ALWAYS TRYING TO GET AN EDGE: Once in a while we get a hint of Fed‘s gamesmanship, like the time he first played Murray in a Slam final and remarked that a Brit hadn’t won a Slam in 150 years or so. Today, after Djokovic said he would be prepping for the final by changing diapers, Roger quipped it would be similar for him “times four.” BTW: Federer is a four-time winner at the BNP Paribas Open, while Djokovic is a three-time champion.
VICTORY JINX? The 2013 Wimbledon final was Andy Murray‘s biggest victory, but he hasn’t beaten Novak Djokovic since. Djokovic now leads their head-to-head 17-8, having won 9 of their last 10 matches. BTW: Since returning from his back injury, Murray is 0-11 against Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.
TOURNAMENT OF TEARS: The desert may be dry, but this year’s BNP Paribas Open has been defined by waterworks, from Serena‘s dramatic return to center court to Flavia Pennetta‘s emotional outburst before going on to beat Maria Sharapova. Ironically, one round later, Pennetta fell victim to the current WTA champ in the crying game, Sabine Lisicki.
CARRYING HIS CLAY COURT SHOES EVERYWHERE: Novak Djokovic told ESPN that winning the French Open “has been on the top of my priority list for a long time …. but I’m not going to put a lot of pressure on myself in the back of my mind. I think of it once in a while … I take my clay court shoes everywhere I go.”
GO FIGURE: Rafa Nadal hasn’t defeated a top 10 opponent since last year’s French Open.
WEARING HIS HEART ON HIS SLEEVE: Writer Ben Rothenberg asked Milos Raonic how he feels about the approaching one-year anniversary of his long-sleeve look on court. “The sleeve’s been loyal,” Raonic quipped. “It’s all you can ask for from a significant other, and it makes me feel good.”
IT’S BANANAS IN INDIAN WELLS: During his semifinal match at the BNP Paribas Open, Roger Federer once again had the woman who spelled “bananas” in a pop hit—Gwen Stefani—watching from the player box. And in the presser after his quarterfinal loss to Milos Raonic, Rafa Nadal used the popular nickname for his forehand down-the-line passing shot, referring to it as “the banana.”
BIG FOUR—OR TOP TWO? We were one point away from a Big Four semifinal lineup at the BNP Paribas Open, before Milos Raonic fought off Rafa Nadal. The last time the Big Four filled all the semifinal slots of an event was in 2012.
EVEN THE BEST ARE FLAWED: At a crucial point deep into their BNP Paribas Open quarterfinal, Rafa misjudged a Milos Raonic floater that landed in. The moment was reminiscent of Federer letting an Andreas Seppi shot pass him by on match point at this year’s Aussie Open.
NO LOVE LOST: Sabine Lisicki offered a frosty handshake to a smiling Jelena Jankovic at the conclusion of their BNP Paribas Open semifinal. Going into their match, when she was asked about Jankovic, she said, “I have nothing to say about Jelena. Sorry.”
NEITHER WOULD WE: A suddenly resurgent Jelena Jankovic said, “I wouldn’t [have] pick[ed] myself” to make the women’s final at the BNP Paribas Open.
KNOCKING METHODICALLY ON THE DOOR OF THE BIG FOUR: Rarely has tennis seen more intentionality in a career than with Milos Raonic. His parents moved from Montenegro to Canada without any jobs. He went onto train in Spain. He hired Ivan Ljubicic as a coach, and also hired a sports psychologist. He’s even methodical during changeovers, using a knee-tapping form of meridian zone therapy.
NO KIDDING: The Tennis Channel said Milos Raonic is a “cerebral player.”
STEVE “STEVIE” JOHNSON—FROM TEARS TO CHEERS: In a Tennis Channel profile of quietly appealing Southern California pro Steve Johnson, his USC coach Peter Smith admitted that when Johnson first showed up he “didn’t know the fish I had on my line at that point…[when Johnson came to USC] he was a tennis player looking for a team.” But the young Johnson was not in the best of shape, and Smith told him, “You might not make it past the first practice.” Soon Smith told his assistants, “He is going to be the best player I’ve ever coached.”
After winning three straight NCAA championships, Johnson faced a huge decision: whether or not to return for a fourth year at USC. Surprisingly, it was none other than John Isner who made the difference. The former University of Georgia star told Johnson that if he stayed in college he would not be too old when he came on tour. Eventually Johnson won four team titles and 72 straight matches.
After USC won its fourth championship, coach Smith said Johnson “gave up something to help us and [now] I knew we came through for him.”
Johnson is very self-motivated. He puts in a lot of time off court in order to feel strong and to know that he can out-compete guys. Still, coming out of college, he was hit with the dispiriting aspects of life on the tour. His coach then, Craig Boynton, concedes that Johnson didn’t “know how to lose. In the pros you will lose just about each week.”
Not surprisingly, Johnson missed his family and friends, and sure enough, one night he called home and tearfully said to his dad, Steve Johnson, Sr., “I’m just not good enough.” But his dad, a lifetime teaching pro in Orange County, didn’t blink. He told his son, “Just hang in there.” So Johnson got on a plane and simply went to the next tournament to grind it out. He’s been on the rise ever since, finishing 2014 with a heady surge in the rankings. His mother Michelle gushes, “He has exceeded all of our expectations.” His dad adds, “Now when I see him on TV, it’s just mind boggling.”
All the while, the down-to-earth “Stevie” simply says, “I just want to impact the most people I can.”
WRONG AREA CODE? Rafa Nadal stood so far back in the court when receiving Milos Raonic‘s missile serves that at times it seemed as if he was returning serve from San Diego.
NEWS TRAVELS FAST: Last night, Serena‘s withdrawal from the BNP Paribas Open was announced first on her Instagram account, during the Jankovic-Lisicki semifinal. Which begs the question: Did news in the social media era have a role in preventing an uproar when she made her official on-court announcement after the match? BTW: At last year’s Sony Open in Miami, both men’s semis were canceled due to player withdrawal.
BONEHEAD DECISION: ESPN failed to show a couple of great doubles match-ups on Thursday night at the BNP Paribas Open, where the Bryan brothers, the best doubles team of all time, faced American Jack Sock and Canadian Vasek Pospisil in a replay of their classic 2014 Wimbledon final. Once again the Canadian-American duo upset the American brothers. By the way, the other doubles match, which featured Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza, wasn’t exactly a shabby affair. Writer Richard Evans said he hoped “ESPN has a good reason [for not showing the doubles] I can’t remember a worse choice.
NOVAK ON ODESNIK: Earlier this week, IT collected Federer‘s, Nadal‘s and Murray‘s press conference remarks about the 15-year doping ban of Wayne Odesnik. After his semifinal win at Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic was asked about Odesnik, who he’d practiced with in Miami last year. “From the several occasions that we practiced with each other and we talked on the tour he seemed like a nice guy,” Djokovic said. “It’s a very sensitive subject for me to talk about. Obviously there is no room in tennis for people who are trying to cheat or trying to use forbidden substances and so forth.
He already was banned one time before. To come back and do it again is really [an] immature mistake from his side or his team … Of course I will stand always on the side of protecting the integrity of the sport.”
CONTROL FREAKS: Everybody wants a safe, secure site, but at times the BNP Paribas Open overdoes it, from confiscating fun innocent signs, to wand-ing down reporters, to cutting off sensible walking patterns from distant parking lots. Our thought: Maybe it’s time to chill a bit and breathe.
Photos by Brent Bishop.
