ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF THE OPEN LET US REFLECT THE LAST EPISTLE OF KIM CLIJSTERS. WONDER SHOTS AND THE BEST SERVE IN THE HISTORY OF TENNIS
THE EMPOROR HAS NO CLOTHES: Jim Courier said “
Federer is selfish. It’s terrible. He wins everything around.”
FOUR MATCHES, JUST TEN GAMES LOST: Victoria Azarenaka. (Then again, Serena Williams is on fire too. She’s just lost 12 games.)
JUST WONDERING: Now that Roddick is retiring will his coach, Larry Stefanki, take a break, retire or teach another player. The top players have pretty tight coaching relationships, as do many of the Americans. Stefanki has to be tired of all the travel. Still he has a keen tennis mind and a long, successful resume.
DRAMATIC JOHN: No other player has a penchant for dramatic matches more than John Isner. This year he has scored wins over Roger Federer in Davis Cup and Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells. Unfortunately, his Grand Slam storyline this year is not about a heroic win in a three-day marathon. Rather, in each of the four majors the likeable pro has suffered five-set, first-week losses to lower-ranked players. His third round 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss to 19th-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber, ended at 2:26 A.M. and tied the record for the the latest finish at the Open. The match was a sprint. It lasted just 3:20 compared to the 11-hour, 5-minute victory at Wimbledon and his 5-hour, 41-minute loss to Julien Benneteau in the second round of the French Open in May. Isner, the highest-seeded American man, was called for a key foot-fault and went surprisingly ballistic, bashing a ball into the stands. He seethed and drew a warning and a point penalty. Isner complained of the humidity and said he never had his legs.
RAFA’S ABSENCE: Bob Bryan said that Rafa Nadal’s absence from their Davis Cup match gives the U.S. team a better chance. “It opens the door a little. So we will have to kick it down.” The Bryans noted that we have never won a Davis Cup tie in Spain and that with David Ferrer and Nicolas Almago, the Spaniards are still the favorites.
WONDER SHOTS: Bob Bryan hit a “tweener” winner in the fourth set which was key in their come from behind third round win over Scott Lipsky and Santiago Gonzalez … Deep into his match against Mayer, Del Potro hit a groundie that was clearly going way out when it hit the net post and went sideways for 15-feet and landed in.
GO FIGURE: Roger Federer made it into his 35th straight Grand Slam quarterfinal – incredible … It took Serena Williams 57 minutes to beat Andrea Hlavackova 6-0, 6-0 … She and Roddick are the only Americans left in the Open … Sara Errani, seeded No. 10, is the highest-ranked player in front of Serena before the finals … Good friends and doubles partners Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci. Italy will have it first woman U.S. Open semifinalist.
THE BEST SERVE IN THE HISTORY OF TENNIS: John McEnroe said Canadian Milos Raonic will be in the top five in a year and a half. Mac claimed that the Canadian arguably has the greatest serve in the history of tennis.
INDUSTRIOUS ANDY: After noting that as a kid Andy Roddick snuck into the players lounge and the locker room, Mary Carillo said, “Even then he was industrious.”
HEADLINES:
· A star who earned his stripes
· Unfortunate timing defined his career
· Adios, Andy
· Roarin’ Hot Rod
· No Djoking around in second-round rout
· Hey, boys, Maria’s a singles player
. Townsend finds Open sweet at 16
. Fish Not Fresh As He Tries To Match Best Slam Result
. Maria Wet and Wild
YOUTHFUL FLINGS: Eighteen-year old Brit Laura Robson and 19-year old Americans Sloane Stephens and Jack Sock reached the third round before facing defeat. Before today’s play the average age of the remaining men was 26.4. The average age of the women was 25.7. The youngest players still in are Victoria Azarenka, 23, and Milos Raonic. The oldest are Federer, 31, and Serena, 30.
RODDICK’S BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT TO HIMSELF: Andy said, “I’ve dealt with an average backhand for many years and got around it.”
TASTE GREAT, LESS FILLING: While noting the similarity between Juan Martin del Potro and Leonardo Mayer (in their game, dress and national origin,) Courier said, “It’s almost like Del Potro and Del Potro lite.”
GENDER TAKES – ROUND 2,129: Like Giles Simon at Wimbledon, Janko Tipsarevic said “if there is equal pay [between men and women], we should play the same number of games.” Nikolay Davydenko said in a similar fashion, men should play best-of-three-set matches. “Why [do] girls play best of three sets and we should play best of five sets and have the same prize money?” he asked. “Why are we playing five-set matches? We need to play best of three in Grand Slams. Everybody will support. For Federer, it’s easy to win in one hour, two sets. No need to run a third set.”
THE FUTURE’S SO BRIGHT, I GOTTA WEAR SHADES: After her third-round drubbing by Robson, Li was asked if she saw her opponent as a potential Top 10 player soon. “I don’t think I have good eyes,” she said, “so I really have no idea.”
NOT GOING THERE: A reporter asked, “Happily married man, three kids, all that. What was it like with Kim? What was your favorite memory?” Playing it safe, Hewitt replied, “I don’t know. Not sure.”
NOT THERE YET: Great American hope Ryan Harrison isn’t making any assumptions about his still-developing career. He told Matthew Futterman of the Wall Street Journal, “I’d love to be that guy that can represent the States well and put us on the map, but it’s going to take some more work.”
THE LAST EPISTLE OF KIM CLIJSTERS: After Kim Clijsters played her last match, a second-round mixed doubles loss – she and her partner Bob Bryan spoke with the press.
Q. We saw your daughter Jada in the crowd. Was she aware that you were going to be retiring soon?
KIM CLIJSTERS: I’ve been telling her I’m going to be home a lot when this tournament is completely done. I don’t think she understands the meaning of the word “retirement.” But she’ll, you know, go to school next week, then she’ll realize that we’re probably not going to be traveling as much as these last few years.
Q. Bob, you had a record‑setting performance here with Martina. You played with Serena. I’m guessing you played with Lindsay and many other superstars, and now Kim. What is the art of playing mixed doubles with incredible icons?
BOB BRYAN: I’ve been lucky to play with a lot of great champions. Kim is no exception. She’s a legend. You could see how much love they have for her. I didn’t know 2,800 people could be so loud. They just didn’t want her to stop. They kept willing her … I was just blown away. I was just trying to stay out, not mess the point up, let her do all the beautiful stuff.
It’s really an honor for her to even ask me to play … I was nervous. I didn’t want to let her and her millions of fans down. But it was a lot of fun. We had some great laughs, had a couple chest bumps. This is really the highlight of the tournament. Even if we win the doubles, this is the highlight.
Q. Our sport has so many wonderful figures. Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert and Lindsay Davenport come to mind. Is Kim something else? What makes her so special?
BOB BRYAN: Her character’s never once faltered on the court. Everyone has so much respect for her, so much love. When all your peers in the locker room look up to you and love you, that’s something very different. You can fool the fans. But the people in the locker room, when they love you and they respect you that much, that’s true character. That’s what Kim has.
Q. Kim, how do you want to be remembered as a tennis player?
KIM CLIJSTERS: I don’t think about that … that’s not important to me. I always tried to give my best, even from when I was 8 until this last match, I always tried to give my best in everything that I did, whether it was sitting here, on the practice court. Maybe that’s something that I would like to be remembered for.
Q. Did you see any players in the locker room?
KIM CLIJSTERS: I saw my friend, Kirsten Flipkens. She came in with a drink. I was like, give me a sip. But then I realized I still had to do press. I couldn’t sit up here drunk (laughter).
Q. Kim, what was your main emotion? Are you relieved? Exhausted? Upset?
KIM CLIJSTERS: No, not exhausted at all. Not upset … Do you want me to say I’m like shattered that we lost? … It feels right. It’s surprising that I’ve kept it dry, I haven’t been crying. That’s just another sign that it’s the right choice.
Q. Now that it’s over, if you go back and play with any player you’ve never played with in the past for the fun of it, who would you enjoy playing with?
KIM CLIJSTERS: Obviously for me, a dream that came true for me was playing Steffi Graf at Wimbledon when I was 16. That, to me, was like my biggest ‘wow factor’ on the tour.
