By Amanda H. LeMay
The day matches in Memphis went pretty much as expected. Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated qualifier Robert Kendrick in two and James Blake fell rather meekly to fellow American Ryan Sweeting in two as well. Blake’s brother, Thomas, was in attendance and even stopped to pose for pictures and sign autographs as he left the main stadium. Also in action for the day session was 2010 champ Sam Querrey who defeated Alejandro Falla in three. Sam struggled on serve but managed to take advantage of Falla’s errors when it counted. Brad Gilbert was courtside to support his new protégé. In perhaps the most exciting match of the day, I watched US Open and Wimbledon doubles champs Melzer/Petzner take on Julien Benneteau and Olivier Rochus on an absolutely packed side court. The crowd was really into the match and there were some fantastic points along with a few “discussions†with the line judges and even a racquet throw here and there. They split the first two sets but a few loose points from the #2 seeds gave Benneteau/Rochus the tiebreak and the match.
In the first evening session the #1 seed John Isner took on Gilles Muller. In a match of huge servers there were few chances to break and the first set ended in a tiebreak with Isner on top. At 5-5 in the second Isner had multiple chances to break and serve out the set but Muller held on and Isner forced the second breaker. It only took one ill-timed double fault from Muller to give Isner two points for the game – which he took with an ace and an (almost) unreturnable. Next up were young Americans Jack Sock and Ryan Harrison and I think the crowd was almost more excited for this match than for the first. Speaking of the crowd, Donald Young was there posing for pictures as was Melanie Oudin who had lost earlier in the day in singles. The match was up and down for both players but Harrison got the early break and managed to take the first set 6-3. In the second it was all Sock as he secured one break and then closed it out with another. The third set was more even but Sock eventually got tight and surrendered his serve and the match to Harrison. Some big hitting from both these guys – could be the start of a promising season for each of them.
By the way, the dining room at the racquet is the place to be during the day. I saw Stakhovsky, Istomin, Stepanek, Tomic and Sock (who were talking to each other actually) as well as Ram/Lipsky before the start of their doubles match. Also, I got the great pleasure of interviewing Latvian Ernests Gulbis and while we were talking his first round opponent, Milos Raonic, walked by. They had a small wave and a smile and Milos gave Ernests a thumbs up as he walked away… to attend the Memphis Grizzlies game as a special guest.
Day three is full of some great matches. Melzer/Istomin headline the day lineup and Roddick/Malisse then Raonic/Gulbis will play the night sessions.
Krzysztof Sz · February 22, 2012 at 5:35 pm
What happened to James Blake? Was he still injured or too rusty because of lack of match play?
Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Might be combination of both Krzysztof, a fellow reporter told me Blake had knee pain which caused him to skip Australia. He’s obviously not in peak form right now and probably rushed his way back.
Dan Markowitz · February 22, 2012 at 7:32 pm
Did I miss something? Is Brad Gilbert coaching Querrey now?
Scoop Malinowski · February 22, 2012 at 9:29 pm
He sure is. And Q-Ball has won matches in singles and doubles in Memphis. The roll could be commencing.
Dan Markowitz · February 23, 2012 at 3:19 am
Geez, BG went from coaching Agassi, Roddick and Murray to Nishikori and Querrey. Who’s he going to coach next, Bobby Reynolds?
Andrew Miller · February 24, 2012 at 4:26 am
haha Dan. I think the Querrey-Gilbert matchup is a good one. Brad Gilbert’s only coaching “messups” have been with the LTA in London (the british tossing the yanks out does not seem to have made anything better – something must be lousy with the LTA) and with Hingis, who was too good for a coach (Gilbert worked with her for a few weeks? a month?).
Otherwise – I think his success with Nishikori shows he can make a very good player with a special game reach their potential. One could argue Agassi, Roddick, Murray – all had amazing games. But Gilbert added a special strategic dimension and professionalism to all of them that sticks, and his scouting is 2nd to none.
Andrew Miller · February 24, 2012 at 4:27 am
Querrey to me is a player who doesn’t quite see his game from another player’s perspective. Gilbert can update Querrey on what Querrey’s strengths are. It worked for Agassi, Roddick, Murray, Nishikori. No reason it can’t work for Querrey – he should be the U.S. #1 or #2 or #3 and always be in the running for #1.