Open Court
Tennis is a worldwide sport, and the sport for a lifetime, with hundreds of stories on and off the court 365 days a year. Here at Open Court, you will find gossip, results, photos, fashion, and news from the world's grand slams right down to your local club. From the little kids just picking up a racquet, to the 85-year-olds still slugging it out in the summer heat for love, not money, to the greatest champions the world has ever seen, you'll get a little taste of everything.
Gazette sportswriter
Stephanie Myles came to the paper in 1998 to write about baseball. Now that the Expos at Jarry Park are but a cherished memory, it's appropriate that her second sports love is played on the very same hallowed ground. Read Stephanie's bio
here.
http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/atom.aspxCommunity Server2009-11-20T19:31:00ZATP Tour World Finals - Tuesday results/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/24/atp-tour-world-finals-tuesday-sked.aspx2009-11-24T12:06:00Z2009-11-24T12:06:00Z
ATP World Tour Finals
Place: O2 Arena, London, U.K.
Date: Nov 22-29 2009
Draw Size: S-8 D-8 (Round-robin format)
Surface: Indoor Hard
Prize Money: $4,450,000 U.S.
By tennis standards, there actually has been a little bit of trash talk in advance of tonight's marquee match between Roger Federer and local hero Andy Murray.
Federer's been saying that he "likes the matchup" with Murray, that the Scott is basically a defender and that the "offensive" player will usually win (i.e., him). Clearly he has amnesia about the body of their work together over the last 12 months or so.
Murray has said the truth, that he's gotten the better of the No. 1 on several occasions the last while. The Brits LOVE Fed; they wish he were British not only because of his impeccable fashion sense and manners, but because he's won the "Championships" so many times.
So he'll have plenty of fans, because they kind of like him more than Murray; that appears to be more of a marriage of convenience. Most of them aren't too sure what to make of their Scot.
Tuesday, 24 November, 2009
DAY SESSION - 12.30 pm (7.30 am ET)
Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) / Mark Knowles (BAH) def. Mariusz Fyrstenberg / Marcin Matkowski (POL) 36 63 [10-7]
[5] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) def. [7] Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 64 36 76 (1)
***(HEAD TO HEAD : one Challenger in Spain in 2006, that went to a third-set tiebreaker. This one did, too. Del Potro had match point at 2-5 on Verdasco's serve, served for it at 5-3 (and was broken) and had another match point at 4-5 on Verdasco's serve. It went to the tiebreak, and Verdasco played a beyond-horrible tiebreak. Those lapses are why, despite a great season, he hasn't done better and beaten more top players.***
NIGHT SESSION - 7 pm (2 pm ET)
Frantisek Cermak (CZE) / Michal Mertinak (SVK) def. Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 63 64
***Not only are Nestor and Zimonjic all but out of the event in which they're the defending champions (in Nestor's case, a two-time defending champ), there's also a possibility they'll lose their year-end No. 1 ranking. They'll have to win what will amount to a meaningless match for them in the third round-robin encounter.
They played terribly - again. They returned poorly, their second serves were crushed by their opponents, and once again they didn't have a single break point on their opponents' serves. It took an hour. They just were completely lifeless.***
[1] Roger Federer (SUI) vs. [4] Andy Murray (GBR) (HEAD-TO-HEAD: Murray leads 6-3. He won four straight before Federer beat him in Cincinnati this summer)
*************************************
Here's Wednesday's ORDER OF PLAY:
DAY SESSION - 12.30 pm (7.30 am ET)
Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Oliver March (AUT) vs Max Mirnyi (BLR) / Andy Ram (ISR)
[3] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. [8] Robin Soderling (SWE)
NIGHT SESSION - 7 pm (2 pm ET)
Mike Bryan / Bob Bryan (USA) vs. Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) / Leander Paes (IND)
[2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs. [6] Nikolay Davydenko (RUS
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxSeparated at birth - London style/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/24/separated-at-birth-london-style.aspx2009-11-24T05:38:00Z2009-11-24T05:38:00Z
Robin Soderling and Andy Murray, and ...
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxThe Djoker really wanted it/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/23/the-djoker-really-wanted-it.aspx2009-11-24T04:43:00Z2009-11-24T04:43:00Z
He definitely was scuffling - opponent Nikolay Davydenko out-aced him, he hit more winners than he did, and he came to the net a whole lot more than he did.
But Novak Djokovic somehow found a way to win his first round-robin match at the World Tour finals Monday, defeating Davydenko 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the third set with the help of a little bit of luck late in the second set.
That, and he was really pumped. The entire exercise took two hours, 45 minutes.
The Djoker was down a set, and it was 4-4 in the second when he got a lucky let cord in a game Davydenko was serving. Next thing you know, Djokovic breaks.
But before he goes out to serve for the second set, his opponent needed to swallow a few pills. It looks like he's yawning, but he's just popping the pills.
The effort to win the second set got everyone in his box up and raving. Well, everyone except the eternally calm Todd Martin, who probably was thinking: one set. You've got to win two. Note that his box is colour-coordinated with the Djoker (well, sort of), in the final week of his adidas sponsorship before he jumps ship to Sergio Tacchini next season. Cute (not - look at the logos on the boys).
The Djoker was up a break in the third set. But he was broken when he first served for it at 5-4. He broke again, and finally put it away.
That got Martin out of his seat. The Djoker was exceptionally emotional for this win which, as we mentioned, was hardly pretty. He's smelling the title, especially given the rather lacklustre performance pool-mate Rafael Nadal put on today.
The Serbian fans, naturally, were on hand. Capacity at the O2 is over 17,000, so there was plenty of room even if the place has been packed. They ALWAYS get tickets.
After it was done, after a little discussion at the net, the Djoker and Davydenko proceeded to an exchange.
I'm not sure what's getting into Davydenko; he's almost becoming a fun guy in his old age. He left the court shirtless; the Djoker, of course, Mr. Corporate Branding, immediately put on another of his soon-to-be-passé collection of adidas shirts.
But it's actually a good thing they didn't really put them on (beyond the fact that their sponsors wouldn't be thrilled. Or maybe they would!). Those shirts had to be pretty sweaty and gross by then.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxATP Tour finals - Monday final results/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/22/atp-tour-finals-monday-schedule.aspx2009-11-23T02:12:00Z2009-11-23T02:12:00Z
ATP World Tour Finals
Place: O2 Arena, London, U.K.
Date: Nov 22-29 2009
Draw Size: S-8 D-8 (Round-robin format)
Surface: Indoor Hard
Prize Money: $4,450,000 U.S.
The other four players in the eight-man singles field got into action today, with Rafa Nadal playing the man who beat him at Roland Garros, Robin Soderling.
Judging from what the play looked like on Day 1, the courts were extremely slow, but the bounce also was low. So it was hard to say whether Nadal would be advantaged or disadvantaged. We thought it would work for him, but he really, really struggled.
Nadal looked just okay in Paris, reaching the semis before being crushed by the juggernaut that was Novak Djokovic last week. Soderling was probably just happy to be in the last eight (thanks to Andy Roddick's withdrawal). But Nadal wasn't hitting his backhand well at all. He's slicing more than we ever remember. And (as is typical for him on hard courts), he can't really draw his two-hander down the line. So his opponent always knows where it's going.
You could tell he was edgy; he was adding extra spin on his forehand with the reverse motion, which made the ball land short. That didn't seem to bother Soderling much. Nadal needs to be more aggressive on hard, especially on this slower court. And he was just the opposite.
The Bryans being upset, a day after Canadian Daniel Nestor and his partner Nenad Zimonjic also lost, makes the remaining round-robin matches in the doubles very, very, very intriguing. Looks like that title is completely up for grabs.
RESULTS – MONDAY, 23 NOVEMBER, 2009
DAY SESSION
[7] Max Mirnyi (BLR) / Andy Ram (ISR) def. [2] Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan (USA) 64 64
[8] Robin Soderling (SWE) def. [2] Rafael Nadal (ESP) 64 64
Nadal kind of looked out of sorts this entire match. And both camps were pretty tense.
NIGHT SESSION (7:00 pm - 2 p.m. EST)
[6] Lukasz Kubot (POL) / Oliver Marach (AUT) def. [4] Lukas Dlouhy (CZE) / Leander Paes (IND) 63 76 (3)
[3] Novak Djokovic (SRB) def [6] Nikolay Davydenko (RUS) 36 64 75
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxCanadian singles rankings - as of Nov. 23, 2009/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/22/canadian-singles-rankings-as-of-nov-23-2009.aspx2009-11-23T02:05:00Z2009-11-23T02:05:00Z
A few ranking moves on the Canadian side were made because of the $50,000 Challenger event in Toronto this week (FYI, the winner was 17-year-old Italian Camila Giorgi, who upset No. 5 seed Valérie Tétreault and top seed Stéphanie Dubois on her way to the title).
By reaching the semi-finals, Dubois moves up to No. 104. That should ensure her direct entry into the Australian Open in January.
Sharon Fichman reaches a new career high at No. 124; too bad she sprained her ankle in the doubles final and had to default her singles semi; she might have done better.
Marie-Eve Pelletier, who won some singles matches in Toronto after receiving a wild card, jumped up about 50 spots even if it's not really her big priority at this point. She has some doubles plans for 2010.
Maureen Drake, at 38, had fallen off the computer with her lack of tournament play (you need three events to get a ranking). This was the third, and she's back on, at No. 880 in singles, and No. 442 in doubles.
In Toronto, Giorgi was down 6-4, 4-2 before winning 10 straight games, and the title. The third set took just 18 minutes.
(Photo from Tennis Canada. That would be the Tevlin family. Kapros is the player on the left, in the blue adidas dress; Giorgi is in the red).
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxTennis birthdays - Nov. 22, 2009/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/22/tennis-birthdays-nov-22-2009.aspx2009-11-23T01:10:00Z2009-11-23T01:10:00Z
Billie Jean Moffitt King (USA), 66
It's hard to believe King is already collecting her pension. She's still a visible part of tennis, and not only because the national tennis centre in New York, where the U.S. Open is played, is named for her.
King was a trailblazer in so many areas. But her best legacy was during her long, long career, during which she amassed 39 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles (all but one of them on grass; back in the day, all the Slams but the French were played on it), 16 in women's doubles, and another 11 in mixed.
She retired from singles in 1983, pushing 40, but played some doubles through to 1990. At age 46, her last match came with 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati at the Virginia Slims of Florida event; they lost to two big babe: Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Andrea Temesvari 6-3, 6-2.
King founded the Women's Tennis Association, the Women's Sports Foundation, and World Team Tennis, which was a big enough deal back in the 1970s that big-name players, forced to choose between playing the French Open and WTT, chose WTT. It's a shadow of that now, an opportunity for lower-ranked players to make some money in the summer (with a few guest appearances by the big guns), but it's still a contribution for which she'll be remembered.
In 1973, she beat huckster Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes" at Houston's Astrodome, after Riggs had beaten her competitor, Margaret Court, earlier. It was a huge deal at the time: large crowd, huge publicity. And even though Riggs was quite a few years her senior, the fact that she comprehensively kicked his butt was a big (pardon the pun) kick in the butt for women's tennis as an athletic endeavour.
Her brother Randy Moffitt pitched for 12 years in the big leagues.
Even though she had been married for years, King also was the first major professional female athlete to come out as a lesbian - not her choice; a palimony suit brought on by her former hairdresser, Marilyn Barnett, a decade after their relationship sort of gave her no option.
She's in a long-time relationship with a former player, South African Ilana Kloss.
In August, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
Boris Franz Becker (GER), 42
Boom Boom was a phenom at the time, a 17-year-old who walked into the famed All-England Club and won Wimbledon as if it were no biggie.
He had a great career, reaching No. 1, winning 49 singles titles (at least two a year every year from 1985 to 1996), and amassing more than $25 million in on-court earnings (and surely much more off-court). He also won 15 doubles titles, with various partners.
Most of them were indoors on fast carpet and, of course on grass. None of them, surprisingly, came on clay although he did get to the finals in Rome, Monte Carlo and Hamburg - among the biggest clay-court events right behind the French Open. He has two Australian Open titles, one U.S. Open, and three Wimbledons (then along came Sampras ...)
Off court, his life has been far more dramatic. A first marriage to Barbara Feltus produced some kids. A fling with a Russian model produced another. There have been broken engagements and the like.
This summer, Becker married a Dutch model named Lilly Kerssenberg in Switzerland.
And he has posed in ridiculous lederhosen at Octoberfest, days after having hip surgery and dragging along his pregnant wife for the ride (no wonder she looked a little ragged on the wedding day).
And he ripped Andre Agassi when his former rival's memoirs were published.
Never a dull moment. To say the least, he's been searching since retiring from tennis, and not really finding a niche where he can be relevant, and still get all the attention he seems to crave.
Gardnar Putnam Mulloy (USA), 96
Mulloy was a fine player in his day, especially in doubles, where he won the U.S. championships with Bill Talbert in 1942, 1945, 1946 and 1948, also serving as the commanding officer of LST32 in the Mediterranean
Theater, during World War II. Mulloy was a finalist at the U.S. nationals five other times. He also won Wimbledon doubles in 1957, when he was 43.
He went to to the University of Miami, graduating both with an undergraduate degree and from its law school.
And he never stopped playing tennis. He has 52 singles and 47 doubles titles in the senior ranks in the U.S. He's been a senior world champion, ranked No. 1 in the 85-and-over category back in 2001. He was in winning Davis Cup teams in 1946 and 1949, and even played on the 1957 squad. again at age 43.
He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1972. Goooood-lookin' man. Pretty good advertisement for the sport of tennis as the sport for a lifetime.
The seniors' world championship trophy for the 80-and-over division is named after him.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxATP Tour Finals - Sunday final results/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/tour-finals-sunday-action.aspx2009-11-22T00:38:00Z2009-11-22T00:38:00Z
ATP World Tour Finals
Place: O2 Arena, London, U.K.
Date: Nov 22-29 2009
Draw Size: S-8 D-8 (Round-robin format)
Surface: Indoor Hard
Prize Money: $4,450,000 U.S.
After all the photo ops and trash talk (well, not much trash talk; they're tennis players), the ATP World Tour finals finally get under way on Sunday at the O2 in London.
And right away, the top doubles team of Canadian Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic were in trouble. They never even held a break point on the Poles, who won 31 of their last 33 points on serve and won about 80 percent of their second-serve points. Nestor and Zimonjic just didn't have it - at all, although with the round-robin format, they're still in there.
ORDER OF PLAY/RESULTS – SUNDAY, 22 NOVEMBER, 2009
DAY SESSION
[8] Mariusz Fyrstenberg / Marcin Matkowski (POL) def. [1] Daniel Nestor (CAN) / Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 64 64
[4] Andy Murray (GBR) def [5] Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 63 36 62 (a rematch of the 2009 Rogers Cup final - Murray leads their head-to-head 4-1)
At 0-3, Del Potro had to get treated for a nosebleed. Think the guy has been a bundle of nerves since winning the U.S. Open? Yup. And you know you've made it when ... thousands of people are watching you get treated close-up on a giant screen. And when the trainer pulls a gauze pad full of blood out of your left nostril, they cheer. Even del Potro had to laugh, and the trainer held it up in the air, as if for inspection.
NIGHT SESSION:
[3] Mahesh Bhupathi (IND) Mark Knowles (BAH) def. [5] Frantisek Cermak (CZE) / Michal Mertinak (SVK) 63 63
[1] Roger Federer (SUI) def. [7] Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 46 75 61
TV: None (it gets started on Monday).
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxDubois loses to Italian; Fichman out/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/dubois-loses-first-set-6-2.aspx2009-11-21T16:52:00Z2009-11-21T16:52:00Z
The Tennis Canada livestream wan't functioning on this end (or for many people, it seems).
But Open Court had a courtside spy in Toronto. And he reported that Laval's Stéphanie Dubois was being blown off the court by 17-year-old Camila Giorgi in the first semi-final at the $50,000 Tevlin Challenger.
The first set was 6-2 Giorgi.
Our spy said the young lady can't weigh more than 125 pounds, which means it's a fair fight with Dubois (who doesn't get many of those). But her racquet-head speed and timing was incredible. She was just pounding the ball.
Dubois dropped the first set in a couple of other matches this week, so a comeback was always possible.
And she did win the second set, helped by 27 unforced errors by her opponent (27 unforced errors? That'll give your opponent a 6-0 win, and 40-love in another game, all on its own). But ultimately, she succumbed 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Sadly, Sharon Fichman had to withdraw from the second semi-final, giving Aniko Kapros of Hungary a free pass to the final.
Given that Fichman sprained her ankle during the doubles final Friday, and had to retire, it wasn't a total surprise. Sadly, there will be no Canadians in the final of this event when, 24 hours ago, it seemed very possible it would be an All-Canadian final.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxThe Djoker dumps adidas for Tacchini/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/the-djoker-dumps-adidas-for-tacchini.aspx2009-11-21T16:05:00Z2009-11-21T16:05:00Z
We heard from a pretty reliable source awhile back that adidas might not be able to $ati$fy Novak Djokovic with a new deal.
It wasn't surprising, since we already know the Djoker is for sale to the highest bidder - witness the dumping of Wilson as his racquet sponsor (remember, the sticks that got him to the Australian Open title?) for the bigger buck$$$$$ of Head.
It's taken him the entire year, it seems, to gain confidence in his new sticks, which he debuted in 2009 after what seemed to be a fairly halfhazard period of adjustment. That's an expensive switch, even if it's a great contract.
So it is done: Djokovic is now a Sergio Tacchini guy. So it's more like "Grazie milioines"
We'll post photos when we get them. They've probably already shot the catalog stuff.
The Djoker is talking the talk already, although he's got his facts a little screwed up.
"My own idols Pete Sampras and John McEnroe have won almost all titles … wearing the Sergio Tacchini logo," he said.
Well, they did. But the two jumped ship to Nike (they're still with them today) and won a whole bunch more with them. Maybe the Djoker was too young, or maybe his people didn't tell him about that little detail. He wouldn't have remembered much even about Sampras's Tacchini days; he wasn't too pleased with them because he blamed their shoes for giving him shinsplints.
Tacchini hasn't had this high-profile a player in its stable for a long, long time. They've got Flavia Pennetta on the women's side. But for the men, the best they've had is the Spaniard Tommy Robredo (who, incidentally, looks real good in their clothes; they went to a sort of throwback ensemble this season, channeling prime-time McEnroe minus the tighty-whitey shorts, adjusted for 21st century length and, of course, no tucking. It really worked for him).
It's reportedly a 10-year deal, and they'll have four special Djoker ensembles a year.
That's a big get for Tacchini. Must have co$t a bundle.
But it only kick$ in in 2010, so he'll have to make do with his old adidas stuff for the World Tour Finals.
Now, if only they'd get a really big name on the women's side (no offence to Pennetta), and start designing clothes the way they did for Gaby Sabatini back in the day (right). She was, by far, the best-dressed woman on Tour then. It wasn't even close. Every year, they'd come up with gorgeous stuff.
We here at Open Court can attest to that, having acquired most of it during that period because of a connection with the Canadian importer, and some great wholesale prices that worked a whole lot better on a student's budget. Wish we'd hung on to it (it would still fit!). But we wore it out.
The goods were made in Italy back then. The quality and workmanship was supreme, with a price tag to go with it. Now, it's all produced in the Far East, which brings the price down quite a bit, but it's a big price to pay.
We claimed ownership of the ensemble at right (and even played with that epic Prince Graphite). It wasn't so much that we had a girl crush on Gaby - who didn't, male or female? It was just that the kits were fantabulous.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxThe boys clean up well/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/the-boys-clean-up-well.aspx2009-11-21T15:42:00Z2009-11-21T15:42:00Z
It was photo-op time in London in advance of the ATP World Tour finals, which get under way on Sunday.
And the handsome fellows of the ATP Tour really clean up well, don't they?
While the ladies went individualistic for their photos at the women's year-end championships, even if there was an overarching colour theme, the boys dressed up like a bunch of identical private-school lads – right down to the ties.
That's a Bryan brother in the middle of the photo at left (since he's holding the camera with his right arm, we're guessing it's Mike, the righty). He's a big believer in posting photos on Twitter, so it's not surprising he had the camera out.
It's actually a great look for all of them (photos from the Tour web site).
We're not sure what the deal is with Juan Martin del Potro (second row in the photo on right, far left). He looks like they put him in a trench, since he's probably five inches taller than Roger Federer, to his immediate right. He looks cold, or something. Or he's just not digging the fancy duds.
They, of course, also had to pose with the obligatory London double-decker bus.
Ah, that's better. Del Potro looks like himself. Novak Djokovic is listed at about 6-foot-2, and Andy Murray at 6-3; look how he towers over them. We didn't think Fernando Verdasco was so tall; he doesn't seem that big.
Swede Robin Soderling, last one in with the with the withdrawal of Andy Roddick, had a few issues with his tie, as posted on on his Twitter feed. He thanks coach Magnus Norman for having a clue about the tying-the-tie thing. We're not a big fan of the carpeting in his hotel room.
Another cool thing the boys get to do is take a boat to work – which seriously cut down on the London traffic.
They're impressed about it enough to Tweet it.
As well, the intrepid Bryans chronicled the moment for posterity. Looks like RogerFed looks like he's still waiting for his morning Starbucks. Fed's personal bag carrier and the Swiss Davis Cup captain, Severin Luthi (right up in front, carrying Roger's autographed bag), needs to lighten up. Life is good!!!
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxThe Agassi doping incident is closed/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/the-agassi-doping-incident-is-closed.aspx2009-11-21T15:33:00Z2009-11-21T15:33:00Z
According to new ATP chairman Adam Helfant, there's no way to fine or otherwise sanction Andre Agassi, who admitted to taking crystal meth in 1997, testing positive, and wriggling out of a suspension.
Here's the full story.
“I asked an outside law
firm to go through the records from 1997 so I had all the facts. Andre Agassi
has admitted he failed a drugs test in 1997 and regrettably he then lied about
it. Even more regrettably he got away with it," said Helfant, who said that revealing the positive test would have gone against the rules in place at the ATP at that time.
He did have a "conversation" with Agassi about it, for whatever that's worth.
Not exactly big news, but still worth mentioning.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxTennis birthdays - Nov. 21, 2009/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/tennis-birthdays-nov-21-2009.aspx2009-11-21T15:15:00Z2009-11-21T15:15:00Z
Wayne Odesnik (USA), 24
He's probably the best American male lefty out there at the moment, which doesn't say a ton for American tennis. He and Can-American Jesse Levine are duking this one out – coincidentally, two of the very few Jewish players on Tour.
Odesnik is actually South-African born. He moved to Florida when he was 3; his dad is a jeweler. He's also one of the rare Americans who actually prefers to play on clay.
After reaching a high of No. 77 in April (after a great effort at the American clay-court event in Houston, where he beat John Isner and Jurgen Melzer and lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final), he's down to No. 107.
He took Frenchman Gilles Simon (a top-10 player) to five sets in the first round of the French Open this year. And he had some good wins during the summer hard-court season, beating Kunitsyn and Andreev, among others. But he's one of those guys who probably can do well at the Challenger level (he reached the final in Knoxville in September, losing a right one to countryman Taylor Dent), but for whom the top level of the ATP Tour is always going to be a struggle.
He's just not big enough physically, and doesn't serve big enough, to compete consistently at that level, although his leftiness has to help him. And he's pretty scrappy.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxDrake and Jodoin: doubles champs/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/21/drake-and-jodoin-doubles-champs.aspx2009-11-21T14:17:00Z2009-11-21T14:17:00Z
They probably heard every joke there was about winning the mother-daughter doubles championship.
But 38-year-old veteran Maureen Drake of Toronto and 16-year-old Marianne Jodoin of Varennes, QC (and the national training centre at Jarry Park) took the doubles crown at the $50,000 Tevlin Challenger in Toronto.
They caught a break, because of a bad break for another Canadian, Sharon Fichman.
At 2-3 in the first set, Fichman (who had already reached the singles semi-finals earlier in the day) rolled her ankle. She tried to continue, but she and American Mashona Washington, the top seeds and the champions at a similar event in Phoenix last week, had to retire.
Drake said the May-December pairing was very last minute. She hadn't been planning on playing doubles, but they decided to team up about a half hour before the deadline.
The singles semi-finals will have top seed Stéphanie Dubois playing the Italian teenager Camila Giorgi.
Dubois beat Washington 4-6, 7-5, 6-1. Giorgi outlasted former Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson 6-4, 6-7 (1) 7-6 (2) in a match that lasted nearly three hours.
Fichman, the No. 4 seed, beat Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny 6-3, 6-2. She'll play Aniko Kapros of Hungary, who beat American veteran Lindsay Lee-Waters, 6-2, 6-1. But we'll see how she pulls up on that ankle Saturday
The semis will start at 11 a.m., and will be web cast on tenniscanada.com. Dubois will play first, followed by Fichman.
The final Sunday is at 1 p.m., also webcast.
(Photo from Tennis Canada)
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxAlexandra Stevenson's mom: give it up, Part 1,207/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/20/alexandra-stevenson-s-mom-get-a-life.aspx2009-11-21T02:12:00Z2009-11-21T02:12:00Z
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson (that was a decade ago, and counting) is just about to turn 29.
But her mom Samantha apparently still thinks her little girl is back in the junior ranks, them against the world.
Here's a great story from the Globe and Mail's Tom Tebbutt about Mama Sam's behaviour during her daughter's second-round win over fellow American Christine McHale.
An excerpt:
"Samantha positioned
her chair prominently just outside the doubles sideline near the
baseline, in the space between the two courts about 20 feet from the
junction of the Court 2 baseline and sideline. She sat by herself taking notes and was easy to spot dressed in a
black ski jacket, black track pants, jogging shoes and wearing
sunglasses.
..."During the early going, when a McHale fan at the other end of the
court shouted out, “C’mon Christina,” Samantha said out loud to
herself, “what an ***.” In the fifth game, when her daughter’s shot down the near sideline
at her end of the court was ruled good, McHale protested to the umpire
that the ball had been wide. When she then moved away toward the back
of the court, Samantha said, “it was on the line, you’ve got bad eyes.”
McHale responded, “I wasn’t talking to you.”
"Midway through the second set when Alexandra had an on-court treatment
from Tennis Canada trainer Marlene Nobrega for a shoulder/back/neck
problem, Samantha got up out of her chair and went over and spoke to
ITF supervisor William Coffey who was positioned just behind where
Alexandra was seated.
After the match, Samantha walked off with her daughter and could be heard saying about somebody, “what an (expletive)''.
As you probably know, Stevenson is the illegitimate daughter of Julius (Dr. J) Irving, whom Stevenson co-opted in rather unprofessional fashion as a sportswriter in Philadelphia back in the 1970s.
As a member of that sportswriting sisterhood, we here are mortally offended by her behaviour; but she didn't ask our advice. She had a plan.
Their entire lives, Dr. J was a ghost; the man was just too afraid of his wife to man up, and be a part of his daughter's life.
Finally, a year ago, there was a reunion. And although all that makes for a nice magazine story, we really don't know if the relationship has continued or not.
We saw Mama Stevenson at the Bell Challenge in September, where the twosome hung around for several days after Stevenson was eliminated in the qualifying. Same dark glasses (even when she was going underneath the stands, where it's very dark, to access the secondary court). Probably still the same black track pants, which are velour in nature and look 20 years old."
And here's some quality stuff from the Rogers Cup in Montreal in 2008, and another, and an epic report from a fan during her qualifying match against Ahsha Rolle (from which the photo at right is culled).
You just wonder: what is Mama Stevenson, who is 60ish at this point, going to do when Stevenson (who, as Tebbutt reports, has retired seven times from matches since the summer, including last week in Phoenix with a foot issue), finally gives it up.
I mean, is she going to stand on her front porch and yell at all the neighbours going by? Call them all a**holes?
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspxTennis birthdays - Nov. 20, 2009/montrealgazette/blogs/opencourt/archive/2009/11/20/tennis-birthdays-nov-20-2009.aspx2009-11-21T00:31:00Z2009-11-21T00:31:00Z
Jeff Tarango (USA), 41
The fiery American lefty had a pretty good career, getting to No. 42 in singles and No. 10 in doubles.
But he's most remembered for his on-court explosions and generally grating personality, sort of a McEnroe lite, without all the trophies and and any kind of redemptive charm.
He played three years at Stanford, where he helped his team to a pair of NCAA titles. On tour, he won two singles and 14 doubles titles with a bunch of different partners, and got to the final of the doubles at the 1999 French Open with Goran Ivanisevic (now, THAT must have been a pairing to watch: two insane southpaws).
The big moment came at Wimbledon in 1995, when he was playing former Steffi Graf boyfriend Alexandre Mronz of Germany.
He had issues with chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh. Bla bla, bla; the details are here. But suffice to say that he called Rebeuh "the most corrupt official in the game". And after a couple of code violations, he packed up his gear and walked off the court.
Adding insult to injury, his French wife Benedicte (they have since divorced, I believe), went up and slapped Rebeuh twice in the face.
Here's some video. No lasting memories of Mme. Tarango's little fit.
Never seen, before or since. Although we're betting Mirka Federer could probably get up a head of steam, if her hubby ever found himself in that situation – in another life.
Tarango got a huge fine – $63,000 in 1995 dollars, and was banned from two Grand Slams. When you think of the $10K Serena got this year, it puts it into even bigger perspective. It's not like he slapped Rebeuh himself.
Tarango basically retired in 2002. He still plays a little bit; he was in the qualifying at the tournament in Indianapolis this summer, beating a young American in the first round and losing to Frenchmen Sébastien de Chaunac in the second round.
He also does some coaching, and some work for the BBC. There's an irony in that, for sure. We're guessing they either replay that video clip a lot, or try to pretend it never happened on the lawwwwwns of the All-England Club at the Chaaaaampionships.
The classic line from his bio on the International Tennis Federation's web site is about his hobbies: philosophy, creative writing, bridge and fishing. Epic. He must have been kidding. What a card.
In his new memoirs, Andre Agassi rakes Tarango over the coals for cheating him out of a match way back when Tarango was eight, and Andre about seven. Classic moment in junior hooking on a sudden-death, deciding tiebreaker point. Lots of tears, and parents fighting in the stands, all that good stuff.
He's wasted no opportunity to get back at Agassi on Twitter. Clever.
smyles62http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/members/smyles62/default.aspx