Still no more definitive word on David Nalbandian’s coach Francisco Mastelli, who abruptly parted with the Spaniard of his own accord after Nalbandian’s first-round win in Miami. Nalbandian would not give a reason but said he and the man who coached him since December 2005 “remain friends.” One ATP employee suggested jokingly that since the Argentines switch coaches so much, it might be better to not list their coaches in the ATP Player Guide and instead start a website where they could better keep up with the changes.

Nice almost-packed house for the Ivan Ljubicic v David Nalbandian match, with a very vocal Nalbandian support group. Unfortunately for the pro-Argentine Miami fans, Nalbandian was off his nut on his own service games in the first set, while Ljubicic is dropping bombs. With Ljubicic up a set and a 4-2 lead in the second, staring down from the press box at ESPN sideline reporter Brad Gilbert who is baking in the sun and watching the $20 he bet me in favor of Nalbandian go bye-bye.

The update on Gabriella Sabatini, who will be inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame this summer: “Well, what I’m doing, with my image, I have my perfumes. I’ve had that for almost 20 years, and I have like 14, 15 different perfumes now. I travel a lot for that to promote the perfumes and to do the commercials. Then I’m just doing some personal investments, some businesses that I like to do in Argentina, overseas also. That’s about everything. I have an office in Argentina, I go there every day, so I work.”

This entry was posted on Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 4:21 pm and is filed under Miami.