There are times when Patrick McEnroe seems to turn into a snarky, arrogant asshole. His arrogance has coincided with his ascendancy as the man who runs player development for the USTA. This was on full display Sunday during the Wimbledon first-week review show. Patrick haughtily laughed when asked to assess whether Marion Bartoli could beat Serena. He then went off about Serena’s recent victories not qualifying as “upsets” despite the official rankings.
He tried to make a similar point about Venus, which made no sense because V was seeded lower than her Monday opponent, Vera Pironkova. Patrick kept on…offended by the idea that any of the Williams Sisters wins during the first week were “upsets” because those players are ranked higher than Serena and Venus.Yes, the rankings are ass-backwards but the Williams haven’t played in a year! They were lucky to get seeded as high as they were.
Still, it was clear that Patrick’s larger point was “ha ha ha, these losers aren’t going to beat the Williams Sisters.” Patrick sounded dismissive of the other women, simply because they aren’t American and have funny-sounding names. That’s completely unfair. It’s true the women’s game has really suffered from some major collapses by top players, but that wasn’t at issue here. The women are playing exciting tennis that has finally moved beyond one-dimensional bashing.
So it was fitting that two of the hardest hitters in the game – Venus and Serena – got beat in straights today. Marion Bartoli is unorthodox , but a savvy player who relishes competing on grass. I’ve never seen her serve better. She creatively used angles to pull Serena around the court like a yo-yo. Usually Serena is the one dictating play, but Bartoli surprised her. Serena is not yet in peak physical condition and that hurt her in this match.
Then Pironkova took Venus to the woodshed 6-2, 6-2….and who’s laughing now Patrick McEnroe???? That’s two years in a row that Prionkova dumped the five-time champ. Pironkova could barely win a match this year – however she kept herself steady and waited for Venus to implode, and Venus obliged by slapping horrific forehands all over the court. It was a dismal performance by Venus, who should be officially considered a part-time player now. Her age is showing, she’s not committed to the game. That’s a shame, because I love watching her attacking style on grass.
I expect Serena to come back strong, but this ought to be a lesson to Patrick and everyone else: there are limits to what players can do, even great ones, when they skip a year, particularly in their late 20s. The Age of the Williams Sisters won’t last forever. Patrick needs to busy himself preparing the next generation of American women to follow in these very big footsteps.
Passing Shots 
Posted on June 27, 2011
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