Brian Baker has been in Newport every day this week working on his return to the ATP tour with coach Todd Martin, who is a touring pro at a local club. Baker has been hitting on the public courts across the street from the Hall of Fame, where the courts are available to any player, on any level on a “first come first serve basis” as Martin told me. Baker is planning on playing next week’s Atlanta event, his first tournament since injuring his knee at this year’s Australian Open in a match against Sam Querrey.
15-year-old Stefan Kozlov meets the press.
Brian Baker is here with Todd Martin working on public courts with C. Harrison.
Hewitt vs. Ebden on center court.
Don Budge oil painting in the museum.
Dr. Ivo thrilled after beating Pospisil on Weds.
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1 2 Next »Steve · July 11, 2013 at 2:07 pm
Scoop you need to get on that court and show them how the #3 45 player of NJ rips the ball!
Scoop Malinowski · July 11, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Actually it’s USTA Eastern Section not just NJ Steve )
Dan Markowitz · July 11, 2013 at 3:43 pm
I’m watching Sisjling from Holland play the ageless Michael Russell. Russ is wearing a red sleeveless shirt. It’s rained here earlier so the courts are playing slick and the players are hitting a lot of one handed slices. Sisjling is a big guy w a one handed bh. He’s beaten Tsonga this year and made Wimby 3rd round. He doesn’t approach the net as Russ does, but he moves well for a stocky guy. Russ is impressive in his forays to net but he’s missed a lot of bh volleys.
On an outside court, Dr Ivo is playing doubs w 3 nobodies: John Patrick Smith, Shamason and Sharon. The last two are Indian I believe and they’re decent players, but I wonder like Quereshi, they’re doubles specialists. Tennis being the game it is, it must be discouraging only to play doubles.
Russ has the biggest biceps I’ve seen on a tennis player. He looks like a longshoreman. He’s got nice short strokes particularly on his bh. Isner and he are the only 2 Anericans still in the draw. The way young Americans play a baseline game w little diversity or all court skills: Kudla, Sock and Rhino Williams all lost in first 2 rounds. Russ is really the only American besides Fish and maybe Baker and Blake who can play off pace and handle net play.
Dr Ivo plays Izzie tommorow and that should be interesting. To me, Dr Ivo looks like he has a more complete game.its a rather small crowd here today, all white and mostly Middle Class it seems. Quite different from the crowd I saw on tv the other night at a Washington Kastles match where there were many black people attending. The Kastles are killing, looking to break the LA Lakers pro sports team record of 33 wins in a row. They’re stacked w Kevin Anderson, Hingis, and Leander Paes.
It’s fun to see players improvise on the grass. Sometimes they get bent out of shape reaching for a ball that doesn’t come up on the bounce.Russ has already switched to a blue sleeveless shirt and at 5-all he just hit a pretty backhand lob winner. It’s good to be built so close to the ground on these courts. I wonder how the Big 4 would fare here? I’d pay a lot to see Fed play an in form Santoro here. Hewitt just walked by w Greg Sharko and he looks like he’s 22, über fit.
Another guy greeted his friend and in the American way said, “How’s it going?” The first guy says, “bad back.” “How come?” “I don’t know: stress, 3 kids, no money.”
Sisjling and Russ are in a breaker, as is the doubles match behind me. Russ goes up 5-3. He serves, sneak approaches w his 2 handed bh, hits a sizzling fh volley and then scurries back to crunch an overhead. Sisjling was right. Russ is going to be hard to beat as he takes the breaker 7-3.
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2013 at 12:51 am
Sheesh, I mean how good is Michael Russell. After reading Dan’s comments and Scoop’s Biofile I watched a 2011 youtube clib of Russell-Roddick at the US Open – and indeed, Russell’s game was top-bottom complete. Roddick took a two-set lead as quickly as possible only because he knew how dangerous it is to play Russell. The lack of complete games for the up and coming players is understandable. Roddick said players need the experience to get a feel for nuance, though the desire to compete has to be there to want to have the complete game that shifts the odds.
Steve · July 12, 2013 at 7:50 am
Scoop, I found a doubles partner when you get back we can set up a good match with Pete.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 9:49 am
How does Russell do it Andrew? He just keeps going about his business in a quiet way and winning matches. He just won the Manta Challenger on hard courts in S America, now he’s grinded his way to the SF in Newport while players like Blake, Harrison, Sock, Kudla are long gone. I saw Russell in Sarasota and he was irrelevant in that Challenger and I remember thinking maybe he’s at the end of the road. Far from it. I was watching him in Newport in that Marshall’s discount red shirt, like Dan says he looks more like a “longshoreman” than an ATP tour semifinalist. Michael Russell is the “Rocky Balboa” of the ATP tour.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 9:51 am
Let’s do it next week Steve. Me and Pete have been handling all kinds of tough players lately, a lot of strong high school players too. The top singles player from Leonia HS hasa been giving us some good competition with his buddies.
Steve · July 12, 2013 at 9:57 am
Okay. I’ll see if my guy is free.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 10:41 am
Okay, we’re looking forward to play.
Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2013 at 10:52 am
I was in the gym at the Viking Hotel here in Newport after Mahut easily moved into the semifinals. Mahut is going to possibly win this event. His game is perfectly suited for the grass here. I’m in the weight room and it’s about 9 pm and who walks in but Iron Mike Russell. We exchanged hellos and then he went to the stationary reclining bike and did about 30 minutes on it while he looked at his I-Phone. Then he went out to the pool and just walked around in the shallow end for about 30 minutes. The guy looks fit, but what’s interesting about these guys is they look smaller up close. Russell didn’t look like a physically-imposing guy, but rather just a super fit guy.
In about two hours it’s Isner v. Karlovic and that should be good. Karlovic’s serve is something else. I was watching in the doubles yesterday which he won, and his motion is very smooth and seemingly benign, until he gets to the top of it and then he flicks his hitting wrist and the ball zooms into far corners of the box.
They have a serving speed display up at Newport Center Court for the first time so it should be interesting to see how hard these guys serve.
Here’s 2 trivia questions: the winner gets to hit with Scoop or I at the Open. Mitch and Andrew are co-leaders so far.
No. 1. Which player reached his only ATP singles final at Newport and lost?
No. 2. Who of the Big 4 is the only one to play Newport and he got bagel-ed–and complained about the grass–by the player who is the answer to trivia question No. 1?
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 11:11 am
Dan I know the answer but will refrain from sharing it a few minutes before Mitch or Harold come in and get the glory ) WOnder why Russell was doing the bike work that late. One of the most impressive training tricks I saw was this week with Kenny De Schepper on the warmup courts outside the media windows. De Scheppers coach was on one side of the net and he was tossing balls to Kenny on each wing and Kenny was kicking them all back, it was amazing. It was like playing tennis with your feet. Forehand side, Kenny kicked it back with right foot perfect and high over the net, coach caught it, tossed to the backhand side and Kenny kicked it back this time with his left foot high and over the net. They repeated this “rally” over and over and Kenny never missed. I was amazed that never mishit a kick. Then Kenny proceeded to play shadow tennis on that side of the court and then he got his racquet and the coach tossed balls and he began to hit normally. Very impressive routine and I can see how it helps. If you can play tennis with your feet, you will feel like you can’t miss with a racquet in your hand. But after this routine, Kenny lost his match to Kuznetsov in straights though it was a really good match.
Mitch · July 12, 2013 at 12:10 pm
Feel like Murray is the guy who lost and complained, but have no idea who beat him.
Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Izzy trails Dr Ivo 3-4 on serve in first set. I think the Croat is listed as 6 10 and Iz 6-9 but Iz is clearly an inch or two taller. Dr Ivo called for trainer at 2-1 for his back and it looks like its hampering his serve, Dr Ivos strokes are better than IC’s on this grass. Dr Ivo had one real point and I don’t think Iz has gotten to 30 on any return game. Iz hit a 136 mph serve, but Dr Ivo’s first serves are no higher than 128. I’ve never seen Oz come to net as much as he has today. He just hit a forehand passing shot to get to deuce, but Dr Ivo who plays at a quick pace just knocked off two nice volleys to go up 5-4. He clearly moves better than Iz, especially at the net and has better hands.
I’m picking Dr Ivo to score the upset.
Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Alright, Mitch, you got the second one right and a hint for the first player is he’s from New Jersey and he played and lost to Phillipoussis.
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Answer to #2 is Andy Murray – #1 no idea, Chela? No idea
Russell – showing yet again how to play. U.S. up and coming players have to prove they are better than Russell because Russell is definitely the bar.
Losing streaks: Baghdatis last won a match in February!
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2013 at 1:54 pm
Final comment – Expect a good summer from Ryan Harrison. He’s not losing badly – shows he’s fighting every match, nearly every loss is close. Federer began turning the tide in his 2008 slump when he began winning the third sets that he had been losing in the best of three matches.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 2:38 pm
I like Isner to Isnerize Dr. Ivo but would rather see Dr. Ivo win.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 2:39 pm
Hint: Andrew, No. 1 is Dan’s least favorite TV commentator )
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2013 at 3:44 pm
I figured it out. One of my least favorite commentators also, analysis of U.S. players especially balanced as he puts favoritism above hard analysis (so and so is great vs. so and so should get that backhand in order!). even beat Spadea once (twice if you count a Spadea retirement). He also played at UCLA, alma mater of none other than Daniel Kosakowski.
By the way: just saw some tape of Kosakowski vs. another player named Brezac who is in the 500s in the world rankings. Watching them play (from a few years back, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZl1NEw97MQ&NR=1&feature=endscreen ) the only thing I can see is that they hit the ball a little short and played behind the baseline a bit, but they seemed to hit just as hard as anyone in the top 50.
Reminds me how good the ATP players are. I have never been able to play a point as fluidly as these guys did in that point or employ even 50 percent of the strategy they did. No way I could break top 500, let alone top 1000.
Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Aah, Scoop, now you’ve given it away.
Guy who works for TC told me he was in Rome when Murray pulled out w bad back and at the time he said back was so bad surgery was an option. How does a guy w such a bad back win Wimby 6 weeks later?
Hewitt has just broken back to go up 4-3 on Hernych. Peter Luczak is Hewitt’z coach and every time Lleyton hits one of his precision passes or crisp returns, he looks at Peter w a snarl on his face as if to say, “that’s damn good.” And Luczak says in the deepest Aussie accent, “Alright, mate.” Hewitt’z wife is within whispering range of me w her her small son who just started watching his dad after finagling under the seats.
This is good grass court tennis as Hernych is attacking and Hewitt is playing only from the baseline. Interestingly, Isner when he beat Mannarino 6-0 the other day recorded his first 6-0 set everin pro tour, but its really hard to win 6-0 here.
It can’t be easy being a tennis player’s wife. The guy sitting next to me has said to his friend that he doesn’t like Hewitt and he used to go out w Kim Clinsters until she dumped him. I don’t know if Bec can hear him, but it can’t be easy.
Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2013 at 4:13 pm
Hewitt imploded in breaker and lost it mostly on his errors, 7-3. It’s almost like he’s speaking a foreign language, but I thought he said to his wife at one point, “are you watching the match?” and to Luczak, “Start coaching me, but I could be wrong.
He broke to open the second set. And it’s beautiful to watch him from a seat behind the baseline as he’s still very quick and he never seems off balance. But Hernych is really making Lleyton pass him. This is a Mac-Borg like confrontation and I love it. Lleyton just saved a break and gave a pumped fist “come on” and Bec came to life saying, “keep it going.”
She’s having to watch the match while playing w her son who has the blindest hair since the middle Brady sister. Hewitt is struggling-he just got re-broken-but he’s still game.
“C’mon, mate, keep going,” Luczak implores. Every time he misses he looks back to Luczak for a reason.
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Scoop – how is Brian Baker hitting these days, what’s your take on his game? It’s pretty cool he’s on site hitting a few balls in the public parks, first come first serve.
Venus and Serena Williams used to hit at a few inner city tennis courts in Florida (rarely but they came). It was also cool to see one of Spadea’s sisters, Diana, play at a local park – they had a tournament and . She hit the bleep out of the tennis ball and played with the same racquet as Vince, they all (seemed to) use the Prince Graphite.
Another player who I thought was so aggressive but no one will ever mention her – Annemarie Milton who played at Wake Forest. She used to play locally and nationally, and I watched her square off against the top 14 and under junior in the country (who shared my last name). We (I and the top girl junior) went to the same academy (for about a week), but this kid Milton who went to Wake – lefty – was really tough. They described her as a bulldog – she helped Wake get to #2 nationally in 2000.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 8:17 pm
Andrew, I think you mean you didn’t play with the rhythm of the pros. Murphy Jensen told me about how good of a hitter Gavin Rossdale is and that he could hit with Fed, Courier, Querrey and all those guys but when it came to playing points he didn’t have that rhythm to play and win points under match circumstances.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 8:19 pm
Hilarious Dan, you have a bird’s eye view of Hewitt and his team, fascinating. I had that kind of view sitting within seats of Haas’s box in Miami and it was fascinating. Hewitt is one fiery guy. I saw Hernych beat Bozoljac in qualies and also Sock, the guy can play tennis, very tough consistent talented player. But I thought Hewitt would handle him.
Scoop Malinowski · July 12, 2013 at 8:21 pm
Baker is back at full strength, Todd Martin told me, he looked primed and ready to play a tournament, like Atlanta next week. Baker and Christian Harrison were going at it full throttle with baseline hitting. Both were very impressive to my eyes Andrew.
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2013 at 8:38 pm
I like Christian Harrison’s game ( vs Dancevic, here ), he hits a good ball and I think technically he is very solid on the fundamentals. He can hit a big forehand or backhand, knows how to volley – just solid. I think the Harrison’s won’t be like the Murray boys with one doing great and the other having a tough spell. I think they will both do well.
Dancevic I think is like Russell – if you want to make it on the ATP, you got to beat both of them. I love Dancevic’s game.
Dan Markowitz · July 13, 2013 at 7:22 am
I didn’t think Hewitt would win yesterday, but I read afterward that he’d beaten Hernych all 7 times he’d faced him. The winner’s purse here is $78 which is a nice pay day when you figure there isn’t a top 20 player here and guys like Russell and Mahut are making the semis. I mean I like these guys, but they haven’t exactly been tearing it up this year. And think of it, has there been a tournament this year where two Americans have reached the semis? I haven’t looked it up, but I highly doubt it.
At least a guy like Isner makes the hardy New Englanders proud. He seems like such a nice stately young man. Yesterday, this nice woman kept piping out, “Come on, John.” Isner is the kind of nice-mannered young man the good Americans here in Newport like to support.
Scoop Malinowski · July 13, 2013 at 9:45 am
It would have been a shock if Hewitt lost to Hernych as it was a shock that he lost to Brown at Wimbledon. That’s the thing with Hewitt now, he shows flashes of his greatness but then follows up with a totally unexpected dud. I think Hewitt is going to get IZNERIZED.
Dan Markowitz · July 13, 2013 at 10:08 am
Scoop, you coming up? Outside Viking Hotel early this morning, Ion Tiriac smoking a cig at 74 on the day of of his Hall of Fame inauguration. And Peter Luczak and Andre Sa working out like demons in the gym. Different generations.
Dan Markowitz · July 14, 2013 at 8:12 am
Rained all day yesterday. Today beautiful and sunny. Semis at 10 am w finals at 2 pm. Looking like an Isner v Mahut finals and lucky to have a tie breaker here. Was riding my bike yesterday and saw PMAC in a park w one of little girls. I smiled and waved and PMAC waved back. Everyone loves each other in Newport.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Dan/Scoop – question from me. If U.S. up and coming players find it hard to beat Russell and Dancevic, what does this say. If Russell and Dancevic, top to bottom, are better players – more complete, more skilled, more knowledgable – does this mean that the path to the top simply wont happen until higher ranked players retire?
Steve · July 14, 2013 at 7:09 pm
So Jimmy Connors is gonna coach Sharapova…should be interesting.
Dan Markowitz · July 14, 2013 at 8:27 pm
How about what Nicolas Mahut accomplished today? He beat Russell easily in the semis and then came back a couple hours later and was down a set and a break to lleyton Hewitt. And with Hewitt serving for the match, Mahut broke him and went onto win the match. Then he played a third match to advance to the doubles finals!
We all know Mahut can play a long time, but this is some triumvirate, on a hot day in Newport. Now the Frenchman breaks back into the Top 100 and Hewitt is beaten in the finals for the second time in two years.
Andrew,
I think the moment or year of truth is approaching this summer for a lot of the young Americans. Maybe they wont eclipse guys like Russell, who never really played top ball tutti his 30’s, and Dancevic, who never sustained Top 50 play. But certainly, it’d be a disappointment for guys like RHarry and Sock, if they didn’t play at a higher career level than these two journeyman.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2013 at 9:07 pm
All credit to Mahut. Dan that is a pretty even assessment of Team USA – you must have been encouraged by something out there, maybe Baker’s practice sessions or some players doing windsprints.
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2013 at 10:02 pm
Good move by Maria, and a big surprise. She needs a new voice, Hogstedt doesn’t have a clue on how to beat Serena. Jimmy might. We’ll see.
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2013 at 10:04 pm
Two titles this year for Mahut, and also played the French Open doubles final. He’s at his best right now. Awesome win vs. Hewitt. Very nice to see Mahut adding this title to his legacy which is largely based on that famous Isner marathon. I like Mahut.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2013 at 10:43 pm
Maybe Maria thought hey, Murray has Lendl. I need that kind of voice in my ear.
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2013 at 11:25 pm
Wow, Mike Russell called Hewitt a whiner and a “racist” on facebook today. Apparently Hewitt made some whining comments on the ATP site about playing too much tennis today and wanting the final to be tomorrow, though he served for the match in the second set, got broke and lost 36 in the third to Mahut. Mike Russell is no friend of Hewitt.
Dan Markowitz · July 15, 2013 at 6:25 am
That’s pretty nasty comments by Russell. I think if you’re a Grand Slam champ and former No. 1, asking not to at 2 matches (that both turned out to be 3-setters) is not out of line. And where do the racist charges come from–back from the old Blake match? I’m sorry, a guy like Russell shouldn’t be making those remarks about Hewitt.
Dan Markowitz · July 15, 2013 at 6:40 am
Russell said his publicist posted the comments on his Facebook page. Yeah, right! Not likely eke that’d be a fired publicist and since when does a guy like MR have a publicist!? Look, I say Hewitt “whining” to his coach, Peter Luczak, during his march with Hernych. The guy’s certainly engaged, and he might be a bit of an excuse-maker, but when you’ve had the career of Michael Russell and your talking about Lleyton Hewitt, these remarks border on the asinine.
Steve · July 15, 2013 at 8:32 am
Nice to see Fognini and the Italians surge forward!
Oh and Russell is 0-3 against Hewitt. I wonder whose whining.
Andrew Miller · July 15, 2013 at 8:49 am
Mike Russell – the trouble maker! #4 in the U.S. at the 81st spot in the world; with Fish on the way down the depth charts Russell may be #3 U.S. by the open.
Scoop Malinowski · July 15, 2013 at 8:55 am
Obviously Hewitt has ticked off Russell to make such harsh comments. And you get the sense Russell is holding some words back. I find Hewitt to be a curious character, he can be nice but also tough to deal with. I never got a Biofile with him he always made nice excuses, Can’t do it now mate, Can’t do it during the tournament mate, etc. He always seemed to have an excuse. Then I just figured he is private and was being nice but he’ll never do it. I think the racist label from the Blake match was BS. He felt it was an injustice from the black linesman and made it clear, I mean it’s not like he used the n word or anything. He just said he thought the guy was favoring Blake and going against him. Which you never know, maybe it really was a conspiracy. I respect how Hewitt handled that touchy situation in the heat of the battle and always thought he got a bum rap from it. It was great to see Hewitt eventually win the US Open after that.
Scoop Malinowski · July 15, 2013 at 8:56 am
Wow just wow Andrew.
Harold · July 15, 2013 at 11:05 am
Russell number 3 American is testimony PMac and his staff should be on their way out the gates at Flushing Meadow.
Don’t see any American winning or even contesting the final of a Major in the next 5 or 6 years, which will make it at least 15 years without a Major win by the US.
Dan Markowitz · July 15, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Scoop,
What Hewitt said may have been racist or not, but how was it a conspiracy? You love to kick around that word but in this situation, what could it possibly mean? Do you think the black linesman and Blake got together before the match and the linesman agreed to call everything close Blake’s way?
An it was racist because Hewitt insinuated that Because Blake and the linesman were black–and the under tone here is that that means they’d be more apt to cheat–the linesman was favoring Bake. You don’t hear Blake or other black players making the reverse argment and they have many more chances to do so.
Steve · July 15, 2013 at 1:35 pm
I think Hewitt was saying that the ump was making biased calls.
Dan Markowitz · July 15, 2013 at 2:06 pm
I don’t think so, Steve. The linesman was black, not the umpire.
Steve · July 15, 2013 at 2:24 pm
I can’t remember…maybe he thought the linesman was biased…did he end up winning the match?
Andrew Miller · July 15, 2013 at 2:37 pm
Hewitt and Blake made good on that a long time and Russell should either say what he means or apologize. Below is the explanation of what took place at the time.
As for Russell and being the possible #3 U.S. player – I think we have to consider the context. This is the hardcourt part of the season, and in little to no time the U.S. players will have many chances to up their rankings, which should benefit Sock, Blake, Kudla, Harrison – anyone and everyone from the U.S. I don’t expect Russell to stay ahead of the pack, but Russell has a way of proving doubters like me wrong.
I think Sock, Kudla, Steve Johnson – even Alex Kuznetsov have a chance of supplanting the “other” A. Kuznetsov, a russian who is now top 100. I think Querrey and Isner have an oppportunity they better take, and I think Blake should have a good crack at the hard courts.
I kind of believe that as in past years, when the dust settles we’ll be at the Canadian Open and Cincinatti and see that the U.S. players have a harder time when the competition intensifies.
And as in past years I think Dan and Scoop will hit the U.S. qualies and see some breakout performances. Harrison’s brother should design his summer around the U.S. open qualies and make a try for the main draw. The other U.S. players should maintain their rankings so that they get direct entry. And players such as DYoung, Kuznetsov, etc should win their qualifying matches and make the main draw. Either the U.S. will have a banner year come U.S. Open time with many players in the main draw, or it will be slim pickings because they didn’t do well enough this summer.
————————————
|Tournament referee Brian Earley said he investigated the incident, in which Hewitt complained about a foot-fault call by an African American line judge in his match against James Blake on Friday. According to a transcript provided by the U.S. Open, Hewitt complained to umpire Andreas Egli: “Change him, change him. I have only been foot-faulted at one end. OK. Look at him. Look at him, and you tell me what the similarity is. Just get him off the court. Look at what he’s done.”
Earley said that Hewitt did not use “similarity” to refer to skin color, although many people who saw the exchange thought otherwise because Hewitt appeared to wave a finger at Blake. After reviewing tape of the incident and talking with Hewitt, Blake, the umpire, and the linesman, Marion Johnson, Earley concluded there was no harm, so no foul. Earley said that he did not consult with other African Americans while making his decision, one that was far from easy.
“If it were easy, then it would not have been misconstrued,” Earley said. “I only can say that I would have to draw conclusions from what I see and what I hear that . . . he was definitely making racist remarks, and I can’t do that from what I have. I can’t say the court of public opinion won’t do that.”|
————–
Interview in 2002 with James Blake
“CNNSI.com: Speaking of Lleyton Hewitt …
Blake: [Sigh.]
CNNSI.com: Come on, you knew it was coming. Now that the statute of limitations has lapsed, be honest: You could have kicked his butt that day if you had wanted to, right?
Blake: I should have. Then I might have won the match. He’s just so tough when–
CNNSI.com: You don’t have to do that spin. You hate the guy, right?
Blake: No. Really. “