Eddie Herr Thursday – Vacek – Felix – Temesvari – Kylie

In what was expected to be a fierce battle Felix Auger Aliassime was down 26 25 to the Bulgarian Lazarov and ended up winning a thriller. The second set tiebreaker was 10-8. I didn’t see the match – because I was doing interviews – but those details tell it all – Felix is the real deal. The insiders here are praising his talent and techniques but the other word that keeps popping up in the conversations about Felix is how well he behaves and how humble he is despite the extraordinary talent.

The Thai girl Punnin Kovapitukted once again impressed with a hard-earned 63 63 win vs a Canadian – if that score looks routine trust me it was anything but. Every game was a battle of a lot of long long rallies though both girls have the ability to strike a winner when they want – the key game was the seventh game of first set with Punnin ahead 4-2 – there had to be at least ten deuces and possibly fifteen. Punnin ended up winning it for the hold and had 30-love in the next game but the Canadian fought back to win it – then Punnin closed it out with her lefty serve – the second set was also a fight. The big one is the tomorrow’s quarter with the #2 seed who she beat 75 in a practice set last year (from 25 down) – the Babolat rep Will who I met on day one said he’s going to stop over to look at Punnin tomorrow about a possible sponsorship as Punnin loves Babolat and does not have any kind of sponsorship agreement – though I believe her talent and play deserve a consideration.

Nathalie Tauziat is here coaching a Canadian girl Bianca Andreescu  – we did a nice Facing Steffi interview – remember Nathalie was a Wimbledon finalist (lost to Novotna) and also the oldest woman to break into the top three – which she did at age 32. Nathalie said she lost Graf all seventeen times they played and the one time she almost beat her relentless rains for two days cancelled the match. I also spoke with Hana Mandlikova about her duels with Graf and she beat her once at Roland Garros. Hana’s daughter Elli Mandlik lost in the 14s (to Margaryta Bilokin) but she sure did look like a heckuva player in defeat – but then again I’m in awe of just about every one of these players – how hard they hit and how well they move and how long and physical so many rallies are.

Daniel Vacek – the three time doubles grand slam winner was here again – he told me he played Hewitt in the first round of the Aussie Open shortly after Hewitt won his first title in Adelaide at sixteen – it was a five set war – Vacek won the first two sets and prevailed in five and it was his fitness that saved him from the relentless Hewitt. Vacek said he started tennis late – after soccer – at age ten and half and the Czech system wasn’t exactly logical and fair but he still managed to make it against all odds – interestingly he said he had a big serve and forehand and would protect the backhand but then a good coach taught him an effective slice and his backhand became very good which hurt his forehand side. Vacek won two of his three majors with Kafelnikov and was top 30 in singles

Andrea Temesvari shared her Facing Graf memories which all you Graf fans will love to read about – and also details about how she was asked to play doubles by Navratilova at Roland Garros and their new partnership resulted in a major doubles title with a blowout win over Graf and Gabriela Sabatini – the story about this match could make a good magazine article on its own. Temesvari’s girl Dalma Galfi is still cruising along in singles and doubles and her fourteen year old daughter isn’t here but could be ready for next year’s Eddie Herr. NOTES: I caught up with Christian Bergstrom who played Johnnymac four times and lost all four – he said John liked to complain about line calls and also sometimes about opponents – in his case John complained about how much noise his shoes were making while returning serve – Johnnymac is the only player who ever complained about Bergstrom’s shoes being too noisy. The match of the day was Hanna Chang vs Kylie McKenzie in the girls 18s – So Cal’s Chang was ahead 52 in the third but then Arizona’s Kylie turned into a baseline wall and didn’t miss – the quality and power of this tennis was just shocking – Kylie won 75 in the third and Hanna’s coach after said it was the best she ever played but Kylie owns her and it’s about the fifth time she beat her though this was the first time that it wasn’t a routine scoreline – Vacek said a player that really impressed him was the fourteen year old Russian Amanda Anisimova – tall blonde Russian who makes the sport look easy – that is what the masters like Vacek says stands out to his eye – the ones who can make it look easy — martin Damm beat a Thai kid Credit Chaiyarin in straight sets – Credit had beaten the top seed from Serbia in straight sets in the previous round and the Thai is the most visually distinctive player here – with his long ponytail braid that falls below his waist line –

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