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Tennis Weekly Wrap: BMW, Serbia, Estoril, and Sharapova?
by Nadya Vlassoff
The French Open is less than one week away and
this past week was a busy one with four tournaments
spanning all across Europe. Despite all of the
on-court action, several high-profile stars were
notably absent as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
took the week off to recharge. Maria Sharapova
was still absent, but after the year she’s had
it would be more shocking if Sharapova actually
came back. There is still no word from the Sharapova
camp on whether or not Maria will play in this
year’s French Open and the draw is yet to be released.
 The
ATP was busy with three tournaments as the BMW
Open, the first Serbia Open, and the Estoril
Open all took place and gave players more prep-time.
Novak Djokovic headlined the Serbia Open where
he enjoyed the hometown crowd. After having
not won a tournament in two months, and been
informed of his drop in the ATP rankings behind
Andy Murray, Djokovic rallied to win. The Djokovic
family brought the Serbia Open to their homeland
when they purchased the license from the ABM
Ambro Open, which originally took place in the
Netherlands.
In the final it was Djokovic against the little known Lukasz Kubot of Poland who put up a stiff test in the second set but faltered as Djokovic was able to force a tiebreak and then put it away when his opponent failed to hold serve. For Novak Djokovic, the Serbia Open victory was an emotional win as much as a needed triumph in order to restore some confidence after losing three consecutive finals all on clay courts.
 The
Estoril Open had a busy week as both the ATP
and the WTA had players looking to get in practice
before the next slam tournament. It’s not the
biggest event, however, but players like Nikolay
Davydenko, James Blake, Maria Kirilenko and
Shahar Peer were all present and ready to shake
off any reservations before the French Open.
The men’s final brought a few surprises, as
Spaniard Albert Montanes squared off against
American James Blake. Montanes was able to hold
off Frenchman Gilles Simon to win of the biggest
upsets of his career in the quarterfinals. Blake,
looking to win his first title of the year,
and first on clay, was unable to hold for his
second match in only a few hours. He defeated
Nikolay Davydenko earlier in the day when their
match had been suspended due to rain. Blake
was still able to take Montanes to three sets
but his energy ran out as he lost the last set
at love.
Albert Montanes continues to raise the pedigree of the Spanish arsenal on clay and James Blake failed to become the first American to win an ATP tournament on clay since 2003.
 The
final for the women pitted Ekaterina Makarova
against Yanina Wickmayer. Makarova was looking
to make amends for last week’s loss in the final
in Morocco but luck was against her again this
week. The Belgian, Wickmayer, took the final
in straight sets and her first title of the
season. It is still too soon to know whether
either of these women will pose a threat in
Paris but it is a good start for both.
The BMW Open was the third tournament that the ATP hosted. Despite the abundance of automaker tournaments (last week it was the Porsche Grand Prix), Czech Thomas Berdych managed to hold off the determined Russian Mikhail Youzhny in three sets. It wasn’t the best match of Berdych’s career, as he squandered match points while giving himself a scare before finally putting the match away with a volley smash to punctuate his time on the court. Berdych took the match 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
 Finally,
the WTA took its players to Rome where the men
had played the week before. The final was another
all-Russian match-up, but even more ironic was
that it was once again Dinara Safina versus
Svetlana Kuznetsova. Safina, revelling in her
new #1 ranking, was able to gain the advantage
this time as Kuznetsova made too many unforced
errors and fell off-balance. Maybe Kuznetsova
was too dizzy from all of the winning circles
she made in her new Porsche after her win in
Germany last week? Either way, Safina walked
away the victor this time in a relatively easy
match for her time on the court. With a win
under her belt, Safina, along with the rest
of the field, is now looking forward to the
French Open, which is on the immediate horizon.
The new Madrid premier tournament is now in full swing and it’s the last contest for players to battle through. There are still many questions that can only be answered next week as the ball drops on some of the most exclusive clay courts in the world in Paris at Roland Garros. Will Dinara Safina become the next Jelena Jankovic? Will Serena Williams add to her over-crowded trophy case with another French Open title? Will anyone be able to defeat the clay court king Rafael Nadal? Stay tuned.
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