Let's Talk Tennis

The ATP tourney in Monte-Carlo wrapped up last weekend, but the ATP men are right back on the court in Barcelona this week. There's plenty of tennis news around the world so let's get to it.

Serena Williams/AP Images

By Allie Leogrande

Monte-Carlo Wrap-up: Rafael Nadal's Monte-Carlo winning streak is still alive. The Spaniard defeated No. 1 Novak Djokovic almost too easily in a 6-3, 6-1 win in the finals Sunday. With the victory, Nadal made it his eighth consecutive championship in Monte-Carlo. It also gave Nadal his first title since last year's French Open. Nadal broke Djokovic's serve five times in the match, and leads the pair's head-to-head series 17-14.

Coming into this tournament, there were questions about a lingering injury of Nadal's left knee. But those questions were quickly erased as there was no sign of trouble in the finals match.

"I am very happy because my knee is not limiting (my) movement. I can run 100 percent," Nadal said. "You have pain, but (if) you feel you can run to every ball, (then) the pain never is a problem."

This wasn't an easy match emotionally for Djokovic, as he played through grief since the death of his grandfather last Thursday. Still, Djokovic was the first one to credit Nadal with the win.

"I definitely don't want to take away anything from Rafa's win. He was a better player," Djokovic said. "But it's a fact that I just didn't have any emotional energy left in me. I'm just happy to reach the finals really under the circumstances. It's been a very difficult week for me to go through mentally."

It was announced Wednesday that Djokovic will skip the Serbia Open in his hometown scheduled to begin Monday, April 30. Djokovic said this decision "was one of the most difficult decisions in my career, but it is impossible for me to play and think about tennis."

Barcelona Open Continues This Week: Fresh off his championship win in Monte-Carlo, Nadal played in his home country of Spain for the Barcelona Open. Thursday he defeated Robert Farah of Colombia 6-2, 6-3, sending him into the quarterfinals with No. 5 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia. Andy Murray will also play in the quarterfinals after defeating Colombian Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 6-1, 6-2. The Englishman served nine aces in the win. Murray will play 11th-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals.

U.S. Flies Through the Fed Cup: After the surprising Fed Cup advancement by the American men, the women showed their strengths as well earlier this week. This year the United States was reduced play in the minor leagues. It played in World Group II, a.k.a it wasn't playing to win the Fed Cup title. Only countries competing in the World Group are eligible to win the championship trophy. After a victory in Ukraine this past weekend, the U.S. is back in the World Group.

Serena Williams made her first Fed Cup appearance in a foreign country in over a decade. Time away didn't matter though, as Williams defeated Lesia Tsurenko 6-3, 6-2 Sunday, clinching the victory for the U.S. over Ukraine, giving the U.S. a 3-0 lead in the series. The U.S. would eventually win the series 5-0.

Williams Sisters Trying for Olympics?: It's been said that Williams participated in the Fed Cup last weekend only to play in the Olympics in London this summer. Greg Couch of Fox Sports expressed Thursday Williams is trying to find a loophole in the rules of eligibility for Olympics participation.

Couch writes, "Serena Williams traveled through Frankfurt all the way to Kiev and then to Kharkiv so she could play in the Ukraine this past weekend in a consolation match for a team she doesn't care about on a surface that doesn't suit her in an event she has spent years avoiding. She also had a sore ankle."

Neither of the Williams sisters meet the requirements to be eligible for the London Games, and according to Couch, neither can meet them before the Games. Part of the Olympics rules require players to have competed in or made themselves eligible for two Fed Cup competitions in two different calendar years between Olympics. Couch implies the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which regulates the rules for the Olympics, made the rules for self-gain. "The rule is wholly self-serving to the ITF, which owns the Fed Cup and Davis Cup," Couch writes.

Before this past weekend, Serena didn't play in a Fed Cup since 2007, and before that in 2003. Had she played in 2011, she would have become eligible for the Olympics, but she  said her plans changed while she suffered from blood clots and a foot injury. Venus didn't play the first two years and then was hurt and sick as well. Both have already played in the Fed Cup this year.

But Couch makes the point that because of the sisters popularity and domination of the sport, they should be allowed to play. But as he also points out, the ITF is in a sticky situation. It can keep the Williams sisters out of the Olympics, risking its Olympic event hype, OR let them play and send a message to other players that they don't really have to play in the Fed or Davis Cups.

Even if the Williams sisters aren't necessarily breaking the rules, they're certainly bending them as much as they can. The ITF rule states a player doesn't have to "play" in the Cups, but only has to be "available." Since the countries choose the players, players shouldn't be faulted if they're not picked. The Williams sisters have claimed they made themselves available during the past few years, but had to pull out due to injuries.

Olympic Qualifying Update

London 2012 Olympics Advertisement/AP Images

Tucker gives us the Olympic qualifying update.


by Tucker Warner

Qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics has gone on since early 2010, in some sports, but it is just now reaching the final stretch. With the events scheduled to start in late July, the best athletes from around the world are making their final push, to either make a qualifying time, to win or place in a tournament, or get a certain place in a race, in order to qualify.

I’ll be covering the qualifying events for the next few months, so I’d like to give you a rundown of how this column will typically look. Olympic qualifying is a complex and often confusing system, so I’ll try to clearly explain the different ways to qualify for each sport, as necessary.  Although I would like to, I probably will not be able to name every athlete who qualifies in a given week. What I will do, though, is update you on results from the qualifying events, inform you about the best, most notable, and/or most interesting athletes in the various events, and try to give you a bit of prediction on upcoming events, especially the Olympic games themselves.

In cycling, the women’s road race gained another competitor in Hsiao Mei-Yu from Chinese Taipei, who earned her spot in London by winning the Asian Cycling Championship. She out-sprinted 2008 Olympian, Gu Sun-Geun, at the end to win by a narrow margin. This will be her first appearance in the Olympics, and although she is not expected to be a medal contender, it is possible she could surprise some people and finish higher than expected in the field of 67.

The FINA Diving World Cup began on Monday, and many athletes have already qualified. In the men’s three-meter synchronized springboard event, two-man teams from Malaysia, Ukraine, Canada, and the United States qualified. The team from Ukraine is, in my opinion, the strongest of this group, but do not expect them to pull off an upset of the juggernauts from China and Russia. In the women’s ten-meter platform event, seven athletes qualified, three of whom also participated in the same event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics: Christin Steuer (Germany), Mai Nakagawa (Japan), and Haley Ishimatu (United States). As the favorites for this event have already qualified, these seven will likely not be in medal contention, but expect one or two of them to make the group of twelve divers that will compete in the final.


In field hockey, a qualifying tournament is underway in both the men’s and women’s divisions. In the men’s division, Singapore, Italy, Poland, France, Canada, and India are competing in a round robin tournament, and only the winner receives a spot in the Olympics. The latter four teams have emerged as frontrunners, with India, currently ranked tenth in the world, yet to lose a game. In the women’s tournament, India, South Africa, Italy, Ukraine, Canada, and Poland are competing for one spot, with India and South Africa, ranked twelfth and thirteenth in the world, respectively, having already emerged as the favorites to win. The match between these two teams, on February 22, will likely decide the event, so that will be one to watch out for.

In shooting, the European Continental Championships in 10-meter events were held last week. As the qualified athletes, who will compete in four 10-meter events in the Olympics (two men’s events, two women’s events), are just filling expected quotas and none have placed particularly highly in reputable competitions as of yet, there is not much information to learn about them, but more will come out as the Opening Ceremony approaches.


More qualification events are to be held in the upcoming week, so be sure to come back for an update on the results of some in-progress tournaments, as well as events that have yet to begin. In the meantime, if you have any questions, comments, or dissenting opinions, feel free to share them in the comment box, or talk to me on Twitter at @twarner50.