Enberg, Carillo Show Savoir-Faire in Paris

Charles Barkley said there would be days like this. When you get used to turning on effort and focus as if it were electricity, Barkley warned the other night, one of these times you’re going to flick the switch and nothing’s going to happen.

Barkley was discussing a certain maddening local basketball team, but he could just as well have been talking about Venus and Serena Williams, a.k.a. the Lakers of women’s professional tennis.

The Williams sisters came to Paris much the same way the Lakers came to the Western Conference finals. They were expected to dominate. Despite numerous off-court distractions, they were expected to sweep the competition aside.

On a cold, blustery Tuesday in France, looking ahead to an obligatory all-in-the-family showdown in the semifinals, Venus and Serena reached back in their respective French Open quarterfinal matches and flicked the switch.

Nothing happened.

Within a span of 28 minutes, both were out of the tournament -- second-seeded Serena losing to Jennifer Capriati in three sets, followed shortly by fourth-seeded Venus falling in straight sets to Russia’s Anastasia Myskina.

In both matches, the unforced errors fell like the rain. Serena had 45. Venus nearly matched that with 43 -- in one fewer set.

On ESPN, commentators talked about the wet conditions and the sloppy clay and the heavy balls and the rain delays stifling the sisters’ performances. But listening to Dick Enberg and Mary Carillo early in the Serena-Capriati match, it quickly became apparent something more might come into play.

Enberg is working this tournament for ESPN on loan from CBS, a useful move for everyone concerned. It’s good to hear Enberg back where he belongs, behind the microphone at a Grand Slam tournament, although it’s safe to say he never delved into a match with this kind of observation:

“Serena with what she calls her ‘Moulin Rouge attire.’ Shocking fuchsia. With a pink accent.”

Earlier in the tournament, Carillo had mused that Serena had recently ended her eight-month tennis hiatus to “introduce her new spring collection.” Tuesday, Enberg referred to the player as “a self-described diva.”

Carillo: “She says, ‘I’m not just an athlete. I’m an entertainer.’ ”

Enberg: “ ‘I’m not apologizing about my six matching bags that I have in order to travel.’ ”

Carillo teased Enberg: “You talking about yourself there?”

Enberg: “No, no.”

Carillo: “Oh, you’re quoting Serena?”

Enberg: “Mine never match.”

Carillo voiced the concern that many in the sport and media have regarding Serena’s many interests and a daily schedule stretched too thin to facilitate dominant tennis.

“She brings a lot to the party, doesn’t she?” Carillo said. “She is one of the easiest athletes in the world to cover, because she gives you so much to talk about. She designed the clothing she’s wearing. She was at the Cannes Film Festival before the French Open. Hanging out, seeing films. Practicing, of course, but meeting Tom Hanks and mixing it up with him and hanging around all of the stars, Beyonce.

“She’s got multiple interests. Unfortunately, she’s struggling on the tennis court today. That’s something we ask her all the time -- ‘Are you getting the right balance? Have you found the right mix? Can you really do all this stuff and be a world-class athlete?’

“I like her answer, Dick. She says, ‘I am not most people. I am Serena.’ ”

The other top contenders in women’s tennis, more narrow-minded, find their entertainment primarily in winning tournaments.

The Williams sisters once were able to traipse into Grand Slam tournaments in between commercial shoots and social engagements and roll to victory, but no longer. Venus hasn’t won a Grand Slam title since 2001. Serena is one for her last three -- sandwiching the 2003 Wimbledon championship between disappointments at the 2003 and 2004 French Opens. Serena did not participate in the most recent U.S. and Australian Opens.

Right now, the French Open is Capriati’s to lose. And that’s what has ESPN and NBC nervous. Capriati is the last American singles player standing in Paris. She joins two Russians, Myskina and ninth-seeded Elena Dementieva, and an Argentine, 14th-seeded Paola Suarez, in the women’s final four.

NBC, which handles weekend coverage, is one Capriati stumble away from a possible Suarez-Myskina final. And NBC thought selling Belgian tennis players stateside was tough.

The American men checked out long ago. Ten came to Paris. Zero advanced to the third round. The networks look at the nations still represented in the men’s field -- Argentina, Brazil, England -- and wonder if they somewhere took a wrong turn and wandered into the World Cup.

This is how bad a tournament it has been for the Americans. British journalists, a little loopy over the prospect of still covering Tim Henman’s matches this late in a clay-court tournament, have taken to needling U.S. writers at Roland Garros: “Now you know what it feels like.”

Tuesday, the soggy tennis was so underwhelming, Carillo began reminiscing about the good old days early in the third set of Serena-Capriati.

“The years where Monica Seles and Steffi Graf were playing their clay-court tennis, I think either one of those would beat anybody these days,” she said. “Those two played a 1992 final that I still think is the greatest match I’ve ever seen. Went the distance, Seles finally deciding it. I mean, they hit as hard as possible, and they had a handful of errors a set between them. Talk about controlled aggression.”

For the U.S. networks left to hold the fort for five more days, it’s now Capriati or bust. Talk about controlled anxiety.