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Observations at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012
5 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
I arrive finally to Crandon Park mid-afternoon Thursday, the first sight I see on the scoreboard is Sharapova has lost the first set on Stadium to Shahar Peer. But I am drawn to scan the grounds and see what else is going on.
On one of the practice courts is Paes and Nestor on one side of the court hitting across the net to Mirnyi and Knowles. The former team of Knowles/Nestor are hitting cross court together and when Knowles asks to hit another serve – “One more Nestie” – with a smile and jocularity, I wonder for second if they have suddenly reunited. No they have not, Nestor is still with The Beast Mirnyi and Knowlsey is in the doubles draw with Mardy Fish. I don’t know how Paes ended up with these guys, his partner Stepanek was nowhere in sight.
Donald Young was hitting with Rajeev Ram before their respective first round matches. DY finished and not one fan approached him for a photo or an autograph. Not one. Dy is having a tough year and later lost his match on grandstand to Belgium’s David Goffin in straight sets.
Ernests Gulbis looks great in all white, with orange stripes and the white and blue adidas Barricades but he bows 46 46 to Sergei Bubka. People talk about how Gulbis has an army of fans, especially of the female gender, around the world but it was a match played in virtual silence.
I spot Frank “The Tank” Dancevic on his way out to court with his wife. The Canadian is going to play Jeremy Chardy on court 8. On his way, with tennis bag on his back, Dancevic pauses to check out the super sporty white Audi R8 on display. With perhaps some extra automotive incentive, Dancevic takes care of business and defeats Chardy in straight sets.
Also, I spot a few tennis legends on the footpaths around the outer courts, there’s Mariano Zabaleta who I believe is the Argentine Davis Cup captain. He’s in a huddle talking business with Delpo’s coach Franco Davin. A few yards away are the Swedes, Jonas Bjorkman and Thomas Johansson. I give Johansson a copy of my Marcelo Rios book because he was a major inspiration for the book, as he gave me the funny memory which involved Rios whooping Muster in Rome which was the first anecdote I got about Rios for the original Tennis Week feature article, which ultimately resulted in the book. Johansson checks it out for a few seconds, while we are all standing watching Benjamin Becker close out Olivier Rochus in the third set.
On match point, a bearded trucker-looking, ballcap wearing dude shouts out, “Right now Benjamin.” This supporter doesn’t look like a tennis fan in the least, but by the tone of his voice, he’s clearly a Becker fan. Becker wins it 6-2 in the third.
Nadal and Granollers are playing doubles together against Dr. Ivo and Cilic. All four players are wearing whites, with Nadal adding a white ballcap on backwards instead of his singles standard headband. It’s nice to see four players in all white. Nadal and Granollers cruise to victory. Early in the contest, when Karlovic is serving blurs, one is called an ace but Rafa challenges it, saying it just missed wide on the deuce court. Of course, the eagle-eyed Rafa is right, Dr. Ivo’s serve missed by a few centimeters.
I missed the farewell match of Fernando Gonzalez on Wednesday night – he lost a third set tiebreaker to Nicolas Mahut. And the final point of Gonzo’s career was a, ahem, double fault. I can think of one American player who probably bypassed the Gonzo farewell ceremony rooted in their controversial Olympic experience on court together in Athens.
Guess how many Rios books I sold today? Four! By passing out cards promoting the book, I actually found four who had highly positive memories of the career of Rios.
Dolgopolov is playing doubles with Malisse but they lose to Llodra/Zimonjic. Dolgo has a new hairdo, he’s got tight dreadlocks and the fans around me all seem to love it, especially the females.
Over at grandstand, Lu is playing Nieminen. Lu is serving up a set and break 4-3 in the second, it’s a long game, Jarkko fights back to get to deuce from 15-40 down and you think the veteran could turn the match around. It’s a long battle but Lu eventually wins to go up 5-3. Jarkko loses the next two points on his serve 0-30 and keeps missing first serves. He screams out of frustration and then just gives the match away to Lu with quick misses. It’s unusual to see Jarkko so aggravated and when he sits down and packs his bags, the announcer asks the crowd to appaud the Finn and when they do, Jarkko with head down, loading his racquets, still gives the courtesy wave to the fans who appreciated his effort.
Christina McHale is dominating Cetkovska on court one. The points and games are battles but the American 19-year-old wins everything and takes the set 6-0. I am sitting right behind McHale on changeovers and she sure does drinks a lot of water and pink drink between games. She sits on her chair completely relaxed and oblivious to everything around her. She looks straight ahead and down on the court about two feet in front of her chair and takes long sips of drink and in betweem a bite of banana. She is remarkably calm and composed and very focused. She never turns her head to look around. Only when Cetkovska takes about a five minute bathroom break, does McHale turn her head, which she does five times to see if her opponent is returning yet. Finally, McHale decides to get up and head to the baseline, and then her Czech opponent arrives. Once the contest begins again, McHale again dominates, blistering shots off both wings and rarely missing, playing excellent defense and on occasion mixing in the drop shot or variety ball. McHale is a machine, a tennis wrecking machine.
Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez arrives after the first game of the second set to watch, with her daughter. McHale has a very bright future and I expect her to make some big results this year.
I do a Biofile with Bernard Tomic at 7:30 in interview room three. Tomic defeated Stakhovskiy in straight sets. Craig Gabriel, the Aussie tennis media maven, talks to Tomic first and right after the question about his next match with Ferrer, Tomic suddenly feels a cramp in his left leg and momentarily halts the interview, half in pain, half laughing that he’s having a Rafa moment. Gabriel is happy because he has the whole interaction on his tape. It’s a funny, light moment.
As I depart the media center, who do I see exiting the transportation area but Donald Young again. DY is leaving and he’s all by himself, mom and entourage are not around. No one asks him for a photo or autograph. I feel a tinge of sadness for DY and how tennis can be a cruel sport, hopefully he will right the ship soon and get back on the winning track.
Friday morning…
I get to the courts at nine, take a short bike ride, and the first player I see is Kohlschreiber practicing with an unknown player. Next court is Qreshi with his partner Rojer. A fan askes me if I know who they are.
Then, while in conversation with a photographer, Dolgopolov walks by us, he’s going to practice before playing his second round match with qualifier Viec of Croatia. Dolgo is on court first doing his light warm up skips around the court and when he spots his hitting partner David Nalbandian arriving he greets him with a huge smile and warm embrace, clearly Dolgo likes Nalbandian and is very happy to see him.
Jack Reader tells me Dolgo and Nalbandian have hit together before, last time was in China.
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Scoop Malinowski · March 23, 2012 at 4:07 pm
Maria Sharapova defeated Peer in three by the way,
Andrew Miller · March 23, 2012 at 4:32 pm
This was simply awesome. Thanks a million for this posting I am enjoying the Miami highlights! Interesting notes on everything. The Yo-Yo of DYoung’s career is distressing. From a fan’s perspective, it is what it is. From DYoung’s perspective, here’s hoping he goes for what works and brings some people in to make the most of his tennis.
As Davydenko once said;
“”He was pushing me from both sides. He’s the first American player who plays both forehand and backhand very good. He made winners from both backhand and forehand like I’ve never seen before.”
2007.
Scoop Malinowski · March 23, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Thanks Andrew, thanks for reading it. Murray just trounced Falla 62 63, unlike his first match here on stadium last year (shock loss to Bogie). Also, forgot to say that the great Jon Wertheim bought a copy of my Rios book, I tried to give it to him but he refused and wanted to buy it. Such a kind gesture. ABout DY, those are strong comments from a very fine player. Davydenko expresses what a superb talent Young is. Somewhere his development stagnated, sometime the team will have to let go and give Donald the highest quality coaching his talent merits, mom and pop do not have world class coaching acumen. I haven’t heard any of the parents do interviews to guage how smart they are pro level tennis wise, but it’s hard to imagine they can compete with coaches like BG, Cahill, Uncle Toni, Davin, etc. DY needs a real coach and to break away from his parents ASAP before it’s too late. Maybe it is too late.
Dan Markowitz · March 23, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Scoop, you forgot to mention what you had for lunch. Man, talk about a comprehensive report. I loved it. But Mariano Zabaleta and legend, I don’t think have ever been written in the same sentence. Even Bjorkman and Johansson, you’re pushing it calling them legends.
I thought the germ for your Rios book was when I said to you, “Scoop, there needs to be a Rios book.”
McHale is almost in Zen-like state on the court. I was shocked how small in height she is in person. She can’t be more than 5-6 is my guess. Keep up the good work. I hope you gave DY a copy of your book as a consolation prize.
Scoop Malinowski · March 23, 2012 at 7:00 pm
Dan it was turkey and swiss with lettuce tomator mayo and mustard on a roll. Just had a purple looking Smoothie which was really really good too. Just ran into Nick Bollettieri, he says his new book “It Ain’t Easy” is coming out later this year. Nick was on court with Lisicki and also taking photos and talking with fans. Then he went and did a discussion on that stage by the big scoreboard, he was saying to say I love you to the kids, then ask how they did in the match, make sure you say you love them first. He also said how he and his wife adopted two Ethiopian boys recently and that he jumped out of an airplane for his 80th birthday. Nick B has the energy of a man in his 30s! Saw some interesting sights on the grounds will tell later…