Tennis Prose




Sep/19

22

The Lighter Side Of Tennis

Tennis is a serious business with a lot at stake but funny, light hearted moments with the best players in the world do happen…

Magnus Larsson recalled the folly of almost losing his first prize money. “My first tennis paycheck, $2500. I lost. On the way back home to Stockholm. With my wallet. I had no money. I was calling my dad on the phone to tell him what time I come home. When I make the call, I found another wallet. I turned it into the info desk. Lot of money in it. Then when I got on the plane, I realize I left my wallet at the info desk! I had to run to get it back in time. But there was a few sweaty moments.”

Elena Vesnina witnessed a player robbed by a thief – during a changeover. β€œI remember I was playing one time in India and next court to me, Vania King actually – she put the banana on the chair and the monkey came and took it. And ball kids were trying to run after it to get the banana. And Vania was like, No I don’t need it. Leave it, give it to the monkey.”

Vince Spadea showed tennis is a game of love as he somehow managed to set up a date…while playing in a Tour match. “One time I got a phone number during a match. I was rappin’, pretendin’ like I was talkin’ to the ballkid. Hey, how’s it going? Maybe we’ll have a drink sometime. So then later the ballkid slipped me the number. Her name was Sunshine.”

When asked about a funny tennis memory, Xavier Malisse immediately thought of a former player he used to practice with. “Mose Navarra of Italy, I’ve never known a guy as crazy as him. We used to go out a lot. And I know how he acts, every time we go out my stomach would hurt from laughing. His remarks around people, not bad, just funny.”

Thomas Muster went all the way back to his childhood days of playing in Austria. The always passionate and demonstrative Muster was never shy about expressing himself in tennis, not even as a young boy.  “When I was younger, I was trying to ask anyone and everyone to play with me. Anyone who was waiting for a friend or who just finished, I ask everyone to play. I think people were afraid to come early to the club because I was there.”

Nicolas Lapentti recalled an uncanny memory of his amazingly accurate shotmaking. “I was playing a tournament in Lima, Peru in 1995. And my coach at the time – Pablo Guzman – was sitting up, up in the corner. And I hit a serve wide and it hit something in the wall – like a wire or something – and the ball went straight up and took off his baseball hat. The ball went completely up – it didn’t touch him – just took off his hat. A hat like yours. Took it off. It was too much.”

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Nicolas Kiefer remembered how he artfully dodged having to do tedious running drills in practice. “When I was younger, 9 or 10, in practice we used to run a lot because of fitness. Once I did not want to run and I closed myself in a locker room closet. And so I didn’t run. After, they come back and pick me up.”

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Andy Roddick honed his competitive spirit as he used to play fantasy matches in his garage. “When I was growing up, we had this rebound net in our garage that I played on. And I used to pretend I was playing McEnroe, Sampras, Lendl, three out of five sets. My mom would come out and ask me the score. And I’d be like, I’m winning. She’d be like, Oh, that’s impressive. So that was my big thing when I was little, playing with that rebound net, being in my own little world.”

Arnaud DiPasquale summoned up an odd experience in South America. Unfortunately a poor bird met a violent fate. “One time, a long time ago, in Satellite in Uruguay. Just after juniors. I was practicing. There were a few birds on the baseline while we were taking a drink on the changeover. I just hit the ball to scare them away. And I killed one. I felt so bad after that. I feel like a killer. I killed the bird.”

Jim Courier reminisced about times at The Bollettieri Academy. “The times I was at Bollettieri’s Tennis Camp where we would sneak out in the middle of the night. The boys and the girls, we’d all sneak out, take our racquets with tennis balls at 2 a.m. and have like these tennis ball wars where they were building stuff. So we were like firing tennis balls at each other from close range. Of course, we all got caught and had to wash cars and pick the weeds the next day.”

I interviewed the great Don Budge at the U.S. Open a few years before he passed away. He retained a memory of a ping pong match. “We have a ping pong table at home. I took a fellow – a neighbor of mine – up there to see our game room. He said, Oh, do you play ping pong? I said, Yes. He said, You know, I’m a pretty good player. So I played him. After he said, Gee, you’re pretty good Don! I said, Oh, I play much better right-handed! I played him left-handed and beat him easily. And he was quite chagrined [smiles]!”

Richard Krajicek culled a memory of when he was only second-best in the Krajicek household.  “I was six or seven, I used to play tennis with my older sister Lenka. She used to always beat me. She was 13. Then one day she played left-handed to make it fair. And she still beat me!”

Poland’s Lukas Kubot had a bizarre moment when his serve hit his doubles partner not once but twice. “I played with Oliver Marach in doubles. And I hit him with my serve to the head. And the ball didn’t go left or right – it went 20 meters straight up. Fell down and the ball fell down and hit him again. And we were playing French guys in the Challenger. It was at the end of 2005, the Challenger in Doha. After was the ATP tournament in Doha. And the first question that I asked Oliver, Man, sorry, are you okay? And his answer was like, Man, I want to win [smiles]. So I had a second serve after and I couldn’t stop laughing. So I was laughing. I got a time violation from the referee. And I hit the second serve directly to the fans with my frame [smiles]. So that was probably the funniest. (Win?) We win the match. We won the tournament with a wildcard. And we played semifinal in Doha in the ATP tournament, which actually started the doubles career.”

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204 comments

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 6:45 am

    I’m posting here because the previous thread is very long.

    Just catching up with events in Asia. I’m not sure about this so-called ‘Asian Swing’. A lot of women players seem tired or injured and the stadiums are often virtually empty. Seems to me a dead time of the year but I suppose the WTA has to fill it with something and try to drum up some income.

    Hsieh bt Woz in Wuhan – another 3 setter. Hsieh strikes me as the most popular player among casual fans – I’ve hardly seen a bad word said about her. I suppose a lot of people identify, they can see themselves playing her game.

    Kiki lost SS to Martic and I’m wondering if Sascha can take her any further. She’s good in doubles, but singles, no. Just hasnt got the variety and maybe stamina.

    Puig bt Kerber in 3, close first two and then 6-1. If I were Angie I’d pull out of Beijing, pack my bags and go home. No point in hanging around any longer. Just depressing. Take a safari holiday or something.

  • Hartt · September 23, 2019 at 7:02 am

    Someone who watched the Kerber match said she was “pissy.” You may be right, time for a holiday.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 7:20 am

    Hartt – I just watched the highlights – Monica played pretty well overall – who’s her coach now ? Can’t recall with all the musical chairs. Angie fought ok for the first 2 and then began to look dispirited and resigned. Didn’t see any coach but might have missed that. She served 9 dfs. I think Angie ‘whatever’ might fit.

  • Hartt · September 23, 2019 at 7:45 am

    Angie “whatever” is sad. You hate to see players not giving their best effort.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 8:20 am

    The sadness is that I’m sure Angie does want to give her best but something is stopping her. Could say the same for Kasatkina, whose fall has been a major puzzle.

    Something went wrong for Angie earlier this year and then hit her again at W’don and in her preparation for the USO, which I’ve mentioned before. And the ‘drama queen’ – that was out of character, and dropping Schuettler without a safety net.

    It’s a fact that we learn from mistakes but the learning process has to be in place. Otherwise the wheels just spin.

    One thing we can be sure of – she’s not going to tell us. For all the publicity and social media we know very little about her.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2019 at 8:33 am

    9 DFs almost sounds like a semi tank, as in I want to go home to Germany tank.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2019 at 8:38 am

    My guess is Kerber is going through the motions through the rest of the year, she will get serious and get back on track in the off season and focus on AO. There is no motivation for her to play her best tennis in Sept and Oct. She’s on cruise control and vacation mode until December.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 8:47 am

    You’re probably right. She’s certainly not killing herself on the court. I could say the same for a couple of other players too. Unfortunately punters pay to see these no-shows.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 10:23 am

    Actually Angie’s now risen to 12 in rankings so she should worry πŸ™‚

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 12:02 pm

    Coachless Sabalenka takes out Danielle Rose 6-1 6-0 in Wuhan. Aryna served 7 aces which is a nice turnaround. Is Aryna making a statement or was she just irritated by Collin’s prematch comments ? Will Tursunov be back ?

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2019 at 12:15 pm

    Sabalursunov are reunited.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 12:25 pm

    Is that true ? I didn’t see it reported anywhere.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 2:18 pm

    Scoop – here’s one for your insider sources. Do you know anything about blood doping in tennis ? I’ve never thought it was a problem but I’ve been hearing rumours for a while now about a highly ranked player – I think it’s nonsense and I don’t see how anyone could get away with it or even if it would help. Still, I’m curious.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2019 at 3:30 pm

    Catherine, it’s been happening in boxing and tennis since the 90s. One champion boxer even told me he did it, like it was no big deal. This was in mid 90s.

  • catherine · September 23, 2019 at 4:13 pm

    Thanks – maybe I’ll take notice of the rumours. I remember something years ago about a couple of male players but nothing was proved. This story’s been on the internet for a while.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2019 at 4:18 pm

    Not going to see anything published on this about big stars, top players. As Marcelo Rios revealed, “If (star 1) or (star 2) ever test positive, you guys in the media will never hear about it because they are too important to the economics of the tour.” Jonas Bjorkman in 1998: “I have heard of the ITF covering up positive tests.” No major revelations that the mainstream tennis media ignored completely.

  • Hartt · September 23, 2019 at 7:37 pm

    Medvedev has continued his amazing run by winning St. Petersburg, making that the fifth final in a row he has played. Could he be the player who finally challenges the Big 3? At age 23 he should be in his prime now. He has shown he has the necessary fighting spirit.

    “It’s probably the biggest wave I’ve caught in my career,” Medvedev told press in Russian following the win. “Even before the tournament in St. Petersburg, I had questions about whether I could back up what I did, could keep playing the same tennis, cope with all the attention and media demands. I think I proved something to everyone.” (tennis.com)

    “According to Medvedev, his recent performances have earned him a reputation among the players, with Nick Kyrgios asking his coach during Cincinnati whether Medvedev was a “machine” and if he slept.

    “He replied, ‘I recharge him at night, he doesn’t sleep,’” said Medvedev.”

    He did say, however, that the wear and tear may cause him to re-evaluate his upcoming schedule.

  • Harold · September 23, 2019 at 8:19 pm

    Will he change his schedule or worry about protecting these new found ranking points…Going to be seeded pretty high in tourneys during the fall. The major dilemma following everyones first big breakout…chase more points, or figure out the best schedule for the big events?

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 23, 2019 at 8:25 pm

    Good to see he’s keeping up the winning ways. He has established himself as the biggest threat to the big 3 we have ever seen. More dangerous than delpo and murray and thiem. Medvedev can actually take over. His timing is better than Murray.

  • catherine · September 24, 2019 at 1:01 am

    Kvitova v Hercog – Petra served and volleyed to Polona’s weaker b’hand in the 1st set t/b and won the set. How many others would have the wit to try this surprise tactic ? You don’t have to have a hurrican serve.

    Monica Puig is slimmer, faster and hitting harder. Would be a fun match if she met Sloane πŸ™‚

  • catherine · September 24, 2019 at 1:10 am

    As one who grew up watching mostly serve/volley and seeing the odd player trying it now, I always notice the footwork – natural serve volleyers skip to the net (or float in the case of Goolagong and Novotna) and only Barty of the current lot has the same type of movement I think.

  • catherine · September 24, 2019 at 3:42 am

    Riske bts Puig in 3. If Puig hadn’t beaten Angie…….

  • Hartt · September 24, 2019 at 10:35 am

    Andy just won his match against Sandgren in Zhuhai. Tennys won the 2nd set TB, but Andy took the decider 6-1, finishing with serve-and-volley. Andy looked very good overall, so this was encouraging. He did not yell at his player box at all. I am glad of that, but it did seem strange, like a different Andy.

  • catherine · September 24, 2019 at 12:42 pm

    Did you notice Andy’s new teeth ?

  • Hartt · September 24, 2019 at 12:44 pm

    Andy has had the new teeth for a while now. He must have had the work done during the period he was off after the surgery.

  • catherine · September 24, 2019 at 12:50 pm

    Yes, he had it done while he was recuperating. There was a feeling he was thinking maybe of a career in TV or something similar if his surgery didn’t turn out well. Hence the teeth.

  • Hartt · September 24, 2019 at 1:10 pm

    Then thank goodness the surgery did work out!

  • Hartt · September 24, 2019 at 1:17 pm

    This seems suitable for “the lighter side of tennis.” I finally got to see the interview with Bianca and her coach Sylvain Bruneau on the TV program “Tout le monde en parle.” Bianca started with a couple sentences in French, but then switched to English (with French subtitles). Bruneau, of course, answered in French.

    At one point they showed a cute photo of Bianca with her mother and Coco. Bianca said Coco had so many mentions on twitter that she was thinking of setting up an IG page for her. (Kevin Anderson’s pup has one, so there is a precedent.)

  • catherine · September 24, 2019 at 2:53 pm

    Is Coco in China with Bianca – are her parents going as well ? It’s not going to be easy for Bianca playing her first tournament after the USO and all the publicity. I imagine there isn’t a player who doesn’t want to beat her. You can see the media headlines: ‘ Has the Bianca bubble burst ? X shows the Canadian has a long way to go…..’ And so on.

    Naturally I’m hoping that doesn’t happen.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 24, 2019 at 4:06 pm

    Luke Jensen described what Marcelo Rios went through in my book about Rios, how he was the hunter and then became the hunted. “All the sudden you’re the hunted. Not the hunter. And I think that was a different dynamic. Now instead of hanging in the weeds a little bit, now he’s the guy. And everybody’s going for him. Everywhere he goes – there’s RIOS. Let’s watch him practice. It’s a different place in the game.”

  • Andrew Miller · September 24, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    Novotna. Wonderful to watch, except a few moments here and there πŸ˜‰

  • Andrew Miller · September 24, 2019 at 5:49 pm

    Riske…how she wins…substance over form.

  • Andrew Miller · September 24, 2019 at 5:53 pm

    Kerber mania! Going with Scoop’s famous sub-c. tank. That would deny Puig her rightful and delightful win of all its glory. Hope Puig moved from Chicago!

    Still strikes me as bizarre. Puig: I moved to Chicago to train seriously. Coach: excellent. Glad you enjoyed Chicago. Oh yeah by the way I just began coaching Sloane Stephens so no hard feelings. Puig: are you kidding me? All hard feelings! What about the furniture I just bought?!!!?!!!?? I’m outta here!!!

  • Hartt · September 24, 2019 at 7:00 pm

    Catherine, Bianca said her parents had some things to take care of at home so they, and presumably Coco, are not going to Asia. She said they were planning on going to Australia. It sounds as though they are no longer working.

    I am trying to keep my expectations for Bianca realistic. I hope she can win a couple matches in Beijing, and it looks like she should qualify for Shenzhen OK.

    Obviously this winning streak will come to an end. On the Tennis Podcast they were joking that they had never seen her lose a match. Because I’ve been watching her for a few years of course I have seen Bianca lose, and I also saw the Auckland final where she lost to Goerges.

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 1:19 am

    Biianca had injuries I recall in Auckland and I think Julia was lucky to win that one. She was too classy to hint it though.

    Simona has retired injured in Wuhan. I suspect everything is on hold now until Cahill’s back on the scene. Asian tournaments are a bit rubbish really.

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 1:34 am

    While I was thinking about s/v tennis earlier I found Navratilova v Graf on Youtube at 1989 USO. Quality of the film isn’t very good but some of the points are to die for.

  • Hartt · September 25, 2019 at 6:48 am

    Will look for that match. It sounds like fun.

  • Hartt · September 25, 2019 at 6:51 am

    Shapo just beat Berankis in Chengdu in SS – 6-4, 6-3. I had a wonky stream, but did get to see some of the match. Berankis gets a lot of balls back, so t wasn’t easy. But Denis had 16 aces!

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 7:59 am

    Sounds a great match for Denis – and I just saw Seppi bt Kyrgios in SS – 6-1 in the second. Nick probably just lost interest.

    In Wuhan Barty, Sabalenka, Svitolina go through and Yastremska is winning v Pliskova, but that’s not over yet. Nice to see Saba get past a second round. She’s lost a bit of weight I think. Barty bt Kenin who had a strapped thigh.

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 8:23 am

    Yastremska did beat Ka in just over an hour. If Pliskova was fit, that’s a big upset.

    One point about Sabalenka – assuming her comments aren’t translated, she speaks extremely good English. Very articuate.

  • Hartt · September 25, 2019 at 8:38 am

    Interesting that Yastremska beat Ka so easily.

    I thought Ka stood a chance to win the tourney, but of course one never knows when it comes to the WTA.

    On the Tennis Podcast Catherine Whitaker, who works with Daniela Hantuchova, mentioned that Daniela said she could tell when the WTA had more depth. It was in 2008. It’s surprising that she could cite an exact year, but there is a lot of depth in the WTA now, so there aren’t many easy matches.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 25, 2019 at 8:54 am

    I find it curious how a player can assert there is more depth at one time more than another. There is always DEPTH. Did Daniela offer any evidence to support her claim? How can there be more depth in 2008? There are always the same amount of hungry driven players to be the best. Maybe at one time there are more bigger names who later became bigger champions to make the perception of an era seem stronger. But IMO every era is always the same challenge, there are no easier eras or shortcuts to win majors. There are no fluke winners of majors, everybody earned their’s, including Korda, Johansson, Gaudio, Delpo, Cilic, Schiavone, Myskina, etc. No such thing as a lucky major winner with a lucky draw or he/she won in a weak era.

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 9:39 am

    Scoop – I agree. Ever since I can remember someone’s been saying ‘ oh but there was so much more depth in xxxx year,’ or, ‘there’s so much depth right now’ – I’ve never known what they mean. Some years there might have been a dominant player who won more GS eg but that didn’t make every tournament easy and you’ll generally find the same names cropping up in the latter stages over a certain period. There are more pro players now in the WTA – that’s the only real change I can see, but the best players still tend to congregate at the top level and stay around for a while until age replaces them.

    Some matches are pretty easy – usually means one player is young and rising up and the opponent is on the way down.

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 9:50 am

    Yastremska beating Pliskova is a case in point – 6-1 6-4. Dyana has been hanging around as a promising player and has now scored an upset. I don’t see Ka winning a major tournament now – she’s most likely reached her peak.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 25, 2019 at 11:16 am

    It’s a silly theory about weak eras, deep eras, pure nonsense, a flat out hoax. They do it in boxing too. Fat journalists who never laced up a glove judging who is weak and who is not. Maybe Hantuchova provided some evidence to substantiate her claim? Please share if so.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 25, 2019 at 11:17 am

    Pliskova is probably on cruise control to her off season vaca.

  • catherine · September 25, 2019 at 12:10 pm

    Players who have made the year end Finals don’t care.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 25, 2019 at 12:23 pm

    Wonder if the tennis integrity unit is keeping a close eye on these matches.

  • Hartt · September 25, 2019 at 12:43 pm

    This was Whitaker quoting Daniela, so I don’t know what else Daniela said about it. But many of the current players, such as Petko, say that the matches are tough from the first round. She said at one time she could pretty well breeze through the first couple rounds, but not any longer. I don’t think they are talking about players at the top, but are saying that the lower-ranked players are better than they used to be.

  • Scoop Malinowski · September 25, 2019 at 12:49 pm

    Maybe Petko is not as good as she was a few years ago, she’s definitely not as fit and muscular as she was and she is older. The lower ranked players are better than they used to be…. if only there was a shred of scientific proof to prove that silly assertion. Allow me to break it down…Pro tennis is a tough business, it’s hard to win matches period. Nothing has changed ever. It’s hard to win pro tennis matches. I think players get so tired of the same interview questions, they sometimes instinctively get creative without even knowing it, to give the writers a different story instead of the same old cliches about forehands and backhands and the next tournament

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