Notes on a Draw Sheet

Dent challenges Andre and then limps out
Who needs a roof in Flushing?; Federer and Pete; Jennifer’s swinging moods; El Aynaoui’s janitorial duties

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

© Mark Lyons

It was all working so well for Taylor Dent against Andre Agassi: his huge first serve, his crisp volleys, his smooth approach shots and his careful play from the baseline.

He came out after a rain break down 4-5 and a service break down, broke back to 5-5 and then in the tiebreaker, impressed everyone in the stadium. He ripped a 123-mph ace and service winner, smashed away two overheads and on his third set point, thudded a 109- mph service winner to grab it 7-6 (5).

The 22-year-old fought, battled and threatened Agassi like he has never pushed a truly elite player before. He broke Agassi to 3-2 in the second set when he knifed a backhand slice return crosscourt that Agassi couldn't wind down the line.
But Agassi kept pushing at him and when he had the opportunities, ripped returns at his feet in order to get chances to crush mid-court passes. He broke Dent back to 3-3 after Dent double faulted.

Agassi had his teeth in the match and even though he wasn't comfortable, he was very competitive. He jumped on Dent serve again at 5-4 and broke him to win the set when Dent missed a forehand volley.
Then Dent's hamstring began to ache and he had it taped on the first changeover in the third set. Then his nerves began to frazzle, then he wasn't quick to the net and couldn't boom his way out of trouble.

He was still somewhat forceful at the net, but it seemed like it was taking eons for him to get there. He broke Agassi twice and jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the two-time US Open champion could sense he was slowing and broke back to 3-3 by hammering a backhand, down-the-line return winner. Agassi held with a reflex backhand volley off a huge groundie by Dent and then pumped his fist and you knew he wasn't going back to the hotel to change diapers.

SERVE LOST BITE
Dent was limping a little, couldn't get a lot of lift off his right leg and his service speed dropped a good 20-mph. He didn't serve any aces in the third set and with his back against the wall at 5-6, he couldn't pull off a backhand volley on set point. He went over to Agassi, shook his hand and conceded the match down 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5. The crowd was shocked and Agassi was bit surprised, too.

Dent said he would have played on had he won the third set because he may have been able to last through the fourth, but said that he couldn't serve at all and had it gone into a fifth, he would have been "kneeling" to serve.

"You can look at it positive or negative," Dent said. "If I was being negative about it I could say I missed a huge opportunity tonight, but I'm going to try to take positive and say I was giving the No. 1 all he could handle. I felt like I really had a good chance to do some damage. That's very exciting. As soon as body in order, I can't wait to play that kind of tennis and executing it."

Dent has already been injured four times this year in four different places. He's been hurt every year of his five-year career. The good-natured Southern Californian has a lot of weapons and should he manage to stay healthy, could crack the Top 20 sometime. But something is seriously wrong with either his approach to training, or how he mentally prepares for matches, because his big frame doesn't respond well enough when the chips are on the table.

"That's going to be a question probably throughout my whole career," he said. "It's a shame that I have to deal with it but it's the cards that I've been dealt. So I just have to stay in the training room, put my bed up there and then work my body every opportunity I get, I'm willing to do that if it means me being a champion. That's a very small sacrifice."

Who needs a roof in Flushing?
Should a roof be placed over Ashe Stadium because the US Open has been plagued with two straight days of rain? Absolutely not, unless gets the world’s weather patterns have definitely changed and it can proved that the Open is in for bad weather for the next decade.

Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.

Tennis is a sport meant to be played outdoors in the elements – cold, heat, wind, damp, birds chirping, squirrels tossing acorns on the court, wheezing blimps hovering, sunset casting brilliant shadows on the white lines.

Indoor tennis can be entertaining, but can also be very stale. To many fans, Late Night at the US Open symbolizes digging into their seats in the night air and bellowing at the moon (or as is the case this week, Mars) when their favorite players rips a winner in the fifth set. Maybe a roof on Louis Armstrong Stadium (court No. 2 at the Open) might be more acceptable so the tournament can move ahead during storm weeks, but at least the semis and finals should always be played where they belong – out below the sun and the stars in Arthur’s place.

Federer and Pete
This has been a standout year for men’s tennis and no tournament has been more fortunate than the Open, which still sports its top eight seeds. Let’s not be unfair to the women, who as of Tuesday afternoon, had their top six still hanging around, too.

Roger Federer finally got his chance to shine on Ashe Stadium in a night match and show off his exquisite game to the US audience that missed his magic at Wimbledon. The Swiss was so brilliant in his straight-set victory over James Blake that numerous fans erupted in cheers for the non-home boy, even if they were there to root for Blake. So much for Federer not being able to handle the chaotic noise of NYC.

“I've experienced it (playing at night) at the Australian Open a few times but this is different,” he said. “The crowd got much more into it. They were very loud. It was a very nice experience, really. I've played only one time and I liked it.”

John McEnroe was impressed enough to compare him nicely to Pete Sampras.

“He doesn't serve as well as Pete. … Doesn't flatten the ball on the forehand side, but his backhand is better than Pete's and is more natural. Pete had to work at it more. Remember, he started with two hands as a kid. … It took a long time to develop. It was certainly stronger in the early part of his career. Movement is similar. Pete was a lot better athlete than you realize. … So is Federer. … Very, very similar. … Quite a comparison and quite a compliment to this guy, Roger Federer.”

Of course, if Federer loses to his nemesis, David Nalbandian, all this lofty talk about the Swiss will quickly dissipate. Federer is 0-4 against Nalbandian and has lost to him twice this year, as well as in the US Open junior final. However, Federer did score one victory over Nalbandian in the Orange Bowl junior final.

“No, I don't have a great record against him but I'm really feeling positive going into this next match because it's really time that I beat him,” Federer said.

Jennifer’s swinging moods
Who needs therapy more than Jennifer Capriati? Well, Daniela Hantuchova, Jelena Dokic and Ivan Ljubicic, just to name a few. But on many days, Capriati is as crabby as Roseanne Arnold when she has run out of chocolate. Take her mini-blowup the other day when she was distracted by the noise of an overhead blimp and stunningly asked the chair umpire to try to get it moved. (Joan Vornbaum to Major Tom, is your circuit dead, Jenny says there something wrong. Can’t you hear her f-bombs, Major Tom?)

“Sometimes I don't even understand, the kind of moods that I go in and out,” said Capriati, “I'm just happy for what I have and have no complaints. I shouldn't complain at all. I don't have to prove anything to myself, to anybody or myself, really. I've realized that I've achieved a lot, at least in my tennis, my career. That's one less worry. That was a worry before I let that go. I was getting hurt by a few relationships here and there. That was difficult. So I learned how to get through that, cope with those kinds of things. Then support system has to be there as well.”

Which relationships Capriati is referring to is hard to say, but a healthy guess would be prior romantic relationship with Xavier Malisse and her relationships with her father and coach, Stefano.

“I'm just a human like everyone else,” she said. “I’m gonna have more problems because of who I am, what I do. You can't take things too personally. That's what I learned.”

After Andre Agassi routined him in straight sets, Yevgeny Kafelnikov paid homage to his American rival. Whether Agassi is capable of stringing together four wins in six days (or less) is an open question, but if any old geezer can do it, it’s the Las Vegas Hulk.

“He always sticks to the same game plan that he had since he was 20 years old,” Kafelnikov said. “He's trying to overpower the opponent from the baseline. The only difference I can see that he's got physically stronger, which is complete absurd. Normally, if you are getting older, you are becoming physically weaker. With him, it's opposite. He’s getting older. Obviously, he's improving that department. That's what makes him special. I don't see many guys that at the age of 33 can compete as hard as he doing.”

El Aynaoui’s janitorial duties
Few players have taken a more arduous road into the top-25 than Morocco’s Younes El Aynaoui, who like many common kids did the dirty work when he was a teen. But how many current stars pushed a broom at a high-level tennis academy like Nick Bollettieri’s? None that we know of.

Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA, Inc.

“I was doing a lot of small jobs just to pay for my stay there. For a while I cleaned the gym, organized all the gym, drive the bus, watch the kids in the room, if everything is clean at night, things like that,” he said. “I wasn't really good, you know, until 23, 24. There were so many players better than me. I guess in the future, if I meet a young player who wants to go on the tour, not just looking at him how he plays on the court. I have a talk with him, see if he's really into it, he really wants to do. What happened to me, I never had a chance to talk to a famous coach or somebody like this and tell him, ‘I really want to do it.’ ”

Paola Suarez, who is to face Lindsay Davenport in the singles quarters, actually volleys quite well and is the defending US Open doubles champ with Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain, on why she doesn't come in more in singles: "In the doubles, I think that our key is not the net, (it) is the baseline. I think (in) doubles, we play really good, we return good. I think it's different tactic. Some players have facility to go to the net, other players stay in the back.”

Martina Hingis' mother and coach, Melanie Molitor, was on the grounds last week but there was no sign of ’97 US Open champ. Tracy Austin on how much Hingis is missed: “She has such a different style. She doesn't have the power, but she could maneuver that ball around the court and change her game.”

Anastasia Myskina, who was due to finish her fourth round against Mary Pierce on Tuesday, spent Monday munching on doughnuts (“I wanted something sweet because the weather is not sweet”) and playing cards with her coach against with her good friend, Elena Likhovtseva and her husband.

“It's called ‘stupid’,” Myskina laughingly said of the card game. "Who lost, they call ‘stupid.’ We've actually been losing to Likhovtseva all the time. Then they call me ‘stupid,’ but they cheat for sure. ... I got to find out how.”