By Chris Oddo
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Photo Credit: Siggi Bucher
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(February 13, 2012) After a wild and woolly weekend of Davis Cup play and WTA action in Paris and Pattaya City, it’s high time to reflect on the madness. Today in Delights and Deadbeats we’ll take a look at the heroes and zeroes from the week gone by (with emphasis on the delights, of course).
Delight: Captain Courier
After three ties under newly anointed Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier, it’s clear that the “Courier Effect” is as real and tangible as the clay that was under the American’s feet this weekend in Fribourg. Whatever the subtleties of Courier’s approach to guiding the members of the U.S. team, it is clearly paying dividends.
Just prior to Courier’s first tie, I remember sitting in on a press conference where Courier said the following with regard to his future charges: “The goal is to not only help these guys maximize their performance during Davis Cup weeks, but hopefully give them a few little things they can take with them every week of the year and just become better players in general.” Judging from John Isner’s breakthrough performance on Friday, Isner took a few little things and turned them into a monumental win. “I really owe a lot to Captain Courier,” said Isner after the Federer match. “He was on me in practice all week, he told me to do all the right things, every single practice, hit all the right shots. You know, I’m going to make mistakes – that’s how I play. The way I played today, that’s how I need to play in all my matches.”
Sounds like Isner is enjoying his time with Courier. Here’s to hoping that those light bulb moments keep coming.
Deadbeat: Stan Wawrinka
I’ll admit, Roger Federer was far from perfect in Saturday’s doubles match (who could forget that backhand wiff that gave the American’s match point in the final game?) but Stan’s lack of execution was just perplexing. He surrendered the decisive service break in each of the last three sets, and when a clutch shot was needed, all Wawrinka seemed to produce was blatantly bad errors.
Delight: Angelique Kerber
The left-handed German notched the first two top ten wins of her career when she took out Maria Sharapova and Marion Bartoli en route to her maiden WTA title at the Open GDF Suez in Paris. We can add Kerber’s name to the growing list of fantastic German women currently on tour, as she soared up the rankings to a career-high No. 22 with the win.
Delight: Paola Suarez comes out of retirement
Eight-time doubles Grand Slam title holder Paola Suarez of Argentina announced last week that she’ll be returning to the doubles court with an eye on partnering with Gisela Dulko for the 2012 Olympic Games. For those not in the know, 35-year-old Suarez held the WTA’s top spot in doubles for 87 weeks, and holds 44 WTA doubles titles in addition to being former top ten singles player. She last played competitively at the 2007 US Open.
Suarez will begin her second career this week in Bogota, Columba, where she has taken a wildcard into the doubles draw alongside Gisela Dulko. "It's going to be the most difficult but most exciting challenge of my life," said Suarez.
Deadbeat: Milos Raonic’s Knee
The most highly anticipated Davis Cup rubber of the entire weekend was to be played on Sunday between Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. With the French leading 2-1 in their Davis Cup tie, here was an opportunity for Raonic to test his mettle against one of the best players in the world in a high pressure situation.
It was to be one of those popcorn matches: two wildly talented, powerful athletes, playing for the love of tennis and the love of country. When news broke that Raonic would have to sit out with a knee problem, all we were left with was a deflated feeling. The disappointment felt eerily similar to Raonic’s dreadful fall at Wimbledon that ended his season just when we thought he might have the stuff to make a run on the grass.
Delight: Ivo Karlovic
John Isner wasn’t the only big man making a difference in Davis Cup play this weekend. Dr. Ivo almost single handedly swept up the Japanese team with his mighty racquet, winning all three rubbers and serving 35 aces in his singles matches while not facing a single break point.
Delight: Daniela Hantuchova
Hantuchova pulled off the first successful title defense of her career when she won a grueling 3-hour 14-minute battle to the death with Maria Kirilenko at the PTT Pattaya Open in Pattaya City, Thailand. The former world No. 5, aged 28, is currently enjoying another stint in the top 20.