I realized earlier in the week that I hadn't done a post Wimbledon column. I wasn't really in the mood to do one but I figured since it was on my mind to do one I should.
Long story short is that not much has changed. The top players are on vacation. Lower ranked players are trying to pile up points before they have to come to the United States and Canada. So what is there to talk about? Come on people this is tennis. There's always something to talk about.
I'll start with the news that Nick Kyrgios has split with Simon Rea of New Zealand the coach who got him to #66 in the world and will now be coached by a TA team of Josh Eagle ( his highest singles ranking was #219 in 1994), who will be his traveling coach, and Todd Larkham. The spin is that this split was going to happen no matter what happened in the French Open and that Kyrgios himself, not Tennis Australia, made the decision. Shrug. I believe that as much as I believe those pics of Maria Sharapova supposedly sharing an intimate vacation with Grigor Dimitrov. I mean they had to do something after tongues began wagging about Pova's best friend, a Communications person for the WTA sat with her in Dimitrov's friends box at Wimbledon.
But back to the TA team kicking the Kiwi out. Then again, let's move on. The move speaks for itself.
There was another coaching change by the way. Ana Ivanovic kicked Nemanja Kontic to the curb for no apparent reason. Maybe she wants a celebrity coach now. It's all the rage you know.
Tennis Twitter was all aflutter when it was announced that Sloane Stephens was holding a press conference. Was Paul Annacone out? That was really the only thing people were interested in finding out. I mean if Annacone had so much success with Pete Sampras and Roger Federer he should be able to work miracles with a woman player hyped as the next big thing in US tennis. I'm not even going to talk about Shelby Rogers (!) defeating Sara Errani and getting her self into the Final at Bad Gastein. Or Grace Min getting into the semi finals of the same event. I mean what's there to say?
Nothing big was announced though. The most newsworthy quote was Sloane saying the following:
Tennis View Magazine @TennisViewMag
More from Sloane: “In Europe, no one cares about an American player. In the US...you want to do well. You don't want to let the fans down.”
I find this statement amazing. Is she saying that because American tennis players aren't cared for in Europe that's an excuse to not do well? What does that statement even mean? Does she mean that she's more motivated to do well in the States but that the Slams, three of which are played outside of the United States, namely the Australian Open, The French Open and Wimbledon don't matter because Europeans don't care about Americans? I know Australians aren't Europeans in the strict sense of the word but really Sloane? That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard an athlete say, especially one who plays an International sport. I guess she's going to romp through the US Open series and make the US Open final this year. I mean Shelby Rogers and Grace Min? And Jack Sock winning the doubles in London. I should mention that no? And that he and Sloane were supposedly an item? Yeah. See the beach in Mexico comments above.
On a more disturbing note two time Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova has been receiving death threats from people unhinged by the fact she lists Monaco as her official residence. From the article :
(Police Spokeswoman) Holcakova said the man, who was not identified, was arrested as police considered the threats serious.
The incident follows criticism of Kvitova, including from a member of parliament, for moving from the Czech Republic to Monaco to avoid higher taxation.
The full quote from the Czech politican shows the depth of feeling on this topic in the Czech Republic.
''I think that we should all have a long and hard think about the fact that if someone leaves the Czech Republic and becomes a member of another state, then they should lose their Czech citizenship,'' said Social Democrat MP Stanislav Huml.
There's been a lot of talk about marketing (who is marketable and who isn't) in tennis and this does the Czech Republic no good. In fact Eastern Europeans aren't considered very marketable at all (with one, maybe two now, exceptions) according to a US magazine . Tomas Berdych and Lucie Safarova also have official residences in the tax haven but no one has said whether or not they've been threatened with loss of citizenship.
As for the men video of Juan Martin del Potro has surfaced showing him hitting the practice courts after his wrist surgery. There's been a wedding, a vision in pink, and some interesting results in such far flung outposts as Stuttgart and Båstad. A lot of the weird results have to do with players commitments to tournaments next week. That's my opinion anyway. In Europe they're playing on clay. In the US the action is on grass this week.
Viña del Mar, an integral part of the Golden Swing, is gone and will be replace by a tournament in Quito, Ecuador at an elevation higher than the mile high city of Denver, Colorado in the US.
The US Open series officially gets under way July 21 in Atlanta. The big boys and girls will be in Canada for the Rogers Cup beginning August 4th. The men will be in Toronto and the women will be in Montréal.
The Chamionships 2014 - Full Winners List
Men's Singles
Serbia Novak Djokovic
Women's Singles
Czech Republic Petra Kvitová
Men's Doubles
Canada Vasek Pospisil / United States Jack Sock
Women's Doubles
Italy Sara Errani / Italy Roberta Vinci
Mixed Doubles
Serbia Nenad Zimonjić / Australia Samantha Stosur
Boys' Singles
United States Noah Rubin
Girls' Singles
Latvia Jeļena Ostapenko
Boys' Doubles
Brazil Orlando Luz / Brazil Marcelo Zormann
Girls' Doubles
Indonesia Tami Grende / China Ye Qiuyu
Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles
Sweden Thomas Enqvist / Australia Mark Philippoussis
Ladies' Invitation Doubles
Czech Republic Jana Novotná / Austria Barbara Schett
Senior Gentlemen's Invitation Doubles
France Guy Forget / France Cédric Pioline
Wheelchair Men's Doubles
France Stéphane Houdet / Japan Shingo Kunieda
Wheelchair Women's Doubles
Japan Yui Kamiji / United Kingdom Jordanne Whiley
End Note
There's been a lot of interest in the posts I mad re Petra Kvitova's win and the marketing surrounding Ms Eugenie Bouchard. I hope some of the visitors hang around and become followers.
3 comments:
One of the reasons why I found Sloane's comment ridiculously stupid, is because a few years ago (or was it last year) she said that when she is in Europe she does not feel the pressure as much, so it makes me wonder which is easier for her, playing in the US or playing outside the US. I don't really understand her thought process, if there is one actually
What is really puzzling is why she had that presser at all. Nothing was said about her tennis that couldn't have been put out in a press release. That idiotic statement would've been edited out.
I'm afraid the young lady has a very inflated sense of self and doesn't realize that while she's gazing at her reflection in the mirror the world is passing her by.
I actually asked someone on Twitter what was the reason for the presser, and it is about the Citi Open. You could have knocked me over with a feather seeing as I can't see where anything about the Citi Open was even said. Oi
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