The first player I saw on site at credentials was dudi Sela, with his fitness guy Isaac and a new member of the entourage. The Dude had his hands full with young Korean HyeonChung who has barged his way into the top hundred. Despite four shirtless vociferous supporters with blue letters painted on their chests […]

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This has to be some kind of record – seven, that’s right SEVEN, alternates were accepted into the Citi Open qualifying draw. That means a lot of late pullouts and injuries forced players to drop out of the event and alternate players on site were admitted to play basically as substitutes.

Amazingly, four alternates won today – Mischa Zverev beat Kyle Edmund, Ze Zhang beat James Ward, Darian King beat Somdev Devvarman in three sets, and Takuto Niki beat fellow ALT Sekou Bangoura 76 in the third.

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BORN: Jan. 27, 1980, in Moscow, Russia.

CHILDHOOD HEROES: “Sampras, Kafelnikov and Medvedev…good players and nice people. It’s important to be a nice person…not to be a great player who thinks he’s like unbelievably great. I like a nice person.”

PREMATCH FEELING: “I like to talk with people. Makes me loose. Not close my eyes and think about match. I prefer to spend that time with people…other players, my coach. Not to be very concentrated. You’re already nervous before the match.”

FAVORITE MOVIES: “The Godfather, Ronin, Torrente, Dumb & Dumber.”

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About ten years ago, I decided to ask some of tennis’ leading players: Which TV commentators do you like to listen to?

Vince Spadea: “I like Patrick McEnroe and Luke Jensen. I like the former players. The guys who are young and hungry and excited about doing it. And they know the information and the players. I like enthusiasm and personality into talking tennis – not just the exact match. Patrick’s a very interesting guy. Been around a lot of years, obviously had a great career himself. He has a brother who is a legend. There’s so many aspects about tennis that he could kind of dig in from. He’s from New York, so he’s got great personality. Luke is high energy. He’s inspiring. He comes up with little, funny phrases. Little nicknames. Little, inside stories about each player or certain individuals. I thought Chris Evert was good. Articulate and smart and obviously a legend in her own right.”

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It’s become a common phenomenon in junior and even pro tennis for the young phenom to “play up,” meaning to move up to a higher age bracket and challenge the older juniors or even the gristled pros in tournaments. That’s what Jaime Corsillo did this past weekend. The Boca Raton 12 year old, the No. 2 12 year old in the country, came to Armonk, NY in Westchester County and and played in a 14’s local New York event. At the same time, in the girl’s division of the 14’s event, Ava Givone, another 12 year old, but located much more locally in Purchase, NY, played up as well. Givone’s father, Rob Givone, is one of the best players ever to rise out of Westchester County, having played for a few years on the pro tour in the late-1990’s, reaching a career-best of no. 347.

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I’ve had some wacky matches over the years of playing USTA tournaments but this one today takes the cake.

There was only two of us in the Open so we played the final today at Ramapo College at 2.

I didn’t know much about the opponent who I will call Jake, except he plays a ton of tournaments, and has some decent results. Also he came all the way from Long Island, at least a two-hour trek without traffic. Someone who knows both of us tells me I will win easily but I’m not sure of that because one of his wins a few years ago

The broken string caused chaos

Someone on Twitter asked Brad Gilbert last year and again this year – with no response – this super challenging tennis trivia question: Who are the six players who have wins over Federer, Nadal, Sampras and Agassi?

Andre and Pete? · Fed · Who beat Rafa

Not long ago, the general consensus in tennis was that it would be many years if not decades for a greater champion than Pete Sampras to emerge. With his traditional understated, old Australian way of playing, Pete Sampras, six consecutive years as the ATP World No. 1, winner of seven Wimbledons and fourteen majors overall – the most in history – seemed like an insurmountable champion to surpass.

But then along came Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and how quickly we forgot about the greatness, power and grace of Pistol Pete.

Djokovic is a super champion

Rajeev Ram, an afterthought in American tennis unless he’s playing on the green lawns of Newport, captured his second Hall of Fame Tournament title downing Dr. Ivo in a third-set tie-breaker, 7 points to 2. Ram’s win was highlighted by chopping down No. 1 seed Izzie in the first round, Manny Mannarino in the quarters and then stunningly, Dr. Ivo in the finals. Anyone who beats Dr. Ivo 7-2 in a breaker should receive a call of congratulations from Barack Obama.

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Bernard Tomic, after losing as a wildcard in the first round to John Patrick Smith, softened his verbal attacks on Tennis Australia but still tossed a couple of grenades, when asked who he would appoint to run TA: “Right now, the two guys there (Patrick Rafter and Craig Tiley), I don’t mind saying this, I don’t think them.”

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