Tennis Prose




Mar/11

23

Biofile with Madison Keys

Status:  WTA tennis player.

DOB: February 17, 1995  In: Rock Island, IL

First tennis memory:  “Is hitting against my garage door.”

Tennis inspirations:  “Well I got into tennis because of the clothes, I wanted tennis dresses. So I guess that was my inspiration [laughs]. (Which dress?) I think it was Venus at Wimbledon.”

Last book read:  “I don’t remember [laughs].”

Favorite meal:  “Ice cream.”

Favorite ice cream flavor:  “Chocolate chip cookie dough.”

Pre-match feeling:  “Thinking about what I need to do and just focusing on staying calm.”

Greatest sports moment (so far):  “Probably my first WTA win, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, I was 14. First WTA tournament. (Beat?) Alla Kudravtseva (then #81 WTA in 2009).”

Most painful moment (so far):  “Probably yesterday (first round of Sony Ericsson Open vs. Patty Schnyder). (What happened?) I was up 6-3. And I lost the second set 6-1. And then I was up 5-3, lost that game. I was serving it out at 5-4 and didn’t close that game out. And we went to a tiebreaker, so.”

Favorite tournaments:  “I really like Indian Wells and I love this tournament. Because it’s so close to home.”

Closest tennis friends: “Probably the people from my academy (Evert). Lauren Davis is one of my best friends. Kate Viale, a junior player. Belinda Niu, she got accepted to Northwestern. And then John LeGargentini, he’s going to UF.”

Funniest players encountered:   “Probably Chrissie. She is still very into it. She gets very intense on the court [laughs].”

Best you ever felt on court:  “I played Serena Williams in WTT (2009 with Philadelphia Freedoms). And I don’t think I missed a first serve [laughs]. (You beat her.) Yep, yep. So I was making everything. So that was probably the one time I felt like everything was going perfectly.”

Favorite players to watch:  “I like watching Kim Clijsters. And then Federer and Nadal. I like watching Ryan Harrison. And I like watching Lauren Davis. Just because we’re friends and we’re close.”

Embarassing tennis memory:  “I’ve whiffed a few overheads in matches. Overheads where you’re right on top of the net and you miss it into the bottom of the net [smiles].”

Strangest match:  “I played a junior tournament in Rancho Mirage and we were in the mountains and there was like 60 mile an hour wind gusts. So it was basically not even a tennis match [laughs]. So that was probabloy the strangest.”

Funny tennis memory:  “Sometimes if I just shank a ball and it goes in, and it’s like a perfect angle winner, I just start laughing [laughs].”

Favorite sport outside tennis:  “I like watching football.”

People qualities most admired:  “Just people being very nice and down to earth. Just being very humble.”

www.thebiofile.com

20 comments

  • Dan Markowitz · March 23, 2011 at 3:58 pm

    Sounds like a nice girl, and weird to see a pro player’s birthday, Dec of 1995, but she does come across as being a tad vapid.

    Favorite meal: Ice cream
    Last Book read: Don’t remember

    I mean, come on, you’re supposed to be in school, and you don’t remember the last book you read. If ever there was an indictment of Academy life, this might be it. I’m glad you didn’t ask her who the Vice-President is or how many many branches make up the U.S. Government.

  • sakhi · March 23, 2011 at 7:45 pm

    Have to agree with Dan here. As an educator, it’s horrifying to me how dumb most tennis stars sound. They appear to have no political opinions, haven’t read a book beyond an occasional thriller and if the interviews on the ATP website are to be believed, the favourite film of most male ATP players is *Gladiator*

    I’ll take Bartoli’s alleged genius IQ anytime over the inane chatter of the rest. At least Bartoli can say mathematician without giggling!

    In despair.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 23, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    Can’t agree. Keys is just 15-16, she is still a kid. Don’t know about you but I wasn’t reading books at that age. I thought she showed her smarts by coming up with some very good answers on the spot. I find all tennis players to be very smart and many of them like Ljubicic, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Schiavone, Wozniacki, Wilander, McEnroe, Vilas to be phenomenally intelligent. To be the best at anything takes a lot of smarts, especially to be one of the best in tennis. You have to physically and psychologically establish superiority over your competition. To answer some tough questions like my questions on the spot, is not easy. Most all of the players deliver good quality interesting interviews, I really can’t think of one single player that struck me as anything close to stupid.

  • Dan markowitz · March 24, 2011 at 2:57 am

    I agree with what you’re saying, but I can remember what I was reading at 15: Catcher in the Rye, Great expectations, a separate peace. It’s like Spadea telling me at 30, he’s never read a book.

  • Minhaj · March 24, 2011 at 3:14 am

    I have to agree with Dan and Sakhi.
    And there are two favourite movies on the tour, Gladiator and Shawshank Redemption.
    And let alone political decisions and mathematics, players I feel have pretty poor knowledge of their own profession. Very few like Blake know some in depth knowledge of tennis and its history (again he is much more educated than most players). If a person is earning millions from a thing it would be nice and advantageous to know as much as one can about it.
    Again perhaps I say it because I am medical doctor (MBBS, MRCS, MRCP, AMC) and am currently in the process of learning Swedish language to open up my options. I have been taking postgraduate exams for the last six years, and I know that I am a much better doctor and individual because of that.
    What I am trying to say is that studying more or having more information never hurt anyone. And at least you will not say to Roy Emerson “who the fuck you are” when he tries to congratulate you as Marcelo Ríos (I think) said once.

  • Mike · March 24, 2011 at 4:02 am

    “I really can’t think of one single player that struck me as anything close to stupid.”

    I think even Palin can handle favorite Ice Cream flavor. And I’m with Sakhi on the movies — I just don’t get it. Shawshank Redemption and/or Gladiator ?

    The only thing the Shawshank Redemption has going for it was Roger Deakins, one of the great cinematographers and a man that was, again, shafted by the Academy Awards this year. A freakin’ disgrace not made up for by the lifetime achievement award they gave him. But I digress.

    Would someone please give Spadea a book. Maybe he can start with this, which can be picked up for a song:

    http://www.amazon.com/Days-Grace-Arthur-Ashe/dp/0345386817/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1300938816&sr=1-1

    The little I’ve heard of Raonic, he strikes me as thoughtful. Has there been a biofile of Raonic? I’m sure I’m not the only one that wants to know his favorite Ice Cream flavor.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    Hi Mike, we are working on getting the Raonic Biofile but as you would expect he is a magnet now for media requests. What I mean is it’s hard to come up with a funny memory, embarrassing memory strangest match, best you ever played, people qualities most admired, out of the blue on the spot. It takes a certain kind of intelligence to come up with satisfying answers and most all of the players do come through. I agree, Spadea has to start reading, so many incredible books out there. I just started reading Gardnar Mulloy’s “As It Was.” Absolutely fantastic.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Minhaj, tennis requires so much dedication and hard work, it’s understandable how some of the players do not read books with how many other media options there are out there like TV, Internet, film, youtube, etc. Regarding Rios, I doubt book reading was going to remedy his lack of social skills shortcomings, lack of respect for others, and bad case of arrogance. Rios treated most everyone like that including yours truly. I asked to do a Biofile and he wouldn’t even look at me, before making a phhhh sound and strutting away. He was a true rebel.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    One other point, i do Biofiles for thehockeynews.com and readers were commenting the same things, all the players say Shawshank Redemption is there favorite movie. I also used to do Biofiles on the Jets for Jets Confidential and the editor observed that 95% of the Jets said “Vanilla” was their favorite ice cream. And it was true.

  • Mike · March 24, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    “He was a true rebel.”

    I think you’re confusing the word rebel with asshole.

  • Minhaj · March 24, 2011 at 3:48 pm

    Hi Scoop, I do get your point.
    I am a true believer in the power of knowledge and it will only make one better in whatever one does. It might be medicine, tennis, boxing, cleaning windows or whatever, knowledge gives you options nothing else can. Gaining knowledge is a hard and boring thing to do, that is what keeps most people from it.
    By the way I really like the sketch of you in the hat on the biofile website. It is unique.

  • Mike · March 24, 2011 at 3:55 pm

    By the way, I don’t know what Larry Ellison did ($$$ ?) to line up that doubles field at Indian Wells but hats off to him. I think it’s great when you get the top singles players to play doubles.

    I did notice Djoker and A. Murray are playing doubles together in Miami !! You have to check that out Scoop.

    Also Kei N./ Donald Young is an interesting pair.

  • Mike · March 24, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    “tennis requires so much dedication and hard work, it’s understandable how some of the players do not read books”

    What about all that wasted time on changeovers:

    http://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/19/sports/19iht-ten_7.html

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 4:15 pm

    Can’t argue with that assessment Mike, but hey I’m writing a book on the guy, so can’t quite use that word.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    The thing about knowledge is there is a lot of falsehoods going around out there, such as about history and politics, rewriting history, etc. The truth is the rarest most valuable commodity on earth. So hard to find it. Thanks for the compliment about the sketch it was done by a dear friend and world renowned artist LeRoy Neiman. I really like it too though some people say it doesn’t really look like me, I disagree. LeRoy Neiman told me he did a painting of George Foreman and Big George told him “That’s exactly how I feel.” It was an oil of Foreman leaning on the ropes on his elbow in a corner.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    Yes Murray and Djokovic are a tandem, Murray talked about it yesterday, his brother is here playing with someone else, I will check that later, Andy said that he would like to be play doubles with his brother in the Olympics but admits it might not be likely with the rankings, etc. WIll definitely go and watch that team in action.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 4:23 pm

    Imagine if Spadea tried reading Shakespeare or DH Lawrence on changeovers he might have beat Federer.

  • Sakhi · March 24, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    I think I’ll cede a little bit of my argument here to Scoop. I agree that being a professional athlete requires a kind of obsessive inwardness and focus that may erase other forms of knowledge. And I don’t know what that feels like. YET, I think the point I am trying to make is that we live in a world where no-one has the luxury of maintaining ignorance–politically or otherwise. Players are constantly bombarded with questions about their national crises, heroes etc. and it’s important to have a sense of history and geopolitics to address those kinds of questions. For example, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that players like Ljubicic are so articulate and poised—they have had life-altering experiences that have forced them to think outside the world of tennis. Why is it that the Europeans (particularly those from the former Eastern block) tend to be better read and well-spoken (if you listen to them in Russian or their native languages, for instance) than our American counter-parts? There is clearly something missing here and I’d wager that it translates into what you do on the court.

    All in all, a good discussion. Thanks for putting up with us, Scoop!

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    It’s a discussion Sakhi, not an argument ) By the way, a lot of sports people are tunnel visioned on their jobs. I remember Rusty Wallace of NASCAR said he had no idea what was going on in the world, he was totally consumed by racing. This was back in the early 90s, always remember that quote. To specialize in one specific area and achieve remarkable success means deficiencies in other areas. Though some champions are major exceptions and are very worldly and educated, Federer comes to mind but most of all the Klitschko Brothers of boxing. They are both doctors – and of course co-world heavyweight champions. Have you heard of them Sakhi?

  • Sakhi · March 24, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    How very interesting, Scoop. That’s where your superior sports knowledge comes into play! I will indeed look up the Klitschko Bros. I know that growing up in a cricket crazy country like India, I got used to cricket players being forced to be cultural and political ambassadors (we have Hindu-Muslim drama, Indo-Pak drama, regional drama and so on!), so I have always had those expectations of tennis players as well. So, point well-taken!

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