→ jerrywin:XD 01/28 15:04
在澳網開打前澳洲名將 現在當球評的Pat Cash
寫了一篇文章嚴厲的指稱小威再也不會登上高峰
昨天他為自己的文章道歉
澳網前:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5205-2547200,00.html
Williams is lost cause
Pat Cash
For all her talk, Serena Williams will never return to the top again
IF ANYBODY is qualified to make deluded statements about tennis, it is a
former world No 1 and winner of seven Grand Slam titles. But when Serena
Williams arrives in Australia on her first foreign playing trip in a year and
announces that it is only a matter of time before she is again dominating the
sport, it’s time to tell her to get real.
Tennis is unforgiving. You can’t let it slide down the list of priorities,
only to realise suddenly that playing the sport was what you wanted to do all
along. Many have tried to turn back the clock, but nearly all have failed.
That list includes Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Martina Hingis and, for
different reasons, Monica Seles.
Admittedly this quartet experienced some success. The exploits of Hingis
reaffirm the belief that a good champion never completely loses the gift, but
she has gone only a fraction of the way and the No 1 ranking she held for a
couple of years is far out of reach. Why? Tennis moved on in her absence.
The only players I can recall who let things slip, only to climb back to the
top, were Andre Agassi and Jennifer Capriati. Williams should ask herself if
she has the same dedication. And is she prepared to make the sacrifices? The
answer is obvious.
As the saying so often used by McEnroe goes: “The older I get, the better
player I used to be.” I take issue with Mac over many things, but not the
merits of those words.
Williams may be in better physical shape this year than when she pitched up
for the 2006 Australian Open, but her three matches in Hobart last week were
her first in tournament play since the US Open almost four months ago. Add to
that the fact that last year she opted not to play outside the US after
losing in the third round in Melbourne and you cannot fail to agree that her
application is lacking.
The Williams sisters changed the face of women’s tennis, taking power play
to previously unimaginable levels. They blazed everybody else out of their
path. But Serena clearly has a limited attention span. At her peak she had no
patience in the way she played her tennis. Now she does not appear to have
the fortitude to stick at what she is trying to do.
I never experienced a fraction of the success and dominance that she enjoyed,
but there came a time in my career when everything associated with being a
top player seemed suffocating. I wanted to do different things and the
thought of heading to the practice court seemed like purgatory. Eventually I
realised how much tennis meant to me and tried to make up for lost time, but
although the spirit was willing, the body was not. And it made for years of
frustration.
In the same way I maintained that my main interest was aspiring to be a rock
musician for a couple of years, Williams said she was an actress. She also
got involved in the fashion world and seemed to love every second of it. Good
on her. She is entitled to do whatever she wants, and if it made her happy,
what more could she ask?
Everybody knows she and Venus had no real choice when their father, Richard,
decided that much of their childhood would be spent hitting tennis balls. Who
can be surprised that this promotes a desire to do something different? But
to make such a crass statement on her arrival in Australia was an insult to
Amelie Mauresmo and Maria Sharapova, who have risen to the top of the game in
her absence.
They are the new winning breed. They are tall and hit the ball just as hard
as the Williams sisters, if not harder. Coming through are Jelena Jankovic,
Nicole Vaidisova and Ana Ivanovic, who possess similar firepower and just
need a little more experience.
There is so much more depth to the women’s game nowadays. No longer do we
disregard the first week of a Grand Slam as a warm-up for the real
confrontations that are to come.
I still don’t expect too many upsets before the quarter-finals, but neither
do I expect Serena Williams, currently the world’s 81st-ranked player, with
eight Americans above her in the rankings, to be in the mix at the sharp end
of the tournament.
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澳網後:
Strewth! I called it wrong
Pat Cash
I am happy to eat humble pie after Serena Williams produces an awesome
display of power tennis
AUSTRALIANS are not very good at admitting their mistakes. Maybe that’s
because it doesn’t happen very often when sport is concerned, but I hold my
hands up in apology, I got it wrong all ends up about Serena Williams. In my
defence, I was not alone. Tracy Austin, who knows more about women’s tennis
than me, laughed at the suggestion that the former world No 1 had a
legitimate shot at climbing back to the top. Yet here are the two of us, and
many more besides, eating humble pie after Serena collected a third
Australian Open title to take her Grand Slam collection to eight.
What does this win mean, except for the fact I once again appreciate it’s a
good job I don’t gamble because I would have put a lot of money on Serena
not even being around for the second week of the tournament, let alone
winning the whole thing? Foremost, it proves she is a a dynamic athlete and
quite simply the strongest female player the game has ever known. It defies
belief that she can turn up for a Grand Slam after playing just four
tournaments in the past 12 months and win the thing. However, it reinforces
my long-held view that there is a huge disparity between the relative
strengths of the men’s and women’s games. For a woman to win a major title,
no matter how talented and experienced she might be, on so little match play
is a sad indictment of the WTA Tour.
This result also tells me that the young band of players — Nicole Vaidisova,
Jelena Jankovic, Shahar Peer, Nadia Petrova, and even Maria Sharapova on the
evidence of the final — are intimidated by Williams when she is focused on
the job and brimful of determination. You have to admit, she must be a pretty
awesome sight across the net when she is slamming winners.
People were shocked when Venus Williams got through to win the Wimbledon
title in 2005, but this achievement eclipses even that. Just a few weeks ago,
Serena turned up in Hobart for a minor warm-up tournament and lasted a couple
of rounds before losing out to a player who was eliminated here within a
couple of days.
I can understand why Serena allowed her concentration to wander into the
worlds of acting and fashion. She lived and breathed little other than tennis
for most of her teens and everybody needs time to break out. You also have to
add the distress she felt when her half-sister was murdered in 2003. I lost a
half-brother when I was a junior player and it was something I struggled to
come to terms with for years. Now she is back and I hope that we see Serena
contending at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows. I will not be
making the same mistake again.
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