The Swedish Players Thread

[TennisHack]

With my re-found love of the game, and love of those adorable Swedes, I figured it was time to restart this thread.

Aphex, I wanted to ask you if you ever read anymore of this book that Norman contributed to. I'm reposting your "book reports" here cuz they were funny. But first...


From Bob Larson, 11/3/04

No Question
When a player retires, we always face a question: Is he worth a farewell feature? Do we have enough information for a farewell feature?

In the case of Magnus Norman, there is no question. He never won a Slam, he never reached #1 -- but he was about as good as a guy could be without either of those feats. In his prime, in 2000, he was the closest thing to a threat Gustavo Kuerten faced on clay, and he wasn't bad on hardcourt either. Pretty amazing for a guy whose career seemed doomed in 1997 when he suffered an irregular heartbeat and ended up undergoing five hours of surgery.

Norman started playing in 1992, and at the age of 16, he played his first ATP match (losing to Rostagno). He turned pro in 1995, and posted his first ATP wins that year. His record was only 3-2, but it started a run in which he had a winning record in six of seven years.

His first breakthrough came in 1996. He won his first Challengers. He played his first two Slams, and earned his first Slam victory at Roland Garros. And he hit the Top 100 for the first time, ending the year at #86.

1997 brought another milestone: His first title (at Bastad). He also scored a win over Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon, and beat Pete Sampras in the Roland Garros third round (the last time Sampras ever made it that far at the French Open); he went on to earn his first Slam quarterfinal. All that translated into a year-end ranking of #22, even though he played only one of the Super Nines. He also earned the only doubles final of his career at Doha.

Then came the heart surgery. It didn't eat into his schedule -- he was back in time to play the Australian Open -- but it cut badly into his results. He did win his second career title, at Amsterdam, but he didn't make it past the second round of any of the soon-to-be required events; he ended the year with a depressing 28-31 record and a ranking of #52. Though he did win one of the big matches that set Sweden on the way to the Davis Cup title that year.

In 1999 came the breakthrough; Norman would lead the Tour in titles over the next two years. In that year he won Orlando, Stuttgart (the outdoor version), and Umag on clay, and Long Island and Shanghai on hardcourt. All told, he won 44 matches (while losing 22), his best-ever record to that time. He beat Haas to win Stuttgart, Kafelnikov and Corretja to win Long Island, and Chang and Rios in Shanghai. He ended the year at #15.

2000 was even better. He made his first Slam semifinal at the Australian Open, and made the Roland Garros final, losing to Gustavo Kuerten in a fourth set tiebreak. He won his first Masters Series, beating Kuerten in the Rome final -- the last clay loss Kuerten suffered until Rome 2001. He had four other titles: Auckland, Long Island, and Shanghai on hardcourt, and Bastad on clay. His 67 wins were second only to Marat Safin's 73. In 27 events, he suffered only four first round losses (prior to losing all his round robin matches at the Masters Cup). He had ten Top 20 wins, beating #17 Hewitt and #4 Kiefer at the Australian Open, #19 Grosjean at Indian Wells, #17 El Aynaoui at Barcelona, #12 Hewitt and #6 Kuerten at Rome, #15 El Aynaoui at Hamburg, #20 Medvedev and #12 Safin at Roland Garros, and #7 Enqvist at Long Island. He peaked at #2 in the world after Roland Garros, and ended the year at #4.

Then came the decline. He reached a couple of finals early in 2001 (Sydney and Scottsdale), but his left hip was starting to hurt. He ended up missing Wimbledon (he would, in fact, never play it again, and his fourth round showing at the Australian Open proved to be his last-ever Slam victories), the U. S. Open, and the two indoor Masters Series; his last match of the year was an opening round loss at Cincinnati. He had surgery in August. He ended 2001 at #49, with a record of 25-22. He was never really the same. He played 31 matches in 2002, with a final at Tokyo, but overall went 12-19, which left him ranked below #100; he had knee surgery at year-end. 2003 was worse: 10-19, with only three quarterfinals (plus a third round showing at Monte Carlo). He retired from the last of those quarterfinals at Shanghai, had surgery a few weeks later, and never came back. His career effectively ended at age 25, and now, at age 28, he's retired. Much too soon.

What else is new?

[TennisHack]

aphex said:

Sorry it took so long. And it's a bit random and gossipy, but that's how the book is. It's mostly quotes, because I haven't done any book reports in like 12 years.


Tennis off the record
Cv 1 Living a life of luxury

This chapter is about how tournamnts spoil star player, in what way and what behaviour this induces in a player.

Divas
"In Båstad some years ago Jeff Tarango scared the hell out of an insecure guy from the staff. Tarango had been beaten and was about to leave the picturesque town. But first he wanted his money, in cash. The finances guy behind the counter tried to explain in stuttering English the prizemoney was only issued as cheques.
-I can see you have a fucking pile of money in front of you, Tarango shouted at the terrrified official who was about to lock up the day's takings in the safe.
Tarango got on the phone with tournament director Urban Johansson bellowing into the receiver: -I have a fucking moron in front of me. If I don't get my money I knock him out."

"Peter Lundgren coached the worst of the lot: Marcelo Rios. His despicable behaviour makes the scandals of McEnroe, Tarango and Nastase look like kid's stories.
...
In Hamburg once a boy in a wheelchair asking for an autograph, handed over pen and paper to Rios, who took the pen, broke it and threw the pieces to the ground.
...
At a player's party in Rome he was being very obnoxious trying to kiss every woman who got close. When he started to urinate on the floor the guards have had enough and threw him out. A little later he beat up a taxi driver and fought with the police before being locked up. He was sentenced probation.
Peter Lundgren:-You couldn't reach through to him. No one could talk to him, not even me. It's a tragedy."

Hierarchy
"As a stringer in Monte Carlo said-It's all about the ranking"
"Boris Becker once claimed-When a top ten player speaks, other players are quiet. That's an unwritten rule. Top 10 players lead a secret life and the #1 is the most secret. The world #1 isolate himself and cultivate the mystique. There only one place where he lift the veil -on the court."
"-You don't take their place in the locker room or ask them to move their stuff . You don't poach on their preserves, you really don't, says Magnus Norman"

"*The higher status a player has the better and more luxurius his hotel will be. The suites are reserved for the largest crowdpulling stars.
*They get better locker rooms than the other players of the draw use. In Wimbledon all seeded players have their own higher standard locker room.
*Seeded player get a better practise schedule- more time on court, more appropriate times and sometimes better courts. The other player have to fight for the remaining timeslots and are often forced to practise four at the same time.
*The top players don't have to play matches at far away outer courts where the crowd get disturbimgly close to the players. Andre Agassi can play whenever he wishes. The starplayers agents persuade the tournament directors to schedule their players favourably.
*The very top names get their own car and driver in many tournaments.
*The stars receive more valuable gifts than the others
*The tournament trainers often let the best players get prority."

"During his stay at the Stockholm Open 2004 'the tennis-god' Andre Agassi wasn't to live at the players hotel Scandic Park but instead he got one of the suites at Grand Hotel. There his family could stay quietly and more luxuriosly."
"A superstar like Andre Agassi has a complete entourage at tournaments. For everything to work and to make him feel secure he has a bodyguard, coach, trainer, his own stringer, several agents and a nanny.
-It's almost mafia style, Magnus Gustafsson kids.
Agassi knows how to use his name as a door opener in different circumstances. If he goes to a restaurant, the owner bows as deep as he can, gives him the best table, and probably eats for free."

Sex.
"The most wanted tennisplayers have no problems getting laid if they want to. To every tournamment comes so called groupies to 'hang out' with celebrities."
"An unmarried player says jokingly-The more money I earn, the more handsome I become."
"Most infamous was a group of English girls who have a solid personal record after years of hard work swinging. They had the brilliant idea to write a book about their life on the tennis tour, access all areas. Many players got cold feet and have been laying low ever since. So far no such book has been published. Perhaps it will..."

"At challengers in Easter Europe some arrangers make available women for the players to make them feel comfortable. Instead of appearance money they can have their way with escortgirls courtesy the tournament.
At a player party a tournament director approached Magnus Norrman: 'If you're interested in anybody here, then there is no problem."

"If you're playing Båstad, don't bring your girlfriend."
"Marat Safin was 18 and not yet a fully fledged starplayer, but he was a renowned talent. He wanted $10000 as appearance money. Båstad arrangers said no, but a sponsor paid the money.
A pretty high up female tournament official, good looking, heard about the money problems with the Russian shooting star, who according to many women is handsome.
The official took matters in her own hands and got to know Safin. The night before his first match she went to bed with him- hoping she did the tournament and Safin a favour.
A while later a happy Safin met tournament director Urban Johansson. jokingly saying he would play Båstad for free in the future.
-The tournament managment didn't know about this..."

Party
"Swede Peter Nyborg mostly played on the doubles tour. He doesn't deny they partied a lot. -There are possibilities and sometimes you give in to temptation. I was serious when I needed to, but I also had a lot of fun and spent a lot of money. When I look back, perhaps I would have done better tenniswise if had half the fun, says Peter self deprecatingly.
Peter describes the difference between singles and doubles players: -The conscientious singels players goes to bed at 10.30 the night before a match, the doubles player at 00.30"
"There have been consistent rumours the tour is full of drug abuse."
"Sure some people use hasch, cannabis,marijuana and cocaine to relax at nights. It's a matter of culture, if they come from a place which is more liberal in it's view on drugs, eg Latin America. But most guys are against this abuse. They rather take a beer in the bar at nights, says a player"

Stalkers
"Mats Wilander has several times been subjected to intrusive women wanting to have contact who stalked him from tournamnet to tournament.
One girl was completely obsessed and sent him plenty of letters and videotapes of herself. One time in Paris she was waiting at the reception of Mats' hotel. When he entered the door, she approached, acting strangely, with a look in her eyes clearly showing she wasn't all there.
-She claimed she almost jumped from one of the bridges over river Seine just because I didn't say hello to her at a particular time. Suddenly she started rummaging her hand-bag for something. For a moment I was terrified, I thought she was to pull out a gun to shoot me. I really should have taken this to court. A woman receiving this behaviour from a man, probably would have, says Mats."

If you're lucky pt2 will come before Christmas... ;D

[TennisHack]

Well I thought you made more than one, but I guess not Question still stands, tho, love those book excerpts!

[cert. murse aphex]

Hackie, I didn't see this thread until yesterday. I might do some more from that Norman book. It was so long ago I read it I forget . I'm already senile.

[TennisHack]

That's okay ahpex. I almost missed your response here

Who knew that of all the new Swedish players, Soderling would have the best time on clay?

[cert. murse aphex]

There was an interview with him in Swedish sportsmag S. He had some interesting quotes.

[TennisHack]

Agh!

Norman Returns
By Tennis Week
08/15/2007

Fans attending $50,000 Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger final at Rec Park in Binghamton, N.Y. on Sunday were dazzled by both former Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson, who beat Dusan Vemic, 6-4, 7-6(7), to take the title and the familiar face of the former Grand Slam finalist hitting with Johansson prior to the final.

Tall trim and sporting a buzz cut, the strokes of the former World No. 2 turned coach trading shots with Johansson looked sharp as ever. It's been seven years since Magnus Norman reached the Roland Garros final and attained a career-high rank of No. 2, but he still strikes the ball as cleanly as a Tour-level player.

Nagging hip and knee injuries forced the owner of 12 ATP tournament titles and $4.5 million in prize money to officially announce his retirement at a press conference during the Stockholm Open in October 2005. Since then, Norman has spent time as a coach for Sweden's 14-and-under boys' squad and as a student studying marketing and economics at a business school in Stockholm.

But the man who won five tournament titles in 1999, tying Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras for most championships that season, returned to the ATP Tour in the spring as Johansson's traveling coach.

"It's very nice to have Magnus here," Johansson told Jeff Hirst, media director of the Binghamton Challenger. "We've known each other for so long and if I can't find another player to practice, Magnus still hits so well."

Norman said he's enjoying being back out on the court in a coaching capacity, though hip pain prevents him from playing daily. Both Norman and Gustavo Kuerten, who needed 11 match points to beat the stubborn Swede in the 2000 French Open final, underwent arthroscopic hip surgery performed by the same surgeon within two years of that final. Norman underwent surgery on both hips on January 23, 2004 in Nashville, Tennessee. The surgery was performed by Dr. Thomas Byrd, the same surgeon who operated on Norman on August 21st, 2001 and on Kuerten in February of 2002.

"I can still go out and hit for about an hour," Norman said. "But I still cannot be on the court too much and anything longer than [one hour] is tough [because of the hip pain.]"

The man who was briefly Martina Hingis' beau jokingly admits that acquiring a college education has taught him a valuable lesson in number crunching.

"I'm learning economics and getting used to count higher than 40, which is as much as you need in tennis, so maybe I can help some players as an agent or something like this," Norman said in a past interview. "We'll see what happens, but I'll still be involved with tennis, as it's given me a very good life."