Tennis Updates July 31st

July 31, 2008 by Jeremy Howard

Tennis News Two big events going on this week- Cincinnati for the Men & Montreal for the Women. So, there are quite a few names out there playing, winning, losing, getting hurt, etc…

Perhaps the most major development this week is coming from Canada, where Maria Sharapova pulled out after a second round win over Marta Domachowska (in a long three set match), citing shoulder problems. She was due to have an MRI later today, but this does not bode well for her. She claimed she was not “close to 50%” out on the court. This clearly puts her availability for the rest of the summer, including both the Olympic Games & the US Open, in serious doubt.

Besides Sharapova pulling out, not too much of note has gone on at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. The only major upset was when Elenena Dementieva lost in the second round to Dominka Cibulkova of Czech Republic. In fact, Dementieva, the fifth seed, barely put up a fight in her 4-6, 2-6 defeat. Wildcard Stephanie Dubois, of Canada, kept her hometown hopes alive by defeating 12th seeded Maria Kirilenko in a third set tiebreaker today. However, she now faces Jelena Jankovic and her run will most likely end here. Finally, speaking of Jankovic, she and her fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic became the first two women to qualify for the WTA year end Championships in Doha, Qatar this November.

Over on the Men’s tour stop in Cincinnati, there have been a few minor (albeit unsurprising) upsets. To start, Tomas Berdych defeated Fernando Gonzalez the opening day of the event, which goes to show just how hard winning a Masters Event is (Gonzo was seeded 13th, and had to play the top unseeded player in the draw in the opening round). Blake, last years finalist, lost in three sets to Ernestis Gulbis, who also defeated him earlier this year at the French Open. Blake losing early, along with Roddick’s withdrawal, and every other American losing in singles, is another lowlight for the American Men this year. Hopefully, they can rebound at the Olympics and US Open. Gasquet also continued his up and down year getting thrashed by Tursonov - 7-6, 6-0.

Of course, the biggest story on the ATP Tour this week is still Roger Federer. Even in victory people are questioning his play - and, they should. Federer really should have lost his opening match to Robby Ginepri, who served for the match up 7-6, 6-5. Federer took control from there and won the second in a tiebreaker, and the third easily 6-0.

Now, as I write, he is locked in a battle with Karlovic, on serve early in the third set. The guy has had a trying year, with disappointment upon disappointment. But all in all, it creates great drama for the rest of the year…will he continue to disappoint, or will he return to form and start dominating the game again?

EDIT: Federer has just been defeated by Karlovic 7-6 4-6 7-6 to continue his poor run of form. No doubt that Federer is still a class act, but this year is not a good one thus far.

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