By Scoop Malinowski
Daniil Medvedev on a Carlos Alcaraz vs. Novak Djokovic US Open final: “I think it’s great for tennis that we have these two guys playing against each other right now.. It doesn’t irritate me at all.. Now they’re 1, 2 by the margin. I think they are maybe 1000, 500 points ahead of me. I’m no. 3 by the margin. There’s no one behind me, at least that close.. I think that’s normal we talk about them. I do think we still talk about me. I’m not feeling too bad, but I’m going to try. The goal is, after this US Open, that we talk about me.”
Jimmy Connors: “I hope Novak Djokovic plays and can play until he is 40.”
Paula Badosa: “After struggling for many months to compete again, I am ending my season… We have tried everything together with my team, the pain is not letting me move forward.”
John McEnroe says he is against Saudi Arabia investing in and staging pro tennis: “I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think our sport needs it. I don’t think it would benefit from it and I don’t think we should do it. But as Chris Evert said, it’s not up to us. Someone else is going to make that decision. They’re talking about Next Gen Finals going there. This is just something that I don’t understand why we’re going in that direction.”
Ons Jabeur says she’s still recovering from her Wimbledon final loss: “I honestly wasn’t ready to play Montreal. I wasn’t ready to come back soon on Tour because I felt like I needed time for myself. They say time heals. I’m still waiting a bit. The Wimbledon loss still hurts.”
Jannik Sinner says he is not interested in promoting his private romantic life (like Badosa and Tsitsipas): “Whether or not I am with a girl will never be known on social media, because I want to keep my private life private. I don’t need to post a photo to show if I’m engaged or not. I never posted pictures with my parents, maybe one with my brother.”
Carlos Alcaraz says there are positives and negatives to being super famous at age 20: “Sometimes I like it, sometimes no. Sometimes you want to feel like a normal guy, to walk normally. Here in New York, there are a lot of Spanish people, South American people as well. It’s difficult for me to walk normally sometimes. Yeah, I wish some days to be someone not recognized at all. But it’s going to be impossible.”
Coco Gauff supports Amanda Anisimova’s decision to take an indefinite break from pro tennis competition at age 21: “I’d say when she announced the initial break (she turns 22 on August 31), I was surprised. I don’t think anybody was expecting it or anything. But I can understand really. There is probably a lot of players who need to take a break who don’t take a break. She had a lot to deal with with the loss of her dad. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure he started her in tennis. I was really surprised personally how she was able to be able to continue to play. I think that’s a thing people forget, that she’s human, athletes are human. Everybody needs a break from everything. Maybe college has always been one of her aspirations, I don’t know. I think as long as she’s happy and healthy, I think everybody should support her decision.”
Juan Martin Del Potro loves the Alcaraz vs. Djokovic rivalry: “First, for the tennis fans, it would be great to see Carlos and Novak fighting very often. People will get crazy watching them playing finals, as they did in Wimbledon. At the moment, they are the two guys playing tennis in another leve I like the way Carlos moves in the court. He’s making very good things for the sport. After Big Three moves out, the transition is going to be in good hands with Carlitos, with Jannik Sinner also. These guys have the potential to be at the top for the next years.”
And check out this awful article by the mainstream tennis media on the eve of the US Open.
Simon Briggs just penned a column about, headline: “Tennis is cursed by the boredom of slow play.”
‘Bouncing, toilet breaks and shot clock rules not being implemented …’
It’s a ridiculous and silly complaint. Tennis is so physical and dynamic now, and so many points are 20 and 30 ball rallies of jaw dropping shotmaking of precision, power and placement. 3-4 hour matches of high quality tennis is exhausting. The acrobatic, machine-like players deserve MORE rest time and breaks between points and sets. For a tennis writer to do an article criticizing this is lazy, disappointing and a waste of time and space. There are so many more stories to pursue and tell, hundreds of stories and players worth writing about. For Briggs to be whining about slow play two days before a Grand Slam just proves Reilly Opelka‘s opinion (or revelation), “The tennis media is the worst, awful.”
If Novak Djokovic beats Alexandre Müller in his US Open first round match, he will be guaranteed to take back the ATP world number one ranking after the tournament.
The USTA has announced the US Open Fan Week and Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day broke all time attendance records last week…
“More than 150,000 fans came through the gates of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to enjoy the free tennis and entertainment on offer during US Open Fan Week in 2023, a new all-time record. Over six days, Fan Week welcomed 157,985 spectators to the 2023 US Open, surpassing its previous high in attendance—111,924 through the gates—set last year. US Open Fan Week attendance rose 41% overall from 2022. Saturday’s Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day also set an all-time attendance record of 40,868, breaking the previous record of 35,525 set in 2022.
A word on the Wilson Sporting Goods event on Saturday at Arthur Ashe Kid’s Day… Wilson hosted 50 under-served YMCA children from Greater NYC YMCA where Madison Keys was scheduled to surprise the kids and be available for media interviews. The clinic was an extension of the celebration of 45 years of Wilson’s partnership with the US Open, which also included gifting 10,000 junior racquets during US Open Fan Week.
But rainy weather on Saturday morning ended up partially interrupting the celebration. “Unfortunately the weather was awful in the morning so we had to shift things a bit later and Madison wasn’t able to stop by. Still, the kids had a clinic and enjoyed the day once the skies cleared,” said a Wilson rep.
Wilson, celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the US Open partnership, has the brand’s vision to create a better world through sport. That is paramount during the US Open where Wilson gifted 10,000 junior rackets to local youth throughout US Open Fan Week and during Arthur Ashe Kids Day on Sat., Aug. 26. Wilson’s programming included an elevated experience for 50 under-served children, featuring a tennis clinic, reserved seating to Dude Perfect and a variety of youth-focused activities around the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Casper Ruud is not pleased with the ‘experts’ on Tennis Twitter: “I read a bunch of these so-called tennis experts adn their opinions. It’s just insane. It annoys me in a way because I feel like if you haven’t played professionally in the past, most of them have no clue what they’re talking about. For fans, if anyone listens to what I’m saying, I’d just not take more than 5% of what so-called tennis experts on twitter say as good info because it’s just not the way it goes. I could probably reply to many things, but I just leave it. It’s interesting to see how people exaggerate all the time on social media about anything. You go from being the best player in the world to being the worst player in the history from one week to another. It shouldn’t be taken serious.. Sometimes I like to interact because sometimes I feel like my opinion could matter. I have to be really annoyed to actually take the time to reply to someone. It’s a wicked place to spend too much time. Reading about yourself is not really nice. I take it with a smile but sometimes I guess I can’t control myself. It’s easy to communicate with fans or haters… it’s worth it sometimes. But it can be dangerous to spend too much time there.”
Carlos Alcaraz · Juan Martin Del Potro · Ons Jabeur · US Open
catherine · August 28, 2023 at 6:42 am
Actually I think this piece on late night play is timely and justified.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/aug/27/tennis-stars-brace-late-shows-us-open-sleep
The quote from the McAllaster is telling.
Players aren’t cattle. And I would’ve thought the WTA had a Duty of Care or something similar. Obviously not.
Scoop Malinowski · August 28, 2023 at 8:48 am
Catherine, late late night matches are not good for the fans, who ultimately run the sport. The tennis establishment needs to be more respectful and thoughtful of the needs and comfort and convenience for the fans. Also it’s bad to put a player on court after midnight, their body clocks are not accustomed to intense physical activity at that hour, at least I would guess the majority of players are sleeping at that time, save for the few playboys and playgirls on the prowl.