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Montreal, the theater of the unexpected
73 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Roger Federer opts to skip Montreal but gives no reason.
Novak Djokovic debuts his new Djokovic Shuffle dance moves after annihilating Florian Mayer. Djokovic, the greatest player in tennis today, with a boatload of charisma and humor, world humanitarian, once again showing he has Muhammmad Ali qualities.
Some very surprising results, continuing the Lukasz Rosol pattern of a young unproven player shocking an established vet…Young Canadian Filip Peliwo beat Nieminen in three sets with Jarkko retiring in the third…Canadian Vasek Pospisil derailing John Isner 57 76 76.
I was also surprised to see Dolgpolov handle the always tough Kevin Anderson 76 64, Bogomolov beat Llodra in three, and Marcel Granollers whip Grigor Dimitrov 64 64.
Gilles Simon also went down to Nik Davydenko 26 6l 6l. It’s odd how the French players never seem to do well in French-speaking Montreal.
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« Previous 1 2Doogie · August 8, 2013 at 9:59 pm
THX Dan.
I dont really rate anyone of named coaches high.
Time for a change imo – younger explayers required!
Bryan · August 9, 2013 at 3:35 am
Just got back from a road trip and was pleased to find Gulbis and Janowicz are still in this. Raonic’s losing some respect with that unsportsman act today vs Delpo so I hope Gulbis crushes him.
Dan Markowitz · August 9, 2013 at 5:08 am
Uh, Jerzy went packing to the shore yesterday. What did Mild-mannered Milo’s do?
loreley · August 9, 2013 at 5:46 am
I also think that the talking by Gulbis is mainly to push himself. There is nobody who pushes him, unlike so many other players, who got pushed from early age by parents or have a big nation behind them. So he has to do it by himself. Not so easy to do.
Gulbis said already, that he wants to win a Slam or he’ll be unsatisfied with his career.
Great & funny on-court interview with him after his match against Murray with SkySports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NWrJJOGd528
About Milos. He should have told about touching the net. His peers might be aware about his bad sportmanship now. I saw him doing shit in the past at matches against Gulbis & Petzschner as well.
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 8:06 am
Great interview, Gulbis is the best in the sport at this. Funny he kind of went vanilla on that one answer though when they tried to set him up. Gosh I hope he can win a major. I really like how he’s laying it all on the line and making his goals and wishes clear to everyone. Very few players do it so openly. This was a huge day for Gulbis, he finally has scored a top four win. More will come.
Dan Markowitz · August 9, 2013 at 8:31 am
Disagree emphatically that Milos should have told umpire that he touched the net. Firstly, the rule is a little nebulous. You can touch the net once the ball has bounced twice on the other side. Do you think Milos knew if he touched the net before the ball bounced twice? Unlikely.
Second, I never believe in a player giving another player a free point because of a bad officiating call. These things usually right themselves with an equal amount of bad calls and as we now know through the Challenge system, the player is not always right when he thinks an official made a bad call.
I remember Derek Jeter, who’s never been called a bad sport, in fact, he’s held up as the epitome of class, faked that a ball hit him and ran to take first base. Afterward, Jeter admitted the ball never hit him, but if the umpire is going to give you something, take it. A player shouldn’t get into the officiating game. He’s there to play and win.
And I don’t know about your opinion that Gulbis speaks his mind more freely because he needs to motivate himself. Gulbis was at the same German academy as Djokovic so he obviously from a young age had the support and was pushed to be a champion player. A teenager doesn’t usually say to his parents that he wants them to send him to an academy. The parents or a coach pushes the teen to go in most cases.
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 9:14 am
True Dan, Gulbis was likely the recipient of an ambitious tennis father who wanted to create a champion player out of his kid. But now Gulbis is showing he clearly wants to be a major champion for himself, not for his dad. The Raonic controversy is interesting. I don’t find myself begruding him for not fessing up to touching the net at all. This was the most important match of the year, maybe the career of Raonic. He really needed this win after how badly he has struggled this year. He’s desperate and you know he was going to pull out all the stops. It’s a close call if it was before or after the two bounces. It’s hard to feel anger at him like how it was irritating when Henin held up her hand to Serena in Paris and didn’t fess up or when Henin tanked/retired the Aussie Open final to Mauresmo and didn’t give her the satisfaction of feeling the joy of winning MP. Mauresmo was cheated out of that joy when she was playing amazing tennis and Henin claimed she had a bad stomach. I still have enormous respect for Raonic, although the celebration after seemed subdued with even a hint of guilt about the net touch incident. The crowd seemed subdued in it’s celebration too. It was a slightly tainted victory over Delpo.
loreley · August 9, 2013 at 9:47 am
Do you have evidence that Gulbis was pushed by his dad or someone else? As far as I know, he didn’t even see his dad often. His parents got divorced when he was still kind of a baby.
He was already 13 years old when he came to Munich. I guess it was just an adventure for him,like for many other kids who went there. Pilic said he was a lazy genius in contrast to Novak, who was very serious with the sport. Actually Pilic was a kind of dad for him. Ernests mentioned, that to be with Pilic helped him to get a better relationship with his dad.
I agree, no kid says I go & play tennis when he’s 5 years old. Parents watch out what kind of sport might be good for their kids & support. There is a line between supporting & pushing hard. Ernests said, he was never pushed. He even said, he hates to see that kids get pushed & have to play many hours tennis every day.
Maybe next time when he’s doing Q&A at the Corona tent we should sent the question if his dad pushed him to become a top-athlete, like other dads do & did.
Ernests even finished highschool, unlike the pushed kids. The parents who push their kids don’t care about a good education at all.
loreley · August 9, 2013 at 10:11 am
Ernests was only in his holidays at Pilic’s academy. He checked out a spanish academy in Valencia also, but didn’t like it.
My teenager newphew said that he wants to join a summer tennis academy for fun, but not to become a tennis pro. Because to be a tennis pro would be too much stress 😉
Harold · August 9, 2013 at 10:12 am
Did you see it? Raonic surely knew he touched the net..See the look on his face after he touched the net.
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 10:32 am
Loreley I just assumed since Gulbis was sent away to Germany/Pilic, the goal was to make him a top champion pro. I think most parents who send a kid to Bollettieri or any academy have that dream, at least in the back of their mind. No kid wants to go away and leave home, as far as I know. Courier and Agassi both hated it, but they adapted. Courier said he used to cry when his parents would take him back to NBTA on Sunday afternoons. But you would know the Gulbis story more than I, you seem to know him maybe better than he knows himself )
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 10:33 am
Oh, I thought he was there full time like Djokovic was for a few years.
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 10:33 am
Harold, I saw the video of it but didn’t see the look on his face angle. Surely it must’ve been one of getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
Harold · August 9, 2013 at 10:38 am
Thought there was a “Code” on the tennis court. I guess if you really need the match, that “Code” goes out the window.
Scoop, you play tournaments, has it ever happened to you? Would you let the guy slide if he hit a winner and ran into the net? Would you admit it, if you touched the net? Or would you think I really need this match, screw the other guy?
Scoop, did you hear that Rios has been in hospital for 8 days with major headaches?
ok, now you guys can go back to turning this site into the lets get Vince Spadea, the long lost tennis savant a coaching job
loreley · August 9, 2013 at 11:12 am
I don’t know him. I know only what he tells in interviews & what he reveals on court.
Munich is not that far away from Riga. It’s not the same like with Haas, who was almost nonstop in Florida from age 13 on. You just can’t compare that. Like I said, he was with Pilic just in his holidays. When he was 16 he spent more time with tennis & had a private teacher for his education. Pilic traveled with him to tournaments. They are still very close. You should have seen Pilic in Munich, how he suffered when Ernests played against Haas.
Ernests practised only 4 weeks with Djokovic. He said that often, but media still thinks they were there together for ages 😉
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 11:25 am
Harold no I did not hear that about Rios, geez I’m a bit worried for him, hope he’s okay and will regain full health. For my tourneys, the tourney director at the last tourney I played came up to me and told me I’m a fair and clean competitor, who makes good calls. Though another player said I have a drive and will that’s beyond belief. I can’t think of any time I blatantly cheated an opponent, but there have been times they blatantly cheated me that I can remember easily, calling my passing shot out when it was at least 9 inches inside the left sideline, quick serving me while I was at the fence toweling off when it was 90 degrees, changing the score in their favor. I really don’t think I would do what Raonic did or what Fernando Gonzalez did to James Blake, in a simple local USTA tourney. But if I was a pro in the ATP or OLY, with those high stakes, I can’t promise you Harold I wouldn’t )
Dan markowitz · August 9, 2013 at 11:55 am
C’mon, Harold, in addition to your other numerous skills are you now a mind reader? You know for a fact the look on Raonic’s face was the guilty look of a cheater, this is the pros; its not a local tournament. They have linespeople and an umpire. Wasn’t the best ump in the biz in the chair, Mohammad L.? You think he’d miss the call?
Lorely, I will ask Gulbis at the Open whether he was pushed or not w his tennis. I’d think anyone sent to a academy at 13 was on a fast track to the pros. This guy wasn’t exactly James Blake who’s parents were also absorbed in his tennis.
Harold · August 9, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Have you seen it? Look at Raonic..Was watching it on ESPN3 which has no announcers, so, I don’t know what the announcers said, but Raonic knew it and was pissed at himself for touching the net.I’m sure it’s on youtube if you want to see it
Harold · August 9, 2013 at 12:52 pm
When ML saw the replay he apologized to DP…You can’t challenge running into the net.
You should make an effort to see it before airing an opinion
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 2:22 pm
I did see it.
Dan Markowitz · August 9, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I saw it, too. And how could Lahyani miss the call? It was right in front of him. Again, the issue wasn’t whether he touched the net or not (he did), but whether he touched it before the ball bounced twice.
Scoop Malinowski · August 9, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Did Delpo complain about it after? If not, what’s the big deal?
loreley · August 9, 2013 at 5:56 pm
Delpo did complain on Twitter. Maybe even in interview.
“Very upset after the match I lost. About the end… I think everybody saw what happened. Thanks for your support.”