TOPIC OF THE WEEK
Numerous refusals of tennis players to continue the struggle at tournaments overshadowed all other events of the past week. Among the heroes are familiar faces: Petrova, Kuznetsova, Davydenko, Tursunov, Nadal, Hewitt, Srichapan. Among the causes are stress, overwork, bronchitis, gastritis, and even injury. The number of domestic tennis players on this list of refuseniks is particularly impressive, raising many questions before the start of the first Grand Slam tournament of the season. “I don’t think that the reason for such a massive failure of our guys lies in the miscalculations of pre-season training,” said sports physician Zurab Ordzhonikidze. - After all, they all live in different countries and train according to different programs, therefore such “unanimity” is just a coincidence. Most likely, our guys are determined to perform very well at the Australian Open and are now afraid to risk their health. ” Be that as it may, the regularly raised topic of the transference of the beginning of the Australian Open at a later date received even more supporters this year. “It is impossible to calmly and without stress begin the season when you know that in a week is the first“ Grand Slam, ”Rafael Nadal complains. “As a result, you either risk your health by forcing a sports form, or you withdraw from the tournament as soon as you feel unwell.”
SCANDAL OF THE WEEK
At the ATP tournament in Sydney, the third racket of the world, Russian Nikolai Davydenko, after a match with Frenchman Paul Henri Mathieu, which he could not finish due to an injury, decided to open up and told local reporters that on the eve of the Australian Open, such small tournaments as this one are elite players do not need and only distract. He said, in general, the truth, but it was not to everyone's taste. Having won this competition in the past and repeated this year’s success, American James Blake decided to answer the Russian: “It’s very disappointing when you hear from someone disrespectful opinion about the tournament, especially when you participate in it,” Blake said. - I am extremely proud that I won it last season and thus proved that this tournament is not secondary or unimportant for me. “I don’t know how many people paid to look at Davydenko, but I’m sure that they are, and, in my opinion, he should have asked them for forgiveness.” The APR chairman Etienne De Villiers, who, although admitted that he himself was concerned about the high number of rejections, did not stand aside from the scandal, but insisted that comments such as those made by the Russian were unacceptable. “This not only harms the wonderful tournament in Sydney, but also tarnishes the reputation of our sport as a whole,” the chairman said and fined Davydenko 10,000 US dollars.
VICTORY OF THE WEEK
19-year-old Russian woman Anna Chakvetadze won the first Russian final of the season, defeating Vasilisa Bardin in the decisive match of the tournament in Hobart - 6: 3, 7: 6 and winning the third title in her career. Moreover, Chakvetadze could also end the competition due to injury. In the semifinal against Sani Mirza from India, the 13th racket of the world was forced to take a medical break due to a stretching of her abdominal muscles and could not restrain her tears when the doctor who left began to give her a therapeutic massage. However, in the end, Anna returned to the court and won that match. It is worth noting the success of Bardina, who for the first time in her career reached the finals of such a serious tournament, a performance at which she, by the way, began with qualification.
WAITING FOR THE WEEK
Last week, young tennis players found out in the qualification of the Australian Open, which of them are already ready to perform at such a high level. Our main hopes were for the 15-year-old Russian woman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who won here in the youth tournament a year ago. This year, the organizers provided Nastya wild card in the qualification of an adult tournament, but a talented tennis player in the decisive match lost to Ukrainian Yulia Vakulenko - 6: 3, 1: 6, 1: 6. Now Pavlyuchenkova will again perform in the junior category. But we are already used to the fact that where one Russian tennis player stumbles, another will immediately take his place - Teymuraz Gabashvili and Alla Kudryavtseva, having made their way through qualifications, increased Russia's representation in the main tennis tournament in Australia to 26 people.
Andrey IVANTSOV