LUCKY SEVEN: Going into this year’s BNP Paribas Open, German grass stalwart Sabine Lisicki hadn’t won a match at Indian Wells in six attempts. Now she’s in the semifinals after a dramatic marathon win over 2014 champ Flavia Pennetta, in which Pennetta fought off a match point in the second set and Lisicki fought off three match points in the third.
IS GREED GOOD? Canadian Milos Raonic said the difference between himself and his siblings is that he’as “definitely more greedy.”
THAT’S A LOT OF VISUALIZING: Canada’s Genie Bouchard, 21, says she’s visualized winning Wimbledon from a very early age.
OH, THE WHIMS OF POPULARITY CONTESTS: Awards in tennis are a whole other conversation, but let’s just say that it’s absurd that Sergi Bruguera (who won 2 Grand Slams and was ranked No. 3 in the world), Yevgeny Kafelnikov (who won 2 Slams and was No. 4 in the world) and the strong, characterful Mary Pierce (who won 2 Slams and reached No. 3 in the world) are not in the Hall of Fame. There’s just no explanation for this foolishness, except to say the election system is somehow flawed.
FAME OR FOREHAND? Rather than having Rafael Nadal‘s universal fame, fellow Spaniard David Ferrer would prefer to be blessed with Rafa’s topspin forehand, which Ferrer says “is perfect for clay.”
ANDY’S INDISCRETION: After his recent superb Davis Cup triumph, Andy Murray was less than superb in his post-match interview with the BBC, where out of nowhere he said that Britain’s doubles player Dom Inglot “got a little girlfriend on the go here in Glasgow. He’s maybe celebrating with her this evening.” Inglot then intervened and said, “I’ve actually got a girlfriend [at home] who’s going to be watching this.”
AMELIE THE GREAT: Serve and volleyer Amelie Mauresmo charged the net and also tennis convention. The openly gay two-time Slam champ and former No. 1 will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this July. Highly appealing, she always seemed to be drawing our attention:
• After winning Wimbledon in 2006, Mauresmo suffered a horrendous slump. She went on to say, “I am emotional. I am sensitive. I am extreme. Also, I am aware that I am intelligent, and that’s why I’m asking myself questions. Unfortunately I’ve been struggling to find clear answers, and for months it was agony to play tennis.”
• When three knife-wielding thugs tried to mug Mauresmo and her then-girlfriend Sylvia Bourdon on a Caribbean beach, Mauresmo punched them out.
• Asked how she could prevent having another disappointing French Open, Mauresmo once replied, “Clear my head, have a brain graft.”
• In a futile effort to finally win Roland Garros, Mauresmo added Yannick Noah as a coach just before the French Open, which prompted writer Lisa Dillman to wonder, “What’s next? Channeling the spirit of Suzanne Lenglen?”
AS SHAKESPEARE SAID—IN RATHER A BAD MOMENT—KILL ALL THE LAWYERS: Ana Ivanovic, whose mother is a lawyer, said maybe it was a disadvantage that both of Madison Keys‘ parents are lawyers, because “you can think too much out there.” BTW: Ivanovic said in comparison to the American lifestyle, she likes the spontaneity of Serbian culture, but conceded that maybe people could work harder in her country.
LOOK WHO’S HITTING THE WALL: Caroline Wozniacki said that deep into the New York Marathon, she hit the wall, telling reporters, “Yes, there is a wall.” Having said that—no it doesn’t bother Wozniacki that over the years scores of her frustrated foes have often likened her to a wall.
A RARE RUSSIAN SOUTHPAW: Left-handed Ekaterina Makarova says there are far more lefties in American than in Russia, because “after World War II, children [in Russia] were encouraged to be right-handed.”
HE’S HAD IT AND HE ISN’T GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE: During one uninspired TV broadcast, Kevin Ware said he’d “rather watch Cougar Town than listen o the constant rambling before, during, or after a tennis match.”
KIDS SAY THE WISEST THINGS: Wake Forest freshman and Wimbledon junior champion Noah Rubin asked, “Why do people keep looking forward to the next event when it means you will never enjoy the now?”
SAY IT ISN’T SO: Georgia coach Manny Diaz shared a study that showed that since 1970, 74 Division I men’s tennis programs were dropped, 78 Division II programs fell to the wayside, and 51 Division III programs were abandoned.
A WHALE OF A POINT: After reading Moby Dick, the WTA’s foremost literary critic Andrea Petkovic tweeted, “Um, Herman [Melville], you wrote 860 pages of a book to introduce Moby Dick on page 821, and you finish everybody off in less than 40 pages?”
OF FROGS AND FOREHANDS: Now that fishing fanatic John Isner has a b ig contract with Bass Pro Shops, it might somehow be appropriate to recall that writer Christopher Clarey once said, “Tiebreakers are to John Isner what ponds are to frogs.”
A MONUMENTAL MAN: Esteemed writer Richard Evans wrote, “When I lived in Richmond, VA, I found it difficult to drive past Arthur Ashe‘s statue without getting a lump in my throat. Compared with the huge, preposterously imposing statues of Confederate generals that adorn long stretches of Monument Avenue, Arthur’s statue is relatively small, but no less emotive.” Evans added that former Richmond mayor and Virginia governor Douglas Wilder deserves credit for getting Ashe “there in the face of fierce opposition from those who think that Confederate generals are still important—and there are plenty of them in Richmond—and Arthur would have thanked him for that. But I am not sure having a statue of himself in his hometown would have been high on his list of posthumous priorities.”
Photos by Brent Bishop and Michael Weinstein.
