Mondays with Bob Greene
SAYING
“I consider myself 100 percent a product of the Romanian tennis because until February this year I was coached only by Romanians … I want to work again with a Romanian. I feel we have similar mentality. From what I’ve realized this year, coaches from abroad have different mentality and I like to have next to me a person who thinks almost like me.” – Simona Halep, explaining why she chose to split with Belgium’s Wim Fissette in favor of a Romanian coach.
“I came into the season without many expectations and I’m actually quite happy. I was in a position many times of the year to fall out of the top 10 and finished the year number two, so it’s been quite a successful year, and next year I set myself much bigger goals.” – Maria Sharapova.
“To have eight Grand Slam champions, five of the world’s top 11 men – as well as Juan Martin del Potro with an injury protected ranking of number seven – and four of the top 10 women commit to Brisbane is a fantastic result, and certainly highlights the players’ regard for the tournament.” – Cameron Pearson, Brisbane tournament director, noting his January event will include Roger Federer, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov, Lleyton Hewitt, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Angelique Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova.
“We are one of the few sports that does have a truly global footprint. It’s played globally, the interest is global. You look at our top stars now and they have almost transcended their sport and become global icons.” – Chris Kermode, ATP World Tour chairman, saying tennis has never been in better health with record attendance and young players challenging established stars.
SWISS PLAYER GREATEST
Who is the greatest tennis player of all time? Toni Nadal, the coach and uncle of Rafael Nadal, believes Roger Federer deserves that recognition. “I think he is, the numbers say so,” Toni Nadal told Spanish radio station Cadena COPE. “Federer is the best in the history of the game alongside Rod Laver and, unfortunately for us, it is like that.” Federer holds the men’s record with 17 Grand Slam tournament titles – three more than Nadal. Yet in the careers, Nadal holds a 23-10 lifetime record over Federer and hasn’t lost to the Swiss maestro in a Grand Slam tournament since the Wimbledon final in 2007.
SUSPENDED
Morgan Lamri, a French chair umpire on the futures and challenger tours, has become the first official to be suspended for corruption by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU). The 22-year-old Lamri was banned for life for breaching four articles of the TIU’s anti-corruption program in 2012 and 2013. These involve attempts to influence the outcome of an event, to “facilitate any player not to use his or her best efforts,” and to “wager or attempt to wager” on the outcome of a match. Lamri denied corruption but said he will not appeal the sanction. In a phone interview, he admitted betting on matches he was not involved in. “I can’t believe they decided I am guilty without even hearing me,” said Lamri, who did not cooperate with investigators. The TIU was formed in 2008 by the ATP and WTA tours, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the Grand Slam Committee.
SETTLING DOWN
Andy Murray and long-time girlfriend Kim Sears have become engaged. The 26-year-old Sears is the daughter of former Lawn Tennis Association head of women’s tennis Nigel Sears. She met Murray at the US Open in 2005. The first time Sears watched Murray compete was in 2006 in San Jose, California, USA, where he beat Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. According to The Telegraph, a British newspaper, Murray said: “It’s the first time Kim has come to a tournament. That made me quite relaxed. I’ll have to take her to some more tournaments.” After he won Wimbledon in 2013, Murray was photographed kissing Sears, who was once described by Judy Murray, the tennis star’s mother, as “the best thing to happen to Andy.” Asked when they were walking down the aisle, Murray said: “We have a plan to get married next year. That’s the plan, but no dates were set yet.”
SAVIANO GONE
Nick Saviano is no longer coaching seventh-ranked Eugenie Bouchard of Canada. “Genie and I have decided that it is best for us to end our player-coach relationship and to move in different directions for 2015,” Saviano said in a statement. “Helping Genie grow from an ambitious 12-year-old to number five in the world has been an exciting journey.” In 2014, Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final and the semifinals at the Australian Open and French Open. She won her first WTA title in Nürnberg, Germany, in May and qualified for her first season-ending WTA Finals. She recently was named the WTA’s Most Improved Player of 2014.
SELECTS NEW COACH
Saying she wanted to be coached by a fellow Romanian, Simona Halep selected Victor Ionita as her new coach. In addition, she signed Sweden’s Thomas Hogstedt, former coach to Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki, to serve as a coaching consultant for her first three tournaments of 2015. Halep surprisingly split with coach Wim Fissette after he had led her to her first Grand Slam tournament final and to a season-ending number three ranking. “It was a very good year,” Halep admitted. “Wim helped me a lot, we had good results together. I wish him success.” This year Ionita coached another Romanian player, Sorana Cirstea, to a career-high ranking of 21st in the world. Halep will be the top seeded player at the Shenzhen Open in January when she begins her 2015 schedule.
SPLITTSVILLE
Andy Murray has dropped assistant coach Dani Vallverdu and fitness trainer Jez Green from his entourage. In June, he hired Amelie Mauresmo as his coach. The hiring has come under fire after Murray reached only the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the US Open this year, then was drubbed by Roger Federer 6-0 6-1 in the ATP World Finals in London. Vallverdu has been a close friend of Murray’s for more than a decade since they met at a tennis academy in Spain. Murray defended Mauresmo, who, like Murray, won Wimbledon. “You know we’ve only spent six or seven weeks together since Wimbledon,” Murray said of Mauresmo. “Yes, there was a few periods of the year where I played a couple of bad matches, where my level dropped and I wasn’t expecting it. It wasn’t my best season, but it got better as the year went on.” Murray hired Mauresmo in June just before Wimbledon.
SERVES UP FAST FORMAT
Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt will team up in Sydney, Australia, in January to kick off the global launch of a new fast format for tennis. Federer and Hewitt will play a special exhibition match to showcase the new fast format – a shortened version of the game developed by Tennis Australia. The new format has four rule variations from traditional tennis: no advantage scoring, no lets, no tiebreaker at three games all and the first to four games wins.
SET FOR ASB CLASSIC
Two former number ones – Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams – will begin their 2015 seasons at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand. Wozniacki is currently ranked eighth in singles and Williams, who was a finalist in Auckland last year, is 18th. Also set to play in the hard-court event are the number one doubles combination of Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani, along with two-time Grand Slam tournament winner Svetlana Kuznetsova.
STARTING OVER AGAIN
After recovering from his latest injury, Juan Martin del Potro will return to the ATP World Tour in January at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. The Argentine has not played since suffering a left wrist injury during a match against Somdev Devvarman at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February. He underwent surgery on March 24. Del Potro won the US Open in 2009, then played only three tournaments in 2010 before undergoing surgery on his right wrist. He was named the ATP Comeback Player of the Year in 2011 when finished ranked 11th in the world. He has been ranked as high as fourth in the world following his US Open victory.
SITE PICKED
Rafael Nadal has selected his home island of Mallorca as the site for his tennis academy. The 14-time Grand Slam tournament winner held a groundbreaking ceremony for the academy in his home town of Manacor. “This is a special day for me,” Nadal said. “This project that we have been working on for many years is finally a reality. The academy will “begin with a summer camp in 2016,” he said. The academy will also include a school where promising players can continue their regular studies.
SELECTS KYRGIOS
The prestigious Newcombe Medal, signifying Australia’s top player in 2014, went to Nick Kyrgios during a ceremony in Melbourne. The 19-year-old was presented the award by Hall of Famer John Newcombe, in whose honor the medal is named. “I honestly didn’t think I was going to win this award tonight,” Kyrgios said. “Casey (Dellacqua) has had such a great year and obviously Lleyton (Hewitt) and Sam (Stosur) deserve the award as well. But when I heard my name called there were so many mixed emotions. I didn’t want to cry up there, but I was close.” Kyrgios shocked then top-ranked Rafael Nadal in the fourth round at Wimbledon to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. He reached the third round at the US Open later in the summer. Starting the year ranked 183rd in the world, Kyrgios won three ATP Challenger titles and reached a career-high ranking of 51 in September. He also helped Australia beat Uzbekistan 5-0 in Davis Cup. “You’re hard to beat when you go on Centre Court at Wimbledon and you defeat one of the greatest players of all time in four sets and you do it really well,” Newcombe said of Kyrgios being selected. Stosur is a three-time winner of the award, while Hewitt was the 2013 recipient.
The Newcombe Medal was the premier award presented at a gala that recognizes players, coaches, clubs, communities, volunteers and officials for their service to the sport. The awards ceremony has been held annually since 2010. In other honors, Thanaski Kokkinakis was named Male Junior Athlete of the Year and Destanee Aiava was named Female Junior Athlete of the Year.
STEERING ARGENTINA
Hoping to get Juan Martin del Potro to play Davis Cup again, the Argentine Tennis Association (AAT) has selected Daniel Orsanic as its new Davis Cup captain. Orsanic, a former player and head of development in AAT, replaces Martín Jaite. Del Potro has not played in Argentina’s last two Davis Cup ties, but the country’s top player has a good relationship with Orsanic and could return to the team in the 2015 first-round competition against Brazil. Orsanic was the main candidate to replace Jaite, but the decision was reportedly delayed when former AAT president Arturo Grimaldi passed away.
SPECIAL COACH
Fred Scott, who coached the Abilene High School tennis team to 247 wins and the 1999 Texas state team championship, will be inducted into the Texas Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame this month in New Braunfels, Texas, USA. His teams won 10 district team championships and were ranked in the top 10 in the state in 14 of his 16 years. He retired in 2013.
SERVING HIS COUNTRY
Dominic Thiem had a much different way of doing his off-season training. As a member of the Austrian Armed Forces, the 21-year-old has gone through basic training. Thiem entered the army just a few days after losing to Stan Wawrinka in a second-round match at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, France. “I was treated like everybody else,” said Thiem, who was helped through his basic training by his fitness coach, Sepp Resnik, who is a former officer in the Austrian Armed Forces. Finishing the season ranked 39th in the world, Thiem spent 17 days in basic training and must now fulfil his six months of basic military service just like every other Austrian. He currently is attending a four-week tennis training camp with Ernests Gulbis, Dennis Novak and Riccardo Bellotti, but whenever he is back home in Austria, Thiem must appear for a 7:30 a.m. military roll call each day.
SAY MAMA
Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder is a mother. A winner of 11 WTA titles, Schnyder recently gave birth to a daughter, KimAyla. Once ranked as high as seventh in the world in 2005, Schnyder married her coach, Rainer Hofmann, in December 2003 and retired from the WTA Tour in May 2011.
SAD NEWS
Dorothy “Dodo” Cheney, the winner of 391 national tennis titles, has died at the age of 98. The daughter of a Wimbledon champion, Cheney began playing tennis as a young child and was an active competitor well into her 90s. In 1938 she became the first American woman to win the Australian Championships – now known as the Australian Open – and was a runner-up three times in women’s doubles at Grand Slam tournaments and four times in mixed doubles. In 2004, Cheney was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at the age of 87. Among her 391 national titles, Cheney was a champion numerous times in singles, doubles and mixed doubles across various age levels and on all surfaces. She was ranked in the top 10 in the late 1930s through the mid-1940s, reaching a high of sixth in the world in 1946. In 2002, at the age of 85, Cheney and her daughter Christie Putnam won the USTA National Grass Court Super-Senior Mother-Daughter Championships. Cheney’s mother, the former May Sutton, won the United States Championships in 1904 and in 1905 became the first American to win the women’s singles at Wimbledon, repeating the triumph two years later. Cheney’s father, Thomas Bundy, won three consecutive United States Nationals doubles titles. Cheney is survived by two daughters, Christie Putnam and May Cheney; a son, Brian Cheney; eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. A private memorial service will be scheduled at a future date.
Nicknamed “Dodo,” Cheney kept her success in perspective. She loved telling the story of the time when she was 73 and played a 10-year-old prodigy in Los Angeles. “She blitzed me,” Cheney said. “She just wiped me off the court.” The 10-year-old was Venus Williams.
SURFING
ATP: www.atpworldtour.com
WTA: www.wtatennis.com
ITF: www.itftennis.com
World Tennis Magazine: www.worldtennismagazine.com
TOURNAMENTS WEEK OF JAN. 5, 2015
(All money in USD)
MEN
$1,195,500 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, Doha, Qatar, hard
$511,825 Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Brisbane, Australia, hard
$459,140 Aircel Chennai Open, Chennai, India, hard
WOMEN
$1,000,000 Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Brisbane, Australia, hard
$500,000 Shenzhen Open, Shenzhen, China, hard
$250,000 ASB Classic, Auckland, New Zealand, hard
