Today the BBC televised some of the second set of Nadia Petrova's
upset of Jennifer Capriati in the fourth round of the French Open. It
was the first time I've ever seen Petrova play, and it helps me to
put Monica's loss into perspective now that I know just how good
Petrova is.

Petrova is one of the hardest-hitting women I've ever seen. Her
groundstrokes are harder than Capriati's, and I'm not sure I've ever
seen a woman serve faster, except maybe Venus Williams.

Petrova was almost certainly the worst first-round draw Monica could
have had. Petrova belongs in the top eight, let alone the top 32!


The BBC also televised the third set of Vera Zvonareva's upset of
Venus Williams, and wow, what a match! The enormity of the situation
made it very exciting to watch - Venus just couldn't power her way
through as the piranha-like Williams sisters always seem to do when
their opponents show the slightest sign of weakness (Monica has that
same intrinsic quality).

It was my first time to see Zvonareva play, too, and I was impressed
by her sharp, thin groundstrokes, court-coverage and tremendous
fighting spirit (tired though she was). Certainly one to look out
for. And it's nice that we're finally going to have something other
than a Williams v Williams final again.


I hope Monica won't be too discouraged by her dispapsinating first-
round defeat. I hope she does everything she can to save her career,
including surgery if necessary. Monica has been saying openly for
some time now that she'll quit if she stops enjoying tennis, so
there's no reason IMO to suspect that she is hiding behind her
injuries.

--
Andrew Broad
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/tennis/
http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~broada/tennis/seles/