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Aug/19

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US Open Women’s Title A Wide Open Race

Teenage sensation Coco Gauff will aim to take the US Open by storm after receiving a coveted wildcard for the women’s singles tournament this month. The 15-year-old captured the imagination of tennis fans around the world with her run to the fourth round of Wimbledon in June. She became the youngest player to qualify during the Open era and she quickly dispatched former WTA world number one Venus Williams to announce her vast potential. Now she aspires to defy the odds once again and she should enjoy a fantastic reception on home soil at Flushing Meadows.

If you read a BetOnline review and find the best tennis odds from a respected betting site, you will see that Serena Williams is the clear favorite to win the US Open. She has not triumphed at a major since she gave birth to her daughter in 2017, but she has been to three finals and she appears to be improving as she enjoys more time on court. Wimbledon champion Simona Halep is second in the betting, followed by French Open winner Ashleigh Barty. You will not find Gauff among the tournament favorites, but she has already shown that she can flourish on the big stage, and threaten even the WTA elites.

The Delray Beach-based Gauff defeated WTA no. 92 Aliona Bolsova and WTA 128 Greet Minnen to qualify for Wimbledon, while doing her homework and sitting for exams after the matches. That thrust her into the spotlight and she told reporters that she grew up idolizing Serena and Venus Williams and clamors to face the sisters one day. It did not take long, as she was handed a dream first round clash with Venus, although she was given little chance of toppling the former Wimbledon champion. Yet Gauff delivered a sensational performance to win 6-4 6-4, catapulting her to overnight superstardom.

Gauff has handled the excessive media frenzy of attention with poise and grace. She seemed unfazed by the hectic experience and continued to play with veteran maturity throughout the tournament. Next up she beat former Wimbledon semi-finalist Magdalena Rybarikova and then she took down world number 60 Polona Hercog to march into the second week. Her tournament ended with a 3-6 3-6 defeat at the hands of Halep, but there is no shame in that, as the Romanian went on to win the tournament. Halep beat Serena in the final and dropped fewer games than she did against Gauff.

Since then, the 15-year-old has not fared quite so well. She qualified for the main draw at the Washington Open last month, but she lost in straight sets to Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas in the first round. Yet she has already shown that she can thrive under pressure in big tournaments, so nobody will take Gauff lightly at Flushing Meadows this month. She has risen from 313 to 140 in the world rankings as a result of her Wimbledon exploits, and she has the potential to go all the way to the top.

However, it is probably a bit too early to expect her to actually go on and win the famous trophy in Arthur Ashe Stadium in September. Williams has a phenomenal record at Flushing Meadows – she’s won it six times – but it is hard to look past world number four Halep after the way she surged to glory at Wimbledon. She has never been past the semi-final at the US Open, but she went to the Australian Open final last year and she is strong on hardcourt. Halep is now a two-time Grand Slam winner, so she possesses the experience and mental strength to get the job done. Yet the unpredictability of the women’s game – Halep lost in the first round in New York last year – is what makes it so exciting right now, and dozens of players have a legitimate shot at victory in two weeks, so it promises to be an exhilarating event with plenty of drama, surprise and high quality tennis.

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91 comments

  • catherine · August 21, 2019 at 4:04 pm

    I imagine Angie can foot the bill but as I said, she prefers a German speaker.

  • Hartt · August 21, 2019 at 5:03 pm

    From what Stefanki said in the interview, he is very choosy about who he will coach. He said too often a player he is talking with about a coaching gig will ask him what he should do. Larry said he has several questions for the player, such as:

    What do you want to accomplish?

    What is holding you back?

    What changes do you want to make?

  • Hartt · August 21, 2019 at 5:09 pm

    At least from what he said in the interview, Stefanki does not sound desperate for a coaching job. He said that he been approached by several players, including top 15 players, but he did not decide to work with them.

  • Hartt · August 21, 2019 at 5:43 pm

    Apparently the weather is delaying the Shapovalov vs Kecmanovic match in Winston-Salem, so I have a few spare minutes.

    What Stefanki said about players like Rios and Roddick won’t be news to many people here, but I found it interesting.

    He said working with Rios “was fine. I never had a problem with him personally.” When they started working together Rios was on a long losing streak, so he “was not in a position of power, so he was all ears.” He “knew I was a tough guy.” Under Stefanki Rios went from No. 128 to No. 1.

    He said that Rios wasn’t a great competitor but was an artist. He helped Rios become more of a competitor. He felt there were 2 players with “the gift” – McEnroe and Rios.

    He said that Rios only wanted it his way and “life doesn’t work that way.” He also said that Rios did not respect the game, did not enjoy it, that he played for $ or other reasons.

    When Rios said the coaching was over, that he wanted to go in another direction, Stefanki said there was only 1 way to from No.1 and that is down. He never said another word to Rios, even though he did see him a few times in a locker room.

  • Andrew Miller · August 21, 2019 at 5:58 pm

    Wow! Stefanki is numbingly honest. He worked with him everyday and he’s right about the talent level. I’d argue other players are every bit if not more talented – I’d put Federer, Nalbandian, Nadal, Djokovic in that category of “you may never see this shot again”, possibly Kyrgios. Seles. Hingis. Henin. Serena at her best.

    I saw some clips last night on YouTube of Federer vs Rios – Federer did everything Rios did (somewhat better given Rios heart wasn’t in it).

  • Andrew Miller · August 21, 2019 at 6:07 pm

    Agassi played an exhibition in Chile against Rios and said he had talent to spare, but that winning a grand slam title can’t be phoned in. Agassi of course is correct here – he knew Rios had the talent to win a slam, but the mental toughness thing, which includes being interested in a match you are playing even against a no name, wasn’t there.

    Muster was a guy everyone hated who won a slam. And Rios was a guy everyone hated who never won a slam and, even cheated by Korda, it’s not clear Rios would have beaten Karol Kucera, were Kucera to have been a finalist.

    A past colleague of mine also played some pro tennis at the challenger levels and some of the same tournaments as Rios, and she said she disliked Rios personally but that she’d never seen a better player in her life, that no one on Earth could hit his shots. She left competitive tennis in her early 20s in the late 90s so was not around for ultra Federer etc.

    I think Nadal can hit any Rios shot and Federer as a right can hit a right handed version (he studied Rios, so makes sense).

  • Hartt · August 21, 2019 at 8:06 pm

    Shapo had an easy win over Kecmanovic, 6-2, 6-3. Denis played well overall, but Kecanovic was off tonight, virtually nothing was working for him.

    I hope these two wins help Shapo’s confidence before the USO. He will play the winner of Querrey vs Rublev next.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 21, 2019 at 8:33 pm

    Shap is a new player now under Youzhny, the coach with ELITE EXPERIENCE that he has been missing. He is playing smarter, more patient, more intelligent. It is clear. Major move by Shap to hire a brilliant tennis mind like Mikhail Youzhny, who knows what it takes to be a top player and who has played 90% of the ATP. Expect a Shap explosion very soon.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 21, 2019 at 9:49 pm

    Interesting is that Hewitt is not in N.Y. with the Aussie players, he’s in Australia. Have the players revolted and declined his pushy presence? Tomic said nobody likes Hewitt. Even deminaur did not have Hewitt in wash dc. Interesting because hewitt was a constant oresence with the aussies last year.

  • catherine · August 22, 2019 at 1:41 am

    Andrew – this trinity of Seles, Hingis, Henin – did you ever see Steffi play ? She was better than all of them, even with her injuries and a curtailed career.

    And if Hingis had been as great as she’s puffed she would have won 20 GSs in singles.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 6:36 am

    Yes, I saw Graf – I don’t think she hit a flat or top-spin backhand once during the match I saw, true to form! She stayed with her slice, her footwork was impeccable, and generally “every shot was a power shot”. She dominated with hee forehand when we saw her. In terms of hitting a ball differently or artistically, Graf struck me more as uber athlete who played with uncommon precision and efficiency.

    That and she had a knack for putting the ball where he opponent wasn’t. And when we saw her true to tv that ball toss WAS high. It was really, really high.

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 7:27 am

    At the end of David Law’s interview with Larry Strfanski he asked Stefanski about today’s players.

    He thinks that Novak will win the most Slams, largely because he is younger than Rafa and Roger. He said Novak has to focus on tennis and keep his mind free. If anything holds Novak back it is “between the ears.”

    He thinks Rafa could win RG a couple more times but will struggle at the hard court Slams. He thinks Roger could win one more Slam.

    He is not impressed with the youngsters. “I don’t see any young guys stepping up into that arena.” He said they are too inconsistent, that they are there for a week and then go away. They lack the ability to execute under pressure. They aren’t getting the job done when they don’t have their best stuff. They don’t have the right mentality.

    Stefanski was practically sputtering with frustration when he talked about this. “Why aren’t they taking on the challenge?”

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 7:31 am

    Hartt, I listened to a lot, it was very insightful, the parting with Rios, the rapport with Yevy, the decision to coach Gonzalez over Murray, Murray’s sense of humor, very good interview and educational. I tried many times to interview Larry about Rios when I was doing my Rios book about seven years ago, somehow I got his phone number but he declined to talk about Rios. Understand his resentment. He did a phenomenal job for Rios and lost his job and salary. Hopefully not a bonus for getting Rios to no.1 which often includes a big bonus for the coach.

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 7:38 am

    My morning coffee had not kicked in when I wrote that post. Of course it is Stefanki.

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 7:52 am

    Scoop, am glad to hear your reaction to the interview. Because I did not know a lot about some of those players I wondered how others would view it.

    He certainly was forthcoming. Once he agreed to do the interview there was no holding him back!

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 7:57 am

    I am glad that Shapo is working with Youzhny. When he went back to the coach he’d had as a junior I wondered what was going on, that made no sense.

    Shapo attributes his current success to regaining his enthusiasm for tennis after taking a break following Wimby.

    “I wouldn’t call it burnout but it had become kind of a routine for you,” Shapovalov said. “It becomes your job every week. Every week is the same thing. Somewhere it went from being excited about being on the court in Montreal or the US Open to, ‘OK, I’ve been here before’ and it becomes repetitive. I just started treating it completely different. I’ve always worked hard but I wasn’t so inspired to be out on the court. So when I took that step back, I started to really miss playing and training hard. That’s when I kinda found that spark again.” (Winston-Salem Journal)

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 8:05 am

    Stefanki must be reading a lot of tennis message boards. I’m pretty upset myself with the next gens and previous next gens going back to Gasquet, Monfils, etc. I was even more upset when I watched the 1986 ATP final with McEnroe and Becker, just to see how good they were and try to think about whether today’s players are “better”. Not only were they incredible, but they were also very mentally tough competitors. And Becker was 19 in that match, two Wimbledon titles in his pocket.

    Stefanki must be a special coach. I thought he did a very good job with Roddick, though I think critics even here on TP have said Roddick lost some of his power game under Stefanki, going from a guy using his blistering serve to break open matches, to a guy that was rallying along the baseline.

    I think both are true. Roddick did scale back his power game. And he was also much more consistent with Stefanki. Without Stefanki I don’t think Roddick would have put himself in position to win Wimbledon or make the final five years after his previous final, or be within eight to ten points of winning it.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 8:19 am

    Youzhny IS PERFECT for Shap. Experienced, doesnt need the money, Russian, knows exactly what shap is going through. This could be massive spark for a stagnant stale player.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 8:22 am

    Hartt, Stefanki has a lot to say, also hes an elite but forgotten coach. Should be coaching in majors in second weeks with his experiences, not coaching 12 and 13 year olds. This podcast is a reminder to pros that a superb coach is out there and available.

  • catherine · August 22, 2019 at 8:38 am

    Andrew – re Graf, putting the ball where your opponent isn’t is what tennis is all about I suppose 🙂 Although quite a lot of girls today seem to be intent on putting the ball exactly where their opponent is. I did see her hit topspin b/h occasionally but yes, slice was favoured. As you say, her footwork was sublime.

    Steffi never did anything about that high ball toss – I suppose with the rest of her game the serve wasn’t a priority. Would have been better with a lower toss you’d think.

    Players were scared to play Steffi. You could feel it. I can’t think of anyone you’d say that about now. Serena in her prime maybe, but not now.

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 8:55 am

    Scoop, I just updated my 2019 match notes for Shapo and it wasn’t a lot of fun, one early round loss after another. Although he did have a couple tough draws – Delpo in R32 at Queen’s and Thiem also R32 at the Rogers Cup. And there was making the SF in Miami, one bright spot.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 8:56 am

    Playing to win by putting the ball where the opponent isn’t does work on the WTA 🙂

    Yes, Graf showed some super athleticism – how she approached the ball (not technique but her positioning around the ball) reminds me of Federer, Djokovic today. I remember Graf “flying” basically – she wasn’t just a “tennis player” (as in expert in tennis as a craft), but a super athlete who had a pretty good vertical leap from what we saw in the stands.

    I don’t think anyone was ready for that, to engage someone that leaped through the court. I don’t think Graf was a “machine” or a “robot”, but her style wasn’t artistic either. It was lethal, designed to win in as few shots as possible. Graf like Serena at her best would win matches in less than fifty minutes.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 8:58 am

    Shapo vs Rublev should be fireworks. This is a good test. Rublev is probably chomping at the bit to get this match, and Shapo has got something to prove. Very much a match where Youzhny insight would make a difference.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 9:01 am

    Players racking up the ATP points in Winston Salem! Nice to see Stevie Johnson doing well there. Winner of Shapo Rublev gets Tiafoe or Hurkacz. Johnson vs Millman (I’d take the steely vet) and Paire vs Carreno Busta (pick em).

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 9:47 am

    Today’s Winston-Salem matches sound interesting. The tourney has done well for a 250 right before the USO. Of course the match I will be glued to is Shapo vs Rublev. I will be a nervous wreck.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 10:17 am

    Hartt, hope Rublev and Shapo put on a show with plenty of good tennis. They’re capable of a (future) classic so they should bring their best. To me this is a bragging rights match. I was confused by the ATP next gen tournament match they played because of the odd scoreline, first to four games. Another innovation..

    Count me a purist on tennis and innovation. If you want innovation let’s see more Jensen brothers playing with both hands, and fewer apologies when a ball hits the tape and rolls over, as well as less tanking (hello, better travel agents?)

    Otherwise no thanks 🙂

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 1:35 pm

    Stefanki interview is so good! Wow, what a good coach. No wonder his players improve under Stefanki guidance. He’s credible. Preaches improvement.

    Bottom line…players win with Stefanki because they become better players, which is the job. Who cares if he’s fishing for a new player, he should and they should hire him.

    Credit to the game in my opinion. Possibly one of best tennis coaches alive.

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 2:09 pm

    His results speak for themselves, the way he guided very different players to success. I liked the way, even though he had worked with a couple “gifted” players, he appreciated guys like Henman and Roddick, who worked very hard and made the most of their talent.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 2:29 pm

    Stefanki, from a quick Google search, was brutal on Thiem, Bouchard, Dimitrov, Massu. Says Massu isn’t a real coach, Dimitrov wasn’t willing to work, Bouchard was more interested in things other than tennis, and not a critique of Thiem but Massu, that Thiem could be the best because of Thiem, not Massu as cheerleader.

    Wow. Why does Stefanki say this? Do these players owe Stefanki money or something?

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 2:50 pm

    Wow, Stefanki. I just read some Chilean posts about him, his remarks on Nico Jarry and Cris Garin. Basically: Jarry has so much work to do technically and stays on clay, so don’t expect much from this top 100 player (wow). And Garin, congratulations but why fly back to Chile before a major after winning Munich in May, rather than stay on to play the biggest tournaments before the French?

    Stefanki. Wow man. I guess I’m not used to someone saying listen, you’re missing that backhand ten times out of ten. Are you sure you don’t want to work on it?

    He must be a very confidant coach. He’s not a I will tell you player just play your game. Stefanki says, we will strengthen your game by working on your weaknesses and in six months you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this six years ago.

    It’s nice to see this. Still shocked by how bluntly he speaks about players. Is he wrong? Doesn’t seem like it.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 4:12 pm

    “You can take Cincinatti and shove it” – Stefanki to Roddick their first phone call, after Roddick said he could win his weight. Stefanki had him lose like twenty pounds!

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 4:21 pm

    Wow. Interview of the year. From Stefanki, why Roddick had a good BH volley – he had a one handed backhand up until age 13. No wonder his two hander had so many problems! Sampras changed his two hander to a one hander at age 16, when he was…get this..number 56 in the country.

    Dan…this is huge.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 4:39 pm

    Can’t get enough of the Stefanki interview! Roddick to box in 2010 Miami quarters vs Nadal, “I just played the best set of my life from the backcourt and still lost the set!” Stefanki: “yeah what’s that tell you?”

    Wow. Roddick adjusts, plays SV, beats Nadal.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 4:48 pm

    Stefanki interview even better than Agassi interviews or any interview from Uncle Toni. Probably Andy Murray’s mom Judy Murray would be as good or Hingis mom.

    What a great interview. Best interview since Stathovsky?

  • Hartt · August 22, 2019 at 4:56 pm

    Andrew, I guess it’s safe to say you enjoyed the interview. 🙂

    The tennis press probably will pick up many quotes from it over the next few days.

    I followed your lead and looked for other articles on him. In this one by Chris Clarey in the 2009 NY Times he is quoted:

    “When Andy called, I just felt it was the right time,” Stefanki said. “When I stop traveling in three or four years, Andy will probably be one of the last guys I work with, if not the last guy, so then I can start working with American juniors and get these kids to get a little bigger picture on the global spectrum of what it’s going to really take to be a high-level professional tennis player.”

    So it sounds like coaching juniors was an important goal for him.

    Also from that article:

    “According to Stefanki, what it takes is getting outside one’s comfort zone.

    “Until you do, you never know how good you can really be,” he said. “Get over there to Europe. Go over to Russia. Go over to Africa and go wherever it is and see if you can win with bad balls on bad courts with bad umpires, and then you know, you really know, you can play. A lot of these kids in the States, I just don’t think they’re getting the right advice. I just think they’re soft.”

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 5:22 pm

    Hartt, loved the interview. So worthwhile. I don’t think shaming the next next next genners or the “soft” US players works all that well, but his observations are spot on in terms of strengthening players and attitude and willingness to add to their games.

    Stefanki is radioactive because he says what opponents of players see. They see the bad backhands or the way players get distracted and take advantage, win the matches, shake their hands, and salute the crowd. Laughing all the way to the next round of tournaments.

    I appreciate it a lot. He says the same thing basically as others here on TP on Bouchard, I think Harold called it. She loses and then covers for it. Stefanki would say – losing is normal. It’s that you’re not interested in getting better, and that’s obvious. Otherwise you’d be looking to get back to at least #1 in Canada.

    He likes it when players max their talent and, Sheesh, he just knows when players give up on their talent and don’t have to do that. Some players hate the game, fine – his message isn’t for them. But Fritz, others that are clear cases that think they are doing great. Stefanki knows what great it, how to get there.

    Other coaches do too. But Stefanki is refreshing because he’ll say hey, you lose more matches than you should because your backhand is targeted every match, and because your fitness should be much better, and because you aren’t comfortable hitting a kick serve back down the line. So let’s work on that

    Xs and Os. Who knew?

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 5:23 pm

    Stefanki is Lloyd Carroll?

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 7:50 pm

    Stefanki knows more tennis knowledge in his big toe than dear pal Lloyd Carroll who will openly admit it, he’s not a tennis guy except for two weeks.

  • Andrew Miller · August 22, 2019 at 9:59 pm

    Stefanki cuts to the chase when it comes to player assessments. I don’t think he says this with malice – he looks at Chilean Jarry’s game, Bouchard’s approach to tennis these days, Garmin’s decisions, says: “this won’t work if you want to tread water on the tour.” Their results come in with a few nice wins and an overall record of inconsistency and losing to lower ranked players or doing poorly against better ones, and Stefanki ends up looking like a genius.

    He might be! Part of it from what I understand from articles and from what he said, he had to develop strategies to beat good players. Then he saw players more talented than he was and beat them because he knew the game better.

    They don’t make these coaches like theg used to!

    Watching McEnroe from 1986, I forgot how excellent he was, same with Becker. I think Scoop asked if these champions or any champs games would hold up today.

    After listening to Stefanki and watching the 1986 match, I’d say absolutely. Stefanki said there’s something inside Djokovic etc this kind of spirit that other greats have also had. Makes sense too as Djokovic has absorbed the lessons of Agassi, Becker etc as well as all the coaching Monica Seles had and then fine tuned all of it.

    Stefanki is just a logical guy. How he looks at tennis is such a contrast from I’ll do your laundry Bajiin. Bajiin comes off as being a good hitting partner that does laundry!

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 10:16 pm

    I spoke with John Lloyd today about Facing Vilas and then asked how prime Vilas would do vs prime Rafa on clay? He said they would have to start the match at 9 am and it would finish at 7 pm, it would go on forever 🙂

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 22, 2019 at 10:20 pm

    The best of any era would stack up with the best today, if McEnroe was 24 years old today he would be contending for majors and winning majors. End of discussion. Not sure Bajin is just a bag carrier and cheerleader. He did more than that to propel Osaka from 68 in the world to no. 1. Some coaches just get little respect, Stefanki is another. Look at his history and his achievements. Yet no player or TV expert talks about him.

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