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U.S. Open Super Saturday Scoops (with Updates)
13 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Would you believe there’s a tennis player with more intensity, hunger and determination that Serena and Rafa? Yes, there is. Her name is Yulia Putintseva of Russia who defeated Ons Jabeur in the junior girls semifinal and is now in tomorrow’s final. Putintseva is very small but stout, about 5-3, but she has a burning intensity that is unlike anything I have ever seen or heard in tennis. It’s hard to explain. I saw my friend Johan Mestach, the father of Belgium’s top junior An-Sophie, shortly after at the Sloane Stephens-Daria Gavrilova SF and told him my observation and he smiled and completely agreed.
Mestach’s daughter An-Sophie is in the girl’s final against #3 seed Timea Babos and Sloane Stephens who he said defeated his daughter in doubles at Wimbledon.
Stephens and Gavrilova dueled all the way to a third set tiebreak which was won by the world’s top junior 7-3. Gavrilova has an interesting game with a lot of variety, drop shots, laser beams, moonballs and everything else you can imagine. She is cocky too, before serving sometimes she will look at her coach and with a confident smile, mouth the words, “Watch me,” then serve a winner.
Some observers of the match were displeased with Gavrilova’s court demeanor which they each called “obnoxious.” Gavrilova is a battler but she will fist pump and glare in the face of the opponent. For sure she is an excellent player but her court conduct offended some. Among the notable observers at this match were Donald Dell and former USTA President Judy Levering.
Gavrilova will meet Putintseva in the final. Putintseva called Gavrilova her best friend, they know each other for many years and train at the same academy, but also added, “there are no friends on the court.”
I watched Djokovic practice with Jack Sock on P2 early in the afternoon and he was all business. He worked on his serve at the end and at one point missed three in a row, which resulted in the jocular Serbian to frustratedly smack a ball to the next court. When he departed the court after doing the TV interview, he dropped his bag and extra shoes and came over to sign for the kids who called for him. At the end he surprised one young Asian by taking his Sergio Tacchini hat off and giving it him.
Also, I watched the finale of an incredible wheelchair doubles match between David Wagner of USA and Peter Norfolk of Great Britain. Wagner served for the match at 6-5 in the third but failed to convert two match points, or rather Norfolk hit two incredible winners, and then Wagner saved two match points in the tiebreak. This time Norfolk hit two amazing shots. Finally, Norfolk won 8-6. I saw there in awe for five minutes after it was over. It was the first time seeing wheelchair tennis and I am a total fan now.
Then later I got to see the #1 player Esther Vergeer of Netherlands practice. She is so good it’s captivating, huge rolling topspin backhands, consistent driving forehands, good movement. I submitted an interview request for Vergeer so hopefully will be able to do a Biofile later this afternoon with the legend of wheelchair tennis…
Faces in the crowd: Sean Avery of the New York Rangers, Baseball great Sandy Koufax, recording artist Rob Thomas and actor Bradley Cooper…
How about the performance of Novak Djokovic to defeat Roger Federer? This was the level of excellence from the wonderfully talented Serbian that inspired our own Dan Markowitz to once famously predict Djokovic would win more majors than Federer when all is said and done. If Djokovic can maintain this level for several years in the future, the trophy room may need expansion. And there are some media pundits who think Djokovic can upset Nadal tomorrow, raising the point that Djokovic has defeated Nadal the last three times they have played on hard court and Nadal’s last hard court win over Novak was 6-4 in the third at the Beijing Olympics.
All may not be perfectly happy inside the Djokovic camp though. A Serbian reporter told me that there is some dissent between Djokovic’s father and the girlfriend, which explains why she has not been present in the Djokovic box during the fortnight. She is staying at the family compound home in Alpine, NJ though.
At his press conference, Federer was all class and did not mention of any injury issues or excuses which the media complained about after his Wimbledon loss. Federer did say though that, “I won’t watch (tomorrow’s final), but I hope (Nadal) wins.”
When asked why he won’t watch, Federer said: “Look, I’ve been around tennis for weeks and weeks and weeks right now. Last thing I want to do is watch another tennis match where I’m not a part of. I will spend some time with my kids and take it easy, maybe go shopping. I don’t know if shops are open here in New York Sundays but I’m sure something is open. We’ll see.”
Barbara Schett and Mats Wilander discussing U.S. Open Super Saturday on EUROSPORT.
Stay tuned for more…
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NAME · September 12, 2010 at 1:47 am
“Her name is Yulia Putintseva”
She’s bit over the top, don’t you think ? And talk about camera aware. When she won, she put her hands up and turned around and up as if the camera over the court might be on. Several times during the match I could have sworn she was posing for my camera.
“I saw my friend Johan Mestach, ”
Nice guy. I met him a few days ago and agreed to take some shots of his kid. I didn’t see her doubles finals though because I was in Ashe.
“Baseball great Sandy Koufax”
He got a huge ovation when they put him on the big screen.
I saw a bit of Jack Sock. Talk about taking advantage of a Wild Card. Second year in a row I think an unseeded American kid makes the Junior Boys finals (didn’t Chase Buchanan do it last year and lost to Tomic ?)
“How about the performance of Novak Djokovic to defeat Roger Federer?”
I like Djokovic. But what a disappointment. It’s looking like Fed-Nadal will never happen in NYC. What a great match though. If Dan didn’t like the 5th set of that one he may want to find another sport. I saw them flash stats for the 4th set (6-2 Djoker if I recall ? ) and Djoker only made 48%,I think, of first serves and wins the set 6-2 ? Explain that to me. Fed was not on but I thought experience would get him through.
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2010 at 2:34 am
Can’t wait to see the junior finals tommorrow, good to see the two American boys in the final, which is a good sign for American tennis future. Credit to Patrick McEnroe and the USTA, no? Putintseva vs. Gavrilova is going to be an adventure. Mr. Mestach is a nice guy and very interesting to speak with. Jack Sock and his hitting partner Novak Djokovic in the finals…”there are no coincidences.”
Dan Markowitz · September 12, 2010 at 3:19 am
Good stuff, Scoop. How did Sandy Koufax look. Talk about short pinnacles of a career, he was unhittable for six years and then had elbow problems and voila! Done.
I thought the Fed-Djokovic match was extraordinary, but didn’t see the last half of the fifth set as my DVD didn’t record it all. But what gets, what pace of shots, what amazing energy and quality of play. Yes, that was the match of the tournament so far and i really enjoyed it. These guys were going after it and each other.
I hope it rains tomorrow–as forecast–so Djoko has another day of rest and the final can be played on Monday with both players fresh. That is what I wish.
NAME · September 12, 2010 at 4:36 am
“but didn’t see the last half of the fifth set as my DVD didn’t record it all”
It’s called a DVR. Check it out. 😉 They may replay it on Tennis Channel you may to look for it. It got really good at the end. Djokovic was swinging full out on the forehand.
As for the kids. Why does the USTA schedule the boys and girls finals at the same time. You don’t have to answer. I asked a USTA official last year and got some unsatisfactory answer that I don’t even remember. It’s annoying running back and forth between the two.
NAME · September 12, 2010 at 4:41 am
I forgot to add, didn’t stay for the Women’s exo. having seen the Women’s final yesterday. Kidding aside, it’s the biggest ripoff session of the USO. Invariably it’s over in an hour or so and often it’s not much of a match.
If it was Williams-Clisters, maybe. Vera Z ? No offense but I’ll pass. I bet the ratings stunk.
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Sandy Koufax looked like he could play a few sets with us, wish I could have found him and talked some tennis. So hard to figure out where they are when they show them on the big screen. Sean Avery of the Rangers was there too.
vinko · September 12, 2010 at 2:38 pm
If you are going to record the Djoko-Fed match I suggest recording the tennis channel version rather than the CBS one. Leif Shiras and Jimmy Connors don’t talk nearly as much as the trio CBS always uses. I have never understood why CBS thinks you need three people to tell you what two people are doing. CBS wants its crew to talk nonstop as they do not believe that the folks at home can withstand a moment of quiet and the three broadcasters talk over eachother in a race for air time.
RIP · September 12, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Basically, Clijsters-Venus was the final (in terms of quality of play, excitment, drama). No disrespect to Vera because reaching 2 straight major finals is obviously a big achievement but I swear once Kim went up 4-2 knew it was over. The women’s final has been anti-climactic for years now, unfortunately, just never seem to get a good match. Even when it was Henin vs. Sharapova (I remember thinking that could be good and gave Henin a strong shot in that one and it was not that close).
There have been some amazing matches overall though: Djoker vs. Fed was exciting despite 2 of the 5 sets basically blow outs, Verdasco vs. Ferrer, Harrison vs. Stakhovsky, Wawrinka vs. Murray, even though Nadal won in straights vs. gabasvili and Istomin some really fun points in those matches.
Always feel a bit depressed and melancholy though at the end of it all – such a buzz to see the tournament unfold and try to figure out how the draw will break and always surprised by someone or something and then you wake up one day and it’s gone, like the circus leaving town in the middle of the night and taking the bookstore, movie theater, favorite diner and some of the most interesting people with it.
Dan Markowitz · September 12, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I don’t know, Rich, yesterday’s Fed-Djoker was a very good match, but I think this Open has been characterized by mostly ho-hum matches. Murray showed little in his loss to Wawrinka. Nadal has completely dominated his matches. The Djoker-Monfils match which looked interesting going in, was a downer. The Fish-Djoker match which held appeal, was a downer. With Serena and Henin out of the women’s draw, and Oudin failing to repeat her magic of last year, I can only think of one women’s match, the Venus-Clijters one, that drew real interest. And Venus is not the thrill she used to be.
Seeing Nadal play at such a high level. Ryan Harrison supplying good energy and Djoker and Fed both playing real good tennis has been the bright spots, and now there’s a rainy day for the finals. So unless it’s postponed till tomorrow and a great final ensues, I don’t see this as a memorable Open.
NAME · September 13, 2010 at 12:11 am
We’ll it was postponed and they could have played because the rain stopped around 730-8pm. But it will probably be higher quality tennis tomorrow and much better weather though the audience for TV tennis at 4pm Monday will be non-existent. Talk about a swing in ticket prices from Fed-Nadal, Sunday final to Joker-Nadal, Monday. Almost every out-of-towner I polled said they couldn’t come back and I believe they can get credit for the tickets for next year so no one was selling. So there will be empty seats and no one able to buy them.
Nice win for Socks coming back from a set behind. It was pretty crowded for that match too. I was looking for Scoop but didn’t see him. The girls were entertaining as well. Too of the more volatile girls in the finals especially that short one. If the refs don’t curb her now she will only get worse.
Also caught the last set of Vergeer. If there is a greater lock in sports I’m not aware of it.
Scoop Malinowski · September 13, 2010 at 12:40 am
Monday final is not so bad, it’s kind of special in a way. Like Name says it should be higher quality tennis. Hopefully there will be a nice crowd, these two champions certainly deserve it. Was able to get a Biofile with Esther Vergeer and it’s very good. Will post it soon… Congrats to Patrick McEnroe and USA tennis for their excellent results in the boys final, Sock and Kudla are the first two junior boys finalists since Roddick – Ginepri in 2000. The two Russian girls Gavilova (champion) and Putintseva (finalist) were also very, very impressive.
NAME · September 13, 2010 at 1:06 am
Gavrilova.
I noticed the girls doubles finals was a walkover and I remember the Mestach kid seemed to be hurting in the semis. Was that the reason for the walkover ?
Johan · September 20, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Back in Belgium now… and it was great meet some of you during the US Open. Yes, a pity An-Sophie had to back out of the Junior doubles finals, but it has been the right decision. It came close to a stomach muscle tear, and playing a tough final just could have caused thàt. She had already trouble with this during the 1/4 finals. It would have been irresponsible to play, risking to be “out” for 3-6 months or even more. It isn’t easy to do this… who wants “not” to play a GS final? But it was the right thing to do.
After RG and Wimbledon, this was another great tournament to visit. And I hope to see you next year.