Kimmy No More

I've officially removed Kim Clijsters' page from my Site roll. Forever I will remain silent about the Belgium Miss unless: A. She returns to professional tennis or, B. She dies.

(Maybe Kim is the one who stole Ellen's dog? AIPT photo.)

Players Have Pages, Too

I forget that pro tennis players have their own Web sites sometimes. It just slips my mind that I might actually find something worth reading on a player's page instead of from a news or specialty site. My site roll on my Internet Explorer consists of several such pages, none of which I frequent for some reason. So, with a persistent Seattle rain falling outside today I decided I should do some page shopping and see what I find.

It seems that Ana Ivanovic might be one of the most marketable athletes in pro sports today. She's talented, young, beautiful, has a great personality and has made a meteoric rise up the WTA rankings sheet. Ana blogs weekly on her site, and, from what I can tell, she can put together some intriguing thoughts.

Andy Roddick is one of the most free-spirited and down-to-earth guys on the tennis tour, but his Web site couldn't be more clean cut and professional. DimensionMedia maintains the site which is always up to date with the latest Roddick happenings. Just today the Roddick news ticker had five new stories to post, plus the photo gallery was updated with Davis Cup photos.

Kim Clijsters frightens me. So does her Web site. So does the idea of Kim's Land.

For a long time now, Rafael Nadal's personal site has been on my site roll as a must-see. Not only does this site have tons of pictures, but Nadal's team does a great job of keeping it updated with a lot of what Rafa is doing off the court. Since Nadal is Federer Junior in the sense that we know what he's doing on the court, I like to get the off-court scoop. Especially if it's shirtless.

Finally, one of my favorite vintage players, Monica Seles has a great site run by a couple of die hard fans. If anyone could have an incredible fan-run site, it's Seles. Not only do these guys update news on Monica, but they have a great collection of pictures and videos - both pre- and post-stabbing.

Can A Dying Flame Be Re-Kindled?

When Martina Hingis announced in the fall of 2005 that she was making a comeback to women's tennis, the sports world (or at least tennis enthusiasts within the sports world) exploded with excitement.

Hingis, who had held the number one ranking in women's tennis for multiple years, was a both a crafty player and a fiery personality; it seemed she would breathe new life into a tennis game that had lost a little of its fire.

If you remember the US Open in 2005, it featured two stars doing battle in the women's final. Mary Pierce was having a resurgent year, while Kim Clijsters had just claimed her maiden (and what would turn out to be only) Slam. Both these players' successes gave Hingis hope, and when she held her press conference letting us know she was back, she was grinning ear to ear.

(Hingis sure wasn't a tennis fasionista in the late '90s, but she didn't need to be. Her game spoke the loudest (and sometimes her attitude). Photo by Globi via Flickr.)

And everything seemed to fall in place at the 2006 Australian Open when Hingis made her re-debut. She sparkled with nearly flawless in her first few matches, before falling to Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals.

Hingis walked away from the tournament quite satisfied, but her loss to Clijsters was foreshadowing for what was to come: defeat at the hands of the bigger ball.

You see, Martina had left the game because it was getting too overwhelming for her, the power was too much. Sure, she said her feet had been hurting, but her forearms and leg muscles ached much more from trying to play backboard tennis against the most powerful women in the world.

Minus quarterfinal performances at the '06 and '07 Australian along with the quarters at last year's French, Hingis has posted just a 7-4 record at the Slams, including two third-round losses at Wimbledon and the USO this year.

In 2001, the year before she retired, Hingis went 60-15 and won three tournaments. 12 of her 15 losses were to players named Capriati, Davenport, Williams, Seles, Clijsters or Mauresmo (a team of 32 Slams).

This year, the Swiss star is just 24-13, with no titles and losses to names like Radwanska, Granville, Mirza, Azarenka and Shuai (0 Slams). It just doesn't look the same.

(Hingis is searching for answers she can't find in her stings: her confidence is waning. Photo by Nineeighteen via flickr.)

Martina's fitness is something that came into question in the late years of her first "career", but Hingis has vowed that she has kept in tip-top shape since being back on the tour, something her physique testifies to.

So why the downfall of the woman who once lost 29 sets in an entire year?

It's first and foremost in the confidence. Hingis' swagger once gave her as much as a set and a half off of opponents just for showing up. But now the 27-year-old is realizing something she never had to question during her early years on tour: she is indeed human.

Secondly, it's in Hingis' inability to change her game. Yes, she did breathe fresh air into a power-laden tour when she returned last year. She did not, however, fix the things that made her game so vulnerably. A weak and spotty serve being the first and the habit of banging from the baseline being the second. In order to execute a game plan, you have to stick to it.

I almost wish that Martina Hingis wouldn't have even tried a comeback whatsoever. I do understand, however, that she had to do it for herself - to see what she could accomplish. Yet it's painful to watch a former champ remain just that, a former champ.

Will she ever return to the status we once marveled (and hated her) for?

Ten Days: Ten Topics

Being gone from the tennis world - from the entire world, for that matter - for 10 days feels like a lifetime. Four delayed flights, five days at the cabin and one late-delivered bag later, I'm back in the TENNIS Magazine offices this morning. But, to my utmost shock and surprise, the tennis world continued while I was away. Here's what I missed the most.

1. Jennifer Capriati was on court at the Acura Classic after the women's final to help bid farewell to one of the WTA's most beloved tournaments. I hope it wasn't a pseudo farewell for J-Cap too...

2. Lindsay Davenport officially took the Hingis Train for her comeback transportation. From WTT to doubles to singles. Let's see if the new mama can make some waves on her return to the tour.

3. Sam Querrey and John Isner announced their arrivals on the tour. Is anyone else seeing a taller-than-6'3-trend here?

4. Troy blogged on the Road Trip commercial and the fans loved it! How could they not though, really?

5. The ATP is the next NBA? Yikes.

6. Luke Jensen came to Montana and I totally missed it. Damn, and he could have yelled loudly into my face instead of the TV screen, I'm so sorry I didn't get that real-life experience.

7. Venus supposedly hits the hardest ball in women's tennis - well, at least at last week's Acura. But what I don't understand is that if you're taking the hardest hit shot from a category of six or so, how does that warrant the hardest average? I smell system flaw.

8. Kim Clijsters hasn't updated her web site in two weeks! Someone call the authorities! Well, she could be trying to get pregnant...or saving puppies from the streets of Belgium. No worries, Kim fans, her book is still slated for publishing.

9. The ATP is getting so awkward that they hosted a fashion show to kick off Canada this week.

10. Madison Brengle won her first match in LA as a wild card. Up next? Dementieva or Makarova. Hmmm...

Tennis Chatter

Kim Clijsters is preggers. At least she'll have one fan in this world, right?

James Blake is due to sign his new book Breaking Back at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square later today. Maybe I should go check it out?

Steve Tignor has his report cards all filled out from Wimbledon.

And Donald Young might be finally living up to his hype.

Finally

Thank you, Kim. We'll miss you...but not your drawn-out farewell.

Wacky...What Day?

I was ready to call this post 'Wacky Wednesday', and then I realized that it's not Wednesday - that's how tired I am.

School and Search both have me worn down. The retreat is this weekend and I'm looking forward to going through all of it once again. This is my 6th now and it never gets old. Never.

One thing that does get old is a drug-out, lackluster farewell tour. Now yes, I understand that I've had choice words for Kim Clijsters and her pitiful departure from the tour, but this is getting disgusting.

A reader had something to say to me last time I posted about Kim, but I think this topic deserves more discussion: there are certain ways to do things in life, appropriate ways. In sport, retiring can be a tricky practice. Professionals are faced with many options:
1. Abrupt announcement of said departure (See: Lindsay Davenport).
2. Announcement of final few tournaments (See: Andre Agassi).
3. "Retiring" while everyone knows you'll return (See: Martina Hingis).
4. Going out after one final bang (See: Pete Sampras).

I was hoping that Clijsters would join the latter group, perhaps claiming Wimbledon with her lethal groundstrokes and a second USO title after a late-summer wedding. But this will not be the case. Instead we will watch a player full of could-have-beens go out just as that, a could-have-been.

So Much for the 'Farewell'

Kim Clijsters may as well just retire now, and save us all from this ongoing circus.

A Farewell Tour

There's much to be admired about the Farewell Tour of Kim Clijsters. Last year, it was Andre Agassi doing his own shortened version of such a farewell, giving fans an opportunity to reflect and bid good-bye to one of the game's greatest champions.

This year will be a bit different for the gal from Belgium. She certainly doesn't have the track record of Agassi, or - of course - the longevity. If she doesn't win another slam this year, Clijsters will certainly go down as the most talented one-slam wonder of all time, man or woman.

Yet there's some good these departures do for the game: they give us a chance to think. Agassi let us look at where tennis has gone from the mid '80s to today and Clijsters - I believe - will make us look more inside ourselves than anywhere else.

Tennis is about personalities. It's about people who do good things on the court, but great things off the court. Billie Jean King. Arthur Ashe. Andre Agassi. These champions will always be remembered for who they were as tennis players, but they are household names today because of who they are as people.

Kim Clijsters will never reach the household-name status that those other champions did. But Clijsters made us all think about ourselves, about the kind of people we are and the kind of people we want to be. Clijsters just may be one of the best tennis athletes we've ever seen, but for Kimmie, it's time for family and friends.

As much as I hate to see Clijsters go, I respect her decision and understand that tennis is not her life. She has other plans. Maybe that's something we should all think about.

A Sad Sight

This is what we have to get used to for the next nine months. This is what we have to suffer through. This is a champion saying farewell. Is it really already time?

I wish not.