The AO Buzz – A Greek Tragedy, A French Folly, and a Buffalo Billionaire
Bill Simons
THE WOMAN WHO DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO QUIT: Venus Williams gutsy effort to come back from a 15-minute injury delay against Sara Erranni was just another memorable moment of a 27-year old career rich with triumphs and breakthroughs. The woman, who had tears in her eyes and a will that won’t bend, just refuses to lose. Mary Joe Fernandez said seeing Venus suddenly being hobbled by ankle and injuries was so disheartening. On the other hand her grit never fails to inspire.
BEWARE OF YELLOW TENNIS BALLS: Jon Wertheim seemed to have come up with the cleverest quip of the day. During a Tennis Channel segment featuring white snowballs outside Wimbledon, he noted that the snow was at least compliant with the All England Club’s white dress code. But then Martina Navratilova stated the obvious: “Well, you don’t want yellow balls.”
THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE: When noting that the Australian Open was the first major to have electronic scoring on all its courts, John McEnroe said, “Pop the champagne – no linesmen. Get used to it folks. This is the wave of the future. It took 40 years.” Not to be picky, but Hawkeye was first installed in 2006.
ALMOST A GREEK TRAGEDY: Clubbing a former No. 6 player, France’s Giles Simon, 6-1 6-2, 6-1 was the easy part of Stefanos Tsitsipas’ day. Unfortunately his on-court interview with Jim Courier had hints of a Greek tragedy. Fans felt Stefanos was disrespectful when he said, “Obviously I wasn’t expecting it to be so easy…I mean, let’s be honest.” After the crowd bristled, Tsitsipas said, “I feel, ‘Oh my God, I’ve messed it up already.’” But, undeterred, he went on to say, “I feel I played a spectacular match…” The crowd was even more displeased. Tsitispas told them, “I can leave if you want me to…This was the last thing I expected – playing at Rod Laver Arena and everyone is laughing at me.”
DANKA’S LUCRATIVE DOUBLE BAGEL: Danka Kovinic came 9,592 miles from Montenegro to Melbourne. Then she was in quarantine for 14 days before losing to Ash Barty 6-0, 6-0. She won just 10 of the 60 points that were played. But that’s not so shabby. She took home $100,000 – that’s $10,000 a point.
QUOTEBOOK:
“This is heart-breaking to watch.” – Mary Joe Fernandez on the noble struggle of the injured Venus Williams to play on in her first-round match against Sara Errani
“I love this shit. I love it!” – an elated Frances Tiafoe after beating Novak Djokovic in their second-set tiebreak
“Jil took another L.” – Steve Weissman on Jil Teichmann, who lost to Coco Gauff
“The biggest impact for me was not being able to have fresh air, and that really took a toll.” – Victoria Azarenka, who lost her opening day match
“Everyone’s bodies are physically shocked, but we are all getting used to it and everybody is just happy to be here.” – Naomi Osaka
RAFA’S BACK: Rafa Nadal said his back wasn’t great, and in his opening match he’d had to adjust his service motion. “Every day I go through, there is a chance to get better. I need to go day by day and be positive.”
A SINNER WHO’S A SAINT? Teen star Jannik Sinner practiced for two weeks in Adelaide with Nadal. Rafa said the 19-year-old Italian was “humble, relaxed and a good worker. He’s already there fighting for important things.” Sinner, who won the Great Ocean Road Open before falling in the first round to Denis Shapovalov, said the best part of his trip Down Under was practicing with Nadal.
GO FIGURE: In Melbourne 14 of the 64 seeds lost in the first round…Taylor Fritz chose his friend Reilly Opelka to be the best man at his wedding and the tennis gods chose them to face off in the second round in Melbourne…Only twice in the last nine majors has the No. 1 women’s seed reached the quarterfinals…Two-time Slam champ Petra Kvitova, the No. 9 seed, was ousted by the 30-year-old Romanian Sorina Cirstea…Marton Fucsovics saved three match points and rebuffed Stan Wawrinka’s extraordinary effort to come back from two sets down. The Hungarian prevailed in a fifth-set tiebreak.
SLICE OF THE DAY: No. 8 seed Bianca Andreescu fell to the unconventional 35-year-old Hsieh Su-wei 6-3, 6-2. Known for slices that baffle her foes, Hsieh has beaten a top ten player in a Slam four times. Today when the on-court interviewer Bret Phillips mentioned that she’s 35, the pride of Taiwan chided him: “In Asia we usually don’t say a girl’s age in public.”
EVERYBODY KNOWS: Young Coco Gauff reflected on the many problems she’s had with her serve. “It was always mental…I had a double faulting problem, as everybody knew. I kept feeding into it, but it’s gotten better. It’s no longer a problem. It’s no longer costing me matches like it used to.”
THE BILLIONAIRE’S DAUGHTER WHO’S DOWN TO EARTH: Jessie Pegula, the daughter of Terry Pegula, whose net worth is $4.9 billion and who owns the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres, scored a stunning win over Victoria Azarenka in the first round. Her coach, Buffalo native Jimmy Arias, said, “It’s shocking she’s the daughter of a billionaire…she has a drive…she doesn’t seem to be spoiled in any way.”
AUSSIE DROUGHTS: Australia’s climate is often hit by droughts. And the same goes for their tennis. Although Sam Stosur won the French and US Opens, an Aussie woman hasn’t taken the Happy Slam since the little-known Chris O’Neil won in 1978. Despite the triumphs of Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Cash in distant Grand Slams, an Aussie man hasn’t won Down Under since Mark Edmondson in 1976. Then again, an American man hasn’t won the US Open since Andy Roddick in 2003. It took 77 years before Andy Murray broke Britain’s losing streak at Wimbledon, and a French man hasn’t won Roland Garros in 38 years, since Yannick Noah in 1983. Still, Aussie hopes are high. Ash Barty seems somewhat relaxed playing at home, she’s the top seed and she won her first-round match 6-0, 6-0 over Danka Kovinic in 34 minutes. Who knows? She might just overcome Australia’s home court disadvantage.
BERNIE SANDERS IS SMILING AND OTHER REFLECTIONS ON EQUALITY: The Australian Open has ditched its top-heavy prize money distribution. First-round losers now get $100,000, which is enough to get by on for much of the year on the circuit. And there will be more money for others who lose early. But the winners will get one third less than last year: just $2.13 million. ESPN’s Chris Fowler [annual salary $3 million] quipped, “These winners have enough money.”
Speaking of equality, when Rafa was asked to compare the state of men’s and women’s tennis, he said, “I don’t see one sport in the world that is more equal than tennis.”
OH, CANADA! It wasn’t a great day for Canadians. Bianca Andreescu and Vasek Pospisil lost. But Canada still has stars in the draw, and Stephanie Myles put things in perspective: “Bianca Andreescu, Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-AIiassime – if they can’t get people excited about Canadian tennis, who can?”
SERENA’S BUMPY ROAD: Today Serena easily beat Serbian Nina Stajanovic. Williams is now 73-2 in the second round of majors. She will next play Russian Anastasia Potapova. But then she may face the hottest player of the year, big-hitting Aryna Sabalenka, possibly followed by the top three players in the world, No. 2 Simona Halep, No. 3 Naomi Osaka and No. 1 Ash Barty.
THE FATE OF TENNYS: Three years ago, the talented, often personable Tennys Sandgren reached the Aussie Open quarters. But he then drew intense criticism for his alt-right views. In 2019 he fell in the first round, but last year the Tennessean again gained fame as he played brilliantly to reach the quarters. He had seven match points to reach the semis, but Federer dug deep, tapped his inner street-fighting-man, and survived. Last November Tennys caught COVID. At the Aussie Open this year, Sandgren again lost in the first round. He drew criticism for complaining about quarantine procedures. Then he drew the ire of locals when he unleashed a point-blank blast directly at his hapless foe at the net, Aussie Alex DeMinuar. The exhausted Sandgren lost 12 of the last 14 games. Jim Courier said, “Tennys looks like he’s gone ahead and checked out, and is ready to check in for a flight tomorrow.”
TOM BRADY ON THE OUTER AND THE INNER GAME: Tom Brady posted an Instagram referring to Tim Gallwey’s 1972 deep-think bestseller, “The Inner Game of Tennis.” The Super Bowl hero noted Gallwey’s contention that, “Every game is composed of two parts, an outer game and an inner game. The former is played against opponents, and is filled with lots of contradictory advice; the latter is played within the mind of the player, and its principal obstacles are self-doubt and anxiety.”
FRENCH FANCIES: Who doesn’t love the French with their fine wines, unfettered imagination and love of life and language? And, yes, they can be a bit emotional. Yannick Noah once almost jumped off a Parisian bridge and into the Seine. At the US Open, Kiki Mladenovic said she felt like a criminal and a prisoner as she quarantined at a Long Island hotel. And drawing from Benoit Paire’s recently published book, Racquet Magazine printed a soliloquy in which he contended, “The ATP is becoming stricter and stricter, jumping straight to fines and suspensions. I’m not a huge fan, even if some limits do need to be set. Sometimes I find that we aren’t being allowed to express ourselves.”
Nonetheless, after his first-round loss, a teary Gael Monfils did express himself: “I play badly, I cannot serve, I can no longer make a forehand, I make mistakes. I am 6 meters behind [the baseline]. I put on tarpaulins. I have no confidence. I don’t feel good, it shows.”
A TALE OF TWO WORLDS: Frances Tiafoe’s veteran coach Wayne Ferreira has been trying to limit the amount of time his pupil is on his phone. The move prompted Aussie commentator Wally Masur to note, “Social media is a world that doesn’t require a lot of concentration, does it? You just look through images and information at a rapid rate. But when you are on a tennis court, it requires optimum concentration for a long period of time.”
