Bill Simons
THE DIARY OF A MAD WOMAN: While covering Alize Cornet’s match, ESPN’s superb, usually impeccable analyst Jason Goodall spoke of the French woman’s 2021 literary effort. “[Her] autobiography came out last year, ‘Transcendence – the Diary of a Mad Woman.’” Then he quickly corrected himself, “No, ‘The Diary of a Tennis Addict.’”
POKE THAT RUSSIAN BEAR AT YOUR OWN RISK: Great champions are often proud. And it hurts to be pushed by upstarts. Monday in Melbourne, 24-year-old Max Cressy dared to poke a Russian bear. He was testing Australian Open favorite Daniil Medvedev big time.
It was not only that he had a set point in the second set and then won the third set, it was the way he did it that stung. The semi-revolutionary UCLA product was imposing his relentless serve and volley game. He ventured to net 135 times and time and again the Russian found himself futilely dashing about the court. Medvedev was at a loss as Cressy’s angled volleys bounced beyond his reach.
All the while Cressy’s mind was calm, his body strong. His serves were mighty, his hands were soft, his touch superb. Often the 6’ 6” Paris-born American handled the flat blasts Daniil shot to his ankles adeptly.
The kid’s belief was as strong as his drop shots were lethal. Never mind that just weeks ago Max had a triple digit ranking and that he’d barely made it into the Australian Open draw. Now he’ll be ranked No. 59, and he’s said to have the best volleys in the game. Commentators were in awe, saying he was bound for the top 20.
Not surprisingly, Medvedev bristled. He likes to own the court – to be in charge. So he first took out his frustration by working the refs, insisting that the service clock rules be imposed on Cressy. Then, like a petulant kid at the sectionals, he launched a transparent, almost laughable gamesmanship offensive.
Daniil’s game is astounding. His charm is appealing. But he’s also an intense fellow. In protest, he once dismissively tossed three coins at a Wimbledon ump. He taunted Stefanos Tsitsipas with in-your-face, x-rated barbs in Miami and said the Greek was “a small kid who doesn’t know how to fight.” And, of course, he’s taken on crowds in New York, Madrid and Melbourne.
Monday he tried to get under Cressy’s skin, saying, “Unbelievable, on the line. I’ve never seen anything like that…Ten balls in a row, it’s fricking unbelievable…I’ve never seen a luckier guy in my life…This is so boring.”
Pat McEnroe objected: “It’s so bush league. It’s horrendous behavior and bad for anyone. That’s something you’d expect from a junior, [not] the No. 2 player in the world.” James Blake added, “He’s trying to intimidate Cressy and [Max is] not taking it. It’s like a USC match.”
But Cressy wasn’t gaining his success because of fortunate let chords or framed shots that dropped in. Indeed, Jim Courier claimed that having the guts to hit out and go for the lines is a skill. And Max was doing just that, as he blasted huge second serve aces on the line at crunch time.
After claiming the third set, Max saved all eight of the break points he faced in the fourth set. He weathered the best Daniil could offer, including laser-like backhand passing shots and an astounding overhead that the Russian hit off of a Cressy overhead. Finally on his ninth break point of the set, Medvedev broke through to score a 6-2, 7-6, 6-7, 7-5 victory.
Later, Daniil offered mixed messages. He suggested that Max could become No. 1 and also confided that he was “quite mad,” because, as the top seed he hadn’t been assigned to the bigger Laver Arena, where there would have been more running room .
He said he didn’t feel he was trash talking, but told Eurosport, “I was trying to get into his head, so maybe he’d change his tactics. I’m not happy with what I said.” He added, “I’m not really happy about my…mentality today, because….I was a little bit harsh with Maxime…At the same time, I’m not the only player to do it, to try to get into my opponent’s head…I don’t like trash talking. I sometimes can unfortunately roll into this.”
TENNIS IS MORE FUN WITH ‘THE DANIMAL:’ It was recently said that, “Tennis is more fun when Danielle Collins is back up there, playing well and ripping shots.” No kidding. The fisherman’s daughter, affectionately called “the Danimal,” didn’t get much playing time at the University of Florida and then transferred to Virginia, where she won two collegiate titles. More recently, she’s been seen as the feistiest American WTA player since Serena. In 2021, she overcame endometriosis and rheumatoid arthritis and then, without a coach, proceeded to win two titles. In Melbourne, against the Belgian Elise Mertens, Collins overcame the heat and a bad back to lean into one lethal backhand after another. But Pam Shriver was less than effusive: “Danielle is a great player, but she doesn’t strike me as one of the best athletes out there. She has to have that athletic quick-twitch jump. It’s more mechanical, the way she plays.”
Okay, but she seemed like one mighty good mechanic. The No. 30 player, who reached the 2019 AO semis, returned confidently and hit 45 winners to book her place into the quarterfinals. There she’ll face French veteran Alize Cornet. One more thing: Collins not only brings a fierce emotion to the court, she is one tough cookie. After a brutal 2:51 battle, she told the Melbourne throng she was eager to go out and play her doubles match. The thought of the exhausted Collins playing more tennis Monday drew audible moans from the crowd.
ROLE REVERSAL: From Jennifer Capriati to Andy Murray and Naomi Osaka, countless players have teared up while dealing with the media. When former player Jelena Dokic interviewed her old friend Alize Cornet on court in Melbourne, she reminisced about the old days. Cornet then offered heartfelt congratulations to Dokic, who for years was a victim of paternal abuse. Dokic was touched by Cornet’s generosity, the two hugged, and she told Cornet, “You just made me cry.” Some wondered, was this the first time a tennis player made a member of the media weep?
AMERICAN WOMEN: The emergence of three American women who are in their mid-careers, Madison Keys, 26, Jessica Pegula, 27, and Danielle Collins, 28, means that American women have made the quarterfinals of at least one Slam for six years. Keys will play No. 4 seed Barbora Krejcikova, Pegula meets top-seeded Ash Barty and Danielle Collins will face No. 61 Alize Cornet.
SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: The fourth-round battle of the scrambling baseline bashers, Alize Cornet and Simona Halep, was tennis’ latest Darwinian survival of the fittest happening. The longest WTA match of the Australian Open was played in scorching heat. Both players often bent low in pain and Simona Halep often stopped mid point just to catch her breath. Commentator Chris Bowers said, “The umpire doesn’t want a player expiring on court…At the end of the match I think they are going to have to carry these two competitors to the net on stretchers.”
Quotebook
“It’s never too late to try again.” – Alize Cornet, who after 63 major appearances, reached her first Slam quarterfinal
“He’s still killing it.” – AO Radio on 33-year-old Marin Cilic who made it to the fourth round
“I hope they are afraid of me.” – Barbora Krejcikova on how her fellow competitors view her
“I came here with a goal to win, and maybe to become No. 1…But if I play like that, I don’t deserve it.” – Alexander Zverev after his straight-set loss to Denis Shapovalov
“I ate so much cheesecake, I have energy for days.” – Alize Cornet on her birthday indulgence
SAY IT ISN’T SO: A good portion of ESPN’s coverage is behind a paywall. Then to make matters worse, it aired a rambling, nine-minute interview with commentator Chris Berman and for long stretches ignored a fabulous breakout effort by the young American Max Cressy or put him on a split screen.
THE LAST AMERICAN MAN: Deep into the Melbourne night, Stefanos Tsitsipas broke the powerful Californian Taylor Fritz and soon scored a 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory. After a splendid Australian run that took him to the top 20, the last American man in the draw fell. And although there are plenty of good feelings about America’s young cadre of male players, it’s been 13 years since multiple Amreicans made the year-end top 10, and 10 years since America had two men reach the quarters of a Slam. Still, upbeat observers are hoping that a young American has the potential to win a Slam. Optimists can imagine Taylor Fritz, Seb Korda, Jenson Brooksby, Reilly Opelka, Max Cressy or even Frances Tiafoe winning a major.
BROOKSBY PRAISE: Andy Murray, Daniil Medvedev, Casper Rudd, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Carlos Alcaraz, when asked to name which player they thought would have a breakout 2022, all pointed to Jenson Brooksby.
MEN’S LINE-UP: The men’s quarterfinal will feature two Canadians and two Italians. Denis Shapovalov, who is the last lefty to beat Nadal, will face the Spaniard. Felix Auger-Aliassime will battle Medvedev. Berrettini faces Gael Monfils and Jannik Sinner will challenge Tsitsipas.
GO FIGURE: Women’s tennis flourished, in part thanks to the bountiful sponsorship of a cigarette company, Virginia Slims. And since then, there has been plenty of controversy about tennis backers. Yesterday, Tennis Australia canned their fossil fuel sponsor Santos.
AN INEVITABLE TURN? The error-prone misadventures of Aryna Sabalenka caught up with the world No. 2. In her deciding third-set tiebreaker against Estonian upset artist Kaia Kanepi, she bravely battled back from 2-5 down, but three errors sealed her Aussie Open fate. In four matches, Aryna had 56 double faults.
FANFARE FOR A COMMON SENSE CHAMPION: Celebrated San Francisco Chronicle columnist Bruce Jenkins wrote, “The Australian Open is moving along nicely without Djokovic, and through all the incompetence displayed on both sides of that dispute, it is stunning to consider that Djokovic was willing to thoroughly disrupt the tournament every day…Other players’ stories and achievements would be shoved into the background, there would be tension, at the very least, between Serbian and Australian fans in the stands and in the streets. It would be an absolute delight to see a man with some compassion and common sense (Rafa Nadal) win the event.”
