Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
(Indian Wells – First Week)
Denisa Allertova beat second-seeded Angelique Kerber 7-5 7-5
Kurumi Nara beat 10th-seeded Venus Williams 6-4 6-3
SAYING
“It was enough of a fairytale to come here and play. A win would have been nice, but that means I have to come back, play next year.” – Venus Williams, who lost in her first match at Key Biscayne since 2001.
“I found my game again.” – Eugenie Bouchard, who has won more matches already this year than she did in all of 2015, when she posted a 12-18 record.
“I played to protect. When you get out there you have to play to win. It was unfortunate, but this whole tennis thing it’s definitely a learning process. So I know that I have things to work on, and hopefully going into next week I can get myself together and have a good week next week.” –Sloane Stephens, after losing to Eugenie Bouchard.
“The first set was a little tricky. I kind of had to figure out and figure out my game, and find that inner tiger and, you know, roar.” – Serena Williams, after beating Yulia Putintseva 7-6 (2) 6-0.
“I’m proud of how I have played the game. I have been honest and upfront.” – Maria Sharapova, admitting she had failed a drug test.
“Chris has done an excellent job and shown great leadership since heading up the ATP. The Tour is in great shape and I’m pleased to see that he will serve a second term.” – Roger Federer, on Chris Kermode being named ATP executive director and president to a second three-year term.
SHOCKER
Now that she’s a Grand Slam tournament champion, Angelique Kerber is finding out she is a target. The latest to hit that target was Denisa Allertova, who upset the second-seeded Kerber 7-5 7-5 in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open. “I just tried to play and just focus on every point, tried moving and playing into the court,” Allertova said. “I don’t know. I just tried to play my best.” Ranked 64th in the world, Allertova had beaten only one Top 5 player before last week. She stopped Simona Halep in Guangzhou, China, last year. And it appeared as if Kerber would easily take out the Czech, breaking Allertova in the very first game. But Allertova used her vicious angles and changing the pace to keep Kerber off-balance. She broke right back then broke Kerber again in the 12th game to grab the opening set. Allertova hit just 12 winners in the second set, compared to 25 in the first, but had just enough to break Kerber twice and wrap up the match in straight sets. “It’s an amazing feeling,” the winner said.
SPANISH COMEBACK
Having admitted she failed a drug test, Maria Sharapova hit back at suggestions she had received five separate warnings about changes to tennis’ anti-doping rules. A defiant Sharapova said she had received one clear notice in December titled “Main Changes to the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme for 2016.” “I should have paid more attention to it,” the Russian superstar said. “But the other ‘communications.” They were buried in newsletters, websites or handouts.” The 28-year-old also insisted that she has never faked an injury to try and foil the drug testers. Sharapova has missed quite a bit of time with various injuries during her career. She tested positive for meldonium, which was added to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned list on January 1. She admitted to taking the drug for the past decade to treat illnesses, a heart issue and a magnesium deficiency. “I didn’t take the medicine every day,” Sharapova said. “I took it the way my doctor recommended I take it and I took it in the low doses recommended.” She said she is eager to have her hearing with International Tennis Federation officials so she can give her side of the story. The highest-paid woman in tennis, Sharapova said she hopes to return to the sport but admits that her career may be in jeopardy.” At least three sponsors have dropped her since her announcement.
Sharapova isn’t the only Russian athlete to test positive for the drug meldonium. Others found to have taken meldonium include figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova, speed skater Pavel Kulizhnikov and short-track speed skaters Semion Elistratov and Ekaterina Konstantinova. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told Russia’s R-Sport agency that law enforcers are already investigating how meldonium had got into the bodies of Russian skaters. According to R-Sport, Dvorkovich said each case would be examined to establish whether competitors were to blame or “provocation by unknown persons.”
SPANISH IRE
Doping accusations against Rafael Nadal have been denied by the Spanish government and Olympic committee. Former French Minister for Health and Sport Roselyne Bachelot told French television that Nadal’s seven-month injury hiatus in 2012 was “probably due to a positive doping test.” Nadal’s coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, called Bachelot “an imbecile,” according to Spanish media. The Spanish Olympic Committee said Nadal “has been submitted to innumerable anti-doping controls that he has always passed throughout his long career.” Miguel Cardenal, president of Spain’s Higher Sports Council, said Bachelot’s accusations were “slander of one of the most important athletes in history.”
SHORT STAY
Venus Williams’ return to Indian Wells was satisfying but short. The warm greeting by the crowd brought a huge smile to the face of Venus, who was playing the tournament for the first time since 2001. That was when she withdrew with an injury from a semifinal match with Serena, drawing the ire of the crowd aimed at the Williams family. Serena made her return last year and was the reason her older sister showed up at this year’s BNP Paribas Open. The fairytale ending never happened, however, as Japanese qualifier Kurumi Nara upset the 10th-seeded Venus 6-4 6-3.
SASCHA STRIKE
Sascha Zverev made a strong bid to become the next big player as he knocked off 23rd-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 3-6 7-5 to move into the third round at the BNP Paribas Open. Zverev at 18 is the youngest players still in the contention at the year’s first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. Against Dimitrov, Zverev saved nine of 11 break points in the nearly 2½ -hour battle. “I tried to stay as calm as I could,” Zverev said. “Grigor played well for an hour or so, from the middle of the second set until the middle of the third. He didn’t give me many chances, but I knew I would get my opportunities. And I used them well.” When Dimitrov won the second set to even the match, Zverev smashed his racquet against the court and received a warning from the chair umpire. It was Dimitrov who appeared to have the momentum in the decisive third set, grabbing a 3-1 lead. But Zverev, used heavy cross-court groundstrokes to pull even, then broke his Bulgarian opponent in the 12th game to close out the victory. “Grigor is such a good player. He has so much potential to really do well,” Zverev said. “We will see (this matchup) a lot in the future.”
SWISS STOP
The WTA Tour is returning to Switzerland. The Ladies Championships in Gstaad, Switzerland, will replace Bad Gastein, Austria, on the women’s calendar. The clay court event will be played from July 11-18, immediately after Wimbledon. The men’s Swiss Open will follow the next week on the same courts. There last was a WTA event in Gstaad in 1983. The last women’s tournament in Switzerland was the indoor Zurich Open in October 2008, which was won by Venus Williams.
STOPPED BY INJURY
Sixth-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro of Spain never got a chance to play in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, California, USA. “I twist my ankle yesterday and today I tried to warm up, but I’m not 100 percent,” Suárez Navarro said. “So I will try to rest, recover and be ready for Miami. The Spaniard was replaced in the draw by lucky loser Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, who lost to Russia’s Daria Kasaktina 7-5 6-3.
SHE’S BACK
Eugenie Bouchard is putting 2015 behind her. Canada’s top player was ranked as high as fourth in the world in 2014. But last year she struggled, posting a 12-18 record. Now she’s playing like she did two years ago, knocking off 22nd-seeded Sloane Stephens 7-5 7-5 at Indian Wells. It was the first time Bouchard had beaten a player ranked in the Top 25 since the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open in 2014. And her win over Stephens was her tour-leading 15th of the season. “It’s important to me because it’s kind of on my comeback as I have kind of called this year,” Bouchard said. “It gives me confidence looking forward. You know, I don’t want to look back or don’t want to think about 2014 or 215 really, so this one is important. It’s kind of a step forward, and I just want to keep going.”
STAT
Nine German women were in the draw at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA, led by Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber. None won a match.
SAID WHAT?
Nick Kyrgios is in trouble again. Umpire Damien Dumusois said the Australian had used foul language and docked the player a point. “You used the F word,” Dumusois told Kyrgios, who protested. Then, after briefly taking a seat in the crowd, Kyrgios approached the umpire and said, “I didn’t say anything.” Dumusois replied: “Nick. You know we are strict on the F world … I have a report from an official. I trust him.” Kyrgios lost the second-round match to Spaniard Albert Ramos 7-6 (4) 7-5.
The week before, Kyrgios was embroiled in another spat when Bernard Tomic accused his countryman of feigning illness to miss a Davis Cup tie that Australia lost to the United States.
SECOND TERM
Chris Kermode will stay on as executive chairman and president of the ATP. Kermode began his first three-year term in January 2014; the extension runs through 2019. “I’ve taken great pleasure in leading the ATP since 2014, and I’m delighted to continue in my role as executive chairman and president,” Kermode said. “Just as importantly, I look forward to working with the other governing bodies of tennis to continue to protect the integrity of our sport.” Under Kermode’s guidance, a record 4.5 million fans attended ATP World Tour events last year, while more than 1 billion television viewers tuned in throughout the season. Prize money on the ATP World Tour is set to reach a record US $135 million by 2018. Kermode will continue to be based in London.
SAD NEWS
Bruno Agostinelli Jr., a former member of Canada’s Davis Cup team, was killed in a motorcycle crash near Toronto. He was 28. A native of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, Agostinelli won the fifth and deciding rubber for Canada at a Davis Cup tie against Peru in 2009. He had played collegiately at the University Kentucky where he was an all-American and named Kentucky’s male athlete of the year in 2009. After his brief stint on the ATP World Tour, Agostinelli was named national coach for under-14 players at Tennis Canada’s national junior training program in Toronto.
SURFING
Indian Wells: www.bnpparibasopen.com/
Guadalajara: www.jalisco-open.com/
Irving: http://irvingtennisclassic.com/
San Antonio: www.sanantonioopen.tennis/
Miami: www.miamiopen.com/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$7,037,595 BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, California, USA, hard (second week)
$125,000 Irving Tennis Classic, Irving, Texas, USA, hard
$100,000 Jalisco Open, Guadalajara, Mexico, hard
WOMEN
$7,037,595 BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, California, USA, hard (second week)
$125,000 San Antonio Open, San Antonio, Texas, USA, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$6,267,755 ATP World Tour Masters Miami, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (first week)
WOMEN
$6,267,755 Miami Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (first week)
