Marin Cilic lost in straight sets to Vasselin and threw his racquet twice after missing a forehand long on match point in the tiebreak. I have never seen Cilic show any anger on a court before so it was surprising. But he had reason to be upset. Down 36 in the breaker, he battled back to 56 and then hit a forehand which was called out then corrected and indeed it hit the line. EV had no play on it and if the linesperson makes the correct call it’s 66, but they replayed the point and Cilic missed and that was that. Team Cilic is outta Miami.
Dolgopolov was electrifying in destroying Nieminen. He is playing the best tennis of his life right now. His friend told me the wind in Indian Wells was why he played so poorly vs. Fed. Today it was all there, speed, explosion, pinpoint accuracy, crazy shots, Jarkko was helpless. Even the media maven Craig Gabriel made a rare appearance to an outer court to watch Dolgo. Amazing display by the Ukrainian marvel today.
Agut was also amazing in downing Janowicz. JJ just looked at his box in wonder after some of the plays by Agut.
Harrison came up empty in the third set breaker with Becker, a double fault and two BB winners had him down a quick 0-3. Harry never recovered.
Javier and Emilio Sanchez were here today, Javier talked with me about his McEnroe match for my Facing McEnroe project.
Also got to talk with Monfils and Richard Williams for Facing Hewitt. Both love Hewitt and had very high praises for him.
Poor Hingis looked so good in doubles but her partner Lisicki had to pullout of the event with the flu.
Saw Serena leave the tournament with coach Patrick in her white Rolls Royce. Patrick did the driving, Serena rode shotgun, in case you’re interested.
Interesting stat: Hewitt was 0-l7 against number ones before the Rafa match.
Greg Sharko told me Federer did 35 minutes of media after his loss to Djokovic 76 in the third last week in Indian Wells. 35 minutes. No complaints. Just did what needed to be done. Greg was impressed by Fed’s professionalism. Think LeBron James or Alex Rodriguez would do 35 minutes of media after a tough loss? Don’t think so.
See ya tomorrow…
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Dan Markowitz · March 23, 2014 at 7:03 am
Absolutely, LeBron and ARod would do 35 minutes. C’mon, let’s not deify Fed here. It’s not like he played a bad match. Why shouldn’t he do the media after finals. ARod would probably do more, guy loves to talk. Look, the real pros do media. I remember Bird and Jordan were accessible in group media situations.
Mitch · March 23, 2014 at 9:26 am
You have to give Fed credit, he routinely does his press conferences in English, French, and German. Not sure there are too many others willing to endure that much on a regular basis.
Doogie · March 23, 2014 at 9:38 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfD9f2MAL08
Ryan Hara seething
Harold · March 23, 2014 at 10:18 am
I dont bet tennis, or any sport for that matter, but I do have friends that bet tennis. I happened to look at the betting lines for yesterdays matches and the Cilic match jumped off the screen at me. If you put up 100 dollars on Cilic, you got back 450. Thought it was a steal. Was going to call my friends and tell them it was a great price for Cilic. Good thing I minded my own business, and matches like that are why I dont bet. The people making the lines, know their stuff, and they were looking for suckers to jump on Cilic
Harold · March 23, 2014 at 12:18 pm
Sorry, my bad. It was the JJ line, not the Cilic line,. Things are hazy some Sunday mornings. I still thought JJ was a good bet at those odds, even though he was playing an in form Agut
Harold · March 23, 2014 at 12:44 pm
Just watched the 2nd set of Bags/Tsonga. Bags is a clown. Up a set and 5-1 in the 2nd set breaker, he is more into dancing and getting the crowd involved than staying in focus. Then at set point for Tsonga after he goes ahead 6-5, Bags pulls some gamesmanship out of his bag, swatting at a fly or a bee, after Tsonga was in his motion. Tsonga doubled, but still won the set.
Now I’ll root for JWT, because I hate gamesmanship and people that pull the crowd into it, and people that hit their chest after every freaking point
Dan Markowitz · March 23, 2014 at 3:13 pm
C’mon, will you people, led by Scoop, stop touting JJ. He is no way a top-flight player. I was surprised Agut dispatched with him so easily, but wasn’t surprised JJ lost. This guy is another Gulbis with very good skills, JJ I think even more talented than Gulbis, but there’s a kink in the armor of their mind, and neither is going to be a slam threat for a while.
Andrew Miller · March 23, 2014 at 3:15 pm
I like the Bag. Pete Bodo @ Tennis.com said the game passed Bag by, but that makes no sense to me. Bag hit on the rise and had great anticipation. Bag’s biggest issue is he (1) plays very “French” (plays for the crowd, not for the competition or love of the game) and (2) seems to have a love-hate relationship with the sport, meaning he’d rather do anything other than practice, get better and, basically, match his talent up with a better set of results. It’s almost a badge of honor for him to lose.
So to me it’s not that the sport left Bag in the dust. It’s more like Bag left himself in the dust. Some years ago you could have said the same for FLopez or FVerdasco but both acquitted themselves in the 08 Davis Cup “miracle in La Plata” when they beat up on the Nalbandian-led squad without Nadal. They reached their potential and the sport was better for it. But Bag hasn’t done much since the end of 2006 – a Nadal victory here, a v over Fed there, but all in all a string of many losses.
It would be nice for Bag to have his own Agassi moment and just get back into the game – maybe now he’s caring a bit more. But I don’t think Bag and Agassi are the same people – in one of the situations Bag goes back to his family and they always want him home. They seem to care less that he pushes himself. For Agassi there was really no turning back – Mike Agassi was always tough on him and Agassi knew that he had to get back to basics, listen to Gilbert and Gil Reyes, etc. Rest is history.
Harold · March 23, 2014 at 4:11 pm
@dan
Not for one munute did I ever think Gulbis or JJ had Majors or even Masters in them. Theyre just more interesting, because, the talent is there, but the noises in the head usually win out
Andrew Miller · March 23, 2014 at 4:32 pm
Jj could have an ivanisevic moment. But could is a lot different than will.
Dan Markowitz · March 23, 2014 at 8:32 pm
Just saw one of the strangest scenarios in tennis. Dimitrov had lost the first close set to Nikshikori, but was up 40-love to go to a breaker in the second set. Instead, Dimitrov proceeded to spray balls all over the court and lose the next five points in a row and the match quickly ended.
What was so strange is that Dimitrov didn’t even get in extended rallies. Once Nishikori made it 40-30 it’s like Grigor decided to bag it by only trying to hit winners and he missed consecutive balls wildly on his backhand.
You know I’m not a women’s tennis fan, but Sloane Stephens is exasperating. She just lost the first set to Wozniaki 6-1 and has dropped serve already in the second set. Carillo is questioning whether Sloane cares and Annacone, Sloane’s coach, comes out for the coaching tete a tete and basically talks to her like he’s at a kid’s tea party.
Even Rennae Stubbs is now saying, “My coach would make me run five miles” if I played a point like she just did. “You’ve got to be tough on her after playing a match like this.” Stephens is a conundrum wrapped in a riddle.
bjk · March 23, 2014 at 9:47 pm
I saw Bag lose to DY in DC, that had to be a low. He was fat and couldn’t serve. He looks like he lost some pounds recently and is fit, fit enough to win a couple of three set mathces in a row.
Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2014 at 12:06 am
Met a legend, who says he was #7 in the world a long time ago, five wins over Ashe, he was at the Michelob bar next to the court with two iguanas on it and he blared out Stephens lost one and love and she doesn’t love tennis. She thinks she’s too good for tennis. This guy told some stories, whoa. I’m gonna keep his name out but he told me some stuff. He knows Rios, says Rios used to act like he wanted to fight everybody at the hotel. Played Mulloy, Pancho Segura, Gonzo, Ashe, Connors, all these guys. It’s cool to meet these legends at the bar at Sony. We just got done watching Kei Dimitrov and sat at the bar, two iguanas on the court there, just didn’t care to watch Ferrer kill Seppi. What a day at the Sony. In a small nutshell.
Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2014 at 12:12 am
Bag is in great shape, that’s not the problem, the problem is lost confidence. He can’t win big matches against good player anymore. He choked vs. Jo today. His wins this week vs. Kohli and Giraldo were good for his mind and to feel the joy of winning again. But now he takes a step back by choking to Jo from 5-l up in the TB. He was trying to wave the arms to get the fans going but it was half hearted. As if he still doesn’t quite believe he can do it yet either and the fans didn’t frenzy for him like they used to. Still needs some work. Hope Bag can keep going. He seems to not really love the TOur life like he used to. It’s not as glamorous as it seems on TV. Too much losing is bad for the soul. Sloane doesn’t have what it takes to be a Tennis Queen. It’s not for everyone to be a Maria or Serena. I don’t think Sloane loves the tour life, it’s lonely and a strange existance. Sloane may be too normal, she may be happy ranked around #20. Annacone is an overrated coach IMO, he never says anything remotely interesting on TV. He plays it too cool and nonchalant. I’d like to see Sloane hook up with BG.