Tennis Prose




Jan/16

24

When Johan Kriek Came to America

Thirty six years ago I was flying from Zurich Switzerland to New York. It was my first time coming to America….little did I know about this blizzard in NY.
I was supposed to get an Eastern Airlines flight to Miami from JFK and then a Greyhound bus to Vero Beach to play my first WATCH Circuit tournament. I was supposed to play for only 6 weeks then head back to Austria.
I had decided to fly to America a week early because of playing on clay and I was playing indoors in Austria. I met Don and Joyce Cameron in the plane sitting next to me from Naples Florida ( I had no idea where Naples was and little did I know I would eventually live there from 1979 to 2007. They were returning from a ski vacation in Switzerland. As we approached NY we were told that there was a blizzard and we need to go to Montreal Canada. We landed in Canada and at the time South Africa was not a “popular” country so I had a bit of a hard time getting thru customs….
Within a few hours the snow started and eventually the same blizzard system had reached Canada. I remembered staying in the Hyatt Hotel in Montreal and they had put sandbags against the giant windows at the lobby for fear they may blow in!! I had never even seen such a storm. It was incredible….Needless to say I was stranded with hundreds of other passengers for 5 days before we could leave for Florida, barely in time for my first leg of the tournaments. I got to know the Cameron’s well in Montreal and we had lots of dinners etc together as we could not leave the hotel for 5 days!!
I finally got to Miami very late in the day and found the Greyhound bus stop and loaded my one duffle bag with 4 rackets and a pair of jeans and mostly tennis clothes and headed up North again on I-95 to Vero Beach. Next to me in the bus was a Jamaican with a guitar and the more he smoked his weed the better I felt and the better he played his guitar! The whole bus sang along….smile emoticon
Around midnight I was the last to get off the bus at this very dark and very rainy little bus stop in Vero beach.
As the doors open up and torrential rain coming down I saw this couple huddled under an umbrella a few feet from the bus door and asked ” are you Johan Kriek?” I was totally blown away….
They were the Popes who were there to pick me up ( the Cameron’s had called their friends in Vero beach and told them this very green and naive South African boy is coming by bus to Vero beach) I stayed with the Popes and so began my first week in America….$230 cash in my wallet and an international driver’s license…
The rest is history…. (This was a Facebook post by two time Australian Open champion Johan Kriek who hopefully one day will pen his autobiography)

16 comments

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 24, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    The more Johan writes about his career the more I want to read about it –

  • Thomas Tung · January 25, 2016 at 12:17 pm

    A book about Kriek (or even a nice, super-lengthy article) would be a nice touch. I’m sure he would have a lot to say!

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 25, 2016 at 3:26 pm

    A lot to say and also a ton of wonderful stories – he truly was a Rocky Balboa figure – a no name from S Africa via Austria but he made the top ten and won two Aussie Opens – he’s great on Facebook and in interviews – one of the best in the business – I have no doubt he could create a fantastic book – the stories and memories are all there just needs the time and energy and author to help bake the cake as the ingredients are all there —

  • Harold · January 25, 2016 at 4:34 pm

    He beat Steve Denton 2 years in a row for the Aussie title. Lots of guys didn’t go to Oz in those days. It was held in December,close to Xmas.
    The talk before the US Open during those late 70’s and very early 80’s was whether Borg would even chase the GS, if he ever won the Open, the years he won yhe French and Wimby.
    Lendl started chasing Slams there, eventhough he was allergic to grass,Mac went down there in 83 or 84, lost to eventual champ Wilander.

    Kriek is 2 time champion in the books, was a great player, but it was a different time in Oz

  • Schreiner · January 25, 2016 at 4:35 pm

    O.T.

    Hi everyone. I watched Gaby Price’s match in Tarbes, France (U14 tournament) against a 2002-born Japanese player who’s way out of her league right now and who’s gonna win the tournament, imho.

    Techinquewise, you can clearly see Macci’s hand (very aggressive, short backswings, elbow high on the forehand). But the quality that amazed us is her textbook footwork. I think she can come back net year aiming for the title.

    If you have any questions about other US kidd in the tournament I’ll be happy to answer.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 25, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    Hey thanks for that cool surprise updates at Tarbes Schreiner – I saw Price do well at Eddie Herr – she’s a winner – this Japanese girl must be very good – Are the Khan Brothers there?

  • Schreiner · January 25, 2016 at 5:51 pm

    Yes. Infact, I wrote it here because I read your report from Bradenton (enjoyed the read).

    The Japanese girl was a quarterfinalist here in 2015 and impressed everyone. Her game suits these indoor courts well and she’s a year older than the American. Gaby couldn’t do much with her serve to keep her from crushing returns. Price was very aggressive herself on the returns games indeed, standing inside the court.

    The Khan brothers were three too and they’re botch out in singles (botch in straight sets).

    Zane was unfortunate (he was unseeded). He lost to Devald, 4th sede, a Croatian guy who’s one of the main candidates to win it whole thing (Orange Bowl U12 Champion in 2014).
    Faris was the 15th seed, but lost to an unseeded Slovakian (who, talking to his country’s coaches, is highly regarded).

    The other two boys are Garcia, a left-hander from Miami who’s a very complete player (one handed backhand), and Leustian, 8th seed. Garcia is through to the second round.

  • Schreiner · January 25, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    Watched a bit of Alexa Noel too. She was crying (I don’t know if three was an issue or anything), but she’s not bad although she lost. Changed a bit her FH backswing, shortened it, and she’s able to hit pretty decent BH slices.

    Krznaric of Croatia lost to the top seed. Great firepower from the left-hander, too erratic tho.

    Your (almost) omonimous, Malkowski, did great things (including a tweener+FH winner combo) on center court ousting the 3rd seed. Great player the Swiss (they have a very strong U14 team).

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 25, 2016 at 6:35 pm

    Great stuff thanks Schreiner – love to hear about the juniors – Khan Bros are 13 so they will be better next year for 14s – they hit with Tommy Paul and Sam Riffice and Opelka – I loved Krznaric’s game – she might still be 12 – she has trouble with drop shots to her forehand – but boy can she hit the hell out of a ball – it’s just amazing how good these juniors are —

  • Dan Markowitz · January 25, 2016 at 9:03 pm

    Thank you, schreiner. Where is Tarbes in France? I was with Macci almost two years ago and wrote an article on his work with Price, who was 11 at the time. She impressed me as a real tigress, taking the serve near the service line and really belting balls. I had doubts about how good she could be being she was only like 4-10 at the time, but Macci didn’t think height was so important in the women’s game.

  • Schreiner · January 25, 2016 at 11:13 pm

    @Dan, southwestern France, Midi-Pyrenees. The event it’s held in an indoor hall.

    Price is 100% Macci’s creature. At his academy there’s an Italian coach who always tells us how good she is. Well, she’s good, very good, although you could tell she’s 10.

  • Dan Markowitz · January 26, 2016 at 7:54 am

    I think Price is 13. She’s definitely not 10. She didn’t have great results last year in the 12’s although I think she did win the last national event. A big question is whether she’ll grow. Her father is like 6 ft but Price was short when I saw her a couple of years ago.

  • Schreiner · January 26, 2016 at 11:36 am

    Yes I know (I wrote it above). 🙂

    I meant she looks like a little girl.

    BTW, America’s number 1 Leustian is through to the second round too. He plays a local guy. Garcia plays Musetti, the Italian champion. Both one-handers, should be good.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 26, 2016 at 1:09 pm

    Schreiner: We were calling Krznaric “molly ringwald” at eddie herr 🙂 – I’m a good open division player and can beat lower level college players but I gotta admit I’m not sure if I could beat Krznaric or even keep a respectable scoreline – she kills the ball over and over steadily on both wings – the only hope would be to junk ball her and try to bring her in to net and really mix it up – but to trade with her from the baseline – she would be very tough to beat – apparently she’s quite well known in Europe – I saw Kyrgios tweeted a congrats to her for winning Herr as they are both Yonex players –

  • Schreiner · January 26, 2016 at 2:27 pm

    She was selected to come over to train to Mouratoglou’s academy (she trains with older girls, Anisimova and Gauff are three too).

    I saw her in Croatia many years ago, she already stood out. Great hitter, her opponents would often moonball or dropshot in Order to keep the ball out of her hitting zone. Sometines she’s all over the place tho.

    She’s now in the 14s category, things should be more difficult.

  • Scoop Malinowski · January 26, 2016 at 10:15 pm

    I saw that Coco Gauff play – she is a battler too – kinda on the small side – Krznaric beat her in a battle – Coco’s mom was yelling the whole first set “Cmon COCO” – very annoying and intimidating because as Gauff was losing more the mother yelled louder and more intensely – you could hear her all over the img grounds – is momma Coco there doing her thing?

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