| By Chris Oddo |
Photo Credit: Julian Finney/AFP/Getty Images |
Heroes and Zeros is Tennis Now's way of saying goodbye to the tennis week that was. As much as we'd like each week to last forever, there always comes a time when it's best just to move on to the next one. That time is now...
Zero: Dudi Sela
Sorry, but anytime you elect to skip a post-match handshake—barring some sort of physical ailment, like losing both hands during the course of a match—you immediately drop to zero status. That is exactly what Dudi Sela, who lost a nail biter to qualifier Marinko Matosevic in the Delray Beach semis, did on Saturday.
Quotes like this don’t help Sela’s case either: “I felt like I played much better than him, and I’m losing, and it’s a bad feeling.”
Okay, so you thought you should have won, and you refuse to shake hands because of that? Weak.
Hero: The Swiss Maestro
The Mighty Fed tore through Dubai, playing his swashbuckling brand of quick strike tennis against such world-class foes as Juan Martin Del Potro and Andy Murray, and he didn’t drop a set in the process. That’s two consecutive titles for Federer, and five titles in his last seven tournaments. Maybe 30 really is the new 20?
Zero: Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Youzhny earns the zero label for losing 12 straight matches to the aforementioned Federer. I know there’s no shame in losing to Federer, but can’t there be a little shame in losing to him 12 consecutive times? Robin Soderling would never let that happen. Oh, wait—he did. But Soderling made his13th encounter with the Maestro count (a massive upset in the 2010 French Open quarterfinals). Something tells me that Youzhny will never have his day against Fed.
Hero: Sara Errani
The feisty Italian (really, what Italian woman isn’t feisty?) not only took the Acapulco singles title—her first since 2008—when she defeated Flavia Pennetta, bageling her in the final set, she also won the dubs with compatriot Roberta Vinci. Errani is the first WTA player to sweep singles and doubles at the same event since Iveta Benesova did the deed in April of 2010 (Fes, Morocco).
Zero: John Isner and Jelena Jankovic
Both top 15 players missed the chance for a title last week when they dropped out in the semis of their respective events. To make matters worse, each would have had the chance to play a qualifier in the finals had they found a way to make it through. Semifinals are fine sometimes, but this was the week where both Isner and Jankovic could have made up some ground in the rankings and built some momentum heading into the Indian Wells-Miami swing.
Hero: Su-Wei Hsieh
The Taiwanese qualifier snatched her first WTA title in Kuala Lumpur and jumped up 45 spots in the rankings, matching her career-high of 78 from 2008. It was a strange yet triumphant week for Hsieh, who avoided facing No. 1 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarters (withdrawal) then kept slugging away while her opponent in the finals, Petra Martic, suffered from cramps and eventually retired due to exhaustion in the final.
Hero: Marinko Matosevic
A card carrying member of the challenger circuit, Matosevic had won only three ATP matches until this week. What do you know? Now he’s won seven. After qualifying, Matosevic took out Ivo Karlovic, Alex Bogomolov, Ernests Gulbis, and Dudi Sela, before finally giving way to Kevin Anderson in the final. But not to worry, Matosevic did pluck a sweet $39,900 check for his efforts, and his ranking jumped from 173 to 129 too.
Zero: Janko Tipsarevic
Janko is as loveable as they come, and his charge to the top 10 has most certainly been commendable, but when you double fault on set point against the world No. 1 like Tipsarevic did vs. Novak Djokovic (in the second set of their quarterfinal match in Dubai), the word zero (not commendable) comes to mind.