|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 18, 2007 20:43:42 GMT -5
Yes, ladies, for ToJo I will risk the Duck-o home crowd  Also, choupi, I was planning already to see JMDP. I am very curious about him, just like with Korolev. Hopefully he will be playing on a smaller court, so we can get close Okay, off to upload pics and start reports. We only went to 3 matches today... |
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 18, 2007 21:52:01 GMT -5
First of all, I have to tell you guys about the ballkids and their "coordinator". I call this guy 'the ballkid pimp' to myself because he dresses so expensively and the ballkids are a hot mess. I always thought they should not be noticeable, but this kids are very distracting. They don't know what they're doing half the time and the chair has to tell them. Their style seems to be "rolled out of bed' chic. The girls appear to put a lot of effort into their messy ponytails, and the boys don't realize their shorts are see-through. Anyway, I'll try to get another pic of this guy because the ones I have now don't do him justice  As we left the hotel, Marion Bartoli was coming in with her father already running his mouth... We arrived at the racquet club in time for Gabashvili's match. In fact, when we got there we saw the tail end of Kelly Liggan's impromptu practice session. She mauled Grandin 60 62, and I guess used the extra time to practice. She's very pretty. The first match I wanted to see was (Q2) Teimuraz Gabashvili vs Phillip King. King, of course, beat my Wes last night to get to this match. They had an adequate number of linespeople today  Gabashvili is quite the character. He started the match with his serve and not much else. He serves very hard and favors his forehand. He moves pretty well, both laterally and forward, but wasn't showing his best stuff to start with. He was broken at love with 4 straight errors and found himself down 36 within 24". He cleaned it up in the second, earning bps in King's first serve game. He didn't convert, but he managed to control himself, only saying a few things under his breath. His coach was sitting a few rows behind me and encouraging him. Gabashvili looked at him a lot when he was down, and fist pumped at him when he was doing well. In the second set, Feli "I'm too sexy for my backhand" Lopez came up into the stands and nearly stepped on me as he went to sit with Gabashvili's coach. They chatted for a bit in Spanish, F.Lo "vamos"ed a few times for Gabashvili and he talked on the phone during his stay in the stands. I could hear him on the phone as well as whoever he was talking to. He must've brought Gabashvili some luck, because he started to really turn it on after F.Lo arrived. The second set went to a TB. Up until that point, Gabashvili's backhand was more likely to miss than go in, and King was picking on it big-time. But Gabashvili got enough practice that it started going in. King didn't help himself by DFing to go down 1-5. Gabashvili won the TB 7-3 and the tide was turning. In the third set, Gabashvili hit some screamer backhands and broke immediately for 1-0. The crowd was really getting into it as Gabashvili raised his game. Feli left at 3-2, but Vania King came in and sat in front of us to cheer for her brother. She was very nice and asked if we minded if she sat in front of us Also in King's cheering section: Danai Udomchoke. Her cheering didn't help her brother. Gabashvili was running King side-to-side and his backhand wasn't missing anymore - and King had come to count on that weaker side. After a tough game, Gabashvili breaks again for 5-2, then serves it out convincingly. |
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 18, 2007 22:36:45 GMT -5
We move over to the other court for Korolev's match vs Capdeville, and can you believe it, the women's match proceeding it was straight sets!  Alina Jidkova and her completely wrapped right leg beat Youlia Fedossova's wrapped right elbow 75 62 not long after Gabashvili booked his spot in the main draw. (Q2) Evgeny Korolev vs Paul Capdeville was next. Capdeville is not who I expected him to be, so scratch him scoping Korolev's first match with his coach He *is* pretty cute, though, with his lean body and claycourter legs. He has a big serve to go along with his speed. Capdeville came in, serving and volleying, in his second serve game, but for most of the first set, he was 10 feet behind the baseline trying to outslug Korolev. He was broken at 3-all after making 3 straight UEs, including a foot fault DF. Korolev hit a backhand down the line to break. Korolev served for the first set and got it with an ace. Capdeville had been talking to himself the whole match in Spanish, and he was being a bit showboat about it in a funny way. I usually don't care for player displays, but Capdeville was amusing. The second set was, bar none, the best tennis of the qualifying round. Capdeville is very, very good at net when he comes in on something good. He hit a lot of first volleys off his shoestrings and held his own at net. It was some very exciting stuff, especially when he drew Korolev in and passed him with a volley. He also impressed with his defense, earning several oohs and aahs from the crowd as he grunted and huffed and puffed and stumbled but still managed to draw errors or hit winners. He was broken early in the second set, but managed to break back with that volley pass. Korolev showed he's more than just a serve as he threw in some slice shots and showed his quickness around court. He came into net a bit and hit some good volleys, but he didn't have the same spirit as Capdeville. Korolev broke again for 4-3 as Capdeville came in on a few bluffs and got burned. Korolev won 6-4 6-4 but I walked away more impressed with Capdeville. I can't wait to see him on clay. My opinion of Korolev rose as he rose to the occasion and won convincingly, but I didn't see anything that made me want to follow him with great interest. As Korolev came off court, he smiled at the crowd and thanked the folks that said "good job" to him, so he gets a  from me in that dept! The last match we stayed for was (1R) Peer/King vs Hradecka/Voracova. It was a best of two TB sets with no-ad scoring and a match TB. There's not much to say here. Peer was pretty horrible for most of the match. She should be glad she had a chance to work out her kinks in doubles instead of going out in the first round of singles. King reminds me of Sugiyama. She moved similarly and had good volleys. Her serve is still pretty soft, though. Their opponents, Lucie Hradecka and Renata Voracova, were a more experienced doubles team, but the blonde Voracova was pretty much useless. She had a weak serve and was an easy target at net, missing a lot of clutch volleys and making Hradecka do most of the heavy lifting. Hradecka looked like she was limping for much of the second half of the match. I hate no-ad scoring. What a freaking crapshoot! And the receiving team gets to decide who is receiving, and which side to receive from. What kind of sense does that make?! The match TB isn't much better. The Czechs won after some very inspired play from Peer and King in said TB, 10-8. I doubt they can go much further, considering what a liability Voracova is for her possibly injured partner. In the time it took for BOTH of these matches to finish, Abigail Spears was struggling to beat Angelika Bachmann. It's become a running gag to avoid the boring and completely personality-voided Spears and her terminally long matches. |
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 19, 2007 0:18:43 GMT -5
Another view on Phillip King...
'Tennis isn't waiting' for former junior champ
By Bonnie DeSimone
Special to ESPN.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- You have to be an optimist to do what Phillip King is doing, so when he says "I think things are looking bright," it's hard not to take him at his word.
At 18, King was a two-time reigning U.S. junior champion, weighing whether or not he had enough game to turn pro. Now, at 25, he is No. 360 in the world, weighing whether he has enough game to persevere.
In between, King earned a Duke University degree, double majoring in computer science and political science. He was a four-time All-American and the 2002 Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year. His resumé would be the envy of many young men, but there are times where his mind drifts back to the fork in his road.
"The hardest part is seeing a lot of these guys like [Mardy] Fish and [Robby] Ginepri, guys that I was beating in the juniors, and seeing them do really well," King said. He had just lost his first-round match here at the SAP Open after earning a slot in qualifying, only his second ATP main draw since he turned pro in 2004.
"It's frustrating knowing I didn't give myself that chance to at least try to be just as good, or better," King said. "And now I'm catching up.
"I lost four years of pro tennis. I didn't lose four years of my life. I really want to clarify that. It's just very difficult to progress if you're spending time with guys who are not going to do the same thing as you are."
In his first-round loss, King was up 4-1 in the first set on Korea's 54th-ranked Hyung-Taik Lee but lost that set in a tiebreak and saw the match slip away as so many have over the last two-plus years. He won a tournament as an amateur in the summer of 2002, when he was moonlighting on the U.S. Tennis Association pro circuit. He has reached the semifinals of two Challenger events, a step down from the ATP.
"My age is a reality," he said. "Tennis isn't waiting for me."
The men's ranks are deeper and stronger than they were when he departed for Duke, King said. He received limited USTA support the summer he turned pro, but said he's not surprised the organization doesn't invest a lot in its college grads.
"If you look at the top 100, there's only one or two guys at most who finished college," he said. "So you're looking at a two percent chance. Any business sense, you don't throw money at something that's only going to work two percent of the time."
King's choice seems more poignant in retrospect as he watches the youngest of his four siblings, 17-year-old Vania, make her way up the ladder on the women's tour. Phillip said his sister is much more mature mentally and physically than he was at that age and supported her decision to eschew a college scholarship. He admitted that he was the family guinea pig, in a way.
"It helps to understand the environment," he said. "I didn't know, and nobody in my family played, and they had nothing to do with athletics. It's pretty hard to jump in the water when you don't know how the currents are going to go."
King still lives in his hometown of Long Beach and is once again working with former U.S. Tennis Association developmental coach Eliot Teltscher, his coach from age 12 to 17. Not surprisingly, Teltscher takes a very long view of the protégé he also considers a friend.
"You won't know if he made the right or wrong decision for 10 or 15 years," Teltscher said. "He could become president of Motorola.
"I felt he would have been a good, solid pro player. He always had a great backhand and a legitimate serve. He serves bigger than people think. And he's very cardio-fit. He can go forever."
Where King fell behind in college was in strength and level of competition. He hired a physical trainer in the offseason and has added seven or eight pounds to his wiry 5-foot-9, 145-pound frame. Now Teltscher wants him to build up mental muscle and is encouraging him to consult with a sports psychologist.
"He's got a chance at it," Teltscher said. "But he's not going to be out there playing $10,000 tournaments when he's 30."
King said he'll go all-out this year and evaluate whether he should continue at the end of the season.
|
|
|
|
Post by choupi on Feb 19, 2007 3:11:20 GMT -5
Hey girl, thanks again for the reports. I'm already looking forward to pics of ToJo & maybe JMDP. Hope you get to see him play. He's really noticeable.
|
|
|
|
Post by Stefan Koubek Fashion Guru on Feb 19, 2007 4:11:52 GMT -5
Love the reports Hackie and keep up the good work and if possible could you get some pics of El Fashionista (Koubek).
Good to see you are checking some of the players that I mentioned Hackie. Gabashvili is a nutcase on court, but not so bad off the court and heckle LaLo.
|
|
|
|
Post by cert. murse aphex on Feb 19, 2007 4:20:52 GMT -5
Thx, Hackie! |
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 19, 2007 9:52:33 GMT -5
Today's schedule is pretty skimpy, but I can't NOT go see Koubek's latest fashion ;D He's playing at 10 today so we'll probably go to his match first. There's not a lot of interest today, and I'm afraid they are going to stack them up tomorrow.
|
|
|
|
Post by Lee on Feb 19, 2007 17:50:04 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by TennisHack on Feb 19, 2007 22:40:03 GMT -5
Guess who learned how to use her digital zoom lens! ;D And who had Julian Knowle scoping her out at Melzer's match ;D Today was a lot of fun, now let's see how my piccies came out... Holy shit, I took 94 pics today |
|
Also, choupi, I was planning already to see JMDP. I am very curious about him, just like with Korolev. Hopefully he will be playing on a smaller court, so we can get close 
Alina Jidkova and her completely wrapped right leg beat Youlia Fedossova's wrapped right elbow 75 62 not long after Gabashvili booked his spot in the main draw.
