bricker

LEANDER PAES DOUBLES TALK

March 26, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

When it’s time to compile a list of the top 10 players to interview, based on intelligence and candor, you cannot fail to put doubles maven Leander Paes near the top.

Twenty minutes with Paes unfailingly results in some of the most interesting conversation in tennis and any reporter with any smarts will spend time with him in the coming 10 days at the Sony Ericsson Open on Key Biscayne, where he is teaming with Lukas Dlouhy in a quest for a 43rd ATP title. Individually, Paes is No. 6 in the doubles rankings and he and Dlouhy, who won two majors in 2009, are No. 8 in team rankings.

Here’s a sample of Paes-isms:

* The third-set super-tiebreak, along with no-ad scoring, is into its third full year. Is it time for the tour to revisit the concept and perhaps go back to playing regular tennis? “No. The way the game of doubles is scored now is exciting for the fans. For sure, the super-tiebreak gives the lesser teams more of a chance. But I think the system is better for doubles. It gets us more night matches, more matches on the stadium court (because you can predict the matches will be over in approximately one hour and 15 minutes). It’s also getting more top singles players to play doubles, like Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells, and, yes, you are right. It is lengthening the career of doubles players. Exactly right.”

* Paes and Dlouhy had just blown a 9-4 lead in the super-tiebreak of the championship match at the BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla. How much longer can you play? “The fact that I can lose a tough match like that and still hate to lose. . .Well, hate is a strong word, but the point is I’m still OK to handle it. I can still take the attitude that sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

* Do you accept that the Woodies (Mark Woodforde/Todd Woodbridge) and the Bryan twins are better doubles teams that when you and Mahesh Bhupathi were at the top of your game? “The Woodies definitely. They are much more the complete team. They don’t have any weaknesses. They could play from the baseline or at the net. They could play one up, one back or both back or both at the net.” What about the Bryans? “They are a hell of a team, and the fact that they are twins helps them know what the other is thinking.”

* So, who goes down in history as the greatest doubles team ever? “The Woodies or McEnroe/Fleming. One of those two.” Paes believes that Grand Slam titles is the key. The Bryans have eight, McEnroe/Fleming have nine and the Woodies 11. Bob Bryan has 58 tournament titles, brother Mike 60, McEnroe 71 and the Woodies 61. “For the Bryans to be considered, they have to pass the Woodies in Grand Slam wins.”

* Suppose you could pair up Pete Sampras and Roger Federer as a doubles team, give them a week of practice and then play them in a series of 10 matches against a doubles team that not only was at the top of the rankings but that had been together for years. Is doubles so specialized that two of the greatest tennis players couldn’t beat a couple of guys who could never make a real impact in singles? “Sampras and Federer? They wouldn’t have a chance. Federer could be a great doubles player, but Sampras . . . He wasn’t that good at it. I’ve played him in doubles four times and won every time. Maybe he didn’t care about it that much.”

* Somdev Devverman, the former University of Virginia player from India (current No. 120). . . how good will he be? “No problem top 100, but top 50? Only time will tell. He is a very hard worker. and his maturity is the best weapon he’s got. His mind is very stable and sound. But he needs more weapons — a bigger first serve and he could flatten out his forehand more.”

* Final question. Best Indian restaurant on the ATP tour outside of India? “Ah, Quilon in St. James Court in London. And right here in Fort Lauderdale is Woodlands.” I threw out one of my favorites and got slightly burned. What about 4,550 Miles To Delhi in Nottingham, England? “Not a bad one,” said Paes. “But it has dropped a bit recently.”

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

SLOANE STEPHENS AND MOTHER HAVE SPECIAL CONTRACT

March 23, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

Sloane Stephens was on court trying to win a qualifying match, mom was in the stands dealing with her intermittent match-day nerves and The Contract was back home in Los Angeles, safely tucked into a file — a solemn, unbreakable pact that is the foundation of what seems to be the perfect mother/daughter tennis relationship.

“It’s a signed, written document, three sentences long,” explained Sybil Smith, whose patient, involved-just-enough persona should be a role model for every tennis parent.

They drew up The Contract six years ago, when Stephens, then 11 and far from the major junior prospect she is today, was growing increasingly testy over her performances. Mom didn’t like what she was seeing.

“We agreed that she would try to have the best attitude she could and I agreed to support her, no matter what, and we both signed it,” said Smith. “One of these days we’re going to have it framed. We talk about it a lot, joke about it a lot.”

Sybil Smith smiled. “There are times,” she said, “when Sloane has to remind ME, ‘Remember, you’re the mom. Just be my mom and I’ll go to work.’ She’s the person who sets the tone in this relationship.”

On the opening day of qualifying Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Fla., Stephens didn’t fare well, losing 6-1, 6-2 to Yung-Jan Chan of Taipei. But she was exemplary a week ago at Indian Wells, where she qualified, won a round and put up a very competitive fight in a 6-4, 7-5 loss to No. 14 ranked Vera Zvonareva.

It was a match that, even in defeat, was another step forward for Stephens, who turned 17 only last Saturday. Match by match, week by week, she has shown significant progress, reaching the semifinals of the French Open juniors and the quarters of the Wimbledon juniors in 2009, then turning pro this year.

She’s probably not going to storm the castle. If she reaches elite status in this game, it’s going to be with more of the same plodding success — one foxhole at a time. And mom will be there, standing behind their contract.

In a sense, this has been an easy sports parenting job for Sybil Smith, 43, whose multiple school records in the late 1980s established her as Boston University’s finest female swimmer and where she became the first black woman in NCAA history to be named a first team All America.

She’s got the blueprint for dealing with Sloane’s career. “My mom drove me every day 30 minutes each way to swimming practice when I was a kid and then drove me all over the state of California for meets. She didn’t know much about swimming, but she always said the right thing to me. She loved me. She was my parent,” said Smith.

“There is no doubt that I’ve learned a lot from my mother about what kind of sports parent I wanted to be, even though tennis is different. With tennis, you have one coach and one player instead of 20 kids in the pool swimming laps.”

But the basics are the same. Be involved enough to know what your kid is doing in practice, stay off the court and let the coaches do their work and be aware of what is going on around you with parents who are doing a poor job with their kids.

“Oh yes, we have big red flags that go up,” said Smith. “Sloane has seen all the things that can happen on tour and read the horror stories about tennis parents. She’s learned a lot about people and the politics of tennis. We know there are issues out there and let me tell you. . .she has her radar on.”

They’re different personalities. Sybil Smith is a low decibel speaker and self-confessed introvert. Sloane is a joker with a near-perpetual happy face, though the past couple years have had brutally tragic moments. First, Smith’s second husband and father of her 11-year-old son, died of cancer. Then, late in 2009, Sloane’s father, former New England Patriots’ first-round draft pick John Stephens, ran his pickup truck off a Louisiana road and he was killed.

He and Sybil had divorced so long ago that Sloane never knew him until he drove up to a junior tournament in Texas for a face to face meeting in 2006. Smith politely declines to discuss much about her first husband, who had been twice arrested for rape in recent years. Still, she knew what this relationship meant to Sloane.

“They had a great first meeting,” said Smith. “And they maintained telephone communication from that point. John was a very charismatic personality. He did some great things and some not so great things. I just wanted to make sure Sloane knew her parent.

“She was devastated by his death. I helped her through the funeral and just sort of supported her grieving.” Her voice trailed off. “I’m not sure what to say about all that,” she concluded.

Last Friday, about 50 miles north of Key Biscayne, mother and daughter were reunited for a few days with Sloane’s long-time coaching guru, Nick Saviano, who was prepping her squaring her game away for the Sony Ericsson Open test.

“Nick is her foundation,” said Sybil. “He’s been there from the beginning and knows every nuance of her game, tactically and emotionally.” But Saviano, who has his own academy in South Florida, is not a traveling coach and the USTA dispatched former Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson up from Boca Raton, Fla., to squire Stephens through the qualifying and, hopefully, the main draw.

She’s a very substantial 5-foot-7 and appears capable of regularly blasting 100 mph serves. The ground game is solid and she’s working to be better around the net. There does not, however, appear to be any pressure, either self-imposed or from the outside.

“There’s no rush,” said Sybil Smith. “We never expected to get this far in the beginning and Sloane has always said, ‘I want to be the best person I can be, not necessarily the best tennis player in the world.’ ”

That’s probably in The Contract, too.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

FLORIAN MAYER BEATS SIMON TO WIN BMW CHAMPIONSHIPS IN SUNRISE

March 22, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

Florian Mayer insisted two days ago he was playing his “best tennis ever,” but it wasn’t easy to buy into that without one really magnificent victory this year.

Now he’s got it, with a 6-4, 6-4 conquest of former No. 6 (now No. 21) Gilles Simon of France to win the $125,000 BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla., Sunday afternoon.

In windy conditions that didn’t seem advantageous for Mayer’s big backswing and looping forehand ground strokes, the 26-year-old German bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the opening and a 3-1 lead in the second and stayed in front. As he did in his semifinal win over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, he ended this match with an ace.

Mayer first few years on the ATP Tour had seen him hangingn consistently around the 40-60 area in the rankings and he came to Florida at No. 53. But the 125 points he picked up here, along with $18,000 in prize money, should vault him to near No. 40 when the new rankings come out today.

His won/loss record remains at 5-3 because this was a Challenger, but three of those wins are over Tommy Robredo, Janko Tipsarevic and Victor Troicki — all world class talents if not marquee players. Simon, however, is a major notch in the belt. He’s been fighting through tendonitis in his right knee, but it didn’t seem to bother him this week and, when he’s completely fit, he’s definitely a top-20 and perhaps a top-10 talent.

Simon was No. 6 last May.

In the doubles final, Martin Damm of the Czech Republic and partner Filip Polasek of Slovakia came from 4-9 down in the super tiebreak to defeat No. 1 seeded Leander Paes of India and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic — the reigning French and U.S. Open champions. The score was 4-6, 6-1, 13-11.

Paes, who has won 42 doubles titles, and Dlouhy had five chances to put the match away in the super tiebreak. On one of those points, Dlouhy double-faulted.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

“GAME, SET, MATCH, FLORIAN” IN THE BATTLE OF THE MAYERS

March 21, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

There have been no headline-grabber wins this year for him, but Germany’s Florian Mayer, 5-3 in ATP matches and now 14-3 after Saturday if you count Challengers, is convinced that at age 26 he’s reached a new plateau in his game.

“I think I’m playing my best tennis,” he announced after dealing a 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-4 loss to one of South America’s best young prospects, Leonardo Mayer, to reach the final of the $125,000 BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla.

Best tennis ever? he was pressed. “Yes, I would say so. I have to go mentally a little stronger, but yes. This is my best tennis.”

Today, he’ll find out just how good his tennis is when he plays Gilles Simon of France in the final. Simon was exquisite in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. His troublesome right knee had flared up two days ago, but was perfect in this evening semifinal. He’s lost only one set, to Potito Starace, on the way to the final.

For Mayer, win or lose this final, he will have had great preparation for the Sony Ericsson Open ATP 1000 that begins next Wednesday 50 miles south of Sunrise on Key Biscayne.

Mayer vs. Mayer in this semifinal. It sounded more like a divorce proceding and chair umpire Magdi Somat identified the players by their first names — as in “advantage Florian” or “game Leonardo.”

This was a rematch of their second rounder at Delray Beach two weeks ago, won by the 22-year-old Argentine, who once was considered one of the two or three best juniors in the world.

Leonardo Mayer’s big serving, punctuating forehand and all-out aggressiveness translate well to the professional game, and he reached a personal-best No. 54 in the rankings last September before falling back to No. 66 this week.

He’s got a future, but Florian Mayer has more of a present. He has wins this year over No. 15 Tommy Robredo, No. 30 Janko Tipsarevic and No. 37 Victor Troicki at the Australian Open, but also a confounding loss to Sebastien Grosjean, who is near the end of his career, at Auckland.

For Mayer, the key to this win over Leonardo Mayer came at 4-2 in the final set, just after the German had finally broken serve.

Twice before, in the first and third sets, Florian had broken and immediately gave the break back and he acknowledged how angry he was with himself for not steeling down and putting a hammerlock on his opponent.

This time, however, he ran out to 40-0, playing one loose point, then sliced an ace past Leonardo to go up 5-2.

How much confidence is Florian feeling? Taking the balls to serve out the match, he played five serve-and-volley points, finishing the match with an ace to the far corner of the ad court.

“It was maybe a little surprising for him,” said the German. “I tried to do something different. I know he got tired because he has played so many (three split-setters) long matches here, and he made many mistakes.”

Mayer reached the final without facing a seeded player.

There’s a lot to like about Leonardo Mayer’s game. That’s a crackling forehand he’s got and he not only gets his share of aces, he hits a second serve that is consistently deep in the box. He’s very aggressive off both sides, but he still needs to find some modulation in his game.

Give him a running forehand and he’s going to try to crush it, no matter the circumstance. He doesn’t seem to process alternatives on the run.

Leonardo Mayer, ranked No. 66, will take 45 points out of this tournament. Floridan Mayer is guaranteed 75 for reaching the final and 125 if he wins it.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

LACK OF PASSION FUELED VAIDISOVA RETIREMENT

March 19, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

Nicole Vaidisova had flung her racket into the red clay, covered her face with her hands in a sort of feigned disbelief, then danced around the Suzanne Lenglen court, blowing kisses to a full stadium — already a fully-grown woman at age 17, on the cusp of greatness and looking very much like someone in love with tennis.

It was only a quarterfinal, but this split-set win over Venus Wiliams at the 2006 French Open was a signature moment in her life, and the way I’d like to remember Vaidisova’s too-short tennis career.

Unfortunately, my sustaining memory of her probably is going to be an uncaring, passionless first-round loss in a $25,000 deep-bush league tournament, where she was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by No. 200-and-something Christina McHale just a couple months ago.

There were no grumpy Vaidisova racket bounces that afternoon and no crumpled Yonexes, and she certainly had destroyed a few of those over the years. There was simply a sense of, “What am I doing here and why am I playing tennis?” It’s a question she won’t have to contemplate any longer.

Her decision to quit the game and marry 31-year-old pro Radek Stepanek probably was made weeks ago, but announced only Tuesday, and I don’t think it’s going to be one of those temporary retirements. Unlike Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, it’s doubtful she’ll be back because there’s a salient difference among these three women.

Henin and Clijsters love tennis. It doesn’t take much moxie to figure out that whatever affection Nicole once had for playing the game is gone forever, and probably hasn’t been there since she dissolved her coaching relationship with stepfather Alex Kodat two years ago.

Was it one of those classic parent/child coaching disasters? Who can say, aside from Vaidisova and those closest to her, but I doubt it. Kodat is no Jim Pierce. He’s quiet, thoughtful and professorial. There is no doubt he is the one who put in the foundation of Vaidisova’s game and nurtured her to semifinal finishes at Roland Garros and at the 2007 Australian Open.

Their split came at the end of a mysterious slump in 2008 that sent Vaidisova into a rankings freefall, and if there was a defining moment that began this plunge, it was a 6-4, 6-0 loss to Ana Ivanovic in the second round at Dubai, right after Australia.

There followed opening-round losses to Casey Dellacqua at Indian Wells, to Alisa Kleybanova at Key Biscayne, to Gisela Dulko at Berlin, to Ekaterina Makarova at Rome and to Iveta Benesova at the French Open. She lost 10 of 18 matches the remainder of the year, including a first-rounder at the Olympics to Alize Cornet that must have left her particularly dejected.

Maybe, after years of grinding through training, signing autographs, meeting media demands and and being unable to enjoy a more “normal” teenaged life, she lost whatever lust she had for the game, even after banking more than $2.5 million.

Kodat brought her from their home in the Czech Republic to the famed Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Fla., when she was 11 and did most of the grooming. When Nicole turned professional at 14 she was well on her way to six-feet tall and with the kind of lower body strength that is essential in tennis. Though she was never going to be among the fastest players on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, those long legs covered a lot of court quickly, and she was a devastating ground stroker off both sides.

As she progressed through the 2007 Aussie Open, on the way to the final four, there was no hint of future despair. “I’m definitely very, very happy and excited,” she said after a win. “It’s the first Grand Slam of the year and you don’t know how you’re going to come back from the off-season. But I’ve had a great start to the year and now I just have to keep improving.”

A year later, there were no more smiles in her press conference. She had once charmed reporters with her love of hockey and how she never learned to skate because she was “afraid of the ice.”

And in January, in her final court appearance in a Futures event just outside Tampa, Fla., she was in a deep funk. At one point in this final loss, McHale raced in for a drop shot and bunted it back. Did it bounce once or twice? Vaidisova watched the return on her side of the net and never made a move to play it, despite no “not up” call from the chair umpire.

There will be those who complain about her “wasted talent,” though that seems a bit unfair. You have to have passion to play this game and she no longer has any for tennis. That’s not wasted. It’s just not there.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

IN HIS 203rd CAREER CHALLENGER, KIM REFLECTS ON LIFE IN THE MINOR LEAGUES

March 19, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

When obscure, 31-year-old ATP veteran Kevin Kim got the news of his probable record, he had a one-word response.

“Serious?” he said, sounding a bit dumbfounded.

Yes, serious. When he went on court earlier this week to play his first-round match at the BMW Tennis Championships in Sunrise, Fla., against Michael Berrer, it was the 203rd Challenger tournament of his 12-year career.

This is far too arcane a statistic to become an official ATP record. It’s not even an unofficial ATP record. But longtime tennis officials, even after giving the issue full thought, couldn’t come up with anyone who has played more of these second-level, bush-league events than Kim.

“If there’s a tournament next week, Kevin will be at it,” said fellow American and good friend Bobby Reynolds, half in jest. Kim, ranked only 125, has built his career on playing Challengers and it’s a tribute to the ATP minor league system that he could make a pretty good living without reaching a great number of regular ATP events.

As of this week, Kim’s career earnings were over $1.5 million.

This is the 11th week of the year and he has worked eight of them, starting at Chennai, India, the opening week of the season, then moving on, in succession, to Melbourne, Honolulu, San Jose, Memphis, Delray Beach, Fla., then across the pond to Cherbourg, France, and now back to Sunrise, Fla. He’ll be down the road on Key Biscayne next week for the Sony Ericsson Open.

Kim contemplated having played 203 Challenger tournaments. “That’s quite a number. I know I’ve played a lot, but I wouldn’t have guessed that many,” he said. Sunrise was also the 320th tournament, overall, of his career, giving him an average of 28 tournaments a year — a prodigious sum which is attributable largely to the fact that he’s not had a serious injury since . . . well, since. . .

“Since I was 14,” he finally filled in the blank. There was an ankle injury his first full year on tour, after he left UCLA after a freshman All-American season. And he’s retired from a few matches. But only twice did he take more than a week off before hitting the tournament trail again.

Roger Federer has played 19 tournaments in the last 52 weeks. Nicolay Davydenko, who has a reputation for over-playing, has been in 27 tournaments the last 52 weeks. Kim? He’s been in 32. Of course he doesn’t regularly go as deep into draws as top-10 players, but sometimes the travel itself can be nearly as exhausting as the playing.

Here are his key numbers:

* Kim is 44-95 in regular ATP Tour matches — 95 tournaments and no titles.

* Kim is 37-22 in Futures tournaments, the absolute rock-bottom on the pro food chain — 22 tournaments with no titles.

* Kim is 257-211 in Challengers — 203 events with nine titles.

He’s never been past the quarters of a regular ATP tournament, so it’s obvious that the bulk of his money has come in drips and drabs from all those Challengers.

“I never really thought about how much money there would be. Never went into a tournament thinking about money issues,” said Kim, who lives in Westwood and practices at nearby UCLA with a platoon of Southern California buddies that sometimes includes rising American Sam Querrey.

“I’ve always just been interested in improving my game, being excellent at tennis. I still have a love for the game and I’ve never been stressed out or been playing just for the money.”

How does he explain never getting seriously injured? “Luck is part of it, but I also have a pretty efficient game,” he said. There is no one blockbuster Kim weapon and he doesn’t play with nearly the physicality of, say, Rafael Nadal. No doubt that has helped him avoid strains and sprains.

There’s no question about how much of the world he’s seen. He played 36 tournaments in 2009, 35 in 2008, 35 in 2007 and 34 in 2006.

Last year during one stretch, he went from Mexico City to Tallahassee, Fla., to Rhodes, Greece, to Savannah, Ga., to Eastbourne, England. Later in the year, not interested in having an off-season, he hit another three Challengers, going in consecutive weeks from Calabasas, Calif., to Lyon, France, and back to Charlottesville, Va., where he won his ninth title.

Seriously.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

STEPANEK FALLS IN SUNRISE CHALLENGER

March 19, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

It took The Worm about 15 minutes after this upset to change into some fresh clothes, collect his paycheck and, with fiancee Nicole Vaidisova in tow, he hit the road for the 50-mile trip to Key Biscayne, where he’ll begin preparations for something a little more serious — the Sony Ericsson Open, the second ATP 1000 event of the season which begins on Wednesday.

It was surprising how easily Radek Stepanek went down in the final set of this 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 loss to young Argentine Leonardo Mayer at the BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fl., but he got in two matches, defeating Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round, and probably feels that’s enough prep for his next stop.

This being a Challenger, his No. 17 ranking isn’t going to be affected. Mayer, however, had a lot more to gain.

First, he’s building back some of the momentum he thought he’d galvanized just before the Australian Open. Second, he pushed into the quarterfinals against burly lefthander Michael Berrer. And third, though he’s only 22, he’s got a career best win.

Asked if he grew up with a favorite Argentine player, he replied, “They’re all my competition now so I’m my own favorite player.”

It was also a very good day for 33-year-old Stefan Koubek, who authenticated his Sunrise wild card with a 6-4, 7-6 (6) win over No. 44 ranked Jeremy Chardy of France, who continues to be one of the enigmas in men’s tennis.

Chardy has as much offense as anyone, hitting his serve and forehands with near frightening velocity, but his service returning is holding back his progress. He’s winning only 14 percent of his return games for the season and that’s not going to get him into the top 20.

Also into the quarters is Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, who defeated Daniel Brands of Germany 6-4, 6-1 and who will next play Benni Becker, who won over Andrey Golubev 6-0, 6-2.

Three other second round matches were scheduled for late Thursday.

Mayer admitted to some early nerves against Stepanek, but “I loosened up and started playing my game.” He went up a break early in the third set and never relinquished it. Stepanek seemed completely nonplused by his unforced errors.

Koubek, whose best tennis days were behind him long ago, is playing primarily for fun now and he certainly had a good time against Chardy, beating him on a fourth match point after failing to close it out at love-40.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

WHERE WILL STEPANEK AND VAIDISOVA WED? “MAYBE CUBA” SAYS THE WORM

March 16, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

Showing no signs of jet lag after a long flight from Indian Wells, Calif., Radek Stepanek strode into the Crowne Plaza hotel here in Sunrise, Fla., and confirmed that he and longtime girl friend Nicole Vaidisova will be married later this year, putting an exclamation point on a wedding report that has been circulating for two months.

No date or month has been set, but this apparently is the end of the tournament trail for former Bollettieri ingenue Vaidisova, who turns 21 on April 23. After reaching the French Open semis in 2006 and the Australian Open semis a year later, Vaidisova’s career has resembled a runaway Toyota.

First rumblings of their impending marriage began after Vaidisova flunked out of a Challenger tournament near Tampa, Fla., on Jan. 18, losing to little known teenager Christina McHale 6-2, 6-4 in a very poor performance. She hasn’t played since and her ranking, once No. 7 (2007) is now 176.

This is the first marriage for both, though it’s the second, and maybe the third, engagement for Stepanek, 31. He was briefly affianced to Martina Hingis before he and Vaidisova became romantically involved in 2007. Then, in what now appears to have been something of a practical joke, Stepanek and Vaidisova took out a marriage license in Manatee County, Fla., not long after they became involved with each other.

Stepanek was asked where the marriage will take place — in Bradenton, where Vaidisova lives near the Bollettieri IMG Academy –or in their home country of the Czech Republic.

“I don’t think you need to know that,” said Stepanek. “Maybe Cuba,” he joked.

Stepanek, nick-named “The Worm” because of his silly post-match celebratory dance, is in Florida to play the Sunrise BMW Challenger after being knocked out early at Indian Wells. He’ll use the tournament to get ready for the Sony Ericsson Open on Key Biscayne, which begins down the road near Miami in a week.

Stepanek is ranked No. 17 and seeded No. 1 in Sunrise. Vaidisova accompanied him to the tournament and they looked relaxed and happy as they walked into the hotel.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

FOREIGN PLAYERS IN COLLEGE TENNIS: SHOULD THEY BENEFIT FROM U.S. TAX DOLLARS?

March 16, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

Watching a few moments of a thoroughly unremarkable qualifying match between Bobby Reynolds, that former Vanderbilt Commodore, and young German Christian Blocker, the current No. 2 at the University of Miami, really put me in a college tennis mood for the first time in a few years.

I was soon wondering if the foreign encroachment into U.S. university tennis had finally leveled off. I’m unhappy to report that it hasn’t, and, in fact, it appears the European/Asian/South American takeover over NCAA tennis is stronger than ever, prompting the rhetorical question: How can you be an All-American if you’re not an American at all?

Seven of the top 10 men and five of the top 10 women in NCAA Division I are foreigners and, if you project those numbers over the top 100. . .well, you don’t need me to do the math.

There’s nothing wrong with importing players from foreign soil. Reynolds, who played at Vandy from 2000 to 2003 and had only one foreign teammate, thinks it helps college tennis overall to have Americans competing against foreigners.

But if there are 70 percent foreign players in men’s NCAA tennis now, how much longer will it be before there are virtually no U.S. players to appreciate what these foreigners can do.

The issue of “just how many foreigners is enough” is not only philosophical, but economic. Vanderbilt and Miami are private schools. But tennis powerhouses like Virginia, Florida, Georgia and Texas are government supported schools and, while there’s nothing philosophically wrong with giving away U.S. tax dollars to, say, a Swede who wants to become a great heart surgeon, there is something a bit onerous about giving all these foreigners so much tax money merely because they’re good tennis players.

Of course nothing is likely to change on the issue of foreign balance in college tennis, and especially not in these depressed economic times. Jobs are scarce and no head tennis coach is going to put his employment at risk by refusing to give his limited number of scholarships to U.S. high schoolers who are inferior in ability to foreigners.

Maybe the right thing to do is to put a cap on foreign players — 50 percent seems the right figure. But the most influential people in college tennis have already gone around and around on this subject and it’s going nowhere. Ultimately, they throw out some vague argument about the constitutionality of limiting scholarships to Americans.

Reynolds’ view is that there would be significantly more Americans on college teams if they wouldn’t be in such a hurry to turn pro at 18.

“You see a lot of U.S. guys on tour because they feel they’re going to fall behind if they don’t turn pro,” said Reynolds after he had easily defeated Blocker 6-1, 6-1 at the BMW Challenger in Sunrise, Fla.

“So many guys who have gone to school have matured before turning pro, learned what it takes to be a pro. It’s the traveling and being on your own. Hitting the ball is the least of your worries on tour. Plus, you get a chance to play on a team, which is a great experience, if you go to college.

“If you’re dominating in college, you can always turn pro.”

Jesse Levine dominated in one year at the University of Florida and he’s now struggling to break top 100 on the ATP Tour. John Isner stayed four years at Georgia and he’s headed for stardom. But of course Isner is 6-foot-9 with a huge serve and Levine a little guy who has to work harder than most just to tread water. So maybe one formula doesn’t fit all.

Still, Reynolds doesn’t want to see any limits on foreigners playing college ball. “You should have the best competition you can have,” he said.

As for Reynolds’ own career, he got a full education at Vandy and, though he’s done merely OK in tennis, he hasn’t sniffed the heights. Yet after coming back from a long down period in 2009 because of a very serious wrist injury, he’s a happy puppy — even at No. 414. Certainly, that faded ranking will get better quickly as he works his way back into things.

He was training at home in Atlanta shortly before the 2009 French Open when the left wrist gave out (he’s a righty with a two-handed backhand).

He tried playing with a brace that didn’t allow his wrist to supine. He tried a one-handed backhand at Wimbledon. Neither was a success. Finally, he was fitted for a long, removable brace that covered his entire forearm and a bit of area above the elbow — a brace that left his arm at a 45-degree angle at the elbow.

“Being married, I was definitely sleeping alone for awhile,” he joked. “Three months, and then a month of rehab when it came off. But then, no pain.

Slowly, his game is coming around. He qualified at Indian Wells and was up a set and a break on Mario Ancic before losing in three. And when this journey is over, like a lot of foreigners educated in the U.S., he’ll have a college degree to fall back on.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

BOLLETTIERI SHOULD BE IN HALL OF FAME

March 1, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

First, a standing ovation for tough-blogging tennis writer Pete Bodo (http://tennisworld.typepad.com/tennisworld/2010/02/ihop.html) for criticizing the voters at the International Tennis Hall of Fame for refusing to accept into their “club” Mr. Nick Bollettieri, a man who does more for tennis in one week than most of these people have done in a lifetime.

Next, a few thoughts of my own, and they won’t be received kindly in Newport, R.I., where this institution is headquartered.

I shouldn’t have to lay Bollettieri’s 30-year contribution to the game before anyone, though I will — just to get it on the record. But before I go there, a few remarks about why the ITHF is the worst Hall of Fame of any major sport in the U.S.

* The voting process is heavily flawed with former players having an influential voice in who gets in. I can tell you from long experience that players would let just about any other star-quality player into a hall of fame or place him on an all-star list. They have no sense of objectivity and many of the candidates are personal friends of the voters. Contrast that with the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is run entirely by long-time football media people. They owe nothing to no player and they have long, sometimes very contentious arguments before a final decision is made the day before the Super Bowl.

* Someone has to go into the tennis Hall of Fame every year, even if there is no one who is truly deserving, because the Hall relies on its week-long series of events in July for the revenue. If no one goes in, there’s no induction. No induction, no one comes to Newport to spend money. Tennis isn’t like pro football, where there are 1,600 players every season. There are a limited number of high-achieving players and there are years when no one should be considered. The result of this demand to sometimes induct anyone results in an affirmative vote for players who never won a Grand Slam singles title.

* Doubles players are considered at the same level as singles players. I like doubles. I play doubles. But if Halls of Fame are for the best of the best, the very elite, how can you compare Pam Shriver, for example, with Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles? There should be a separate category for doubles players, where Shriver belongs. She never won a major singles championship. One day, the Hall undoubtedly will induct Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. Are their tennis skills on the same or approximately the same level as the best singles players of their era?

By settling for “good” instead of exclusively “elite,” the International Tennis Hall of Fame diminishes itself a little further every year.

Nick Bollettieri was not a player, but there is a contributor category and it’s ludicrous that he wasn’t taken in years ago. For God’s sake, they’ve inducted reporters into the contributor section. Reporters! Hey. You vote for me and I’ll vote for you.

While you’re contemplating the absurdity of journalists, who are supposed to report the news and not make it, gaining access to a Hall of Fame, Nick is down in Bradenton, Fla., shaking his head in personal disbelief at being rejected once again by the ITHF and pondering the conventional wisdom that this is personal.

“If it’s personal, I feel sorry for those people. You can dislike someone, but at least judge them on what they’ve done,” he said.

“When I heard about the vote, I had a flash of anger,” he admitted. “And then a sense of disappointment. So I told my wife, ‘You know, that’s OK. Let’s just move on.’ But she said, ‘No, you write them a nice letter.’

“I did. I said I was disappointed but I congratulated those recipients who got in. And I’ll go back to helping kids. We’ve probably given $10 million or more worth of scholarships to this academy (IMG Bollettieri Academy). I’ve been associated or coached 10 No. 1 players (Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Monica Sales, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios and Venus and Serena Williams). Why can’t they judge on that rather than whether you like someone who wears shades or coaches with his shirt off.”

It was a rhetorical question, of course. It didn’t need an answer. In one sense, I understand Bollettieri’s deep disappointment. But in another sense, I wonder why he cares.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame long ago became completely irrelevant to the game.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

WOULD RAFAEL NADAL PLAY THE SUNRISE CHALLENGER? NOT IMPOSSIBLE…

February 25, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

The rain started early Wednesday at the International Tennis Championships in Delray Beach, Fla., worrying officials that they might have to endure a complete washout of the afternoon matches, but a few miles away, in Sunrise, Fla., there was rejoicing at another tournament site.

“Fantastic. Do you know what my cutoff is?” tournament director Gabe Norona of the $125,000 BMW Challenger (March 15-21) asked rhetorically. “Sixty-six.”

That’s an incredibly good potential draw, better than many regular ATP tour tournaments, but, given its strategic placement between two ATP 1000 events at Indian Wells, Calif., and Key Biscayne, Fl., and the ATP’s decision to let players double-sign into both Indian Wells and Sunrise, it’s also predictable.

Indian Wells begins March 11 and the ATP is concerned that players who are knocked out early, before March 14, won’t be able to get matches until the Sony Ericsson Open begins on Key Biscayne, March 24. So it sanctioned the Sunrise Challenger a few years ago and, not surprisingly, it has annually attracted well known players.

At the top of this year’s list are No. 15 Mikhail Youzhny, No. 18 Gilles Simon, No. 27 Nicolas Almagro and, though he’s slipped to No. 54, the well-known tennis name of Richard Gasquet. And it could get better because Norona has four wild cards.

But along with his astonishingly strong sign-up comes a trap door.

While all these players, right down to No. 66 Potito Starace, are registered to play both Indian Wells and Sunrise, if they survive Indian Wells through Sunday, March 15, they won’t, of course, be at Sunrise. It makes Norona’s sign-up list a bit of a mirage.

But only a bit, because there will, inevitably, be early upsets at Indian Wells. If No. 2 Rafael Nadal, just coming back from injury, lost in the first round at Indian Wells, would he take a wild card into Sunrise in order to get some match toughness before Key Biscayne. Nothing, Norona believes, is impossible.

And of course there will be players on his list who play each other in the opening rounds, guaranteeing that the losers will be coming to Sunrise. It leaves Norona in a pins-and-needles posture in the days preceding the start of his event, but he’s used to it after six years.

The Sunrise Challenger is played at the Sunrise Tennis Center, about a 30-minute drive from the Delray Beach tournament and 45 minutes from Key Biscayne.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com

ALLASTER TALKS ON WTA IN DELRAY

February 24, 2010 by WTM

By Charles Bricker

Here’s Stacey Allaster, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, on the possibility of the women’s tour returning to Delray Beach, Fl., to play a tournament in conjunction with the ATP’s International Tennis Championships being played in Delray this week.

“As you know, we have several tournaments in the Delray time period. However, if there was a change with one of our existing tournaments, it would be great to speak with the Delray promoter.”

As necessarily sketchy as that statement is, it should be encouraging to Delray tournament director Mark Baron, whose wants to run three overlapping events over a two-week period.

He would play the women’s tournament one week, beginning Monday, the ATP Champions (an eight-player tournament of 30- and 40-year-old former Grand Slam stars) from the following Saturday through Tuesday, and his own, long-standing ATP regular tour event, beginning the day after the women’s tournament ends.

Baron has an eye on 2013 as the date to bring the idea to fruition and, with his tournament slipping back another week on the calendar because of changes in the Davis Cup scheduling, he thinks it can be done.

While the women’s calendar has been crowded the last couple of weeks with three events the week of Feb. 15 and two the week of Feb. 22, there is only one WTA tournament next week (in Monterrey, Mexico). Could a second event be added that week at Delray? Possibly. It’s also possible that by 2013 a tournament on the WTA schedule will, for economic reasons, want to relocate.

This story is going to be played out over a long time, but the seeds are planted.

Charles Bricker can be reached at nflwriterr@aol.com