Parity shines through in men's, women's tours

If Serena Williams can scald top-ranked Justine Henin 6-2, 6-0 in the quarterfinals of Miami's Sony Ericsson Open, then outlast world No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 4 Jelena Jankovic to win her fifth title in Miami, does that mean that she's prepared to embark on another reign of supremacy?
 
Probably not, as the younger Williams sister is not a spring chicken anymore and since the start of the 2005 season, has won all of five titles.
 
But Serena is still the most accomplished player of her generation, and the importance of that thrashing of Henin cannot be understated. The Belgian had soundly beaten her in their past three meetings — all 2007 Grand Slam quarterfinals — and revenge was certainly a factor. Moreover, proving to herself that she still had the goods to best the six-time Grand Slam champion was utmost on her mind.
 
As always, Serena offered a self-centered, perfectionist's analysis, where the result is always on her performance, not her opponent's.
 
"I didn't make as many errors," Williams said. "I stayed positive no matter what happened. I think that was a good turnaround. It wasn't easy. It was just the fact of me making the right shots at the right time. I've been saying that tennis is my priority, and I feel that it is. Hopefully my results will finally start to show what I've been practicing and working on so diligently."
 
Serena has been hoping that for some time, but her injury-riddled body and occasional off-court flights of fancy haven't allowed her to put up the same numbers that she did in 2002 and the first half of 2003, when she briefly looked all the part of the best player ever.
 
In 2007, after she won the Australian Open and Miami in a dramatic come-from-behind win over Henin, there was brief talk of her chances of winning the calendar year Grand Slam. But those thoughts quickly faded, as armed with more variety, confidence and desire, Henin schooled her at three consecutive Slams.
 
From April 2007 through last month, when she toppled her older sister Venus and Patty Schnyder to win the crown in Bangalore, Serena was barely a factor, coming on and off the tour with shaky form, questionable conditioning and little faith in her vast repertoire.
 
But give the 26-year-old Williams this — she hates to be embarrassed and continued to think that if she could drag herself out of bed, put in enough hours on the practice court and in the gym that she could be a factor again. After falling miserably to Jankovic in Australia, she didn't let herself go to pieces and decided to work hard.
 
The decision appears to have paid off.
 
"I'm definitely way more fit than last year even at this tournament," she said. "I feel I'm moving better. I feel definitely I could be more fit and just in better shape, but I'm taking it one day at a time and looking at it in the long-term picture."
 
Henin said after the quarterfinal match that she played without courage. Like Serena, she's addicted to her own mantras. She knows that she has to take it to Williams from the first ball of every rally in order to beat her, and must have been hoping that she would be part of another error-strewn performance from Williams.
 
The Belgian, who utterly dominated the last three quarters of the 2007 season, is now in a pickle, having failed to win any of 2008's first three biggest events (she didn't play at Indian Wells). A true dominator on clay courts, she's about to enter a comfortable part of the season, but her No. 1 ranking will be there for the taking by summer time.
 
"It's been tough for me since the beginning of the season, but I understand why," Henin said. "A lot of things happen and what I did last year was pretty amazing. It's not that easy, and I took the time to work hard in the last few weeks, but sometimes it's not enough because you face players that want the same thing. What happened last season is far away from now, but still I knew it was going to take some time to realize and accept everything that happened last year. I need to keep working, be focused on this moment."
 
The quest for No. 1
 
It's been an altogether odd start to the women's season, with Maria Sharapova coming off the worst year of her career in 2007 and dominating the first two months, and then falling exhausted at Indian Wells to Kuznetsova. She pulled out of Miami to recover from two and half months of hardcore play, saying once again that she doesn't have the type of body that will allow her to grind week in and week out.
 
While the fifth-ranked Sharapova has a legitimate shot at the year-end top spot, she'll have to play near perfectly to end the year at No. 1. Her recent history indicates that it's doubtful that she'll be able to contest as many events as most of the other members of the top 10 do. No friend of red clay, Sharapova just took two wildcards into Amelia Island and Charleston, hoping that the faster green Har-Tru surface better suits her ready-aim-fire approach to matches.
 
At Indian Wells, second ranked Ana Ivanovic picked up the slack and won her first title in the desert in more than impressive fashion. But in Miami, the Serbian sensation couldn't back her result like she wanted to and had her sporadic serve battered by new mom Lindsay Davenport. While Ivanovic oozes with talent, if she's going to grab No. 1, she's going to have to get a whole lot more consistent.
 
Adding to the slight chaos, just when folks thought that Davenport might break through to her first major crown during her comeback, she was stomped in the next round by the up-and-down Russian, Dinara Safina.
 
On the same day that Serena shook Henin's world, another probability was turned on its speculative head when the steady Kuznetsova sent Venus Williams spinning out of the tournament 6-4, 6-4, stopping a much-anticipated all-Williams semifinal.
 
Like Serena, Venus has had her share of successes in the past few years, but mostly at Wimbledon, where she won the 2005 and 2007 crowns. Remarkably, she's barely been heard from on her native hardcourts (she hasn't won a Tier I title on cement in nearly six years) and now it's pretty clear that in her 12th full year on tour, the 27-year-old is in decline. The six-time Grand Slam champion will always be a threat at the majors in good health, but this year, outside of her loss to Serena in Bangalore, she's lost to four young hard-hitting Eastern Europeans (Ivanovic, Kuznetsova, Cibulkova, Kvitova), and last year, she posted a respectable but not spectacular 50-10 mark. She has won all of eight titles since 2002.
 
When she's been successful as of late, Venus has incorporated a sure-handed net attack into her ground game. While she can still dominate from the backcourt on a great day, those occasions are few and further between in an era where most of the top-20 players can blister the ball from the backcourt.
 
Serena has usually been more consistent than Venus, especially when ossing up big serves, but she too has to begin another phase of her career, where she no longer depends as much on her foot speed and closes more points out at the net. She's a terrific volleyer, but is much more at home hammering big shots in crosscourt rallies. Now Williams says she's a more complete player and the world saw just how much flavor she has in her arsenal when she out-thought Kuznetsova in the semifinals and then aptly played to her strengths against the fleet Jankovic, employing her vaunted return of serve whenever she was served up a negotiable ball.
 
"My game has a lot of variety now," she said. "I hit a mean slice. I've always had a great lob. I've been playing a lot of doubles, which really helps me develop my lob, my volleys again. I'm feeling good up there."
 
Like Venus, Serena still feels like she can be number one again, but both of them realize that quest demands more than a fair amount of play. If Serena is to successfully butt heads with Henin, Sharapova and Ivanovic all year long, she's going to have to put herself out there more than once a month, which has pretty much been her pattern.
 
Either that, or she's going to have to win just about every major tournament she enters. That might be unrealistic, but Ms. Williams has beaten the odds before.
 
"I feel like all I want to do is play tennis, be the best and win," Williams said. "My whole life is dedicated to nothing but tennis. I've been working really hard. Sometimes when it doesn't come together I get frustrated. And the fact I got tight today is definitely a reflection of my desire and dedication now."
 
A new word for the men's tour — parity
 
If the women's circuit is now steeped in parity, so is the men's tour. Who could have predicted that after the first quarter of the season had ended top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal would be title-less? No. 3 Novak Djokovic — who lost early in Miami but won the Australian Open and the Tennis Masters Series event at Indian Wells — has had the best start of the top players, but American Andy Roddick has had a fine beginning too, winning San Jose and Dubai and upsetting Federer in Miami, the first time he had beaten the Swiss in four and half years.
 
Federer is in an obvious slump for the first time since he seized control of the tour at start of 2004. Nadal has been very consistent, but not spectacular enough in closing out events, reaching the Australian and Indian Wells semifinals as well as the Miami final, where world No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko shockingly battered and bruised him 6-4, 6-2 in the final.
 
A much discussed man off-court due to his embroilment in the ATP's gambling scandal, the Russian Davydenko has largely been forgotten on court until last week, he played steady and heady ball in his last three matches, blowing past Janko Tipsarevic, Roddick and Nadal. For at least one fortnight, he showed himself to be more than a paper tiger top-five player. When the French Open rolls around at the end of May, he's earned himself a spot in serious discussion as to who the real title contenders will be.
 
"Maybe I feel more confident because I beat very good guys here," Davydenko said, "and now and in the future I start coming and I play something maybe different, maybe much better, maybe much better, much faster."

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