Tennis Random, Random (On Court)

[ti-amie]

[the Moz]

The bigger question for me isn't why he dumped on the Chair. I think too many players view the Chair as a punching bag anyway. My question would be why did a grown man sit around and take a verbal lashing when he could have just walked out on the meeting?

[the Moz]

Too bad Ram won't have a follow up tweet replacing 'Vasek' with 'the Chair' & #Chairrespect.

Vasek's actions on court yesterday were pathetic and had nothing to do with the meeting prior. Must be a special kind of entitlement that he issues a classic lame public apology with the requisite 'but I did it because...' The only person you owe an apology to is the Chair, not spectators or anyone else. His apology should have been done in private. But he wanted it public for attention and to gain sympathy. Lame & pathetic. And prior to his association with this bogus break off union I found him to be a gentleman for the most part.

[Deuce]

Too bad Ram won't have a follow up tweet replacing 'Vasek' with 'the Chair' & #Chairrespect.

Vasek's actions on court yesterday were pathetic and had nothing to do with the meeting prior.

^ First off, that's wrong. While his actions on court were out of line, they were quite obviously directly related to the meeting which Vasek referenced a few times during his 'meltdown'.

Must be a special kind of entitlement that he issues a classic lame public apology with the requisite 'but I did it because...' The only person you owe an apology to is the Chair, not spectators or anyone else. His apology should have been done in private. But he wanted it public for attention and to gain sympathy. Lame & pathetic. And prior to his association with this bogus break off union I found him to be a gentleman for the most part.

I have no idea why you feel the need to dump on Vasek so strongly. Unless you know him personally, the types of accusations you aim at him are mere conjecture (of unknown origin), and are unwarranted.
Why so much vitriol toward Vasek? Has he done something terrible to you personally?
Vasek is a player who has always been well respected by his peers... he has always respected the game... In my brief experiences with him, he's always been very nice and respectful... All I would say about him in this context is that he's not the type of person that enjoys confrontation, and so he seems to be out of place as a leader of this new association. That's precisely why he was so deeply affected by what occurred in the meeting - because he's not the confrontational type. While his actions during that match were unacceptable, I can certainly understand how he was feeling.

From what I do know of Vasek, his apology is quite sincere.
When you refer to 'the Chair', are you referring to Chairman Gaudenzi of the ATP, or the Chair Umpire of the match during which Vasek had his 'meltdown'? It seems to me that you're referring to the Chair Umpire. If that is the case, Vasek didn't go after the Chair Umpire at all. He was ranting about Gaudenzi the entire time. He was obviously hurt and frustrated and was not in control of his emotions. But he never attacked the Chair Umpire that I saw - all he said about him was 'Go ahead and default me, and I'll sue this whole organization'.

For his part, the Chair Umpire, I feel, reacted well - he was obviously surprised at Vasek's outburst and asked him 'What's going on with you?' - because he knows that that kind of behaviour is so out of character for Vasek. Then he told Vasek that if he has a problem with Gaudenzi, he needs to take it up with Gaudenzi, as during a match is not the right place or time.

In summarry, I agree that Vasek's behaviour on the court was out of line. As he mentioned, he disrespected the game, and that's unacceptable. He has apologized.
Vasek has been on the tour for nearly 10 years. His reputation is good. This is the first time he's done something like this, and it was the result of a unique situation where his emotions simply boiled over. And all you can do is lay into him? Maybe you should take a step back and get a more accurate perspective.

[the Moz]

^^Was the Chair umpire at the meeting? Did the Chair umpire berate him and make him cry? His emotions were a consequence of the meeting. Yet to my knowledge the only person at both the meeting and on court was Vasek.

Why so much vitriol? Clearly I'm cranky today. But I also loathe a fake sorry. Say sorry and mean it for real or don't apologize. There are no 'buts' with sorry for me.

Go ahead and default me, and I'll sue this whole organization'. All he did was hurl a threat at him? To intimidate him instead of hitting the ball over the net? Okay, fair enough

And all you can do is lay into him? Please note the final sentence of my vitriol post starting with 'And' and ending with 'part'.


That is all from me on this. And I'm not apologizing

[Deuce]

As I said - knowing what I know of Vasek, his apology is sincere.
What exactly makes you think his apology is 'fake' or insincere? Is it his history, which even you agree has been that of a gentleman?
Bizarre....

I still feel that he in no way mistreated the Chair Umpire. He was upset, and the emotions came out.
The Chair Umpire certainly didn't feel that he was in any way the target of his 'meltdown' at any point, or he would have been more severe with him. Instead, the Umpire seemed confused, as this was so out of character for Vasek, and, recognizing that Vasek was essentially in some type of emotional distress, tried his best to calm him down.
If the Umpire didn't feel that he himself was attacked, or that he was ever the target of Vasek's anger, I have no idea why you feel he was.
You're certainly attacking Vasek here far more than Vasek attacked the Chair Umpire...

There were emotional remnants from his meeting with the ATP brass the day before. That's real. As a result, Vasek was in a fragile emotional state, and that would have come out no matter who the umpire was, and probably would have come out no matter what he was doing, be it on a tennis court or not - it just had to come out.

[the Moz]

Compliment back pedal: I do like his tennis. Patchy yes, but he's a Wimbledon champ and an effective S&Ver

And once more with feeling: There are no buts in an apology.

[Deuce]

I found this recent article about Leylah... It was originally written in French, and translated with several errors into English. I’ve taken the English translation and cleaned it up, by referring to the original French version.

Louis Borfiga is mentioned in the article. In late 2019, I asked Borfiga where he thought Andreescu and Fernandez would be in 3 years from then. He said that Andreescu would be “#1 or #2 in the world”, and that Leylah would be “Around #50” in the world. I disagreed with him and said that Andreescu will be between #20 and #30, and Leylah would be ranked higher than her.
I also told Sylvain Bruneau in 2019 that Leylah will eventually be the best female player that Canada has. He was coaching Andreescu at the time, and just smiled and said “We’ll see.” (Of course, these conversations took place before COVID-19 changed the world.)

The Quiet Warrior

At 5'4 '', she does not have the physical profile of the vast majority of professional tennis players. But like many athletes before her, Leylah Annie Fernandez compensates otherwise.
Sylvain Bruneau, head coach of the National Women's Program at Tennis Canada (and Bianca Andreescu’s coach), was not surprised to see the young Quebecer clinch her first WTA Tour title on Sunday night. For him, this is just the continuation of an ascent that has unfolded without episodes of stagnation until now.
“She’s had a great transition to the pros. She’s done it without complications and she continues to progress,” he notes.
Bruneau addresses the physical aspect as well. Despite being rather small and "petite", Fernandez "absorbs the speed of the ball well", limiting what could be a disadvantage caused by her size.

And then there is the rest.
“She has a great game, she takes the ball early, she is able to make nice variations, she plays smart. And she has a fighting spirit, a tenacity,” underlines the coach. "You are going to tell me that all the other girls on the circuit are also combative and tenacious. Yes, but Leylah has something extra. She is extremely determined; she has a quiet passion. She really is a warrior."

Bruneau likes the way the Québécoise is managed, as well.
Bianca Andreescu and Fernandez trained together twice in Australia, and Bruneau appreciated what he saw from Romain Derrider, the French coach of the one who has just triumphed in Monterrey.
“I really like his vision, his presence. And I like how he handles it all,” summarizes Andreescu's coach.

At high speed
For his part, Louis Borfiga, vice-president of elite development at Tennis Canada for the past 15 years, was surprised. Not in the sense that he believed Fernandez incapable of this accomplishment, but the pace at which she is skipping steps.
“Once again, Leylah amazed me. Winning a WTA tournament at 18 and the way she played the final was impressive,” he notes. “Each time, she pleasantly surprises me by exceeding the hopes that I have for her. She won the Junior Roland-Garros, she beat a top 10 in the Fed Cup [the Swiss Belinda Bencic, a little over a year ago], now she has won a WTA tournament..."

Fernandez, as Borfiga recalls, is only 18 years old. She will celebrate her 19th birthday on September 6 - the Monday of the second week of the US Open. We can bet that her goal is to highlight the event on one of the Flushing Meadows courts, after being stopped in the second round last year.
Because, as she said to whoever would listen during the off-season, she has an eye on the top 10 this year. A bold goal. But, again, Bruneau is not surprised.
“I know the values and the state of mind that her dad [who was/is her coach] instilled in her. So I know where she's coming from and that she's thinking big. She is reserved, but full of ambition."

More experience than it seems
In 2019, the Fernandez reached the final of two junior Grand Slams: finalist in Australia and winner at Roland-Garros. And then she won an ITF title (Gatineau) as well, and followed that the very next week with a loss in the Final of a larger ITF tournament.
Seeded second in qualifying for the WTA 1000 in Miami, she lost to Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu, the same player that Bianca Andreescu had beaten on her return to competition last month.
Andreescu is the 8th seed in this important tournament, the last before the clay season begins.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

diego schwartzman @dieschwartzman
Hola a todos!!! Quiero aclarar que respondí a @BenRothenberg en inglés lo cual no es mi especialidad... que me voy a vacunar cuando llegue mi turno que no me daría la vacuna antes que mi familia y la gente que realmente lo necesita. Quizás mi inglés no fue claro.
Translated from Spanish by Google
Hello everyone!!! I want to clarify that I responded to @BenRothenberg in English which is not my specialty ... that I am going to get vaccinated when my turn comes that I would not get the vaccine before my family and the people who really need it. Maybe my English was not clear.

Quería aclararlo porque quizás por culpa de responder en inglés no pude experesarme correctamente. Abrazo Raising
Translated from Spanish by Google
I wanted to clarify it because perhaps because of answering in English I could not experience myself correctly. Hug

[ponchi101]

Good for Diego to clarify. A reminder that not only there are a lot of players that are very young, English is not their first language.

[JazzNU]

The question is serious enough that I wish they were asked the question and allowed to respond in their native language. No need to contribute to vaccine hesitancy.

Also, very uneven vaccine rollouts depending on your country, not to mention confidence in makers, which might contribute to these answers. Naomi, for instance, has been the US for the large majority of the pandemic and is likely talking about getting a vaccine here where we don't have leaders questioning vaccines causing blood clots and pausing distribution. Allie Kiick is in the replies saying she'll gladly be the first in line when it is opened for her age group.

I'm not clear on why Ben asked this specific group, but I'm not sure that asking an American resident, a Hungarian, a Russian, a Belarussian, a Ukrainian, and an Argentinian is necessarily a showcase of eagerness/hesitancy on tour. It is standing out to me who he chose to ask. He also left out of his starting post and tacked on at the end that Halep has already been vaccinated and that she did so publicly to help with confidence in getting it.

[Deuce]

The question is serious enough that I wish they were asked the question and allowed to respond in their native language. No need to contribute to vaccine hesitancy.

^ I agree. This is too important a matter to have to play around with language. This isn't a trivial thing like 'Why wasn't your second serve working tonight?'
The players should take the initiative and answer in their own language regardless of what language it's asked in.
And if they feel they don't fully understand the question, they should ask for a translation.

But something could be lost/misinterpreted in the translation, too, of course...

[Deuce]

So... who do you think has the best one-handed backhand in tennis today?

Thiem? No.

Shapovalov? No.

Tsitsipas? No.

Wawrinka? No.

Gasquet? Dimitrov? Federer?
No... No... No.

Here is my nomination...



.

[mmmm8]

Good for Diego to clarify. A reminder that not only there are a lot of players that are very young, English is not their first language.

I'm not 100% sure he made the "clarification" because he didn't express himself in English. My guess is his people and maybe the Argentinian government gave him a talking to.