Djokovic’s parents were walking together quietly in the park on the main drag about a half mile from the tennis center. Mr. Djokovic was wearing a Uni Qlo chirt (blue), they were holding hands.
Later on my bike ride, I saw Gilles Muller at the public courts practicing again.
Paire doing practice drills with a soccer ball with his fitness coach. Amazing stuff, they hit it back to each other about 25 times, when one loses the game, the other screams in agony – these athletes HATE to lose at anything – and then do five pushups. I did a Biofile with Paire after, he tried to dodge me saying he had to take a shower but I said it’s only four minutes. He said okay if it’s quick. He then ended up giving me a great Biofile, said the match with Llodra on Monday was his most painful moment because Llodra was a friend who he feels sold him out with gamesmanship to win a match. Lequipe reported that Llodra told the 38th ranked Paire to stop “acting like a little ****” when he was losing 0-3 in the first. I did not see Paire do anything to provoke Llodra to say this.
Talked with Bohdan Uhlirach and Andrei Pavel about their Federer memories for my Fed book. Both are coaching WTA players now, Pliskova and Paszek, respectively.
Blake was hitting with Fognini.
Interesting quote in the Sun Sentinel from the Sony tournament director Adam Barrett about how the absense of Roger and Rafa are affecting ticket sailes: “”Roger and Rafa, it’s a bad break. Two storms came together for two completely different reasons for them both not to be here. We still have the top eight men and top nine women. You miss those guys, they’re great ambassadors of the game. You play with the field you have and we have a great field. Ticket sales are slightly down, but we’re talking percentages after three record years in a row.”
I really don’t notice the crowds to be smaller so far this week, but it’s hard to tell.
Stay tuned for more updates.
