Wrapping up Rome, Berlin and Southwest Florida championships
Ok, so I have to back pedal a little on the Kiss of Death thing. It only works 50% of the time. In the semis, I picked Dinara Safina to lose and Elena Dementieva to win. Both won for 50%. I picked Novak Djokovic to win and Stanislas Wawrinka to lose. Both won for another 50% record.
So I held off on cursing anyone in the finals, and Djokovic and Safina both pulled off the wins as I suspected they would. Safina looked unstoppable this past week, as her brother Marat Safin did when he won the Australian in ’05. No matter what was thrown at her, she practically scoffed at it.
Djokovic is THE Drama King on tour, so you know his match went three sets (4-6, 6-3, 6-3). Yep, Wawrinka has plenty of game, but Djokovic has more. It took Safina a set to get used to Dementieva’s pace, but once she did, she cruised (3-6, 6-2, 6-2).
The 22-year-old Safina, who has been a pro since she was 14, claimed the biggest of her six titles in Berlin. In claiming his third championship of the year, the almost 21-year-old Djokovic solidified his lead atop the ATP Tour singles race, leading Nadal by 66 points and Federer by more than I care to count.
Oh, and while I’m at it, I claimed the Ultimate Tennis Men’s 6.0 Spring Championship, my second Ultimate Tennis championship in two years, by beating Stephen Hunt-Marriott 6-2, 6-4.
I owe Ken Wasserman a note of thanks for choosing not to play in the playoffs, because he was clearly the best player in our division. Ken went undefeated, beating both Stephen and me in straight sets. Ya gotta play to win, right?
A report and slideshow of the event are imminent. Game, set, match….
