Tennis Prose




Aug/12

29

Michael’s Day Two Adventures: Jesse Levine Collapses On Court 17


By Michael www.protennisphotos.com

Yes, Scoop, I just learned that today (that Matosevic is older). I was sitting. Well I don’t want to say the exact seat, lest he even theoretically track me down and terminate me for writing this. Let’s just say very close to Bernard Tomic’s Dad. Someone else said to me softly, “That is one scary dude.” Yes, I concur. If you want to root against Bernard please sit nowhere near his Dad. Just to be on the safe side.

Speaking of Tomic’s Dad. Did I mention not the mess with this guy? That relationship doesn’t seem to me, on brief closeup observation, to be a healthy one for Bernard. The dad can’t keep quiet. But not in a Joker’s girlfriend way. But in, Bernard seems to get perturbed by it. I don’t speak the language (Serbian?) but I’m sure at one point Bernard said to stop or to move. The Dad kept moving from just off the court to back by the entrance. Then moveup. Then move back. Apparently “excuse me” is not part of his vocabulary but if you think I pointed that out you’re crazy. And Bernard seems so laid back on the court.

Bernard dropped the first set. Dad sounded not pleased (but he could have been sending loving wishes for all I know). Bernard called for the trainer. Dad said in English. “Don’t take anything. No pills.” Bernard took a pill (I didn’t see it but another fan told me later “the pill is working.”) Bernard wins the second and when he’s in command in the third I leave for The Woz. Who is in the process of being upset on Armstrong (her second straight first round exit from a major).

But let me go back further. It is a hot one. And it feels even more crowded than Monday. Yes, Dan, obviously I have a great affinity for the tournament. But I could also write a lengthy list of things that can drive you to tears. Apart from the dearth of water fountains given the crowd size, how many years must go by with the long lines to use those few fountains with everyone and her brother re-filling their water bottles before you put in some kind of dedicated hose or faucet.

But I digress. In fact, I digress from the digression to inform Scoop of the answer to this pressing question. How the heck did they finish construction of the eyesore near court six housing a new giant, unwanted by people interested in tennis and not shopping, US Open retail store and upstairs bar restaurant when it was barely started a week ago and not finished as of Sunday night? The answer is… they didn’t. Much like they didn’t complete court 17 last year but opened it. This building is open for business but they slapped on temporary elements sufficient I presume to satisfy the building inspector. Or maybe they gave the inspector courtside seats.

So I arrive and check out Ana I. on the grandstand. She always gets a decent crowd and makes short work of whoever she was playing. I hustle out to 11 for Milos who I’ve never seen live. This must be his first US Open main draw match (?). If so, it’s mildy historic. Certainly memorable for him. He must have wanted to stay on court as long as possible because he drops the first two sets and comes back and wins in 5 over the Colombian Giraldo. He didn’t look great. Poor return game. It’s good to see he can go the distance because he probably has very little experience playing five sets. Can he do it a few times in a row though?

I see Verdasco plays Rui Machado, which is a rematch of their round one meeting in 2008 when Rui took Verdasco to five. But I pass.

I saw bits and pieces until I wind up on a packed court 8 to watch Stan beat Sergei Stakovsky in four. Each guy has a great looking one hander. And Stakovsly likes to come into the net. Also the light is great so the shooting is good.

Then I head to see Bernard. Once he appears to have it in the bag, I go off to catch the end of The Woz who goes down meekly. She had the trainer out so maybe she was ill. But you can’t tell because everyone but Fed has the trainer out. When was the last time Fed called for the trainer?

After The Woz is ousted, I head to 17. Jesse Levine is up two sets and a break. And then he essentially collapses. Second night in a row the last match on 17 was men’s with the favorite going down by two sets. An usher was asking me why these tennis players keep coming out not trying until two or more hours have passed. I have no answer. Dolgo is fun to watch. He has to have the fastest service release on tour.

The night let out at just about the same time the day ended (maybe 10:15?) so the LIRR and the 7 Train were packed. That part sucks. If you adjust for the three hour rain delay yesterday the two session ended about the same time.

(Photoman Mike is a distinctly talented camera man and a relentless attendee of the U.S. Open since the 1970’s. Known for iron man ability to log 20 hour work days in the broiling sun without the luxury of a box or press seat, sometimes on less than four hours sleep, Michael has witnessed and photographed just about every match ever played at the National Tennis Center. You name it, he saw it, from Sampras-Corretja on Armstrong to Lendl-Mayotte on grandstand, etc. etc. Yes Michael will be at the Open today, tomorrow and the day after and…)

17 comments

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    Terrific read as usual Michael. Heard some negative things about John Tomic, he is far from a passive onlooker like Karolji Seles or Robert Federer or Soterios Sampras. He is a big distraction for Bernard and could end up hurting his progress, if he hasn’t already. Bernard is such a major talent too. Hope it works out. Dolgopolov down two sets and 0-4 and wins the match – a lot of people must have been scratching their heads. I saw Levine at the end and he seemed confused too. Dolgo is a strange talent in so many ways. Wozniacki looked spiritless, like no confidence. McHale went out that was a surprise, Mertens earned it though, she is a hard hitter and kept her nerve at the end. Very impressed by Sloane Stephens with her play and personality on the interview on the ESPN2 set. She is vivacious with an infectious bright personality.

  • Harold · August 29, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    Saw the whole Dolgo match from mid first set. Can’t believe Dolgo stayed calm, just scraped one racquet on the court after a miss. Watched it from three different vantage points, the last one being court side. Dolgo’s backhand was amazing the lat 2 1/2 sets.
    Levine lost 15 miles an hour on his serve the last 2 sets. He was serving 125, then he was hitting serves around 110( do think the speed gun was off a lot).
    Never in all my years of attending matches did I see a comeback like that in person. Hard to root for the guy coming back even if you like him, cause the other side of the net has to be in pain mentally. Dolgo showing fight 2 years in a row, was down 2-5 in the fifth and came back.

    Almagro/Step was lower quality than I expected. Step seemed flat , maybe he was distracted by Vaidisova showing so much leg in her seat. Korda and his entire family were watching. Hardly any great point in the 3 sets I watched.
    Wawrinka/Shtakofsky was better quality in the 3 sets I watched. Then off to a lot of matches that went 5.Feds coaching team were there helping Stan .
    Bags was up and down,canas’s charge Gabashvilli lost in 5.
    From court 8, the sounds coming from Cinilkovas match on court 7 sounded like a Davis Cup match.

    Great long day

  • Michael · August 29, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Didn’t do photos until many years later, excluding snapshots taken when younger.

    I think Tomic is most naturally gifted of the 4 young guns.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2012 at 2:27 pm

    Harold it sounds like you are becoming a Dolgopolov fan! I mean how can you not be? Almagro is a tough match up for Stepanek, wonder if Step and Paes are playing doubles. How about Sock and Johnson taking out Nestor and Mirnyi, that’s a shock. Sock keeps showing that he is a big time player, his breakout in singles is coming soon. Tough loss for Gabashvili and coach Canas, who won only operating under a seven-day contract with Gabashvili. Canas said he was only with him for “the week.” Guess he knew a second week at the US Open wasn’t going to happen.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2012 at 2:29 pm

    Agree, Tomic has had the far better results in majors, just two sets away from Wimbledon semis (he took a set of Djok in QF).Dimitrov, Harry and Raonic haven’t shined yet in majors beyond the first few rounds.

  • Harold · August 29, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    Scoop

    Been a fan of Dolgo for a few years. I play tennis mostly with Russians and Ukranians, so I do get to hear scouting reports on future prospects.
    My first in person encounter with Dolgo was a disappointment as he failed to show against David Ferrer at the Open a few years. Granted there were stories he was illing, also Ferrer can make your life miserable on the court, but there was fight in the Dog that day..

  • Harold · August 29, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    make that NO fight in the Dog that day against DF

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    Harold I was at that match also on court 7, that was a dead dog afternoon for Dolgo. Like Rios, it’s so disappointing to see Dolgo at less than full speed.

  • Dan markowitz · August 29, 2012 at 7:02 pm

    Scoop,

    The Frenchman we saw practice that first quali day in the Grandstand was Rufin, who was up two sets to love against Tipsarevic today.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    No Dan that was Chardy today losing to Tipsarevic, both ESPN2 and the USTA later admitted they misidentified Rufin for Chardy. ) Boy, he looks a lot like Chardy – and plays like him too.

  • Michael · August 30, 2012 at 4:12 am

    Not day 2 adventures. Day 8 adventures.

  • Michael · August 30, 2012 at 4:57 am

    Day 3 (aka Day 9)

    “The worst thing you can do at the 2012 USO is go up two sets to love”

    Today a friend came out with his kids so I did some kids things. You know, like eat. First chance I had to check out the new food place on top of the new structure they almost finished by court 5/6. More junk food but with table service and higher prices. I had the “La Frieda blend” cheeseburger with fries ($17) and a beer (forgot the price, maybe $9 ?) La Frieda is a Brooklyn based meat supplier that somehow got it’s own show on the food channel (“I’m telling you cutting up slabs of meat is interesting. Plus someone will lose a finger. We’ll guarantee that in the contract. People will love it”.

    Probably someone will look back someday and point to that show as the period The Food Channel “Jumped The Shark. ” Frankly I think the Cheeseburger at the regular food stand is better and hotter off the grill.

    After lunchtime I head over to catch “just a few games of Youhzy” I tell my friend. I always watch MY and he always gets to NY early and practices. And practices. And practices.

    My must see match of the day is Grigor v. Paire. I like Grigor and I’ve been watching Paire since his 5-setter against Lopez in 2011. Like all the French players he has flair. Turns out he’s actually ranked higher than Dimitrov.

    Well I never get to see a point of Dimitrov’s losing effort because MY goes down two sets to Mueller. Which if you’ve been following along is the worst thing you can do at the USO 2012. Of course, Mueller repeating the effort of PHM, Milos, and Cilic to name those I saw (someone told me at the time of that match there were EIGHT ? in the first two days ??!!!) comes back and levels the match at 2-2. Breaks MY in the 5th and you figure that’s that. But MY breaks back and you figure the momentum is his. Well it’s nice to have a giant serve in a tiebreak.

    Mueller must love NY because he always seems to play his best here. I think of him as Rusedski light. Very light. But the same game. Muller upset Roddick in ’05 and in 2008 was the first guy to make the quarterfinals from the qualies since I THINK Escude did it many years earlier.

    So I head to 8 wondering where the heck Grigor is. Gone. I come for the Grigor but I stick around for Cirstea. She wins the first set in a tiebreak, I leave and later learn she falls apart and is killed the next two.

    I move quickly from court 8 to the other side of the field courts to 17. I’m going to see Haas lose. How do I know he will lose. Because he was up two sets to love against Gulbis. And this will make match number 5 for me and I don’t know how many in total where the player down two sets to none has lost. Someone should check if this is a record for the first round at the USO. It seems like a lot.

    Dan mentioned in an older post that Gulbis’ changes his forehand and it’s weird. He wasn’t kidding. It’s totally different. He used to cock his arm on the windup. Now he takes it straight back and finishes over his head. It’s odd. You’ll have to wait for the video. Easier to see than explain. I guess it’s working for him.

    I felt I owned Bartoli a look after she was so kind as to entertain me on Saturday. I wind up watching the entire match. After a few games I thought of Scoop’s prediction that she will win the USO. Not a chance Scoop. Her movement is just not where it needs to be to win the USO. She’s a very interesting player though. And very intense on court. There is a substantial French component to the crowd and she gets good support. Her Dad sits there and doesn’t make a peep that I can hear. But I wasn’t that close. Must have gone to a different coaching school then Bernard’s dad. IN any case, Marion doesn’t look toward him much during the match. Most of the French photographers show up near the end as well. Including the one that doesn’t understand a 300/2.8 can’t focus at 5 feet. Either that or she just likes to point it at people to scare them. It was a tough win for Bartoli. From memory I think she went down a break in the third before pulling it out. She’s going to have to improve a lot if she is going to make a run. But I guess that’s what the top players do. Peak in week 2.

    For the third night in a row the day session ends on Court 17 with a five setter (technically last night it ended on a field court about 10 minutes after 17 ended but it doesn’t read as well. And another win for a young American. This time NCAA (out of Stanford I think) champ, or so I was told becasue I never heard of him,, Bradley Klahn. Perfect weather again, nice atmosphere (if your name was Bradley) and some drunken frat boys ended the day session.

    I check out the scoreboard but the only thing going on was Murray’s route of Dodig. I didn’t stick around.

  • Andrew Miller · August 30, 2012 at 5:01 am

    Tomic story is pretty interesting. Maybe Tomic will be like Agassi – find a way to handle his dad then find a way to be himself on court. Mary Pierce, Agassi both did it, but many players got burned out by parents.

    Dan’s picks – Dan did well. Klahn pulled off the W and beat Melzer! In 5! Levine as Michael described almost got Dolgo (one of Dan’s picks). Tipsy almost lost. And Gulbis beat Tommy Haas.

    Darn good picking. Roddick won – I didn’t think Williams would do it. But the other ones I clearly got wrong. Nice to see Steve Johnson in round 2. Nice to see Brian Baker get a W also and hit round 2.

    On the WTA side, cheers to Laura Robson. I like her game – sorry to see Kimmie Clijsters go.

  • Michael · August 30, 2012 at 5:02 am

    Sorry for some grammatical errors and typos that make some of it read as gibberish. Pretend it was “dictated but not read” as they say.

  • Michael · August 30, 2012 at 5:06 am

    Yeh, big win for Laura on a big stage.

    There have been a lot of expectations on her for a long time.

  • Michael · August 30, 2012 at 5:10 am

    I should mention. No Smash Zone this year ! That place was extremely popular with younger kids (kids of all ages actually including the adult kind. Has anyone been in there to see what replaced it ? Maybe they are keeping it for practice courts in case it rains again.

    There is some kind of “AMEX experience” and kids get to meet Murphy J. I wonder if any kid knows who Murphy J is though.

  • loreley · August 30, 2012 at 9:59 am

    Tipsy-Rufin, Dolg-Levine, Gulbis-Haas, Muller-Youzhny, Cilic-Mato, Mathieu-Andreev, GGL-Monaco, Petzch-Mahut. Eight 5-set comebacks from 0-2

    via https://twitter.com/hbryant42/status/240951840534056960

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