Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Miami Open First Week
Thanasi Kokkinakis beat top-seeded Roger Federer 3-6 6-3 7-6 (4)
Agnieszka Radwanska beat top-seeded Simona Halep 3-6 6-2 6-3
Monica Puig beat second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 0-6 6-4 6-4
Jeremy Chardy beat third-seeded Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-4
Alison Riske beat seventh-seeded Caroline Garcia 6-3 6-1
SAYING
“Who knows what happened? It just felt like I could be paying the price for opportunities missed.” – Roger Federer, after losing 3-6 6-3 7-6 (4) to Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“I just needed to play my game and aggressive tennis.” – Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“I’ve always liked his game. I’m happy for him that on the big stage he was able to show it. It’s a big result for him in his career, and I hope it’s going to launch him.” – Roger Federer, on the man who beat him, Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“I’m trying, but it’s not working. That’s all. That’s all it is.” – Novak Djokovic, after losing his first match to Benoit Paire 6-3 6-4.
“She’s the main reason I started playing tennis. I just wanted her after the match to know who I am.” –Naomi Osaka, following her first-round victory over her idol, Serena Williams.
“For a second round, normally you don’t get those kind of matches. It was actually quite exciting. I like to go into the tournaments with little bit of stress. Then you’re straight into the matches. I’m very happy the way handled this match today.” – Elina Svitolina, after beating Naomi Osaka.
“I’m most happy with the win, but secondly is to see Bethanie back on court.” – Alize Cornet, after beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands in her first match back since suffering massive knee injury at Wimbledon last summer.
STUNNING WIN
After losing his second straight match and the world number one ranking, Roger Federer had no answers. “The ball, I wasn’t feeling,” the Swiss great said. “With my movement, things weren’t absolutely working. … I feel like every time I had chances, something bad happened for me, wrong decision-making by me, good decision-making by him.” “Him” was young Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who outlasted the top seed in a second-round match at the Miami Open 3-6 6-3 7-6 (4). “I’ve trained with him a lot of times,” Kokkinakis said. “I took what I learned from him and sort of kind of knew how he played a little bit and just played my game and executed.” ‘t Federer, who lost in the Indian Wells final to Juan Martin del Potro six days earlier, appeared to be sailing to victory until he was broken at love in the fourth game of the second set. Kokkinakis took advantage and the whole tone of the match changed. The third set was balanced until the seventh point of the tiebreak when the Australian took the lead. Federer won just one more point as Kokkinakis closed out his first win over the veteran. “It’s disappointing,” Federer said of the loss. “Sometimes you have these matches. Sometimes you find way through. I just couldn’t get it done today.” Kokkinakis needed a wild card to gain entry into the Miami Open qualifying. “When I feel like I am playing on my terms, I don’t think there’s too many people who can go with me,” the 21-year-old said.
SLIPPING BACK
At the age of 36, Roger Federer was the oldest man ever to hold the world number one ranking. Besides losing a second-round Miami Open match to Thanasi Kokkinakis, Federer also lost the top spot in the rankings to Rafael Nadal, who missed both Indian Wells and Miami because of a hip injury. “I deserve it after this match,” Federer said. “That’s how I feel.” A qualifier ranked 175th in the world, Kokkinakis became the lowest-ranked man to beat a top-ranked player since Francisco Clavet, who was ranked 178th at the time, beat Lleyton Hewitt in 2003. That match also was at Key Biscayne, Florida, USA.
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS
After losing his opening match at the Miami Open, Novak Djokovic was dejected. “I’m not feeling great when I’m playing this way,” said Djokovic. The 6-3 6-4 loss to Benoit Paire of France was Djokovic’s third straight since being sidelined for the final six months last year with an elbow injury. The former world number one had won in Miami six times and had his 16-match winning streak in the tournament snapped. “Of course, I want to be able to play as well as I want to play,” he said “Just it’s impossible at the moment That’s all. I lost to a better player.” The Miami Open was Djokovic’s third tournament since last year’s Wimbledon. “I know that you can’t be the person that you were yesterday, and the player (you once were),” Djokovic sad. “The circumstances that I was in the last two years were very challenging. But I’m not the only one that goes through that. I mean there are tougher injuries that players go through. I don’t want to sit ere and whine about my last couple of years.”
SURPRISING SERENA
They say Naomi Osaka’s game is reminiscent of the young Serena Williams. At the Miami Open, it was better. When Williams attacked an easy shot and blasted the ball six feet past the baseline, it was Osaka who came away with the 6-3 6-2 victory. With a smile, Williams went to the net and shook Osaka’s hand. “She said ‘good job’ and stuff,” Osaka said. “I kind of blanked out, but I’m pretty good she said ‘good job.’” By the luck of the draw, Williams had to face Osaka in her first match. Osaka was coming off her first WTA tournament title, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA. It was only the fourth match for Williams since she took a year off to give birth to a daughter and get married. The former world number one started the match as if she had never left the sport. She needed only eight shots to win the first five points of the match. It was a run that ended quickly. It was the first time since the 2012 French Open that Williams had lost a first-round match, and only the fifth time in her career. And it came at a tournament she has won a record eight times. But Osaka is ranked a career-best 22nd in the world, while Williams’ ranking is 491st following her layoff. But against the big-hitting Osaka, Williams was a step slow, often late with her swing and put barely half of her first serves in play. Early in the second set, Williams screamed, “Come on,” which delighted her opponent. “Sometimes she plays matches where she doesn’t say ‘Come on!’ at all,” Osaka said. “That’s a little bit sad, because it’s like, “Do you think she’s trying?’ So, I just wanted her to say ‘Come on’ once. I knew then maybe she would be trying a little bit.” Osaka was never broken. “Sometimes when I’m in a really hard position when I’m serving, I’m like, ‘What would Serena do?’” said Osaka, who closed out the victory with consecutive aces. Just like Serena used to do. Just playing Serena Williams was Osaka’s key memory. “Of course, winning the (Indian Wells) final was really cool, (but) I’ve always dreamed of playing Serena, so I think that’s my number one,” Osaka said.
STREAK ENDS
All good things have to come to an end. Naomi Osaka found that out the match after she beat 23-time Grand Slam tournament champion Serena Williams. In her second round, Osaka was beaten to Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-2. Svitolina saved five of six break points she faced and broke Osaka four times. After a close first set, Svitolina raced out to a 4-0 lead in the second. “I think I’ve played more matches than I ever have back-to-back,” Osaka said. “I didn’t really feel that tired, so that’s a good thing. And I’ve played so many good players, and I’ve experienced a lot of new things, so I’m really happy about that.”
SIMONA SHOCKED
Agnieszka Radwanska looked like the Radwanska of old when she defeated world number one Simona Halep in the third round of the Miami Open. Radwanska, who won Miami in 2012, has struggled this year, having not won back to back victories since January. The Pole downed Halep 3-6 6-2 6-3. Wozniacki, who won the Australian Open in January, needed only 25 minutes to capture the opening set. But Puig, who won the gold medal at the Rio Olympics, rallied, taking a 4-2 lead in the second set and the first two games to begin the third.
SAY BYE-BYE
Simona Halep wasn’t the only high-ranked player to be knocked out of the Miami Open. Monica Puig of Puerto Rico shocked world number two Carolina Wozniacki 0-6 6-4 6-4. Puig is ranked 82nd in the world.
SHE’S BACK
Although she lost, it was a huge victory that Bethanie Mattek-Sands was even on the court. The American lost her first-round Miami Open match to Alize Cornet of France 6-2 7-5, then walked off the court as the audience applauded. It was Mattek-Sands’ first match since she suffered a horrific knee injury at Wimbledon last summer while playing Sorana Cirstea of Romania. In that match, Mattek-Sands appeared to slip as she approached the net early in the third set. She screamed out in pain, grabbed her right leg and repeatedly shouted, “Help me.” After being treated on court for more than 20 minutes, she was taken to a hospital. In Miami, Cornet needed one hour and 38 minutes to win before congratulating her opponent. “She’s already back and she’s playing damn good,” Cornet said of Mattek-Sands.
SKIPPING CLAY
For the second straight year Roger Federer will skip the European clay court season, including the French Open. “I decided not to play,” Federer said. Last year, the Swiss star took off two months following the Miami Open before returning to win Wimbledon.
SOME CHANGES
This year’s French Open will feature several changes, including no service lets in the junior events. The French Tennis Federation announced that after arriving at a court’s sideline, players will have one minute to go to the umpire’s chair for the coin toss, followed by a five-minute warmup and then one minute before starting the match. Clocks will court down the time for spectators to see. There also will be clocks showing 25 seconds between points in qualifying rounds instead of the previous 20. Play begins May 27.
STUTTER START
Bernard Tomic is trying to kick-start his career after slipping to 181st in the world rankings. But the 25-year-old Australian lost in the first round of a second-tier tournament in France to Antonio Hoang 6-2 2-6 6-4. It was Tomic’s first match she he lost in the third round of qualifying at the Australian Open in January. Once touted as Australia’s top up-and-coming player, Tomic resumed training and decided to play Challenger events before rejoining the main ATP Tour in April. “I’m ready to challenge myself and hopefully in the next year I can be well inside the top 30,” Tomic said in February. “But I’m going to have to work hard.”
SUIT FILED
Six years ago, Lois Goodman was accused of murdering her husband with a coffee mug. Now the former tennis umpire has accused a medical examiner of falsifying an autopsy report that she said led to her arrest, tarnished her reputation and left her in financial difficulty. Goodman was on her way to officiate a US Open tennis match in New York in 2012 when police handcuffed her. She now is asking for at least USD $100,000 for legal expenses and the ordeal she suffered for months before prosecutors dropped the charges. A federal court in Los Angeles is hearing the suit. While a criminal case never went to trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, the civil trial is expected to shed light on what made police and prosecutors suspect Goodman of killing her husband. The charges were dropped in December 2012 after two experts retained by prosecutors reviewed the autopsy report and concluded the death was an accident.
SUCRE EUROS
The singles champions at this year’s French Open will earn around USD $2.7 million each, with the total prize money of UD $48 million. Roland Garros tournament director Guy Forget said this year’s total is an increase of about 3 million euros from last year.
SUBJECTED TO ABUSE
Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki says she and her family have been subjected to verbal abuse and death threats from spectators at the Miami Open. The Danish star also charged that security at the tournament “did nothing” to stop the abuse. “During the match last night (when she lost to Monica Puig), people in the crowd threatened my family, wished death upon my mom and dad, called me names that I can’t repeat here and told my fiancé’s niece and nephew (who are 10 years old) to sit down and shut the f— up,” Wozniacki wrote. “I hope the Miami Open chooses to take this seriously because it’s a horrible example to set for the next generation of tennis players and fans,” she said.
SHE’S ANGRY
Hall of Famer Martina Navratilova said she feels let down by the BBC after she learned that John McEnroe gets paid at least 10 times more than she does for their broadcasting roles at Wimbledon. Winner of nine Wimbledon singles title, Navratilova told “Panorama: Britain’s Equal Pay Scandal,” a program aired on the BBC: “It’s extremely unfair and it makes me angry for the other women that I think go through this.” Responding to her comments, the BBC said that she is an “occasional contributor” and appears on fewer broadcasts and is on a different type of contract than McEnroe. “They are simply not comparable,” the BBC said in a statement.
SURFING
Miami: www.miamiopen.com/
Gosier: www.open-guadeloupe.com/
Charleston: www.atpworldtour.com/
Monterrey: http://abiertognpseguros.com/
Davis Cup: www.daviscup.com
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$7,913,465 Miami Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (second week)
$106,000 Open Region Guadeloupe, Le Gosier, Guadeloupe, hard
WOMEN
$7,037,535 Miami Open, Miami, Florida, USA, hard (second week)
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
WOMEN
$800,000 Volvo Car Open, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, hard
$250,000 Abierto GNP Seguros, Monterrey, Mexico, hard
DAVIS CUP
World Group Quarterfinals
Italy vs France at Genoa, Italy, clay
Spain vs. Germany at Valencia, Spain, clay
Croatia vs. Kazakhstan at Varazdin, Croatia, clay
United States vs. Belgium at Nashville, Tennessee, USA
GROUP I
Second Round
Americas Zone: Argentina vs. Chile at San Juan, Argentina, clay; Colombia vs. Brazil at Barranquilla, Brazil, hard
Asia/Oceania Zone: China vs. India at Tianjin, China, hard; Pakistan vs. Uzbekistan at Islamabad, Pakistan, grass
Europe/Africa Zone: Czech Republic vs. Israel at Ostrava, Czech Republic, clay; Sweden vs. Portugal at Stockholm, Sweden, hard; Slovakia vs. Bosnia/Herzegovina at Bratislava, Slovakia, clay; Russia vs. Austria at Moscow, Russia, hard
GROUP II
Second Round
Americas Zone: Uruguay vs. Venezuela at Montevideo, Uruguay, clay; Mexico vs. Peru at Metepec, Mexico, hard
Asia/Oceania Zone: Philippines vs. Thailand at Manila, Philippines, clay; Lebanon vs. Hong Kong at Zouk Mosbah, Lebanon, hard
Group II Relegation
First Round
Asia/Oceania Zone: Sri Lanka vs. Indonesia at Colombo, Sri Lank, clay; Chinese Taipei vs. Iran at Taipei, Taiwan, hard
Europe/Africa Zone: Luxembourg vs. Georgia at Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, hard; Slovenia vs. Turkey at Portoroz, Slovenia, clay; Norway vs. Ireland at Oslo, Norway, hard; Estonia vs. Tunisia at Tallinn, Estonia, hard
