From the French language tennis site TENFEM comes the following statement from Jelena Jankovic's coach Ricardo Sanchez to French chair umpire Kader Nouni aka The Voice.
Pour anecdote, on a même entendu son coach espagnol Ricardo Sanchez, dans les couloirs du stade, prendre à parti l’arbitre de chaise du match, Kader Nouni, en lui disant “Tu as complètement cassé le match, c’était n’importe quoi”.
Translation(mine):
Ricardo Sanchez of Spain stopped chair umpire Kader Nouni in the corridor after the match and told him that he had completely destroyed the match.
I saw the match. Did he mean that the match wasn't called fairly? Was he upset at the fan support for Amelie ( I mean it was a French crowd) and that the chair didn't ask them to be silent? They weren't loud during points and if they were restless Nouni did what any chair does and told them not to shout or move around during play. Was he upset at the lukewarm support for his charge? I guess what he did to Venus during her match at Stuttgart against Jelena doesn't count as completely destroying the match huh?
Amelie's fans have to be happy about her comeback from that seven game walkabout to completely shut Jelena down. She hasn't played like that since she became ill with appendicitis. Could it also be that since Alize Cornet is now the French number one Amelie has something to prove?
Gael Monfils deserves a shout out. He had every chance to throw in the towel during his last two matches but declined. I mean it's hard to watch a guy play and wonder if at any second he's going to be voiding from both ends. Anyone who has ever had a stomach virus knows what I mean. Instead he played on. If Nikolay Davydenko got called for "malingering" last year what should
Julien Benneteau be called out for? He played as if winning his match yesterday was the furthest thing from his mind. Tennis. Sometimes you have to be a fan to understand the crap that gets pulled and who gets called on it.
By the way at one point during the match Monfils played a bruising multi shot rally and lay down on the floor. Chair ump Gerry Armstrong gave him a warning. I'd love to see this guy call a match involving one of the Method Actors.
There was another more telling moment when during the changeover between the first game of a new set and the second - you know the one that's now a mini break - Monfils sat down on his chair as if to say "I'm so tired". It only lasted a few seconds but I thought he was going to throw in the towel then.
James Blake also played through discomfort completing a match he would've been forgiven for retiring on. He twisted an ankle during a previous match but played out his match against Mardy Fish losing in straights. Just sayin'.
What's the cutoff age for geezerdom in tennis? Tommy Robredo will turn 27 this year and is being counted among the Old Guard of the ATP. However you define the cut off age Robredo won the Brasilian Open. Congratulations Tommy. Your AARP card is in the mail.
End Notes
The new WTA/ATP online service, TennisTV launched this past Thursday 2/12/2009. The first day went smoothly for me. The second day I experienced some technical difficulties that were quickly rectified after I sent an email to their tech support group. The picture quality is excellent and the commentary is as well. The price is rather high for many but if you can afford it it'll be a good addition to your viewing habits especially if you're in an area of the States that doesn't have Tennis Channel access like I am.
Serena Williams withdrew with a knee injury from her semi final match against Elena Dementieva but is still listed to play Dubai next week. Both the Paris Indoors and the Barclay's Dubai tournament are Roadmap Premier events.
2 comments:
Linesmen and referee were terrible and robbed Jelena several times on important points and obvious balls.
Hawkeye should be mandatory at all official ATP and WTA tournaments.
This is a WTA Premier event and I was stunned that Hawkeye was not available. There were some close balls but I didn't see that JJ was "robbed".
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