TENNIS in DEPTH.

John McEnroe had to be helped off the court with a leg injury during a Rogers Legends Cup match against Michael Chang. The seven-time Grand Slam champion was stretching for a shot late in the second set Saturday when he collapsed to the ground, his face twisted in pain. Chang and two medical officials tended to McEnroe as he lay on the court for nearly 10 minutes. They finally hoisted him to his feet and he hobbled off the court, his arms wrapped around the two medics.

He stopped at one point to toss his white hat into the crowd, the effort causing him more discomfort. The 52-year-old McEnroe was receiving treatment at the Rexall Centre for what appeared to be a left hamstring injury. This is the first year for the legends event as part of the Rogers Cup

Bookmark It

Reluctantly or otherwise, the world of golf has grown accustomed to Tiger Woods as not only a pale shadow of his former self, but many times not a very good player at all. So how will tennis handle the same happening to Roger Federer if and when it happens? What will the sport be like with Federer as, say, the No. 10 ranked player in the world? Or worse? The combination of Federer’s athletic brilliance and utter class — there simply is not an athlete in any sport who surpasses the Swiss in that regard — means many of those who love and follow the sport stubbornly refused to acknowledge the slippery downslope is at hand for the 16-time Grand Slam champion.

But the signs are unmistakable. No Grand Slam title since January 2010. Only one tournament victory in 2011, and that at a relatively unimportant event in the Middle East. A second consecutive early departure from Wimbledon, once a competition he dominated at will, and an inability this week at the Rogers Cup to get even to the quarter-finals. He and Woods have been, essentially, sporting contemporaries, although Woods’s rise to glory came a few years before than of the Swiss. For several years they were simultaneously the greatest golfer of all time and the greatest tennis player ever to patrol a court, each credited with lifting the profile and profitability of their respective sports, united as men of Nike.

Woods, as has been well-documented, tumbled from the top of his sport through a combination of hubris, deceit, injury and human frailty. For the squeaky-clean Federer there has been, at least thus far, no similar fall from grace, no public humiliation, no scent of trouble. Once the two were pals, but Sports Illustrated reported recently that Federer has distanced himself from the golfer since his disgrace. Woods, however, said this week he and the tennis genius still “text all the time.”

Unlike Woods, Federer has not been the author of his own dip from No. 1 in the world to No. 3. His game is still breathtaking, imaginative and superb, just a half-level lower than where it once was. He is fit and committed, and continues to be a remarkably healthy participant in what has become a grinding, punishing men’s tennis tour. The rest of the field, however, has caught Federer and no longer fears him. Where once only Rafael Nadal was Federer’s Kryptonite, France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is now the player who has figured Federer out, beating him at Wimbledon and here, and Tsonga isn’t even a top 10 player at the moment. Federer transformed the sport a decade ago, and now what has to be viewed as a golden age for men’s tennis has created a slew of talented players who can rise up and defeat him. He was good enough to get to the French Open final this year, but lost to Nadal, and while he clearly has the game to win at least one more major, it’s no certainty that he will add to his record total. Some believe he’ll be around for another five years, and he has given no indication retirement is on the radar. Theoretically, he could do a Pete Sampras, who won the ’02 U.S. Open at age 31 and then retired on top. At 30, Federer is getting on the old side for tennis, although 29-year-old Mardy Fish has pushed his way into the Rogers Cup semifinals on Saturday. At 35, meanwhile, Woods has, in theory, a decade or more left as an elite player if he can correct all that ails his game. Woods hasn’t won an event in 20 months, can’t get healthy and missed the cut at this week’s PGA Championship. Federer is struggling with that lone victory in 2011, but last year he won five tourneys including the year-end ATP world tour finals.

So the questions of the two are subtly different. For Woods, it’s about how soon, if ever, he’ll get back to winning tournaments. He has lots of time. For Federer, it’s about how much time he has left, and whether his window of opportunity to add more layers to his greatness has closed. Woods’s reputation is irreparably damaged, but his legacy remains incomplete. Federer’s legacy is, barring a major misstep, already assured, surpassing that of Woods in that his humble, gracious manner on and off the court raised the standards of play and behaviour for everyone.

It just couldn’t go on forever.

Courtesy of Damien CoxSports Columnist…..Toronto Star.

Bookmark It

Serena Williams remained on course for a second title in the early weeks of the North American hardcourt season after battling through to the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto with victory over Lucia Safarova. Having triumphed in Stanford a fortnight ago, the 13-time grand slam winner is two wins away from another trophy, in what is just her fourth tournament of 2011. After having a year of her career wiped out by injury and health problems between her 2010 Wimbledon triumph and this year’s short grass-court season, Williams is hungry to re-establish herself at the top of the women’s game. She is ranked 80th, so is unseeded in Toronto, and against fellow non-seed Safarova she was in early trouble. But Williams, who turns 30 next month, fought back to win 4-6 6-3 6-2 against her left-handed Czech opponent. She gained a break decisively in the fifth game of the deciding set, and then added another before serving out to love for the match, completing her success in four minutes over two hours.

The American’s wins sets up a clash with the highest remaining seed in the draw, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. Azarenka won 6-1 6-2 against Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan, the player who caused a major surprise by beating Maria Sharapova in the third round. The other semi-final will feature Sam Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska. Australian 10th seed Stosur ended Italian Roberta Vinci’s impressive run, which included victories over world number one Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic, with a 6-4 6-1 triumph. Radwanska, seeded 13th, knocked out 11th-seeded German Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-3.

Bookmark It

Defending champions Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta squeak by after splitting the first two sets against Marina Erakovic and Julia Goerges, Dulko and Pennetta trailed 6-5 in the match tie-break, but then reeled off five straight points to secure a 46 62 106 triumph. ”Nice win today,” Dulko tweeted. “Was a really tough match against Erakovic and Goerges. Tough conditions as well, very windy!” Next up for the No.2 seeds are Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Alicja Rosolska, whom they just beat last week in the first round of Carlsbad. Dulko and Pennetta will be looking to put a disappointing trend behind them, as they have lost in the quarterfinals of five straight events.

The other seeded team in action Thursday, fourth-seeded Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko, were up, 4-1, in the first set on Ana Ivanovic and Andrea Petkovic when the Serb-German duo had to retire because of a left wrist injury suffered by Ivanovic. Azarenka and Kirilenko, who have now won 16 of their past 17 matches, will take on Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova in the quarters.

Bookmark It

Match Winning %        50+ Wins

1. Novak Djokovic (2011) .980  50–1

2. John McEnroe (1984) .965     82–3

3. Jimmy Connors (1974) .959  93–4

4. Roger Federer (2005) .953    81–4

5. Roger Federer (2006) .948    92–5

6. Björn Borg (1979) .933            84–6

7. Ivan Lendl (1986) .925           74–6

Roger Federer (2004) .925        74–6

9. Ivan Lendl (1985) .923           84–7

10. Ivan Lendl (1982) .922      106–9
The 24-year-old has lost just once this year – to Federer in the French Open semi-finals – and had too much for Croatian Marin Cilic as he recorded a 7-5 6-2 victory. Another Frenchman, fifth seed Gael Monfils, awaits Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga inflicted another bruising defeat on Roger Federer to reach the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Frenchman Tsonga’s victory over Federer at Wimbledon, when he came from two sets behind on Centre Court, provided the most thrilling match of the tournament. Today he took another deciding set against the former world number one, coming through a 7-6 (7/3) 4-6 6-1 winner to set up a last-eight clash with Spaniard Nicolas Almagro. Almagro got the better of Tsonga’s countryman Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/5) 6-3. If world number 16 Tsonga finds a way past Almagro, he could face Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals – they met at the same stage at Wimbledon, with Djokovic winning before dethroning champion Rafael Nadal in the final.

Monfils was pushed all the way by Serbian 12th seed Victor Troicki but emerged a 3-6 7-6 (7/0) 7-6 (7/5) winner. Ivan Dodig’s three-set win over Rafael Nadal in the second round must have taken it out of the Croatian, as he was crushed 6-1 6-4 by Serbian Janko Tipsarevic. Czech seventh seed Tomas Berdych overcame Croatian Ivo Karlovic 6-3 7-6 (7/2), Swiss 14th seed Stanislas Wawrinka eked out a 6-4 4-6 6-4 win over Andy Murray’s conqueror, South Africa Kevin Anderson, and American sixth seed Mardy Fish beat Latvian Ernests Gulbis 4-6 6-3 6-4

Bookmark It

The 26-year-old Voskoboeva, who ousted Marion Bartoli and Flavia Pennetta to earn her date with Sharapova, beat the Russian star with soft drop shots and had the veteran chasing balls to the baseline throughout the match. She became the latest casualty of the Rogers Cup women’s draw, hours after French Open champion and sixth-seeded Li Na of China bowed out of third-round action with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to No. 10 seed Samantha Stosur of Australia. ”I felt like a junior on the court,” Li said.

Also, No. 11 Andrea Petkovic of Germany also reached the quarterfinals after cruising by seventh-seeded Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-2. The losses by Sharapova and Li come a day after top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki was upset by No. 22 Roberta Vinci. Also gone is second-seeded Kim Clijsters, who withdrew earlier this week due to an abdominal injury, while former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic and No. 9 seed Marion Bartoli were beaten in their opening matches.

Polish 13th seed Agnieszka Radwanska repeated last week’s victory over Zvonareva in last weekend’s Carlsbad final, coming through 6-4 7-6 (7-4) this time. Azarenka defeated Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1 6-2, and Italy’s Vinci followed up her win over Wozniacki with another impressive result as she beat former number one Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-3) 6-2.

Bookmark It

Kim Clijsters has a partial tear of her left abdominal muscle and will pull out of Cincinnati—and is merely “hopeful” for the U.S. Open, her coach, Wim Fissette, told the Belgian newspaper Sportwereld. In her first match back since the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in the Netherlands in mid-June, the three-time U.S. Open champion suffered the injury in her match against Zheng Jie on Tuesday in Toronto, retiring while leading, 6-3 1-2. ”During my warm-up today before my match, I just felt my left stomach muscle really, really tight, and when I started serving it just gradually got worse,” she told reporters. “So before the match, I got taped to try and protect the muscle as much as possible so that I wouldn’t make it worse. And during my match I just felt like, yeah, it just went worse and worse. Starts with the serve and then gradually, just doing rotations with your body, upper body kind of upwards, started hurting, as well. So I already had an ultrasound here on‑site, and I have a partial tear in my left stomach muscle, a little bit of blood.”

Clijsters has not won a title since winning her fourth Grand Slam at the 2011 Australian Open. She has only played five matches since tearing a ligament in her ankle while dancing at her cousin’s wedding in early April. With her retirement in Canada and pullout from Cincinnati, No. 2 Clijsters will almost certainly fall to No. 3 in the rankings behind Vera Zvonareva and could also drop to No. 4 behind Victoria Azarenka as she was defending quarterfinal points from Canada and a title run in Cincinnati.

Bookmark It

Rafael Nadal is out of the Rogers Cup after a shock second round defeat against Croatia’s Ivan Dodig. The Spaniard, playing for the first time since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final in July, won the opening set 6-1. However, Dodig hit back to take the next two sets, both on tie-breaks, and clinch the match 1-6 7-6 7-6. Dodig, who hit 19 aces in all, will play Janko Tipsarevic for a place in the quarter-finals. ”This is the greatest moment of my life,” said Dodig who is ranked 41 in the world. Nadal, winner of the Canadian event in 2005 and 2008, said: “He played very well, very aggressive. ”He didn’t feel the pressure in the important moments. And at the end of the match, probably I was a little bit unlucky today, no?”

Djokovic, the 2007 Rogers Cup champion, had to survive a scare before beating 30th-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 7-5 6-1 to improve his stunning 2011 winning record to 49-1 overall and 25-0 on hard courts.

Bookmark It