by Bobby Chintapalli
MEMPHIS—You could feel Brad Gilbert’s presence around The Racquet Club of Memphis the past few days. He was physically here, but it was more than that.
As a two-time winner (he won the title in 1986 and 1989), Gilbert has a reserved parking spot just outside the front entrance (see picture below). Walking into the club, you can see the reserved sign next to those of Sam Querrey, who Gilbert is currently working with, and Sofia Arvidsson, who’s also a two-time Memphis winner now. And in the hallway leading to the stadium his picture (see at right) hangs alongside those of other past winners, guys like Bjorn Borg (1977), Jimmy Connors (1978, 1979, 1983, 1984), Andre Agassi (1988), Pete Sampras (1996), Tommy Haas (1999, 2006, 2007), and Andy Roddick (2002, 2009, 2011).
People who like tennis get excited about this man who loves tennis. During a changeover in the doubles semifinal between Max Mirnyi/Daniel Nestor and John Isner/Sam Querrey, a fan, maybe in his late 40s, walked over to his friend and exclaimed, “That’s Brad Gilbert sitting over there!”
I caught up with Gilbert earlier this week for a general feature to come later, but I did get in a few odds-and-ends questions for today.
I understand you’re working with Sam Querrey on a trial basis and this is your second tournament together. How’s that going?
I just started. I don’t know where it’s going. We’re doing a little consulting, and that’s about it.
You seem to have pretty different personalities. How are your personalities jelling?
Every coaching gig that I do I always say—and I learned this from my coach—you go in with a blank canvas and you don’t try and make the player conform to your style. You gotta conform to their style, because you’re trying to make them become a better player. And in the early stages a lot of times you need to observe what their habits are.
How’s TV commentary going?
I don’t take myself too seriously. I just try to be me; I try not to be somebody else. I do different positions, and you have to realize when you’re on court it’s a different situation opposed to being in studio or booth. So, yeah, you just have to learn that.
How are you liking Twitter? Have you learned anything about tennis from the fans?
Yeah, there’s a lot of Monday morning armchair quarterbacks. Especially like if my grammar’s off I have some people that will give it to me hard. Or give it to me about opinions. Or some people like my nicknames, 90 percent, some hate them. Man, it’s like their quickest way to get right back at you.
What comes through about you on TV and on Twitter is that you really love tennis…
Well I’m 50, and I’ve been playing tennis for 47 years. I started at 3. I still got a lot to figure out, but it’s a game for life. I love it, and I have to pinch myself that I get to do this.
by Bobby Chintapalli
MEMPHIS—As Milos Raonic served at speeds around 140 mph in the semifinals this afternoon, a fiftysomething linesman standing behind the baseline across from the Canadian and his lethal weapon looked surprisingly jolly. During points he was nonchalant, like he was at his desk job, manipulating pivot tables in Excel. During changeovers he looked around to pass the time, smiling if he made eye contact and generally being, well, jolly.
But this was Milos Raonic’s serve—wasn’t he a bit concerned, maybe even a bit fearful?
Not really, it turns out. The jolly black-and-khaki-clad linesman has seen worse, it seems. There was Goran Ivanisevic, whose serve hit him right above his heart and left a big mark by the time he looked down at the spot just minutes later. (Ivanisevic apologized, but I’m not sure about his opponent, who didn’t block the serve.) A female Russian player’s ball ricocheted off a wall once and left him with a bruised retina.
One player though does concern him here in Memphis: “You know who is a real danger is that tall guy, he’s 6’10”… ?” Ivo Karlovic, I offered. Bingo. “He could really kill someone with his serve,” he said. When Karlovic plays on the side courts here, the jolly linesman will pull ballkids aside and warn them to be careful. Sometimes he’ll stand in front of them, doing his bit against the Karlovic serve.
Benjamin Becker also didn’t seem too concerned about being hit by a Raonic serve, and that was after being hit by a Raonic serve. Up a set and 4-3 today, Raonic was serving out wide often and Becker thought he’d go down the T this time. But it was a body serve—a 139-mph body serve—and Becker ran right into it.
In press right after the match, Becker talked about getting hit as matter-of-factly as he talked about Raonic’s serve in general (“his serve is one of the best serves along with, I guess, Isner and Karlovic”) or his potential (“when you have a serve like this, you have a high, high potential—if you back it up with some good groundstrokes, and that’s what he has… obviously he has great, great potential”).
“I hit somebody before, I got hit before,” Becker said. He thought he was done then added, “And he serves quite fast, so it’s tough to react.”
Raonic had something to say too, but I’ll let him tell it. After his match I asked him what goes through his mind when ballkids, fans, or opponents get hit by his serve.
“Depends who it hits,” he said smiling, continuing after the laughter in the unusually full room subsided. “When I hit the ballkids or someone in the crowd I say ‘sorry’. When it hits the opponent I say ‘sorry’, but I’m not as sorry.”
And that’s probably just fine by Becker, who was asked if that serve today hurt. He didn’t have to think about it—no, it didn’t. Now if it were Karlovic…
by Bobby Chintapalli
MEMPHIS–The day kicks off with men’s singles and doubles semifinals and wraps up with the women’s singles and doubles finals. Maybe tomorrow I’ll write about the ATP. Today I wrote about a few things I saw, heard, thought or learned as I watched the WTA semifinalists – Sofia Arvidsson and Marina Erakovic, who made it to the final, and Vera Dushevina and Alberta Brianti, who didn’t.
How Vera Dushevina caught Elena Dementieva’s bouquet
It was an up-and-down day for Vera Dushevina. She lost the first set of her semifinal against Marina Erakovic and was down 0-3 in the second only to come back and win that set before losing the third. A little later, around the time Sam Querrey lost a first set tiebreak to Radek Stepanek, she looked more up than down. As she sat in the media overflow room, a converted racquetball court, Dushevina looked like she was feeling pretty good. Maybe it’s because she won her first main draw matches of the year this week and made it to the semis for the first time since 2010 Moscow. Maybe it’s because she’s still in the tournament – she and Olga Govortsova, the second seeds, play top seeds Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the doubles final Saturday night.
In any case we were talking about other things when Elena Dementieva came up. I confirmed it’s true that she caught the bouquet at Dementieva’s wedding. Assured it was, I continued: “What was the secret, with all those other athletes there?” Turns out it was all about the basics. Said Dushevina, “I moved forward, like in tennis!”
The surprising one-handed backhand
It was 3-3 in the second set, and Italy’s Alberta Brianti had lost the first set 6-3, but she was delighting a middle-aged man sitting a few rows behind the baseline. He sat close enough for her to hear him, yet he couldn’t help himself – in the middle of one point, he let out a “Nice!”. Her one-handed backhand just did it for him. Brianti could slice it or drive it, and the fact that you couldn’t hear the effort – like Sam Stosur or Jelena Jankovic, she makes no noise when she plays – made it that much lovelier.
When someone waxes poetic about this shot I usually start thinking about dinner or the last episode of ‘Revenge’. But after watching hours of tennis then seeing Brianti’s backhand again, I paid attention. Against the backdrop of so many two-handed backhands and power that starts to feel normal after a while, the one-handed backhand felt different and surprising.
“Yeah, we are few who use it… it’s unusual,” said Brianti in the interview room about an hour after her loss. “It can be helpful sometimes. But sometimes with these ladies that play very strong, it’s tough.”
Still the element of surprise is also one reason opposing players take notice of the one-handed backhand. Her opponent today, repeat finalist Sofia Arvidsson, talked about the one-handed backhand, and Brianti’s in particular: “Yeah, it’s very special. She has a great slice. It’s tough because she’s taking the tempo down with the slice and then she hits the forehand. And sometimes she even hits the backhand, so you don’t know really what to expect.”
“I wish it was a little simpler”
Marina Erakovic, the only seed to make the semifinals and the only semifinalist seeking her first WTA singles title, was up a set and 3-0 when things got messy against Vera Dushevina in the semifinals. “I was feeling really good – I was even telling myself to stay focused and keep on the gas pedal,” she said. “That’s sometimes how tennis is. Sometimes nerves get the better of you. But it’s not the first time that’s happened to me, so I just try and stay calm... Obviously I wish it was a little simpler.” Erakovic cleaned up her act eventually and won her match 6-1, 4-6, 6-4.
Erakovic, who lost in the Quebec City final in 2011, will get a second chance to win her first title. She’ll play Sofia Arvidsson. Erakovic beat Arvidsson the one time they played, last year in Stanford. (At that tournament Erakovic also beat Victoria Azarenka, with whom she won the 2005 Australian Open junior doubles title.) Said Erakovic, “Sofia’s actually similar to Vera [Dushevina]. She’s very solid, hits a clean ball and obviously won this tournament before so a very good player.”
How to get a good parking spot
What is it about Memphis and Sofia Arvidsson? She won her sole singles title here; her WTA bio says that her “best memory to date was winning first WTA title at Memphis in 2006.” In the walkway between the players’ area and the stadium, a big photo of her hangs alongside those of Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka and others. She’s 19-6 in Memphis, and Friday she’ll play her third final here in eight years.
Arvidsson attributes her Memphis success to indoor hard courts and some less tangible things too: “I just like the atmosphere here. [It feels] like home and… I’m just having fun on court. That’s normally when I play good.”
Whatever the reason Arvidsson has been good in Memphis, and Memphis has been good to Arvidsson, who has the reserved parking spot to prove it. It’s right there, outside the front entrance of The Racquet Club of Memphis and next to spots reserved for other past winners Brad Gilbert and Sam Querrey.
I asked Arvidsson if she gets excited when she sees her parking spot, and pat came the reply. “I do, I do – I’m like VIP,” she laughed. Which she also did as she recounted her conversation with police who stopped her as she drove in to the club earlier this week: “I was like, ‘I’m a tennis player, and I’m going to park.’ And she was like, ‘You can park over there.’ I’m like, ‘I actually have my own parking spot over there.’ It was pretty funny.”
And that’s how the pros do it, or at least this pro in this city.
******
Feel free to use this post to discuss the day’s action or anything else. It’s all yours.
by Jackie Roe, TW Social Director
Hi, gang! Long time, no speak. How is everyone?
Indian Wells is quickly approaching, and as much as I’m looking forward to the live tennis (and the sunshine), I’m equally excited to meet up with all my TWibe pals. For those who’ll be in attendance, here are the details for our annual TW gathering:
Date: Friday, 3/9
Time: Let's set the start time as 9 PM, but night session ticket holders, feel free to show up fashionably late.
Place: Renaissance Esmeralda Hotel (lobby/bar area) [We’ve traditionally met at The Beer Hunter, but we’re trying something different this year—should be more convenient!]
If you’d like to exchange contact info in advance of the tournament, e-mail me here.
Last week, I received a great idea for a Deuce Club topic from a TW regular; she proposed that I solicit stories from posters about their tennis player encounters. Fun, no? Could be your account of getting a player’s autograph, or maybe you actually had a conversation or spent time with a player. I’d say even an unexpected off court player sighting is fair game. We eat this stuff up, don’t we? It gives us a better understanding of a player’s “real,” true self . . . allows us a glimpse of the person behind the player. (Which can be good or bad, depending on your experience!) I don’t want these stories to get lost in the Comments, so if you have one you’re open to sharing with the group, e-mail me here and I’ll feature your submission in a future Deuce Club post. Hope this catches on!
No topic this week—just wanted to prepare a space for you to go off-topic over the weekend (or you can certainly call matches here, as well). No virtual Oscars party this year, but if you’re watching the show on Sunday and could use some company, come on back here and we’ll gab about this year’s winners and losers (and fashion hits and misses!).
Have a great weekend, TWibe!
MEMPHIS–I got to Memphis a few hours later than planned but just in time to see Sergiy Stakhovsky hit an underhand serve against Milos Raonic. It came out of nowhere, and you could hear the it-came-out-of-nowhereness in the collective gasp from the few fans still out on the stadium late Thursday night. It’s the first time I’ve seen an underhand serve live.
And the first time in months I’ve seen live tennis, so I went through my usual assortment of feelings, remembering that, oh yeah, this isn’t the same sport I play at the Chicago public courts across the street and, oh wow, how are they doing that, and that, and that! I like feeling that excitement anew and feeling that newness again. It didn’t last long though. A few games later Raonic wrapped up the match 6-4, 6-4 to make the quarterfinals.
I made my way out, past melodic accents that never get old, past a thirtysomething man reminding the older woman beside him that Raonic is “still just a man” and past still-baby-faced Raonic patiently smiling for pictures on his way back to the player area that's a two-minute walk away. It was late, though you can easily forget that here at The Racquet Club of Memphis, with its big-and-fancy-high-school-gym feel and indoor lighting that highlights the tennis but hides the time.
Much of this is to say, I didn’t watch much tennis today, but I’m here and will watch more over the next few days. I’ll be following up on a few other things, but I expect to write a TennisWorld post or two. Now if you’d like to discuss the day’s matches or other goings-on, go right ahead.
—Bobby Chintapalli
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