Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life

The semifinals of the 2012 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix offered the top 4 ranked players in the world. Fittingly, the final will feature world #1 Victoria Azarenka taking on world #2 Maria Sharapova. Vika punched her ticket to the championship match by overwhelming Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-3. The good news is that Aga has not lost this year to anybody other than Vika. The bad news is that she is now 0-5 in 2012 against Vika. If not for Azarenka, Aga would probably be the leading Player of the Year candidate. In the other semifinal, Masha ended Petra Kvitova’s 27 match indoor win streak, 6-4 7-6 (3). In a match between two players who go for everything, hitting tons of winners and tons of errors, Petra will rue not capitalizing on her chances, particularly only converting 1 of 11 break chances.

The final, in my mind, is very important for…