Road to the U.S. Open: Questions, Clijsters, and Consistency

The American hard court season has ended and the players have now made the switch to clay courts, with the majority of play moving to Europe where they will be tested on slower but more difficult courts that can be tricky for the power hitters. The French Open looms on the horizon as the next slam tournament but before that players must play several premier tournaments in Berlin, Rome and the new Madrid tournament that is a $4.5 million premier event.

The beginning of the season was demanding as Rafael Nadal won his first hard court slam with an emotional victory over Roger Federer in Melbourne at the Australian Open. Federer had been vying for his 14th slam title, which would have tied him with Pete Sampras for the record of most slam titles. Serena Williams also won again as she brought her slam title final to 10 with an easy victory over Dinara Safina, from Russia, in straight sets. Then in Indian Wells, California, it was Victoria Azarenka who came out with all cylinders firing as she defeated Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to win her first premier event. Did it help that Venus and Serena Williams were not playing? Maybe, but either way, Azarenka proved that she has the talent to make it into the top 10 and she is still relatively young.

Even more exciting news came as former world number 1 and U.S. Open Champion, Kim Clijsters from Belgium asked U.S. Open organizers for a bid to this year’s tournament. Clijsters had retired due to nagging injuries at the young age of 23 and it was a big loss, as one of the biggest rivalries in women’s tennis ended as Justine Henin, the lone Belgian left, remained uncontested for the majority of her final year on the tour. Kim Clijsters’ return could mean bigger publicity for this year’s U.S. Open. With a slower economy, tournament organizers can only hope for more good news in order to promote the final slam of the season.

All of the buzz has been generating a lot of press but there are still so many questions in the air, and the critics are eager to jump at any miscue that the ATP or WTA is going to produce. Many of the women’s top seeds have not played consistently well and have fallen prey to injury. Last year’s most consistent player, Jelena Jankovic, has struggled throughout every tournament this year failing to even make it into the quarterfinals of any event. Jankovic is under an enormous amount of pressure to finally capture a slam title after being ranked number 1 in the world without a coveted slam title under her belt. With Serena Williams already winning the title 3 times including last year’s and Maria Sharapova not even being a factor at the moment, Jankovic has to step it up as the hard court tournaments quickly approach.

On the ATP side, Roger Federer is running out of chances to win that elusive 14th slam title. Without it he will remain second to Pete Sampras in overall slam titles. There is very little margin for error as the new, younger stars like the Scottish Andy Murray, Serbian Novak Djokovic, and the new king of the courts, Rafael Nadal, all stand in Roger Federer’s way of his big dream. At only 22 years of age, Nadal is already quickly encroaching upon his hero’s legacy with 6 slam titles and the French Open only a month away. He remains the favorite and with good reason since clay is his best surface.

However, unlike Federer, Nadal has proven that he can win on all surfaces when it matters the most and defeated the great Federer at Wimbledon in 2008 in a gut-wrenching 5 set match that will go down in history as one of the greatest matches ever played. Nadal followed up that win with a victory in Australia where he again defeated his rival and reduced Federer to tears. Even with Nadal, Murray, and Djokovic crowding the top seeds, anyone in the top 10 is a threat to contend for a slam title. The much improved Argentine, Juan Martin del Potro, and Frenchmen Gilles Simon, Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are all very able on hard courts. Power counts for a lot on this surface as big serves and deep shots are a must for an player who wants to pose a serious threat.

With so many new emerging players, and some of the women’s tour finally playing like they mean it, it really is anyone’s game. Will Maria Sharapova be healthy enough to even put up a fight? Will Serena and Venus Williams continue to dominate the entire women’s field? Will Andy Roddick ever beat Roger Federer again? Is there anyone out there that can dethrone Rafael Nadal from his consecutive French Open domination? The U.S. Open is still 4 months away and although the majority of the field is still healthy there is still plenty of time for the mighty to fall and a new victor to emerge.