People Forget How Close Petr Korda Was To No. 1 Ranking

I had a great time watching highlights of Nakashima matches, where he beat Fritz, Daniel, Eubanks, Escobedo and Peliwo. Pospisil pretty well creamed him in their Charlottesville match, but Vasek was playing great then. However, it was a reminder of the kind of player Brandon will encounter on the main tour.

That said, I was impressed with the youngster. He moves well, can hit with power, but also remain patient in a point. He has a lovely down the line shot. He can improve his net play, but you can say that about most of the young players.

At this stage of his career it is mostly about potential, and I look forward to watching him next season.

Speaking of sponsorships, Bianca recently signed with Gatorade, joining other athletes such as Serena, Messi and Bolt.

I was pleased that the press release said the company will also support Tennis Canada and the Rogers Cup.

“Gatorade Canada is also fuelling the future of tennis with the announcement of a multi-year partnership with national sport organization, Tennis Canada and the premier Rogers Cup in Toronto and Montreal.”

I’m not really for or anti Coco. I just wish that whoever speaks for the USTA might remember there are hundreds of millions of people in the world who have never heard of Coco Gauff and that they would stop making such breathtakingly idiotic pronouncements.

Otherwise, I can’t find much to say about a 15 year old. There’s too much of a gap between the game and the personality. Becomes interesting when both grow together.

Andrew, it is so true about the pressure. Bianca was at a dinner with some other athletes and she admitted she was in tears 10 minutes before the Rogers Cup final, she was feeling so much tension. She said she was still wiping away tears as she walked on the court. The basketball player was incredulous, crying before a big match? But as Bianca said, it was a way to release that tension.

Hartt, yes I agree wholeheartedly. The pressure at any level is there, and the pressure of a major final is enormous. I can’t imagine the pressure before the first round match was fun either, squaring off against the best Canadian female player from only half a decade earlier and all the hype and chatter that came with that match. Thankfully both players knew that and exchanged some friendly messages to be in the right mindset and put on a show (after which one of them nonetheless felt buried even as they expressed they were relieved from the burden of expectations that now were squarely on the shoulders of Miss Andreescu). Goes to show how competitive these players are and how rough it is for them when things turn out differently than they wanted, even if what they wanted was unrealistic given their playing form.

So, that Andreescu before the finals was a walking mess doesn’t surprise me, but that she saw her formidable opponent was also must have revived her and her tiger like instincts and ruthless competitor self kicked in. After all she lives for this and thank goodness for that. They all do even if they aren’t able to summon the best tennis when needed.

I’m glad we have plenty of very good players that are also young around, as inevitably the careers of some fantastic players are coming to a close sooner than anyone is willing to admit, even those players themselves. I see Federer has accepted the inevitable and that’s an excellent move on his part.

I can’t predict who meets the moment or not. I have my favorites but tennis doesn’t work that way and I think I have only predicted a few results correctly for a while now, which was Wawrinka or someone outside the big guys winning in Australia about six years ago, and Ryan Harrison making a nice run in 2017 I think. Bad track record on my part. I also overestimate the ability of the U.S. men’s players, though I have been glad that two players broke a curse of sorts by making a grand slam semifinal.

So when there are grand pronouncements about CocoG or someone else I say: Let’s see how it goes. The tour is just too hard and most players seem to do well when there’s no spotlight. I wish her good health.

Nakashima wins the 2nd set t/b so this is a good match to make up for the foreshortened program.

Kerber is entered for Brisbane but will probably withdraw. I don’t imagine she’ll be refunding her appearance money in Hawaii.

Yes, the first round match at the Rogers Cup must have been very strange for Bianca. As you said, they exchanged friendly messages before the match and of course they know one another through Fed Cup, etc. Bianca had beaten Genie pretty soundly at an earlier tourney and Genie was in a terrible slump. But Bianca must have been very worried about rust after so many months away from competition.

The final had to have unbelievable pressure for Bianca. Not only was she facing Serena, but this was her home tourney and, as she said, she’d put in a lot of work on those courts. For her, this would be even more important than IW, even though it is a Premier 5 tourney, not a Premier Mandatory.

Coco is beyond cute. When there is a photo of her on the ground it’s a reminder that she is a real dog because most of the time she does look like a toy. Bianca’s mother posted a brief video of Coco retrieving tennis balls. So if you pressed the tummy of a toy Coco it would say: “I love tennis!”

I see that Bianca posted a photo on IG of the dinner I talked about. Serge Ibaka, of the Raptors, was the basketball player who was so surprised that Bianca cried before the Rogers Cup final.

As to self-promotion and hype, if the players want the extra pressure they can thank themselves for it 🙂 I haven’t seen this work so well in the past, which I think is a good guide for the present and future.

I had been worried about some players that did this after successful break out or spectacular seasons. Few handle the circus well that comes with it.

But hey, if it fills the bank up, which I am sure it is (can’t miss star! Sign up while you can! YES we are accepting new sponsors of course, the more the merrier!) I guess more power to them. Fear of Missing Out for sponsors can be powerful.

If I were the sponsor I’d be like, sit this one out. If you like them then develop a long term relationship and the player will switch over sooner or later.

Catherine, I agree with you about Kerber’s injury during the warmup. My first thought was: “Are these players made of glass? How do they even get through regular training?”

https://www.ubitennis.net/2019/12/cut-number-hard-court-events-protect-players-urges-former-grand-slam-champion/

Re injuries among other things, from Virginia Ruzici.

Scoop, yes I have to agree – it’s bizarre. Did she hurt herself during the on-court warm-up or practising before hand ? And what was the injury ? She could have rolled her ankle eg. but why not say so ?

No good looking on her Twitter. Angie’s become a bit secretive these days.

THe main tournaments up until the end of the 70s were played on grass and clay. The USO then scrapped the grass (which was awful anyway) and moved via some kind of clay to the one they have now. Not sure when the AO changed, probably when it moved from Kooyong. Then other tournaments started using similar surfaces and now they all do. W’don stands alone but then it can afford to.

Definitely there were fewer severe injuries, partly because clay and grass are more forgiving surfaces and also because, as you say, modern tennis takes a higher toll physically. And there are more tournaments, which could affect the women’s game. I remember when players could pick and choose when they played. That’s when the WTA brought in mandatory events.

The other aspect seems to me that players have surgeries and tend to go on competing whereas in previous eras they would have been more likely to have retired.

Grass is nice but it’s not suited to many climates, can only be played on in the summer months and is very expensive to maintain. I blame the Asian circuit a lot for increased wear and tear. Too many events too late in the year and courts too slow. Sheer greed I’m afraid.

Suggests to me that Angie is not as fit as she could be. I don’t know if her new coach was around. She’s been behaving for a while (since before the USO) as if she has one foot in the game now. Which is fine, as long as she accepts the consequences.

It sounds as though the players themselves need to be tough regarding the number of tourneys they play. Fed’s fitness trainer, Paganini, advised Roger early in his career not to play a lot of tourneys, not to go chasing appearance fees, if he wanted a long career. Roger wisely followed that advice and tried to have breaks during the tennis season.

I checked on what the WTA players are required to play in a season. A top 10 player must play the 4 Premier Mandatory tournaments, 4 Premier 5 (and all 5 on alternate years), plus 2 Premier tourneys. So if a player plays 5 Premier 5 tourneys, plus the Slams and the WTA finals, that comes to 16 tournaments. Add a couple other tourneys and you have 18, which should be manageable.

“Overplay and suffer the consequences”. All that cash grabbing in China comes at a price. I get it players can’t overlook it, but why not play close to home, snub Asia (far too competitive for no good reason other than the big bucks), and treat the autumn indoor season for what it is (nothing).

Unless of course you are Sabalenka and you can only win events in China. Then well play in China.

As for faking an injury to avoid Collins, count me as someone “all for it”. Exhibitions are awful – having seen way too many myself (and one is way too many) I full-heartedly support any abandonment of meaningless events at high ticket prices that do nothing for the sport. This isn’t the era of barnstorming with tours developing markets or bringing the game to a new generation of players. It’s a simple cash grab with no consequences other than the risk of injury for no reason whatsoever.

Harold – The dates for Hawaii are a problem. Starts on Boxing day which means a lot of players don’t want to miss Christmas break. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it otherwise. Hawaii’s a nice place – but the attendance was fairly poor and whether it would have been any better with higher profile players I don’t know. Maybe Honolulu isn’t great for tennis. Needs a good local player.

Kerber is what she is. Everyone knows that by now. Sharapova was supposed to play but she let them down badly.

Female equivalent on wta, not sure there is one. Maybe Nicole Gibbs, but I don’t think anyone sees Gibbs as a super star (happens to be a player I like, good attitude). Vickie Duval, Corina Morariu – probably best example is Duval.

Seriously when players have these diseases it’s really impossible, or injuries.

Raise your hand if you thought Brian Baker was going to roar back and then, injured again, leave forever?

Everyone may believe fragility isn’t real, but these players are as vulnerable as anyone. And when one of them really does have the kind of physical problems of a Christian Harrison, cut them some slack and give them the benefit of the doubt.

But there are also cases of not following proper protocol and making things much worse Andrew.

We were in Boca when several people advised Ci Ci Bellis and her people to change racquets, rest more, do more injury prevention training. They did not, ignored early wrist issues, and made it much worse.

We saw Tornado Ali Black, a can’t miss junior, train through hip pain and end up destroying her chance to even play tennis anymore.

And we know players who did fitness on hard courts for years while others choose to do their fitness on soccer fields instead. Some choose to do lots of injury prevention work, others said no.

As far as Harrison goes, yes he had the bone disease. But we spent time at IMG when he was there with dad. His dad pushed him harder than any other kid, less rest and recovery than similar aged players. Hard to believe none of that mattered long term.

So while it is sometimes just bad luck, other times is poor decisions by the people advising these kids.

Scoop, Jon, I hope Christian Harrison stays in the game in some way. He may be one of the “best” lower ranked players to ever miss the chance to play the game at the level he belongs (I think that’s a fair statement as well – he isn’t Monique Viele). Wasn’t a normal player, someone Guillermo Vilas (who Scoop is writing a book on) said, “Tennis Hall of Famer Guillermo Vilas saw him play as a 10-year-old and gushed that he was the best 10-year-old he had ever seen.”

Probably would have gotten to the level of his brother. I think that’s a fair statement also. I have always considered him the better player, and I mean this. As you know my track record on players is bad – I thought Klahn was going to be fantastic (no – even when not injured his backhand dropped to the level of the “awful American man backhand” level”) and as you know I was also a big fan of Dan Kosakowski (destroyed by injuries as well).

I hope he stays in the game. I think he’d make a fine coach, possibly at the college level or the pro level. Seems to love the game inside out, which may be more possible for players with some distance that rarely get the chance.

As for all the tennis parent pushing and everything, that doesn’t cause a bone disorder. But if his dad was, say, unlike Tiafoe’s dad (who learned from driving his son Franklin Tiafoe and then took a more gentle approach with Francis)

And yes I hear all on the Cici Bellis issue, what a waste. I don’t dispute that others forced her into everything, there are a lot of forces out there such as greed and money and status etc, and sometimes and often I’d say a player’s handlers including parents don’t care about anyone other than themselves.

Anyways. Sorry to everyone on the TP board. I don’t mean to turn this into HARRISON WATCH and I see I have done it again. Back to Kerbermania or CocoGMania or the newest mutation known as Nakashimania 🙂