Where Are They Now? Part Three

Mardy Fish. In case you forgot, Mardy Fish once won an Olympic silver medal. It's hard to believe, but the American was just points away from winning an Olympic title in 2004. Since then, Fish has struggled with injury and, subsequently, with results. He started 2007 off with a bang, making the quarterfinals of the Aussie and then the semifinals at Memphis, rocketing to 25th in the rankings. But a 4-13 performance through the spring and summer has stalled Fish's success. After losing in the finals of New Haven, Fish took Tommy Robredo to five sets in the second round of the US Open. Now ranked 39th, Fish hopes to stay on the right track to returning to the Top 20, where he resided for most of 2004.

Melissa Torres. Melissa Torres is my (and Mexico's) darling of tennis. Since reaching a career-high at #233 earlier this year, Torres has teetered off a bit, losing 10 of her last 12 matches.

Mirjana Lucic. Lucic made a storming comeback at the Pacific Life earlier this year, exciting the media and fans across the globe. Lucic, however, hasn't been active since May and the 25-year-old may have too many personal issues (family, etc.) to make a full-fledged commitement to the WTA Tour.

Nicole Pratt. Is 34. And still playing. You go girl.

Sam Querrey. Earlier this year, Sam Querrey was America's poster-boy for the future. He had a spread in TENNIS Magazine, was in the midst of a hot summer playing good tennis and couldn't find a reason not to believe he could keep climbing up the rankings. However, then came John Isner. And then came the US Open. Isner rocketed his way onto the map and bumped Querrey out of the I'm-Tall-And-Going-To-Win-Majors-One-Day category, while Querrey lost an ugly match to Stefan Koubek at the Open and has since lost his last two.

A Fairy Tale Continues

Remember this?

It's Melissa Torres. The woman of the week at Acapulco in late February. It seems as though her fortunes have continued and her confidence is soaring.

Since her run to the quarterfinals at the Tier III, Torres has racked up a 10-4 record and has jumped to 235 in the rankings this week - her highest ever.

Playing tennis growing up, I would hit against the wall in our alley and my favorite storyline always went like this:

Hometown guy (or gal), given a wildcard, made his way through the opening match against a drastically higher ranked player in three sets only to roll out win after win after win in dramatic fashion (usually involving tie-breaks aplenty and overruled line calls).

That's what I like about Melissa Torres. She has the fairy tale storyline. Too bad Mexico doesn't host a Slam, right?

A Week of Wacky

This past week in the tennis world certainly was one to remember. February is usually the dullest of dull when it comes to the tennis season. Both the men and women are dotting the globe at obscure locations, and while these tournaments are gaining better coverage from the media and greater participation from top players (see 'Gulf Double') it really isn't until this week when the tour can make its second debut of the year at Indian Wells.

Yet February may remain a crucial month for the future of tennis. If organizers can put together a healthy Asian swing of Tier I and II tournaments, more men and women from the top of the fields will stay in the Pan-Pacific following the Aussie to play these events. This brings tennis to more people, assures us that we are a truly 'global' game and keeps fans interested instead of falling into mid-winter lulls.

Though officials in Melbourne have expressed that moving the Australian Open to March from January would be tournament suicide (January=good weather, big crowds), think of the impact of this already-entertaining major if it were to follow not only Sydney, but Tokyo, Dubai and other February draws. The effects could be incredible, and I assure you ratings would go up everywhere, even if the tourney filled a few less seats.

I won't waste my time all day on forecasting the probably-impossible future. However I did want to give you a good fill of the week of wackiness that occurred these past seven days. Enjoy!

-Do we really trust Hawkeye all the time? I know Rafael Nadal now doesn't.

-Now that's what I call a stamp of approval.

-So who's still a fan of the round-robin format? Seriously.

Oh, and always the aspiring-journalist that I am, I wanted to wrap up a story I started last week. Mexican Melissa Torres, a virtual unknown, finally lost in the quarterfinals in Acapulco last week. The local girl had a spectacular run and I hope to see more from her in the future.

Make That 20 Minutes...

The underdog had her day, again.

Melissa Torres, the sub-400 ranked Mexican wildcard, who downed 8th-seeded Nicole Pratt on Tuesday, kept her good fortunes going in her home country today, beating 71st-ranked Eva Birnerova 6-4 6-2.

For some reason, this story has grabbed my attention and I've followed it with vigor, finding out whatever I can on Torres and sloppily deciphering the excited Spanish on the Acapulco tournament Web site.

Tomorrow she will face Julia Schruff, an 83rd-ranked German who took out top-seeded Marion Bartoli with ease in the second round.

Up north in Las Vegas at the Tennis Channel Open, both James Blake and Gustavo Kuerten lost their opening round robin matches. Kuerten did his work as a wildcard to get through his play-in match over the weekend; meanwhile Blake lost to unknown Russian Evgeny Korolev.

Mexican Milestone

Melissa Torres, the second-highest ranked Mexican, got her 15 minutes of fame in Acapulco today, beating 8th-seeded Nicole Pratt 2-6 6-3 6-3. If you want to see a happy girl, look here.

It's the first time in the history of Mexican tennis for a woman to advance past the first round of a WTA-sanctioned event. Torres is currently ranked 404 in the world and has been as high as 292 in 2002.

The 23-year-old has made a spectacular $201 this year prior to this week, where she'll pick up at least $2,105. She faces 71st-ranked Eva Birnerova in the second round.