Heroes: Clay Courts, Isner’s Beastliness and Serena’s 40th Title

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: Tony Chang / Chang Photography

(April 9, 2011) Heroes and Zeros is Tennis Now's way of saying goodbye to the tennis week that was. This week we’ll take a look back at the Davis Cup World Group quarterfinals and the Family Circle Cup in Charleston.

Hero: Clay

Spring is here! That means that clay is here, too. And with it the chance for tennis fans to bask in the diversity of our sport. Say hello to long rallies, thoughtfully chosen first-serve placements, exquisitely placed drop shots, impromptu dust storms, and long, clay-inscribing slides into backhand slices.

Nothing says spring to tennis fans like the sound of clay beneath the souls of shoes.

Hero: Jim Courier

I wrote about the “Courier Effect” yesterday, and for those who didn’t get a chance to check it out, I will simplify here. American players are better for being exposed to Captain Courier, and it’s plain as day to see. Furthermore, Courier’s willingness to include the current coaches of his American players in the dialogue is yet another sign that Courier “gets” his role as a facilitator of American tennis success. It’s an all-inclusive party as far as Courier is concerned. He doesn’t want the credit, he just wants to see his players grow in any way they can.

It’s working.

Hero: John Isner

Courier called him a “beast” after he defeated Gilles Simon in straight-sets on Friday. On Sunday, they were calling him the “closer,” but the humble Isner wasn’t having it, saying “for sure that’s not my title” and “I think for now that title still belongs to Andy Roddick.” In a nutshell, that is what makes Isner such a likeable player. He’s the anti-jerk.

As far as his game goes, Isner is clearly coming into his own as a shotmaker. The heavy clay in Monte Carlo took some of the fire from his serve, but Isner more than made up for it with devastating forehand after devastating forehand. He made the most of the extra time and the extra-high bounces that the clay provided him with and he dominated two world-class players, jerking them all over the court with that forehand.

Beast is an understatement in the 6’9” Isner’s case, and the narrative for the 2012 clay-court season has just become a little juicier because of him.

Hero: Serena Williams

Serena, who claimed that clay suited her game well this week in Charleston, backed up those words with her 40th career title, her first on clay since 2008. It wasn’t so much that she won the title, it was how she won it. Serena lost fifteen games all week, and only four games in the last three rounds.

Talk about a shot across the bow of the rest of the WTA just prior to clay-court season.

It’s been 10 years since Serena won her one and only Roland Garros title, but with her performance this week in Charleston, she announced that she’s going to be a serious contender to win another later this spring.

Hero: Marin Cilic and the Argentine Faithful

Marin Cilic got caught in a maelstrom of his own doing this weekend as he attempted to rally the Croatian Davis Cup team to victory on the road against Argentina. On Friday, he won a thrilling five-hour, 9-minute thriller against David Nalbandian, on Saturday he lost a heartbreaking four-hour, 59-minute doubles match with Ivo Karlovic. On Sunday Cilic, who had to miss this year’s Australian Open due to a patella tendon injury, had nothing left against Juan Martin Del Potro.

Still, he received a hearty applause from the Argentine crowd. It may not have been enough to quell his disappointment, but Cilic was moved by the gesture nonetheless. “It was great. I think they acknowledged that I was fighting as much as I could, and I think they were really fair. I enjoyed the atmosphere like never in my life.”

Hero: Guy Forget

Fist-bumps, hugs and maybe even a few tears for Guy Forget, who came to the end of his tenure as France’s Davis Cup Captain yesterday in Monte Carlo. Forget steered the French to four Davis Cup finals and one title since taking the helm in 1999.

“We have done great things,” said Forget. “Every match is special. Sometimes when you lose it’s emotionally difficult, but that’s what makes Davis Cup so special.”

Hero: Spain

With 23 consecutive home victories, five Davis Cup titles since 2000, and three in the last four years, Spain’s current generation of players is solidifying its reputation as one of the most dominant teams to ever compete for the Cup.

No Rafael Nadal? No problem. Enter David Ferrer, who has yet to lose on clay in fourteen Davis Cup matches. Not bad, for a No. 2. When it comes to depth, nobody is deeper than Spain, especially on clay, as Nicolas Almagro, one of the best clay-courters on the ATP tour holds the distinction of being Spain’s third-best on the surface.

Once again, the Spaniards scored a decisive victory at home this weekend, with Ferrer and Almagro winning all eleven singles sets played.