James Blake was 0-2 vs. Kristof Vliegen with both losses coming in 2006 before today’s important showdown on Armstrong. Both have struggled with injuries this year and suffered severe ranking dips – Vliegen is #321 and Blake is #108. Blake won today in three sets – 63 62 64 – despite some slight trouble closing it out. A late backhand winner evoked a huge Blake/Tiger Woods style super uppercut. Coach Kelly Jones later told me it was the first time “in a long time” he’d seen Blake exhibit such positive fire on the court. But Blake definitely showed glimpses of the old James Blake in this match, with some classic winners from both sides, though the famous J-Block was not in attendance. Next up for Blake will be Canada’s Peter Polansky who upset #32 Juan Monaco.
Blake: “It’s still exciting for me to win a match here and to see fans excited to see me play.”
Li Na, the #8 seed, was up 6-2 and 4-2, then made two challenges which both failed, according to my friend, the Chinese reporter Michael Xin. Li Na then completely unraveled and lost the match to Kateryna Bondarenko, whose sister Alona also won a wild, wacky three setter yesterday against Vera Dushevina. It was said that Li Na is having difficulty dealing with the pressure of expactation now that she is in the top 10.
Mardy Fish was playing like the old journeyman Mardy Fish and not the red-hot #19 seed, as he fell behind two sets to one to the stout Czech Jan Hajek, world #82. 27-year-old Hajek must have been playing the tennis of his life to take the lead on the heavily favored American who dove for a ball on the hard court and also smashed a Wilson late in set three. But Fish, who is a contender for the title, regained his A-game he has been showing all summer, after Hajek changed his shirt from white to sky blue. Fish went on a roll and Hajek got the blues as Fishy won 12 of the last 13 games to win in five sets.
Jimmy Connors: “With his new body, new mind, Mardy Fish is dangerous at the U.S. Open.”
David Nalbandian was also in deep trouble on Court 11 with doubles specialist Rik De Voest. Nalbandian botched a match point in the fourth set tiebreak, then lost it and entered the fifth set in a negative, angry, racquet smashing mood. De Voest jumped out to a 2-0 lead but the #31 seed from Argentina regained his composure and won it 6-4 in front of a jam-packed, rowdy, Davis Cup style crowd. Match point was a high forehand, swing volley winner. Nalbandian averted a first-round dismissal from New York, which would have been his first since 2002.
Simona Halep had Jelena Jankovic at 5-5 and 0-30 in the third set, but JJ won eight straight points to finish the tough Romanian teenager.
The two ATP playboys Fernando Verdasco and Fabio Fognini clashed in a classic five setter on grandstand. Fognini hammered Fer 6-1 in the first set, and the two alternated sets until the Spaniard won the fifth 6-3. The talented Italian came to the press conference with an iced right wrist. Verdasco, looking strong and explosive, has Gil Reyes in his box. I saw Verdasco’s father and Darren Cahill discussing the match briefly in the bowels of Ashe, hearing Cahill saying, “…more focused and less mouth.”
Around the corner from them, were Novak Djokovic and John McEnroe discussing some tennis talk, with McEnroe appearing to really take a liking to the humorous Serbian who caused many laughs in his post match press conference after his five-set win over friend and countryman Viktor Troicki.
Did Novak see the replay of Federer between the legs shot last night vs. Dabul?
Djokovic: “No. I’ve seen it live last year passing next to me (smiles). That’s enough traumatic experiences for me. Today when Viktor tried to do the same thing, I said, No, no, please. He was running for the ball between the legs. Please miss it. Please don’t embarrass me again.”
You made a comment about sleeping with your girlfriend out on the court. What was that analogy to?
Djokovic: “I don’t know. He asked me for the comparison of the feeling, what kind of feeling was it to feel the shade. The sun came down and I didn’t have any more heat, what kind of feeling was it. It just came up to me. It’s one of the best feelings, I guess, when you’re sleeping with your close one. So I compare it to that.”
Must have felt good.
Djokovic: “It felt unbelievable (smiles). Let’s get back to tennis now (laughter).”
Djokovic knows Troicki since the age of nine: “We know each other since we were I think nine years old. My first tournament in my life that I’ve played, first match officially, it was under 10. I won my first round and then I played him second round. He destroyed me. We keep on talking about that. But we are very good friends for a long time already. We won many things together with Davis Cup, a lot of matches. We won European team championship under 18 together. So we share a lot of nice moments. It’s never easy to play a good friend on the court. Just bad luck for him today because he’s been playing really well, you know, lately. Today he was the better player on the court for a while. Just too bad.
Nadal was practicing on P1 with the curly haired, lefty American (by way of Argentina) junior Collarini who made the French Open junior final this year. Nadal is looking extremely sharp and could shock the world here.
Urszula Radwanska defeated Anna Chakvetadze 63 64, it was her first win after first round defeats following a spine injury. Big win for the younger sister of Agnieszka, who had lost first round in her recent events. Ula is ranked #339 but expect that to change drastically over the next six months if she can stay healthy.
Monfils was practing some returns and trick shots on Court 9 during the afternoon with his coach Roger Rasheed, as about 50 people looked on in curiosity at the flashy Frenchman (see photo).
Alexsandr Dolgopolov, a player I predict will achieve big success in professional tennis, was not feeling well today and suffered through a 62 62 63 loss to David Ferrer the #12 seed. Dolgo battled Ferrer to 6-4 in the third in Cincy but did not have his A-game today. After the match I spoke with Dolgo who’s statements only solidified my confidence in him.
I did Biofiles today with ATP # 45 Dolgopolov Jr. and ATP # 62 Lukasz Kubot. Dolgo’s favorite player to watch was Marcelo Rios and Kubot once hit his doubles partner Marach in the head with a serve that didn’t bounce to the left or right but straight up 20 meters before falling down and hitting Marach, who had falled onto the ground, a second time. And there’s even more laughs to this story, but you’ll have to stay tuned to www.tennis-prose.com for the rest.
Djokovic cracks up the press room again
Dan Markowitz · September 1, 2010 at 12:03 pm
You tease, Scoop. Good stuff. Mardy looked in trouble there for a while, but he said he saw Hajek start to strain early in the fourth set while running wide for a fh and Fish loves that feeling now, seeing pain in his opponent when he still stays fresh. He’s got his right ankle, I believe, taped, but Mardy was running down those droppers with an extra gear yesterday, and his serve is bigger and doesn’t falter.
Dolgo is a wisp of a young man, he’s going to have to get stronger to play on the hard courts. Amazing, Nalby came back from a break down in fifth set, and amazing that De Voest, a doubles specialist, can play singles so well. Who knew?
Didn’t look good yesterday for three of the hottest players of the summer:Fish, Nalbandian and Baghdatis. Arnaud Clement taking out the Bag Man if five sets is a huge upset.
Scoop Malinowski · September 1, 2010 at 2:01 pm
How do you like that photo of Monfils? He actually hit those like golf balls over to the other side of court, over the net like chip shots to coach Rasheed. he did it with two balls, perfct shots too!
I like Dolgopolov and his confidence. It’s a fantastic Biofile, some excellent anecdotes. Loves his story about demanding his parents to take him to see his favorite player Rios in Miami the year he won. The kid had to see Rios play.
Big win for Fish, we may have to start calling him the Iron Man.