Memphis 2007, or The Swedish Love Fest!!

[TennisHack]

Day 3: Mon 2/19

First things first - of the 94 pics taken, only 63 make the cut. Maybe someone (GWH?) can identify this guy, who I think is in Ginepri camp:

And, as promised, more pics of the ballkid pimp ;D

[TennisHack]

We had a bit of trouble parking today, because they finally started enforcing whatever they were going to enforce. To park in the same lot we've been in all tourney, we now have to pay $25 So we were late getting inside, and barely made it to (1R) Stefan Koubek vs Simon Greul before they started.

Fashionista did not disappoint. Does he have some sort of affinity for that ugly yellow?

It doesn't look any better with that yellowed lighting, sorry...We also got a few sexy peeks at his back tattoo and his belly ring, ooh la la!

It was more or less a serving contest to start. Greul broke himself in the fourth game with 4 straight UEs. Koubek was out-serving Greul, and was dictating very easily. Greul does not do defense very well, and was easily frustrated.

Koubek won the first set 6-3 in 26 minutes. He kept Greul pinned behind the baseline running side-to-side and served very well. Greul has some nice variety but didn't get to show it, especially when his serve let him down.

From my notes in the second set: Koubek again breaks early. Greul is clearly (and loudly) frustrated with Koubek's willingness to be a backboard. When he can impose his game, he's okay at net, but he can't seem to penetrate Koubek's defense. Koubek stays 10 ft behind the baseline to return while Greul is standing closer.

Greul breaks back on a DF. He earned 3 bps with 2 backhand (weaker wing) winners down the line, but had 3 errors on said chances. Breaking back seems to Greul some confidence to go for the corners.

Greul has a very nice service motion. It doesn't look like he expends too much energy. His toss is a bit too high, but then this is indoors...He holds for 3-2 with some good serves. He starts coming in more and pushing Koubek back with corner-to-corner shots. He breaks Koubek at love with some of that attacking tennis. Then all hell breaks loose.

Koubek had been complaining rather loudly about the line calls. He exchanges words with the (German) chair umpire after hurtling a ball across the court. Greul is broken after a DF and a UE on break point. He throws his racquet around and is generally negative in body language. 4-5 Koubek.

Koubek holds at love. A mishit Greul return lands in the umpire's chair, which should've made him feel better

5-5 15-all. Koubek almost hits the line judge as he takes his backswing. He thought the serve was wide, but it was called good. Koubek has angry words with the chair umpire in German, who refuses to call a let. Koubek then turns to the ATP guy in the stands (referee?) and starts screaming in English. The ATP guy, Mark, says the line judge was not trying to get in Koubek's way, he was trying to position to call the line. Koubek complained that the judge was standing too far into the court and had interfered with his return, plus the call was bad, so he should have a let. This referee guy was sitting two rows down in front of me, so I heard it all. It was too funny especially when Koubek started cursing quite loudly and clearly. I took this pic after his outburst:

He didn't get his way, but he won the next point, said something in German, then spit on the court!

The second set went to a TB, which Koubek won 7-3.

[TennisHack]

We skipped over to the stadium for the rest of the day. Next on the agenda was (1R) Jurgen Melzer vs Jesse Witten -- from one crazy Austrian to another This is when I learned how to use my digital zoom, because I was very interested in the Austrian contingent who came to watch -- Julian Knowle, his female friend, and this other guy who must be their coach because he was at Koubek's match, too.

They noticed my interest in them, and Knowle, who I think I've seen here at the hotel, kept glancing over at me during the match. It was funny I was sitting almost directly across from them, I'm just on the hard wooden bleacher instead of those nice chairs.

Anyway, on to the match. I don't know what was going on. Koubek was crazy in his match, and Melzer started off much the same. He seemed to be more interested in complaining about the linespeople and others on court than in playing his opponent. He was broken in the first game of the match, and it all went downhill from there.

Witten is nothing special. He looks like a big American football player instead of a tennis player. Apparently he's been a pro for 6 years, so that should tell you something. He has a big serve and decent groundstrokes -- his forehand is stronger than his backhand, which he tends to hit over instead of through. But he came out serving very strong and painting the lines with his groundies. Melzer was put on the defense early and never got a chance to impose his game because he was serving like shit.

I love this pic, it sums up how the set was going for him:

Melzer calmed down to start the second and started to work his way into net. He worked Witten's serve over and broke to start the set. Witten was visibly let down after that; his serve % went down and so did the rest of his game. Melzer revealed just how bad Witten is at defense. He moves like an elephant around the court and is out of position a lot. The only thing he's good at is standing in the middle of the court and dictating play, when he can hit flat and hard.

Melzer broke for 5-2, but continued to complain about the linesmen. He closed out the second set 6-3.

The only thing Witten does worse than defense is volley. Melzer drew Witten into the net a few times and Witten was completely incompetent. He didn't hit one volley or approach winner, and it looked like the net was completely unfamiliar territory to him. Completely laughable.

At the beginning of the third set, Melzer again breaks for 1-0. Witten looked like he had no belief in himself or his ability to beat a seeded, Top 50 player. But, his serving picks up after that, to the delight of the crowd.

And look who showed up at 3-2 Melzer!

He came in at the changeover to join the contingent

Witten brings the crowd to life when he breaks back for 3-all. They hold serve until the TB, when Melzer runs away with it, 7-3. His experience prevailed in the end as I thought it would. He showed some of his crazy stuff and his talent at net, so that was nice to see. The Austrians left as soon as Melzer won so no chance to say something to them, hehe.

Witten lost his shoe as he ran up to feebly swipe at Melzer's winning drop shot, and I think he gave it to someone in the crowd. There were tons of kids around since it was a national holiday today, and they were constantly underfoot and running around.

More Melzer pics:

[TennisHack]

The doubles match (1R) Erlich/Ram vs Moodie/Perry was after that. There's not much to say here, except Wes stuck to 1 racquet for the whole match They were also complaining about line calls during the match, and Wes and Perry both left the court angry.

That match ended early, so while we waited for (1R) Xavier Malisse vs Teimuraz Gabashvili, I decided to visit the bathroom. Well my first trip proved there was a long wait, so I decided to wander around a bit and try to stargaze since we are forbidden access to the practice courts. Wouldn't you know it, Roddick was just leaving the practice courts, and he was mobbed. I as I tried to get a bit closer. He's still a big draw for the teenage girl set, I noted. They were squealing as they got his autograph, then running towards me and squealing about how he touched them or took their pen or whatever, then they started calling people on their cell phones to relate the swoon-inducing moment. It was all very gagilicious Meanwhile, Gabashvili passed me in the same hallway, wearing a visor backwards on his head

The crowd in the bathroom cleared, so I went on and went back to the stadium. The chair umpire for this match was a hottie! (They are using a lot of local officials instead of the usual suspects that travel with the Tour.)

Anyway, Gabashvili starts off very nervous. It takes him about 3 games to get into it, but by then, he's down a serve game. He wasn't serving well, and Malisse picked on his backhand with great effect.

Gabasvili opens his shoulders and hits some solid shots to break back, pushing Malisse back on defense. Unfortunately, he turns right around and is broken at love thanks to 4 straight UEs. He gets visibly upset with some line calls. Malisse joins the long list of complainers even as he serves his way to the first set in 33 minutes.

Gabashvili:

The rest of this match is pretty picture-heavy, so I'm going to post it separately.

[TennisHack]

In the 2-1 game in the second set, Malisse suddenly grabs his right wrist. He finished serving the game, but immediately asked for the trainer and stopped play.

Gabashvili was upset that played stopped after only one game.

This is why I <3 my digital zoom! The trainer came out...

..then the tournament doctor came out...

They wrapped his wrist, but the trainer didn't go far when play resumed, always a bad sign.

Malisse tried to play with the taped wrist, but it severely compromised his ability to produce his own power.

So he retired at 46 22 30-15 for Gabashvili.

And we were chased out of the stadium so they could prepare for the night's main attraction.

[TennisHack]

I figured hey, how many times was I going to get to see Venus play live in my life, so it would be worth the hassle of going tonight. Man was it ever a packed house! Unfortunately most of the people there were complete idiots. They kept yakking during play, taking flash photography, screaming and yelling and generally being idiots. It was a nice warm-up for tomorrow's Duck match.

The evening session for (1R) Venus Williams vs Akiko Morigami was sold out, and of course people couldn't find their seats, and/or kept moving around after time had been called on the changeovers Our seats are the first row of bleacher seats, so of course we were stepped on, and people started blocking our view to take pictures (with the flash, of course!), etc etc. Your basic nightmare.

However, they were pretty fair to Morigami, clapping for her winners and being generally polite. They were overwhelmingly for Venus, but unlike in Cincy, they were not actively trying to oust her opponent.

As you'd expect, it was all about Venus. She had big problems on serve for almost the whole match. Morigami hit some nice shots, but Venus was very definitely rusty -- and in total control of the match.

It pretty much confirmed what I thought, that women just play slower than the men. It was a slow torture to sit through that match jammed in like sardines. Good practice for next weekend, I guess...

Daddy Williams is in attendance, drawing almost as much attention as Venus herself. We saw him when we returned to the hotel this evening, sitting in the bar having a good time with his guests.

My pics:

[TennisHack]

Almost everyone left following Venus's match, so we gave them a 5-game head-start before heading home ourselves. I wasn't going to sit through a Ginepri match if I didn't have to But I did take that pic of his 'friend' (maybe) and perfected my zoom on the chair umpire, so it was time-well spent. And we didn't hit traffic on the way back

More on Malisse's injury:

Wrist Injury Sidelines Malisse

Fifth seed Xavier Malisse was leading Russian qualifier Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-4, 2-2 when he injured his right wrist and was forced to retire from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships on Monday. The Belgian, a two-time title winner on the ATP circuit this year, went to a local Memphis hospital after the match for examination.

“I hit a backhand and kind of snapped my wrist a little bit," Malisse said. "It started hurting pretty bad on the next shot; I could barely hit a backhand. I took a timeout and it didn’t get better. I think I just kind of snapped something. I’ve got to see what it is. I hope it’s not too bad but today it’s not possible to play on because I couldn’t hold my racquet.”

[choupi]

Hola girl!! Thanks for all those pics. I know GWH will be happy with the Koubek pics. And yes, he definitely has something with yellow!!!

When I attend an event, WTA matches are the times I use to wander around the place, because I know I will get bored easily....

Keep on doing that excellent job, special reporter!!

[Stefan Koubek Fashion Guru]

Good to see my man Koubek won and Nike have done poorly with the outfits, but Koubek in yellow is just great.

Should have got an autograph Hackie and his match with Korolev could be a lot of fun.

The guy with Ginepri I don't know, the other one is Koubeks coach Thomas.

Great work with the reports.

[TennisHack]

To me, that guy looked foreign face-on, but he was sitting behind us at dinner and sounded very definitely American. Who knows?

Also, for those who care, during the Melzer match, Alex Kuznetsov was mobbed by the screaming kids for autographs. He's kinda cute.

GWH, I don't go for autographs but I did almost take a pic of Koubek while he was arguing with Mark. I didn't want to anger him further, but I was thinking of you when it happened

choupi, I'll tell ya, unless it's someone I want to see, WTA matches are just torture. And it seems like the schedule is very WTA heavy these first few days.

I see Roddick asked for a late start. A lot of people will be disappointed. They were selling tonight's session out at the same rate as Venus on the promise of him. I wonder how many people will come now that it's Vince Spadea instead...

At least it solves my problem. I'll be able to stay at JMDP's match for its entirety.

The last time I saw Koubek, in Cincy, he was wearing yellow shorts. I don't remember seeing his tattoo, though. Is it new? I remember the belly ring...