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FORMER N0. 1 MAKES PROGRESS IN FLORIDA
Rios shows a softer side
Robert Kendrick who?
By Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
FROM THE INTERNATIONAL TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS IN DELRAY BEACH, FLA. – Maybe it’s maturity, maybe it’s being a married man, maybe it’s fatherhood, or maybe it’s having experienced the hard knocks of life after being on top of the world.
Any way you want to analyze it, the bottom line is that former world No. 1 Marcelo Rios has developed a slightly different perspective on his career these days.
“I’m just trying to play day-by-day,” Rios said. “I’ve been struggling with my tennis the last two years. Now I just want to continue to play and enjoy it and, of course, do as good as I can.”
While it would be foolish to believe that the 27-year-old Rios has totally lost his ornery ways, he seems to have settled down quite a bit. In the past, Rios would spend most of his time in press conferences muttering incomplete answers, but here at the International Tennis Championships he’s actually answering questions with complete sentences.
Back in 1998 when he was one of the hottest players on the road Rios had real “attitude.”
ONLY NO. 1 PLAYER WITHOUT A GRAND SLAM TITLE
He briefly stood atop the charts that March having reached the Australian Open final and winning back-to-back trophies at the Pacific Life Open and NASDAQ-100 Open. But on his way he made quite few enemies. The press reviled him and according to his own reports, he wasn’t that popular in the locker-room – he once admitted he wasn’t well liked with his colleagues and he didn’t really care.
By 1999, despite finishing the season just within the Top 10, Rios was starting to experience injuries cropping up quickly. By late 1999, Rios had a year that sounded ideal for the medical journals – hamstring strain, stress fracture in his back, thigh, hip and groin problems. In November of that year, he had abductor surgery on both legs and even the other day in Delray, he admitted he isn’t always pain-free since the operation.
This season started late for Rios, at the Davis Cup first round against Ecuador in early February. He then went all the way to the final of the Vina Del Mar tournament in Chile, but to date has never won a tournament on his home country soil. He followed the final appearance in Chile with a quarterfinal showing at Acapulco before he moved onto the hard courts this week in Delray Beach.
“It’s never a problem for me to go from clay to hard,” Rios said. “The clay in Acapulco plays pretty fast.”
Since the birth of his daughter, Constanza in June 2001, Rios occasionally seems to let down his guard and show his softer side. He admits that bad days at the office seem to melt away when he gets back to the hotel and plays with his child.
Nevertheless, his desire to be in charge hasn’t declined to oblivion.
A large tattoo adorns Rios’ left upper arm and while it looks like a large mosaic to the layman’s eye. According to the Chilean, it is a turtle, which is very important because the reptile is symbolic of power. Rios had the inspiration to go for a tattoo while on vacation in Papette, Tahiti.
Robert Kendrick who?
Courtesy of Jeff Davies/Propix |
Prior to arriving in the popular beachside resort of Delray Beach to try to qualify into the International Tennis Championships main draw, Robert Kendrick had never won a match at a tour level ATP event.
Of course, the 23-year-old Kendrick had played an ATP tour level match in his past. Once, that is, in Auckland, New Zealand this past January, but it didn’t go very well as he became an easy foil for Jiri Novak in the first round.
For the past few years since Kendrick departed the grounds of Pepperdine University in 1998, he’s been hanging out at the Challengers and Satellite events, occasionally trying to venture up to the big ranks without success.
But then came Delray Beach and his first quarterfinal showing.
First, he first knocked off Austrian Stefan Koubek 6-4, 6-4 in the first round. Koubek was seeded seventh at the tournament and won the title here in 2000. Then there was Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard who took his leave from the tournament after losing to the No. 162 ranked Kendrick 7-5, 7-5.
“I’m very excited, so excited, I don’t know what to say,” Kendrick said. “I’m just really happy right now. It was just a matter of time before I could get a couple of wins and do well in a big tournament like this.”
According to Kendrick’s travel coach, former player Scott McCain, this was a match that his charge “would have not won six months ago.”
SUPERSONIC SERVE
Kendrick, a tall, lanky kid with a supersonic serve and wicked forehand, trailed Lisnard in both sets before pulling out the victory. The Frenchman had two break points in the seventh game of the first set for a 5-2 lead but the American stayed tough. In the second set, Lisnard led 5-3 before Kendrick won the final four games of the match.
In case you’re questioning whether this kid you never heard of really has a lethal serve, check out these two games in the second set.
A double-fault started the first game of the set, but Kendrick followed that up with four consecutive aces. In the fifth game, he posted three aces in five points played. Overall, he had 16 aces in the match.
McCain had little trouble explaining why things are starting to come together for Kendrick at this point and time.
“It’a combination of things – he’s matured as a person, he used to get upset at himself if things didn’t go exactly his way and fall apart,” McCain said. “There’s composure and he’s learned to manage his game style. He’s more consistent using his power, especially with his very, very big serve and big forehand. He believes in himself. He can see he can play at this level. He’s the type of player who couldn’t skip a step – college and the Challenger level.”
Kendrick is of the opinion that his stint this summer playing World Team Tennis on Patrick McEnroe’s team was a big factor in his movement up the ladder.
“I loved being around him,” Kendrick said of McEnroe, the US Davis Cup captain. “For three weeks he told me I need to push for it in singles, buckle down and I could do it.”
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