I stayed up late for the Federer finish against Brian Dabul the night before, and the press conference didn’t end until after midnight. Fed was in a good mood. The first questioner asked him if he thought his between-the-legs shot where he raced to the baseline after being up at net and knifed the ball on the gallop with his back to the net for a winner, was superior to a similar shot he hit last year against Djokovic, and Fed smiled, and asked back, “What do you think?” Fed thought this year’s version was better, but the shot last year happened in a bigger moment, in the semis.
So, I teach hot yoga as my main job, and had to teach a 6:30 am and 9:30 am class so I trudged out to the Open today on 3 hours sleep and a lot of heat soaked into my body and head. That’s probably why I thought today was so hot, but I also heard Pam Shriver announce on the tv during the Djokovic match that a heat warning was in effect.
Dojokovic had his hands full with his compatriot, Victor Troicki, but he prevailed in five. Rich Pagliaro said that Novak was not too concerned in the presser afterward, he said he’ll let his legs and savvy carry him through the draw, but Rich said that’s talking like a junior player. Vince Spadea had been practicing with Djoko leading up to today’s match, and said it’s amazing how good he is, but at the same time, how much work he can still do on his game. I’m not a big fan of watching Djoko play. As Gilad Bloom said about Spadea’s game, “he’s a mechanical player,” I think that’s basically true about Djoko. There’s athletic brilliance, for sure, but most of his game is played in patterns, and I can’t stand watching him serve in his awkward manner.
I went to watch Mardy Fish continue his summer of brilliance by coming back from two sets to one against No. 82-ranked, Jan Hajek, in the grandstand. Mardy routined Hajek in the last two sets, love and one. In the presser, he said that’s unbelievable how good he feels now and he’s enjoying lauding over his competitors his ability to chase balls all over the court. He said it was hot today, but nothing like Atlanta earlier in the summer, where he said it was like 50 degrees hotter and much more humid. Fish has an unbelievable draw to make it to perhaps the quarters or semis.
Ferrer routined Dolgopolov, so much for a Top 10 arrival for the Russian player. And I went out to watch Stepanek-Benneteau in the fourth set after the Czech had come back to win the third set and make it 1-2 in sets. Benneteau is dogged and very fit and fast, and solid, and even Stepanek couldn’t unnerve him with his unorthodox game. Stepanek’s forehand is a liability and he didn’t have his usual A+ net game working for him. The best match of the day was again on Court 11 with David Nalbandian getting all he could handle from the South African doubles specialist, Rik De Voest, the crowds were huge for that match as I walked past late in the fourth set, Nalby up two sets to one, but having to fight like a dog.
My favorite two viewing matches of the day occurred around 8 pm where I stopped by Court 8 and 16 to watch the doubles matches involving Leander Paes and his partner, Dlouhy vs. Martin Damm and his young partner, and the Indian-Pakistani duo of Quereshi and Bopanna vs. the volley-serving, two-handled-racket-wielding Brian Battistone and Ryler DeHeart. Paes is a joy to watch and he and Dlouhy after leading the first set breaker, then losing the lead, charged back from a set point to win. The shot of the match was at 7-all, when Paes ripped a one-hand bh return inside-out for a winner x-ct into the alley. Whereupon he whooped and leaped into the air like a mad Indian. He and Dlouhy have great rapport and energy.
A big part of walking around the Open, particularly during the transition from the day to night matches, is navigating my way through the crowds. I’m having a tough time of it this year as I have a bad case of achilles tendinitis and it hurts a lot to walk so much. And then there are all the women, and my neck creaking from turning too quickly sometimes to catch a good view. The worst is when I or someone else tries to cut too quickly east-west when everyone else is walking north-south, the collisions are annoying sometimes and then I’ve got to admit that I was caught staring too blatantly. But is the Open if not for girl-watching as much as tennis-watching?
I got home and basically passed out, but that’s what watching tennis somedays will do to you. Tomorrow’s another day, but I’m not going out until the night. The feature story I’m writing for Tennis Magazine about how marriage affects mostly male player’s performance will have two of it’s biggest players scheduled: Roddick and Clijsters. In a quick exchange with the stately Stan Smith today in the player’s lounged where Stan was camped out, he said, four things can happen when a wife and husband play the tennis mating game: the wife can come to the event and the player can win–which is good. Or the wife can come and the player loses–and then she feels bad. The wife can stay home and the player wins–then she feels he’s better off on his own. And finally, the wife can stay home and her husband loses–and then she feels bad. So of the four scenarios, only one is positive.
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Dana · September 1, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Dolgopolov is Ukrainian