Where in the World is Dinara?

9/26/2010

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dinarasafina.com
Dinara Safina was the world’s number one ranked tennis player in 2009, but she has yet to break through and win a Grand Slam title.  She is the younger player of Marat Safin, two time Grand Slam winner himself.  According to tennis.com, they are the first brother sister team to both be ranked number one.  However, Dinara was not number one for very long.

What happened to this promising young Russian?  I have not seen her since last year’s US Open where she lost miserably in the third round to a player who is practically unknown and not ranked in the top ten.  Many tennis fans think that she has had a mental breakdown.  She has never had a strong mental game.  Oftentimes, she was seen throwing her racket to the ground, cursing in Russian in a fit of rage during her matches.  This is definitely not the behavior of a stable tennis player who is at the top of her game.  In fact, the year of 2009 was a huge disappointment for Dinara.  She made it to three out of four Grand Slam finals, but lost every one badly.  Serena Williams trounced her at the Australian Open final.  She made it to the French Open final, but she was often in tears of frustration because of her disappointing performance.  She lost this final to Svetlana Kuznetsova.  In her third and last final of 2009, Dinara lost to Venus Williams at Wimbledon in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 6-0 according to tennis.com.  It is hard to believe that she only managed to win one game.  She was ranked first in the world when she played this match!  I think that this was a breaking point for her.

Dinara has been out most of early 2010 due to a back injury, but she is now back in form and ready to play.  She is currently ranked 59th in the world according to dinarasafina.com.  It is my belief that she will need to be better than her best to be a real contender in 2010 or 2011.  First, she is just coming off of an injury and has not played much tennis in the past several months.  Second, her mental game has never been strong.  She really needs to improve this aspect of her game.  Finally, she could not beat either of the Williams sisters when she was at the top of her game.  Dinara Safina is going to have to improve her game immensely to win a Grand Slam in the next two years.  I guess that only time will tell.  Let’s see what 2010 and 2011 have in store for the newly recovered Dinara.

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Glory at Last

9/15/2010

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Rafael Nadal won his ninth Grand Slam on Monday defeating Novak Djokovic in four tight sets.  It was perhaps his greatest triumph.  Nadal won the US Open for the first time—ever.  It was the one Grand Slam missing from his others.  He is only the seventh man to complete a career slam, meaning that he has won all four slams at some point in his career, including the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open.  Furthermore, Nadal won three out of the four Grand Slams this year.  He is the first man to do this since Rod Laver in 1969.  There is no doubt in my mind that Nadal is a great tennis player and his career is on the rise.

Just how great is Rafael Nadal though?  I mean, he only has won nine Grand Slams; he is not even in the double digits!  Roger Federer, the man who has won the most Grand Slams in tennis history, has sixteen. What is nine compared to sixteen?  On nadalvsfederer.com, they compare these two tennis greats.  When Federer was Nadal’s age five years ago, he had won 33 ATP events, 8 Masters, and 6 majors.  Nadal has won 43 ATP events, 18 Masters, and 9 majors.  Nadal however has spend less weeks at number one than Federer, but this just makes what he has accomplished all the more incredible.  Federer is approaching his decline at the age of 29; whereas, Nadal is just starting to peak at 24.  There will certainly be many years ahead for the young Spaniard to catch up and eventually surpass Federer.  It is time to usher in the Nadal era.

Rafael Nadal faced a formidable adversary in Novak Djokovic at the US Open Final.  Djokovic was number three in the world, but since then, he has gained the number two spot bumping Federer down to third in the world for the first time in a long time.  Djokovic has been playing some of the best tennis in his career thus far.  According to usopen.org, Nadal’s first serve percentage was 67%; he had 8 aces, 31 unforced errors, and a 23% break point conversion average.  Djokovic’s first serve percentage was 66%, only a percent less than Nadal’s.  He had 5 aces, 47 unforced errors, and a 75% break point conversion average.  This shows that Djokovic took opportunities when he had them, and he made the points count when they mattered the most.  Both players fought hard, but Nadal’s raw determination to finally claim the elusive US Open won out.  However, Djokovic is an up and comer with a Grand Slam already under his belt who is sure to cause a few upsets.
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Nadal vs. Federer

9/14/2010

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Courtesy of livetennis.com
Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have one of the greatest rivalries of all time in tennis and maybe in all sports.  Federer has won sixteen Grand Slam singles titles; the most of any man ever.  However, he has always had a thorn in his side with Rafael Nadal.  As of May 2010, Nadal leads Federer with a head to head record of 14-7 with Nadal way out front according to the ATP World Tour.  Against any other player Federer would definitely be considered the favorite, but this record clearly shows that he is the underdog against Nadal despite Federer having held the number one world ranking for about four and a half years consecutively.

An epic struggle in the constant battle between Nadal and Federer took place at the 2008 Wimbledon final.  The, then ranked number two in the world player, Nadal defeated world number one Federer in four hours and forty four minutes.  The match lasted throughout the whole day and had many rain delays.  The match was won in near darkness that night.  I believe that this was a turning point in their rivalry.  After this, Nadal became number one for the first time and Federer was downgraded to number two. 

There is a core difference between these two tennis greats, and I believe that it is the idea that Rafael plays with his heart; whereas, Roger plays more with his mind.  Nadal plays every point like it is the match point of a Grand Slam final.  I would think that this would cause him to tire out easily, but from the countless matches that I have seen Nadal play (I am an avid Nadal fan), he never has looked or played like he was winded.  Now, let’s discuss Federer.  He has been known to play his best only on the big points because obviously they are the most important, not that he does not play well on other points.  It just seems that he lacks the constant intensity that Rafael has.  Federer is more refined; whereas, Nadal is raw and passionate.  In the upcoming US Open final (Sunday night), Nadal and Federer are poised to meet if they both make it through their semi final matches.  Their potential meeting will be all the more interesting because Nadal has never won the US Open.  It’s the one Grand Slam that still eludes him.  Federer has five.  Who will come out on top?

Created on September 4, 2010
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