I Spoke Too Soon: Elena Retires

All was well in the tennis world when I went to sleep last night. The Doha semifinalists were set, so I didn’t anticipate any exciting news to come from today’s meaningless matches. Then I woke up and checked my twitter, only to find hundreds of tweets about Elena Demetieva’s retirement in Doha. In my sleepy haze, I first assumed this meant Elena had retired from her match against Francesca Schiavone, but as I read on, it became clear that this was much bigger news. Elena Dementieva had lost her final match at the Year End Championships in Doha and had announced her retirement from tennis. I was floored. I mean, I know Dementieva hasn’t had her best year. She lost in the second round of the Australian Open and was unable to play Wimbledon due to an injury. However, she made the fourth round of the US Open and was a semifinalist at the French, where she was forced to retire due to injury. For someone who seemed to be injured all year, she was still doing pretty well. She is currently ranked 9^th in the world and has performed noticeably better than several uninjured former top 10 stars. Image from Getty.

After the news settled in a bit and about a thousand articles appeared on the subject, I decided to watch the on court ceremony from after her match against Fran. There wasn’t a dry eye in the stadium, or in my living room. All of the other Doha ladies showed up to support Elena and even stoic Sam shed a tear. Elena is incredibly poised and I honestly don’t think anyone on tour has a more adorable mom. Elena is never the center of controversy and has always been an incredible ambassador for the sport. For the women’s tennis, that’s actually saying something.

I have to say I like her style. She managed to keep a huge secret all year and avoid the “How do you feel about playing your last (insert tournament here)?” question that accompanies announcing your retirement at the beginning of the season. Her announcement also wasn’t overly showy, it fit her perfectly.

I know Elena is generally referred to as the best player never to win a Grand Slam, but instead of looking at what could have been, let’s recap some of her accomplishments.

• 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist
• 2000 Olympic Silver Medalist
• 2 time Grand Slam Finalist
• 3 time Grand Slam Semifinalist
• 2 time Tour Championships Semifinalist
• Former World #3

Not too shabby, is it?

I wish Elena the best of luck for her life after tennis.

Not to be upstaged, Kim Clijsters had an announcement of her own today. She plans to call it quits (again) after the 2012 Olympics in London so she and husband, Brian, can have a second child.

Stuff Happened This Week, Kind Of

I haven’t had all that much to write about lately. I know the women’s Year End Championships are going on this week in Doha and I am keeping tabs on it, but still, things haven’t exactly been exciting. If you’ve got any questions about Doha, check out my Decoding Doha article at TennisGrandstand.

Doha Semifinals

So our semifinalists are all set, but the match ups are still up in the air. Sam Stosur has come out on top of the maroon group, while world number one, Caroline Wozniacki, came in second. Tomorrow’s white group match between Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters will determine the winner and runner up of that group. The winner will take on Caro in the semis and the loser will take on Sam. I’ll check in with a finals preview over the weekend.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova Vujacic

That’s not a mouthful at all. Maria Sharapova and boyfriend of one year, LA Laker, Sasha Vujacic have gotten engaged. Based on the photos, it looks like Sasha invested in a pretty hefty ring. Honestly, these two are adorable together. Maria actually managed to find a man who’s taller than she is. She’s 6’2”, so basketball player was really her only option other than a fellow tennis player. Plus, I have a feeling this wedding is going to be awesome. Can we get some kind of petition going to have Maria on Say Yes to the Dress? Photo by Getty Images.

In Other Wedding News…

Andy Murray’s older brother, Jamie, got married this week. As expected Andy and Jamie wore traditional Scottish attire, i.e. kilts. I know they’re a cultural tradition, but they are also pretty damn funny. Jamie met his wife, Alejandra while she was studying in London. P.S. why didn’t I meet a tennis player when I was studying in London? Some girls have all the luck.

In Other Andy Murray News…

Andy hurt his hand. Andy hurt his hand, while playing playstation. Yes, you read that correctly. Um, Andy, remember when Kim broke up with you? Do you remember why? Yeah, the playstation. Put it away before it ruins your personal life and your tennis career.

You’re Old, Get Over It

Thomas Muster’s back, after 11 years of retirement. Oh, yeah, and he’s 43. I mean, I applaud the effort, but does he really think he’s going to win anything? So far, he hasn’t even won a match. I don’t know if this is some sort of weird midlife crisis or Muster’s run out of money, but this is a kind of odd turn of events for a former number 1. I’m pretty sure we won’t be seeing Roger Federer on tour 14 years from now, and no I’m not comparing Muster to Federer. Although, I would not mind seeing Marat Safin return to the tour, at any age.

Eh, Why Not?

So apparently this comeback thing is here to stay. After winning two Champion Tour events, Mark Philippoussis has announced he would also like to come back to the ATP tour. Mark’s only 33 so I guess he has a chance. Although, I can’t help but think this is the start of a bad reality TV show. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen Philippoussis make that mistake.

In Other News

Jim Courier was chosen to replace Patrick McEnroe as the US Davis Cup captain. Pat Rafter will be taking the lead for the Australians.

There are tournaments happening in St. Petersburg, Vienna, and somewhere in France, but no one really seems to care.

Robin Soderling qualified for the World Tour Finals, leaving just 3 spots up for grabs.

It’s already 2:30am here and I would like to go to bed so you’ll have to wait for the rest of your news.

Race to the Finish

If you read A Change of Ends, even occasionally, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been a little absent lately. There are a lot of reasons that I haven’t been writing as much lately. First, and mostly importantly, it turns out college seniors have a lot of work to do. Second, looking for a job takes almost as much time as actually having one. Third, my whirlwind tour of tennis tournaments has officially ended for the year. Finally, the tail end of the tennis season is surprisingly boring, and incredibly difficult to watch considering the time difference.

However, I anticipate things heating up in the next few weeks. So far, only two men have qualified for the World Tour Finals in London. That leaves six hotly contested spots at the O2. As it stands now, Djokovic, Murray, Soderling, Berdych, Roddick, and Verdasco round out the top 8. However, we still have some big tournaments to play, including the Shanghai Masters event. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Djokovic, Murray, and Soderling will qualify. Something absolutely disastrous would have to happen for them to fall out of the race for top 8. That leaves 3 spots up for grabs.

The ATP website lists the top 16 men in the race, but 12-16 would basically need to win everything from here on out to qualify. This means that the remaining spots are likely going to be filled by three of the following: Tomas Berdych, Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Mikhail Youzhny, and Jurgen Melzer. Verdasco fell in the first round of the Beijing tournament this week, as did Mikahil Youzhny. Ferrer, an incredibly talented played who tends to fly under the radar, is through to the quarters, where he will face Robin Soderling. Jurgen Melzer is by all means the dark horse in the race for the World Tour Finals, for singles at least. He has already qualified for the doubles WTF. He’s at his highest ranking ever and less than 1000 points behind Verdasco in the race. It would be awesome to see some new faces in the top 8. I think we’ll almost certainly see Tomas Berdych in London for the first time this year and it would be great to see him joined by Jurgen. However, I think Ferrer may swoop in and take the last spot. Andy Roddick has made the World Tour Finals for seven consecutive years, and I fully expect him to make it to an eighth. This week, Roddick is in the quarterfinals at the Rakuten Japan Open, where he will face Gael Monfils. The winner goes on to a semifinal matchup with either Radek Stepanek or Jarko Nieminen. This week is a great opportunity for Andy to grab some more points.

Andrea’s Top 8 Picks

Rafael Nadal

Roger Federer

Novak Djokovic

Andy Murray

Robin Soderling

Tomas Berdych

Andy Roddick

David Ferrer

As for the ladies, in their race for the Doha finals is almost finished. They’ve locked in six of the eight finalists already. However, it looks like injury could be a major factor in how things play out. So far, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Sam Stosur, and Francesca Schiavone have all qualified for the WTA Championships. Competing for those final two spots are Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Victoria Azarenka, and Justine Henin. This top 10 has been riddled with injury this year, even amongst the players who have already qualified. Serena hasn’t played since Wimbledon. Kim’s currently out with something. Sam was having some issues in August. More importantly, injuries are plaguing the four ladies still looking to qualify.

We all remember that Victoria Azarenka collapsed in her second round US Open match and had to be taken to the hospital. Vika had an amazing summer, but since the USO, she’s seemed to have some serious issues. In her last two tournaments, she’s been forced to retire from her matches. I’m not sure she’s going to be able to consistently play well enough to clinch one of those last two spots. Justine Henin, like Serena, hasn’t played since Wimbledon. She even went so far as to declare her 2010 season over. We’ll see if she sticks to that. If not, she actually has a reasonably good chance of clinching that eighth spot. Jankovic may not be injured, but you wouldn’t know that the way she’s played this year. The former world number one has been incredibly inconsistent with some very lackluster results this year. I do think Elena Dementieva will manage to take one of the last two slots. She’s been playing quite well in the last few weeks. I don’t think she’ll necessarily win the upcoming tournaments, but she’ll gather enough points to qualify for Doha.

Andrea’s Top 8 Picks

Caroline Wozniacki

Vera Zvonareva

Serena Williams

Kim Clijsters

Sam Stosur

Francesca Schiavone

Jelena Jankovic

Elena Dementieva

Also, check out my latest post, “Will They Ever Win…Again?” at Tennis Grandstand.