for British sport. Coe's statue - it should be gold, of course - should bear an inscription based on Tessa Jowell's words: "Lord Coe. He unlocked their ambitions and their dreams." D.W. (6 July 2005) Back to the topics

Is serve-and-volley dead? According to Tim Henman, the courts at the All England Club are to blame for his indifferent performances at Wimbledon recently. Since 2001, they have been sown with 100 per cent perennial ryegrass to make them more hard-wearing, rendering the surface appreciably slower and higher-bouncing. To be fair, Henman is neither the first nor the only one to pick up on this issue. Fellow Brit Greg Rusedski has complained bitterly about this for some time and American Taylor Dent agreed the courts have been getting slower each year. Jimmy Connors has been away from Wimbledon for several years. On his return, to do some commentary work for the BBC, he immediately remarked how high the ball was sitting up, especially on second serves. According to Tim Henman, the balls are also to blame. "They look nice and new when they come out of the can and then they are basically flat," he complained when he discovered that the balls are not taken from a pressurised can. "When you are trying to hit your serve and it won't go past 60, that might have something to do with it." You have to have a certain amount of sympathy for the British number one. Wimbledon increasingly seems to favour aggressive baseliners like Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Maria Sharapova (at least, from a British point of view, the ryegrass will suit Andy Murray's game very nicely). John Lloyd, BBC commentator and two-time Wimbledon mixed doubles champion, agrees with Henman. "I think the serve-and-volley game is dying," he said. "You could probably count five serve-and-volleyers at Wimbledon but 15 years ago they made up 50% of the draw. The ball is bouncing so much truer now, it's almost like playing on a hard-court." The fact is, grass is still faster than any other surface. The ball still keeps lower than on any other surface. The rallies are still shorter than on any other surface. These factors still reward a serve-and-volley, chip-and-charge strategy. Perhaps not on every point. But certainly a good volleyer should come in behind every first serve, assuming he or she is capable of doing some damage with that first delivery. Certainly a good volleyer should chip-and-charge the majority of second serves if an opponent just spins them into play. Unfortunately for Henman, his first serves lacked the pace and accuracy required to induce a defensive return and his opponents this year, Jarkko Nieminen and Dmitry Tursunov, were not content to just spin the second serve in. But that does not mean he should abandon his trademark game when he walks through the iron gates at Wimbledon in 2006. After Henman's defeat at the hands of Tursunov, John McEnroe remarked Henman really doesn't believe he can serve-and-volley and win. He's right. It's not the serve-and-volley that's the problem. It's the belief. D.W. (24 June 2005) Back to the topics

Kit wars in Logoland One of the big bullies in the world of sportswear manufacturing was throwing its weight around at the Rome Masters recently. Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya and other players with Nike sponsorship agreements were clearly in breach of the advertising rules when they took to the courts displaying oversized 'swoosh' logos on their clothing. The logos clearly exceeded the maximum permitted size of four square inches, but the ATP cowered, vacillated and ultimately suspended the rule! "The ATP is allowing, on a temporary basis, clothing to have protected design marks in sizes larger than normal," stated Nicola Arzani, the ATP Director of Communications for Europe. So, what was that all about? Apparently, Nike insist that rivals Adidas have an unfair marketing advantage because they are allowed to use their signature three-stripe design feature on their clothing. If the three-stripe feature is a registered trademark, Nike argue, it should be regarded as a logo, subject to the same restrictions as their own 'swoosh' motif. Clearly, the ATP concurs with Nike. "We are taking this position because, historically, Adidas has been able to use its three stripes in manners that do not comply with the size restriction in ATP's rules," Arzani explained. So, two wrongs make a right? No such fancy footwork from the International Olympic Committee though. Adidas will no longer be allowed to use the three-stripe logo at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin or the 2008 Games in Beijing even though they are official sponsors, . "All manufacturers will be treated the same," said an IOC spokesperson. Admittedly, they were bullied by Nike, Reebok and Puma into taking this action, but at least the IOC have come up with the appropriate response. Hopefully, the tennis authorities will eventually follow their lead. Despite the efforts of Oxfam and other organisations campaigning for laudable goals such as fair trade and animal welfare, many are unable to get out of the path as Nike and Adidas trample over each other in the quest for supremacy. They have never been too circumspect about collateral damage when they've engaged in their commercial battles. Nike's Indonesian factories are alleged to violate human rights and health and safety standards. Indeed, Nike became synonymous with the word "sweatshop" at one time. Adidas have incurred the wrath of animal welfare organisations, appalled at the barbaric slaughter of kangaroos whose skins are used in the production of football boots. And those are just two examples of the undesirable side effects of a market that demands quick production, low costs and high profits. Corporate greed and international trade policies that oblige indebted nations to exploit their own people have made monsters out of these sportswear companies. Like all bullies, they must be resisted. D.W. (12 May 2005) Back to the topics

Nadal can win Roland Garros on his debut Martin Verkerk nearly did it in 2003. Before that, Mikael Pernfors came close in 1986. But the last, and only, player to win the French Open at the first attempt was Sweden's Mats Wilander in 1982. After a particularly impressive run of results in the early weeks of this season, Spain's Rafael Nadal will arrive next month at the gates of Roland Garros as one of the firm favourites for the men's title despite the fact that he's never played a competitive match there before, not even as a junior. It's a bizarre situation for him, but then 18-year-old Nadal is a somewhat bizarre player. He looks bizarre in his bright orange sleeveless shirt and white three-quarter-length trousers. He is naturally right-handed but plays tennis left-handed. "Apart from the tennis I can do nothing with my left hand," he explains. "I eat, write and all other things I do with my right hand." For someone who was brought up on Spanish clay, his professional ambitions are certainly rather bizarre. "I love the atmosphere at Wimbledon and the grass," he has told reporters. "I want to win Wimbledon, but it might be difficult with my style of tennis. I hope to improve my serve and volley." To give him his due, he has demonstrated on the Miami cement, in that epic Nasdaq-100 final against Roger Federer, that he can indeed adapt his dynamic brand of tennis to other surfaces. Given the way he's dominated this year's clay-court events, however, Nadal's true destiny is the Roland Garros crown and it won't be at all bizarre if his ferocious competitive spirit enables him to equal Wilander's achievement. D.W. (19 April 2005) Back to the topics

Does Federer have an Achilles' heel? According to Greek legend, Achilles' mother Thetis sought to achieve immortality for her son by dipping him in the river Styx. Unfortunately, in holding him by the heel, she left that part of him vulnerable. Eventually he was killed by an arrow that pierced his undipped heel. Roger Federer revealed a vulnerability earlier this year when he inexplicably attempted a trick shot through his legs at match point against Marat Safin in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. It led to his only defeat so far in 2005. If the world number one truly has an Achilles' heel, however, many believe it's the same red-stained one that afflicted Pete Sampras during his otherwise illustrious career. As comparisons between Federer and Sampras continue to abound, the pressure on the talented Swiss to win a French Open title will mount even quicker than it did for the 14-times grand slam champion. So, when the clay court season gets underway in earnest this month, one of the most intriguing factors will be Federer's form and attitude during the build-up to the French Open. "The French hasn't worked out for me the last couple of years and I'll make sure that doesn't happen again," he said recently, revealing a subtle change of emphasis from the start of the year when his stated goals were: "to stay number one in the world and try and defend Wimbledon." He is probably wise to avoid putting too much pressure on himself, but winning at Roland Garros will surely be the biggest challenge of a career that promises to put him among the immortals. But it's a challenge that is well within his grasp. He's certainly more comfortable on clay than Sampras was. If the young Federer was dipped in anything boasting magical properties, I reckon he was held by his ponytail. And that's gone now! D.W. (31 March 2005) Back to the topics

Is sport necessarily a cultural force for good? During her eight-day trip to South and East Asia, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a promise to Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh. "I am going to make a promise to you right now, and that is that I will try to understand cricket," she said, acknowledging the recent phenomenal success of cricket as a means of fostering good relations between India and Pakistan. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will soon join more than 8000 Pakistani fans crossing the border to watch the India v Pakistan Test series. There's no doubt that cricket is becoming a crucial factor in bringing together two nuclear-armed neighbours that have fought three wars in the last 50 years and are engaged in an ongoing dispute over Kashmir. Sport diplomacy is nothing new. In the early 1970s, Richard Nixon's "ping-pong diplomacy" succeeded in thawing frozen ties between Washington and China, prompting Chinese Premier Chou En-lai to declare: "Never before in history has a sport [table tennis] been used so effectively as a tool of international diplomacy". Nixon described it as "the week that changed the world". The Olympic Games have certainly been hijacked by the nasty side of international politics in the past, most tragically when twelve Israeli athletes and coaches were murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Munich Games, but they generally achieve their objective of bringing together the world's athletes in a celebration of peaceful competition. As a schoolgirl who survived atrocities in Rwanda during the 1994 civil war pointed out: "When one is active in sports, one does not commit genocide". Actually, the influence of sport in preventing and resolving violent conflict extends beyond the boundaries of potential war zones. It's a civilising factor in many societies. The USA, for example, benefited from the successful introduction of the Midnight Basketball League in the late 1980s. The MBL offered American youths from the poorest districts a positive alternative to the nefarious world of drugs and criminality. Sport is a wonderful vehicle for channeling aggression in a controlled environment. It reinforces the values of fairness and respect for others - values that are under considerable threat in today's world. Unfortunately, these are values that sport itself cannot take for granted. When sportsmen and sportswomen cheat and break rules, they diminish the value of sport. When they show disrespect towards opponents, umpires and referees, they diminish the value of sport. When tribes of people crowd into stadia to engage in surrogate war with scant regard for the sensibilities of opposing players and fans, they diminish the value of sport. Just because sport is the most powerful cultural force in many societies, it doesn't necessarily follow that it is a force for good. We have to make it so. D.W. (21 March 2005) Back to the topics

Mirza has more barriers to break Sania Mirza After reaching the third round of the Australian Open and becoming the first Indian woman to win a WTA title (the 2005 Hyderabad Open), Sania Mirza is racing up the world rankings and stirring up plenty of excitement in the Indian subcontinent. Acknowledging that she is still very much a work in progress, Mirza says her WTA title has given her "the encouragement to work on my second serves, my variation, my fitness and my court coverage". She insists she will not settle for anything less than a top 10 ranking. That's an enlightening prospect - not just for Mirza herself, not just for the continuing development of tennis in the Asian subcontinent, but also for the future of Indian Muslim women generally. Indian Muslims have tasted success in the world of sport before. The Nawab of Pataudi and Mohammed Azharuddin were both very successful Test cricket captains. In 1976, wicket-keeper Syed Mujtaba Hussain Kirmani equalled the Test record of six victims in an innings. There have also been excellent Indian Muslim hockey stars, athletes and golfers. The remarkable thing about the meteoric rise of 18-year-old Sania Mirza in the world of tennis is the fact that she's a female Indian Muslim. It might be very rare to see the traditional burkha on the streets of India these days, but the cultural stereoptype of Muslim women as a disadvantaged, impoverished and marginalised section of Indian society persists. And, even in these more enlightened times, it still takes a lot of determination and persistence for a Muslim woman to defy that stereotype. Determination and persistence are precisely the qualities that underpin Mirza's on-court success. If she can maintain her resolve and avoid being hoodwinked by the hype generated by her sudden emergence, she could well achieve her top 10 goal and serve as a wonderful role model for young Indian Muslim girls. The barriers are just there to be broken. D.W. (16 February 2005) Back to the topics

Ellen MacArthur pushes the ordinary envelope When Tom Wolfe popularised the notion of "pushing the envelope" in his 1979 best-seller 'The Right Stuff', he was referring to test pilots who tried to exceed the known capabilities of an aircraft. The expression has since been corrupted somewhat by overuse, but it certainly applies to Ellen MacArthur's record-breaking solo circumnavigation. As the media delighted in pointing out, this wonderful seafaring talent was nurtured in landlocked Derbyshire. From such unpromising origins arose a heroine who had to contend with extreme weather conditions, technical problems, a broken mast, hostile seas, calm seas, icebergs, whales, sleep deprivation, bruises and burns during her historic non-stop round-the-world voyage of 71 days 14 hours 18 minutes and 33 seconds. Cue champagne corks and klaxons, hype and hyperbole. According to her biography, she risked the ridicule of her teenage peers to become a 'geek' spending nearly all her time in local libraries poring over books about sailing in an effort to learn as much about the subject as possible. This simple, inspiring story of a young person enduring social exclusion and overcoming adversity on the sea route to success contains a blueprint for sporting achievement, albeit one with an unconventional take on mental toughness. Her on-board cameras bore witness to her courage, resilience and determination, yet they also captured images of her crying in her cockpit. Somehow these open displays of emotion served to reinforce the perception of Ellen MacArthur as an ordinary person with ordinary feelings doing something quite definitely extraordinary. It might inspire a few more people to hire a pedalo this summer! It might also inspire a great deal more than that, because in the wake of Ellen MacArthur's triumphant story is the message that there are no great people, only great challenges that ordinary people may undertake. D.W. (8 February 2005) Back to the topics

Time runs out for Agassi When the scoreboard at the Rod Laver Arena stopped functioning during the Australian Open quarter-final between world number one Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, it seemed like a divine act of kindness towards the 34-year-old former champion. For a couple of short spells, the electronic display failed to chronicle Federer's dominance, but the writing was on the wall all the same. "You know, it's disappointing," said Agassi, who won four of his eight Grand Slam titles in Melbourne. "I've spent a lot of years coming down here and having some real memorable matches and leaving with the trophy. I wanted tonight to be memorable, but it's one I'd probably prefer to forget." He arrived at Melbourne Park fitter than ever, having shed ten pounds during a special strength and fitness programme. Relishing the conditions on his favourite court surface, he looked impressive in the early rounds and, in the round of 16, he weathered and survived a barrage of 51 aces - a slam record - from the towering Joachim Johansson. But all of this counted for nought as Federer, who, despite not playing at his peak level, responded to the challenge with disarming ease. It was a defining moment. Agassi may be inclined to extend his chapter in the history of tennis still further, but, sadly, he's on the endnotes now. We're already well into the next chapter and Agassi's peers have all hung up their rackets. He and 14-time grand slam champion Pete Sampras dominated men's tennis during the Nineties and the Las Vegan remained a serious contender for several years, winning his eighth grand slam title at Melbourne Park in 2003 at the age of 31. The glory of his playing career may be fading, but Agassi's wit is certainly undiminished. In a post-match interview he was asked what Federer had said to him as they shook hands at the net. "He told me how much he enjoyed playing me, and that he hoped it happens a lot more in the future," Agassi revealed. "And that makes one of us," he added ruefully. It was a good-humoured and generous acknowledgement of defeat and it marked the moment Andre Agassi finally passed the baton on to the next generation of champions. D.W. (1 February 2005) Back to the topics

The strengthening case for a grand slam event in Asia Carlos Moya The ATP deserves plenty of credit for promptly contributing the $25,000 Chennai Open tournament fee to UNICEF's emergency relief fund for tsunami-stricken Southern Asia. The governing body of men's tennis has also cooperated with UNICEF, Tennis Australia, the ITF, and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in organising special fundraising 'Gold Coin Days' at tennis events in Australia throughout January. Many players have contributed generously to the relief effort, not least Chennai Open champion Carlos Moya who donated his $52,000 winner's cheque. ATP CEO Mark Miles, acknowledging the sport's "deep connection with Asia", has pledged "full support for those in need in the weeks and months ahead". Following the short-term humanitarian relief efforts, however, it will clearly take longer than "weeks and months" to achieve long-term recovery and reconstruction in the area. The affected populations will require support over a period of several years to help them re-establish their livelihoods. There is a potential role for tennis in this longer-term recovery. High incidence of injuries has already prompted calls to review the tennis calendar. If the Grand Slam Committee, the ITF, the ATP and the WTA Tour could get some constructive dialogue going on this subject, they might also consider the possibility of scheduling a fifth grand slam. In Asia. There's a strong case for doing this anyway, regardless of the tsunami/earthquake disaster. Interest in major sporting events in Asia is escalating and sponsors are sitting up and taking notice. Asian tennis is showing signs of a tennis boom and the ATP has already recognised this by awarding Shanghai the right to host three Masters Cups from 2005 to 2007. The timing is right. Tennis has a glorious opportunity here to boost morale in the region and help set Southern Asia on the road to recovery. D.W. (13 January 2005) Back to the topics

© 2005 Dave Winship

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