Of dating, dissing, potential bumps, faint and real hopes
Blake on Spadea's book; Henman on ailing Rusedski FROM THE US OPEN - Tim beat an ailing Greg; Andy [Murray] beat Robert [Kendrick]; Maria brought out her Audry Hepburn dress, while Serena's get-up gave praise to the Ming dynasty.
Andy Roddick denied that he and his good friend Sharapova are dating. (So did she.)
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Roddick cruised, while Ana Ivanovic and David Nalbandian barely survived. Young American Sam Querrey shown brightly, while young American Alexa Glatch fell quickly.
Andre Agassi took a cortisone shot and Roddick thinks that the legend might be able to run through walls and Marcos Baghdatis with it churning through his body.
A victorious James Blake went hard after a victorious Vince Spadea and Daniela Hantuchova recounted the bump Serena gave her in LA and promised to turn the other cheek when the two face off for the third time this year on Thursday.
In a chaotic post rain day at the US Open, most scores went to form, but the outfits pushed the limits and conflicts came further out of the closet. Mum is rarely the word, even when competitors are playing hide-and-seek.
Let's start with Blake-Spadea. In Spadea's new book, "Break Point," (which Vince says is the best-selling sports book in the US), Spadea related an anecdote where Blake admonished him at the net for him taking a bathroom break. Blake isn't pleased that Spadea talked about the incident, or that he broke down his game.
"It's something that I don't understand," Blake said. "I would never do it. I can't speak for him. I don't understand the reasons behind doing it. I understand if you want to tell your story, tell anything that's happened in your life. I think in the future I might do something like that. But I would never bring other guys into it without either their approval or just letting them know that something from the tour is going to be put in a book, 'cause we all know when there's a reporter in the locker room or when there's a reporter at dinner with us."
"It's different to do it when you're kind of doing it underhanded, the way I feel like it could be done. That's unfortunate, because we really do seem to have almost like a traveling collegial relationship where we're all friends, we all get along. It's like a traveling office where what happens on the road, we can talk about in the locker room. It really doesn't have any place in a book unless you get someone's approval.
"I've heard from a lot of people that a lot of people are upset, that he didn't just mention me in the book – he mentioned Andre Agassi, he mentioned my brother, he mentioned Jeff Morrison, Mardy Fish, Patrick McEnroe. I just lifted about six of the better guys I've ever known in this world, especially my brother. To hear things about them when he really doesn't know us. We all get along great. We know each other through the locker room. He's never been to my house. I've never been to his house. He's never practiced with me at Saddlebrook. He's never reached out and really gotten to know me, so it's tough to write about someone when you don't know anything about them."
Spadea wrote the book to sell copies and promised to tell some behind the scenes stuff. He did. Arguments at the net over bathroom breaks are not exactly off limits to writers and really shouldn't be that big of a deal. It sounds like Blake is peeved about something else.
After besting Bethanie Mattek and her frilly smock, Hantuchova recounted the story from her three-set loss to Williams in Carson three weeks ago, when she claimed Williams bumped into her on purpose during a changeover early in the second set.
"She always does that," Hantuchova said. "That's the way she is. But it's not just to me, it's to everybody. She just doesn't move out of the way."
The two have split their two meetings this year and Hantuchova she's going to have to play significantly better than she did in Carson if she is to win
Will she bump Serena back if Serena doesn't get out of the way?
Hantuchova said she'll take the high road and thinks more room on Arthur Ashe Stadium to get to her chair anyway. She said that in Slovakia, the saying goes that, “The smart person lets the other one go through."
The Slovak said she is surprised by Serena's on court attitude, because off court, she said that they have seen each other at Nike functions and that Serena has been pleasant to her.
She's also surprised because in LA, Hantuchova praised Serena, saying that she was one of the greatest players ever and that she had a lot of respect for her.
It will be interesting to see whether Serena shows her a little of the same respect on Wednesday.
Serena was quite pleased discussing her new dress, which isn't incredibly stunning, but has class, and according to her, has an Asian influence and allows "the fabric and the pattern to do all the talking."
LIKE HEPBURN, SHARAPOVA'S IN BASIC BLACK
Which brings us to Sharapova, who played near perfect in crushing Michaella Krajicek 6-3, 6-0. It's hard to quibble with anything she did out there. She served great, returning hard and deep and kept her ground strokes true. She will not be threatened until the fourth round at the earliest.
Her black Nike dress, with a long slit down the back is quite striking. Sharapova she said she was inspired by actress Audrey Hepburn, whose films she has watched and whose history she has soaked in. Hepburn would have been pleased wearing the dress during a dinner at Tiffany's. Maria dined on Krajicek in it. "She never expected to be the best at what she was, but she always put that effort in," Sharapova said of Hepburn.
Sharapova again said she wouldn't discuss her personal life when asked about dating Roddick, but she didn't deny they were dating when asked a few weeks ago. On Wednesday, this is what she said in press conference: "When two tennis players know each other and are friends, and are known around the world, there's... people are gonna talk. That's exactly what's happening."
Roddick went further, saying they are just friends. The distinction here is what constitutes dating. They have gone out together, and he has high words of praise for her. At this point, in his mind, it's not dating.
"We're not dating. I've said it a million times already, but you guys refuse to write it. We're friendly. We're in the same places. I think she's a great girl. We'll talk. That's about it. It's a little bit of a stretch when we both travel. She's actually busier than I am. That's a little bit of a stretch. But, I think she's great. I can't say enough nice things about her."
Roddick played reasonably well in dispatching Kristen Pless and everything seems to be coming together for him. His approach shots are better; his instincts around the net are improving; he's serving wonderfully; he's returning a little better. He turned 24 today and played like a mature man, not a confused boy.
If he can become a force at net during the fortnight, lock him into the semis. He seems too understands what he needs to do not to look silly up there.
"When I'm playing with confidence, it's okay. I think my net game is made by the position I put myself in at net. If I can get the guy off the court and hitting a running passing shot when he has to continue running, and all I got. It's all about positioning more so than the actual volleys. I can put away a volley, but if I'm consistently forcing myself to dig out tough volleys, you're gonna see guys pass me a lot more. I think it's a lot more about positioning before the actual volleys. A lot of it is the approach shot. A lot is sneaking in. No one really notices when you sneak in off a shot and you get a late start and you kind of catch someone. I think a lot of it also is committing to coming in before you hit the shot sometimes. It's all about the position that I put the ball in order to give myself, you know, an easier volley.
Roddick thinks that Agassi has a good shot against Baghdatis on Thursday night, but Agassi just took his second cortisone in the past five weeks, which isn't great news for his movement, unless the shot works like magic.
"I don't think you can sleep on Andre," Roddick said. "He said he could barely stand after his match the other night, and I actually thought it was a pretty high level of tennis the other night from both guys. He's gonna leave it out there. I've never had a cortisone shot, but from what I've heard you feel like you can run through walls and not feel it. He's been playing through that pain for a couple years now, so I think he's pretty used to it."
BRITISH BUDS: HENMAN & RUSEDSKI
Speaking of pain, Tim Henman beat Greg Rusedski again, possibly for the last time. Rusedski tore cartilage in his hip and he might very well call it quits after Britain's Davis Cup tie in the Ukraine.
Rusedski, who reached the final here in 1997, said, "If it doesn't get better, then this could possibly have been my last Grand Slam."
Even Henman got a little emotional about his former Davis Cup teammate.
"Yeah, it is [sad]," he said. "We've been linked for such a long time. I wouldn't say that we've been best of friends, but I wouldn't say we've been enemies. I think that's something that was probably a little bit built up for the rivalry. We've impacted each other's careers in a big, big way. I think for the big part for the better. I think we've definitely improved each other. We've strived to be better than each other. I think that's where we've played a big part in each other's careers. If he wasn't able to continue, then, yeah, it would be strange to be playing tournaments without him."
BTW: Henman gets Federer again, who thrashed him at Wimbledon, but he said that the court is playing faster and gives himself a shot. "I'd like to think I can do it again. But don't get me wrong, I'm under no illusions. It's the toughest test in tennis," Henman said.
Murray survived a barrage by Kendrick 6-2, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. The slightly bad news is that Nalbandian won a five-setter and now is primed to defend his quarter in a somewhat reasonable fashion. Here's somewhat stunning comment by Murray, who says he loves playing in America and is coached by an American, Brad Gilbert. He said that the lines people were hooking him. (He was on an outside court without Hawkeye.)
"I wasn't expecting unbelievable calls," he said. "I was playing against an American in America. If you were playing in Italy and it was an Italian referee or whatever, it's always going to be a little bit … a few bad calls. I didn't have a problem with if they miss a call on the line. But when you're overruling balls on the far sideline, like three times I think he did it, and then he misses two, one ace and one of my second serve aces which was 85 miles an hour maybe, and a backhand down the line that's right in front of him, you know, that's when it's a little bit annoying."
That's a pretty immature take on officiating. This isn't the Davis Cup. I can't imagine what his take if he meets a notable American like Robby Ginepri in the quarters or James Blake in the semis.
Matthew Cronin has been covering pro tennis for the past fourteen years. He is the managing editor of the California-based Inside Tennis magazine and has been the main English-language writer for official Grand Slam web sites, including Rolandgarros.org and USOpen.org. Cronin is also a regular contributor to Reuters and last did the play-by-play on the first web radio broadcasts of the US Open finals. A co-president of the International Tennis Writers Association, Cronin resides in Moraga, alif., USA, with his wife, Patti, and their children, Cassandra, Connor and Chiara. Click here for more TennisReporters.net articles.