By Richard Vach
MaliVai Washington jumped from the University of Michigan to the pro tour at age 20, a Top 20-ranked player and Wimbledon finalist before his career was cut short by knee problems. Richard Vach of Tennis-X.com catches up with Mal to discuss some of the ATP controversies of the past year, who can challenge Andy Roddick in 2004, the new addition to the Washington family, and to throw the ESPN commentator a few curves.
Tennis-X: First a few softballs: who do you see emerging as Andy Roddick's top rival?
MW: A couple of guys. I see Juan Carlos (Ferrero), I see Roger Federer, those guys who are around Andy's age, around that 21-22 years age, those are the guys that are going to be his peers for the rest of his career. I look at someone like (Guillermo) Coria who is going to be one of his biggest rivals, because I think Coria is only going to get better on other surfaces (than clay).
Tennis-X: Do you see any of the other Americans punching into the Top 10 next year?
MW: I don’t…I’d like to say that a guy like James Blake has a shot, but James had a really down year, and I'm really interested to see how he responds, if he bounces back, because prior to this year he had a nice steady rise, a methodical rise, but this year combined with the shoulder injuries, it was a really down year for him. I think he has the potential to be a Top 20, Top 15 guy. Mardy Fish had a tremendous year, final of Cincinnati and his first title, he seems to be one of those guys that can play well with a lot of confidence, I see him as a Top 15 guy next year. But when you're Top 15 you have the ability to make Top 10, it’s a matter of getting the right wins at the right time.
Tennis-X: How about guys besides the Americans coming out of nowhere, like Rainer Schuettler did this year?
MW: I don’t know if anyone just comes out of nowhere, you see guys that have good results, then blow up like Schuettler did earlier this year in Australia. He was no chump last year in 2002 either. I can't think of any others offhand, I'll have to come back to that one.
Tennis-X: Lots of players have taken potshots at the ATP this year, like Lleyton Hewitt with his lawsuit, and Australia's Todd Larkham saying the ATP doesn’t take care of the lower-ranked players, do you think any of the criticism is valid?
MW: With Lletyon, he just has an ongoing challenge and battle with the ATP, and in the interest of his career he just needs to put that behind him. I mean how do you go from finishing No. 1 in two consecutive years to not even finishing in the Top 10? That’s not a matter of skill, that’s just a matter of not being focused. So he needs to just put that behind him. There's no question that the top players, the higher-ranked players, get preferential treatment, more than the lower players. That goes across the board in any sport, maybe in any profession. When you’re damn good at something people know it, and people treat you accordingly. Whether its something as simple as getting a Mercedes at a tournament if you’re the No. 1 seed, and not getting a Mercedes at a tournament if you’re a doubles player or an unseeded singles player. It’s just a fact. I was a player who was in the Top 15 for many years and without question I got better treatment at events during the later years than in the earlier years.
Tennis-X: What about Wayne Ferreira’s movement earlier this year with the Men’s Tennis Council and trying to break away the player’s union from the ATP?
MW: I think the ATP is the strongest…I don’t think anything good would come from the players breaking away and trying to start another tour, or whatever the group was trying to do. In any organization when you have this many people, you're going to have people who completely disagree with the direction the CEO wants to take, that’s just the way business is, that’s the way life is. You’re going to have 10 different people who have different opinions on what the (tour) calendar should look like. I don’t pay much attention to stuff like that, if they want to make a movement, make a movement within the tour itself as opposed to trying to break away and take players and create another tour. If he’s that unhappy, try to get a different CEO, get on the (tour) board, that’s where you make a difference.
Tennis-X: What's taking up your time theses days beside the real estate venture and playing golf?
MW: Unfortunately not too much golf is taking up my time, but real estate, announcing ESPN, the (Mal Washington) Foundation (www.malivaiwashington.com), and trying to raise my 14-month-old boy, that is 99 percent of my time. The other 1 percent of my time is probably eating and sleeping.
Tennis-X: We’re going to throw a little word association at you -- you give us the first thing that pops in your head.
Tennis-X: Match-fixing.
MW: No way.
Tennis-X: Andre Agassi.
MW: One of the greatest of all time and I hate that I couldn’t be as good as he was.
Tennis-X: President George W. Bush.
MW: I’m a supporter.
Tennis-X: Richard Krajicek.
MW: (Laughing) A bum. A bum for beating me in the final of Wimbledon.
Tennis-X: Jeff Tarango
MW: A little loony, but I can appreciate a guy who can express his opinion.
Tennis-X: (Fellow ESPN Commentator) Cliff Drysdale.
MW: (Laughing) Cliff Drysdale. Umm…playboy.
Tennis-X: WTA CEO Larry Scott.
MW: Huge task at hand.
Tennis-X: Kim Clijsters.
MW: Great tennis player, I can’t wait until she wins a major.
Tennis-X: And finally, Michigan football.
MW: The best. In the country. Even when they’re not having good years.
MaliVai Washington resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and will be heading to Australia come January 2004 with the ESPN tennis crew.
Richard Vach is a Senior Writer for Tennis-X.com. He can be reached at rvach@tennis-x.com.
