There’s a lot of history here at the Laurel Oaks Country Club, the site of this year’s edition, the tenth Sarasota Open ATP Challenger.
A long time figure here clued me in on several stories and anecdotes I had never heard before. Let me share some…
Martina Navratilova once played an exhibition for kids against David MacPherson, the former ATP doubles player who is the coach of John Isner and the Bryan Brothers. It was contested about seven years ago and this battle of the sexes did not go so well for Martina. Navratilova was competitive with the Australian, but the pattern of the match was that eventually her short balls would allow MacPherson to drop shot her and those drop shots were, too put it mildly, not taken well by Martina. She eventually lost the set 6-0 and let it be known with a raised voice that she did not appreciate MacPherson’s drop shots or felt they were fair play. But when you give up short balls, you are tempting drop shots, and so they were fair play. Navratilova accused MacPherson of making her look bad in front of the kids. But then she hastily left without signing any autographs for the kids.
Monica Seles used to live within walking distance of this club and trained at her home where she had two courts on her adjacent lot, a hard and clay. She also played exhibitions and did clinics at the Country Club. Seles used to pay Jimmy Arias or whoever her male training partners were that week, $70 an hour. One day she hit with Jimmy’s younger brother Kevin. She wanted him to hit serves for two hours so she could work on returns. Seles would usually train for 2-3 hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon. Arias hit serves for her but after about twenty minutes he began to tire and he started to miss. Have you ever tried to serve to a top player for twenty minutes straight? Let alone two hours? Arias tried to carry out his end of the bargain but struggled mightily. His failures were not taken very kindly.
Seles said she received a note from most of the other top players after being stabbed in Germany but Steffi Graf never sent anything.
I met a former pro here from Germany who said he beat Marcelo Rios in a $25,000 event in Germany just weeks before Rios played at Roland Garros against Pete Sampras in 1994. He said he won his first match that day in three and a half hours then laid down in the shade for an hour before playing the nineteen year old Rios. But he played the match of his life against Rios, in the zone, making every shot, and Rios cracked. Rios gave the middle finger to this player and his wife and eventually quit down 6-4 4-1.
Andreas Siljestrom, the giant doubles specialist from Sweden, told me about his pocketing $50,000 for winning a special ping pong tournament in Manhattan at Freedom Tower last year just before the US Open. He beat Donald Young and Sam Querrey, by 21-7 and 21-11 respectively. He said Young has a lethal two handed backhand in ping pong. Siljestrom is still in the doubles here at Sarasota Open, teaming with Guilherme Clezar of Brazil.
After discussing my book Facing Safin with a certain player, he told me that he was told by a respected insider that Safin had a private meeting in his hotel room with his four Safinettes BEFORE his Australian Open final against Thomas Johansson and not AFTER, perhaps the reason why his legs ran out of gas after winning the first set vs Tojo.
Scott Lipsky told me he suffered a knee injury late last year, and had to have surgery for a torn miniscus. It was the worst injury of his career. Guess how it happened? Playing a pro-am in November in Palm Beach. Scott said he didn’t warm up properly. He played this year’s Aussie Open but he was only 60%, he says now he feels closer to 90% fully recovered.
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1 2 Next »catherine · April 20, 2018 at 2:57 am
Scoop – I’ve heard that story about Steffi/Seles many times and I’ve always suspected there were legal reasons why Steffi may have been advised not to contact Monica. We’ve never heard Steffi’s side so shouldn’t make a judgement.
On a related note – many years ago a Czech player was involved in a car accident in Czechoslovakia and spent some time in prison. She said later that the only player who kept in touch with her was Andrea Jaegar, not considered the most popular player on the circuit in those days. Just goes to show the public image isn’t necessarily the real one.
Scoop malinowski · April 20, 2018 at 7:34 am
Graf should’ve been the first to sympathize w Monica. It was her fanatic who tried to murder her.
catherine · April 20, 2018 at 8:55 am
Scoop – my point is that she could have offered sympathy to Seles but if she did it might not have been publicised for reasons to do with any contemplated legal action – we just don’t know so we shouldn’t rush to condemn Steffi.
Duke Carnoustie · April 20, 2018 at 11:39 am
Yes it’s well known that Graf never contacted Seles. I don’t think it was a legal thing. Ms. Graf certainly has very little class, I am afraid.
Duke Carnoustie · April 20, 2018 at 12:43 pm
Poor Dimitrov. I am afraid he will fare about as well tomorrow as Thiem did today.
catherine · April 20, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Duke –
how on earth do you know what happened behind the scenes in an incident which occurred many years ago ?
You don’t.
And as for saying Steffi has ‘very little class’ – it’s a presumptious view which was not shared by many of her contemporaries. She was always a private person – still is. In these days of Twitter etc I suppose that counts as an aberration.
Duke Carnoustie · April 20, 2018 at 2:27 pm
I don’t know what happened behind the scenes. I do know that Graf never contacted Seles. Those are different statements altogether.
Not sure how private Graf is anymore. Here is her Facebook page…
https://www.facebook.com/officialsteffigraf/
catherine · April 20, 2018 at 3:56 pm
Everybody has Facebook. They put on Facebook and twitter exactly those things they want you to know.
Unless you are aquainted with both players personally you actually have no idea whether Steffi contacted Seles at the time or later. You only know what you’ve read or heard. And that goes for 99% of the things we supposedly ‘know’ about people in the public eye.
Years later we may know the ‘truth’, but often not even then.
jg · April 20, 2018 at 7:01 pm
Off topic, the Borg McEnroe movie got 4 stars ( out of 4) in the Washington Post today, showing in limited places.
Scoop Malinowski · April 20, 2018 at 8:33 pm
Stefan Kozlov was in Vegas three times recently and had the privilege to meet Steffi and he said she was “so nice so nice.”
Scoop Malinowski · April 20, 2018 at 8:40 pm
What an incredible match Kozlov vs Dellien was, the Bolivian won 57 61 76. Incredible duel. Koz up 5-1 in first then 5-5 but regroups for 75 then Dellien dominated the second by being more patient and conservative. Third set was a battle, about six breaks in a row for 5-4 Kozlov slowballed and a little hint of some fake cramping him to stay alive and to take him out of his rhythm. Then Kozlov went up 6-5. Then the tiebreaker and Koz had the MP at 65 but it was a miracle crazy point with drops shots and lunges and lines hit, miraculous winner backhand slice up the line on the line by Dellien that left Koz jaw on the clay, as he walked by he patted him on the lower back or butt and said something like great shot and Dellien was surprised and turned his head to say thank you. Then he won the next two points and it was over, two inside out forehands and then the last point I can’t even remember. They hugged and smiled and Koz scratched Dellien’s head, he earned and deserved it with magical tennis. Nice sportsmanship from both. Incredible match.
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 2:39 am
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2018/04/20/rafael-nadal-reveals-phone-call-andy-murray-scots-recovery-progress/
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 2:50 am
End of the Big Four ?
Hartt · April 21, 2018 at 7:18 am
Catherine, did you see Rafa’s match against Thiem yesterday? I am a Thiem fan (he is even treats-eligible) but Rafa totally creamed the youngster, even bageled him in the first set. Dominic was far from his best, his serve in particular was off. But even if he’d played better he would have had no chance against Rafa. Even when Thiem made one good shot after another Rafa would come back with better ones to win the point. Even Rafa acknowledged that he’s played extremely well.
Hartt · April 21, 2018 at 7:33 am
Andy Murray has such a great sense of humour, very willing to poke fun at himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-LLVZYBMU&feature=youtu.be
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 9:28 am
Hartt – that’s why I think Djoko is done. Thiem bt him and then Rafa made mincemeat of Dominic.
Talking of which – Georges lost to Kvitova in Stuttgart, no surprise there, and then Pliskova served 15 aces against Kerber and that’s Fed Cup done and dusted.
You can treat yourself already, if Fed Cup counts 🙂
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 9:42 am
Angie didn’t play badly but I’ve rarely seen Karolina play so well.
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 9:44 am
refresh
Hartt · April 21, 2018 at 10:11 am
Sadly, Fed Cup does not count for treats. If youngster Andreescu were playing singles in Fed Cup this weekend, she might be eligible because she is just at the start of her career. But, unfortunately from my point of view, Bianca is only slated for doubles.
My only hope for a treat otherwise is if Sascha pulls off a miracle and wins Monte Carlo over Rafa. He is in his SF match against Kei right now.
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 11:07 am
More on Fed Cup – Sloane Stephens had a tussle, 7/6 7/5 against Parmentier, who is generally a perpetual qualifier. Reverse singles in Stuttgart tomorrow should be interesting.
Duke Carnoustie · April 21, 2018 at 12:53 pm
I was going off Scoop’s report that Graf didn’t reach out to Seles. That has been confirmed to me by my sources as well.
Of course, these days it is probably best not to believe anything you hear or read.
Rafa is just toying with these players. Sascha did himself a favor to lose to day so he won’t get beaten into the ground as well.
Soderling beating Rafa at RG remains one of life’s greatest
mysteries and one of the most pivotal matches in tennis history. First, it was unbelievable. Second, it paved the way for Fed to win at RG. Would Fed have defeated Rafa on the dirt that year? How would we look at Fed if he had not won every major? These are questions we will never have to answer.
Duke Carnoustie · April 21, 2018 at 12:55 pm
Opelka retired? What happened?
Barcelona draw is out. Rafa could face Nishikori again in round 3.
Poor Jared Donaldson. If he wins his first match, he plays Ramos again for the third time.
Sandgren faces Jaziri and then a test with Rublev. Should be fun.
The other Americans are too scared of the clay, apparently.
catherine · April 21, 2018 at 1:12 pm
CoCo loses to Mladenovic – Kiki hasn’t done much for a while but she’s turned it on for France – why doesn’t Caroline Garcia play Fed Cup ? Is it some kind of silly quarrel ?
Muguruza takes 2 1/4 hours to beat her Paraguyan opponent ranked 334 in the world.
Hartt – sorry, no treats this week.
I knew Angie was going to lose when I saw Fisette being interviewed about how wonderful it was to coach her etc. Coaches should be seen and not heard IMO.
Scoop Malinowski · April 21, 2018 at 2:04 pm
Soderling played in the zone that match, it just all came together, the firepower was sueprnatural and Rafa got blasted. Plus there was some emotional drama with Rafa that uplifted Soderling’s level. Soderling probably froze a bit in the final, his first major final, and Fed was ready to pounce. It’s very hard to see Roger beating Rafa in that final, I would say Fed would have been a long long shot vs Rafa had Rafa beat Sod. Fed has shown fear of Rafa on clay, the last two years he didn’t even dare to try. No way Roger beats Rafa in that 2009 final of Roland Garros.
Hartt · April 21, 2018 at 3:39 pm
The tennis gods are definitely against Canada for this Fed Cup with Ukraine. Abanda, who was scheduled to play first, fell and got a black eye when warming up. Bianca Andreescu was substituted 15 minutes before the match began. Bianca, just 17 and ranked No. 197, got off to a good start and won the first set against Tsurenko, ranked No. 41. Then Bianca had a blister on her foot, and in the third set cramped so badly that she could not get up off the court. She retired and ultimately was taken off the court in a wheelchair.
Bouchard will play Bondarenko in the next match.
Hartt · April 21, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Fortunately, to keep Canada’s Fed Cup hopes alive, Genie Bouchard played very well and won her match over Bondarenko in SS. There is no way Canada wants to go back down to the America zone and play in South America with a steady diet of clay courts.
But it will be tough. They aren’t sure if Abanda has a concussion or not. Gabriela Dabrowwski is willing to play, but she is a doubles specialist. If Canada does get to the doubles match, Gabriela and Genie may both have to play twice in one day. The one good thing is they did play doubles together in the Rio Olympics.
Duke Carnoustie · April 22, 2018 at 1:44 am
The Barcelona first-round match you should watch is Kohlscreiber v. Simon. It’s quite a battle when they play, I was at the Open one year and they played a thriller. Two vets who have had similar careers who both have the minds to be excellent coaches in the future.
It doesn’t get any better than Simon v. Kohlscreiber. Viva les France or Deutschland ist besser!
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 2:45 am
Poor Julia has to beat Pliskova or it is auf wiedersehen for this Fed Cup. Eyeball to eyeball on serve but Julia will blink first.
Of course if Julia wins Kerber will have to play Kvitova but even if Czechs win this one Angie is drawn to play Petra in Stuttgart so no escape.
Hartt – if Canada get through you should get a special medal for triumph over adversity. Chapter of accidents or what ?
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 6:47 am
Well Julia did it in SS and now Kerber/Kvitova is a reprise of their decider in 2014. Angie lost then and is trailing now.
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 7:20 am
Catherine, this Fed Cup tie has been so awful for injuries. There are concerns that Abanda could have a concussion because she hit her head when she fell. Andreescu is slated to play today, replacing Francoise. She will show real guts if she plays. Last year she received a Fed Cup award for her successful Fed Cup play.
The one bright spot was seeing Genie play well, generally staying composed and making good decisions. I don’t like her one-dimensional game but at least she did it well yesterday, and of course her win was crucial for Canada to have a prayer.
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 7:48 am
After Julia’s heroics Kerber goes limply to Kvitova 2-6 2-6 in 58″.
I would’ve put money on Petra after watching Fisette’s self-serving interview. A coach shouldn’t do those things in the middle of a competition. You keep your mouth shut until your player has won.
I thought Julia played beautifully. At present I’d say out of the WTA ranks she’s the one I most like watching when she’s on song.
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 7:52 am
Hartt – well done Genie and I didn’t think I’d find myself saying that 🙂
Maybe the experience will be good for her.
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 8:05 am
Just to finish my Fed Cup comments – from what I could see of her match Kerber was pretty much outplayed by Kvitova. She looked like the Angie of 2017. Didn’t rise to the occasion at all. Vital match and she seemed to have no fight in her. Fisette has a lot of work to do if she isn’t headed for an early exit in Stuttgart.
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 8:23 am
Duke, thanks for the heads up on the Kohlschreiber vs Simon match. I am a huge Kohli fan and have come to respect Simon’s tennis smarts the more I watch him play. Definitely a match to watch.
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2018 at 9:21 am
Only a true diehard tennis enthusiast could sing praises of the Simon vs Kohlshreiber rivalry.
jg · April 22, 2018 at 10:31 am
Well maybe Noah Rubin played it smart after all, he’s in the final of the futures and no American is in the final at Sarasota and he’s playing the next challenger so if he makes a run, he can still get the French Open wildcard.
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2018 at 10:53 am
I was surprised Kozlov didn’t play. Maybe he got nicked up in that marathon with Dellien. Dellien will play the final today vs Bagnis, who beat Londero in the SF and Bellucci earlier in the week. Rain is in the forecast for later in afternoon, doubles final starts at 1, singles at around 3.
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 10:59 am
Scoop, but isn’t that what we are – true diehard tennis enthusiasts? 🙂
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 11:10 am
Catherine, Genie said before the tie that this was important for her – she was looking forward to being on a team and was glad to have 2 guaranteed matches. Early in her career she was a Fed Cup stalwart, although she has not played since 2015.
I have mixed feelings about her. She is so frustrating the way she refuses to vary her style of play. Even Sharon Fichman, who did the commentary for Fed Cup, said that Genie has the athleticism and defensive skills to do different things from what she does now. I wonder if that is why she has gone through so many coaches, if they want her to use more variety and she won’t listen.
It is somewhat like Kyrgios in that it wouldn’t matter if she weren’t talented, but she isn’t making the best use of that talent.
And there is one other unfortunate outcome of Genie not performing well over the last few years. We get virtually no TV coverage of women’s tennis in Canada. Milos’ success made a huge difference in the attention the men’s game gets. If Genie had done the same we might actually get to see women’s tennis outside of the Slams and Rogers Cup.
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2018 at 11:20 am
Yes Hartt that is one way of putting it mildly.:)
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2018 at 11:22 am
Hartt, how about locking Bouchard and Giorgi into a room with no food and water and force them to watch 48 straight hours of Rios and Santoro videos, do you think that might work?
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Hartt – it’s a shame that tv coverage of tennis in some countries is so dependent on the performance of individuals. Rather unrealistic attitude, but probably not limited to tennis, at least in Britain.
Scoop – do you think it’s too late in her career to lock Kerber in there as well ? I read a couple of German comments on her Fed Cup performance today and they were not too complimentary. Maybe you could add videos of players who never give up. New coaching wheeze – might catch on 🙂
catherine · April 22, 2018 at 12:57 pm
Sharapova coached again by Hogstedt in Stuttgart. I wonder which current WTA player has had the most coaches?
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 3:13 pm
This Fed Cup tie has been too exciting! The match between Bouchard and Tsurenko went to a third set TB. Both players were totally exhausted and Tsurenko was cramping. Genie won the TB 7-5. Both women fought like crazy, showing incredible guts.
Gabriela Dabrowski, actually a doubles specialist, will play the singles match, with neither Abanda nor Andreescu able to. Francoise tweeted that she had whiplash from her fall. That was a great shame that she could not play, because she usually does well in Fed Cup, has won a couple upsets over the years, and Montreal is her hometown.
Now Canucks have to hope that the Montreal crowd can help the Canadian women win the tie.
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2018 at 7:46 pm
Catherine, Kerber knows how to play, she has the results. Maybe she should watch her own videos 🙂
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 7:55 pm
Canada won the Fed Cup tie! They went in as underdogs, had one injury after another, but still won. In the end only Gabriela Dabrowski wasn’t injured, because Genie injured her hand yesterday badly enough to warrant an MRI.
Gaby played well at the beginning of her match, but the greater singles experience of Bondarenko showed in the end, and the Ukrainian won in 3 sets. Then Gaby had to play the doubles soon after, although so did Bondarenko. Andreescu was chosen to play because Genie had nothing left after her marathon match. Gaby and Bianca had never played together, but the 17-year-old showed incredible poise. Fortunately, she was fine after her cramping issues yesterday.
Gabriela, who turned 26 on April 1, is the old lady on this team. It is such a young team that there is wonderful promise for the future.
And they stay in the World Group, instead of having to grind it out in the Americas zone, playing 3 matches a day for 7 days.
Scoop Malinowski · April 22, 2018 at 9:02 pm
Congratulations to Canada, for such a hard fought, dramatic well earned win. This kind of thrilling winning experience could be the spark and inspiration Bouchard needs. Or needed. Andreescu has been quiet for a while since she emerged last summer, she’s gonna be a good one. I read somewhere the total points for all the matches of the tie were separated by one single point! And with all the drama and injuries this was another display of tennis at it’s best. Hope the ITF isn’t planning on wrecking Fed Cup like they are scheming to do to Davis Cup.
Hartt · April 22, 2018 at 11:26 pm
Yes, this was super exciting, and according to Tennis Canada, the points for the tie were indeed separated by just one point, 404 for Canada and 403 for Ukraine. It could help Genie, it should certainly improve her confidence. After the tie ended Canadian captain Sylvain Bruneau spoke about how pleased he was for her.
But the player who stood out was young Andreescu. Not expecting to play, she did very well in the first set of her match. And when she was wheeled off the court after her singles match she managed a thumbs up. She showed a lot of grit and composure, as well as skill, in the doubles today. As Sharon Fichman, who was doing the commentating said, it was hard to remember Bianca is just 17.
With Rebecca Marino on the team bench, things are looking good for Canadian women’s tennis. Marino said she is about 80% of where she wants to be. After 5 years away from the sport, and just playing a handful of tourneys this season, that is rapid progress.
Duke Carnoustie · April 23, 2018 at 1:51 am
Tremendous win by the U.S. women including a demolition by Stephens of Kiki.
I am sure you astute T-P readers noted that Kiki got blasted by the reigning U.S. Open champ by the palindrome score of bf Domi Thiem’s loss to reigning U.S. Open champ Nadal. So both ended the week chewing on those beatings. Easy commiseration there.
Stephens carried the team and Coco should not be allowed near it ever again. Nice win for Maddie but you still have to question her in the big spot.
catherine · April 23, 2018 at 2:39 am
Hartt – congrats to Canada ! Just what Canadian women’s tennis needs and also maybe what Bouchard needs – not just for her play but the experience of really being part of a team, not just thinking of herself.
Unfortunately I think the ITF have plans for the Fed Cup as well as DC which will truly destroy the competition.
Scoop – yes, Angie knows how to play but such is the contrary nature of her character that she’d probably take videos of her most demoralising defeats into the locked room 🙂
Duke – France’s Fed Cup team continues to lack their best player. Sulky behaviour on someone’s part.