Tennis Talk 2013

[apocalipstick]

Gimelstob doesn't believe that Rafa is humble. He has hinted he thinks the humble routine is all an act. He doesn't believe that Rafa doesn't have a massive ego. I read Rafa's book. The way he was raised was almost abusive. The book made me kind of hate uncle Toni. It just doesn't compute to Gimelstob that Rafa can win like he does but have less ego than Donald Young.

I was just jumping on the "Mary always seems drunk" joke. She may have a problem. I don't know. She sounds loaded oftentimes though.

For me, Brad Pitt, who I now find totally skeevy, was near Newman levels in A River Runs Through It. Jude Law has never reached that level for me.

A good match today. Delpo just seemed tired at the end. I think Rafa only has two maybe three years left in him. He doesn't have Roger's longevity. I'd like them to be a good couple of years.

[harry24]

Thanks again for all the info, apocolipstick! I think Gimelstob is worse than a douche. He's the tennis world's answer to santorum (lower case, non-proper-noun version of the word).

[apocalipstick]

At some point several years ago, I found myself mentally cataloging Gimelstob's douchery. It was after the Kournikova debacle.

I think he might have once dissed Mirka, saying something like it was a testament to Roger as a gentleman that rather than dating a string of hot models, he was faithful to Mirka. As if Mirka was somehow less worthy than a string of models.

Barf. I just hate that guy. He is santorum.

[lt]

He has hinted he thinks the humble routine is all an act.

I'm no fan of Gimelstob's but I don't think Rafa is as humble as he and his team would like us to think.

I think he might have once dissed Mirka, saying something like it was a testament to Roger as a gentleman that rather than dating a string of hot models, he was faithful to Mirka

In a weird coincidence, I had dinner tonight next to a guy who is a pilot and flew Roger and Mirka back from Beijing after those Olympics. He said they were both extremely nice and that Mirka was just wonderful. That didn't surprise me one bit (and, yes, Roger does fly the timeshare airline he does commercials for).

eta: I think adidas has invested in P90X. I was watching Fer and Nico practice and Darren Cahill was there as Fer's coach. I have never seen Fer and Darren look so lean, they look great.

I've never been to a tennis tournament before the seeded players are playing--the players practice much differently. Nico and Fer were really going at it, not just hitting. (And I don't know if Nico was slightly injured or just in a bad mood but he was cranky--I think it was a slight injury because he was laughing and smiling when he and Fer were resting between games.) Later I saw Dolgo and Sam Querrey practicing and they were playing full games as well (and what a strange pair they made). Djoker takes over for biggest crowd for practicing and I knew Vika was practicing three courts away thanks to that sound. Maria drew a big crowd too, no surprise.

As for matches, I saw a truly contentious match between Benoit Paire and Michael Llodra. I missed whatever happened during the first changeover but it got so bad that Paire tried to hit Llodra with a ball (and he swung so violently that he missed Llodra and the point). At the end of the match he refused to shake Llodra's hand. I think it was because Paire would not stop talking to his team in the stands. Maybe Llodra told the ump? Paire did get a warning later for it. Meanwhile, I watched Llodra explain to a ball girl that he wanted his towel before every point and then he smiled that Llodra smile at her and she just beamed. Later in the match when she brought the towel out and he didn't want it he told her sorry when he realized she was waiting for him. So sweet.

I also watched Melzer play Ricardas Berankis. I've never seen Berankis before but I liked him lots. If you take out the double faults that both players were having trouble with, it was a great match. Melzer played loads at the net and both were killing it with passing shots. It ended up in a third-set tiebreak, exactly as it should have.

They still haven't put up the OoP for tomorrow so I don't know who I'll be seeing yet. And has anyone heard what happened to Max and Tecau? They didn't show up at Indian Wells and Max is playing with Youzhny in Miami. They play the Bryans in the first round, how much does that suck? I hope they play tomorrow or Friday so I can cheer for Max and Mikhail.

[lt]

I watched Murray practice with Kevin Anderson (and Kevin was whupping Andy's butt in practice games) and now I've got Ferrer and Gasquet. They're just warming up right now.

What was interersting was how intently Lendl was talking to Kevin. I wonder if he's trying to add to his stable?

[skyz]

So if anyone read about the Kickstarter success of Veronica Mars, there's now a tennis verison for players. Someone mentioned if there was one in the Jon Werthiem tennis mail bag. Here's the link: www.involvedfan.com/explore/recommended

[mooncreek]

lt - there's a collection of tweets related to that Llodra-Paire match. Apparently, it involves Paire confiding in BFF Stan Wawrinka and saying he's never ever ever gonna talk to Llodra again.

[lt]

moon, thank you for that link--I ran into the guy I was sitting next to yesterday again today and he read L'Equipe and I guess Llodra did call Paire "a little shit" (le petit merde--oy, my french is old). And really? Paire and Stan are BFF? How funny is that.

After Ferrer and Gasquet, Tsonga came out (and he looks super good all lean--it really is the adidas way right now). He was hitting against someone he'd never met (I was near where the kid he was hitting with was and the introduction was very funny, and cute). Tsonga wasn't into the practice as much as everyone else had been and after 50 minutes he was done. During their breaks the kid was cracking Tsonga and his coach up with stories about playing. Tsonga's laugh, wonderful. Cilic was next and he didn't have anyone so the officials asked if the kid who hit with Tsonga would stay (this kid plays at the U--and, funnily enough, had a LiveStrong bag. I wanted to ask him if he thought that with going to the Univ. of Miami that maybe he shouldn't associate himself in any way with Armstrong as well. . . talk about a double whammy). His answer to the officials? "Sure, I'm already warmed up." Heh, guess Tsonga really wasn't going full out. I didn't watch the Cilic practice but went to some different practice courts and watched Max and then Dolgo and Tipsy. Then I watched some actual tennis (doubles with Llodra/Paes vs. Kohlscreiber/Kas--Kas was the only one smiling in that match and Paes is still an asshole, questioning every line call). Back to the practice courts where Novak and Tommy Haas were putting everything into their practice set. It was great. After one point where Tommy painted a line Nole told him to save something for tomorrow. And I can't believe how much I'm turning around on Novak--after he was finished practicing he stayed and signed as many people's stuff as he possibly could. He even turned around and came back down the line when he realized new people had come up. I think I might have said "you are a sweetie" out loud (but not to him, just into the ether).

Oh, and Vania King is staying at my hotel (and is taller in real life than she looks on the court) and Jarkko Nieminen is too--he was in the hotel gym at the same time I was yesterday. It's a player hotel, but not for the top players. My elevator rides are all spent with tall, tan coaches/hitting partners (I'm not complaining).

So if anyone read about the Kickstarter success of Veronica Mars

Heard about it? I pledged--that is my favorite show, evah.

eta: yesterday (Friday) was a very weird day. The players I wanted to see the most (Feli, Fer, Max, Dolgo, Davydenko and Kevin) were all scheduled for the very end of the day but I had a nearly four-hour drive last night. What to do? I figured I'd be finished about 8 pm or so, which would have been fine but then the rains came. And they didn't come down in a fast torrent or anything--they came down in an annoying drizzle that interrupted the Fer/Marrero vs. Soares/Peya match after every game in the beginning of the 2nd set until the rains came in earnest at 5pm and lasted until after 7pm. I waited it out because. . . Feli! But when the courts were finally getting dried and I was checking to see how the schedule had been affected (not all the courts have lights so they had to move stuff around) I found out that Feli had retired. And they moved the conclusion of the Robson/Cornet match to the court before Max/Mikhail. Okay, now I would stay until 10 pm and catch some of Max but first, Kevin. He isn't playing his best but he's up 4-2 when the lights go out. Pitch black, I have never seen that happen. The crowd (what was there of it after all the rain) was so good about it--just laughing and staying calm. But it was now nearly 10 and Cornet/Robson was about to go into a third set so off I went, feeling my way until the entrance to the grounds where they still had lights. Got to my hotel at 2 am and now I'm up and ready to drive my next three hours (hope my friends are okay with me being dopily exhausted today). Can't believe I missed Max and Mikhail beating the Bryan brothers! Darn it all--but yeah for them! But on the plus side, my GPS was still registering all the problems on the highway from earlier in the evening and judging by how many times it told me "traffic ahead, 10 minute delay" when the roads were now clear I think I'm very lucky I was driving so late.

[Jer2002]

Verdasco is so ugly...oh hi y'all!

[breezybee]

Verdasco is so ugly

He certainly is playing ugly and yes, that pony-tail does him no favors. What happened to the Verdasco that almost beat Nadal in the Ozzie semi-finals? This Verdasco sprays balls all over the place and then throws up his arms in bewilderment. A little sad really.

Lt - do you know what is wrong with Feli?

[mooncreek]

Saw that Verdasco match as well. Quite sad, actually, to watch a player's mind be that far gone. We know that he's in good physical shape (he certainly tweets enough photos to that effect) but his game plan is now non-existent. Falla just had to go chase the ball.

[lt]

breezy, sorry for the late non-reply--after I left Miami I never went back on the internet but I have no idea what happened. I saw one story written in Spanish when he retired but when I realized the woman next to me was waiting for Feli to play as well (and was Spanish) I couldn't find the article for her to read for me.

but his game plan is now non-existent

I watched a little from my friend's house (heh, their guest room has a TV with full DirecTV--I might just move there) the commentator said something about Fer losing all confidence in his game and it really looks like he has. I watched him play doubles and it was interesting--his net game has improved greatly now that he's playing with someone who doesn't come in to the net (with Feli, Fer could just rely on Feli doing the net work) but his baseline game was error-prone (to say the least). With Marrero, Fer is supposed to be the better return guy but he was really having issues with that and there were times he didn't even take the serve on the no-ad points. He is looking good though--like I mentioned earlier, so lean. In the end, I think the years he devoted himself to the Gil Reyes school of big muscles really hurt him. Yes, his 2009 season (it was 2009, right?) was his best and he was big then but it made him too slow and he overhits now way too much.

Sad to see that Kevin lost to Tipsy. Glad to see that Melzer is still chugging along with the wins. He's another player that I'm really loving now that he's gotten a bit older. His net game is another one that has grown leaps and bounds. Hopefully since this tournament is on the East Coast I'll be able to watch some on my computer. I'm not sure when ESPN2 starts airing any of it.

[harry24]

lt, I know we're a little quiet around here right now, but I wanted to say how much I enjoyed your Miami reports. Thanks so much for keeping us informed and entertained!

[lt]

bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! ('nuf said.)

Why is ESPN3 (which I've very grateful to have now that Cablevision added it) showing the beginning of the Murray/Seppi match when Gasquet/Almagro are in a tight, entertaining match now near the end of the third?

[breezybee]

Love it Lt. Particularly when Feli blows the kiss at the camera.

I'm watching Simon and Tipsy play. It's a close match and is almost as boring as watching Simon and Monfils play. Not quite as excrutiatingly dull. Darn close those. It only gets interesting when Simon starts to gesture wildly and yell in French at the back of the court.