Bill Simons
KYRGIOS SAYS IT’S NOT CLOSE – ROGER IS THE GOAT: Inside Tennis asked Nick Kyrgios who was the best among Novak, Roger and Rafa. The Aussie replied, “All are great in their own way, obviously. I don’t think we have ever seen someone so dominant in their period of time as Novak – like he went on that 60-match winning streak or something really crazy. I think Roger is the greatest of all time. With his skill set, the way he plays the game, I think it’s pure. I actually think talent-wise Nadal and Djokovic aren’t even close to Roger. Just purely based on talent – the way Federer plays, his hands, his serving, his volleys [are] untouchable. [As for] Rafa, you will never ever see someone so dominant on one surface. I don’t think we will ever [again] see those amazing accomplishments on clay. He’s the best clay courter of all time.
“It’s funny, because I think Roger is the greatest of all time but not the greatest of the era, because his head-to-head against Rafa is not great. But it’s a tough one. I’ve played them all. I actually think Andy Murray’s form was tougher than Novak’s to play. I’ve only played Novak twice. I’ve played Andy 6 times and I’m 1-5. I match up quite well against Nadal. I can serve big and play the right style to be successful against him. Styles make fights in tennis. All the matchups are different. Roger’s chopped me a couple of times. Roger makes you feel like you’re really bad at tennis sometimes. He walks around, he flicks his head, and I’m, like, I don’t even know what I’m doing out here. Roger is the greatest. But obviously what Novak is doing now…Look, I was just watching him play Chardy, and Chardy didn’t even believe that he could win, and when you reach that status, you must be pretty good.”
McENROE’S PRAISE: John McEnroe said, “I think Nadal has improved more than any player I’ve seen. He’s added more to his game than any other player I’ve seen from when I first saw him…The serve, how much better. How much he is better at the net, how much better he is at moving forward. This is a guy you thought would just win clay court events, – look at this guy. So much better than he was…He’s forced these other guys [to get better].” Darren Cahill added that Rafa’s backhand has also vastly improved. “Now he steps in and thumps that backhand,” noted the Aussie.
McENROE’S SUSPICION: John reflected on the small daytime crowds in Melbourne and said, “It feels like the players have to pay their dues a little bit, like, ‘Hey, we went through this for months on end – six months. So you’ve done it for a couple of weeks. Okay, but we’re not going to come out in full force until maybe in the second week.”
KYRGIOS – DJOKOVIC IS A STRANGE CAT: After a reporter noted that Djokovic thought Kyrgios was great on-court but didn’t respect him off court, Kyrgios responded, “Here we go. It’s a strange one for me, because he said he doesn’t respect me off the court. I’m, like, it actually would make complete sense to me if he was like, ‘Look, I don’t respect the guy on the court,’ because I understand if he doesn’t agree with some of my antics on court that I’ve done in the past…But I’m not quite sure how he can’t respect me off the court. I feel like I’ve gone about things extremely well, especially during the pandemic. I was driving around delivering food…I was extremely careful. I didn’t want to spread the virus. Now I’m actually trying to donate meal kits. I have my foundation. So it’s very strange why he would say he doesn’t respect me off court. I actually do a lot off the court. But, he’s a very strange cat. Heck of a tennis player, but unfortunately someone that’s partying with his shirt off during a global pandemic – I don’t know if I can take any slack from that man. That’s as bad as it gets for me.”
SERENA’S GOING WITH THE FLO: Serena told ESPN, “I have had a ton of pressure…and now I don’t feel it anymore. It’s just like a huge relief and I don’t know why, but it feels good. I think I was just looking at it all the wrong way in the past and I just feel totally different about it now.” Williams, who swept aside Laura Siegemund, is now 78-1 in first round Slam matches.
Serena’s one-legged outfit honored the iconic track champion Florence Johnson, aka FloJo, who competed in a one-legged tracksuit in the 1988 Olympics. FloJo’s sprint records still stand. If there were a competition for the most imaginative tennis outfits, there might be quite the tussle between Serena and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Of course, the most impactful tennis outfit was worn back in 1949 by Gussie Moran, when she sported white lace panties at Wimbledon, thanks to the daring designer Ted Tinling.
Serena is looking fit, focused and eager, despite pulling out of a warm-up tourney due to a shoulder problem. So let’s forget (like Jack Benny always did) that she’s 39. She’s hoping to equal Djokovic and win her eighth AO and, more importantly, to finally equal Margaret Court’s record of 24 singles Slams. But we’ve been to this rodeo before. Serena has fallen short 10 times while trying to equal Court’s mark. BTW: The last time the world’s most famous sportswoman won a Slam it was 2017, and she did what no man has ever done or will ever do: she won a major while pregnant.
MELBOURNE ECSTASY: Rennae Stubbs spoke of conditions in Melbourne: “It just seems unbelievable to be in a city that went through hell in a lockdown, to be out and about without mask wearing. Players are saying, ‘Wow, it feels so good just to go to a restaurant and not to worry about COVID.’ The players are ecstatic now that they have gone through the tough yards. They just feel blessed to be in a country where they are allowed to be fairly normal.”
WILL ANOTHER STAR BE BORN? In three of the last four Slams, a woman has emerged as a first-time winner. Bianca Andreescu won the 2019 US Open and in 2020, Sofia Kenin won the Australian Open and Iga Swiatek won the French Open. Will a first-time winner –say, like Elina Svitolina, Jen Brady or even that Floridian named Coco – triumph here?
BRUINS BATTLE: Former UCLA stars, Piedmont’s Mackie McDonald and the French-American Maxime Cressy, scored first-round wins Down Under. McDonald downed Italy’s Marco Cecchinato in four sets and Cressy served and volleyed his way over Japan’s Taro Daniel.
STARS AND STRIPES: Last week Jesse Pegula was up 4-1 vs. Sofia Kenin, but lost. Today, with her big groundies, the Floridian downed the two-time Aussie Champ Victoria Azarenka, who struggled physically before going down 7-5, 6-4. Pennsylvania’s Ann Li, 20, scored an upset over No. 31 seed Zhang Shuai in her Australian Open debut. BTW: Not only has America’s defending champion Sofia Kenin already won, a 16-year-old American woman named Coco and a 40-year-old American woman named Venus are also through to the second round. As we posted this, Americans had won 15 of their 22 matches.
OF BIRDS AND BIRDIES: Golfers seek birdies, and these days tennis endures birds. After noting that so many were flying low, Australia’s Channel 2 contended that they were confused because there was a tennis tournament being held in February. Some suggested that Wimbledon’s fabled hawk, Rufus, should be flown in for bird control.
ITALIAN SURGES: At times Italian tennis spikes. From 2006 to 2013, Italian women won four Fed Cups. In 2015, Italians Flavia Panneta and Roberta Vinci reached the US Open final. Fabio Fognini’s 2015 come-from-behind five-set win over Nadal was one of the greatest matches in the history of US Open night tennis. Matteo Berrettini reached the US Open semifinal in 2019. And there are eight Italians in the ATP top 100.
Just this week, Italy sprinted to the ATP Cup final before falling to the powerful Russians. Almost simultaneously, Italian Jannik Sinner, one of the hottest prospects on tour, downed his countryman Stefano Travaglia to win his second ATP crown at the Great Ocean Road Open. But the 19-year-old’s streak of 12 straight matches came to a dramatic end when he fell to No. 12 Denis Shapovlov. Sinner, who is ranked No. 31, felt the effects of being on the court for 12 hours over 4 days.
Meanwhile back in Italy, former No. 1 Andy Murray, who is rebounding from an injury, is playing a challenger in Biella, where he is both a wildcard and the top seed.
GO FIGURE: Former AO champ Angie Kerber was the first seed to fall at this year’s Aussie Open, losing to Bernarda Pera. The Croatian-born American bagled Kerber in the opening set…Venus Williams, the third oldest woman to win a singles match at the Australian Open, has had an incredible stretch of years in her twilight, despite having Sjogren’s Syndrome.
CUP BATTLES: The 2019 Davis Cup, held in Madrid, was hardly seen in North America. The US team exited early and there was virtually no TV coverage in America. The 2020 Davis Cup was canceled, and this year’s Davis Cup finals, that won’t be held until November 25th, will have many changes. In contrast, the ATP Cup was played both last year (despite wildfires) and this year (despite COVID) in front of significant in-person and TV audiences. In 2020, backed by raucous fans and led by Novak Djokovic, the Serbian team scored a feel-good triumph. Last weekend Russia displayed the sizzling talent of Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev en route to the title.
