Can you guess which of these Miami Open anecdotes are real and not fake news?
Serena Williams once biked in to Crandon Park to play her match because Rickenbacher Causeway traffic was snarled.
Djokovic and Federer were spotted having sushi together in the foodcourt.
Marcelo Rios is working this year as an undercover parking lot attendant. He wants to experience this final Miami Open in a capacity of not having to converse with the public.
Jared Donaldson and his team are staying on a gated private island called Indian Creek where mansions sell for $20m minimum and neighbors include Julio Iglesias and Carl Icahn.
Andre Agassi proposed to Brooke Shields at the Rusty Pelican restaurant here on Key Biscayne in the 90s.
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Duke Carnoustie · March 23, 2018 at 3:57 pm
Novak is in worse shape than Serena.
We may never see him play the type of tennis that stunned everyone as the beast who would blow away the great Fed.
catherine · March 23, 2018 at 4:13 pm
Fake news = rumours ? Just new words for an old thing.
The Serena story may be true – but did she take her racquets with her on the bike ?
Why didn’t she hire a helicopter ?
Chazz · March 23, 2018 at 4:56 pm
Djokovic looked terrible against Paire. The strange thing is he seemed happy with it. I don’t know if he was just being nice because he and Paire are good friends, but wow, no fire at all. He looked tired and happy, which you rarely see on a tennis court. If I’m tired and losing, I don’t know about you but I’m not happy.
How about Collins following up her round of 16 at Indian Wells with a win over Coco to get into R32 at Miami? Also Kenin is one game away from beating IW runner up Kasatkina. Future looks bright for Collins and Kenin.
scoopmalinowski · March 23, 2018 at 5:28 pm
I wonder if the rumor i heard from an ex top ten pro about Djokovic getting caught on something banned is true. Loojs like a hollow shell of himself. Its like he swallowed a pint of kryptonite.
catherine · March 23, 2018 at 6:48 pm
Scoop – fake news, fake news.
Is Agassi in Miami ?
scoopmalinowski · March 23, 2018 at 7:13 pm
Agassi is not here.
Dan Markowitz · March 23, 2018 at 10:33 pm
What is going on with Djoko? This is ridiculous. How can you win 6 Miami Opens and play like a guy who looks lucky not to topple over on some of his forehand strikes? I mean, I’ve never seen anything like this in my sports-viewing life. It’s be like Michael Jordan coming back from early retirement and missing on dunk attempts. I think Djoko’s wife was embarrassed to watch him play at the level he’s been at in IW and Miami. Djoko can’t continue to play like this. He’s going to make Agassi at 48 make a comeback because he’d have a better chance then this joke of a Djoker. Incredible. I think even DY would beat the Djoker.
Duke Carnoustie · March 24, 2018 at 12:41 am
Dan you make a good point. DY got thrashed by Djoker in Melbourne and has won one match since and even I think he could beat this version of Djoker, who has gotten worse.
At this rate, I expect DY to win more matches in 2018 than Djoker.
I also think Fed is very happy about this, no matter what he says. Seeing a major rival crumble like this personally and professionally has to give Fed that extra edge in
knowing his career and life is perfect in comparison.
Incredible that of the ‘Big 4’ Fed is the last man standing. Djoker is a shell of himself, Murray’s career may be over and Rafa has withdrawn from 9 straight events. Even Stanimal is injured and has to be more concerned about a second marriage to Vekic.
Meanwhile the Grigors, Domis and Saschas are not ready. That leaves DelPo, Cilic and perhaps maybe a little bit Raonic (?) as challengers to the throne.
We had it good for awhile but men’s tennis can’t sink any lower as far as the top level. I mean Lucas Pouille is No. 10 in the world!
Dan Markowitz · March 24, 2018 at 3:17 am
Hey Jack Sock is no. 11. I’m thinking Bambri might take him out. But no one looks as bad as the Djoker. Guys like Connors and Agassi had wrist surgeries which you think would be just as bad as the Djoker’s elbow injury, but they came back and were still great players. It’s like an alien inhabited the Djoker’s body. I even expect Murray after hip surgery to not be treated as rudely as the Djoker has by Paire and Daniel.
Must be noted, two good wins by Americans over Spaniards, JD takes out Lopez and Mmoh, the forgotten Next-Gen’er beat Agut.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 3:45 am
Does Agassi’s absence mean anything ?
I doubt Federer enjoys, on a human level, witnessing what’s happened to Djokovic, he’s too far along in life to be happy watching another person’s suffering, competition apart. Fed has some compassion I would think.
I suspect there’s something mentally wrong with Novak – but who knows what it is ?
Is Stan going to marry Vekic ? She won yesterday – Wozniaki lost, but she played her match very late I noticed. Probably in a hurry to get some sleep.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 4:13 am
Interested to see Simon Briggs of DT is in Miami – only British paper I think. Is it just because of Konta ? Can’t be. Or is it because Miami is seen as more important than IW ? Maybe Simon’s paying his own way as a fan of Johanna’s 🙂
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 4:44 am
Wozniaki v Puig – match ended well after midnight, Puig lost first set 0-6 and won in 3. Must be the best she’s played since Rio 🙂
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 5:03 am
Kvitova’s winning serve at match point was out according to Hawkeye but her opponent had run out of challenges so that was that !
Total frost at the net 🙂
(Note to Hartt – Petra would have won anyway, she’s good at flubbing match points and then squeaking through)
scoopmalinowski · March 24, 2018 at 7:25 am
The other Brit daily scribe Mike something was here too. Donaldson blasted Lopez off the court. Donaldson is uncanny he just keeps winning. Two yrs ago he looked here he looked helpless like Kozlov losing to Nishioka as a LL. Now hes a force. Mmoh scored his career best win vs Agut who suddenly has hit a wall. Kyrgios Reid lost to Cabal Farah in a night thriller. Reid was the weak link. Hewitt was watching.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 7:47 am
Mike Dickson, Daily Mail
Hartt · March 24, 2018 at 8:25 am
Simon Briggs has a new weekly column where he looks at stories that don’t get a lot of press. The first was this past Tuesday, “On the front line in tennis’ anti-corruption war.” It was great to read something different for a change, rather than what most journalists seem fascinated with – when will Federer retire.
And he answered some of the the things I had been wondering about in the “anti-corruption war.” The company he highlighted, Sportradar’s Integrity Services, has to have extremely tight security to protect its employees. One representative said that the big issue is money laundering and the Mafia. The interim report by the Independent Review Panel is supposed to be released at the end of April.
Hartt · March 24, 2018 at 8:28 am
I agree with Catherine that Federer won’t take pleasure from seeing Novak’s troubles. People who know him well say one of his personal strengths is his empathy. (Probably a big reason Fed is popular with his fellow players, despite dominating most of them on the court.)
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 8:42 am
Hartt -I’d like to read articles in the DT (sport, not poltics) but I’m not going to pay to do so. The corruption one was Premium so I couldn’t see it.
Mean of me no doubt 🙂
Briggs isn’t popular with some of his colleagues because he goes out and gets the stories they miss and hugs information to himself.
Tut tut.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 8:56 am
Three Germans start out today – Kerber, Zverev, Withoeft – which ones will be left standing ?
Hartt · March 24, 2018 at 9:58 am
I can never figure out how many free Premium articles I get, but have not used up the current number yet.
That was an excellent article. Sportsradar just tracks the Futures tourneys, but those make up about 75% of tennis tournaments. Apparently this is a new contract with the ITF. They only pass on a small number of alerts, after they have done some investigation of their own. They want to be convinced themselves that it was a very suspicious match.
It was good to learn that the TIU has beefed up staffing from 6 to 17 in the last couple years. It looks like the BBC expose did have an effect, but it is shocking that earlier they only had 6 employees for such a huge task.
One stat I enjoyed – only 13% of suspicious matches were played by women. According to the spokesman: “Overall, women are simply less corruptible and less likely to commit crime.” 🙂
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 10:47 am
Hartt – well, since women statistically are less inclined to crime than men that figure doesn’t surprise me. Of corse women may be more practical and not see much point in behaviour which is likely to end them in the slammer – I’m sure women can be corrupt, but in different ways.
Simon wrote a nicely sympathetic piece about Konta but I’m afraid I’ve yet to be persuaded of Johanna’s incipient greatness.
Hartt · March 24, 2018 at 12:37 pm
Shapo just had a fairly straightforward win over Dzumhur, 6-1, 7-5. I thought Denis was solid overall, generally was patient when he needed to be. He served well, and made some of those amazing Denis winners. What I especially enjoyed was his net play. He went to the net often and seemed very comfortable there, winning 14/20 net points. He hit some lovely crisp volleys.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 1:40 pm
Diyas dismisses Witthoeft 6-0 in 3rd – 12 dfs didn’t help Carina there. Pliskova in 3 over Hsieh and Zverev keeps things alive for Germany in 3 over Mevdevev.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 2:18 pm
Simona takes first set easily over Radwanska. I don’t think I’ve seen thinner legs on a professional athlete than Radwanska’s. She looks tiny.
scoopmalinowski · March 24, 2018 at 2:52 pm
Hartt, Catherine; do you think Roger will sit down in the locker room with Djokovic to offer some advices to get back track, as he did when he saw young Zverev struggling and disheartened?
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 3:22 pm
Scoop – as we don’t know either man personally it’s hard to say, but myself, I don’t think that could happen. It’s a different dynamic, the veteran player and the boyish newcomer. Djokovic is closer to Federer in age and in past performance – Roger might feel sympathy etc but I wonder if he’d be able to express it easily. There’s also a big cultural gap between them. But that’s just my feeling. Not sure if Mirka would approve either. A rejuvenated Djokovic would be a threat.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 3:40 pm
Simona out to Radwanska. I watched some of the match live and then just couldn’t bear it any more. As one commenter said around the second set ‘let’s get this c**p over with’.
Don’t know if Cahill came out at all.
Simona is having some serious problems. She’s been Kerberized. But congrats to Aga for hanging in there.
Chazz · March 24, 2018 at 4:55 pm
Huge win for Tiafoe over Edmund, and now the big test will be Berdych, who by the way destroyed Nishioka in a revenge match. Beating Berdych would put Foe in the top 60, close behind Donaldson, Johnson, Harrison and Sandgren.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 5:01 pm
Simona did not call for Cahill in her match. The chat is she’s frozen him out.
Duke Carnoustie · March 24, 2018 at 5:16 pm
I’ll answer Scoop’s question about whether he will try to “help” Novak: No.
I am not saying Fed is happy tat Novak is going through these issues but Fed is no dummy and realizes that the Djoker we all is his biggest threat. Fed knows he has won three of the last five Slams with Djoker MIA.
Duke Carnoustie · March 24, 2018 at 5:19 pm
I’ll add that it’s easy to advise Zverev when Fed knows Sascha can’t advance past the third round of a Slam.
Many people don’t believe it but Fed is sly as a fox. Not once has Fed made the simple statement that he would like his own fans to behave sportingly at these matches. Not once. Because he knows how much it makes a difference to have a braying mob on his side and against his opponent. Fed may be a saint but he is no dummy.
Duke Carnoustie · March 24, 2018 at 6:08 pm
What a win for Kokk! He slays the king! Two straight losses for the great one. Amazing!
That’s why they call it March madness.
scoopmalinowski · March 24, 2018 at 6:35 pm
Saw Halep warming up outside in back of stadium before previous match with one physio but no Cahill. Fed said he trained w Kokk in Dubai so the Aussie took his notes and today the dividends paid off. Tiafoe sensational today. Major star he will be. Did interview with his dad later on as he was in line to watch Azarenka in second set. By himself. Said today is his favorite match by his son.
Hartt · March 24, 2018 at 8:01 pm
I agree that Fed would not help Novak with advice the way he did with Sascha. Given Novak’s accomplishments and the fact that he is not a youngster, it would be presumptuous of Fed to offer him advice, and I can’t see Novak asking for it.
catherine · March 24, 2018 at 8:11 pm
Federer won’t win every match he plays this year. I’m sure he knows that and has his main targets in sight.
Angie gets past Pav SS in 90 minutes. Got a good work out there. The draw’s split wide open with Simona gone.
Scoop Malinowski · March 24, 2018 at 8:42 pm
Fed vs Rafa race for no 1 would be a nice story angle all season. Cant get any better than that if it comes down to London in Nov.
catherine · March 25, 2018 at 3:50 am
Last year Angie would have lost that match. I wonder, is she going back to Monterrey ?
Scoop – that’s a great story line but it won’t work out. Too late is my guess.
catherine · March 25, 2018 at 8:25 am
Hartt – I rarely visit The Changeover site these days but I did just now and saw your profile pic. Is he/she real ? Belong to you ? Sweet anyway.
Hartt · March 25, 2018 at 9:42 am
Unfortunately, that cat is not mine, but a pic from the internet. I loved the expression, and am a huge cat lover.
scoopmalinowski · March 25, 2018 at 4:06 pm
As a fellow cat lover i know You would love my cat Lucky. Check him out on instagram luckythecat_mylife very amazing loving cat.
Hartt · March 25, 2018 at 5:27 pm
Lucky is gorgeous! And he looks VERY contented. Obviously a smart cat, to enjoy watching tennis on TV. My cats were true Canucks – they enjoyed watching hockey. 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · March 25, 2018 at 8:14 pm
This cat is amazing Hartt. He even walks outside next to me no leash. Cats are amazing creatures thank God for cats.
catherine · March 26, 2018 at 9:33 am
Scoop – I think we should have pix on our names at T-P. A friend of mine has beautiful furry Persian-mix ginger would look great which by my name. She is elderly and watches TV all day – she enjoys Wimbledon and shopping channels. I grew up with cats in the country so they didn’t need leashes.
catherine · March 26, 2018 at 9:35 am
The cat’s elderly I mean, not her owner.