Stefan Kozlov looked incredible today in totally outclassing (6162) veteran Benjamin Becker who is known as fine grass court player. Kozlov was sensational in every aspect of his arsenal and Dan even stated during the blowout win that Kozlov has not only the potential to win Newport in the future but also Wimbledon. Yes Dan actually said that and you know what? He’s right – Kozlov was spectacular today with his grass court tennis variety and especially big serving earning a stunning abundance of free points via aces and unreturnables. Next round Kozlov will be tested by Donald Young who he called “One of the best vs American players” and “I know it will be a tough vs match.”
Ryan Harrison and Frank Dancevic contested a very interesting first round battle on center court as both are desperate players looking to revive their crashed careers. Harrison is stuck in the rankings outside 150 and Dancevic is outside 250. But Dancevic was the far better player today looking natural and flowing on grass with superior touch – no doubt based on the fact he won two hard fought quali matches. An hour before match time I saw Dancevic approach a center court usher and ask where specifically his stunning beautiful wife would be able to sit: Hi – I’m playing the next match and just wanted to ask where my wife can sit? Can she sit in any of the seats in those boxes? Only in Newport will you see a player do something like this.
Harrison lost his cool early as he fell behind the early break 3-1 and then began whining and berating his play to his fiancee and future father in law. One break each set was all Frank needed and it looked like the possible bitter end for Harrison’s once bright career. With the young guns rising fast it’s hard to see Harrison getting any wildcards at any events. This draw was a very good opportunity for Harrison to rejuvenate his career and get a roll going but once again he’s back on the outside looking in – and no doubt wondering if he will ever regain his ranking to reach the top fifty or even top hundred. Note: An unrecognized Ivo Karlovic was walking down Bellevue Ave to the Viking Hotel by himself in the morning and actually looked like a regular guy not a near 7 ft giant. He only looks like a giant when he’s next to another person… Brian Baker earned a tough win over Austin Krajicek to set up a showdown with Baghdatis tomorrow… Newport draw is 28 not 32 – reason being to attract top players to enter knowing they only needed to play four not five matches… Lukas Lacko was practicing on the public hard courts across from the venue with his coach – working particularly on serving in the ad court to try to hit two balls lined up on the wide corner of the service box…
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Andrew Miller · July 12, 2016 at 9:56 pm
Harrison needs Lendl. Nice to see Kozlov enjoying himself.
Andrew Miller · July 12, 2016 at 9:59 pm
Murray yelled at his box too during the Wimbledon final. But it wasn’t to chew them out. I think he has a routine of yelling to pump himself up and his box looks back and yells back, with the exception of Lendl who is stone-faced for all matches.
If Djokovic’s wife is top fan, then Murray’s has to be fan #2. She gives a lot to Murray, exactly the response he needs.
Harrison vents too much negativity. He’s turned into a negative vortex of moodiness. Not unlike Murray was.
Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2016 at 10:28 pm
Crazy day/night in Newport today on a gorgeous sunny 79 degree day. First the Koz came out and schooled Benjamin Becker making Scoop conjecture that maybe Becker was tanking the match. That’s how out of it the Koz made Becker look. When asked if match fixing happens on the ATP Tour, Vince Spadea texted back, “Maybe it happens.”
I spoke with Kozlov after the match, and after he stretched for like 45 minutes prior to doing the interview, and I came out and asked him what Tim Mayotte said about his forehand, that it didn’t look cohesive (this was a few years ago granted) and the Koz said, “I think I have a really good forehand and I don’t care what anyone says about it.”
When I asked the genial 18 year old about his slicing off his forehand on grass he said, “Obviously, you want to hit the smartest shot possible. On grass the slice works. On clay you’re going to hit a heavier ball.”
Kozlov is working with USTA coach, Stanford Boster, in Boca Raton and his father at his academy in North Miami and he’s working on trying to improve mostly his serve and returns. His serve today looked quite impressive. In one game, he hit three consecutive aces against Becker.
About his young American peers, particular Tiafoe who is only two weeks apart in age from Kozlov, the Koz said, “We’re just trying to compete against each other and get better. We’re all motivated.”
Kozlov who is now 6-feet tall and a solid 175 pounds said his two idols are Agassi and Federer and he’s gotten to hit with Federer about 10 times and “he’s one of the nicest guys on tour.” The Koz plays his matches straight-forward and I was impressed by his poise. He said he tries to remain calm at all times.
That cannot be said for Ryan Harrison who although he hit a 140 mph serve today and one 125 mph second serve winner, he lost in straight sets to Frank Dancevic, one of the smoothest grass court players you can find. Harry had his moments, but only four games into the match he turned to his fiancee, Lauren McHale, Christina McHale’s older sister, and her father, Harry’s future father-in-law, and started ranting about how hard he practices and he still can’t get any better.
He did this throughout the rest of the match and every opportunity he had a chance to make a dent on the Dancevic serve, he either missed a slice backhand approach or hit a backhand wide or a forehand in the net. Harry seriously needs not his fiancee to travel with him, but a therapist. He is turning into a sideshow act and clearly all the high expectations set early in his career have made him into a mad man.
A Tennis-Prose reader and poster, who will go anonymous, saw Harry and McHale accompanied by mammoth Sam Groth, getting loaded on champagne at the rooftop bar at the Viking Hotel here where the players all stay in the Main Draw. Growth was not drinking as he won his singles match today, but Harry and McHale were imbibing the champagne, the cheapest bottle running $55 at the Viking.
I was in the gym at the Viking at the same time, stretching after I played an epic set with Scoop on the hard courts right behind the Tennis Hall of Fame. I ran into Rrankie Moser there, who is almost 40 years old and still out there even though he tore his meniscus last year before the US Open and had to have surgery. He said the knee is still bothering him, but he and his partner, the Swiss Chudinelli, beat their German opponents today and play Groth and Guccione, the biggest doubles team in the history of the sport, tomorrow after Groth and Chudinelli play their singles matches.
I had Scoop 1-3 on his serve and 30-40 when a ball rolled onto our court from the next court and we had to play a let even though I had a backhand volley to go up 4-1. At 4-all, 40-love Scoop, he hit a ball to my backhand and yet another ball rolled onto my side of the court and I called out, “take two,” but Scoop didn’t hear me and insisted he won the point and the game and wouldn’t replay it. Then Scoop walked off saying maybe we could play tomorrow.
To Scoop’s credit, he didn’t moan and groan all during the set like Harry (this guy to me is the most fascinating player in the game. I can only compare him to Justin Gimelstob when he went psycho and became basically a Challenger player later in his career, but Harry;s even more fuming anger than Gimel,who was more like Anthony Perkins in “Psycho.” Harry;s more Stanley Kowalski of “Streetcar Named Desire>” I’m waiting for Harry to yell at the badgered McHale, who should have walked out of the match today after Harry kept whining to her over and over, “Stella!”) did. Scoop, though, did pull his time-stalling and annoying tactic of missing his first serve and then walking back to the wall behind the court to pick up a second ball taking his strolling time while I’m waiting for a second serve. He also yelled out often when he hit a winner, but I weathered the storm and was on serve with Scoop when he disappeared.
Thomas Tung · July 13, 2016 at 12:57 am
IMO Harry is actually too intense and competitive. He needs too much to win, and places himself under far too much pressure to come up with the goods, which makes him far too stiff and tense (as opposed to a healthy nervous) during the big points. If he can find a way to calm himself down just a bit, in practice as well as in the match, I think Ryan can get himself back into the Top 100. Maybe seeing a sports psychologist would help?
Dan markowitz · July 13, 2016 at 2:25 am
Definitely way too competitive. You’re right he’s too intense. Maybe he should drink champagne before he plays and not after.
Andrew Miller · July 13, 2016 at 8:56 am
Harey definitely most anxious player. Has any coach of merit tried to work with him? Like baker
Andrew Miller · July 13, 2016 at 10:28 am
Dan, priceless re: Harrison anecdotes. Guy needs therapist. Extremely depressed. To press, perfect person. But his demons erupting everywhere. No way to treat a future spouse either. And knocking back champagne bottles – I’m sure he’d say, hey none of your business. True enough.
Harrison might benefit from reading Agassi’s book “Open”. Or just reading. He’s similar to Agassi – more than most players because he hit the tour at 15. And at some level, you get the sense he hates the sport, feels put upon, and has some jealousy issues regarding other players. His eruptions, which aren’t extreme but are extremely uncomfortable, just look like evidence of a guy who’s not together at all.
I think people are crazy in their own way for sure. But if the madness is taking the lead role – he has to deal with that in some way that makes sense. I think Harrison makes his own money and doesn’t depend on anyone, but I can’t imagine he’s doing awesome on the financial side – he must be burning through that with all the travel required in the sport (even if Harrison plays a heavy domestic schedule).
As a fan of the sport, genuinely concerned. I wrote it off in Charlottesville, when he would use anything on the court, a fan sneering etc, and use that to pump himself off. Thriving off negative energy. Based on what guys like Djokovic, Federer, Nadal do – even Murray now that he’s doing his best work again (a great story – he started doing better and better last year before another career year this year),
no way this works. Some journalists used to write that Agassi had to address his demons to do his best work. But I don’t think this is working for Harrison. It looks like all mini demons out there running the show. There’s no way that trafficking in punishing himself is leading him to great volleys etc.
Look at Murray and what he said. This is a world of difference than Harrison, who punishes himself and others, then drinks it off. This is terrible. He loses points then punishes himself, the crowd, his team – then sulks, writes it off and pretends nothing happened. He has no idea what he’s doing. This is self-destructive.
So different from Murray, who used to yell in a bad way at his box. Now he gets fired up from them – he looks for the best, not the worst.
From AP’s Howard Fendrich: “”The day or so afterwards, I was really emotional. But I sort of accepted that I might not win one of these events and that I was actually doing everything that I could to give myself a chance to do it. And that was it,” he said. ”That was probably around the time where I started to accept that it’s OK to not achieve what you want, if you’re doing everything you possibly can.”
It was important for Murray to head into big matches, as he put it, ”not being afraid of failing.”
”Obviously, you don’t go out on the court thinking, `It’s no problem if I lose the match.’ But the reality is,” he said, ”you can deal with the consequences of losing a tennis match. And I’ve learned that over the years, for sure.”
Andrew Miller · July 13, 2016 at 10:30 am
Thought Scoop plays Rios ball! Sounds like Dan read Scoop’s game like a book. These Spadea videos really must work.
Dan Markowitz · July 13, 2016 at 10:51 am
Harry is in serious denial. You can’t be yelling to your fiancee and her dad, I train my ass off and I can;t even improve!” He’s played all of 4 games on the trickiest surface in the game, a surface where a Rajeev Ram can win two titles where he hasn’t sniffed a title anywhere else, so Harry has to know he can’t get too worked up at Newport. If it happens again in DC or Atlanta or the US Open, then he has a reason to get pissed. But you’re right, sometime in your career you have to realize that getting pissed–if you’re not getting good results–is not the way to go. Harry isn’t Johnny Mac because Johnny Mac got pissed and got results.
Harry was without coach yesterday. Grant Doyle I guess has jumped the ship. I wonder how long Harry will continue if his ranking doesn’t drop below 100.
Andrew Miller · July 13, 2016 at 11:47 am
Paul Gittings, on CNN in 2008, talked about Sampras and how much he hated grass. But Tim Wilkinson, RIP, helped him change his attitude – so that Sampras’ love of Wimbledon’s tradition would match up with an enthusiasm and appreciation of the surface. Not straight up hatred – Sampras hated it! He said he was used to the bounce on the hard courts he grew up with, probably saw grass as weird etc.
Dan I think Doyle bailed quietly. We know Harrison hit the huge patch after his result in April a year ago, beating Dimitrov in Acapulco. Then the only way he got back in the lime-light was going after Kokkinakis for Kyrgios’ antics towards Wawrinka and somehow seeing Wawrinka as his buddy. Harrison’s mis-placed sense of indignation just went after someone else.
I think I said this before but Harrison works himself into a frenzy over perceived slights and if he doesn’t like something in a match he has to manufacture an insult that doesn’t exist. He has to go after a line judge or a fan, or think of Kokkinakis as his arch-enemy for insulting fellow tennis player Wawrinka. Was Harrison protecting Vekic’s honor?
No evidence of that. He was looking at Kyrgios, Kokknakis at being “out of line”, as kids who had no control. He really was talking about himself.
It’s weird. Roddick did this sometimes, turning his opponents into, well, objects of scorn. Guys to go after – to bully. And Harrison seems to see this as part of psychological warfare – making stuff up so that he can somehow will himself to defeat an inferior opponent.
The issue is the inferior opponent is Harrison vs Harrison – the bully in him wants to take out the gentleman in him, and the bully, to Harrison’s shame, is winning.
This is awful, Dan.
Awful stuff.
Dan Markowitz · July 13, 2016 at 12:05 pm
He is a bully, Andrew, that is well said and diagnosed. He is behaving abominably on the court and this is after last year where he came out with his mea culpa and said how he had been bothered and affected so much about what the media had said about him. But we’re not talking about a Wayne Odesnik here. This guy had serious potential. Mats Wilander said he’d be Top 3! He was the toast of American tennis 5-6 years ago. The equivalent would be if Taylor Fritz at 24 has bombed out of the game. And now everyone seems to have left Harry except for McHale. There’s no Doyle, no father and no Andy Roddick, who was supposedly serving as a mentor.
Interestingly, Roddick, Blake, Safin and Philippoussis are going to be playing a Seniors Event on the grass here on Sunday before the finals. I was joking with Scoop yesterday over if there’s a Roddick-Safin finals in the Powershares Event and a Muller-Baghdatis finals in the regular event, which match would you rather watch?
Andrew Miller · July 13, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Dan, if Harry’s a bully, there’s (almost) no way back. If he’s feeling everything’s unfair – we know where that leads. It leads further down the rankings and further down the rabbit hole. Despair. And if he alienated everyone on the way down – who’s going to be there? The media’s already said, by not saying anything, that it’s moved on (rightfully).
But when the press abandons a guy who needs the spotlight but isn’t earning it, who’s he got? Twitter I guess, where he’s taken to going after Serena Williams (nice).
I guess a guy like Wilander could do it pro bono. Someone who, after all the ranting, is like c’mon Harry. Time to work. But who’d work with the guy? He chooses low profile coaches, who I’d guess he also goes after (at least during matches).
This is turning out bad. This is the guy who said all the right things. The worst thing is that it can get a lot worse. That rabbit hole? It’s deep. Thankfully it has twists and turns and there’s a way back. Therapy. A positive but firm coach who Harry listens do and does the work (remember what Roddick said, he did what Larry said to do).
Dan, I’d go for Muller-Baghdatis because of the Bag’s chance for shot-making against an aggressive guy like Muller who takes the game to people. But in terms of fun, I think Roddick-Safin would be a crowd-pleaser. Hard to turn away from that, even if neither of them may be able to keep the ball in the court.
Andrew Miller · July 13, 2016 at 3:22 pm
Roddick on Harrison in February 2015: “He did a really good job this off-season,†Roddick said in an email. “He was on time, accountable and professional every day like I hadn’t seen him before.â€
Harrison on Harrison in March 2016: Recently there have been a lot of younger Americans coming up behind you. Does that make you feel more pressure or does it take it off?
It took it off me. And it also helped my mindset, with looking at the way they were viewing every single match and opportunity. I have the luxury of spending a lot of time with Frances [Tiafoe] and Taylor [Fritz] recently, and the way they look at each each tournament and match as an opportunity to prove themselves, an opportunity to go get it, kind of recaptured a little bit of that feeling that I felt when I was coming up the first time, when everything is in front of you, there’s no reason to be so nervous, no reason to freak ot.
I felt too much of that. I bet if they tested my blood pressure, I was dangerously close to a heart attack in a lot of matches that I played, just obsessing over each moment and making it bigger than it was. And these guys have a great outlook. They’re out there to play their best tennis, they haven’t been around long enough or haven’t felt enough defeat to know what that trap feels like.
So when I’m taking to them a lot, and hitting with them a lot, kind of that youthful ignorance that just says, I’m going to go get it—it’s awesome. I’d like to try to implement that in my game.
Scoop Malinowski · July 13, 2016 at 6:15 pm
I assert no ball rolled on the court – phantom let call Dan – no ball was on the court or even on the fringe around the court – total phantom let call – I walked off to get water because the game was over and you ever groaned in frustration about missing that backhand up the line by a yard which sealed the game for me – you tried the shot and missed and then concocted the let ball scheme which I am 100 percent sure did not enter our court or even the fringe around the court – You actually had me 3-1 and double break point on my serve for 4-1 but I dug down deep like Rios 🙂 – One ball and no ball in pocket is within rules – USTA rule book showed it as another player challenged this and lost – I left because you said you didn’t want to play after I would not give you the do over at love – 40 because there was no ball on the court – Yes I had to yell some come ons because you were playing well and better than I expected and I had to tap into emotional adrenaline like Raonic needs to do 🙂 Raonic please read this 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · July 13, 2016 at 6:21 pm
I will defend Harrison – he is feeling the pressure because his CAREER is on the LINE now – he can’t go on much longer at 160 in the world – it’s torture for the guy – Harry expects to be top 50 at least – two years in a row in the minors is torture for a guy who expected to be top ten and contending for majors – He was venting at his gf and future father in law but it was not ugly and it was understandable – he really needed to win this match and get a roll going to get some points and fuel his ranking and confidence and also to gain respect back from other players – Harry said after he has “no confidence” – he’s suffering and I actually think he behaved well considering the suffering he is experiencing – HIS CAREER IS ON THE LINE – he is playing for a career right now – I think you all are going overboard on the poor guy – he’s trying so hard for two years training and working hard but he has nothing to show for it – he didn’t have a total meltdown yesterday like smash five racquets on the ump chair or throw a ballkid over the fence – he just had a little verbal outburst to vent his frustrations which are quite substantial at this point – I totally defend Harrison here –
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 5:23 pm
Scoop – Harry’s got real issues. Maybe he should hire a coach from outside the sport, like a NFL player, someone who can give some perspective.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 5:35 pm
Harry:”People are rooting for me, really trying to pick me up and I’m kind of down on myself — there’s a lot of positives in the match. I’m hitting rock bottom, I’m playing poorly out there and the crowd is helping me. They want me to do well, to see (an American guy) come through a tough patch in his career. I hope that it comes around.”
TP has been talking about Harrison’s issues for several years now. I’m convinced, like when DY did this (and his results improved for the period when he did it), that he needs coaching stability and someone he’ll listen to. I have no idea who that may be.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 6:02 pm
Doyle: “Coronado High School rising senior Ryan Seggerman has already achieved success during the summer tennis season, as he competed in the 18’s Boys Division of the 114th Annual Southern California Tennis Association’s in Fountain Valley recently. […] Seggerman and Sah will both turn 17 next month and plan to pay in the National 18s Hardcourts in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The two players train at the Steve Adamson Tennis Academy out of the Pacific Beach Tennis Center. Seggerman is also coached by Grant Doyle.”
Scoop Malinowski · July 15, 2016 at 2:10 pm
Andrew: Harrison has just one issue – he can’t win nearly enough matches as he wants to and thus his confidence is shot. Other than that he’s fine. Don’t think Harrison will be checking into Bellevue or a psychiatrist’s couch any time soon. Just keep at it, keep plugging away like Victor Estrella and Dudi Sela.