Harrison goes down routinely to Cilic 63 64. Cilic is l5-4 on the year and at #29 and rising fast. His career high was #9 four years ago. Cilic has now won 20 in row vs. Americans since losing to Blake in Australia in 08 (stat via Greg Sharko). Cilic’s l5 wins this year are the most on the ATP Tour, tied with Fognini.
Nishikori looked gassed in first match vs. Elias which he won in three sets and he quit today down 2-4 to Teymuraz Gabashvili who is now in the quarters. Gabashvili, coached by former Argentine top fifteen Guillermo Canas is just about to achieve his career high ranking. With no points to defend here, Gabashvili was #59 in 2009 and he’s at #65 now.
Interestingly, Gabashvili, age 28, has 72 career ATP wins but he’s never climbed into the top 50 yet Bradley Klahn has three career ATP level wins (3-l0) and he’s lodged now at #66.
The Bryan Brothers put on a show with some high speed, super intense drilling this afternoon with coach David MacPherson and another unknown sparring partner named George. Just rapid fire, attack the net with tons of volleys and sparring with a lot of lobs too.
I was surprised to see Jack Sock out on the far practice court at 9 am going two on one with Nick Monroe and Simon Stadler.
Marcos Baghdatis, remember him? He received a wildcard into this event and is now ranked #l55. The former world #8 has earned almost $6,000,000 and won four career titles in his career but at age 28, he’s been heading in the wrong direction. Bag will play American Rhyne Williams tonight for a much needed QF spot.
Saw Marinko Matosevic biking down Atlantic Ave. shirtless early this morning.
All the players are driven via Porsche car to where they want to go, either hotel or in the case of Feliciano Lopez, to his home in Miami.
I saw a couple of players leaving the site with their driver and Porsche car, including Nick Monroe who politely asked his driver to please hurry up because he was running late for his flight.
The media system has changed in the ATP this year. Players no longer do post match interviews in the “interview room” which typically was about an hour after their match, after stretching, recovery, cool down, etc. Instead, now the players do their media in the new “mixed zone” (above photo of Matosevic) which is right off the stadium court. Some media are complaining about it it makes sense for them to want to get their media obligations over with ASAP, also it helps writers beat their deadlines.
No tags
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
« Previous 1 2Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 12:07 am
Dan Goran thinks Cilic can be top 5 too. He looks stronger and stouter since the layoff. He’s already been to #9 – he can go higher.
Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 12:10 am
Gulbis is on a roll now, he’s making people believe. Huge win vs. Del Potro in Amsterdam, now a fairly big title, beating RG and JWT. After the match Gulbis said the goal is number one, anything short of it he will not be satisfied. All or nothing. You gotta like his belief and courage to put his goal out there. Most players don’t say it.
Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 12:16 am
Johan Kriek on Delray: Seeing a Porsche parked on the court at Delray Beach reminded me of a story…..
I am a big Porsche fan. In the early 90’s the Delray Beach event was on clay and I ended getting a wild card into doubles wit Robert Seguso. I was on I-95 driving to Delray Beach in my BMW M3 with a fellow car nut Jimmy Lieberman from Naples Florida. He mentioned that Champion Porsche ( at the time the largest Porsch…e dealer in the world) in Pompano Beach sits right on 1-95 and that we should stop by there to check out the new water cooled 911’s. I whipped off and drove into the dealership…..
I was drooling over all the new Porsche Turbos sitting out there when I got a tap on my shoulder by a sales rep. His name was Jim Hahn. He invited me to come in and meet the owner Dave Maraj. I walked into Dave’s office and he had pictures of Lendl ( another Porsche freak) Navratilova etc. on his wall. We talked tennis and he asked me if I had a car to drive. I said I had my BMW and he said ” no, I mean do you have a Porsche here to drive for Delray?”. Thus became a multi year deal that I had with a handshake with Champion Porsche. I sold them a lot of cars during those years. Every 6 months or so Champion would give me a new Porsche to drive. All happened because I drove there to gawk at cars and a business owner who loves tennis….come to find out Jim Hahn was Maraj’s tennis pro at his club and one day told Jim to come work for him because of his personality…..
Champion Porsche is still sponsoring the Delray Beach 250 after all these years.
loreley · February 24, 2014 at 2:51 am
Ivanisevic on Cilic: “It is far worse watching than playing, that’s for sure,â€
“What was he doing pushing the ball? I would rather he lost like a man than won like a pussy. Obviously he has a great three weeks but there is still lots of work to be done. His serve has improved since I’ve been with him and that got him out of trouble at 0-40 in that last game. But it was tough, I think, for both of us!â€
via http://www.10sballs.com/2014/02/23/cilic-beat-anderson-from-richard-evans-delray-beach/
Cilic has no points to defend after Wimbledon. Top-10 is makeable for him unfortunately.
He wasn’t punished enough for doping.
Dan markowitz · February 24, 2014 at 6:54 am
But was he doping? Didn’t seem like the substance found in his system was a real performance enhancer. Does anyone know more about this?
Also, I never like it when a coach calls his player “a pussy” even if his play merited that insult. I don’t think that sends a good message or creates a good rapport.
This match was a lot better than the final in Rio.
loreley · February 24, 2014 at 7:53 am
The substance is PED. He said, that he took it by mistake, that his mom bought the wrong product.
http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.de/2013/10/cilic-ban-reduced.html
Goran Ivanisevic is talking bullshit. It’s even worse as what Rasheed said about Dimitrov.
loreley · February 24, 2014 at 7:56 am
Imagine a guy like Cilic, who had this Mr. Clean image taking PED. It’s eye-opening.
Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 9:33 am
Another quiet Mr. Clean image guy just got busted – Nicklas Backstrom for Team Sweden in the Olympics, they pulled him from playing in the gold medal game vs. Canada. Of course there was that big story a few years back about the Washington Capitals, the NHL team he plays for, linked to a steroid scandal but the story disappeared. Some monkey business seems to be going on.
Doogie · February 24, 2014 at 9:42 am
We should stop wondering about doping cases.
Just wonder why they find just a few of them!
Lang · February 24, 2014 at 12:15 pm
 @Scoop Malinowski RE: Anderson
It is not a sure thing. I read that Anderson had issues with the SA federation and didn’t play DC for them in quite some time. He also said that it is easier to get endorsements if you play for USA. Anderson played college tennis at Illinois and lives in Delray so I wouldn’t be surprised if he switches flag on his own.
Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Of course it’s not a sure thing Lang, but speculating and forecasting is what we all like to do. The scenario is set up rather nicely for it to happen, we’ll see if it does. I actually like the idea of an Isner/Anderson singles tandem combined with the Bryans. Querrey Young Harrison and Sock have to earn their places on the team with much better results.
Mitch · February 24, 2014 at 5:59 pm
From my understanding, Cilic took an unauthorized glucose supplement that had a banned substance in it. Ultimately though, it was determined that the substance at issue wasn’t itself banned, but was chemically similar to something that was, so his suspension was overturned.
He may not have a lot of points to defend, but will be extremely hard to get to top 5, especially since he didn’t pick up too many points in Melbourne. Stan is only #3 but has a grand slam win, semi, and quarter to back it up. Cilic would at least have to make a semi or win a masters or something.
Doogie · February 24, 2014 at 6:13 pm
Some news from the doping sector:
Russian athlets have doped (2004 and 2006) with Xenon and Russian government said they had to take it!!
Doogie · February 24, 2014 at 6:18 pm
The current tests dont include the search for Xenon – so it is a freebe for all (!!) athlets.
Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 6:52 pm
Mitch Cilic has already been #9, he can go higher than that.
Scoop Malinowski · February 24, 2014 at 6:55 pm
Doogie if a rogue like Angel Heredia aka Memo Hernandez (look him up) from Mexico has the know how to create 25 different kinds of steroids that are undetectable to doping testers (as he stated on the record to Spiegel Sport), what do you think the big boys can do?
Harold · February 25, 2014 at 12:52 pm
They’re looking for Xenon? It was a club in NYC in the 80’s on 43rd street