Bill Simons
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO: With Taylor Fritz’s loss to Brit Jack Draper, Madison Keys and Ben Shelton are now the only Americans in the BNP Paribas Open.
MS. MADDY – STILL RELEVANT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS: It doesn’t matter if it’s Adelaide, Melbourne or Indian Wells, Madison Keys keeps on powering on. With her tight 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 win over Donna Vekic, Keys scored her 15th straight win. Several times the Croatian was just a couple of points from victory. But Keys thought, “At some point it’s do or die.” And when the Floridian puts her pedal to the metal, watch out.
The often humble Maddy, who’s by far the hottest player in all of tennis right now, completely understated her current role in the game. She said modestly, “It’s fun to be still relevant out here.”
ELINA SVITOLINA – DOING HER BEST WORK IN HEELS AND BACKWARDS: The dancer Ginger Rogers drew praise from legions of her women fans. While her partner Fred Astaire was superb, Rogers performed her dazzling moves backwards and in heels.
As feminism took hold big time in the 70s, the prevailing question was whether women could be great mothers while having fast-lane careers.
These days, WTA insiders celebrate the do-it-all woman – Elina Svitolina. Deep into her career, she married Frenchman Gael Monfils. She had their daughter Skai before suffering a devastating ankle injury that required major surgery and a long, painful rehab.
On top of this, among active players, no other has so tirelessly backed Ukraine’s war effort. After Ukrainian President Zelensky and President Trump had their problematic meeting at the White House, Elina got an outpouring of support from Americans. She thanked them from the bottom of her heart.
Elina spoke of her grandmother in Odessa, saying, “She’s facing a war every single day…It’s been a very long time that there is only bad news coming from Ukraine.”
The No. 23 player in the world, who’s raised well over a million dollars for Ukraine, regularly goes back to her native country, even though it deeply frightens her husband. Svitolina confided that she’s worked with a psychologist to compartmentalize the many different aspects of her life. She said, “There’s only time for training and recovery…and I really try to have borders on the things.”
Svitolina, who’s beaten three Americans in a row, will face the Russian teen sensation Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals on Thursday. Since the war broke out, the passionate Ukrainian patriot has won nine of the ten matches she’s played against Russians.
QUOTEBOOK: “We want to see American tennis go to the moon.” – Ben Shelton
“It’s not possible to play forever running like a dog.” – Marcos Giron
“This is why you are practicing all your life.” – Belinda Bencic, after toughing out a close match against Coco Gauff
IT’S 21-SKIDOO FOR COCO: Throughout the first set of her match against Bencic, Coco Gauff seemed to be maintaining tradition. For years, she’s celebrated her birthday in paradise – that’s tennis paradise, the BNP Paribas Open.
In the first set of the match, she played with the maturity of the adult she’ll become tomorrow when she turns 21.
And, speaking of 21, Coco conveniently forgot that she’d hit 21 double faults in her first match here and she’d had six of them in the last game of her next match.
But, no problems early in this one – she collected the first set 6-3. Coco was in cruise control. Belinda is No. 58, and in six matches this year against players who were ranked over 50, Gauff had lost only once.
Plus, Bencic isn’t one of those players who has to win or the sky will fall. The Swiss, who gave birth to her daughter Bella eleven months ago. said, “It doesn’t matter if I win this match – because I’ve won in life.”
Certainly, we reasoned, one of the nicest players would be generous, and give America’s birthday girl a nice present: a WTA victory.
Silly us. The former Olympic champ hit out low and flat, dictated from the backhand corner, and took full advantage of yet another Coco lapse at crunch time. At 4-4 in the deciding third set, Gauff went up 40-0, but her forehand went down.
Sports is all about executing at crunch time, and today, Coco didn’t. Not wanting to be too passive, she hit out. Some of her forehands flew, but she shanked others. Later she confided, “I have to go for more margins…Maybe I overplayed those balls.”
Since losing to Paula Badosa in the Aussie Open quarters, Coco has struggled. But, after her 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss, she commented, “Overall, it’s not as bad as it seems. It’s something I’m not going to crush myself over.”
In the past, we were delighted when she spoke about her 18th birthday, and how she’d no longer be dependent on her parents to drive her around town. Last year, Coco gushed about leaving her teen years behind her. This year she was nonchalant about turning 21, saying, “I don’t know if I’m going feel any different.” She plans to celebrate with her family.
ALL THINGS DYLAN: While the young journalist Dylan Friedman is covering the tournament, we haven’t spotted USC’s Dylan Holt, the son of Tracy Austin. And it’s more likely that Elon Musk will show up at Larry Ellison’s exclusive Champions Club than Bob Dylan himself, who, at sporting events over the decades, has been a complete unknown. But Timothee Chalamet, who played Dylan (the Judas who went electric) in the Hollywood biopic, was on hand at Indian Wells the other day. All this led to one of the more bizarre headlines of the week: “Nothing Says Tennis Like Timothee Chalamet’s Tight Pants, Kylie Jenner’s Cleavage & PDA In The Stands.”
A REFLECTION ON A PRESIDENT, A ROCKER, A CONTINENT AND AGASSI: Earlier this week, we noted that Lindsay Davenport’s son Jagger Leach was in the draw, and we celebrated the presence of the Florida junior Agassi Rusher. Needless to say, it’s always good value when the Las Vegas native Asia Muhammad is playing in a tournament. She’s now through to the semis in the women’s doubles. And we were glad to see that the player with the best presidential name we know, Jack Kennedy, was through to the third round.
THE FIERY FRED HONORED: Many a tennis dignitary, including Lleyton Hewitt and Pam Shriver, gathered at Mission Hills Country Club to honor the 86-year journey of fiery Fred Stolle. The beloved Aussie won 19 Slams, was a master coach, and was the voice of tennis for years. Mark Woodforde said, “Fred was an icon and a champion who, more importantly, was a friend to so many of us.” He was recalled as a man’s man and a mischievous spirit who always liked to banter. Billie Jean King, who’d known Stolle since she was 17, observed, “What a friend – and what a joy. And he always had an opinion – so watch out! Plus, he was always good to practice with, and always had a laugh.”
