Tennis-X.com Notes: Davydenko on Federer Tank, More US Open Rain
Posted on September 5, 2006DAILY TENNIS-X E-NEWSLETTER
A round-up of what's going on in the sport each morning in your e-mail box. Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get their heads around the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. A year's subscription costs less than a meal and a pint. Less than a trip to Starbucks. The question is, how can you afford not to subscribe? Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
After a brilliant day Sunday, Monday afternoon all but fizzled with the lone exception oa fifth-set tiebreak between Robby Ginepri and Tommy Haas. Haas had lost his previous seven five-set matches...Look for Andy Roddick to play Lleyton Hewitt Wednesday night. And remember, Lleyton always seems to lose to the eventual champion....Before you knock Nikolay Davydenko remember he nearly beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open this year...Marc Gicquel is the US Open's version of Massimo Vassello Arguello from the French Open...Rain is expected to hit the US Open again early afternoon on Wednesday and could last until Thursday...Marat Safin has the privilege of playing a third straight day, and unfortunately for the Russian he has to play in the afternoon against Tommy Haas who himself had a five-setter Monday...When was the last time an American women reached a Slam semifinal? Venus at 2005 Wimbledon?...Only in New York City do you get the crowd cheering for the good-looking ball girl which occurred during the Hewitt-Gasquet match...Lleyton Hewitt has reached seven straight Slam quarterfinals...Andy Roddick has won 10 straight matches, and 16 of his last 17 since hooking up with Jimmy Connors...Next year the ITF will assume drug-testing responsibilities for women players as it did this year for the men. Now time for the ITF to figure out how to stop results getting leaked to L'Equipe from their French lab...Andy Roddick on working with Jimmy Connors: "To be honest, when I went to California for those four days, I think it was just before Indianapolis, I was scared 'cause I didn't know what to expect, you know. I didn't -- you hear things and you know someone's reputation. You just, you know, I think we were both taking a leap of faith, just hoping that something would click. You know, it did. You know, he came to Austin and stayed in one of the upstairs bedrooms and, you know, I just feel like maybe it's been a while since he's just been one of the boys, you know, playing pool and poker and hanging out and, you know, we'd practice, he'd come home, kick his feet up on my couch, have a beer. It was pretty surreal. But, you know, I definitely get the sense that he enjoys being maybe back in the locker room and just kidding around. You know, it's huge. I mean, coming from -- we didn't really know each other. I mean, I think we made -- we might have met one time before I went out there. I was definitely anxious before we started working together, and I didn't know if it was gonna last more than three days, you know, 'cause that's kind of what he gave me. I'm glad it has."...Andy Roddick is the first U.S. man in a Slam quarterfinal since last year's US Open...Media question from the Serena Williams post-match conference: "Congratulations on the effort you put forth being you haven't played in a while. You look great..." -- Was that from Serena's PR person?...Mats Wilander speaking to tennis writer Peter Bodo on Roger Federer: "That's why I think Roger's not the greatest player, ever, not by a long shot. Not yet, anyway. In this way, he's very suspect, in terms of having the ability to think and execute a strategy where you say, 'You're the better player in this situation, so I'm going to do something that I feel really uncomfortable about, but you're gonna feel worse.' That takes guts. Roger didn't do that. He hasn't done it against Nadal ever, except in Rome. So that's kind of a bail-out. I mean, it was the same at Wimbledon, in a way, where I don't believe Roger came in behind a single second serve. But okay, it's different at Wimbledon, where Roger's entitled to think, 'I can play exactly in the most comfortable way for me and I'm going to beat everyone, including Nadal, seven out of ten times.' But anywhere else, it's a different story." And from Bodo: "It's an added bonus that it looks like Mats had a few pops before letting it rip in the [original interview on his Nadal-Federer thoughts], and he uses his infamous phrase ["has no balls"] so often that by the end I was rolling on the floor laughing; it's just so over-the-top that it borders on the obsessional."...Former Andre Agassi coach Darren Cahill speaking with Nine News on the post-Agassi age: "But I have no predetermined plans. Obviously I will spend a little bit of time in Vegas now to enjoy the next few weeks with Andre and his family. But, beyond that, I'm not closed on remaining in a coaching role but I'm certainly going to sit back and evaluate where my and my family's life heads from here. I am available to talk about anything."...From News.au on the Mtv Video Music Awards shot on Friday: "MTV set up a stage by the red carpet to keep screaming fans amused before the show as a stream of musicians and celebrities trod the velvet, from wrestler and reality TV star Hulk Hogan to tennis star Andy Roddick, in town for the US Open."...James Blake faces Tomas Berdych in a match-up between the player who holds the Open Era record for the greatest number of five-set victories with no defeats, and the man who shares the worst five-set record in the Open Era (Berdych 9-0 in five-setters, but Blake 0-9). Berdych is 0-5 career against Top 10 players at Slams...From Nikolay Davydenko on the Roger Federer tank in Cincinnati: "We know already that Federer should have retired before Cincinnati because when he won the event in Toronto (the previous week), I heard from his girlfriend that he was not going to play Cincinnati, so I am surprised that he went there and not surprised that he lost, because when Federer wants to play, he doesn't lose to anybody."
A round-up of what's going on in the sport each morning in your e-mail box. Read what tennis industry insiders read each morning to get their heads around the latest news, insight and opinion on pro tennis. A year's subscription costs less than a meal and a pint. Less than a trip to Starbucks. The question is, how can you afford not to subscribe? Get the Tennis-X Daily Dish in your e-mail in-box, even before it's posted on the web, by signing up for the net's most complete daily e-newsletter at http://www.tennis-x.com/subscribe.php
TENNIS-X NEWS, NOTES, QUOTES AND BARBS
After a brilliant day Sunday, Monday afternoon all but fizzled with the lone exception oa fifth-set tiebreak between Robby Ginepri and Tommy Haas. Haas had lost his previous seven five-set matches...Look for Andy Roddick to play Lleyton Hewitt Wednesday night. And remember, Lleyton always seems to lose to the eventual champion....Before you knock Nikolay Davydenko remember he nearly beat Roger Federer at the Australian Open this year...Marc Gicquel is the US Open's version of Massimo Vassello Arguello from the French Open...Rain is expected to hit the US Open again early afternoon on Wednesday and could last until Thursday...Marat Safin has the privilege of playing a third straight day, and unfortunately for the Russian he has to play in the afternoon against Tommy Haas who himself had a five-setter Monday...When was the last time an American women reached a Slam semifinal? Venus at 2005 Wimbledon?...Only in New York City do you get the crowd cheering for the good-looking ball girl which occurred during the Hewitt-Gasquet match...Lleyton Hewitt has reached seven straight Slam quarterfinals...Andy Roddick has won 10 straight matches, and 16 of his last 17 since hooking up with Jimmy Connors...Next year the ITF will assume drug-testing responsibilities for women players as it did this year for the men. Now time for the ITF to figure out how to stop results getting leaked to L'Equipe from their French lab...Andy Roddick on working with Jimmy Connors: "To be honest, when I went to California for those four days, I think it was just before Indianapolis, I was scared 'cause I didn't know what to expect, you know. I didn't -- you hear things and you know someone's reputation. You just, you know, I think we were both taking a leap of faith, just hoping that something would click. You know, it did. You know, he came to Austin and stayed in one of the upstairs bedrooms and, you know, I just feel like maybe it's been a while since he's just been one of the boys, you know, playing pool and poker and hanging out and, you know, we'd practice, he'd come home, kick his feet up on my couch, have a beer. It was pretty surreal. But, you know, I definitely get the sense that he enjoys being maybe back in the locker room and just kidding around. You know, it's huge. I mean, coming from -- we didn't really know each other. I mean, I think we made -- we might have met one time before I went out there. I was definitely anxious before we started working together, and I didn't know if it was gonna last more than three days, you know, 'cause that's kind of what he gave me. I'm glad it has."...Andy Roddick is the first U.S. man in a Slam quarterfinal since last year's US Open...Media question from the Serena Williams post-match conference: "Congratulations on the effort you put forth being you haven't played in a while. You look great..." -- Was that from Serena's PR person?...Mats Wilander speaking to tennis writer Peter Bodo on Roger Federer: "That's why I think Roger's not the greatest player, ever, not by a long shot. Not yet, anyway. In this way, he's very suspect, in terms of having the ability to think and execute a strategy where you say, 'You're the better player in this situation, so I'm going to do something that I feel really uncomfortable about, but you're gonna feel worse.' That takes guts. Roger didn't do that. He hasn't done it against Nadal ever, except in Rome. So that's kind of a bail-out. I mean, it was the same at Wimbledon, in a way, where I don't believe Roger came in behind a single second serve. But okay, it's different at Wimbledon, where Roger's entitled to think, 'I can play exactly in the most comfortable way for me and I'm going to beat everyone, including Nadal, seven out of ten times.' But anywhere else, it's a different story." And from Bodo: "It's an added bonus that it looks like Mats had a few pops before letting it rip in the [original interview on his Nadal-Federer thoughts], and he uses his infamous phrase ["has no balls"] so often that by the end I was rolling on the floor laughing; it's just so over-the-top that it borders on the obsessional."...Former Andre Agassi coach Darren Cahill speaking with Nine News on the post-Agassi age: "But I have no predetermined plans. Obviously I will spend a little bit of time in Vegas now to enjoy the next few weeks with Andre and his family. But, beyond that, I'm not closed on remaining in a coaching role but I'm certainly going to sit back and evaluate where my and my family's life heads from here. I am available to talk about anything."...From News.au on the Mtv Video Music Awards shot on Friday: "MTV set up a stage by the red carpet to keep screaming fans amused before the show as a stream of musicians and celebrities trod the velvet, from wrestler and reality TV star Hulk Hogan to tennis star Andy Roddick, in town for the US Open."...James Blake faces Tomas Berdych in a match-up between the player who holds the Open Era record for the greatest number of five-set victories with no defeats, and the man who shares the worst five-set record in the Open Era (Berdych 9-0 in five-setters, but Blake 0-9). Berdych is 0-5 career against Top 10 players at Slams...From Nikolay Davydenko on the Roger Federer tank in Cincinnati: "We know already that Federer should have retired before Cincinnati because when he won the event in Toronto (the previous week), I heard from his girlfriend that he was not going to play Cincinnati, so I am surprised that he went there and not surprised that he lost, because when Federer wants to play, he doesn't lose to anybody."