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Roger Federer saying Marcelo Rios should be Hall of Fame bound makes news in Chile
27 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Last week after Roger Federer beat Steve Darcis in straight sets at the US Open, I attended the number two seed’s press conference and asked him if he had a vote to induct Marcelo Rios into the Tennis Hall of Fame, would he vote “yes” or “no”?
To the surprise of some, Federer answered: “I don’t know what it takes, to be quite honest — he was one of my favorite players to watch so I would vote yes”
This past weekend, a reporter from a Chilean newspaper HoyxHoy named Nicolas Labra, contacted me for an interview —
Question- Why did you decide to ask Roger Federer on possible inclusion of Marcelo Rios in the Hall of Fame? It was something spontaneous or you are behind a campaign to included Marcelo in the Hall of Fame?
Scoop: For a couple of years now I’ve had a running debate with some of the other tennis journalists, one who is part of the nominating committee, and the concept of Marcelo Rios being inducted to the Hall of Fame was not a popular idea initially. But I think the majority of the tennis media has a tendency to underrate and under-appreciate and they misunderstood the remarkable yet unique career of Rios. So finally, after considering for quite some time to ask Roger Federer his opinion on this matter, the opportunity came to ask Federer, after his US Open win vs Steve Darcis, if he would vote Yes or No on inducting Rios into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and to the surprise of some, Federer said Yes.
Q -I understand that journalists and writers for tennis vote in the election of new members of the Hall of Fame, ¿Y ou’re one of those who can vote?
Scoop: Yes, tennis journalists are part of the voting group, which also consists of industry experts and other Hall of Famers – and yes I have been sent a ballot and voted for the previous five years.
Q – You think Marcelo should be inducted into the Hall of Fame? What requirements do you think he apply?
Scoop: Yes, I do believe Rios is worthy of being inducted into the Hall of Fame despite the fact that he did not win a Grand Slam title. I believe becoming ATP Number One in this modern era of such physical and power tennis is actually the greater and more difficult achievement than winning a major title. There are many many more major title winners than world number ones. Also, Rios had a huge impact on the sport, his wonderfully aesthetic style of play was one of a kind, and inspiring to many many players around the world, such as, Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Adrian Mannarino, Donald Young, Alexander Dolgopolov, to name a few – I have learned this from personally interviewing these players. Also, the career of Rios inspired the standout careers of two younger Chileans Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez who achieved history at the 2004 Olympics for Chile. Also Rios won five Masters Series titles, including the very rare back to back of winning Miami and Indian Wells, which has only been accomplished by Federer, Djokovic, and Agassi. .
Q -Do you know in what date is voted for the nominees in 2017? Because I believe the consideration must be submitted by April 1, 2016.
Scoop: Yes, the deadline for nomination for 2017 is April 1 of next year
Q -You wrote the book “Marcelo RÃÂos, The man we barely knew” , what things do you caught the attention of Marcelo as to write a book? For you , Marcelo is the best Latin American tennis player in history?
Scoop: I was inspired to write a book about Marcelo Rios because he’s one of the most amazing and entertaining players the world has ever seen — also, he was an important player in tennis history and he should not be forgotten. I decided to do the book after writing a magazine feature about Rios from the perspective of other players, who I learned, universally respected and were awed by him – the feature was successful and I decided to continue along and expand the feature into a book which was a tremendous amount of fun to work on. Also the respect by just about every player I interviewed for Marcelo was greater than many players who have actually been inducted to the Hall of Fame – Rios was truly a very special champion and positive force for the sport. And it was a personal honor to learn from Marcelo himself and his parents that they all read and enjoyed the book, we met in NYC two years ago at the ATP Number One Celebration at Waldorf Astoria.
It’s very hard to say which one is the best Latin American tennis player was the best, Gustavo Kuerten and Guillermo Vilas are part of the discussion and are also two all time favorites, not only as champions but also as very nice, friendly, courteous people – while the character of Rios was quite different than Kuerten and Vilas, his abilities as a tennis player are what made him special and beloved all over the world. And that’s how Rios should be judged and remembered – by the pure magic and excitement he was able to create with a racquet and ball.
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So what do you think? Is an endorsement by Roger Federer enough to provoke the Hall of Fame to nominate Marcelo Rios for next year’s ballot? And would you consider it possible for Rios to become a Hall of Fame player, joining this year’s inductees – Amelie Mauresmo, David Hall and Nancy Jeffett?
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Postscript —
Rios responded to Federer’s comments —
http://www.biobiochile.cl/2015/09/11/rios-valora-elogios-de-federer-y-da-curiosa-respuesta-sobre-posible-ingreso-al-salon-de-la-fama.shtml
Translation by Alberto Garrido —
I believe Federer is the best player in tennis history and that someone like him is talking like that about you, obviously is a positive thing.
(about the hall of fame)
I don´t understand very well what it is. I don´t really know if I am there or not. I don´t know either what is needed to be part of the hall of fame.
I was told that you had to be educated in the court and not to say bad words…behave properly ….and if it´s like that….we are ****** up —
Federer has admiration for Marcelo RIos
Scoop Malinowski · September 9, 2015 at 7:57 pm
Here is the link to the two page feature in today’s Hoyxhoy http://www.hoyxhoy.cl/2015/09/09/full/cuerpo-principal/21/
Gaurang · September 9, 2015 at 9:53 pm
Roger said he didnt know what it takes to be in the Hall of Fame, so obviously his opinion does not bear any direct relevance.
I am not sure why anybody cares for the Hall of Fame though. I mean, the records are there for people to see. Why have some a few people decide how good a tennis player somebody was.
Also the subjective nature of Hall of Fame induction also makes it less important I feel.
Transparency for the qualification and wider involvements of industry experts would give it more value.
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 8:37 am
Gaurang, I think that was Fed’s way of blunting the Yes he knew would surprise some people – as it did – one of the nominating committee journalist/historian gents mentioned to me after that Rios will never make the Hall of Fame and Fed’s comment was “ridiculous” – we all know only great and distinguished players achieve Hall of Fame status and Rios certainly was a great player and his playing style distinguished him from all other players — the Hall of Fame is very important, if you ever visit Newport and the Hall of Fame you will better understand and appreciate how special the place and the honor of being recognized there really is –like I said, in compiling my book about Rios, the players spoke more awed and reverently of Rios than several players who are presently inducted —
Moskova Moskova · September 10, 2015 at 10:12 am
@ scoop, why were / are you fixated on rios ?….do you know him personally ?…the guy’s a “trashy-thug” inside. he played some nice tennis on occasion but would have been a longterm inmate at some south american jail if it wasnt for tennis.
on the same token…majority of hollywood actors were waitresses or gas station attendents…definitely not upper crust-types hence their lack of morals, 2-week marriages, drugs, etc.
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 10:52 am
MM, Rios has changed and matured, married with six kids (including triplets), also doing some motivational speaking in Chile — he was an important player in history and should not be forgotten —
Dan Markowitz · September 10, 2015 at 11:07 am
Scoop, I know you wrote a book on Rios, but geez, let it rest. No one cares about Rios. He never won a slam. He got blitzed in his only slam finals. You’ve got your Rios and I’ve got my Spadea, but at least Vince beat Agassi in a slam while Rios never did. I mean do you know who he beat to get to his only slam finals” Nicolas Escude No. 81. Please Rios is the most overrated in the history of the game.
Besides that one Australian Open finals, he never got to another slam semis. How can this guy go in the Hall of Fame? He never won a slam and only reached one slam semis, plus he was the biggest dick in the history of the game. Sounds like a Hall of Famer to me. We can debate whether one-time slam winners like Chang should be in the H of F, but not Rios.
Harold · September 10, 2015 at 11:35 am
I think this is what they call,” Calling a Spadea, a Spadea..”.
Dan killing Scoop for overhyping a book subject is hysterical.
This site, though usually informative, with a fun back and forth, could be renamed Six Degrees of Spadea and Rios. Sometimes you could think all of Tennis comes back to these two
Moskova Moskova · September 10, 2015 at 12:27 pm
blake wrongfully arrested and released near midtown !
blake initially wanted the incident to be hushed but changed his mind and now wants an apology from the NYPD.
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 12:37 pm
Rios killed Spadea in the final of St Poulten like one and one — Rios at his best was a marvel, and a big inspiration for young Federer and many other great players — Rios became number one in the world and lost his only major final to a guy who tested positive not long after that final, and also a few weeks after that final Rios dominated Korda at Indian Wells — Rios beat Agassi the first two times he played AA, first in the Miami final to become number one and also in the final of the Grand Slam Cup, with a million dollars at stake — two huge pressure matches – and he was up a set on Agassi in their third meeting before his knee forced a retirement — on the way to 3 straight sweep wins vs Agassi – amazing — Amazing describes the career of Rios when he was at his best, but he was undersized and overpowered and so he was not often at his very best — talk to the players about Rios Dan, they were and still are in awe of his talent and achievements — number one in the world is the hardest thing to do in tennis – we have a new Wimbledon champ every year – but how many world number ones were there?
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 12:41 pm
LOL Harold, Dan certainly has worked overtime in keeping alive the memory and career of the man Agassi famously termed a “journeyman” and his disdain for the lefty artistry of Rios is oddly unfair, I gather he didn’t see much of Rios at his best (he was probably watching Salzenstein and Gianluca Pozzi), for if he did he would have more appreciation —
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 12:44 pm
Just more NYC craziness, for this obscene disrespect of a fine citizen like James Blake, NYC is becoming third worldized – be careful in there people — I hope Blake’s lawyers extract a large payment from the NYPD —
Dan Markowitz · September 10, 2015 at 3:07 pm
New York City like many other American cities, has cops who abuse their powers, especially when it comes to black young men. Blake apparently told the undercover cops he had his US Open credentials in his bag, but I guess they weren’t tennis fans.
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 4:12 pm
Dan it’s a very unfortunate and wrong situation that happened to Blake, but do you think young blacks are taught by the media, TV and rap music to respect and obey the police when they are caught or approached? Garner, Martin and Brown would all be alive today if they just respected the law enforcement and security — it is a terrible shame what happened to Blake, but not a major shocker considering the generally antagonistic and disrespectful relations and racial relations between police and citizens — Id really like to know more about why the person finger pointed Blake as part of the phone scam — evidently the cop only responded to the guy’s finger pointing of Blake —
Dan Markowitz · September 10, 2015 at 4:30 pm
I don’t think the black victims in these cases of excessive force by the police should be the one’s accused of not being respectful of the law. In this situation with Blake, the undercover cop body-slammed him to the sidewalk before he even identified himself or apprehended him in a less aggressive fashion.
Supposedly, the guy they were looking for was “Blake’s twin brother” in appearance, but as Blake said, he wasn’t trying to get away, he was smiling at the officer, and the guy took him down like he was John Dillinger.
I don’t think you can generalize what blacks are taught or socialized to believe about how cops regard them. There are all kinds of black people. I know if I were a young black man, I’d be real cautious around cops because there seems to be a lot of inappropriate and unprofessional behavior displayed by many cops in handling black people. It’s possible the cops believe that young black men are inherently more violent than young white men and so they have to accost them the way they do.
But clearly, in this Blake situation, the six cops who apprehended and roughed him up, didn’t follow correct police procedure.
Scoop Malinowski · September 10, 2015 at 7:24 pm
The other suspect finger pointed Blake as part of the scam and the cop responded to the finger point, WHY the other suspect fingered Blake as being part of the scam is the big question, seems like this was a big misunderstanding caused by the idiot who pointed out Blake — the cop just responded to that erroneous prompt — still, to tackle Blake and treat him like a violent criminal is disturbing to anyone who knows what kind of class person Blake is and has always been —
Dan Markowitz · September 10, 2015 at 9:28 pm
Cop was obviously not a tennis fan because Blake’s mug is one of the most well-recognized one in tennis.
Michael · September 10, 2015 at 10:26 pm
“Scoop, I know you wrote a book on Rios, but geez, let it rest. No one cares about Rios. He never won a slam. He got blitzed in his only slam finals.”
That.
Gaurang · September 11, 2015 at 4:56 am
My only 2-cent advise to Scoop and Dan is that if they want users to like coming to the website, they should really stop talking about Spadea and Rios.
You can focus this website on a number of things:
– Top 20 players
– Young guns
– US players including up-and-coming US players and their challenger performances
– All time greats
There’s a lot of audience IMHO for each of these things. However, there’s not much audience for Spadea and Rios I think. So my suggestion would always be to focus on one or more of the above list and not talk much about Spadea or Rios — it may throw away some of the audience is what I feel. These two are not popular enough players right now (Rios was definitely popular during his time, but its been more than 15 years now, and folks have moved on).
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 7:42 am
Cmon, Fed said he’d vote Rios into the Hall of Fame, that’s big news — big enough for a two page story in a major Chilean newspaper —
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 7:45 am
Gaurang, I agree with your words, but we don’t talk about Rios Vince too much, it just happens about every month or so — BTW I met a fan at court six at the Open who recognized me from the site, he was sitting one row behind me — unbelievable, my friend Harry Cicma was shocked that a reader of the site actually recognized me and said he was a fan of the site, BTW he said he loved that Spadea coaching video — so this proves Vince is still a popular figure — but yes I agree the focus should be on the current scene but history and the past are also important aspects of the sport —
Dan Markowitz · September 11, 2015 at 9:34 am
I have not mentioned Spadea after the first day when I talked to him about the Raonic match and he mentioned Ljbucic never served and volleyed. No, I’m not taking Vince seriously about re-entering the pro tennis world as either a coach or player anymore because I figure, he’s not that interested and once you turn down Donald Young asking you to coach him, you can’t be too seriously about coaching at the pro level.
Moskova Moskova · September 11, 2015 at 1:34 pm
sorry to say but……
vince’s a nobody in tennis.
nonetheless, spadea ain’t afraidaya !
rios was too colorful and classless when he played.
nontheless, rios will kick our azzes on the court (possibly outside the court as well) LOL
Moskova Moskova · September 11, 2015 at 2:10 pm
@ gaurang : your topics are good standards however how about some of the more colorful topics ?…could be interesting as well, no ?
– beefs in the locker room
– romances with the WTA (or within ATP – gays LOL)
– suspected dopers / gamblers / psychos / playboys
– pro-training tips / diet
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 2:54 pm
mm, I already did a story about fights and near fights amongst players — romances – that’s hard to pinpoint with any accuracy but I did see Adrian Mannarino and Pennetta spending time with each other last week, Fogneenee might be out of the picture for Flavia — pretty sure Bencic was involved with Klizan, and Cirstea was with Giraldo — I was told Ferrer is now engaged — not going to touch the doping, there just isn’t any solid evidence — will do more stuff with pro training tips and drills and nutrition in the future — also I did a Champions Offer Advice To Nadal To Regain Mojo, Facing Safin and some good Biofiles during the Open, stay tuned — also got some great Facing McEnroe stuff, including some media memories from NY Times Harvey Araton who said he was playing doubles with three other reporters in Vermont when McEnroe walked by and offered ten bucks to the writer who could touch his serve, three tried, three failed, then — I’ll share the rest of the story in the future 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 3:05 pm
WOW, tennis has now entered the Twilight Zone, Vinci has defeated Serena, did anybody predict this ?
Moskova Moskova · September 11, 2015 at 4:22 pm
looking forward to it scoop !
also, pls let us know who the gays are on the tour…puhaha !!
hate that serena and hate that djoko !!!
let the games commence !!!!
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2015 at 9:41 pm
Rios responds to Federer’s Hall of Fame complilent — http://www.ahoranoticias.cl/deportes/otros-deportes/153026-marcelo-rios-y-el-salon-de-la-fama-del-tenis-no-me-llama-la-atencion-si-estas-o-no.html