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

Hartt, I am glad, I have Big Three fatigue. No offense to any of them including the Spaniard (who is an amazing man and player, but who I wish respected the rules of the game a little more) – as a fan of the sport like you I have noticed that everyone, including the players themselves, has run out of words to describe their earth-shattering hall of fame careers. It’s at a point where we say “how many times have we seen X player do this” or “he’s really improved his backhand” (since the last time he improved it so that it was the best on tour eleven years ago?) – which we have already said so many years in a row that we forget. It’s exhausting and I hope I stick with this, I can’t cheer for anyone of them any more. I think Djokovic’s statement did it for me, when he said Federer inspires HIM to reach for MORE, even as he has 16 slams to his name, which few years ago would have been the most in the history of the sport.

Thanks also for chiming in on Christian Harrison. There are of course many promising players on tour and have been for such a long time. I am not sure how many are like him – he was to my eye “the real deal” (fearless, cracked returns, thrived on momentum, enjoyed the big stage and any court, anywhere). Maybe Bellis is like this but she experienced a lot greater success (however fleeting) while Christian Harrison was injured like clockwork within months of every return he’s made.

As before though I do not want to turn TP into a forum on the rise and fall and rise and fall of one tennis family. The Murrays have often blamed the UK for the lower profile career of Jamie Murray, but I don’t think he’s ever been the same caliber of player as his younger brother or the Murrays of other siblings on tour such as the Zverev brothers, the McEnroes, etc. But Christian Harrison to my eye was every bit the equal of his brother (and better – less volatile, more of a gamer, produced huge power for his small frame). But every comeback came with an expiration date.

It seems to me that not every player is meant to have a complete career on tour. It’s easy to point fingers as to culprits, but when all is said and done I think we have to at some point chalk it up to: “unlucky” rather than “unwise”.

It must be difficult to be a good tennis coach. The top ones talk about how they have to adapt to the personalities of different players, and deliver their message in a way that the player will be receptive to hearing it. So a good coach must understand people as well as knowing about forehands and backhands.

It becomes a mounting of the evidence. People witnessed how dad Harrison pushed his kid to play more and through pain unlike his approach to other boys he coached.

Scoop also hears he played through injury as a pro and it cost him.

At some point the same behavior over a long time is enough to surmise that the playing through injury thing was ingrained from a young age, and it not done by everyone.

Scoop, as told to Boston Globe, the Vilas second hand comment on Christian Harrison. As early as this 2009 or so article young Harrison had a broken body but a great tennis attitude. I have not been able to find verbatim quote.

http://archive.boston.com/sports/other_sports/tennis/articles/2009/05/30/small_wonder/

I respect what you and Jon are saying about Harrison the Elder aka Dad, who I remember Ryan Harrison was barking during one of his bad spells in late 2015 I think. Ryan Harrison had been upset.

I also get some tennis parents are good. From my observations outside of the sport I believe there’s always a problem and I expect as much from Osaka and her dad. But the Osakas are intelligent and know this.

Wow Scoop, Jan Silva, had not thought about that story in a while. Another Patrick Mouratoglou special.

For those who do not know, Jan’s dad was an uber tennis dad and by age 5, Jan was on videos rallying. Baghdatis saw him and alerted Mourataglou who immediately smelled a story to get press for his academy. The family sold their California house and moved to France to train at Patrick’s academy. They took their other kids out of school and brought them to France too.

Soon the parents got divorced, they moved back to US, and Jan played some local tournaments, quit tennis a few times, came back to tennis and is playing tournaments again as a high school senior.

Gauff is not Patrick’s first rodeo of the hype train.

Hartt – going back to your comment on the Pliskovas, as I understand it identical twins do have genetic differences, so the fact that Karolina is better at tennis can be explained by her genetic makeup giving her an advantage in some way.

Of course genes, DNA etc are all very complicated and I’d probably look at Wikipedia for more information, but I have met identical twins who were 99% alike but differed in abilities, ie not at the same level.

Pressed the wrong button. I was going to say that Christian’s last tourney this season was the Drummondville Challenger back in March, where he lost his first match. He has made under $380,000 in prize $ in his career to date.

Patrick does not lack for ego, so of course he can do it! 🙂

Scoop, running from court to court is something Patrick will have no trouble doing. He literally does his jogging around the outside of the courts during practice while Serena hits with a hitting partner.

Ask Serena Williams if she’d like a copy of your book Scoop! That’s way better than anything about an academy owner.

Does every player you’ve written about have a copy of their book now?

Kei said he will next play the New York tourney (in February). Opelka won it last year, defeating Canuck Brayden Schnur in the final. It did not sound like the tourney got good attendance, so if Kei is able to play that should help the tourney.

Kei is such an appealing player that it is a shame that injuries have had such a big impact on his career. Jose Morgado tweeted that he will lose 630 points in February, and will drop out of the top 20.

Also Saddlebrook is a pretty big academy.

Andy Murray: out until post Aussie Open. Another setback. I think Murray is retiring soon after the Olympics, but Murray of course will do so when he feels like it.

I accept your apology.