Donna Vecic Comes Up Short in Friday Qualies

16-year-old Croatian Donna Vecic was two games away from qualifying for her first grand slam main draw. She led the veteran Romanian Edina Gallovits-Hall 6-2 4-4 but then the wheels came off.

Vecic never won another game, suffering a bagel in the third set – get ’em next time kid.

There’ll be plenty of next times for Vecic. Vecic is a tall, blonde, stunner with a big serve and big power from the baseline (one Korean fan next to me said she could make money as a model as well as a tennis pro). But Vecic fell apart and went into a tailspin with the match seemingly in control. A Croatian reporter told me something about four years ago which I will never forget. We were discussing the lack of grand slam success of the many talented Croatian players like Ljbucic, Ancic, Ivanisevic, Majoli. She told me Croatian players are “all headcases.”

Vecic played with a good poise and natural rhythm but she just inexplicably faltered in the big moment. Perhaps it was the experience and saavy of the 27-year-old Gallovits, who has been around these situations a long time (she turned pro back in 1999 – Vecic was born in 1996). Gallovits has won 384 career pro matches.

Vecic will eventually win an ample share of professional matches in the future as well. Her talent and power are undeniable. She just needs to fix up a few things and gain experience. One subtle aspect of her court demeanor that caught my eye was how she would take the towel from the ball kid. She would take it and look at the kid’s eyes, as if to want to make eye contact. Very few players do this, as they are so completely locked in and focused on competing but Vecic was not quite all-in on her battle mode, she wanted to make eye contact with a ball kid. She did this twice in the 15 minutes of the second set I watched. I remember seeing Mary Pierce do this on occasion as well, during her career. Then when I held up my camera to take a photo of her, she noticed this and glanced for a few seconds at me, as if she wanted to see who the guy was who was taking her photos. Big time players are rarely concerned with making eye contact with ballkids or observing people who take photos of her, they are all business.

Another thing I noticed about Vecic, when it was tight late in the second set, was she took the towel, used it, then as she walked away to go back to the baseline, she held the towel out behind her and waited for the kid to grab it, rather than just dropping it. Vecic showed she is nice and considerate, even under the pressure of the moment. Even when she was frutrated after making misses, she contained it impressively, unlike Larcher De Brito the day before.

Samantha Crawford, is a young American, who qualified for the main draw by beating Eleni Daniilidou in three tough sets. I remember the name Sam Crawford from last year when Tom Gullikson was telling us about her, she is a big strong player in the mold of a young “Lindsay Davenport.” Good to see Samantha Crawford making a name for herself – and somewhat fulfilling Gullikson’s belief.

Matthias Bachinger of Germany defeated France’s Adrian Mannarino to qualify, with countryman Philipp Petzschner supporting him.

The new Heineken two-level bar is still not finished and with all the construction equipment around, it could play havoc with the huge crowds that will be on the grounds on Saturday for Ashe Kids Day. By the looks of how much work they still need to do, it does not look like the project will be done on Monday or maybe even Tuesday. This is going to cause a lot of problems for masses of fans who like to stroll around the grounds, as the central fountain area is almost half blocked up with equipment and work supplies.

A friend of mine from boxing, Ralph Boehm, is working for the USTA as a court attendant on court 10. He told me he saw Venus Williams walk in this morning and he said to her, “Good to see you Venus.” He said, Venus gave him a big smile and said thank you.

Jimmy Wang of Chinese Taipei beat Marius Copil of Romania in a third set tiebreak. Wang was impressive with his mixed game which included drop shots and successful net rushes capped off by some quality volleying. Wang is 27 now and was once a #3 ranked junior, making finals in junior Australian and US Open, losing to Tipsarevic and Muller respectively. Born in Saudia Arabia, Wang has won 32 ATP level matches but has never gotten past the second round of a major. His highest singles ranking was #85 in 2006, he’s now just inside the top 200.

One hit wonder Lukas Rosol was knocked out of qualies by Guido Pella of Argentina.

Milos Raonic walked by us when we were at court seven and Raonic, at that precise moment, was showing his coach Galo Blanco the blister on the middle finger of his left hand. Off the court Raonic walks with big strides, just like he does on the court.

Federer practiced with Cilic on Armstrong and it was a Federer Festival of love out there. Roger has got to be the most beloved sportsman in the world right now, or maybe even in history. It’s amazing, everywhere he goes, it’s like Beatlemania. Fed stayed after the practice and signed a lot of autographs for fans who lined up all four sides of the court hoping to get a Fed signature. Fed started behind the chairs at centercourt and then worked his way to halfway behind the baseline, from 12 o’clock to 9 o’clock on a clock face. When he decided it was enough, the fans gave him a roars of love. With security and a camera crew at his side, Fed waved a few times to acknowledge his adoring fan base, then he was gone.

I ran into a friend and opponent named Bogdan who showed me an autograph he got on a piece of folded white paper – we couldn’t figure out who it was, because it was so hard to read, it was almost like a drawing of rounded geometric figures. After a laugh, he told us it was David Ferrer’s autograph.

Also, around midday, I was talking with friends near the new Heinken bar and Venus Williams and a pal walked by, apparently heading out to the court 7 or 8 corner. It’s rare to see a big name player walking freely around the grounds of the US Open during qualies. Interestingly, nobody bothered her.

The last match we saw was Bobby Reynolds vs. Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol, a 23-year-old Spaniard ranked around 220. Gutierrez-Ferrol likes to unleash a Gonzo-esque forehand whenever he can but the unflappable Reynolds weathered the early storm, got the break back and won the first set tiebreak by dissecting his hard hitting adversary who often camped himself ten yards behind the baseline. Reynolds won in two sets.

Taylor Dent was commentating the match for CBS. Always good to see Dent on the scene.

Also in grandstand was former world #4 Tim Mayotte and another coach with their tennis students from Cunningham Park where Mayotte is coaching now. I did a quick interview with Gentleman Tim which I will post next week.

Wang was #3 as a junior

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