THE “LONE ROGER” AND “SIBERIAN SIREN” STAND FORTH AS PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

The “Lone Roger” strikes again, winning the Masters at Houston, and serving another notice (as well as deceptive aces and winners) that he’s the game’s catch-me-if-you-can guy.

The opposition will need a net, accompanied by a straitjacket, to catch and subdue Roger Federer in 2005. Roger not only rides alone without a coach cluttering up his life, but he’s alone out front, farther ahead of the pack than John Kerry – in Massachusetts, that is.

Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin, Carlos Moya, Tim Henman, Guillermo Coria and Gaston Gaudio came to Houston hoping to lift the Masters title from Federer, but, blowing them away, he was a blizzardly snowfall and the seven dwarfs. He won the last 5 games, didn’t face a break point in taking Hewitt apart in the 6-3, 6-2, final.

Of course Roger’s the player of the year in the male precinct – and a great ambassador for the game -- just as the “Siberian Siren,” Maria Sharapova, is among the women. She’s not so alone, but by beating Serena Williams to win both Wimbledon and the WTA Championships Maria leads by a length regardless of what Medusa, the WTA computer, has to say.

Whither the Sisters Sledgehammer, Venus and Serena? Venus is in decline, seems to have lost interest, and Serena must be having bad dreams about blowing a 4-1 second set lead over Maria at Wimbledon, then a 4-0 third set lead in Los Angeles.

Can they rebound in the Australian Open in January, or has motivation vanished? That’s one of the big questions of the new year.

I didn’t see the WTA Championships because for me, writing for the Boston Globe, it was a non-event due to West Coast deadline difficulties. The event got little coverage outside of California Clearly the WTA made a terrible mistake leaving New York’s Madison Square Garden in 2001. New York is still the sports center of the country, probably the world.

That demon furniture peddler/tennis promoter in Houston, Jim (Mattress Mac) McIngvale put on a terrific Masters show, selling out his ideal 6300 seat arena that I call the Mattress Bowl. He’s trying to pry the faintly attended WTA Championships out of Los Angeles, and I hope he succeeds, and that Larry Scott, the WTA CEO, sees it McIngvale’s way. It would be a break for him and the women, now that the Masters is moving to Shanghai for three years.

Another coup for McIngvale is coaxing Steffi Graf (aka Mrs. Andre Agassi) out of retirement to play for his new Houston franchise in World Team Tennis. As yet unnamed, with the team be the Mattresses?

It appears that the big men’s fight next year among those dwarfed will be for the No. 2 ranking, now held by Roddick. That prize would guarantee a tournament’s 2nd seed, keeping the bearer as far away as possible, as long as possible, from the inevitably 1st seeded Federer.

Hewitt, the “Come on!” screaming Aussie hasn’t been away, but he seemed something of a comebacker in making the final of an event he had mastered in 2001-02 when he was No. 1, and didn’t seem unsettled by the breakup of his long romance with Kim Clijsters. Flattening last year’s No. 1, Roddick in the semis, 6-3, 6-2, he ran the last 20 points, a closing assault such as I had never witnessed. More incredible in that it involved highest-quality players.

Andy’s collapse couldn’t have been very cheering to U.S. Davis Cup Capt. Patrick McEnroe, who leads the Yanks into the title bout against Spain at Sevilla Dec. 3-4-5, the endless season’s geuine end. But he was comforted by his twin hopes, Mike and Bob Bryan’s second successive Masters doubles championship. The brothers beat the spunky little Zimbabweans, Kevin Ullyett and Wayne Black, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2, in the final.

Lleyton would have hurdled Andy into the No. 2 slot if he had defeated Federer. He night have even reclaimed No. 1 except for a disruptive presence. “I kept bumping into Roger,” he smiled wanly. On significant occasions, too: Australian fourth round, Wimbledon quarters, U.S. Open final, German Open semis, Masters round-robin phase.

Federer won 6 straight over Hewitt, none of them particularly close. “Back to the drawing board,” said Roddick, who had his own Federer problems: 0-3 for the year, 1-8 career. But who didn’t? The guy lost only 6 matches while winning 74, thus batting .925, the highest average since Ivan Lendl’s .925 (74-6) in 1986, John McEnroe’s .965 (82-3) in 1984, and Jimmy Connors’s .961 (99-4) in 1974.

In banking first prize of $ 1.5 million and driving off in a Mercedes sports car, Federer won his 11th title, the most since Thomas Muster racked a dozen in 1995. But Roger’s dominance is more impressive: winning every one of his last 13 finals.

Might Federer someday eclipse Pete Sampras’s monumental record of 14 singles majors, accomplished in 13 seasons between 1990 and 2002. Pete had five at age 23. Roger, 23, has four, but will shoot for a fifth at the Australian.

Neither Lendl nor McEnroe won three majors in one year as Federer has (Australian, Wimbledon, U.S.). Mats Wilander did it in 1988, but failed in the Masters, losing in the round-robin. Of the game’s big five (majors plus the Masters), Roger has four this year. Is this the finest season since Rodney (Rocket) Laver’s Grand Slam of 1969, the year before the Masters was founded? Certainly it is since Jimmy Connors’s 1974 when he won the three majors he played (Australia, Wimbledon, U.S.) and abstained from the Masters.

Federer, who went 18-0 during the season against so-called peers of the top ten, has won 23 straight against those lackeys. Even though Roger has zoomed – “I’ve been rocketing for the last year and a half” – to his private stratospehere, the most startling rise/recovery has been that of the “Headless Horseman,” Safin.

“I’m very happy with my year,” said the volatile Marat, who kept his wayward head glued on most of the time, and climbed 73 lengths. “I was No. 77 this time last year. I was injured (left wrist) and didn’t know if I could hit a ball again.”

Marat gave Roger his toughest test in the semis, dodging 7 match points and holding 6 set points in that colossal record equaling tie-breaker, falling, 6-3, 7-6 (20-18). Bjorn Borg won the first breaker stretching to 20-18 while making his Wimbledon debut as a 17-year-old in 1973. His victim was Indian Premjit Lall. Twenty years later, at the U.S. Open, Goran Ivanisevic did a 20-18 job in beating Canadian Danny Nestor.

Hewitt is openly revved up for the next major, the Aussie Open. “I’ve always wanted to win my country’s title, but this one will be special, the 100th anniversary of the tournament.”

As 2004 fades away and 2005 looms, Federer is just about to take off for Australia to start his preparations in summery weather. “I want to keep this up as long as I can.”

That’s not very good news for the rest of the crowd, transformed to mites by Roger’s magical touch. “He hits lines, doesn’t give you any cheap points, and is so aggressive against your serve,” says Hewitt. Lleyton couldn’t counter Federer’s serve (9 aces, 3 service winners), the sliced backhand that hugged the blueberry-toned paving, the bludgeoning forehand, angled volleys and the effortless moves that quickly closed openings.

Australia is known for its oysters, but the world is Federer’s tasty oyster, and it looks as though he’ll dine alone in the coming campaign.

Off to Spain now as the U.S. aims to end its third longest Davis Cup drought. Nine years have passed since the Sampras-steered 3-2 win over Russia in Moscow. Previous dryer spells for the U.S. stretched between 1902 and 1913, and 1927 and 1937.

<<<Back