Stay tuned all week for full coverage in Paris and catch Rick at the ATP Rotterdam tournament next week!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

12►

Team Canada practice session in Vancouver

Two years removed from hosting the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the city of Vancouver will be all about tennis this week as many of the sport world’s eyes will be focused on the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, which will host Canada’s biggest Davis Cup tie in the last decade beginning Friday.

Canada will host a powerhouse team from France, which includes Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in their first World Group tie since 2004. This also marks the first time since 1992 that Vancouver will host a Davis Cup tie.

Led by their two young guns, Milos Raonic and Vasek Pospisil, who played the role of Davis Cup hero last year to give his country this opportunity, Canada will attempt to pull off a huge upset in their first home tie since 2009. For the occasion, Tennis Canada has selected a fast indoor hard court that should help produce a few more aces and winners from the heavy-hitting Canadian racquets.

Not only did the event sell out within an hour, but the organizing committee has pulled out all of the stops to give their squad every advantage as they go after this monumental victory. “Operation Red and White” is encouraging fans to wear their country’s colours regardless of where they will be watching the matches and reinforces that France won’t win, at least “Not On Our Court”.  In addition, the Cactus Club Café in Vancouver is the official Team Canada Headquarters to watch the tie for fans who don’t have a ticket.

The one and only meeting between Canada and France in Davis Cup came way back in 1966 on the clay courts of Roland-Garros with the home side coming away with a dominant 5-0 win. The home team this time around is hoping for a much different result and Raonic and Pospisil will have to play the matches of their lives to make it happen. Not only will France be tough in singles, but they have also brought Julien Benneteau and Michael Llodra, two of their doubles specialists to counter Canadian legend Daniel Nestor, who usually guarantees a point when he suits up for the crucial doubles rubber.

“It’s a short time frame compared to the other years, usually we have play in March so we have an extra month to get the match count high enough to feel really good about anybody’s game,” said Team Canada captain Martin Laurendeau. “But, the fact that it’s following a Grand Slam and it’s early in the season has forced the guys to be sharp early in the year and we are playing some good tennis right now.”

The task at hand may be a very difficult one, but there is a reason they play the game and the Canadian underdogs plan on showing their home fans why.

On Thursday, Roddick disclosed to the media that an MRI showed a partial tear in his hamstring tendon that he sustained during the Australian Open, but that he expects to be ready for the SAP Open tournament in San Jose, California with his first-round match schedule for February 15th.

“It’s a concern. I haven’t hit a ball since Australia. We’ve just been working on different types of treatment trying to get it right. The MRI came back probably not as good as we were hoping. I’m hoping to be hitting balls for the first time next Monday, and that should get me. If all goes well there, that should be plenty of time to be ready.”

Roddick was also asked if he watched the six-hour battle between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal for the Australian Open title, but the American said he found it hard to set his alarm for one in the morning when not playing in a tournament. But he was impressed by what he did see of that final.

“It almost looks like the kind of tennis you see when you play Xbox where the guys really don’t get tired and they hit whatever shot they want. It’s pretty remarkable. I know probably at no time in my career, and I’ve been in pretty good shape throughout it, I don’t know if I could play back to back six hour matches of that intensity. What they’re doing is physically impressive.”

But all was not lost as Roddick was able to celebrate during the pre-Super Bowl party in Indianapolis this weekend, and the highlight of the night came in the form of Decker’s “date.” She ditched her husband Roddick for her “Battleship” director’s 12-year-old son Emmett Berg who cheerily obliged for a kiss from the model/actress. Decker went casual, looking comfortable in a Proenza Schouler dress with Net-a-Porter shoes to complement an edgy feel.

Likewise, Roddick dressed-down and looking dapper in a Lacoste polo and jeans.

Both made the rounds and got cozy with LL Cool J …

… and Andy finally shined his smile when catching up with football players Hines Ward, Greg Jennings and good friend Terrell Owens.

(images via Getty and GQ)

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic contested their third consecutive Grand Slam final at the recently concluded 2012 Australian Open. It was by a wide margin their most competitive and exciting meeting at this stage. There was a great deal of high drama, multiple swings in momentum, and no shortage of stellar shot-making from both players. It was an epic match and will surely be remembered among the most exciting Grand Slam finals of all time. The match also had its place in history assured because it shattered the previous record for the longest Grand Slam final of all time, breaking the previous record set by Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl at the 1988 US Open by nearly an hour.*

Nadal and Djokovic lean over in exhaustion after the Australian Open final

It should come as no surprise that the length of the Nadal-Djokovic final, which was seven minutes short of six hours, was not due entirely to the quality of play. Both Nadal and Djokovic are known for their pace of play, which is – not to put too fine a point on it – quite slow. There has been a great deal of discussion recently about the amount of time taken between points, and Nadal and Djokovic are usually at the center of these complaints.

For anyone who may not be aware, there is a rule in both the ITF and the ATP rulebooks that states “play shall be continuous” and that limits the amount of time a server should be allowed between the end of one point and the beginning of the next to either 20 or 25 seconds, depending on which set of rules is being followed during the match (Grand Slam matches take place under ITF auspices). Both Nadal and Djokovic routinely go over this time constraint.

It is difficult for a casual tennis observer to try to figure out whether or not these delays are truly egregious, because the amount of statistical data that we have easy access to is severely limited. We cannot see precisely how much time is expended by each player in between points, how long points take on average, or any number of other stats that would be useful in trying to parse the seriousness of these concerns.

I’ve come up with a simple, blunt method of estimating the amount of time taken between points, using only data that’s available on either the ATP or Australian Open websites. To find the average length of a point, just take the match length and divide it by the total number of points. Granted, this includes the amount of time that the ball was actually in play in addition to the time taken in between points, so it is not as sophisticated a measurement as I would prefer, but it is the best method that I could come up with, given the information available.

Given that there were 369 points played over 5 hours and 54 minutes, the average length of each point in the Nadal-Djokovic final was 57.4 seconds – nearly a minute per point played. This is the longest amount of time per point for any Grand Slam final since the ATP started keeping track of these statistics. To fully understand whether or not that is an unusual stat, more historical data is necessary.

Prior to 2009, the seven slowest finals had all taken place at the French Open, which is as it should be, considering the court conditions at Roland Garros lead to more long, drawn-out rallies than at the other majors. The slowest-played finals up to that point were Nadal-Federer in 2006 and Kuerten-Corretja in 2001, which both took about 47 seconds per point. The fastest-played finals have been at Wimbledon (again, no surprise there), where Sampras-Becker in 1995 took 29 seconds for each point, Agassi-Ivanisevic in 1992 took 27, and Sampras-Ivanisevic in 1998 took 25.5 seconds.

The trend over the last twenty years has generally been towards slower matches. This is partly because the serve-and-volley game has become significantly less common, so that almost all points are decided by baseline rallies, which necessarily take up more time. But I don’t think that fully explains the extent to which the pace of play has dropped.

While the most recent Grand Slam final was the slowest-played on record, it is important to note that the top six slowest are also the six most recent. The 2011 Djokovic-Nadal US Open took 56 seconds per point, their 2010 US Open meeting took 52.4, the 2011 Australian Open between Djokovic and Murray took 51.8, the 2011 Djokovic-Nadal final at Wimbledon took 50.2, and the 2011 French Open between Nadal and Federer took 48 seconds for each point.

Before the 2010 US Open, no Grand Slam final had been ever played at a pace of 50 seconds per point or slower. Since then, all of them except one have. That one involved Roger Federer, who is a very quick player and was able to bring the average down, even though he was playing on the red clay of Roland Garros. The other five finals all involved Djokovic, Nadal, and Andy Murray, all of whom take their time between points.

In all of these finals, there were many long, grinding rallies. All three of the players I just mentioned are fantastic defenders, but I have trouble believing that the rallies in all of these recent finals were so historically lengthy, on average, that they should be solely responsible for the unprecedented slow pace of the last half-dozen Grand Slam finals. It has to come down to the amount of time that these players are taking in between points.

I do not recall a single instance in the final of the umpire giving either Nadal or Djokovic a warning about taking too much time. Honestly, I can’t remember that happening in any of the six most recent finals. This is not a situation like what is happening with grunting in the women’s game, where people are saying that there ought to be a rule to deal with this behavior. There is a rule, it’s just being ignored.

There are some commentators (like Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim) who find the pace of play on the men’s side to be as frustrating as the grunting or shrieking on the women’s side. I think there’s an argument to be made that the time limit as it currently stands is no longer appropriate. The game has gotten significantly more athletically-demanding in the last ten or fifteen years, so perhaps players do need more recovery time between points. However, I do think that the ATP and the ITF should either change the rule or enforce it, because simply ignoring it because the game’s top players flout it so consistently is not an appropriate response.

Ultimate Warrior

Physically, mentally, and emotionally, Novak Djokovic proved he had it all in his epic win over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final.  This win did more to boost his reputation and solidify the Serb’s status as the best player in the world than anything he did in 2011.  He had many reasons to lose that match.  He could have gotten frustrated and deviated from the game plan when he frequently misfired in the first set.  He could have crumbled going into the fifth after three forehand unforced errors in the tiebreak ultimately cost him the fourth.  He was being asked to win two five-set matches back-to-back for the first time in his career, and he was being asked to pull it off against a guy long considered one of the game’s most physically punishing players.  At 2-4 down in that final set, he could have accepted it was over.  He’d had a good run.  But instead he turned a badly missed backhand by Nadal into a turning point, snatching back the momentum.  And despite the obvious tiredness, he never looked like a man who was going to lose that match.  There was no panic, and if anything, the occasional smile that crossed his face showed he was enjoying the battle, win or lose.  When he broke Nadal that final time, there was no celebration.  There was still work to be done, and only when he had struck that final winner to seal the match did he let the emotions flow.  Will he have the same kind of season he did in 2011?  The general consensus is no, but with his win in Australia, it surely hints that such a run wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility.

Here to Stay

She’s been touted as a future Grand Slam champion for a few years now, and playing in her first major final, Victoria Azarenka definitely delivered.  After a shaky start to fall in a 2-0 hole, she turned the tables on the more experienced Sharapova, allowing the Russian just one more game in what turned out to be a total route.  Her improved movement, touch, and net play were all on display as she not only won her maiden slam, but secured the No. 1 ranking in the process.  Her shrieking and “in-your-face” attitude will undoubtedly be a turn off for some, but they are also the same qualities that have served the likes of Sharapova and Serena Williams, among others, well.  She’s clearly someone who enjoys the spotlight, and she has solidly emerged as a strong candidate to help fill the void at the top of women’s tennis.

Time Will Tell

You have to hand it to Rafael Nadal.  His fighting spirit was at its best in his Australian Open final loss to Novak Djokovic, where his outright refusal to throw in the towel played a huge factor in extending it to five sets.  But at the end of the day, a loss is a loss, and this had to be one of the most painful in his career.  For his own part, Nadal put a positive spin on things, stating he felt he was right there mentally this time.  It’s also the closest he’s come to defeating Djokovic at a major since the Serb turned the tide in their rivalry.  But there were also some worrying signs for Nadal.  After nearly six hours, it was Nadal, allegedly the physically and mentally stronger of the two, who blinked first.  This was all the more surprising considering that Djokovic, much like Nadal in 2009, was the one coming in on one day’s less rest after a grueling and emotional semifinal win.  When it mattered most, Nadal also reverted back to his defensive mode and allowed Djokovic to dictate play.  And perhaps the biggest hurdle still in Nadal’s path is the mental block he has against the current No. 1.  He doesn’t miss that sitter backhand to go 40-15 up at 4-2 in the fifth unless a guy is in his head.  Only time will tell how Nadal will truly view and handle this loss and its potential impact on the rest of his season.

Mixed Bag

Any time a player reaches a Grand Slam final, especially if they’ve had shoulder surgery, it’s a good effort.  But while Maria Sharapova should take heart from her Australian Open run, she should also be leaving with some question marks about her chances to hold aloft another major trophy.  Chris Evert certainly thinks she can, going so far as to say “she’s too good not to.”  Still, some, myself included, beg to differ.  That’s not to say Sharapova won’t.  She hits the ball big enough, and if she couples it with relative consistency, she could win.  But she’s also going to need some help from the draw.   Her semifinal win over Kvitova had more to do with the unforced errors coming off the Czech’s racquet than anything Sharapova was doing.  Then there was the drubbing she suffered from Azarenka, a player who matched her stroke for stroke (and shriek for shriek), but also possessed greater variety and guile.  It really exposed Sharapova’s one-dimensional game.  So if Sharapova wants to win another major going forward, she has two options.  She can either pray that the draws ultimately pan out for her, or she can look to add a few new tools to her game (and the latter option will probably only come to fruition if someone “important enough” puts the bug in her ear!).

Questionable Decision

January 2012 is a month Caroline Wozniacki would probably like to forget.  After entering the Australian Open amid an injury scare, she gets dismissed by Clijsters in the quarters and wakes up this past Monday as the No. 4 player in the world.  To top it all off, we learn that after just two months on the job, Ricardo Sanchez has been sacked as her coach.  While diplomatic in his comments to the press, Sanchez confirmed what many already suspected – that there was no place for him in the Wozniacki father-daughter system as Piotr refused to relinquish the reins.  No one disputes that Piotr has done a wonderful job with his daughter, but she’s now spinning her wheels as the competition begins to pass her.  A coach other than Piotr is needed, and he would be well-served to remember that wanting what’s best for his child sometimes means letting go, not holding on.

Things are looking up for Andy Murray. It’s odd to say that Andy Murray’s performance in Melbourne was better than last year. He lost in the semifinals this year, while he made it through to the finals for the past two years. However, his level of play against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals was promising. He came into that match looking for the win and even when he was down in the fifth set, he kept his cool and came back to level the match. Win or lose, these days extending a match against Novak Djokovic to five sets is an accomplishment. Had things gone the slightest bit differently in that fifth set, it would have changed the outcome of the tournament.

Victoria Azarenka issued a statement to the WTA. How many times over the past year or two have you looked at the women’s draw at a Slam and seen that one top player has a clear run straight to the finals, only to watch them lose to some 18 year old you’ve never heard of in the second round? That is the inconsistency of the WTA these days. Azarenka took full advantage of the draw she was given. She didn’t hesitate. Perhaps most impressively, she kept her cool in her first major final, against a more experienced opponent, with the No. 1 ranking on the line.

Lleyton Hewitt’s not quite done yet. The two time grand slam champion hasn’t played much tennis over the last year due to injuries. Nearing his 31^st birthday, many players would be considering retirement if they were in Hewitt’s shoes, but Hewitt has remained adamant that he will continue to play. He backed up his decision with an exciting four set, fourth round showdown on Rod Laver Arena with eventual champion Novak Djokovic. He may not be the slam favorite he was ten years ago, but Hewitt’s fighting spirit still makes for some very exciting tennis matches.

Maria Sharapova still has what it takes to win a major. The final was a blowout. There’s no denying it, but the way Sharapova played leading up to the final was very telling. She was confident even though she was presented with a draw including Gisela Dulko, Angelique Kerber, Sabine Lisicki, and Petra Kvitova. Now No. 3 in the world, it looks like Sharapova could add another trophy to her collection under the right circumstances.

After defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the first reverse rubber, Nadal predicted the Argentine would be back in the top four at some point in 2012.

Del Potro has taken a huge step in that direction by hitting the top 10 in this week’s rankings, his first appearance back among the game’s elite in nearly a year and a half. This comes on the heels of the just-concluded Australian Open where he made the quarterfinals—the farthest he’s advanced at a Slam since his title-winning effort at the 2009 U.S. Open.

Since that time, it’s been a series of lows and highs for the 23-year-old: His ranking plummeted to the 400s after a serious wrist injury. That was then followed by a triumphant 2011, when he won two titles and worked his way back to the top 15.

Now, del Potro has made another huge step, and there’s a strong possibility that he can go even higher.

For one, there are a few players ranked above him that you would have to like his chances against. He has a winning head-to-head record against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Janko Tipsarevic. Plus, based on current form, del Potro more than likely would be favored if he had to play Mardy Fish—whom he actually has a losing record against.

While potential wins against those players could give del Potro a ranking boost, facing members of the top five would be a different story. Against Novak Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and David Ferrer, del Potro has a combined 9-27 record.

Still, though, he has beaten all of the top five at least once—and he’s well-equipped to do so again. Del Potro possesses one of the biggest forehands in the game, as well as a punishing serve. He’s had success on all surfaces, ranging from reaching the semis at the French Open to the round of 16 at Wimbledon. And, of course, there is that U.S. Open win.

Winning another Grand Slam title might not happen this year, given the way Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray have made a habit of locking down the spots in the final four in the Majors. But there’s still plenty of ways del Potro can make his move back into the top four: mainly by posting consistent results at the game’s biggest events, such as the ATP Masters Series 1000 tournaments.

If he does that, del Potro will have made a true fortune teller of Nadal after all.

Maria Sharapova with her runner-up trophy

Maria Sharapova wasn’t the popular pick to win the Australian Open. In fact, many predicted she would be upset in the first round by Gisela Dulko given that she had not played a competitive match in three months because of a bad ankle sprain and pulled out of Brisbane on account of the same injury issue.

Facing a tough draw from start to finish, Sharapova faced every challenge head on and looked dominant, moving better than ever, serving well and hitting her groundstrokes with purpose, through the early rounds of the tournament. She avoided a quarter-final match up with Serena Williams and in the semis, avenged her loss to Petra Kvitova in the 2010 Wimbledon final to find herself in the championship match for the second time in the last three Majors.

Pitted against first time Grand Slam finalist Victoria Azarenka, the script for Sharapova’s latest title run seemed to point towards her completing one of the most courageous injury comebacks in the history of women’s tennis by adding a fourth Major crown to her resume. However, it was Azarenka who provided the final plot twist, dismantling her opponent in a lopsided match that was very reminiscent of the 2004 Wimbledon final when Sharapova out played Serena Williams in her Grand Slam final debut as a fearless 17-year-old.

Leading up to the 2011 title bout in Melbourne, much of the talk focused on whether Azarenka would be able to handle the magnitude of the occasion playing in her first Grand Slam final while little was mentioned about how Sharapova would deal with her own nerves being so close to something that she has wanted more than anything since starting rehab on her surgically repaired shoulder three years ago. The latter scenario turned out to be the more prominent storyline.

“I had a good first couple of games, and that was about it. Then she was the one that was taking the first ball and hitting it deep and aggressive. I was always the one running around like a rabbit, you know, trying to play catch up all the time,” Sharapova said her post-match press conference. “I think I just kind of, I don’t know, the switch went off.”

The question now is how will Sharapova respond to this wasted opportunity not knowing how many more chances she is going to get to taste Grand Slam glory once again. Knowing Sharapova and her drive to succeed, she will use this performance as a springboard for the rest of her season instead of dwell on what could have been had she not come out so flat at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night. She handled the loss with dignity and grace, giving a runner-up speech that was as classy as they come.

Sharapova is playing a better, more complete game at this stage in her career as are many of her biggest rivals. The ability to turn defence into offence has become such an important part of the women’s game today which means that Sharapova’s first strike style of tennis can be better neutralized today than when she dominated her sport as a teenager. Her serve and forehand remain a liability, but things are certainly looking up for Sharapova and there is no reason not to believe there is a Grand Slam title in her future.

Open Sud de France

Formerly held in Lyon in October of each year, the Open Sud de France has now relocated to Montpelier at an earlier date within the tennis season.

Tomas Berdych

Tomas Berdych is the number one seed and will try to win his first ATP title since his victory in Beijing this past October. That was the only title the Czech won in 2011, but he had an incredibly solid year reaching the semi-finals of eight tournaments and the quarter-finals of seven others. That type of consistency has made Berdych a main-stay in the top-ten in recent years but success at the Masters 1000 and Grand Slam level have still mostly eluded him with the exception of his win at the Paris Masters in 2005 and his Wimbledon final in 2010.

Berdych has a very manageable quarter of the tournament with no major obstacles in his way and a first-round bye to ease him into the draw.

Richard Gasquet is the fourth seed and is also in the top-half of the draw and he will likely face Nikolay Davydenko in the second round. Despite Davydenko’s rapid drop in play these past two years, the Russian will still give Gasquet a good challenge and provide fans with an entertaining early round match.

In the bottom half of the draw, look for two Frenchman to navigate their way through to the semi-finals. Both Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon are the highest two seeds and also the most likely to ride the support of the French fans to a solid showing.

Canadian number-two singles player Vasek Pospisil will undoubtedly be keeping his eye on the French, as Canada is scheduled to host the French in the first round of the Davis Cup on February 10th in Vancouver. Pospisil opens against French wildcard Guillaume Rufin.

PBZ Zagreb Indoors – Croatia

It was a moment for Croatian tennis fans to relish a year ago in Zagreb when Ivan Dodig captured his first ATP title against Michael Berrer. While the chances of Dodig repeating are not necessarily favored, he is one of three Croats who could lift the trophy on the final Sunday.

Veteran Ivan Ljubicic holds the top seed and opens against Karol Beck. Ljubicic has won the event before and has the best chance of emerging from his quarter of the draw.

Beneath him can be found monster-server Ivo Karlovic who will also receive plenty of home-country support. Mikhail Youzhny will try to bounce back from a disappointing first round loss in Melbourne as he holds the third seed and is my pick to emerge from the top-half of the draw.

In the bottom half, we have Marcos Baghdatis and the previously mentioned Dodig in one quarter. In the final section of the draw, Alex Bogomolov Jr. is the surprised second seed and leads the weakest section of the tournament. In other words, look for Baghdatis or possibly Dodig to have a good route to the finals.

VTR Open – Chile

Providing some contrast to the two hard-court tournaments this week, we have the VTR Open which is played on red clay. Last year’s champion in Vina del Mar is Tommy Robredo but he is not entered in this year’s edition. Meanwhile Fernando Gonzalez holds the most career titles at the event with four. Gonzalez has taken a wildcard into the main draw as he has struggled since returning to the tour last year from hip and knee injuries he sustained in 2010.

Clay court expert Juan Monaco takes the pole position this year and opens with a first round bye. Albert Montanes who is seeded fifth will likely be Monaco’s main source of opposition in the top-half of the draw.

In the bottom section look for Thomaz Bellucci, who won the event in 2010, to challenge once again for the title and for second seeded Juan Ignacio Chela to advance into the draw as well.

Don’t feel bad if you are feeling the effects of a tennis-hangover as these smaller events begin. Nothing can really compare to two weeks of elite level tennis like we have just experienced. There is a lot to look forward to however, with the first round of Davis Cup action just two weeks away and then a month after that we will enjoy back-to-back Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.