Rafael Nadal Ousted From Miami Open - Mondays with Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Miami Open (First Week)

Fernando Verdasco beat 2^nd-seeded Rafael Nadal 6-4 2-6 6-3

Daria Gavrilova beat 2^nd-seeded Maria Sharapova 7-6 (4) 6-3

Sabine Lisicki beat 5^th-seeded Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (4) 7-5

Tatjana Maria beat 6^th-seeded Eugenie Bouchard 6-0 7-6 (4)

Adrian Mannarino beat 7^th-seeded Stan Wawrinka 7-6 (4) 7-6 (5)

Dominic Thiem beat 10^th-seeded Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (4) 4-6 6-3

Johanna Larsson beat 10^th-seeded Lucie Safarova 7-6 (5) 6-2

DAVIS CUP

Group III

Asia/Oceania Zone at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysia and Vietnam promoted to Asia/Oceania Zone Group II in 2016; Saudi Arabia and Qatar relegated to Asia/Oceania Zone Group IV in 2016

SAYING

“I am feeling more tired than usual, feeling that I don’t have this self confidence that when I hit the ball I am going to hit the ball where I want to hit the ball, to go for the ball knowing that my position will be the right one.” – Rafael Nadal, after losing to fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

“Today was a good day. I played good and I won… I’m very happy, and now I just need to try to rest and be ready for the next one.” – Fernando Verdasco, following his win over Rafael Nadal.

“I am a little bit on and off too much. That is something that didn’t happen in the past.” – Rafael Nadal.

“I have been dreaming about beating Maria since I was probably 12, when I saw her win Wimbledon. She was my idol. She was just huge in Russia.” – Daria Gavrilova, after upsetting Maria Sharapova in the Miami Open.

“It’s sport, and I happened to lose the match. Of course it’s a bit of a surprise. I’m expected to win.” – Maria Sharapova.

“I’m going to take a day off and then I’m going to practice a lot and try to put this one behind me as soon as possible.” – Eugenie Bouchard, after losing to Tatjana Maria.

“I’m really fast when I want to be. I can get any ball I want to. My coach is always like, ‘If you want it, you can do it.’ I just have to want every ball. I guess I wanted to get to that.” – Serena Williams, after chasing down a lob and, with her back to the net, scooped back an improbable shot and went on to win the point in her victory over Monica Niculescu.

SENT PACKING

Rafael Nadal faced something besides fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco when he took the court at the Miami Open. “It is not a question of tennis,” the tournament’s second seed said after losing 6-4 2-6 6-3. “The thing is the question of being relaxed enough to play well on court. A month and a half ago I didn’t have the game. My game has improved, but … I am still playing with too much nerves for a lot of moments, important moments, still a little anxious on those moments.” The attacking game played by Verdasco also played a big part in Nadal’s ouster. It also was Verdasco’s second straight win over Nadal, who had won their first 13 meetings. “It’s a huge victory, and it’s always really nice to feel it in a packed stadium … in a very important tournament like this one and playing against one of the best players in history,” Verdasco said. “At the end, you just try to enjoy the moment.” In the battle of two left-handers, Verdasco hit 29 winners and saved nine of the 12 break points faced. Nadal didn’t help his own cause with 32 unforced errors. “I was anxious on court,” Nadal said. “I wanted to be there. I tried in every point, but I was not able to relax myself, calm myself.” Nadal has never won in Miami, with his 11 attempts his longest streak of attempts at a tournament without a victory.

SHOCKER

Maria Sharapova just can’t seem to win on the WTA tour’s North American swing. For the second straight tournament the second-seeded Sharapova was upset in an early round. A native of Russia, Daria Gavrilova, who entered the Miami Open with a wild card, shocked Sharapova 7-6 (4) 6-3 in the second round at Key Biscayne. “She runs a lot of balls down,” Sharapova said of Gavrilova. “I was committing a lot of errors off of those balls and not really staying patient and just going for too many winners.” Sharapova lost her serve four times and struggled with her return while engaging in a succession of long rallies. “I was probably visualizing beating her since I was 12, but this was a bit harder than that,” said Gavrilova, who will soon become an Australian citizen. “I thought I was very composed and just did my best. I was believing.” Gavrilova broke into the top 100 in the rankings last week for the first time. She’s making a comeback from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee in 2013. “I always believed, and that’s probably why I won,” Gavrilova said. “I was very composed. I told myself to keep believing and keep trying.”

SLIPPIN’ STAN

Adrian Mannarino became the latest player to batter seventh-seeded Stan Wawrinka. Playing the best tennis of his career, the 26-year-old Frenchman reached his second straight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 fourth round. Applying pressure from the start, Mannarino broke Wawrinka’s for the third time in the first set to force a tiebreak, which Mannarino won 7-4. He converted his fourth match point to take the second-set tiebreak 7-5. It was the first time Mannarino has beaten a player ranked in the Top 10 after losing his first 12 tries.

STANDING TALL

Sabine Lisicki is no stranger to the big stage. After all, she reached the Wimbledon final in 2013. That was the game she put on display at the Miami Open, stunning eighth-seeded Ana Ivanovic to grab a spot in the fourth round. Ivanovic and Lisicki had played five times over the last year, with Ivanovic winning four of them in straight sets and pushing the only loss to three sets. This time, though, it was the 27^th-ranked German who proved to be too tough. She rallied from an early break down in the first set, then roared from a 4-1 deficit in the second set to oust her Serbian opponent 7-6 (4) 7-5. “In the beginning of the second set I stopped playing my game and my level went a little bit lower,” Lisicki said. “The important thing today was to just keep playing my game, and that’s what I started doing again after going down 4-1, and it worked out well.”

SLOW START

Juan Martin del Potro finally got back on court – at least for one match. Playing for the first time since January 15, del Potro lost his first-round Miami Open match to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4 7-6 (7). “I don’t feel frustrated,” said del Potro, who had been sidelined with a lingering left wrist injury. “I have to take the positive things on my comeback. The score doesn’t matter for now.” The 2009 US Open champion underwent wrist surgery a year ago and played in just four tournaments in 2014. Once ranked as high as fourth in the world, the Argentine right-hander’s ranking has fallen to 616^th. He said his wrist is not yet 100 percent, but it’s improving week by week. “It doesn’t matter how long it takes me to be at the top again,” he said. “I just wanted to play tennis and without pain.”

STRONG SQUAD

Sisters Serena and Venus Williams plan to play when the United States takes on Italy in a Fed Cup World Group playoff tie in April. The best-of-five competition will be played on clay in Brindisi, Italy, April 18-19. The winner will return to the top tier World Group, the only eight nations who actually compete for the Cup. “We deserve to be back in,” Serena Williams said. “We have some of the best players in the world. We should be in the World Group A and competing for the title.” The United States has won the international team competition 17 times, but not since 2000. The Williams sisters led the United States to a 4-1 win over Argentina last month to advance to the playoff round and a chance to return to the World Group in 2016.

SEED OUSTED

Seeded sixth, Eugenie Bouchard was one of the favorites at the Miami Open. Not anymore. The Canadian was upset by German qualifier Tatjana Maria 6-0 7-6 (4). “It’s the best win I have ever had,” Maria said. “I just didn’t think she was comfortable against my style.” It has been five years since Maria beat a Top 10 opponent. In the opening set Bouchard committed four double faults and won just one of eight points on her second serve. She jumped out to a 5-3 lead in t4he second set, only to have Maria send it into a tiebreak, which the qualifier won. Maria gave birth to a daughter 15 months ago and has been working her way back to the WTA Tour via the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit.

STARTING OVER

Nicole Vaidisova was 17 years old in 2006 when she broke into the top 10 on the WTA tour. In 2007, she was ranked seventh in the world. At the age of 20, she retired. The following year she wed ATP World Tour player Radek Stepanek – a marriage that lasted just three years – and has since undergone two surgeries on her right shoulder. Last September, Vaidisova announced her comeback, playing basically on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) tour. When she beat Timea Babos 6-1 7-6 (4) in a first-round Miami Open match, Vaidisova called it one of the great days in her tennis career. “It feels good,” she told journalist Sandra Harwitt when asked about winning her first match on the WTA Tour in five years. “You kind of forget what it feels like. I think this time around I definitely won’t take it for granted. I’m grateful to be here.” She lost her second-round match to third-ranked Simona Halep, 6-4 2-6 6-1.

SPECIAL DRESS

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum has a hot new display of a hot old number. The white dress worn in the 1970s Tennis Girl poster was bought by the All-England Club at auction last July. The poster has sold more than two million copies. The model, Fiona Butler, who was 18 at the time, was wearing a friend’s homemade dress and was not paid for modelling. The friend, Carol Knotts, was 12 years old when she made the dress. “I can’t quite believe that the dress I used to wear to play tennis in will now be part of the Wimbledon Museum collection,” Knotts said. “It’s incredible.”

STERLING DEBUT

There may be another Canadian tennis star on the horizon. A native of Montreal, Felix Auger Aliassime became the first player born in the 2000s to earn a position in the Emirates ATP World Tour Rankings. The 14-year-old Aliassime won three qualifying matches at the Challenger Banque Nationale in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, beating among others Chris Guccione and 2011 champion Fritz Wolmarans. Despite being forced to withdraw before his first-round match because of an abdominal strain, Aliassime became th3e youngest player to qualify for a main draw in ATP Challenger Tour history. His is ranked 1,257^th in the world. “It’s nice to know, but I don’t pay too much attention to this,” he said. “I was actually playing the Drummondville Challenger to go get experience and to help me in my development. The ATP points are just a bonus, but I want to keep looking ahead.”

SUSPENDED

Two players have been suspended and fined by the Tennis Integrity Unit for match-fixing. The sport’s anti-corruption body said Walter Trusendi, a 30-year-old Italian, and Elie Rousset, a 25-year-old Frenchman, have admitted to breaching the code of conduct at the same tournament in 2014. The only tournament in which both men competed in last year was a clay-court Challenger event in Mohammedia, Morocco. Rousset and his German partner Richard Becker lost the doubles final. Rousset lost to Becker in the first round of singles. Trusendi, who didn’t compete in singles, went out in the first round of doubles in a walkover to two French players. Rousset was banned for six months, with tree months suspended for good behavior, and was fined USD $5,000, with $2,000 to be paid before the end of the three-month period of ineligibility and the remainder suspended “subject to good behavior.” Trusendi was banned for six months and fined USD $5,000. Trusendi is ranked 425^th on the men’s ATP World Tour; Rousset is ranked 576^th.

The players said a conversation between them was heard and reported by an official. Rousset had lost in qualifying and was first in line for the main draw should someone withdraw. Trusendi, who was scheduled to play a first-round match, told Rousset that he was injured and would withdraw, giving Rousset a spot in the main draw. But Trusendi said Rousset would have to give him the first-round prize money of 326 Euros he would have received for playing the match. If not, Trusendi said he would play three games then retire. “It happens every week,” Rousset told French newspaper L’Equipe. “It doesn’t seem to me to be something that bad. It’s not in the rules, but it’s good sense.” Trusendi told an Italian newspaper: “I was wrong. One shouldn’t do these things. I should have gone, played on game, retired and got the prize money and nothing would have happened.” Several players have criticized the decision to suspend Rousset, particularly his fellow French players.

SEXUAL ASSAULT

Bob Hewitt, a former Grand Slam tournament champion, was convicted in South Africa of raping and sexually assaulting three girls whom he had been coaching. The assaults occurred decades ago. After the ruling, Hewitt was given a low bail, which was paid by his wife, Delaille. A sentencing hearing will be held in Pretoria on April 17. Until then he must remain in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province, where he lives, although he can visit his daughter in Johannesburg. The charges stem from events in the 1980s and 1990s. One accuser said her former coach raped her when she was 12. A second said she was 13 when Hewitt raped her in a hotel room. A third woman said Hewitt sexually assaulted her numerous times in the 1990s when she was 16. The judge said he is satisfied that all three women told the truth. Hewitt won 15 Grand Slam tournament doubles titles, both men and mixed. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHoF), but was suspended in 2012 after the Hall of Fame investigated the charges and found enough credibility in the allegations.

SURFING

Miami: www.miamiopen.com/

Le Gosier: http://open-guadeloupe.com/

Raanana: www.ita.one.co.il/

Davis Cup: www.daviscup.com

Katowice: http://katowiceopen.com/pl

Charleston: www.familycirclecup.com/

Houston: www.mensclaycourt.com/index.php

Casablanca: www.gphassan2tennis.com/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

(All money in USD)

MEN