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Friday Miami So many scoops I don’t know where to start
14 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Leander Paes is actually here and he was practicing till 7:30 on a far outside court with his friend Sanjay. Paes ranking has dropped so he’s here as an ALT still hopeful of getting an entry if any player drops out. Word is Rajeev Ram is ill. Paes was extremely gracious with all the fans who came by to chat and ask for photos and autographs. His friend Sanjay told me that Leander’s all time favorite partner in doubles was Radek Stepanek… Taylor Fritz played a sensation first set vs David Ferrer on stadium court. The eighteen year old was down 2-4 but fought back to earn two set points – one at 6-5 which ended with a missed forehand crosscourt wide by inches after a very long rally. The next set point was at 6-5 in the breaker with Ferrer serving. Of course Ferrer jacked up his intensity into full throttle beast grunt mode and hit his first forehand inside out to Fritz’s forehand then the second forehand was directed to Fritz’s backhand which Fritz shanked long. That was it for Fritz and Ferrer won the next two points quickly and the second set 6-1. But still for an eighteen year old playing just his fourth ATP event and debut on a big stadium it was another very impressive display and it’s exciting to imagine what this kid’s full potential will be… In the morning I had the pleasure to play with a friend at the off-site practice courts down the road and on the court next to us was Michael Venus with John Patrick Smith. Venus has won three ATP doubles titles and Smith has big wins over Tomic in Newport and also Karlovic in Delray Beach. Smith is an Aussie who played at Tennessee and he loves Newport and will play it again this year. It was pretty neat to see two ATP pros grinding next to us and even watching and commenting on some of our points… Had a nice lunch with two well known photographers in the cafeteria and they shared some old stories. We were talking about players who are nice now but were not nice in the beginning and players who were always nice from junior to now. Roddick is one who admits he was a bit of a jerk earlier in his career but he’s trying to amend that now that he’s retired. Monfils was another who was a troublemaker in his teens – an example was trying to take a photo of Monfils who would not smile or even stick his tongue out. Svetlana Kuznetsova Alexandra Pavlyuchenkova were two players they mentioned who were always very nice. Even Roger Federer was not a pleasant player. He would break a ton of racquets and use very bad language on court… Federer pulled out with the stomach problem at around one in the afternoon but a photographer told me he saw Fed’s earlier practice and said he looked fine. Then another journalist said Fed talked about retiring during his press conference yesterday and that if there was any discomfort with his knee he would not play or stop playing… Tickets were selling for as much as a thousand bucks in the parking lot and there was a huge crowd for Fed vs Del Potro. The grounds were so crowded that there was a long line to get in to see the Pierre Hughes Herbert/Nicolas Mahut vs Dominic Thiem/Oliver Marach doubles match… I spoke with a womens fitness coach at one of the WTA singles matches and he told me his player who is also a strong doubles player is just coming back from an injury and has reunited with a former doubles player who she won majors with. But the two are not very friendly and only talk on the court. It’s all business with the women. That’s the way it is with most all of the women players – they don’t talk in the locker room. And most of the doubles teams don’t speak to each other much either. And if they lose a match they start to fight. He said no teams stay together for more than a year or two… I went to see the end of Steve Johnson’s 76 76 win over Alexander Zverev on grandstand and it was a very important victory for Steve who has struggled this year. Let’s see if he can start a much needed roll off this. He will play the winner of Berdych/Ram. Juan Martin Del Potro lost to Lucky Loser Horacio Zeballos on the stadium. Remember I told you how well Zeballos was playing vs Harrison in qualies. An Argentine journalist told me that even though Del Potro is a loved player all over the world he has a poor relationship with the Argentine media ever since the Davis Cup final loss to Spain in 2009…A very prominent chair umpire told me he’s not allowed to do interviews and could get fired if he does. No chair umps are allowed to do interviews. It seems a strange rule because some of the chair umpires are very interesting people and could serve the sport as excellent ambassadors… There were several complaints by media about how boring it is to watch Venus Williams now. Venus lost in three sets to Elena Vesnina…Ran into the great Van Winitsky who was a peer of John McEnroe as a junior. Van said he bumped into Ivan Lendl at a recent Futures in Florida. Said Lendl was coaching American teens in that Futures event. Van had at one time coached Lendl to beat Johnnymac.. Go to my facebook page or the Tennis Prose Facebook page to see photos from today —
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Andrew Miller · March 25, 2016 at 10:56 pm
Start with SteveJo d. Zverev and end with Kerber!
Scoop Malinowski · March 25, 2016 at 11:26 pm
Every day is like a blur Andrew – still trying this free flow style of reporting 🙂
Dan Markowitz · March 26, 2016 at 3:25 am
What’s impressive to me Scoop, is how many people you come in contact with during an average day and how many you engage and get stories from. Winitsky is a crazy dude. He hit with Callum in Delray a few years ago and he was like 55 then and still moved and hit the ball really well.
I was thinking the same thing about Venus–how boring her matches are. Callum asked me if she was once a great player and I said yes, but it seems incredulous now with her clanky serve and unathletic body to say so. It’s almost like someone who’s close to her has to say to her to retire, although she did do well at the end of last year. For a player who once had so much flair and excitement to her, she’s now a downer.
Gasquet-Vinolas Ramos match was a good one. Richie is hitting his serves and forehands a lot better. He’s one of Callum’s favorite players to watch.
Andrew Miller · March 26, 2016 at 1:10 pm
Kudla puts up a fight vs Raonic. Kudla, Steve Johnson righting the ship , showing 2015 no fluke.
Makarova nice takedown of Kvitova in a battle of great lefties. I like Makariva a lot, put her in the Penneta category if players capable of winning a slam.
Today we will see which u.s. men’s players will reach round three. Isner, Smee, Sock, Querrey all in action.
An interesting Baghdatis Kyrgios battle of shotmaking expected. Bagman might pull the win.
Hartt · March 26, 2016 at 1:25 pm
Makarova has made the SF in 2 Slams, once in 2014 and again in 2015, so she should be capable of winning one.
And of course she has had several WTA doubles titles.
Harold · March 26, 2016 at 4:19 pm
Speaking of female lefties, why has Safarova taken a tumble? Distressed over Berdy’s marriage to the hot model?
Some peeps here had her winning a Major, dont think thats going to happen
Andrew Miller · March 26, 2016 at 5:08 pm
I’m on the Safarova bandwagon. The first third of the year has upended the women’s tour – the “usual suspects” are playing sub-par for them or not playing – Serena Williams is losing every final she plays and Sharapova’s on her drug suspension.
Maybe Azarenka not being on her game allowed others like Kerber to win a slam but not necessarily emerge as the new force on the tour (props for the well earned slam). It’s one thing to win a big career defining tournament and another to take over the reins on a tour.
Azarenka has a lot of gumption and persistence, so she may be on top across this year, and that may close the door to Safarova and others who should do well in the absence of Sharapova and the Serena Wiliams “making finals but not winning them” funk. Muguruza may not have committed fully, Bouchard may still be on the IT-girl train rather than the champion train (she sure talked a big talk! No friends on tour, etc – hasn’t worked so well since her huge breakout since 2014). Ivanovic is awesome one day, terrible the next. Kvitova is the ultra talented lefty who should be the top ranked player but who knows what’s going on there!
Harold’s probably right. And no doubt about it, my prediction of a soon we’re going to see a U.S. mens player in the QF of a slam hasn’t happen FOR OVER FOUR YEARS.
But I don’t think the Pennetta victory went unnoticed on the tour – maybe it motivated Azarenka, or maybe it motivated players no one thinks about (like Karo Pliskova or her sister). Or Radwanska, who’s always clever out there, but when the pressure’s on her game becomes mushy,inexplicably, in must-win matches once tournament favorites are out of the tournaments.
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2016 at 11:19 pm
Safarova is injured – she has a new boyfriend herself – it’s the guy who coaches Sock – she has had a drop off since that loss to Li Na at Aus Open a few years ago where she blew the MP –
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2016 at 11:20 pm
Makarova has to be considered a dark horse to win a Major – this year or next – the door is open and she has one foot ready to step in – but a lot of other feet are in position to step in too –
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2016 at 11:22 pm
I was at Kudla vs Raonic and Kudla was hitting big serves – played a great set and forced Raonic to earn it – Kudla is another little guy (under six feet) who has a hefty clever playing style – Raonic looked a bit listless and fireless – that brutal IW loss to Djokovic took the wind out of his sails – and self belief —
Scoop Malinowski · March 26, 2016 at 11:28 pm
Dan everyone is here – it’s hard to see everyone – Even David Weiner who I have run into about four different tiMes – Fritz Buehning is here – Bettina Bunge will be at Djokovic on Sunday – Gaudio – Gabriela Sabatini – Fernando Gonzalez – Nico Massu – Patrick McEnroe is here already at the Ritz – the guy I played with today said he was hula hooping with his daughters at a party at the Ritz last night 🙂 He says he has a video of it too – that would go viral 🙂 Van Winitsky gave one of the best Facing McEnroe interviews – Leander Paes was very good with his Facing McEnroe recollections too – recall they had a few run ins in WTT – BTW Paes did not get in as an alternate – but Sa and Bellucci did but lost tonight to Peya/Petszchner – BTW I spoke with Petszchner a couple of days ago and he said he was out for over two years with injuries – good win tonight 64 62 over Sa – Bellucci –
EddietheEagle · March 27, 2016 at 5:00 am
Stakhovsky said it all really. Not that it’s wise to express such opinions these days. We’re only supposed to talk about drugs and match fixing.
Thomas Tung · March 28, 2016 at 12:19 am
Pro tennis is a business at the end of the day, and those that generate more money get paid more. Seems fair to me. Any other opinions, IMO, are just quite frankly, letting one’s emotions override one’s logic.
Unless, of course, people want to be paid on how they feel they “should deserve” when get up in the morning — in which case, to use the old joke, “there are too many chiefs and not enough (American) Indians”.
Ya know, FedEx, Joker, Rafa, and Muzza are just “normal people”, they should be sitting 3 in the back of some crappy cheap cab playing Challengers in some crack-filled tennis court like the rest of us … yeah, let’s see how “good” these guys are without their big bucks … why, I betcha Joe Blow and Mary Schmoe can play just as good tennis as those overblown, overhyped “tennis heroes” if they had an equal share of the pie, too …
This kind of silly “controversy” is, quite frankly, worthy of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNsrK6P9QvI
Moskova Moskova · March 28, 2016 at 2:24 pm
you forgot about the murders in tennis too (literally)
de jong, coach of haase accused of murdering dutch fan / sponsor….wowzers !