The French Open is considered by many to be the most difficult of the four major events on the tennis calendar. The slow red clay courts and the host of clay court specialists from Europe and South America threaten to make every match a long and weary grind. It is the fittest and most solid baseline players who invariably take the title. Some serve and volleyers who came close in the past were John McEnroe and Stefan Edberg, both coming within a couple of points of the title before being defeated by Ivan Lendl and Michael Chang respectively. Roger Federer won a couple of years ago, but his is an all round game, preferring to set up the points from the baseline.
The same will, in all probability, hold true at this year’s event. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal look the likely finalists. Djokovic is on a torrid winning streak, having beaten, among others, Nadal four straight times and Federer three straight times. However, a freak third round match against the Argentinean Del Potro might decide Djokovic’s fate.
Del Potro is a former US Open Champion and is only seeded low because of injury. If there is one player with the power to beat Djokovic, it is Del Potro. Del Potro is also the last stumbling block in Djokovic’s winning streak becoming an all time record. And should he reach the final at Rolland Garros, he would take over the number ranking, even if Nadal should win the event.
World No 2 Kim Clijsters madr an early exit when she lost to an unknown Dutch girl despite serving for the match twice and having two match points. The Dutch girl Rus went from strength to strength as Clijsters wilted under the onslaught. Clijsters was under prepared for the French Open, having recently recovered from injury and it was the lack of match toughness that resulted in her holding back when in sight of victory. Maria Sharapova continues her resurgence after her win in Rome and should be considered a serious contender.
The Indo-Pak Express is progressing in the doubles. The duo should be considered serious contenders for the French as well as the Wimbledon championships. They both have big serves as well as aggressive returns and on their day they can beat anybody. It remains to be seen if they can pull enough wins together to take the title. Their main hurdle would be the Bryan brothers, but having beaten them last year, Aisam and Rohan should fancy their chances.
No Caribbean cigar for Misbah and charges
Pakistan comprehensively defeated the West Indies in the second Test to tie the series 1-1. So it was again close but no cigar for the Pakistanis as they yet again failed to win a series in the West Indies. The good news was that two Pakistani batsmen, Taufeeq Umar and Misbah hit centuries. The art of Test match batting has been lost to the Pakistani batsmen amid the slew of ODIs and T20s.
This is precisely where a batting coach could come in handy for batsmen like Umar Akmal. Umar needs to learn to stay at the wicket and let the runs come. Taufeeq, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq and Misbah are displaying Test match temperaments, although whether they have the talent to succeed against top class attacks is yet to be proven. The talented Akmal seems too impatient, chancing his arm too early, too often.
Meanwhile, the captaincy musical chairs continues, with PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt removing Shahid Afridi from the ODI captaincy and installing Misbah ul Haq. This should have been done before the World Cup. Afridi may be an inspirational leader at times, but his tactical acumen is suspect and the captaincy is just a load on his talented shoulders. He should concentrate on his batting and bowling and the Pakistan team will be much the better for it. Misbah is much calmer on the field, something a highly excitable team badly needs.
Viv Richards added a bit of controversy by questioning the action of Pakistan’s ace spinner, Saeed Ajmal. The ICC biomechanical experts had decided that a 15 degree bend of the arm was acceptable for bowlers.
Whether that is a correct decision is debatable, but it is the rule and Ajmal must have passed scrutiny. The “doosra” was an invention of Pakistani spinner Saqlain Mushtaq, but it was Muttiah Muralitharan who rode this delivery to a place in history. Murali’s right arm used to coil up like a snake and the ball would spit out venomously. Whether he could do all his variations with a bend of just 15 degrees was questionable. It was said that he did bend his arm but did not straighten it and was therefore within the rules.
A lot of cricket experts though were convinced that his action was illegal. He was no-balled in Australia and the Sri Lankan captain promptly took his team off the field. Murali is the benchmark for throwing. If he could take his record haul of wickets with his repertoire of deliveries, then what is to stop Ajmal or any other doosra bowler from doing the same?
It is a bit late to question the doosra now that the genie is out of the bottle. The ICC will have to revisit the 15 degree rule. They will also have to find a better way to test the bowlers’ action. It should be done through slow motion videos of the bowlers in competition rather than in the lab. Most bowlers chuck only on certain deliveries and these can only be caught while playing. In the end, the decision should rest with the umpire on the field, although the pressure on him might become unbearable.
Perhaps the ICC could legalise all deliveries. We could then have baseball pitchers winding up their deliveries. But there I jest.
