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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: TUESday, JUNE
22, NO. 92
Fish says he's busting his
butt
Mardy: 'For [anyone] to say I'm not
working hard is unfair because [they] doesn't know what I'm doing;'
Tursunov beats Wimby-quitting Safin, may not take US passport
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
 Susan
Mullane/Camerawork USA
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| Mardy Fish disagrees that he
isn't in top shape. |
FROM WIMBLDEON – When you're
the only other young American ranked in the Top 20 behind a
lonely Andy Roddick, you're expected to bust your butt in pursuit
of greatness. That's what expected of the multi-talented Mardy
Fish, who's been virtually off the radar screen since having
a solid indoor season in February.
Fish didn't take to kindly to suggestions that he's wasting
his talent by not putting enough time in on the practice court
or during off-court workouts.
The fourteenth-seeded Fish – who drilled Ivan Navarro
Pastor in the first round on Tuesday in straight sets –
said that his poor performance in the US Davis Cup victory over
Sweden in early April wasn't a result of him loafing off.
"It's unfair because I haven't done anything that I haven't
done in the past," Fish said.
While US Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe has been a big supporter
of Fish's by playing him in singles against both the Slovak
Republic and Sweden, he has high expectations of his players.
The captain wasn't thrilled with Mardy's conditioning or his
mental approach in his loss to Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and told
him so.
"Patrick sees very little of us," Fish said. "He
has a lot of input. He's the Davis Cup captain. All of us want
to play Davis Cup. We try to listen to as much as he has to
say, but try to keep in mind that he doesn't see every one of
our practices throughout the year. I value his opinion very
much. But it's tough for somebody to come right into a Davis
Cup week and tell you what you're doing wrong when he hasn't
been with you the whole year.
"It's good that he decided to let us have our [private
coaches] there for the week. But he's had no clue what I'm doing
at tournaments since Miami. That's three or four months. I've
done a lot of work off court. For him or whomever else to say
I'm not working hard is unfair because [they] doesn't know what
I'm doing."
HAS AVOIDED hip SURGERY
Fish is somewhat lucky to be here. He discovered during the
Houston Clay Courts in mid-April that he had a slight tear in
his hip and two doctors told him that he needed surgery. He
then went to visit Dr. Thomas Byrd, the same physician who performed
hip surgeries on Gustavo Kuerten, Magnus Norman, Harel Levy
and Sargis Sargsian. Byrd told him it was only tendonitis and
with proper rest and stretching, he could avoid the surgeon's
knife.
"He told me that what I had wasn't out of the ordinary
for what a 45-year-old man would go through with the wear and
tear," Fish said. "I've been playing sports my entire
life. But I honestly felt like I took care of it the right way
at the beginning and I don't know if Guga and Norman got it
right away."
Before he visited Byrd, Fish did fear for his future. No player
who has undergone hip surgery has come out of it moving like
he did in his prime.
"That thought crossed my mind," he said. "I'd
thought I'd be looking to come back maybe at the US Open. I
was bummed out. I was lucky to catch it early and rehabbed it
twice a day."
Skipping the clay court season may have paid off for Fish, who
began practicing on grass in mid-May and is now looking like
he has good shot at reaching the second weekend at Wimbledon.
He reached the Halle final last week, upending Rainer Schuettler
before being crushed by Roger Federer.
Fish owns the distinction of being the only man to take a set
off Federer at Wimbledon last year, but it's a small consolation
at this point. Since then, he's lost to him at Madrid, Indian
Wells and Halle.
"I would have liked to be the only guy in the last year
to beat him on grass, but he's playing great," Fish said.
"He's the guy to beat here. He's playing better now than
he was then; he's more polished and buttoned up. He's the best.
I haven't shown myself I can beat him yet. He's the ultimate
guy to beat nowadays. He has so much game on every surface.
I don't know what surface I'd like to play him on. Maybe at
the US Open where it's quick and I can get my serve through
the court and he's not hitting a forehand winner every time.
You have to make him beat you with his backhand."
The athletic American is aiming to prove that he can be a Top-10
player. To do that he'll have to make the second week here,
which is his goal, on a surface he says is his favorite. But
don't tell him that he needs to catch up to the second-ranked
Roddick by the end of the fortnight.
"I'm not really feeling any pressure," he said. "I
want to go at my pace. I don't want to go at anyone else's pace.
I don't want anyone to say, 'Why isn't he in the Top 10 yet.' I'm
not Top 10 because I haven't matured as fast as [Roddick] has. But
I'm getting there. Hopefully it's just a matter off time before
Top 10 comes."
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Fred Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Tursunov comes on top over
Safin as two Russians face off on the grass. |
Tursunov beats Wimby-quitting Safin,
may not take US passport
It came as no surprise to see Marat Safin crash out in the first
round against fellow Russian Dmitry Tursunov, who is by all
intents and purposes a Russian-American, since he's been living
close to Sacramento, Calif. for the past nine years.
The inside scoop on this baseliner – who is co-coached
by Jose Higueras and Vitaly Gorin – is that he's a terrific
returner and high-wire player who quickly found his level on
grass. Safin didn't move particularly well after the second
set and you could tell that after he failed to serve that set
out, he was mentally toast.
"I don't like to play on this surface," Safin said.
"I don't feel like I'm moving. I cannot move. Every time,
I don't know how it's gonna bounce. So it's like a really nightmare
for me. So after a while, just I get bored. I lost completely
motivation, and I give up."
The result was 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (1) win for the 21-year-old
Tursunov, who was his first Wimbledon main draw match. He served
brilliantly and returned even better, frequently catching Safin
off guard.
"I wouldn't say that Safin is a grass court player and
felt both of us had even chances," Tursunov said. "He
was favored because he's more known, but I don't think that
means he's going to be a better player on any given day."
That loss may have ended Safin's Wimbledon career. He's an extremely
volatile and emotional person; it's impossible to tell what
he will do from one year to the next. But according to Marat,
he's done here.
"I give up on Wimbledon," he said. "It's definitely
not the tournament for me. I give up on spending time on this
courts. I give up on practicing before the tournament, I hate;
I hate this. I have to admit it. I'm not really enjoying playing
on this courts. I come like other people – Friday, Saturday
before the tournament. Practice a couple of days, then I play.
I'm not gonna spend my time, not gonna waste my time on that
knowing that I will not play well."
Tursunov knocked off former French champion Gustavo Kuerten
in the first round of the '03 US Open and considers that a better
win.
"Beating Guga on hardcourts is a little tougher because
it's less unpredictable. Here a couple of bad bounces and anything
can go wrong and its tough to break back, but I'll take either
win."
The sandy blonde Tursunov is an unassuming person who the Russians
call "Surfing Dude." He has the speed and the arsenal
to crack the Top 20, but mentally goes and in and out of matches.
Even after his win over Safin, he's not tooting his own horn.
"The surface is tricky," he said. "It's a lot
of slap shots. It doesn't teach you how to play tennis. Its
faster and more risk taking. At this level, if you are Roger
[Federer] and Tim [Henman], you can volley. I'm not the best
volleyer. To me this is a little better because I have a slap
return so I can start immediately attacking. But if I had Tim's
volley, I'd be unstoppable."
Tursunov doesn't know whether he will ever be able to get a
US passport and isn't sure if he'll want it if he gets it.
"It's going to be a very hard decision," he said.
"Nowadays I don't know if the American passport is a very
popular one. If you go with a blue passport to the Middle East,
you have to think about it. It's upsetting that those differences
still exist. A lot of times people look at your citizenship
before they get to know you. Ideally, that's not what it should
be like. If people treat you a certain way because of your citizenship,
they're not the people you want to be around."
Notes from all Over SW19 and
beyond
Jennifer Capriati has ended her Heinz Gunhardt experience and
is working here with former US Davis Cup captain and Pete Sampras'
old coach, Tom Gullikson. It's not the first time the two have
worked together.
Jelena Dokic says she's considering moving back to Australia,
but does Evonne Goolagong Cawley even want her on her Fed Cup
team when she can't manage to put two wins together anymore?
Yes, Gisela Dulko is an inventive player, but there's no way
that former Wimby semifinalist Dokic should be losing to her
6-3 6-3 in the first round. … Name a top-flight male player
who's worse than Paradorn Srichaphan at the Slams. Ivo Karlovic,
who upset defending champ Lleyton Hewitt last year, struck again.
… Lleyton Hewitt looked good in dispatching Jurgen Melzer
in straight sets and said, "I only had one point to defend
so I was worried about my ranking taking a dive."
Federer, who crushed Alex Bogdanovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 on the power
of negative thinking: "Before going to bed, I'm trying
to imagine myself playing on Centre Court in a tough situation,
to create the worse case scenario. I also visualize playing
well and playing good shots, but if I don't do the other side,
and I'm suddenly in that scenario, then I have a problem because
I don't know how to get out of it."
IT'S CRYIN' TIME AGAIN
Since crying after wins and losses has become
so fashionable, it's time too start a "Who Wept Today Dept."
Today's winner is Britain's Elena Baltacha, who put down Marta Marrero
and then shed tears. Arguably Britain's best woman, Baltacha has
battled back after sustaining liver damage. "My coach kind
of says I'm a walking miracle" she said. "It's not easy
kind of what I've been through. These two years have been a nightmare.
I'm just so happy that I'm just back." … There are four
British women in the second round, which has to be a first in the
past five years, at least. … '03 finalist Mark Philippoussis
won his first match since January and is being accompanied by actress
Delta Goodman: "I've been having a lot of fun, but not on the
court (laughter)," he said. "She took time off. She's
here to support me. That's what it's all about. It's nice. Really
nice." Win of the day goes to Jan-Michael Gambill, who took
down Max Mirnyi 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.
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| Susan Mullane/Camerawork
USA |
| Razzano defeated Kuznetsova. |
The loss of the day goes to Svetlana
Kuznetsova, who today was stunned in three sets by Virginie Razzano.
Yes, Kuzy has much more potential on grass than Elena Dementieva,
who continued her Roland Garros meltdown with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-4
defeat to Sandra Kleinova.
A fan of Stanley Cup winners Tampa Bay Lightening, Mardy Fish
went to every game of their final series against Calgary and prior
to the final, flew with the team to Philadelphia. … Tursunov
says he feels more pressure doing interviews in Russian than he
does on court.
There's plenty of value to official web sites, including Wimbledon.org,
which has tremendous volume. But too may writers on that site
are faking it and merely re-writing pre-match notes instead paying
attention to the tennis and the personalities that play it. Here's
one keen reflection on Chanda Rubin's loss to Marion Bartoli:
"Moreover, Rubin is certainly one of the most lauded players
in the game, having won no end of gongs and prizes for being a
jolly worthy person." Worthy, sure, but Chanda is jolly?
In what universe?
Here's another on Bartoli: "A former US Open junior champion
who ranked as high as 45 last August, is coached by her father
Walter. He must be a busy man, since he also works as a doctor."
No, he doesn't. His entire existence is wrapped up in coaching
Marion.
It was odd to receive news that Amanda Coetzer had retired just
prior to Wimbledon, the Slam where she had had the least success.
It looks like the 5-foot-2 sparkplug's engine had grown cold in
her 32nd year. But look who she outlasted: Stefi Graf, Aranxta
Sanchez-Vicario, Gabriela Sabatini and essentially Monica Seles.
Yes, all of those peers has better careers than she did, but counterpunching
your way to nine singles titles, the No. 3 rankings and three
Slam semifinals when you're the smallest kid on the block from
a faraway nation like South Africa is something to be proud of.
Anna Kournikova was on a conference call last week to promote
World TeamTennis (she's playing for the Kansas City Explorers)
and gave no real indication that she'd return to the tour this
summer if her bad back holds up during WTT play. She apparently
doesn't want to give false hopes to her fans … or herself.
She did say that she was happy for Roland Garros champ Anastasia
Myskina, whom she said was the Russian she was closest to coming
up in the juniors. |
