Tennis Prose




Jul/12

18

Ruben Bemelmans Biofile


Status: ATP tennis pro. Currently ranked a career high #125 in the world.

Ht: 5-10 Wt: 155

DOB: January 14, 1988 In: Genk, Belgium

First Tennis Memory: “So many memories. I think when I just started tennis when I was four, picked up a racquet, just hitting against the wall. That’s how it started for me.”

Tennis Inspirations: “Roger Federer, Nadal, Pete Sampras, Agassi, all the best.”

Nickname: “Bemel.”

Last Book Read: “Winning Ugly, Brad Gilbert.”

Current Car: “Audi A3 (gray).”

Greatest Sports Moment: “Winning my very first round in a Grand Slam – three weeks ago, Wimbledon (defeated Carlos Berlocq).”

Most Painful Moment: “Hmmm…that’s a difficult one. So many losses. Losing to Ryan (Harrison) in Newport (6-7 7-6 5-7). You can count that one as one of the painful ones.”

Favorite Tournament: “It’s Wimbledon.”

First Famous Tennis Player You Met Or Encountered: “Nadal. In Bangkok 2010. (Where?) On the court. The stars – you can see them often walking around. But when I played against him, he saw after, he recognized me. That was it, yeah.”

Closest Tennis Friends: “A lot of Belgians, Yannick Mertens.”

Funniest Player Encountered: “Dimitry Tursunov.”

Embarrassing Tennis Memory: “So far…no actually. I don’t get hit in my balls or something [laughs].”

Strangest Match: “It was also here (Newport) last year. It was weird scoring. I won the first set very easy. Then I was 6-0 5-0 down, all of a sudden. Pretty strange for me. Against Bogomolov. Strange moment.”

Funny Tennis Memory: “Actually in Davis Cup this year against Britain. There was a guy at the net calling and every time he called a let, it was like the sound of a goat and the crowd was – he called let but it was like ‘L-e-e-e-e-e-t.’ [Laughs]. Then the crowd was imitating him. I was laughing so hard.”

Favorite Sport Outside Tennis: “Golf.”

Three Athletes You Like To Watch And Follow: “LeBron James. Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Favorite Tennis Players To Watch: “Federer. (Anyone unexpected?) Malisse. Because I think every time he plays, something is happening or he’s getting nuts or he is playing so well. Every time he steps on the court something is happening or is gonna happen.”

People Qualities Most Admired: “Nice, in general. And I think easy to talk to. Not like, arrogant. And funny.”

19 comments

  • Dan markowitz · July 18, 2012 at 12:58 am

    Sounds like a good guy, Scoop. Every year at Newport, whether it Dustin Brown or Kudla, we meet interesting new tennis folk. Let’s see if Lou Noritz is right and Bemelmans at 34 is on the rise.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 18, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    Great guy is Bemel, very likeable good dude. I think he is on the rise, he just won his first match in a slam this summer and also just qualified for Atlanta by winning 3 matches. Young players are slow to find their groove in the ATP, look at the struggles of Dimitrov, Raonic and now Tomic. Verdasco and Melzer, two lefties, struggled for years in mediocrity before putting it together, Bemelmans could be on a similar path. Hey if Lou Noritz says so, it’s hard to argue with Lou : ) BTW Bemels is 24.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 18, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    Bemelmans beat Ram yesterday 61 63 in first round, next up is #1 seed Isner.

  • Steve · July 18, 2012 at 3:12 pm

    Amazing how many pro athletes love both Federer and Messi.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 18, 2012 at 3:14 pm

    Everybody loves a winner Steve! You gotta respect guys like Dan who love Dustin Brown and Vince Spadea )

  • Steve · July 18, 2012 at 5:11 pm

    Actually, I don’t. 🙂 There’s way better journeymen out there.

    The point is that Messi and Federer play beautiful ball. If you like one you’ll probably like the other.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 18, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    Like who Steve? I have to see more of Messi. Ronaldo looked mighty impressive in the Euro tournament.

  • Steve · July 18, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    Magnus Larsson whose career was superior to Spadea’s in every way and was probably too good to be called a journeyman but…

    Today I like Rik De Veost, Dudi Sela, Russell Ivo Heuberger(retired serve & volleyer) and higher up Fognini.

  • Dan Markowitz · July 18, 2012 at 9:09 pm

    Please, Steve, you seem to know what you’re talking about tennis-wise most of the time, but when you mention Rik De Veost or Dudi Sela, these guys are much more marginal than Vince. C’mon, give me a break. Sela’s won only 81 matches on tour, and at No. 112 and 27, he looks to be sinking, not rising. I know he’s a feel-good story, Israeli, 5 foot nothing, but the guy doesn’t hold a candle to Vince.

    Larsson was a favorite of mine, too, and yes, did have better career than Vince. But he had much bigger weapons, too. He was a fine player, but he moved like a duck.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 18, 2012 at 9:36 pm

    These guys are top 25, top 50, top 15, top 100 players in the world, don’t call em journeymen! Taylor Dent was another favorite of mine, one of the greatest US Open matches I ever saw was him vs. Navarro on grandstand, it went all the way to the fifth set TB.

  • Steve · July 19, 2012 at 12:04 am

    I mentioned those other guys cause they’re in the Dustin Brown realm and are currently on tour.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 19, 2012 at 3:03 am

    Wonder if anyone would call Olivier Rochus a journeyman? That would be unfair.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 19, 2012 at 3:05 am

    John McEnroe described Magnus Larsson has a very good tennis player but not an exceptional athlete. I remember him being a tricky tough player and able to upset more highly rated players, one such match was his five set win over Rios at the US Open.

  • Steve · July 19, 2012 at 11:57 am

    well, Larsson beat Samrpas many times and once in a five setter in the the German Slam Cup final for millions of dollars so he’s no choker. He knew how to win and hit big.

    I like the little guys like the Rochus brothers. I guess one way to describe a journeyman is having a losing record and still making a good living playing tennis.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 19, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    Call them grinders or warriors, not “journeymen.” Larsson had a big game, remember I did a Biofile with him once and he said he left an ATP trophy he won in his hotel room and they had to send it to him via mail )

  • Steve · July 19, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    grinder doesn’t tell you much, is nadal a grinder?
    being a journeyman is a pretty cool job…

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 19, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    Nadal is one of the greatest champions in tennis history. A lot of players would love to make it in pro tennis as a “journeyman” for a few years. So hard to get to even that level of success.

  • dan markowitz · July 19, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Steve,

    I think you have to qualify a losing record. If you’re like Sela and you have a losing record with only 87 victories, maybe he would be called a journeyman. But if you’re like Vince and you had a losing record, but you won over 300 matches, calling him a journeyman may not be fair. If you reach No. 18 and No. 19 two different times in your career, five years apart, and you’ve beaten Agassi, Safin, Roddick, Kafelnikov, and Kraijicek in slams or master or in the semis of an ATP event, it’s hard to call the guy a journeyman.

    And how mediocre is Harrison?! You can’t lose to James Blake at 32, can you say this guy’s career dropped like a piano from a window?, when you win the first set 6-1.

  • Scoop Malinowski · July 20, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    How about Bemel’s effort vs. Isner, he won the first set, lost the second then lost in three 64. But he showed he could play top 15 tennis. I saw most of the match, good match, could’ve gone either way. Isner’s serve is just too tough though. Curiously long 15 minute delay after the second set with both players on court could have iced Bemel but that’s another story (Bemel got broken easy in the first game of the third set). Bemel showed some good qualities though, and he may indeed prove Lou Noritz to be a wise judge of talent and fulfill Lou’s vision that Bemel will be top 30.

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