Tennis Talk 2010

[lt]

Were people really this fond of Conners or was it just because he was old?

For some bizarre reason, the vocal NY'ers loved Connors--and thought Andre was just a punk. I've finally (FINALLY!) started reading Andre's book--first time since I bought it back in November that I'm not watching enough tennis that would be spoiled reading about an unhappy tennis player--and it's making me so sad. I had such a lucky little life growing up.

He starts the book off with the US Open 2006 2nd round win against Baghdatis (who he says the most wonderful things about) and it's so odd remembering sitting in the stand for the match, having no clue what was going through the players' heads. One thing made me laugh--as Andre was waiting to come out onto the court he could hear all the fans rushing to their seats "not wanting to miss a thing." Me? I was at Court 7 watching Max play doubles. I didn't get to the Andre/Baghdatis match until almost the end of the 2nd (almost as bad as when I showed up at the 1996 World Series Game 1 in the fourth inning because I'd been apple picking--which my friend and I did not tell the people around us who were so concerned about what horrible things must have happened to us to make us miss the first three innings). Would Andre have been my favorite player if I had known what was going through his head when he played? Or what horrible pain he was in--mentally and physically? I knew his back was awful but my own pleasure of watching him play overrode any compassion I should have had and that maybe I should have been wishing he was home in bed. Ugh. Being such a huge Agassi fan I have a feeling this book is going to put me through the ringer.

eta: if you wanna see an honest-to-goodness full-on Feli smile, check out the post match interview. You have to wait until the 1 minute mark though--he spends the first minute acting like he lost the match.

[breezybee]

Well, I was never a fan of of young Agassi but after watching that match I felt awful for him. He looked like a kicked puppy. At one point, one of Conner's serves was called out. It appeared to be in and Andre walked up to the service box and pointed where the ball had landed, indicating that it was indeed in and conceeding the point. Conners wouldn't take the point. I assume he didn't take the point because that would have made the crowd like Agassi a little bit.

I now know why, try as I might, I don't like Roddick. He reminds me of Conners a lot. Conners rubs his business between every point too.

[lt]

That reminds me. . . Roddick got a mention during the Superbowl last night. Phil and Jim were talking about what a great athlete Drew Brees has always been and how he used to beat Roddick in tennis. I wonder if Andy mentions it on Twitter (off to check Twitter).

eta: Awwwwwwwww, he doesn't, but he does talk about meeting Ndamukong Suh and "running across the lobby" to get to him. So cute.

[vallegirl]

Feb 8, 2010 13:43:03 GMT falafaclese said:

Then he pulled his dickiest move ever claiming "this is what they want..." to the TV camera, like he was just obliging the fans instead of encouraging and lapping up every minute himself. Ugh. So gross.

They play that clip ad nauseum, and I always assumed that he was referring to the play that was going on, I didn't know that he was referring to his acting out between points. It's a shame he was such an asshole, because he added a lot to the game otherwise.

Ostensibly, he was speaking about the match but only his half, since there wasn't any cheers for Krickstein. And it was the faux humility with which he said it like "Oh, shucks, I'm just giving them what they want..." like he wasn't actively courting it.

And that's why, to me, Roddick will never be as bad as Connors. Connors is, was and shall always be a narcissistic prick who can't see beyond his own "awesomeness." He's not smart, he's not funny, he's not self-aware and he's certainly not self-deprecating. All things Roddick has shown himself to be both on and off the court. Can he get overly intense and occasionally jerky on court? Yes. And he acknowledges his bad behavior. Is it his natural disposition? No.

[lt]

Busy, busy Feli. He's got a doubles match with Robredo in The Netherlands today and his first round singles match is against Davydenko (I'm guessing tomorrow, but I don't know).

[roseha]

I think it goes way back that a lot of American tennis fans had this irrational love for Connors, no matter how badly he behaved. Mind you, I always felt that a majority of these same people hated McEnroe. I never, ever figured that out since I always felt that they were equally, deliberately rude in their behavior. I can only figure that the fans might have sided with Connors after he started losing to Mac and Borg on a regular basis. But I don't know.

[tikigirl]

I always thought that Connors and McEnroe were both massive cocksmacks, but only one of them was reasonably intelligent and self-aware. I also never liked Agassi much (1.0, 2.0, whatevs) but I do feel badly for his terrible early experiences.

So how about the Fed Cup? I'm starting to think that Ivanovic needs to be off-court and in therapy for a good long time, and I don't mean that as a joke at all. Girl has lost her mind.

[Mpol]

What is up with her?

Daniella Huntuchova, Dokic, and Myskina all experienced decline in form once there was a real shake up in their personal lives. Daniella's parents divorces, Dokic left her father and went through hell, Myskina saw her mother fight cancer... what is going on with my Ana? I like her game a lot. I love her, she's so nice. The nicer version of Sharapova, with a better game, IMO.

Hope all is well, and that it is just an on court issue and not a personal one.

[lt]

And adidas giving her a lifetime sponsorship? What an odd decision by them.

So, Mrs. Roddick is the cover of the SI Swimsuit Issue. How many rude comments do you think Andy gets after those issues come out? Sadly, I'm TiVo'ing Letterman tonight to see if 1) Andy is there and 2) they talk about him.

[breezybee]

Ana Ivanovic is in the issue as well.
sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010_swimsuit/models/ana-ivanovic/

[francienolan]

I think the SI photo is the reason behind Ana's lifetime contract w/ Adidas (btw Do Europeans pronounce it differently or only Australians? Every time Cahill said it it took me a minute to figure out what he was talking about) The tennis may go but her looks will remain...

Was Brooklyn Decker in Australia? I don't remember seeing her...

[lt]

Americans pronounce it wrong. adidas is named after the founder--Adi Dassler. Always makes me laugh that as soon as a player goes through the Development Program they start pronouncing it correctly.

Speaking of adidas clients, I had no idea that Fer was playing Sampras in an exhibition.

[falafaclese]

I heard Murray pronounce it AHH-dee-dahs rather than a-DEE-das too.

Ana looks great, but she still has a vestige of girlishness that makes it a bit odd. Also, those photos didn't seem very creative, They usually do more varied shoots with athletes, don't they? Maybe she didn't have time to go somewhere warm.

That was some pretty good Fed cup play this weekend. I still really enjoy watching Melanie Oudin play. A lot of times when she's playing well, especially when she plays someone with a big power game, it's almost like watching someone diffuse a bomb. You know that, given enough time, she'll figure it out, the only question is whether she'll have enough time. I'm usually immediately disinterested when the media falls in love with an unproven player, but I really hope she delivers on her potential.

As for Ana, I just don't know what to say about her. When she was on her way up, she always looked to me like the one out of that crew that she came up with (other than Sharapova) who had the most potential to get up there and stay. I hope she can put it all together again. While she's just not playing top five tennis right now, most of the losses that she has had in the past year have not been against scrubs. Most of them were top 25 players, and the ones that weren't were mostly no pushovers. Kleybanova beat her a couple times, as did Safarova, and both of them have the goods to give top players trouble on a good day. Kateryna Bonderenko beat her in the first round of the US Open, and then ended up coming within a couple games of making it to the semifinals (albeit without facing another seed). The two losses that truly bother me were Melinda Czink and Ayumi Morita. Ana's definitely not near where she should be, but at least she's not in Vaidisova territory. Hopefully she can put together a couple good runs, and get herself going in the right direction again.

[lt]

Heee, Andy Roddick is trending at the top of the Yahoo searches today. All 'cause of his wife. Love that.

[vallegirl]

It's nice to see Sampras getting out there and playing these exos. The Federer ones were to be expected, but Verdasco seemed really happy to get a chance to play him, and Verdasco's really not the first name you'd expect to see in an exo against the "mighty" Sampras.

I figured once he retired he would pull a Lendl and really disappear from the sport, so to see him put himself out there is a welcome surprise.