“I LOVE MYSELF:” A SLOANE STEPHENS READER
* After Sloane Stephens toughed out a two-set win over former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, John McEnroe said, “We are potentially looking at the next superstar in women’s tennis … I absolutely believe she could reach the top five and win a Slam.” Inside Tennis (IT) then asked her, “Is Sloane Stephens going to become a superstar?” She replied, “She is.”
- When asked about all the posters featuring her that are about town, Stephens said, “I love myself. So seeing myself is like unbelievable. I don’t know if you feel that way, but when I see myself, I like freak out … I’m like, ‘That’s me.’”
- After Stephens said she thought she knew her friend Serena Williams in a past life, she was asked how Williams’ serve was back then, when she supposedly knew. Stephens replied that Serena “thinks she has super powers. So … [her serve] probably had super powers or something.”
* Asked about the teen emotional meltdown she suffered in Spain while training for the French Open, she said, “I’d been on the road for a long time and was missing home. I missed my grandparents, my family … My aunt came. My mom came … I needed a hug.”
FRANCESCA SCHIAVONE AND THE END OF THE WORLD: After losing to Stephens, Schiavone referred to the long ago Mayan prediction that the world would end this year. “This is the year of the revolution. The end of the world, ” she proclaimed. A reporter then asked, “If the world doesn’t end, will you be back at the U.S. Open next year?” Another writer followed up, asking, “If the world does end, will you be back at the U.S. Open?”
NO BULL: MARIA WILL NOT GET MARRIED IN ISTANBUL (AND IS NOT PREGNANT): Maria Sharapova will not, as has been widely reported, get married in Istanbul in November to the former L.A. Laker Sasha Vujacic. Also, Sharapova is now feeling fit. After she defaulted from Montreal, she had blood work and an ultrasound. The culprit for the unusual abdominal pain turned out to be just a common stomach bug. “It was really weird,” Maria said. “They told me I was fine, not pregnant. I’m like, ‘Can I get my money back?’”
WE WERE LOOKING FOR A (FEDERER VS. SHARAPOVA) CANDY WAR, THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN PEACE BROKE OUT: When IT asked Sharapova why people should buy her new Sugarpova candy rather than the Roger Federer-endorsed Lindor truffles, Sharapova said, “That’s chocolate. Mine are gummies and gumballs. What’s your preference?”
LIKE MICHAEL JORDAN ASKING A ROOKIE FOR HIS AUTOGRAPH: Giddy Victoria Duval, 16, played her first WTA match on opening night on Ashe Stadium against Kim Clijsters – but it was Clijsters who requested a photo with her afterwards.
TSONGA’S NOT EXACTLY BUBBLING WITH CONFIDENCE: Before Roland Garros, France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga predicted (correctly) that a Frenchman wouldn’t win the tournament. As for the U.S. Open, he said, “We don’t have Frenchmen who won tournament like this. I would not bet on it.”
A LEGEND RETURNS: Good news. Beloved tennis journalist Bud Collins is planning to join America’s Grand Slam on Wednesday, presumably wearing his customary colorful pants. Collins, 82, has been recovering from a ruptured tendon in his leg suffered during the 2011 U.S. Open.
YOU’RE SO WHAT, YOU PROBABLY THINK THIS TOURNAMENT IS ABOUT YOU: When asked if she was vain, Venus Williams said, “Vain? Vanity? I do have some points of vanity, but I don’t want to confess what they are.”
DO TENNIS STATS LIE?: Carl Bialik wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “Pro tennis is the last great refuge of incomplete, inaccurate, indifferent stat-keeping in the sports world.” The errors are so varied and prolific, he said, because of the number of different organizations in charge of record-keeping.
ME THINKS YOU EXAGERATE JUST A BIT: Li Na said that before hiring new coach Carlos Rodriguez, “I never got one point in the whole of America. This time, I’ve got a lot of points, so should be good start.” … BTW: Na has no regrets about relegating her husband-coach “Dennis” to being just a husband. She said, “Love is love; coach is coach.”
FOR EVERYONE WHO WAS EVER ILL: Reflecting on her battle with her disease, Venus Williams told Filip Bondy, “I feel like I can’t let anything take me down. I have to beat this [disease] … Not just for me, but for everyone who has felt ill or sick and wants to return back to what they were … I have a lot to prove.”
GO FIGURE: Bob Bryan is unwilling to part with his Olympic gold medal. He admitted to keeping it with him in the locker room. Serena keeps hers in a safe.
TIME OUT: After Caroline Wozniacki’s injury-induced, first-round exit, a reporter asked, “How much did the injury rob you of your lateral speed?” She replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t really had a machine out there measuring.”
CURIOUS QUESTIONS:
* Federer was asked, “Last fall, the term 1 percenter became part of the American lexicon, with the Occupy Wall Street movement … It seems like in your business, 1 percent of the ATP Tour wins 99 percent of the tournament. Is it good for the tennis industry?” (Federer said it was fine.)
* Isner was asked, “Of all the racquets that you have tried over the years, which types have you really disliked?”
YES MA’AM, NEW YORKERS ARE SO RUDE – CATCHING UP WITH MELANIE OUDIN: With Jack Sock, Georgian Melanie Oudin won the 2011 U.S. Open mixed doubles championships. Despite this victory, she really is still known for her singular marquee run when she beat Russians Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova en route to the quarterfinals of the 2009 U.S. Open. Now three years later, her cute beauty is still in place, but now she also has diamond earrings (or are they studs?). Anyway, the 5’ 6” baseliner recently said, “I’ve been up and I’ve been down. But I’m only 20. I’ve experienced both sides. It’s been a huge learning experience. Everyone says I’m small, but Dominika Cibulkova is small, too. Sara Errani [the French Open finalist] is top 10. Honestly, the size thing isn’t huge, especially in women’s tennis. Although if you’re small, you’ve got to be quick.” Oudin who now is training out of New York and lives in the affluent suburb of Pound Ridge, lost in the first round to Lucie Safarova 6-4, 6-0. She has mixed feelings about being far from her Georgia base, saying, “Sometimes it’s not helpful to have everyone cheer for me. I already put too much pressure on myself.” But she slammed the New York culture, saying, “People are so different. People are so rude. They never say thank you or please. They were shocked when I would say, ‘Thank you, ma’am.’”
A perplexed New York writer interrupted, saying, “Wait ‘till I give you a tour of Brooklyn.”
ANDREA PETKOVIC: “IT’S IMPORTANT NOT TO FORGET HOW TO LIVE.” Andrea Petkovic, one of the most charismatic young players in the game, suffered a series of injuries and was out for eight months. The German is known for her victory celebration, the “Petko” dance. Although she lost in the first round, the German drew a large crowd of reporters who were curious about one of the more thoughtful players in the game.
Petkovic said, “Sometimes bad things do lead you to good things. Personally, I developed a lot and this brought me to a whole other level.” While sidelined, she missed traveling the world, she got sick of home, and had a tough time trying to rehab six days a week. Pulling out of the Olympics was excruciating. Still, it was good not to have to focus entirely on tennis. “It’s important to not forget to live,” she said.
So Petkovic went off on her own personal retreat. She rented a cottage in the Maldives islands in the Indian Ocean by herself for two weeks.
The German told Inside Tennis that her interests are politics, writing and music. So we thought she might start a new career as a writer on political music. But she said with a smile that she might start a punk band. On a more serious note, she said she would eventually like to change things and make things better in the world.
