Tennis Prose




Dec/14

1

Live at the Eddie Herr Tournament at IMG

I went to see some of the day one action at the Eddie Herr tournament at IMG today…

Saw a couple of 18s battling, both with one handers, the American is named Catalin Mattias, the Euro was a lefty. Long points, long rallies.

Phil Dent was there watching one of the kids from his academy in California. Taylor is back home working with Jared Donaldson.

I saw Paul Goldstein and Brade Stine chatting at a practice court, with the Isner-like Reilly Opelka. There was another coach around that court who told me his friend grew up with Marcelo Rios. The old ATP media guide factoid that Rios started tennis at 11 is untrue, he actually started at seven or eight. Rios’ daughter Constanza no longer plays, she was pushed too hard, is the word. She was getting full time home coaching in Costa Rica to the tune of six figures a couple of years ago. And she was quite talented too. It doesn’t always work out in tennis.

This coach also told me he’s working with the two best 12 year old in the world, the Khan brothers who are half Brazilian and half Pakistani. They are from San Antonio, Texas. Zane Khan won his first round match today against a Filippino kid.

Another interesting thing he told is that Spain is now struggling to produce talent. He said if you go watch the 12s in Spain, the level is substandard. He said the reason for the talent drought in Spain is that the kids aren’t playing tennis “because it’s too tough” so they are mostly playing soccer. Remember, those days when tennis was looked down on as a wussy sport? Times have changed.

Junior tennis is amazing to see at a tournament like Eddie Herr. Every single court I checked in on, the kids ALL LOOKED LIKE MINI PROS. They all had the athleticism, footwork, techniques, baseline consistency, power, intensity. It’s really difficult to see players stand out because they all look very very good.

I liked one Argentine girl, 14, Maria Carle, who had the intensity, and the focused seriousness in her facial expressions that was different. She beat a good South African Margo Landmann, also 14, who won Little Mo Last year and already won two small WTA pro events. The South African coach Franz told me there are a strong core of Argie females right now, 14-16, six or seven of them, who train together and who can all beat other, which is the very best kind of training, that’s how you get better, facing the best, not dodging the best.

Another coach told me Canada has two massive prospects coming up, a huge kid named Nicaise Muamba and Felix Auger. Germany also has a super talented fourteen year old who is getting a lot of buzz. His name is Rudolph Molleker. Check out the You Tube Videos of Molleker and also the Google Images. Very impressive.

Several big name players were on the grounds, including Mary Pierce, who is coaching (for free) a boy from Mauritius. Pierce was sitting on the grass behind the fence of a baseline watching closely with a clipboard keeping all kinds of stats. She was very focused.

Petr Korda was also there, his son Sebi is 14 and played at noon. I talked with Korda about Facing McEnroe for my book. I didn’t know that Korda’s one ATP match vs. Johnny Mac was Mac’s final ATP match. Petr’s a very funny guy with a quick wit and an easy smile. He and Jim Pierce were joking together. Jim Pierce is another gem of a guy to chat with, he had endless stories and they’re all interesting.

Jim’s wife Swata said Hana Mandlikova just walked by us but I didn’t even recognize her. Kathy Rinaldi is here too.

The Eddie Herr has to be one of the biggest tournaments in the world, there is 12s, 14s, 16s, 18s, singles doubles, 128 draws. I don’t know how they get all the matches done. There are so many kids wandering around in their gear carrying bags, everywhere you look there’s 30 kids.

Hey, do you remember that kid Jan Silva? The phenom featured in Tennis Magazine who was being built to be a pro at age four? He quit tennis.

It’s just hard to fathom how many talented kids there are playing tennis. And to imagine how difficult it is for certain kids to separate themselves from the pack. Yet all these kids believe, and train, and work and compete to be one of those billion to one shots.

I left the IMG Academy with one realization: Tennis is the hardest sport in the world to succeed in, harder than boxing, basketball, football, you name it.

Some cool names in the draws: Roscoe Bellamy. Lleyton Cronje. Lancelot Carnello.

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11 comments

  • Dan Markowitz · December 1, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    I don’t know about boxing. No one’s punching these kids in the face, but absolutely, tennis is the hardest sport to go pro in. I see it my son’s level even. He plays against kids here in New York who play 4-5 days a week, some of the better ones play 6 days a week. It’s just so expensive. It’s a fun sport, but also it can burn you out.

    Be interesting to see if any middle class or poor kids every make it to the pros. I doubt it.

  • Scoop Malinowski · December 2, 2014 at 7:35 am

    Some of these rallies are 20 shots each Dan. Brutal physically. These kids train five days a week, hours and hours. Kids in boxing don’t train like these tennis kids who sacrifice everything for tennis. There is a thing called defense in boxing. Amateur boxing injuries are rare, the emphasis is on scoring punches not KOs or injuring the opponent. And the kid doesn’t stand there with his hands down and chin out saying hit me. A kid can win one match and be a Junior Olympic champion because the draws are so small sometimes there’s only one kid entered at a certain weight class so he wins the JO title by default. Look at how many kids are playing these tournaments. The pool of competition in tennis is staggering.

  • Dan Markowitz · December 2, 2014 at 8:51 am

    Yes, there may be a lot of kids playing these tournaments, but it’s a small segment of the total population of kids playing tennis. These are elite kids who’s parents have money in most cases, and they, too, are willing to dedicate a lot of time and energy into their kid’s tennis.

    Tennis is a delusional sport, though. You can have a kid practicing all the time, the way the Williams’s sisters did, with a parent who really has very little background in the sport, and a lot of times both the parents and the kids think they have a shot at being a pro. The reality is that even with these kids at the Eddie Herr, few will become pros and make a living from the sport, but that million in one chance is alluring to many because tennis is one of the only sports where you can be small or tall and still have a chance to be a pro.

    A high-level sports doctor told me that in sports like tennis and baseball, the kids who are really special are the kids with 20/10 or 20/15 eyesight. They pick up the ball early and you can’t teach that. It’s in the eyes.

  • Scoop Malinowski · December 2, 2014 at 10:53 am

    It’s a lot more than the eyes Dan. Though of course vision is as critical as movement, as Pancho Segura said, “If you can’t move you can’t play tennis.” There have been a few great players who needed glasses or contact lenses – Navratilova, Graebner, F-Lo, etc.

  • bjk · December 2, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    Probably baseball more than tennis. Don’t see many great players on this list.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bespectacled_baseball_players

  • Dan Markowitz · December 2, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    This doctor’s feeling was that you can’t improve a player’s reaction time too much. Reflexes are reflexes, they can be honed, but the great one’s like Agassi, just see the ball earlier.

    This doctor told me he works with the Yankees and he went into their locker room and asked the players what their eyesight numbers were: and most said they tested for having exceptional eyesight. I know my son has 20/15 vision and I think I can see that in his play. He can take kids’ big shots and particularly with his backhand slice, short-hop the deep hard shot back at their feet. And he hasn’t been taught or drilled in that shot. It’s just pretty much a natural shot and I think it stems from his great vision.

  • Harold · December 2, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Like being a point guard in basketball. The great one’s see the game differently, one or two steps ahead. Very few big men, other than Walton and Bird, saw the game action develop the same way as a point guard. Lebron does as well, but he is also a beast.

  • Dan Markowitz · December 2, 2014 at 4:36 pm

    What about Olajuwon or modern day centers like Noah and Gasol? They see the game like a good point guard.

  • Harold · December 2, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    Not on the level of Bird and Walton. They made everyone the played with much better then they ever were. Gasol didnt make Kobe better and Noah doesnt make Rose better. He did play great without him, but they couldnt score. Walton averaged 20 effortlessly and still making everyone better in college and the pros.

  • Harold · December 2, 2014 at 5:16 pm

    Olajuwon was great, not a great passer. Offense didnt run through him

  • Dan Markowitz · December 2, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    I was referring to Marc Gasol. Olajuwon was a ballet dancer in the post, but you’re right, he didn’t orchestrate offense. Bill Walton’s my main man. Great, great guy, possibly second greatest college player in history of game, but except for a year and a half, I’m not counting Celtics year when he was a role player, Walton was a bust in the NBA. The man was as fragile as Andrea Bargnani.

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