Xiyu Wang beat Yanina Wickmayer 64 75 on 17. Wang is a big tall, Kvitova type lefty. Keep an eye on her.
Sumit Nagal, the tiny Indian, matched Peter Polansky’s firepower and had a little more, edging out a tough 76 76 win. Both players sported black outfits in the 90 plus degree heat but Nagal, who stands just 5-7, is a mini beast. I had never heard of Nagal before Sarasota Open and Tallahassee this year where he won a few matches. Now he’s marching up the rankings into the top 200. He said he has known Stefan Kozlov since about age 12 from the junior circuit but now it’s Nagal who is coming of age. After the loss, Polansky took a Babolat out of his bag and broke it over his knee and tossed it into the court. A minute or so later he gave it to a kid wanting an autograph. Peter was seething but fulfilled his fan obligations.
Robin Anderson had to default to Nicole Gibbs, two days after her 64 in the third win vs Han, her legs still had not recovered. The 26 year old, who trains in Atlanta at the same club where Melanie Oudin coaches young kids, is still aiming for her first main draw. Her dad told me she had to miss months of play because on her first trip to Asia (Japan) she injured her shoulder. She’s also had hamstring issues.
Shuai Peng outlasted Christina McHale 64 64 on court 12 with a large gallery watching. McHale was crushed but signed and did selfies for her fans. Peng was ecstatic with the win.
The tall skinny Chinese girl Shilin Xu won again today, beating Varvara Flink 63 62.
Paulo Lorenzi, the 37 year old, beat Coucaud 64 76 and is now one win away from the main draw. There are a ton of Italians in both draws because Italy hosts so many Futures and Challenger events.
Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka hosted the draw ceremony at the Fan Week stage and both made some interesting comments. Osaka said she doesn’t like to look at her section, preferring to focus everything, all her energy on only on her next opponent. Djokovic said he will look ahead sometimes. Mary Joe Fernandez asked Djokovic if he would like to know if Federer was in his half or Rafa’s and Djokovic asked not to be told it, he wanted to wait to learn it backstage so he could “process” it there, not in front of all the fans and TV audience.
Watching the just turned 15 year old Katrina Scott with her former coach, who is the coach now of Shelby Rogers, I was able to learn some interesting scoops. Scott, who lost today to Anna Kalinskaya 63 63, had some success this summer in WTT and also Stanford where she lost in three sets to Babos. Her backhand is money, forehand still needs some work, good serve. good mover, she’s one of the best American prospects.
The coach said Rogers was able to hit with Pete Sampras at his home last year and he shared some interesting insights about the former king of tennis. Before the practice, Pete asked if it was okay to play music, which nobody protested, so Pete played some heavy hardcore rap, of artists like Meek Mill and two other names I forget. Pete said he likes the beat. When one song came on, one of the guys said he liked it but Pete skipped it, saying, “too commercial.”
Pete would reveal that he had trouble sleeping before major finals, not because of the pressure but because if he lost he knew he “would feel like sh** for three months.”
Another interesting thing was that in their baseline games, Pete would start the feed with anything, a laser beam super fast feed or a high moonball or anything.
Anderson’s dad also told me when his daughter Robin played at UCLA, Sampras would come by and sometimes hit with the team, as his sister Stella is the UCLA coach.
Practices today were Federer and Thiem, who was wearing a red NJ Red Bulls jersey. Federer was pretty low key, hitting a two handed backhand on one point I saw. Sofia Kenin was hitting with Saisai Shuai.
Fabio Fognini and Nick Kyrgios did a meet and greet at 7 pm at their hotel, The Benjamin on 50th Street, a few hundred fans showed up for 30 seconds with each, to take photos or get an autograph. I asked both for their thoughts on Marcelo Rios for an article I’m working on for La Segunda in Chile, about the influence of Rios on players in the 2019 Open. Fognini said, “Ah, Marcelo Rios, I love him.” Nick said he is too young and didn’t watch much tennis back then.
No tags
Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 10:50 pm
Wozniacki and Kerber hit together again on new grandstand. I saw Woz dad walk to court first and about 30 seconds behind were Woz and Kerber chatting together as they walked together to the court. I saw a few points, pretty even. Kerber has one young guy with her, looks more like a gopher than a coach. Jannik Sinner won today 76 in the third vs Galovic. Sinner the 18 year old from Italy was 4-1 down but is as cool as ice, he came back and won and showed no celebration at all, like he expected to win. Keep an eye o Sinner. He’s tall, skinny but has firepower. He reminds of a lankier longer limbed Rublev. Very good form and timing. COuld be a top ten player in the making.
catherine · August 23, 2019 at 12:48 am
Won’t do Angie any good practising with Woz. It’s not serious. Maybe the guy is her bf 🙂
I say it again – she’ll be out first week (so will Woz). And as Hartt has mentioned – she’s got those millions to retire on. And all that shampoo to keep her hair clean.
catherine · August 23, 2019 at 1:31 am
Sounds a little uncharitable what I’ve written – I haven’t dumped Angie – but I’m starting to think she lost her way when she and Fisette parted company and whatever the rights and wrongs of that I believe he made her think about the game and that’s how she won W’don. Scheuttler didn’t appear to do the same and neither did he seem to cope well with her ups and downs.
Now she seems happy chumming around with her friends and that’s fine – but wouldn’t it be nice to see her have one last serious go before she retires – hire a good coach, sort out her weaknesses and stop players taking advantage and booting her out early.
Is that what Sharapova’s trying to do ? Not much hope there I’m afraid.
jackson · August 23, 2019 at 2:40 am
Sam Querry, Rafael Nadal, Coco Gauff, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Alexander Zverev, Mischa Zverev, and Daniil Medvedev all played a badminton tournament in front of hundreds of fans at the Lotte Palace Hotel on Thursday. From the pictures it looks like they all had a lot of fun. And yes Andrew, Rafa plays badminton left-handed too.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2019 at 8:24 am
jackson, that was on 50th street right down the street from the Benjamin Hotel where Kyrgios and Fognini are staying. That’s a darn good draw for badminton which is a fun sport and I was told Federer used to hit badminton on a tennis court to mix up his training.
jg · August 23, 2019 at 1:11 pm
Scoop/Dan, is Brooksby the best coached male US player we have seen in a while?
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2019 at 1:32 pm
jg, Brooksby is coached by Joseph Gilbert. Not a well known coach but obviously a very good one. He’s come up outside the USTA and ha passed Brandon Nakashima in his birth year. Gilbert told he’s never played Korda. I saw him almost beat Polansky and he did crush Polmans. He is a tough smart, fundamanetal player. Could be the best coached American right now, you are right in suggesting so. He’s playing at Baylor now.
Andrew Miller · August 23, 2019 at 6:12 pm
Scoop, maybe someone will consider an ESPN 30 for 30 pitch for Rios. Stefanki would be in it for sure – he has had a hand in helping two of Chile’s best ever players. For some reason he says terrible things about Massu as Thiem’s coach and all I can think about is, first maybe Stefanki was turned down by Thiem, and second maybe Stefanki believes Thiem is the same player under Massu and he hasn’t improved (which he hasn’t – Thiem is excellent and he’s pretty similar to Thiem 2018).
Maybe Stefanki believes he could get Thiem to a slam and believes Massu can’t.
Or Stefanki has no filter.
Anyways Scoop, Rios – thirty for thirty. If there’s no modern day documentary on the guy his story is as good as Oblivion. It’s like Stan Smith. No one knows him but people still wear his sneakers.
Scoop Malinowski · August 23, 2019 at 8:20 pm
Andrew, if they do a 3030 on Renee Richards, Rios is fair game too. I know Eric Drath who produced the Richards one, helped him out with some interviews too, I will suggest a Rios one for him, he likes tennis as a film subject.