5. Why aren’t there more Americans left? Because the Williams sisters were the only real hope. And so we have Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals against Rafael Nadal. Good luck with that one. This won’t be the Fish that saved America. Tennis, like golf, is a global game and any country can produce a superstar. But tennis is also low on the list of sports that elite athletes in this country desire to play.
4. Who will grunt the most in the women’s semifinals? This is a tired topic, but the grunting is sort of like the vuvuzelas at the World Cup last summer. The noise is part of the scenery we suppose, but it’s still annoying. Anyway, in this battle, Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka get top billing.
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3. Who are Sabine Lisicki and Bernard Tomic? Considering we had never heard of either one before Tuesday, that’s a good question. Tomic is an 18-year-old Australian who has been a hitting partner for Novak Djokovic for a year. Guess who he’s playing in the quarterfinals? As for Lisicki, she’s only the fourth wild card to ever reach the semifinals. She was ranked 179th at the end of 2010. Now she’s in the semifinals.
2. Who is the women’s favorite? It has to be Sharapova, who is the fifth seed, simply because she’s the only one left who has won a major tournament. Azarenka is the highest seed remaining at No. 4, but Sharapova has looked terrific in trying to regain past glory.
1. What is the impact of Nadal’s injury? Apparently his ankle wasn’t hurt as bad as initially feared, which means the rest of the field should beware. It would be nice to see a Djokovic-Nadal final, but if Nadal isn’t 100 percent maybe that would be the opening someone like Andy Murray needs to sneak into the finals.
