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Rhyne Williams stars at US Open Qualies day one
39 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Me and Dan roll into the BJK National Tennis Center at about 12 noon. Parked out bikes and saw some players practicing like Alexa Glatch and others who were unfamiliar. We met this really nice friendly girl from Turkey – ranked around 212 – but I can’t even begin to try to spell her name, it’s one of the craziest tennis names you will see, beyond Sesil Karantcheva or Noppawan Leerchwakarn. She plays tomorrow.
The first players we saw were Verdasco playing Seppi on grandstand but it was kind of lowkey in there. Both players seemed kind of flat and they were not interacting with each other on changeovers. On grandstand was Gilles Simon with a Frenchman who sort of looked like Jeremy Chardy but it wasn’t.
Court 17 has a new level added on. Christian Harrison was taken out by Greg Zemlja in two sets. Harrison looked okay, a good defensive player but he needs to get stronger to progress up the ranks.
Mary Joe Fernandez walked by us, she was in tunnel vision mode.
Peter Bodo was eating a cheeseburger in the food court and he was just finishing it as we sat down to take care of business with the chicken and spinach crepes, which are very good.
Jessica Pegula, a young American, won her match in two. She is a good athlete and has a nice fire about her. She is coached for the last two or three years by Michael Joyce, who gladly accepted a copy of my Rios book. Talking with Michael Joyce was one of the highlights of the entire process, his memories and anecdotes of Rios were hilarious, entertaining and sometimes just plain stunning.
Thomas Tung, one of our ace commenters and friends, was sitting on the same bleacher as we checked out Vasek Pospisil vs. Rhyne Williams. Williams, out of Bradenton FL and Univ of Tennessee, looked very very impressive today in beating Pospisil, the touted Canadian in two sets. Williams reminded me of Ginepri because of his steady smooth consistent topspin game and also a bit of Hewitt because of his confident strut and swagger around the court. Watch out for this kid Rhyne Williams, who did a Biofile right after the match with me.
Thomas Tung made an interesting point that none of the young players he has seen lately have impressed him to the point where you just know they are a can’t miss future star, the last time he had that sense at US Open qualies was when he saw a young Robin Soderling. I have to agree, the last time I saw a can’t miss was Andy Roddick at age 18 or 17. Roddick was so intense and had such an energy about him, such a hard working mindset that he stood out from all the rest. He was a young frisky colt that you just knew would one day grow into a stud racehorse. The younger players today just don’t stand out like that, though Williams is one I will keep an eye on.
Dan was impressed by the unpredictable game of Tatjana Malek who chipped returns, and really mixed up her tactics. She also was not afraid to attack the net and made some nice volleys.
Met a couple of Tennis-prose readers brothers Aaron and Neil Freilich who I met last year. Aaron just wrote a story for Long Island Tennis about his first time experience of attending Roland Garros in the current issue and I can’t wait to read that feature. Neil was hyping Noah Rubins, a top American teenager who at 16 is the star student at the John McEnroe Academy.
Also met a tennis instructor from NJ named Tim Keller who heard an old Rios story. Rios was told by his coach to practice serves but Marcelo didn’t want to do it. Instead Marcelo said he would set up three cans and hit them with serves, if he did it, he would not have to practice serves. Of course, Rios hit all three cans and was freed from having to practice his serve that day.
Last match we saw before heading home on our bikes all the way back, for me to NJ from Queens (125th street in Harlem for Dan) was Bobby Reynolds dismantling Marchenko from Ukraine.
Oh, by the way, we got so caught up in qualies and being on the scene, the plan for Dan to do his Federer is the greatest on all fours was completely forgotten. We even talked about it on the walk in but the idea was totally forgotten after that. Fortunately for Dan, we were unable to connect with Michael. Perhaps on Friday.
Oh, by the way, the Turkish girl, mentioned earlier, her name is Cagla Buyukakcay. Don’t ask me how to pronounce it please.
Oh, and one more thing. We saw two legends – Jan Siemerink, the former top 30 player from the Netherlands was checking out the scene as a fan wearing a knapsack. And also in the house was John James, a teaching pro up in Westchester, who once won a match vs. Bjorn Borg in Sydney, in his days as an ATP pro. James said it was so long ago he doesn’t remember anything about the match.
After about 45 miles of biking and watching tennis all day, that’s all he wrote for today. Stay tuned for much more US Open qualies coverage…
Jan Siemerink was in the house
Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2012 at 3:54 am
Almost forgot. At lunch in the food court we were joined by Wojciech Kubik, the famous Polish photographer. He told us Serena was hitting on Ashe with Jack Sock.
Michael · August 22, 2012 at 4:19 am
I didn’t know he was famous but when I saw him I said remember me from last year ? He didn’t. I, on the other hand, don’t forget a face. We were watching Domanshowska [sic]. Boy, whatever happened to her. She hit top 35 or so when she first came on tour but I haven’t seen her escape qualies in a while.
Verdasco-Seppi played on Armstrong not GS unless they moved. Also, if that wasn’t Chardy with Simon I’ll buy you a beer. I have quite a bit of video of the practice so if I ever get a chance to review it we can tell for sure.
You parked your bikes outside the grounds ? I should steal them just to teach you a lesson.
Andrew Miller · August 22, 2012 at 4:35 am
Ha that was awesome! Enjoyed that one – thank you for the qualy tour. Next best thing to playing or being there is reading it.
Michael Joyce – he is funny. He is asked frequently or was asked frequently about the late David Foster Wallace article about him, which basically said that Joyce played for the love of the game. But I think Joyce had the last laugh – his contribution has been oversized in comparison to his ranking, especially in his support for Maria Sharapova. Though Joyce is no longer Sharapova’s hitting partner ( that went to the player whose NCAA title was up for grabs in the Jeff Salzenstein era, Cecil Mamiit ) he had an impact, way bigger than Wallace could see at the time.
Tennis crazy game. You never know what’s important until it’s in the books.
Dan Markowitz · August 22, 2012 at 11:41 am
Scoop,
Like the true pro you are, you posted a story on our day at the qualis while I just ate some yogurt, watched the Yankees lose to the White Sox and watched the first part of an old Daily Show before I crashed. My body was tired, sore and burnt from all day out in the sun, but it was worth it.
Let me point out to Michael, that we did not just “park” our bikes outside the US Open site in Flushing, Queens–what do you think Scoop and I just walked off the boat?–but we locked them near the outside practice courts. Scoop cavalierly just locks his bike with a thin wire lock (but his bike is worth about $10), while I had a Kryptonite. Nonetheless, as Scoop said, we met a charming Turkish girl who’s playing today and her coach as we made a quick stop at said practice courts. It seemed like mostly women were practicing and it’s fun to see them grinding away (when we left the grounds about six hours later, there were still players whacking balls out on those practice courts).
I also want to mention about Scoop, that he doesn’t carry around a notebook, his account of our day at the qualis is fully from his memory. Yes, we did see Mary Joe Fernandez and she’s quite a big girl if you know what I mean. I do walk around the qualis looking mainly for men’s matches, and a couple of faces caught my eyes. I liked Rhyne Williams, and I see his ole Tennessee doubles partner, Tennys Sandgren also won yesterday. Unlike Christian Harrison–who looks pretty much exactly like his brother and who’s game I saw nothing spectacular about–Rhyne has a cool forehand where he really accelerates into it and spins it hard and fluid. He beat Popisil (again, I don’t look up names when I write these accounts), who’s the No. 2 Canadian player, and I liked the way he acted on the court. He’s got some flair, he’s a good-looking guy, and I think even though he’s 21 and ranked around 300, Williams might be a comer.
The other player who caught my eye was Julio Silva of Brazil, who is black and pretty short, and plays with a headband like a basketball player’s. He runs around the court whipping shots, and is ranked like 170. I think he lost yesterday and it brings to mind the amazing part about the qualis–most, if not all but a few, of these guys and gals, don’t ever make it. And what does making it mean? Well, to me it means being a top 50 player at least for a while and competing on the real tour.
These are great players, some better than others, obviously, who never ever get to play in the Real Show. Of all the players I saw yesterday, only Jan Hernych, who actually beat Spadea in 2005 Indian Wells when Spadea was a seeded player, but on the way down again, a big Italian girl who Thomas told us is from the German part of Italy and once got cozy with Andreas Seppi, Knapp is her last name, and Bobby Reynolds for a short stint, ever really made it to around top 50.
The rallies in today’s game are all from the backhand side to the backhand side. I saw very few forehand to forehand exchanges. The points are played either in backhand cross court rallies or with one player running around his backhand and going inside-out. The forehand inside-in shot and the volley are used mostly to finish points off.
Another part I like about the qualis is you see the lifers out there: the fans who actually follow quali tennis, the coaches who are trying to perform the miracle and usher a player into the top echelon of the game, and the players, who look like the real pros as they lug their huge racquet bags around on their shoulders like tourists, but they’re really strangers to the real McKoys.
And then you get to see the pretty girls. (Predominantly, you don’t see where lookers playing pro tennis. The theory is that if you’re that good-looking, why would you opt for the grind and hard work of a pro tennis player? You’d just get your great-looking boyfriend or hubby to take you to the matches while you wore heels. That’s why seeing a really fine woman player is really a find). I did like Tatijana Malek of Germany, who I read later actually sported a ranking when she was 22 in the 60’s. Now she’s 25, and she was wearing a tank top and sweat marks appeared on it, and she went about her business with the utmost seriousness, as did her opponent, Sascha Jones of Aussie-land. But Malek, would chip a return, hit a few floating slice backhands in a row and charge the net with gusto, even though she was a smaller girl.
And I liked the girl who beat Knapp, (and I did have to look this name up), Anastasaja (spelling?) Sevastova of Latvia, because she was also cute (looked a little like the young Natasha Kinski of Tess & The Dubbervilles–Thomas Hardy book made into movie) and she bounced up and down on lithe feet and she had a Federer fluidity to her game. But her strawberry lips were divine.
The biggest surprise of the day was seeing that Luckas Rasol, the Nadal-killer (he hasn’t played since Luckas drilled him out of Wimbledon), was playing, but alas it was the last match of the day and we couldn’t wait long enough for it. Also, Reuben Bremelmans was on the schedule, a Belgian player, who Scoop and I almost saw knock off Ryan Harrison in Newport. He’s a lefty with a shifty athletic game. Both Rasol and Bremelmans advanced.
We also saw Robbie Ginepri, who surprisingly got a wildcard into the main draw even though he hasn’t done much of anything in his comeback this year, walking with his beautiful girlfriend, I suppose, into the Bobby Reynolds match and watching with Bobby’s wife, who likes to call out, “C’mon, Bobby,” right before important points.
But, perhaps, the best parts of a quali day are just shooting the tennis trivia and stories. It’s not nearly as crowded or intense as a regular main draw day and there’s plenty of time to project about a quali player’s possible bright future or recall matches that stood out in our memories. The other great part is the food. Before Scoop and I bicycled back along Northern and Astoria Blvds and over two bridges, the Triborough (newly-named, the Robert F. Kennedy) and the Randall’s Island, we took a sojourn along Roosevelt Ave to Chinatown in Flushing and had tofu dishes at the wonderful Imperial Palace Seafood Restaurant on 37th Ave. (Scoop, had to stop our bike rid on the way back to duck into the Sports Authority to go to the bathroom).
So I had a spinach crepe and Ma Po Tofu and fig newtons on my Quali Adventure Day, hardly the American fare, Pete Bodo recommended of a burger and fries. But that’s what stands out in the most in any great Quali Day, the diversity of nations, cultures and food, and anyone who can duck out to the Open over the next few days to catch the excitement and openness of the Qualis should make a bee-line to Flushing.
Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2012 at 1:42 pm
Michael Marta Domochowska is an underachiever but she is the prettiest woman in pro tennis. Verdasco Seppi was on Armstrong. It looked like Chardy but it wasn’t!
Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Andrew; Michael Joyce is one of my favorite people in tennis, been a top 60ish player, played all the greats and has tremendous perspective and experience as both a player and a coach and a person who loves the sport. Your Federers and Nadal’s, Petes and Andres are important figures in the sport but the Michael Joyces are also indispensible.
Michael · August 22, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Actually I thought you might leave them with/near bag check. Qualies is not exactly empty. I can’t write more on phone keyboard except I’ll check out your boy D brown today.
Dan Markowitz · August 22, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Oh, going to miss Dustin Brown playing. He’s my fave. No question about it. Michael, you’ve seen a lot of tennis over the years, do you agree that the game is mostly played on the backhand side of the court these days and especially in the women’s game, where they are not as quick up to the net, the stab volley has been replaced more by the swinging volley.
Also, as I noted from Toronto, at least amongst the men, the drop shot is used more often now as a way to approach the net rather than the approach shot probably because passing shots have become better and players are not as good near the net as they used to be.
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 12:36 am
Anybody happen to catch the Mello/Sousa qualie today..Sousa started havng words with Mello’s peeps in the third, totally threw off his game, then they went at it again after the match and had to be seperated. The chair umpire said nothing when it was going on during the match. Never saw anything like it in all my years watchig tennis
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 12:37 am
Unfortunately, it was in Spanish or Portugese, so I didnt really know what they were saying, but they werent making plans to party
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 12:42 am
Anybody get an idea watching a young player and seeing who they are channeling on court? Yesterday saw Marchenko on TV, and this kid has Safins mannerisms and playing style down to a T. Today was watching Berankis, this kids room was probably filled with Hewitt posters. Exact game, Yonex sticks and clothes, the ankle braces, backward cap..all you needed was a Cmon…
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 1:05 am
Oh wow, would have loved to have seen this match and how it all transpired. Hope someone provides details.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 1:08 am
Berankis did not mention Hewitt as a big inspiration or hero when we did a Biofile. He used to wear a headband and a cap forward, guess he just recently changed his look. See he changed his name back to Ricardas from Richard from originally Ricardas. He plays very mellow stoic tennis, more like Federer, unlike Hewitt. One thing I remember about talking with Berankis twice is he is a super nice kid, very very likeable and non confrontational like Hewitt could be.
Michael · August 23, 2012 at 1:08 am
I’m watching d brown now. Good atmosphere. Lotsa “rastamon” cheers.
Michael · August 23, 2012 at 1:11 am
Murray an Wawrinka played a very entertaining practice match today on GS and Lendl was Smiling and chatty with the fans. I suppose this is lends “home court” since
He’s relatively local.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 1:28 am
Brown is a colorful guy to watch and his fans drum up some excellent support. He seems to play his best at US Open. Hope he can pull through.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 1:29 am
That’s a good battle Michael because Wawrinka is sharp right now and Murray is eager to get back on his A game after the loss to Chardy. Who seemed to have the edge?
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 2:54 am
Watched some of Murray/Wawrinka..Murray was hitting his fh big….
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 2:55 am
Dancevic lost, but saw him leave with his gf/or wife….yowzer
Dan Markowitz · August 23, 2012 at 3:23 am
Dancevic’s wife makes you not feel sorry for the guy when he loses and his career is in the dumps. When I saw her in Newport, she was dressed to the nines–in Newport! Glad to see Dunny Brown win. He’s a colorful guy. I love when he asks for the ballkids to give him the same ball back that he just hit an ace or winner with.
They actually have the Qualis on tv. Can you believe it. It’s on the CBS Network which for me is Channel 94 on my Verizon cable. Unfortunately, it’s not in High-Def. But Taylor Dent was announcing the Tursunov-Ward match from Ct. 17 and I like Tursy’s game.
I think it’s cheating to go watch the big guns practice during the Qualis. You’ve got to watch the qualifiers. You’ll see enough of the big guys once the tourney begins for real.
Michael · August 23, 2012 at 4:03 am
@Dan, “You’ve got to watch the qualifiers. You’ll see enough of the big guys once the tourney begins for real.”
From a guy that goes one or two days for 6-7 hours ?
Anyway, the matches ended about 10pm today. It was a far more interesting day than yesterday.
Larcher de Brito the usual script: screamng, whining (told the ref to “shut up” and got no penalty), crying during the match and finally the win. Every point is an emotional battle. One girl not more then 10 asked her mother at various times “why does she keep screaming,” “why is she crying” and “why doesn’t she just play and stop all the noises.”
Putintseva also has to make every match a complete drama as well. She lost. Looks like a mini-Kuznetsova is you’ve never seen her. Recently out of the Juniors.
Dan Markowitz · August 23, 2012 at 7:48 am
Michael,
No one will ever question your stamina. I just never go in to watch the main draw pros practice when I go to qualis. I was with Scoop the other day and he wanted to go in as soon as we walked into the grounds so I went. I’ve gone before, but I like the drama better of the predominantly young crowd trying to quali.
de Brito sounds like a traveling circus on her own. I see that Jim Kiick, the ole halfback to Larry Czonka’s fullback for the 17-0 Miami Dolphins 1973 team, has a daughter who got a wildcard into qualis and lost yesterday. Sloane Stephens’s father was also a football player. Kiick, apparently, gets so wrapped up when he watches his daughter play that he it’s hard for him to watch. Maybe it’s good that both football dads didn’t really play roles in their kids evolution as players.
I’m curious, Michael, do you like watching the matches on your own or do you go out to the events with a friend?
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 11:19 am
Watched Murray from the front row at his practice, the only other way to see him during the Open,would be from the upper deck in Ashe, because with no Nadal, probably all his matches will be played in Ashe. Why wouldnt any fan want to get an upclose view of a top player?
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Michael I saw Michelle LDB practice on the next court over in Holmes Beach in January and she practiced with no grunts or screaming or crying ) Wish I could have seen her play she is one of my favorites, she pours every ounce of her spirit into every ball. Hope she makes it. Putintseva will be the most controversial player of all time if she ever makes it, she is the most intense female competitor I’ve ever seen, beyond Serena. We’ll see if she’s good enough to get to the top, she’s kind of small. Thanks for the words from the kid fan Michael, must’ve been a serious racket to bother the kid.
Harold · August 23, 2012 at 12:47 pm
A friend just told me that Putinseva has been practicing at Eisenhower park all week, and he cant believe how hard she hits
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Harold; Putinseva is a real fierce competitor too, she yells screams grunts, glares at the opponent, and also throws some mean fist pumps. She is a very in your face player, or at least she was a few years ago in the US Open juniors. The media is going to have a field day with her.
Dan Markowitz · August 23, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Harold,
You make a good point. I just feel that the story this week is about the qualifiers, and that’s where the focus should be. I don’t even usually bother to go inside and that’s pretty much the way I watch the Open when I go during the first week. I rarely go inside to watch a match unless it’s in the Grandstand and I have a press pass because the seating is good or if it’s a match I want to see in Armstrong, like last year, Harrison v. Cilic.
I just much prefer to be watching on the outside courts.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Watching practices are a good experience. You see a lot of things like Fed and Fish chatting away on changeovers. Nadal signing everything and taking every photo request and then climbing into the stands and leaving Armstrong through the crowd with NO security and signing and taking even more photos with fans. That was amazing. It’s really mesmerizing to see players practice from so close. Nadal starts off the first two days nice and easy but then amps it up as day one nears. You get to see players clown a bit, instead of always seeing them so serious with game faces on. Armstrong and grandstand are usually packed for practices Dan you should watch a few this year, you might change your ways. It’s a nice way to mix it up, watching quali matches and then pop in for practices.
Dan Markowitz · August 23, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Scoop,
You see, Lou Noritz’s prize find in Newport lost in straight sets in the second round of qualis to a Roumanian. Just don’t see many guys who are more than 22 years old have a breakthrough that sends them flying up the rankings. Bobby Reynolds in a close three set match against the Australian, James Duckworth.
I’ll be out there tomorrow, looking for Dustin Brown, Rhyne Williams and Tennys Sandgren, hopefully. Maybe eating some spinach crepe and uttering my Federer words.
Michael · August 23, 2012 at 6:49 pm
Dan, depends on the day but if I want to concentrate on photos it’s a lot easier with a like-minded friend or alone.
Mauresmo was out watching Caroline Garcia, who lost. D. Brown is walking around and watching matches. The place is CROWDED.
Michael · August 23, 2012 at 8:32 pm
I have a secret. I just saw Murray – Monaco practice set. Don’t tell Dan.
Dan markowitz · August 24, 2012 at 12:24 am
At the Taste of Tennis party at the W Hotel and Serena just walked in with 12-inch heels. She’s bigger than the Bryan Brothers put together,
Patrick · August 24, 2012 at 4:29 am
Tennis will miss Serena when she retires.
Michael · August 24, 2012 at 4:36 am
“the last time he had that sense at US Open qualies was when he saw a young Robin Soderling”
Murray was highly touted in 2004. I saw all three of his qualie matches in 2005. They put him on ct 4 (i think the largest field court) and he drew huge crowds.
He cruised into the main draw and played a tough match against Clement in round one before cramping badly in the 5th but there was little doubt he was going to be a top player.
By the next USO he made the quarters if I recall losing to Dacydenko in 5 over two days though again fading in the fifth.
Michael · August 24, 2012 at 4:38 am
(Scoop, can’t find post-posting edit)
Should have said as early as 2004 when he won the juniors.
Scoop Malinowski · August 24, 2012 at 1:09 pm
You have one sharp memory Michael! Sorry about the lack of post-posting edit option.
Scoop Malinowski · August 24, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Talk about a huge vaccuum Serena retiring will cause the women’s game. She will certainly be missed. America may have to wait a long LONG time before it produces another such champion as Serena. Perhaps decades. Or more.
Thomas Tung · August 24, 2012 at 1:31 pm
You weren’t lying when you said that the place you and Scoop were going for dinner was good — the Imperial Palace is one of the best options in Flushing. I commend you on your good taste 😉
Scoop Malinowski · August 24, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Portions are generous too Thomas, as well as tasty and low priced. Enjoyed the leftovers yesterday and the bean curd and green beans still tasted very very good. What did you order?