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DY Stuns Anderson, Citi Open Friday
14 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Kristina Mladenovic was surely the heavy favorite to beat Kurumi Nara for a spot in the Citi Open semis. But the striking French woman lost badly 63 6l. After the match Mladenovic was devastated. She marched all the way to the last practice court corner – which is in view from the back of our press tent – and she promptly broke two Wilson Stream racquets, one was badly mangled. And Kiki was clearly crying with her head in a towel. Her coach, also a tall woman, was trying to talk with her or berate her, it was hard to tell from our distance across the court. But Kiki partly had her back to her while sitting in her chair, and was waving her arm at her, as if saying Just shut up.
A photographer in the media tent saw this and came out and shot a few photos, to which Kiki semi-shouted, No photos please. The photographer respected the wishes and ended up deleting them. Kiki sat their totally distraught and crying for at least 20 or 30 minutes.
While on the very next court to the emotional breakdown of Kiki, completely oblivious was Sorana Cirstea practicing hard with her coach.
Also at this time, while Kiki crumbled and Sorana solidified, Donald Young was in the process of upsetting Kevin Anderson, an opponent he had lost to in all four previous matches. From a set down, DY rallied to steal the second set and dominated the third 62. The serve out wide and the forehand to the open court seemed to be DY’s most successful tactic.
During the third set I noticed a fan sitting near me in the first row of the upper deck, was talking encouragement to Dy after every point. Good point Donald. That’s it. Come on Donald. This guy was about 60 and white. For whatever reason he was DY’s number one fan in the stadium. DY won and roared a monster come on while fist pumping his box. Then I walked over to watch DY do the post match QA with Gimelstob at the Tennis Channel outdoor studio. And who is standing front and center right behind DY, watching – his number one fan, of course (photo above).
I spent a good hour with Coach Skelly and he shared a ton of stories which had me cracking up. Here’s one: Skelly bet Kafelnikov that Mike Bryan would beat Mirnyi in singles here a few years back, to which Kafel replied, “You like to lose money?” Of course Max won easily and Skelly passed Kafel in the hall as Kafel was being taken out by two security guys to play his own singles match. Kafelnikov stopped and made Skelly pay up the fifty bucks, on the way to his match.
Paes and Stepanek haven’t broken up, Jeff Coetzee told me. They’ll play in Toronto. Paes and Groth saved four MPs to beat Cabal/Marrero. It was just more magic from Paes though Groth came up big at the end. In the match TB a Paes forehand winner up the line was the first mini break at 43, which was punctuated by a very loud Paes shout of VAMOS. Remember how Monaco and F Lopez didn’t like Paes use of Vamos a few years back? But then Cabal/Marrera rallied and were up 9-6. Groth made two big serves for 98 then Groth ripped a flat hard return which was netted by Cabal. Paes Groth went on from there to win, on a Paes volley winner that was set up by another Groth rip. The grandstand 2 court was overflowing for this match too. Fantastic tennis.
The Bryans also played a barnburner vs. Johnson/Querrey. The Bs won the first set 75 then lost 36. The match TB was also spectacular but Johnson was the hero. One match point, Steve’s volley was netted by one of the Bs and that was it. The Bs got further bad news after the match they were told the lead singer of their band, the super talented, Mike Johns passed away today at the apartment he shares with Torrey Gambill. Tough week for the Bryans.
Johnson’s roll in singles came to a halt today against Milos Raonic 76 62. After the match I asked Steve who the hardest guy to play is and he said Raonic because of his dominant serve, Isner is not as challenging to him only because they practice together a lot and he’s slightly more comfortable with Isner’s game because he’s seen it so much. Karlovic was also mentioned. Raonic is wearing a white New Balance kit with some green design and a beige block on the back of the shorts. It may be the nicest outfit I’ve seen all year. Well done to New Balance.
Richard Gasquet did a number on poor Nishikori. So the semis are just about set: Raonic vs. Young and Gasquet vs. the Giraldo-Pospisil winner.
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Andrew Miller · August 2, 2014 at 9:09 am
Scoop awesome.
Why no one mentioned dy and mom also working with coach boynton?
“In March of this year, he brought in U.S. Tennis Association coach Craig Boynton to aid his mother and provide “a different set of eyes, a different perspective,†as he put it.” Washington post.
Andrew Miller · August 2, 2014 at 9:18 am
I like the dy #1 fan. Felt me and my sister helped golovin draw even with sharapova back in the day but it was really golovin we were no puppeteers! There were probably a hundred hard core golovin fans pulling for her and she started playing huge so we felt like she was winning in part because she had something to play for and just as easily could have hit the showers. Dy hinself said that he used to be down and down a set and call it a day kust not get up for it and now more often he is lookong at each match as its own thing to work through and problem solve. That is what awesome players do.
If golovin writes a book i hope she mentions her miami match.
The fan player dynamic is real but it is by no means straightforward!
Andrew Miller · August 2, 2014 at 9:23 am
Scoops insider story is great. Very thought full of photographer but glad scoop got the memory of the mlad smashup of racquets because that really hppenned. Like the skelly anecdote on paying up and the isner johnson practice note.
I thought there may be bad blood obviously not true. Just when its game time it is “i dont know you” .but clearly knows his game ! Federer used to do this co op opponents to practice. Come match time no surprises.
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2014 at 9:28 am
Andrew, yes Momma Young was in the box but I did not see Boynton in the box during KA match.
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2014 at 9:31 am
Andrew, Johnson said after the match he and Isner are friends and they practice together a lot. But on match day it’s not personal it’s business. On any level it’s hard to compete against a friend but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Andrew Miller · August 2, 2014 at 1:45 pm
On tim mayotte. Combo of mayotte with required reading of tennis bios would make some great players.
http://m.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/07/coaching-coaches/52312/#.U90UlYMpCSw
Dan Markowitz · August 2, 2014 at 4:48 pm
Just watched DY lose straight sets to Raonic. DY is intriguing, but he’s got no big weapons. His serve is more tricky than big and his backhand is still a weakness. Raonic is intriguing. How far can the big guy go? His serve and forehand are really nice.
tennis4ever · August 2, 2014 at 6:27 pm
Must be disappointing for Kiki in that she wins big matches (Li, Safarova), but loses other ones against lower rank players.
I too saw Sorana practicing so hard with Darren and her coach. I hope she does well as her ranking points will drop after Montreal.
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2014 at 10:06 pm
Raonic was Sampras like today, holding serve and then all the sudden when he needs the break, he turns up the heat. DY was like a middleweight with a heavyweight. DY has to play perfect to take down Raonic even if he plays perfect it might not be enough. I see Raonic winning a major within 2 years. His serve, forehand and tennis IQ and poise are superb.
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2014 at 10:08 pm
Tennis4ever, yes Kiki does seem to struggle with that phobia of lower ranked unknown players. She thrives against the bigger name players. Less pressure and expectation on her I guess. Sorana was working hard here this week.
Bryan · August 4, 2014 at 11:47 pm
Enjoyable story with Kiki’s racquet smashing, the photog, the guy yelling for Young. Give it up for Young’s #1 fan. Did Young ever acknowledge him? I hope he did.
Scoop Malinowski · August 5, 2014 at 8:16 am
Bryan, that was a for a spot in the SF and Kiki blew it. Not sure if DY acknowledged his number one fan, I didn’t stay for the entire DY interview at the TC studio. But the guy was front and center, everyone else stood back a few steps. The photo I took shows this. If this guy is also at the US Open I’m going to interview him )
Bryan · August 9, 2014 at 4:42 am
Cool, that would be fun to read that fan’s story; devoted fans like that guy are what fuel tennis. The Kiki meltdown was interesting because she and her camp essentially censored the press.
That photographer who deleted the image was way too passive. Journalists won’t typically do that type of stuff, whether they’re reporters or photogs.
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2014 at 8:49 am
Bryan, I looked for DYs number one fan at the next match and he wasn’t there. So I doubt he’ll be in NY, but if he is I remember his look and appearance and will surely interview him. Mladenovic was heartbroken losing that QF to Nara so decisively too. But Nara had a great week and even won a set of Kuznetsova in final and pushed her to the limits. Nara is smallish but strong and very consistent. Like a wall. She has good speed in her feet and hands too. The photographer didn’t want to bother Kiki or get on her bad side, he said a lot of the players follow him on twitter and he just wants to get along with all. He also said he loves when players retweet his photos, that’s like his ultimate high as a photo man. He has a lot of respect for the players especially the women players I gathered.