Tennis Prose




Aug/15

26

Wednesday at US Open Qualies

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I arrive to Stefan Kozlov vs Guido Andreozzi on serve at 2-1 in the first set, it’s the first match on at 11 on court seventeen. Andreozzi is a tough Argentine who beat Harrison at Wimbledon qualies, so I don’t want to sit next to poppa Andrei Kozlov because the last match I sat with him I did not bring good luck – Stefan lost first round to a hard-hitting Russian at the Sarasota Challenger this year.

Stefan struggles with his first serve and is overpowered by Andreozzi, to lose the first set 6-3. The second set is a struggle also, Kozlov hangs in there and begins to even out the baseline rallies with variety, net rushes, and some sporadic good serving, Andreozzi loses his edge. At 4-5, Kozlov suddenly has an easy hold with some sharp serving, then he breaks Guido and holds to win the set. Remarkable turnaround from the seventeen year old wildcard who pouts and vents his frustrations when he’s annoyed at his play but also he is a maestro matador who can electrify a crowd with brilliance.

Kozlov did not miss one volley in the match and had to make some good ones. He fuels himself and the crowd with loud roars and come ons and some dominant fist pumps. He suddenly wins the second set and seems in control — I got to sit with poppa Kozlove thinking this will be a superb win — and it looks to be as Koxlove gets a break at love of the first game of the third. But then it becomes a battle again, and the games are close, Andreozzi breaks back, and then it becomes a dogfight again. A thrilled fan yells out “Koz Love” — it’s interesting how the fans embrace Stefan, he has an underdog kid quality about him and a clean fair sporting way of playing which fans connect with. Watching Kid Kozlove, you can imagine Kozlov becoming a big crowd favorite showman who can take over a stadium like vintage Bagdhatis someday.

There’s a good crowd at the match – including Tom Gullikson – and at 2-2, suddenly Andreozzi finds his baseline groove again and re-establishes his baseline superiority — then quickly it’s 5-2, Kozlov holds but then Andreozzi closes it out. It’s a disappointing match but there were many brilliant moments by Kozlove, who, let’s not forget is seventeen. On the drive home at night I text Andrei that Stefan is a warrior and loveable and he just needs some more pop and physicality, Stefan texts me back, “Thank you Scoop appreciate the words – Stefan.” I remember at the California Challenger last October the NorCal Tennis Czar emailed me that Stefan emailed him thanking him for his nice coverage of the tournament. I thought they didn’t create champions like that anymore, how could you not root for a kid like that?

After the match I go over and see a little of Gilles Muller hitting with Berdych on Armstrong and Zarina Diyas is hitting with Angelique Kerber on grandstand.

I was told Nadal hit on grandstand in the morning with a one hander who was wearing Lacoste, but two people couldn’t figure out who it was.

Next I went to see another teen prospect Andrey Rublev of Russia who is taking on Go Soeda — Rublev is thin like Simon but he can really wallop the ball, he has a very whip like power and a live arm as they say. Rublev closes out Soeda in straight sets and does a Biofile with me right after (photo by Neil Freilich). Rublev has a fierce intensity about him, a tenacious, quiet focus, that loudly declares: ” mean business.” If a tennis ball could scream, it would scream after every time Rublev hit it. With wins this year vs Robredo, Verdasco and Carrena Busta, Rublev is a player to watch.

The highlight of the day happens at 4 on Armstrong – Lleyton Hewitt arrives to the court with his coach Jaymon Crabb and they park down at one chair, the stadium waits to see who he will hit with — fans speculate it could be Murray, Federer, Djokovic — and after about four minutes it’s — Roger Federer.

The court quickly fills up and there is a respectful silence as these two Future Hall of Fame champions hit together from the baseline, most of the balls going down the middle for about fifteen minutes. Fed is wearing blue shorts, gray t shirt with the Nike court on front, and a sort of Miami Dolphins colored shoes with matching socks but not as bright as the NFL team, and a white head band. Hewitt is in a black Athletic DNA shirt, white shorts, white cap, and dark Yonex shoes. Everyone is silent watching the two warmup, now 34, these two first played each other as young teenagers at a junior competition, now here they are two decades later, at the US Open training with each other.

On the changeover break, they sit apart but they chat across to each other, the other people on court stay on the periphery and let these two titans be the center of attention – then they both stand up and chat at the net with the supporting characters Sev Luthi, Stefan Edberg and Crabb hovering around the makeshift semi-huddle. I’m too far away to hear what is being said unfortunately.

As they sat, one fan yells over Fed’s left shoulder from behind, ‘We love you Federer’, Fed pauses and then looks over his right shoulder and gives a wave of his hand. A few moments later a male fan behind the left baseline yells ‘I love you Roger’ and then another fan yells homo, but Roger doesn’t acknowledge. They take volleys, overheads and serves and it’s just hypnotizing to see these two do it, the spins Fed can put on any shot, the consistency Hewitt manages to be able to stay with his superior partner. Then they start the set and Fed breaks Hewitt at love, holds and maintains the cushion to close the first set 6-3 — it looked like Fed could have bageled Hewitt but played at about half intensity, so as to maybe pace himself for when it really counts next week, or he has too much respect for Hewitt to crush him in front of the fans at Armstrong.

They play a second set which is also close. They finish then Hewitt departs in a hurry like he has a bus to catch – actually he is playing Nadal tonight at the McEnroe Academy Benefit about eight miles away but NYC traffic could turn that drive into an hour-plus headache. Federer stays and signs about a hundred autographs before exiting out the tunnel. Federer and Hewitt, together again, still producing their tennis symphony, like Borg and McEnroe, Sampras and Agassi ….

Got a photo from a friend of Bouchard working with Jimmy Connors at West Side Tennis Club – that may be the surprise of the year, if that union holds up and prospers.

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7 comments

  • Bob Litwin · August 27, 2015 at 1:02 am

    Love the commentary Scoop. Will be missing the Open for first time in 40 years.good reason though. Moved to Boulder.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2015 at 8:03 am

    Thanks Bob, whoa, that’s going to be a painful withdrawal for you 🙂 But ESPN will make it easier 🙂 Boulder is such a nice place to be, another world out there, how is the tennis scene out there Bob? It’s funny I met another good guy on Tuesday named Jeff who said he’s been to the Open every year except one (he had to close on a house in FL) since ’65 — stay tuned to Tennis-prose Bob we will help you get through this in Boulder 🙂

  • Ashoke GANGULI · August 27, 2015 at 8:22 am

    Hello Scoop,
    Great coverage as usual by you.Will be at the Open on Thursday and Friday.Hope I run into you.

  • Bob Litwin · August 27, 2015 at 8:26 am

    Good tennis scene in Boulder. Hard courts and altitude provide a fun challenge. I enjoy making the adjustments. Definitely forces me to be more thoughtful as the points are much shorter. I smile a lot as I see my normal forehands going five feet long. There are many passionate players who play rating tournaments rather than the age group ones I am accustomed to. A lt of attention to who is a4.5,5.0, etc. I play people of all ages, which, in my case, means players 10-20 years younger than me. I love it as my experience is an equalizer.
    I look forward to playing the Natl 65 Clay in New Orleans as I will be in a slow court at sea level. I expect to have time on my shots as never before.

  • Dan Markowitz · August 27, 2015 at 8:32 am

    Wow, the great Bob Litwin reads Tennis-Prose.com, we’re honored! 40 years of not missing an Open! That’s a pretty impressive record.

    I have the privilege of knowing Bob’s nephew, a fine player as well, former no. 1 at Harvard, Michael Zimmerman, as his son Caleb plays with my son, Callum, out here in Westchester County. Bob, enjoy those Boulder mountains and hikes and visit one of the like 90 health food shops.

    Scoop, I’ll tell you, you’re great, and that’s not just because we run this site together and our buddies. You’re commentary on a disparate day at the Open Qualis is really special. And I know you don’t even take notes. You just take it all in and at the end of the day recount what you saw, which is a special skill. And I love how your respect for these players and what they’ve accomplished, is always on the sleeve of your shirt.

    Look at Hewitt’s day yesterday, he plays two sets with Fed and then drives from Queens to Randall’s Island (actually, as we have biked it, we know it’s not that far. I took the train into 125th Street last night with my bike and biked over the RFK Bridge to the Mac exbo, but on my way back at about 10 pm, I couldn’t fined the pedestrian/bike path back over the bridge, took me about 30 minutes just to find it), and plays an 8-game pro set versus Nadal. Amazing, and the guy looks fit, he even pushed Nadal to a breaker at 7-all after being down 7-4 and went ahead 4-2 in the breaker before Nadal won, but I’m thinking, oh no, Nadal’s even going to lose an exbo match to Hewitt!

    Johnny Mac is in awe of Nadal, too, he told a touching story in the presser before the match how when he was the no. 1 player in the world, he kind of expected everyone to come to him in the locker room, even the old legendary players like Laver, but Nadal is different. He’s always come up to John and paid his respects when he sees him in the locker room.

    Also, Mac refereed the Nadal-Hewitt match and when Nadal unloaded on a howitzer forehand, Mac said, “Just once in my life I want to hit a forehand like that!”

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2015 at 8:49 am

    Something I forgot to add about the Kozlov match, three guys from Court Sense were sitting right behind Kozlov’s dad, they were from the big academy here in NJ Court Sense (which used to train Christina McHale for a couple of stints, she is now back with USTA) and the Court Sense guys seemed to be trying to poach, or semi-poach, Kozlov from the USTA to be a part of Court Sense Academy which is based on Bergen County NJ, they were asking some questions during the third set and also after the match one of them said “we can start working on his serve tonight” — Poppa Kozlov high-tailed it out of there pronto, it was interesting to see the Court Sense trio trying to woo the Kozlovs who are I believe locked in with USTA . Interesting business the sport of tennis is, huh?

  • Thomas Tung · August 27, 2015 at 11:56 am

    Hey guys, I should be at the qualies tomorrow with a friend of mine. Hopefully I’ll be able to run into Scoop & Dan …

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