Victor Estrella Burgos Becomes Oldest First-Time ATP World Tour Winner - Mondays With Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Richard Gasquet beat Jerzy Janowicz 3-0 retired to win the Open Dud de France in Montpelier, France

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Andreas Seppi 7-6 (4) 6-3 to win the PBZ Zagreb Indoors in Zagreb, Croatia

Victor Estrella Burgos beat Feliciano Lopez 6-2 6-7 (5) 7-6 (5) to win the Ecuador Open Quito in Quito, Ecuador

Tatjana Maria beat Louisa Chirico 6-2 6-0 to win the Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland, Michigan, USA

Tim Smyczek beat Rajeev Ram 6-2 4-1 retired to win the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas in Dallas, Texas, USA

FED CUP

World Group

First Round

Czech Republic beat Canada 4-0 at Quebec City, Canada

Frances beat Italy 3-2 at Genoa, Italy

Russia beat Poland 4-0 at Krakow, Poland

Germany beat Australia 4-1 at Stuttgart, Germany

World Group II

First Round

Netherlands beat Slovakia 4-1 at Apeldoorn, Netherlands

Romania beat Spain 3-2 at Galati, Romania

Switzerland beat Sweden 3-1 at Helsingborg, Sweden

United States beat Argentina 4-1 at Buenos Aires, Argentina

Group I

Europe/Africa Zone at Budapest, Hungary, hard: Belarus and Serbia promoted to World Group II playoffs; Portugal and Latvia relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group II in 2016.

Americas Zone at San Luis Polosi, Mexico, hard: Brazil promoted to World Group II playoffs; Venezuela and Bolivia relegated to Americas Zone Group II in 2016

Asia/Oceania Zone at Guangzhou, China, hard: Japan promoted to World Group II playoffs; Hong Kong relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group II in 2016

Group II

Europe/Africa Zone at Tallinn, Estonia, hard: South Africa and Estonia promoted to Europe/African Zone I in 2016; Luxembourg and Ireland relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group III in 2016

SAYING

“For all their practice, preparation and confidence, even the best competitors in every sport have a voice of doubt inside them that says they are not good enough. I am lucky that whatever fear I have inside me, my desire to win is always stronger.” – Serena Williams, announcing she will return to the WTA tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA.

“I do look at (Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer) as my friends, honestly, because I see them so much, more than my parents and sometimes more than my wife. There is this special relationship that has been created with the number of years that we spend on the tour together. Yes, we are rivals and of course you can’t really sit down and have dinners and chat about some intimate things because tomorrow you’re going to be on the court fighting for the biggest trophies. So at this point of our careers maybe that intimate and close relationship is not possible yet. But we’re all humans at the end of the day and I think we should consider that human side as a priority before sport.” – Novak Djokovic.

“That is definitely one of the highlights of my career which I will keep in my mind. I spent half of the time trying to control my emotions. Fifty percent of the time I had goose-bumps because of the atmosphere.” – Andrea Petkovic, after downing Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-4 3-6 12-10 and leading Germany into the Fed Cup semifinals.

“It is a little bit disappointing. It was the final. I was one step away from winning the tournament but I have to see the positive things. I didn’t play my best tennis but I made it to the final with some good fighting spirit, so it is pretty positive.” – Andreas Seppi, after losing the PBZ Zagreb Indoors to Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

“Two days ago I got sick. I haven’t slept in almost two days. I had a fever and the flu and I’m so weak. There was not much that I could do today.” – Jerzy Janowicz, after retiring from the final in Montpelier, France, without winning a point.

“It’s the first ATP title for us, so it’s the best feeling I’ve ever had in my sport career. I didn’t expect this when we came here. It’s amazing. It’s an unbelievable feeling.” – Alexander Satschko, who teamed with Gero Kretschmer to win Ecuador Open Quito doubles.

SHE’S BACK

Ending a 14-year boycott, Serena Williams says she will return to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA, this year. Making the announcement in an exclusive for TIME Magazine, Williams said it is in “the true meaning of forgiveness” that she is returning to the event. “It has been difficult for me to forget spending hours crying in the Indian Wells locker room after winning in 2001, driving back to Los Angeles feeling as if I had lost the biggest game ever – not a mere tennis game but a bigger fight for equality,” Williams wrote. “I’m fortunate to be at a point in my career where I have nothing to prove. I’m still as driven as ever, but the ride is a little easier. I play for the love of the game. And it is with that love in mind, and a new understanding of the true meaning of forgiveness, that I will proudly return to Indian Wells in 2015.” Williams won Indian Wells in her main draw debut as a 17-year-old in 1999, beating Steffi Graf in the final. She lost to Mary Pierce in the quarterfinals the next year, then won the title again in 2001, rallying from a set down to beat Kim Clijsters in the final. Things changed dramatically that year. When her older sister Venus pulled out of their expected semifinal meeting, claiming an injury, there were accusations that their father Richard was deciding which one of his daughters would win when they played each other. Then, with Venus sitting in the stands for the final, both sisters were targets of booing and, they said, racial taunting from the crowd. Neither sister has played Indian Wells since. “The false allegations that our matches were fixed hurt, cut and ripped into us deeply,” Serena said. “The undercurrent of racism was painful, confusing and unfair. In a game I loved with all my heart, at one of my most cherished tournaments, I suddenly felt unwelcome, alone and afraid. … When I was booed at Indian Wells – by what seemed like the whole world – my voice of doubt became real. I didn’t understand what was going on in that moment. But worse, I had no desire to even win.” That no longer is true. Serena has won 19 Grand Slam tournament singles titles, now wants her third crown from Indian Wells.

Serena Williams has paired up with the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), an organization that provides legal representation to individuals who have been denied fair and just treatment in the legal system. Fans who donate USD $10 or more to the cause will be entered in a draw and the winner will be Serena’s personal guest at the BNP Paribas Open. They will be flown to Indian Wells, California, put up in a luxury hotel, get to return one of her serves and sit courtside for her first match.

SENIOR CHAMPION

At last. Victor Estrella Burgos became the oldest first-time winner on the ATP World Tour in the Open Era when he toppled top-seeded Feliciano Lopez to win the Ecuador Open Quito title. The 34-year-old is also the first player from the Dominican Republic to capture an ATP World Tour tournament. Estrella Burgos reached the final by upsetting Thomas Bellucci in a semifinal that included a four-hour rain delay. The winner began the final by breaking Lopez in the opening game, then again to go up 5-2. After losing a tiebreak to level the match, Estrella Burgos again got off to a strong start in the third set, breaking serve in the second game and taking a 4-1 lead before Lopez rallied, sending the decisive set into another tiebreak. This time Estrella Burgos closed out the victory on his second match point. Despite the loss, Lopez became the ninth player – and third active – to hit 7,000 aces in his career. Before now, the oldest first-time champion on the men’s tour was Australian Wayne Arthurs, who was 33 years, 11 months old when he won in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. The oldest player to win his first title as a pro was Pancho Gonzalez, who was 41 years, 4 months when he captured Los Angeles in 1969. However, Gonzalez had won several titles previously while playing as an amateur before Open tennis began in 1968.

Estrella Burgos also reached his first ATP World Tour doubles final, but he and his partner Joao Souza fell to the German duo of Gero Kretschmer and Alexander Satschko.

SUD DE FRANCE WINNER

It was old hat for Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman captured his third Open Sud de France title when his opponent, Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz, retired because of illness in the fourth game of the match. Gasquet had won all 14 points in the Montpellier, France, final before Janowicz called it quits. “I knew he was sick when we were warming up,” Gasquet said. “I saw very quickly at the beginning of the match that he couldn’t play at all. Anything can happen, so even though I knew he was sick, I stayed focused.” Gasquet previously won the tournament in 2006 and in 2013. He was runner-up to Gael Monfils in last year’s final, but avenged that loss by beating Monfils in the semifinals this time. It was Gasquet’s 11^th career title, but his first since 2013. “I had a great week, with solid matches,” Gasquet said. “It’s good for the rest of the season. I felt that I played well this week. I feel 100 per cent and ready for the season.”

SUPER EFFORT

Andrea Petkovic went overtime to help Germany beat Australia in their Fed Cup World Group tie. On the first day, Petkovic outlasted Samantha Stosur 6-4 3-6 12-10, with the third set lasting nearly two hours. That pulled Germany even with Australia after Jarmila Gajdosova upset Angelique Kerber to begin the two-day competition. Then Petkovic clinched the tie by outlasting Gajdosova 6-3 3-6 8-6 and send Germany against Russia in the semifinals on April 18-19. “We want to win the Cup, even if it’s unfortunate to have an away match next,” Petkovic said.

SEPPI STOPPED

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez found the antidote for Andreas Seppi, beating the Italian to claim the PBZ Zagreb Indoors title. It was the 31-year-old Spaniard’s fourth ATP World Tour crown and the first time he had beaten Seppi in five career meetings. The finalists have been two of the hottest players on the ATP World Tour this year. Seppi upset second-ranked Roger Federer in an early-round match at the Australian Open. Against Garcia-Lopez, Seppi seemed to be in front, leading 4-1 in the first-set tiebreak. But the Italian lost a 47-shot rally as Garcia-Lopez went on to capture the opener, winning the final six points. Seppi broke his Spanish opponent in the fifth game of the set before Garcia reeled off four consecutive games to close out the victory. “You don’t win a tournament every week,” Garcia-Lopez said. “This is only my fourth title during my whole career so of course it was an emotional moment. I was thinking about those moments when you are working hard, practicing a lot, spending a lot of hours on court. Every title is of course a really good moment for players, so this one is a nice one, for sure.”

SUSPICIOUS MOVE

Malek Jaziri’s retirement from his first-round match at the Open Sud de France is being looked into by the ATP World Tour. That’s because Jaziri had taken the first set against sixth-seeded Denis Istomin and would have played Israel’s Dudi Sela in the next round if he had won the match. In 2013, Tunisia’s tennis federation ordered Jaziri to withdraw from a match against an Israeli opponent. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) subsequently banned Tunisia from the 2014 Davis Cup, saying the Tunisian federation was guilty of “interfering with international sporting practice.” During his match against Istomin, Jaziri called for a trainer twice. He said he “suffered again from an elbow injury he picked up” at the Australian Open. The ATP said the injury was “verified by the ATP physiotherapist on-site,” but still wanted to examine the case more closely. “Given a previous incident involving the player’s national federation in 2013, we are looking into any wider circumstances of his withdrawal as a matter of prudence,” the ATP said in a statement. Ranked 65^th in the world, Jaziri also withdrew from the doubles, where he and Spanish partner Marc Lopez had been set to play a quarterfinal against Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Cermak Frantisek of the Czech Republic.

SETS DATE

Andy Murray and his fiancée Kim Sears have set the date. The two will be married on April 11 at Murray’s Cromlix House hotel close to his home town of Dunblane in central Scotland. The couple have been together for about 10 years. They got engaged last November. Murray, a former Wimbledon and US Open champion, bought Cromlix House in 2013. Since then it has undergone a major overhaul. It was named Scottish hotel of the year in 2014, just weeks after reopening its doors to guests. Sears, whose father is former Lawn Tennis Association head of women’s tennis Nigel Sears, met Murray at the US Open in 2005.

SIDELINED

Young Australian Nick Kyrgios is expected to miss at least a month after an MRI scan revealed his has a bone stress in his back. Kyrgios will take a minimum two-week break from training until the injury is reassessed. He then will be monitored on a weekly basis until doctors deem it safe and prudent to resume hitting. The 19-year-old has already pulled out of tournaments in Marseilles, France, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. “He’s off the court completely for two weeks, and the plan at this point is to pull out of everything in February,” said Todd Larkham, Kyrgios’ coach. “The doctor really thinks it will be 4-6 weeks, so if it’s four weeks it means he could play Davis Cup. If it’s six, he might not be able to. So we’re really just playing it by ear, see how the next few weeks go and assess how it progresses. We don’t know how quickly it’s going to heal.”

SEEKING CAPTAIN

Carsten Arriens has stepped down as Germany’s Davis Cup captain one month before a World Group match against France. Although he had clashed with new federation president Ulrich Klaus and Germany’s top-ranked player, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Arriens and the German Tennis Federation said they officially parted ways by “mutual agreement.” Arriens kicked Kohlschreiber off the team last year when he refused to play a meaningless last singles match in an already decided tie against Spain. Klaus tried to get Arriens and Kohlschreiber to settle their differences, but Arriens skipped a schedule meeting between the two during the Australian Open.

SET TO LEAD

With Pat Rafter resigning as Davis Cup captain, Wally Masur will take over as interim captain when Australia plays the Czech Republic in a first-round tie. With Nick Kyrgios injured, the Australian team will likely include Bernard Tomic, Lleyton Hewitt, Sam Groth and Thanasi Kokkinakis. The Czechs will be without their top player, Tomas Berdych.

SWEET VICTORY

A week ago Gero Kretschmer and Alexander Satschko decided to enter the Ecuador Open Quito tournament despite the fact they would be first alternates for a spot in the main doubles draw. When an injury forced a team to withdraw from the ATP World Tour event, the Germany duo got their chance. They upset the second-seeded team of Feliciano Lopez and Oliver Marach on their way to capturing their first ATP doubles title, beating Victor Estrella Burgos and Joao Souza in the final. “This is an amazing week for us,” Kretschmer said. “We were the alternates here. We were first out, we took the risk of coming here with the risk of not playing, and we got in … We’ve been playing great all the time together, so we knew we had a chance. It was a great run for us.” Both teams were unseeded and playing in their first ATP World Tour doubles final.

SELECTS SUMYK

Eugenie Bouchard went with experience when she revealed the identity of her new coach. He’s Sam Sumyk, who has worked with a number of top players, including Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva. Sumyk was Azarenka’s coach when she won the Australian Open twice and reached number one in the world.

SWINGING FOR CHARITY

John Isner was joined by brothers Bob and Mike Bryan and former world number four James Blake as they raised money for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. Isner’s fifth annual Ebix Charity Challenge, which is complete with a children’s clinic and exhibition match, supports a cause close to his heart. His mother Karen has been successfully treated for colon cancer at the Lineberger Center. Around 1,500 spectators watch Isner and Blake play the Bryan brothers in a doubles match. In addition to receiving a USD $15,000 ATP ACES for Charity grant for the Lineberger Center in 2014, Isner has raised more than USD $200,000 in his four previous charity events.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Dallas: Denys Molchanov and Andrey Rublev beat Hans Hach Verdugo and Luis Patino 6-4 7-6 (5)

Marseille: Marcus Daniell and Artem Sitak beat Dominic Inglot and Florin Mergea 3-6 6-4 16-14 (match tiebreak)

Midland: Julie Coin and Emily Webley-Smith beat Jacqueline Cako and Sachia Vickery 4-6 7-6 (4) 11-9

Quito: Gero Kretschmer and Alexander Satschko beat Victor Estrella Burgos and Joao Souza 7-5 7-6 (3)

Zagreb: Marin Draganja and Henri Kontinen beat Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja 6-4 6-4

SURFING

Rotterdam: www.abnamrowtt.nl/

Sao Paulo: www.brasilopen.com.br/

Memphis: www.memphisopen.com/

Antwerp: www.sport.be/bnpparibasfortisdiamondgames/2015/eng/

Pattaya City: www.pentanglepromotions.com/Ptt-Pattaya-Open/Ptt-Pattaya-Open-2015/en/index.php