If you look closely, you can see the police officer in the background spraying the crowd with pepper spray:
And in case you haven't noticed, Patty Schnyder loves extra-inning matches. The Swiss was again extended the long route at a grand slam, the 13th time she's been involved in a match that's gone past the traditional 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 etc., score in the final set.
This time it was hometown favorite Casey Dellacqua beating the no. 15 seed 4-6 7-5 8-6 in the second round. Dellacqua hit 50 winners during the two=plus hour match and wound up with one more point than Schnyder, 111-110. The last time Schnyder bowed out of a major in such dramatic fashion was at last year's French against Maria Sharapova.
It seems as though the Sharapova-Schnyder match up yesterday has brought about a couple days worth of history lessons. Not only did the girls continue the 9-7 trend, but so too did the chair umpire continue a trend in the women's game for making poor decisions at key moments in tense moments. All which came at respective majors.
Case One Maria Sharapova versus Patty Schnyder 4th Round - 2007 French Open At 7-all in the third, Sharapova led 30-0 serving and vaulted a first serve onto Schnyder's side when the Swiss put her hand up mid-motion, letting her opponent know she was not ready because of crowd noise. But Sharapova would have nothing of it, and neither would the chair judge, Kader Nouni of France, awarding the point to the Russian, and - seemingly - the match.
Case Two Venus Williams versus Karolina Sprem 2nd Round - 2004 Wimbledon You all remember 2004, when Venus Williams struggled with Karolina Sprem in the 2nd round of Wimbledon. Sprem had taken the first set and the second was in a tie-break when Ted Watts, chair umpire for the match, called the score 2-2, ignoring a lines woman's call and mistakenly giving Sprem an extra point. The mistake was no doubt embarrassing, but would give Sprem an extra chance to fight back, and, eventually beat Venus 8-6 in the breaker.
Case Three Jennifer Capriati versus Serena Williams Quarterfinals - 2004 US Open It was a couple months later when a weary Serena, remembering the Venus incident, argued with the chair umpire, Sandra de Jenkin, about a ball she overruled on the opposite sideline. Capriati would win the match later in the third, 6-4.
Oh, and I never made the connection that it was indeed Ms. de Jenkin who also made the infamous Henin-pressured overrule during the 2004 Aussie Open final. Jeez Sandra, 0 for 2.
In fact, just three women's matches have gone beyond the tradition third-set score in this year's French. Two of those at 9-7, the other at 8-6.
Perhaps it's just something about the way the women play. Maybe they just want to get it over with.
Meanwhile, just one men's match has extended into the latter stages of the fifth. A 17-15 first-round win for Kohlschreiber, the 28th seed. That's double (32) the amount of games (16) a 9-7 decider produces. Plus 439 points, total.
Just writing these scores is making me tired.
Though 8-7 wouldn't quite be a completed match in the third or the fifth, it's where we stand right now in this 15-day major. The women's quarters are set, with 7 of 8 top seeds finding their way to the elite 8. The men are halfway there, with the rest of the field to be picked tomorrow.
After a successful 2003 campaign (at the age of 18), Harkleroad has teetered between top-50 greatness and mid-100s journeywoman. But the back story is what keeps this girl interesting.
I wonder, is there something about the game of tennis - the way youngsters (especially girls) are pushed so hard to be so competitive at a young age? We saw it with Patty Schnyder: after a tremendous 1998, Schnyder sort of fell off her rocker, dumping her coach and dating/training with a so-called guru.
Is there a pattern here?
Perhaps Harkleroad is just finding her way. But, for all intents and purposes, dating a coach probably isn't the best idea. Dating your coach certainly isn't, either.
Oh yeah, and Harkleroad plays Venus in round two. Any boyfriend advice there?
An amateur's view can always reveal something different: On the professional tennis tour, it's hard to keep up with the daily drama, the wins, the losses and the off-beat commentary of the mostly socially ignorant girls and boys of the world-wide court. This blog attempts to keep up with all that, through an eye that's experienced only the televised world of tennis...a truly amatuer interpretation of a professional tour.
