A very intense Donald Young had too much firepower and fury today for Stefan Kozlov winning their second round clash 60 64 from a break down in the second. Dressed in all white Boast attire and black socks Young came out looking like a raging Nadal bull pounding winners all over the court. Kozlov was overwhelmed but saved two set points in the first game of the second set by pushing forward to the net and converting two very nice volley winners. Then a neck injury medical timeout which lasted about ten minutes froze Young who lost hi rhythm and was broken. But Young regained his timing and rhythm and Kozlov could not handle it. At 4-4 in the second Young closed it out without much trouble. Young was very intense and driven for the entire match showing a level of focus and fury which I have never seen before. I’d chalk it up to Young wanting to push back the young whippersnapper – no veteran player ever wants to suffer the indignity and humiliation of losing to a “kid.” It was interesting to see Young flying all over the court and verbally pumping himself up after good shots with phrases like “Come on baby” and “That’s it D.” Excellent effort by Young who will now face top seed Steve Johnson in the quarterfinals….. Yesterday Dan said Kozlov could be a future Newport and Wimbledon winner because of how well he played vs Becker. Guess what? Today based on Young’s excellent grass court display in beating his touted Kozlov Dan declared Young can win not only Wimbledon but also the US and Australian Opens. No we were not excessively drinking adult beverages – the press party/dinner is on Thursday night 🙂
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Dan Markowitz · July 13, 2016 at 8:56 pm
Now Scoop, the ball from the other court did roll over onto my side of the court before I even hit my backhand pass up the line–that I did miss by a few yards, I think you’re being kind there. But I can’t believe you didn’t see the ball. And a ball rolled over just as I was about to go up 4-1 with a break point on your serve and a high backhand volley in the middle of the court.
kozlov was upset right from the beginning against Young, verbalizing discontent over two consecutive service line calls on DY’s serve. They were playing on a side court so there was no Hawkeye. Scoop and I were sitting about ten feet away from Kozlov at that time. But after getting bageled in the first set he went up 3-0 and 4-1 in the second only to have DY storm back. DY was moving great. On one point, he made three different turns of direction on the grass before hitting a passing shot by Koz.
Koz’s forehand is a mess. Yes, he slices well off of it and that can work on grass, but he doesn’t hit through the ball the way DY does and he doesn’t seem to have the most important shot in tennis these days, the inside-out forehand that DY hits beautifully. Kos has a good, but not big, serve, moves well, has high tennis IQ and court sense, the way Spadea did, and he volleys well, but that forehand is going to be a problem. No, he won’t win Wimbledon or come close to it with that forehand. He might someday win Newport, but even that seemed remote today. And of course, while I respect DY, and Harry should talk with him about lost expectations and anger management, he’s not winning Wimbledon after he won Junior Wimbledon.
Scoop Malinowski · July 13, 2016 at 9:10 pm
Can you specify exactly where the ball rolled? At your feet? Behind the baseline? In the alley? At the forecourt? I saw no ball enter our court during the point or after you missed the backhand by a yard – If a ball rolled on the court you would have said LET but you did not – this reminds me of the old trick of calling out a wrong score intentionally to mentally confuse/distract the opponent – I played a guy who did this when I held serve at 15 and he tried to say the score was 15-40!!! But I KNEW 1000 percent that I held at 15 and blasted the guy and he meekly backed down and made no issue because he knew I knew the score – his intent was to intentionally screw up the score in his favor and hope I didn’t know it for sure and then it would mentally confuse and could break my focus totally which would then favor him – But I have too much experience for this trickery as I always keep close track of the score – Dan’s phantom ball on the court after the point is over is a similar clever gamesmanship trick but I know for 1000 percent that no ball rolled on our court on that last point which you attempted but misfired your backhand well wide – 5-4 – Also you did not feel confident to serve into that 4-5 game as I nearly broke you in the 3-4 game despite the fact you had the 40-love lead I had one or two BPs – Again to summarize: you did not call the let and you can’t call let after you miss the shot anyway –
Scoop Malinowski · July 13, 2016 at 9:15 pm
Kozlov lost JR Wimbledon to Noah Rubin who has suddenly disappeared this spring/summer – Where is Rubin? Is he injured?
Scoop Malinowski · July 13, 2016 at 9:17 pm
Not a bad loss for Kozlov – at 18 he should lose to an experienced veteran like Young who surely was EXTRA motivated to make sure he did not lose to a teenaged American – an expected loss – Now how Kozlov’s forehand holds up to the firepower he will face on hard courts will be the big question –
Dan Markowitz · July 13, 2016 at 10:29 pm
No more talk about our match, we’ll have to play another one soon. What about Dudi Sela today taking out the defending champion, Rajeev Ram? It was a nifty display by Sela, who has been compared to another small one-hander who did well at Newport as well, Oliver Rochus. Dude just completely confounded the tall net-rushing Ram. It seemed everywhere Ram slammed his serve or his volleys, Dudi was there with a sweeping passing shot or quick joust to the net to retrieve a drop volley. He moved like a cat burglar.
I was coming out of the Viking Hotel last night and Dudi was tending to his two-year-old son and when the son ran away, Dudi quickly followed him and said, “Sorry” to me because he had to brush past me to roust his son. Now Dudi will have to contend with Baghdatis tomorrow in what should be a very interesting contest between two rabbits.
And how about Scoop’s man, the Indian, Purav Raja and his partner Divij Saran taking out Baggy and Muller in doubles 4 and 4. Raja looks like he’s about 40 and has the gut of a guy who likes his King Fishers, but somehow these two no-names beat two very established pros.
Only in Newport!
As for the Americans, they started with 11 in the singles draw and now they’re down to two with Steve Jo and DY. After their Friday quarters match, they’ll be only one American left in the draw.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 12:04 am
Kozlov does have a hitch on the FH wing. DY has a micro-hitch on the BH wing when he doesn’t step into it.
DY should have some motivation heading into the Steve Jo match. They are at two a piece and this match determines who wins the H2H. So should Steve Johnson.
DY, when he’s playing well, is, I think, one of the best players in the world to watch. When he’s not playing at the top of his game, he is not fun to watch at all. He becomes like Harry. Not as crazy, but similar.
Dan/Scoop – is the generation behind Zverev/Fritz/etc even better? I took a look at the shot making for the kid Tsitsipas, the Aussie Alex de Minaur, for the Puerto Rican player, and for the two Canadians, Shapalov and Felix Auger who Scoop loves. The four I hadn’t seen seem even better than this year’s emerging force from the U.S.
I think Canadian tennis is going to grab a Davis Cup. Milos Raonic is going to have help soon beyond Pops and Dancevic.
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 7:13 am
Okay Dan but you have to come to my home court for the first time (or near my gfs house which is closer for you – just off 9W) and then we will go to eat at one of the many great restaurants in upper Bergen county – Sela had a great win I stayed till the end – in his final three service games he was down 0-30 and 0-30 and then 0-40 and held all three games! Great win for Dudi – spoke with his fitness guy Isaac after and he said he keeps Dudi fit with a lot of stretching and good nutrition but he does drink the occasional beer – after match for interview on court he carried his son Eli – Baghdatis will be a tough QF for Dudi who said he lives not so far from Bag and Bag is one of his best friends on the tour –
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 7:19 am
Shot of the year? 4-4 in third set Dancevic is serving 0-40 down to Ivo – Ivo throws up a backhand lob which causes the net charging Frank to slip and fall on his butt around the service line but Frank gets up and runs back and still gets to ball and hits perfect running backwards one handed backhand cross court passing shot as Ivo is left standing there with that one second blank pause with shoulders slumped as if saying: How on earth did he just hit that shot? Frank won one more point then was broken and Ivo served it out – But what a shot hopefully the ATP got it and will show it on the highlight show –
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 7:50 am
Andrew: I think the Puerto Rican player you mentioned is Ulises Blanch who is American actually – but this kid Blanch is always in the mix at the business of these major junior events – Blanch has had superb junior results for two years now but he is under the radar or in the shadows of the other big name juniors -Shapovalov has moved up and is about dead even with Felix – Canada tennis is looking very strong right now as well – can actually see a Davis Cup final USA vs Canada coming in about five years –
Dan Markowitz · July 14, 2016 at 8:03 am
Scoop,
I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth to get a victory over you (actually, I’ve beaten you in sets before) even if that takes me to Bergen County, New Jersey.
I haven’t seen Felix or his Canadian junior cohort play, but I can’t imagine the next next generation is going to be anything like this next generation. I mean Zverev and Fritz are potential multi-slam winners and they’re both like 6-5. In tennis, we know being taller than 6-2, 6-3 might be a disadvantage, but I’d still put my chips on these two guys over a Felix or even say a Kozlov, who’s only a couple of years older than Felix. Having watched Kozlov a few times now in person, I like his development, I like his maturity, I like his game (except his forehand, he doesn’t use his off left hand at all to take his racquet back and I think that prevents him from hitting through the ball), but he’s only 6-feet and while he has a good serve, he’s a player who’s going to have to fight for every point and that causes fatigue and burnout and injury like he had yesterday. Give me a Zverev or Fritz who can end points in ore or two shots.
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 8:12 am
Dan you can hire Connors and Lendl and Spadea to coach you but I got your Funky style figured out – but I gotta play very very well to beat you because you are a tough battler on the court with a lot of good varied penetrating shots – FYI you haven’t won a set since we played for the Tennis Week title about ten years ago 🙂 Also I got you in the two mini tennis games to further solidify my mental edge which I do admit is on the thin side – Dan I checked the King street courts again and no players were there yesterday – used to be nice to see all the players who lost over there hitting – So far just Lacko was there the day we played – I’m going over now to hit with a friend at nine –
Dan Markowitz · July 14, 2016 at 8:53 am
Well, I have been having surgeries for the last ten years. Who you going with on the first match of the day, Groth or Mannarino? Can you think of two more differently styled players than the Aussie behemoth and the French floozie? Groth looks like the Boz, Brian Bosworth, the old OU linebacker while Manny as I call him, is such a sweet player and sweet-looking guy. He looks almost feminine and plays a kind of feminine game, never ever slicing his slick two-handed backhand, just kind of fiddling it. I don’t know if he shaves his legs, but he’s got zero hair on them. And he’s another guy like Noah Rubin, who yes, has been conspicuously absent so far this summer, who I’ve never seen get upset on the court.
Manny is the type of guy you’d think who’d do well at Newport where the ball stays very low. He’s also one of three southpaws still in the event with DY and Muller. I’m going Manny to beat Groth, but Groth defused another sweet slick player in Dolgo last year at the Open after getting tuned by him in the first set.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 1:42 pm
Re: Dan seeking the Scoop win. Why aren’t big goals stated by players? I like that Lebron James said he wanted a ring with Cleveland, like Ewing wanted one with NY. Like Connors, win or fail they were willing to put that out there. Roddick too in saying he wanted a second slam, even though he also fell short.
Their careers were better for having this huge goal and falling short, with the exception of Lebron James. Why don’t players do this publicly anymore? I’m sure they say it in private.
Why don’t they go out and say, heck I want to make the second week of the US Open? That’s always my goal?
I think what’s stopping a lot of players sadly is a LACK OF GUTS.
We see guts with Serena Williams. Now Kerber, who is enjoying this newfound presence at big tournaments. Raonic says this and even if he isn’t winning slams, I’d say he’s twice as good as I’ve seen him before – unafraid to finish off an older Federer.
That’s what it takes. A player has to want to go after the big trophies and the big players and match them shot for shot.
I think we have a lack of courage. Sam Querrey showed guts in taking out Djokovic and then downing Mahut – he did what he had to to get the the 2nd week.
Will anyone – EVEN FRATANGELO – make a huge announcement please? Say, I want to win a Masters, I don’t care if I fall short?
Dan markowitz · July 14, 2016 at 2:09 pm
Sometimes players make too big goals and they look foolish and totally unrealistic when announcing them. Harry last year said he wanted to No. 1 still and maybe he should say like Kozlov did the other day, I’d like to be top 100 and then top 50. Keep it real.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 2:27 pm
Dan, Harry has said that about top 50.
Do you feel this confidence is going to help you, and where are you looking to get to from here?
I feel like right now I’m starting to pick up a big confidence high. I’ve won a lot of matches recently and I feel like my confidence in big moments is starting to feel like it’s high. It’s tough to speculate on where I’m going to be in a couple of months. I know what I’m capable of doing. I know I’m capable of getting to Top 50 in the world because I’ve done it. I know I’m capable of getting Top 20 wins because I’ve got them. To say I think they’re all going to happen right now—obviously I think they’re going to happen, but I can’t say for sure where I’m going to be.
My immediate goal is to compete every match like it’s a Grand Slam final. And treat every match with the same sort of focus and intensity. And I believe if I do that, my results will start to come, and I’ll do a better job of winning matches when I’m not playing well because that’s a big thing for me. When you’re playing well, it is easy to get wins. But when you’re not playing well, you’ve got to find a way.
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 2:28 pm
That was this year in March 2016. He talks rankings but not results in tournaments. It would be better if he said his goals were to win back to back challengers and get himself to the business end of a U.S. ATP tournament.
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 2:28 pm
Yo Adrian was very upset two days ago playing the 76 in the third battle vs Duckworth and even a fan next to me commented: “He’s usually very calm on the court – I’ve never seen him act this way before” – after the win Adrian criticized the courts and the venue: “I tried to stay quiet which was really hard – There were many bad call bad bounces and I knew that if I was going crazy I was going to lose some concentration somehow – I was not going to play my best tennis” – We’re playing two meters away from the other court – you’ve got the cameras and the microphone on the court – We cannot even move – THis is really direspectful for the players to be on this kind of court” – “I’m seeded here so hopefully my second match is going to be on the stadium court” – “It’s a huge difference between those two courts”
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 2:35 pm
Andrew: A lot of players like Hantuchova and Larcher De Brito have said they wanted to be no 1 and ended up looking silly – a LOT of players aspire to be no 1 but they don’t say it – I think every player at some point wanted to be or even expected to be no in the world but reality set in – all these players in the pros dreamed of winning majors and being the best but only a select few get there – Very few players now have the cockiness and the arrogant self belief to actually declare “I want to be no 1” – because tennis has never been as deep and competitive as it is today – there are tons and tons and tons of great players out there in Futures and NCAA that we will never see play or hear about – Pro Tennis player could be the toughest job on earth because there is so much competition out there hunting the same prizes –
Scoop Malinowski · July 14, 2016 at 2:36 pm
Dan you played great and you played a level I was quite surprised by – well done – You have a very challenging game as Ryan Balon learned today 🙂
Andrew Miller · July 14, 2016 at 3:08 pm
Scoop – that’s the risk a player takes. We as fans want to write players off all the time, that’s why I think it takes guts to put that out there, say they want to win a slam.
I think, when Hantuchova was on it in 2001-2002, coming off her Indian Wells win, she looked ready to take off. She played Ivanovic tough in 2008 and should have won her semifinal in Australia (didn’t). But does she look silly for wanting that? Hantuchova has has a “very good” career.
I think when we look at the U.S. fellas, I can’t say, outside Isner, that they’ve had “very good careers” – we can say “good”, or “pretty good”. We can look at other guys and say, “bad” or “fair” careers to date.
But why would it be so bad for them to have that kind of aim, “My goal this year is to win a tournament, make second week of a slam”.
I think it’s been weak not to see this.
To me, that’s why Isner remains the premier U.S. player. He’s a lot more courageous than we give him credit for. He takes the brunt for all the losses, and he keeps raining down huge serves. And usually, he’s still the only guy from the U.S. standing at a slam when everyone else has packed up and gone home from the singles draws.
Scoop Malinowski · July 15, 2016 at 2:08 pm
No knock on Hantuchova she has had a terrific career but she didn’t come close to No 1. It’s okay though a lot of very very good and great players didn’t get close to being No 1. Credit to Hantuchova for going after it. Isner has been a savior for US tennis and in my opinion he’s been greatly underrated and under-appreciated. I believe Isner and Mahut should be nominated and elected to the Hall of Fame on that one Wimbledon match alone. To me, Isner is a Hall of Fame player because of that one MIRACULOUS match.