Down Goes Frazier

Down, Not Out

Tennis is the closest thing there is to boxing, yet without the brain and cosmetic damage. Millionaire athletes of both sexes cavort in the latest fashions, living breathing corporations of sex appeal, and they also battle fiercely, one on one, in clothes that accentuate their sexuality. Hell, there's a lot to like. The grand slam events are the equivalent of fashion week, only with a whole lot more athleticism weaved in.  For the superstars, the first week is all about showing one's stuff and hoping not to get nicked up for the really big matches in week two.

The sultry Russian Maria Sharapova glided through her first round match in less than an hour, without losing a single game--the proverbial double bagel. Wave to the crowd, a quick towel off followed by a visit to the ESPN set for a friendly chat. The pain free routine of week one. Her projected third round opponent Venus Williams took exactly one hour to dismiss her anonymous opponent. She dropped but a single game; a bagel and a breadstick.  Federer and Murray glided through as well, Knights in a jousting tournament quickly dismantling their opponents, slipping off the battlefield and into the arms of their handlers with nary a mark on their armor. Until yesterday.

To call Serena Williams an overwhelming favorite to win this tournament is a grand understatement. To circle back to the boxing analogy, think Mike Tyson in his prime. But like many seemingly invincible warriors, she has an Achilles Heel, in this case, her ankles.

Serena has mass.  Listed "officially" at 155 pounds, it's what gives her serves and to a lesser extent her groundstrokes, such ferocious power.  And that mass takes its toll on weight-bearing joints, her ankles in particular.

Last year she had a horrible left ankle roll in the Brisbane warmup prior to the Aussie Open, forcing her to withdraw. She soldiered on at the 2012 AO a week later, before being upset in the 4th round. Yesterday, four games into a double bagel trouncing of the forgettable Edina Gallovits-Hall, she had another brutal ankle roll, this time on her right ankle. It caused a lengthy delay, and the queen bee of women's tennis was suddenly in mortal danger.  The air whooshed out of Hisense arena as the entire tennis industrial machine ground to a halt.

10 minutes later she was back on court, with her ankle re-"mummified." She then resumed her destruction of her Romanian foe, yet in a gingerly fashion. She might be the only human alive that could pull off a gingerly thrashing.  Now the boxing analogies are much more apt, for she has been seriously nicked up. If the Slams are a 7-round boxing match, she is being tended to by her cut man after the first round.  Her quotes from the press conference are much more Rocky Balboa than "Our Chrissie" Evert.  Despite their length, I have cut and pasted all I can find because of their revealing nature. Defining her hard edged intensity, in her own words.

"It was definitely a lot of pain," she recalled. "Also a little bit of the memory, as well. So it was definitely a little bit of both. But also at the same time trying to gather myself together and trying to make sure that I can continue."

Q. So Thursday is too early to call, whether you can play Thursday?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Oh, I’ll be out there. I mean, unless something fatal happens to me, there’s no way I’m not going to be competing.

"I’m alive. My heart’s beating. I’ll be fine."

Q. When you went over, did it remind you of Brisbane last year?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Absolutely. It reminded me a lot of Brisbane. I thought, Oh, not again. But, you know, I’ve had such a good year that I don’t think it’s anything negative. I just think that I was definitely a little bit in shock and I was thinking, I hope it’s not as serious, because it was really serious last year.

Q. Is there any pain or swelling there now?
SERENA WILLIAMS: Obviously there’s pain. Obviously there’s swelling. So it’s going to be really important to see how the next few hours unfold.

It reminded me a lot of Brisbane. I thought, Oh, not again. But, you know, I’ve had such a good year that I don’t think it’s anything negative. I just think that I was definitely...

"I'm alive. My heart's beating. I'll be fine. I've been injured before. I've played this tournament with so many injuries and was able to come off pretty on top.

"So for me it's just another page and a great story to tell the grandkids one day."

Williams said she would ice her foot and leave it to the medical team to decide whether she needed a scan - although she added she would rather not know if it was something serious.

"I know one year I won this tournament and had two bone bruises in both knees," said Williams, who has won 47 career titles.

"I had no idea. I just knew I was in pain. I think sometimes what you don't know cannot hurt you."

When asked whether she would be fit to play her second round tie on Thursday against either Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova or Garbine Muguruza of Spain, Williams said: "Oh, I'll be there."

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Rather than facer her mortality, the 15-time grand slam singles champion, who admittedly does not like to train, appears to have a goal now: to chase down Steffi Graf's record of 22 Grand Slam singles titles. That would thrust her front and center into the debate as who is the greatest women's player of all time. Evert and Navratilova and hovering at 18.

So while the other stars of the sport glide through this first week in their high fashions surrounded by widening entourages, Serena limps along, a wounded warrior, ignoring pain and injury as she focuses on the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, a #16 shining through, 6 potentially agonizing matches away. 

Meanwhile, there is new life in the women's draw, from World #1 and projected semifinalist Vika Azarenka and all the Buster Douglas wannabes in the jungle, they know the lioness is wounded, there is blood in the air.  One rolled ankle has changed the dynamic of women's tennis as it boils down in this  ever tightening bracketology.  Only one thing is certain, Serena will show up. Six long miles on a bad wheel.