Grigor Dimitrov recently won a Challenger not long after breaking up with “his first love” as my source put it…
Sam Querrey came out to Court 6 this afternoon to support practice buddy Andrea Collarini who took out the #1 seed in the boys division Juan Sebastien Gomez of Colombia. Also at the match were Jose Higueras and Patrick McEnroe. Collarini, the New York born Argentine who moved back to the U.S. and now plays under the American flag, won 6-3 in the third in a match that lasted 3:20. Gomez hung around the grounds and was spotted earlier tonight watching the Bryan brothers beat Fish/Knowles on grandstand. Collarini says he practices with Q-Ball in Carson, CA and will be a hitting partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team tie vs. Colombia…
Around the grounds: Peter Lundgren and Jared Palmer having beers at the Heineken Bar outside the media center. Also spotted there was Caroline Wozniacki who was taking photos with fans an hour or so after her win against Maria Sharapova…
Querrey practiced on P1 in the afternoon. It was a light practice and the part I watched concentrated on Sam pounding returns from the ad court, as hard as he could. Sam is one of the most explosive ball strikers in the game today…
Monfils made some interesting comments after defeating his friend and countryman Gasquet in three sets: “I tried to be very tough and very hard with him, showing him that I’m the man and I’m leader…Also, Richard, he really doesn’t like pressure. He loves like good play. He don’t like a lot of crowd around, the crowd involved. He don’t like to see the opponent like show emotions. (I) just play with that, play a bit with his mind, and that was it.” I thought these guys were friends?
A junior who caught my eye was Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur who is small in stature but in the two minutes I watched her, she has a big game full of flair. She hit three jumpshot backhands in a row, and on the next point tried a volley between her legs. Jabeur won the match 61 62 over Japan’s Risa Ozaki.
American Robin Anderson is playing her first junior slam. She is from Matawan, NJ and qualified for the event and today defeated the #11 seed An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium, 64 64. Anderson is 18 and was playing USTA Eastern section tournaments a year ago. This is a player to watch. Remember the name Robin Anderson. She is small but lightning quick, has soft hands and excellent accuracy. Very smooth and athletic. Robin Anderson.
Remember that name…
Dan Markowitz · September 7, 2010 at 2:32 am
Monfils trash-talking Gasquet from the presser. I thought Gasquet would out-hit him, but Monfils was too good.
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2010 at 3:44 am
Very rare to hear such candor about another player’s weaknesses/vulnerabilities, in a press conference. Surprised to hear it from Monfils but appreciate it. Pretty interesting.
Sakhi · September 7, 2010 at 5:30 am
C’mon now, it’s hardly a secret that Gasquet is a bit of a mental case. Now, we can add Murray safely to that list as well. And in retrospect, one should also give props to federer for psyching Murray out (a la Monfils) prior to the Aussie open final (remember the laconic ‘when was the last time a brit won’ humour!).
I think players use and manipulate all aspects of their game. Hell, Nadal is the worst violator and nobody calls him on it—the endless twitching, the extra seconds between points, the list goes on. All part of the game, and we should enjoy it.
What’s the locker-room gossip on the Sod/Fed match-up?
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Murray and Gasquet are just terribly unfortunate to be on the Tour at the same time as the two Greatest tennis champions in history. Remember Todd Martin commenting on the career of Sampras – he said Pete crushed all his dreams as a tennis player, meaning took away his dreams of winning majors. That’s kind of what Nadal and Fed are doing to the rest of the field, killing their lifelong dreams/goals.
Media guys I talk with give Soderling a chance but of course Federer is considered the favorite. The expectation now is Fed vs. Nadal on Sunday.
bibi · September 8, 2010 at 12:07 am
“I thought these guys were friends?”
Actually, they’re not. Monfils and Simon are friends. Monfils, a triple junior slam winner, was always a second fiddle to Gasquet, darling of the French tennis establishment. So, apparently Monfils has been slightly miffed with Richie since they were kids and still bears a grudge.
Monfils was practically the only French player who did not publicly express support to Richie during the latter’s cocaine suspension ordeal.