Vasek Pospisil, Clay Courts, and Fitness

Vasek Pospisil, by all accounts, has had a very successful career.  On the singles side, he has gotten as high as number 25 in the world, has been a finalist of an ATP World Tour 500-level tournament (Washington), and even made the Quarterfinals of Wimbledon last year.  In doubles, Pospisil has won six titles with his doubles partner Jack Sock, He won the Wimbledon doubles title with Jack Sock, including a Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells.  However, Vasek's biggest doubles achievement was a Wimbledon doubles title, something that definitely provided a bump in results for his singles career too.

And as great of a career as this has been for Vasek, looking at his results, they definitely leave something to be desired.  Because, for all his great results on grass, and to a lesser extent hard courts, his clay court prowess, in regards to his singles career, has been pathetic.  Yes, I said it, pathetic.  Vasek Pospisil, 25 years old, and currently the world number 46 in the live rankings, has never won a main draw ATP clay court match in his life.  And as much as this shows how well he must have done on other surfaces, it's deeply disturbing to see this level of ineptitude on the second most common surface on the ATP World Tour.  In fact, in the best-of-five format, Pospisil has only forced a fifth once, losing to Horacio Zeballos in five sets in 2013.

But, it's not for a lack of trying, at least during matches.  Unlike another top 50 tennis player, Bernard Tomic, when watching Pospisil on clay, you can see that despite it not being a surface he is even decent on, he is still giving his all and is mentally engaged in the match.  Against Radek Stepanek in the First Round of Madrid earlier this week, Pospisil was trying to fire himself up upon winning the second set and one could tell that he was desperately searching for answers on how to solve the puzzle that is clay court tennis.  And I commend him for having this attitude, there is nothing worse than the attitude of Bernard Tomic, where because his game might not naturally suit clay, he just doesn't give a shit (excuse my language).  And for Vasek, it's not like he can't win a set on clay.  In the past two years, in a best-of-three format, he has won a set in an ATP-level match three different times, but always fell in the third set.

So, now that we've established that Pospisil is giving his all on the court, and has had successes on other surfaces, what could be the major obstacle stopping Pospisil from success on clay and how can he jump this hurdle?  And upon watching and following Vasek's career enough, I have come to the conclusion that the major problem with Pospisil on clay has nothing to do with his tennis game itself.  Rather, Vasek is so unbelievably unfit, that he physically cannot win a match against decent competition on this surface.

You see, clay is unlike other surfaces in that the surface itself doesn't allow players to merely out-serve and outhit their opposition, which is much of what has made Pospisil successful on the main tour.  Point construction is a must, and one's baseline skills must be fine-tuned in order to be successful on the surface.  What all of this means is that points are going to last longer and be much more physically taxing than on, say, a grass court.  And if a player is not in tip-top shape, then said will struggle massively on the surface.  And, upon watching Vasek on clay and seeing his results, I think it's safe to say that his fitness level is deplorable, which means that his successes on clay will be very minimal.

I like to think of myself as someone who has been involved with fitness for quite some time, and someone who recognizes the importance of fitness as something that is crucial to the life of everyone, but should be especially crucial in the prime years of their life, such as Vasek.  And I believe that the problem with Pospisil's fitness, and a lot of tennis players in general, is that tennis training focuses too much on short bursts of speed/intervals.  And while this is definitely the most practical fitness application to tennis, I think that long-distance running gets short-changed, and for someone who might not naturally be a "runner" like Pospisil, this can severely affect his results.

You know, it seemed like people all throughout the tennis world were collectively wondering what Caroline Wozniacki was doing when she decided to run that marathon at the tail end of 2014, however, it was amazing to see her results spike when she was training for that marathon.  During the second half of 2014, she was able to consistently challenge Serena Williams and even got to the US Open Final.  I definitely think that there was a correlation between her marathon training her results.  And, while I'm not saying that Vasek needs to run a marathon, some distance running would definitely do some good for not only his clay results, but for every match he plays.

So, for as hard as it seems Pospisil is during matches, it is clear that he either is not working hard off of the court, or is not training in a proper fashion.  And maybe, at least partially, the environment he is putting himself in is to blame.  Or, in other words, since Sock seems to be having issues being able to physically last in matches too, perhaps this doubles combination creates a horrible environment for fitness, as one's poor training rubs off on the other's training too.  And, again, this is just speculation, however it is curious to me how two of the people with the worst fitness on tour just so happen to be doubles partners.

Vasek Pospisil has a decision to make.  He is absolutely a talented tennis player.  Now, he must decide whether he wants to put in the work, and the right type of work, in order to reach his full potential.

Media Credentials and What Makes a Tennis Journalist?

Prior to the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden, just before Indian Wells, a "press conference" ensued for the four players involved: Caroline Wozniacki, Gael Monfils, Serena Williams, Stanislas Wawrinka.  As I checked Twitter during that press conference, seemingly every tweet from "tennis twitter" were regarding the terrible questioning and, overall, lack of real journalism in the room.  And this is about when I asked myself, "If these 'journalists' can get media credentials to a high profile tennis event, can just about anyone?"

And so, with this in my mind, I embarked on a long-term project to try to see if I could get media credentials to an ATP World Tour tournament, with just this blog as my claim to be a tennis "journalist".  I had to first decide upon a a tournament to attempt to get media credentials at.  I ultimately decided upon the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships as a relatively small ATP 250 Tournament and one that I thought I legitimately could get credentialed at, even with just this All About Tennis Blog, and it's inconsistent article-publishing schedule and lack of recognition in the greater tennis community.

I then went on the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships website, filled in my media outlet as the "All About Tennis Blog", and with that, started my media credential application!  I then wrote in all of the boring stuff, my name, address, etc., and among other things, checked the box saying that I was (certainly) not a member of the ITWA.  After this, I uploaded a picture of myself from earlier this year, and then wrote a short comment that was something along the lines that I was a student looking for a journalism opportunity.  After writing this, I sent it, and it was all in the hands of the folks in Houston.  Does some random blogger online have the standing to get credentialed at an ATP event, or would his request be denied?

Well, I waited, and waited even longer.  At one point, I thought Houston might not even send me a reply at all about media credential request, which would obviously mean that I didn't get credentialed.  However, right at the end of March, I received a small package from ATP Houston.  Upon seeing who it was from, I tore into it, eager to see the results of my project.  And sure enough, in the package was a letter and a media credential with my picture on it!  I was initially in jubilation, as it is really cool to see that your hard work has paid off, and that an ATP tennis tournament is recognizing this with a credential.  However, the excitement wore off when I realized that I would not be actually going to the tournament, and that this was all part of a long-term project for me.

And so, with that, I shifted my focus to what I really wanted to get at with this entire process, which originally started weeks back during a quick Twitter check.  If I, a unknown blogger who has certainly not posted regularly on his blog over the years, can get media credentialed to an ATP World Tour event, then, for starters, how easy is it to be credentialed to a couple exhibition matches, such as the BNP Paribas Showdown?

I'm guessing, like for ATP Houston, it doesn't take much to be credentialed.  Perhaps only a blog, like me, or a fancy job title would do the the trick.  But, is taking in people like that really good for tennis fans looking for real information about tennis?  There are two sides of the coin to this question.  On one side, opportunities like this do give writers like me valuable experience and a chance to work on our craft.  However, on the other side of this, it does not portray the sport in the best light.  The press conference in New York City was a huge time in the tennis world.  Everyone had just heard about Maria Sharapova, and so hearing the reaction to this news at the press conference was a big deal.  And when, with the spotlight on this press conference, the questioning is absolutely terrible, I'm fairly confident I was not the only one appalled by the level of professionalism shown by the journalists there.  And, while I think I would actually ask some insightful questions at this press conference, just the randomness of some random guy with a tennis blog being there would also call into question the seriousness of such a press conference.

However, I did not mean this article to be a rip on the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships at all.  I really do appreciate them credentialing me and validating the writing on my blog, in a way.  And I didn't mean to "trick" them into credentialing me upon working on this project of mine.  Perhaps, by (presumably) reading my blog, they saw the level of seriousness to my writing that I put into my blog and were impressed by it.  They might have wanted to give me experience, as a student, too.  At least I certainly hope that is all the reasoning and that I wasn't just credentialed because I just had some random tennis blog.

The main question behind all of this talk is really, What makes a tennis journalist?  Is it quality of work, quantity of work, level of professionalism in one's work, or perhaps one's accolades?  And, unfortunately, I don't even have an answer to that question, because in reality, it depends.  Different tournaments might differ on what qualifies as a tennis journalist worthy of credentialing, just as tennis fans might also have completely different ideas of what the phrase "tennis journalist" means to them.

And I don't think anyone could really be wrong in their answer, it's really up to the individual (or the tournament).  However, to ensure journalistic standards, I do think, before requesting media credentials, potential media members should definitely have to take a "Basic Tennis Knowledge" quiz to ensure that those who get credentialed are not hoaxing their way into the position.  And I have no doubt that I would pass such a quiz, but would the journalists at the BNP Paribas Showdown?  Questionable.

This entire project (and process) of attempting to get credentialed, getting the credential, and the questions that have followed, has been a long, winding process.  However, I think questions raised from such a project could, ultimately, help tennis journalism by raising even more questions.  Should this "Basic Tennis Knowledge" quiz be implemented?  Should journalists be kicked out of a press conference for asking a ridiculous question?  Does a media credential even mean anything anymore?

I can't, universally, come to a conclusion about those questions.  These are for each individual, internally, to answer.

Wozniacki Racist?

As you might have heard, Caroline Wozniacki has made a controversial imitation of Serena Williams during a recent match.  She "enlarged" her boobs and pranced around the court.  Not a huge deal.  Out of nowhere, however, racism was brought to the center stage as many cried that Wozniacki was a racist due to the impersonation.  So do I think Wozniacki is racist?  Absolutely not.

Let me start off by saying it was a poor choice for Wozniacki to have done this in the first place.  In a day in age where just about anything can be called racist, impersonating Serena Williams, one of the most famous African American athletes of all time, was not a smart choice.  Wozniacki defintiely should have thought before she acted.  And while it definitely did not have malicious intent, you could possibly perceive it was an act of frustration that Williams always wins.  Okay, I can understand.

But, that doesn't necessarily mean I agree with all of the racist cries.  I think this is yet another case of, with easy access to technology and the media, the easiness to over analyze the most simple of things.  I mean, we could watch, and re-watch it,  over and over again until one could form some sort of obscure argument regarding Wozniacki's "vicious" intent.

I also think this is a case of over sensitivity.  I am vehemently against racism and discrimination in general, however, I believe that these terms are greatly overused.  We, tennis fans, but also people in this world, cannot even take a joke anymore.  Obviously, Wozniacki was trying to entertain the crowd, almost thanking them for attending the match.  The fact that even a light-hearted attempt for entertainment can draw this much rage is something that, for me, is unthinkable.  Not to mention the fact that Williams, herself, wasn't even phased.

Caroline Wozniacki probably should have thought a little harder before deciding to impersonate Serena Williams.  However, claims of racism by Wozniacki are ridiculous.

Caroline Wozniacki Fading Into Obscurity

Well, Caroline Wozniacki, it was fun while it lasted.  But, you can only stay at number without merit for so long.  Eventually, it had to catch up to her.  And it did.  And now we are mere spectators as she fades away into mere obscurity, bathing in her boyfriend's (Rory McIlrory) spotlight.

Caroline Wozniacki's first major breakthrough occurred at the 2009 US Open.  It was here that Wozniacki made her first, and only, major final.  She beat Svetlana Kuznetsova enroute to an appearance in the Finals against Kim Cljisters in Cljister's first appearance back from retirement.  Although she lost in straight sets, the future was bright for Wozniacki.  This girl seemed to have what it takes.

After this monumental win, Wozniacki continued to climb in the rankings until eventually she reached number one.  Unfortunately for her, however, was that she never could capitalize on this great achievement and consequently was absent from any major finals.  Despite this, she was not embarrassing herself, making a mockery of the WTA ranking system.  No, she would wait till she fell in the rankings to fade into obscurity.  Towards the end of this stretch, she started going out with Rory McIlroy (July 2011).

2012 was truly a horrible year for Caroline Wozniacki.  After losing in respectable fashion at the Australian Open (the final tournament where she was the world number one), her season fell to the dumps there.  She proceeded to lose in the Third Round of the French Open, earlier than what was expected of her.  This must be an aberration, right?  Nope.  Wimbledon was a total disaster for Wozniacki.  She played a hot Tamira Paszek in the First Round, and just could not get it done, losing in the opening round of the tournament.  This loss was tough on Wozniacki, because it was so close, and honestly she never really recovered.  At the Olympics,  Wozniacki skated by, relying on weak opponents to guide her to the next round.  Well, that would not work against Serena Williams.  Wozniacki was throttled by her in two sets.

Right around the time before the US Open, Caroline Wozniacki's boyfriend, Rory McIlroy, won his second major in golf, the PGA Championship.  This seems like it would have spurred her on to an impressive showing at final major of 2012.  That was not the case, not in the slightest.  She utterly embarrassed herself losing to the unknown Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets.  One would think if Wozniacki saw the man she loves winning a major, she might want to do it herself.  That obviously did nothing for her as Wozniacki flickered out in the First Round.  Now one might say that McIlroy was bad for Wozniacki, but how can he win a major with this relationship, and she cannot?  That debunks that theory.

Caroline Wozniacki was a major finalist, and former world number one.  So how is she now fading into obscurity?

Thoughts on the First Three Rounds for the Women at the US Open and a Look Ahead

The US Open first three rounds came to a close yesterday for the women, so this is a good time for me to give my thoughts on the women during this opening stretch.  Who impressed?  Who disappointed?  Check it out below, along with a look ahead to the rest of the tournament.

One of the player who really impressed me with how well she has played is Victoria Azarenka.  All of the attention is on how Serena Williams is just going to waltz right into winning the championship here.  And even though she totally deserves it we have totally forgot about the number one seed!  She has dropped six games, and beat Zheng Jie 6-0, 6-1.  Zheng Jie has made two major semifinals and took Serena Williams to 9-7 in the third at Wimbledon.  So, I was expecting a really competitive match, which was not the case.  Looking at the draw ahead, I foresee her facing Maria Sharapova in the Semifinals, which is the other women who impressed me.

Maria Sharapova has been totally dominate during the US Open this year.  She has only dropped seven games so far this tournament, and has not dropped more than two games since the First Round.  She crushed the young Mallory Burdette 6-1, 6-1.  Her powerful groundstrokes have been an ever-so-present part of her game.  As mentioned earlier, I fully expect her to reach the Semifinals to face Victoria Azarenka, but her path is much harder as she has to play two ranked opponents, possibly five seed Petra Kvitova in the Quarterfinals.  With the way she is playing, however, I believe nobody can stop her until the Semifinals.

So, who has disappointed me?  Well, who else could it be other than Caroline Wozniacki?  This is the second major in a row that she has gone out in the First Round, however this one was different.  When she lost to Tamira Paszek at Wimbledon, she took a set and then went out fighting 6-4 in the third.  This time, against an unkown opponent Begu, she went out meekly.  She lost 6-2, 6-2 in a disappointing loss for the former number one.  For Wozniacki, now the long wait for the Australian Open ensues.

So, now it is prediction time.  I have already stated who will make it to the Semifinals in the top half of the bracket, but what about the bottom half?  The obvious semifinalist is Serena Williams, but the other one will be Angelique Kerber, who will just edge out Aga Radwanska in the Quarterfinals.  Sharapova will beat Azarenka in three sets, and Serena Williams, out for revenge against Angelique Kerber, will beat her in two sets.

So, the Finals will be Maria Sharapova against Serena Williams.  This is a rematch of the 2012 Olympic final.  Serena Williams won 6-0, 6-1 there, and I do not expect a much different result here either.  Serena Williams will beat Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-1 to win the US Open.