Hurricane Hits Tennis Center

This year’s story from the Connecticut Tennis Center is Li Na, the French Open winner, and the first Chinese tennis star.

One of the treats of watching professional tennis in the neighborhood is the opportunity to wander the practice courts and catch the best players in the world working out. I stumbled onto Li Na (pictured) on Tuesday and was transfixed. She showed a command of the ball that you don’t see very often. She could take a shot from anywhere on the court and, leaning into the shot, hitting the ball well in front of her, rocket it anywhere with a force like sitting in the third row of a Ramones concert circa 1978.

I looked up just long enough to see that two elderly Chinese women had slid into an open spot next to me, eyeballing Li just as intently. Before I could wonder whether they were tennis fans or proud nationalists, we made eye contact. ​“She doesn’t hit with much topspin,” said the one closest to me.

“A little more on her forehand, though,” observed her friend.

The next evening Li would play her first match, beating the tough Russian Maria Kirilenko, in a 6 – 4, 7 – 6 slugfest. 

Yes, slugfest.

Women’s professional tennis in New Haven has touched on many eras in its 14 years — we’ve seen some of the greatest champions of all time on the same stadium court: Graf, Navratilova, Venus Williams, Henin. And it’s remarkable how much the game has evolved. For much of these 14 years a few players dominated the game; the rest: mostly players lacking the big shot, the fitness or the mental toughness to make it to the top.

In 2011, the field is more competitive. Early round matches are more likely to turn into a battleground, as with Li Na. Upsets — as when three-time New Haven champion Caroline Wozniacki lost last week to Christina McHale — seem more common. (They are scheduled for a rematch here on Thursday.) Not too long ago the big hitters on the tour simply overpowered everyone else. Now all the women come to the court armed with big shots and the ability to handle big shots.

And there’s no more huffing and puffing: these tennis professionals are fit, and they mean business.

It didn’t take too long at the Connecticut Tennis Center to dispel the notion that the problem with the women’s game, as one of my (male) tennis-playing friends lamented, is that, ​“Everybody plays the same,” and, ​“You can’t tell those Russians apart.”

Here’s what impressed me most in the last two days of hanging out at the tournament: From a distance (or, I am sure, on TV), Elena Vesnina, Maria Kirilenko and Klara Zakopalova did, indeed, look similar and hit their ground strokes with the same big western forehands and walloping two-fisted backhands. All are blonde. One (Vesnina) came into New Haven ranked 43; another (Zakopalova) ranked 44 (Kirilenko was 26). Can you say ​“cookie cutter”?

But at courtside the differences made all the difference.

Vesnina showed herself to be an adept defensive player, tracking down shots and pressing the ball high and deep to allow time for her to recover and get back into the point. (A fairly common skill in the women’s game.) Zakopalova displayed a more interesting and diverse game than would be immediately apparent. In losing to Marion Bartoli in a three-set second-round match, Zakopalova impressed not just with her power and athleticism, but her ball control, touch volleys and drop shots. Kirilenko displayed speed and counter-punching force.

And even if the games were similar, it has clearly been elevated in the last 14 years: these women were a lot more willing to be aggressive, to hit big shots and to attack the net.

Enlightening, though in a slightly different way, I happened to catch a second round doubles match featuring the young American Sloane Stephens and (another) tall blonde Russian named Vera Dushevina against the Italian team of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. The Italians won, 6 – 0, 7 – 5, but the match was anything but commonplace.

First, Stephens held her own on the court with seasoned professionals. But mostly I was impressed with Vinci’s ball control. While most of the women on the tour have been trained to hit harder and harder, the skill that is becoming more important in doubles at least is touch, using change of pace as a tactic, being able to change the course of the ball with a last nano-second flick-of-the-wrist. Match point for these women was virtually a half-court drill, in which all four players were at the service line and they exchanged soft, angled shots until Stephens went for broke and missed her chance at a winner.

One thing that we New Haveners can count on is that if there’s an opportunity to score an up-and-comer and weave a creative a narrative around the player, then tournament director Anne Worcester will find it. New Haven tennis fans struck gold when Venus Williams won back-to-back championships here; then lightening struck again with Fairfield-resident James Blake’s big breakthrough coming at the Connecticut Tennis Center, and Worcester’s adept nurturing of the J‑Block. Sports marketing gold.

Worcester and her team have done it again with Li Na — a crowd favorite even before she set foot in the stadium.

Fourteen years ago, I had the opportunity to play a set against Sandrine Testud, then ranked 13 in the world. I can tell, you, she didn’t hit the ball anything like Li.

After watching Li battle Maria Kirilenko, I can say that I think a hurricane, is, indeed heading right to New York. And it’s not called Irene.