!Jaby Pete Bodo
It was a pleasure listening to one of my favorite announcing teams this morning as I watched Tomas Berdych crawl back from the brink of extinction to beat Janko Tipsarevic in a third-set tiebreaker (after the alternate Tipsarevic had a match point) and thus keep alive his own hopes of qualifying for the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals. The team was Leif Shiras and Jimmy Arias, who labor for Tennis Channel and in my eyes are the most underrated duo in the business.
Shiras is the straight man, the play-by-play guy, while Arias has the plum "color" job. Both men played on the pro tour; Arias, a whiplash baseliner, got as high as No. 5 in 1984 while Shiras, a serve-and-volleyer who's five years older than Arias, maxed out that same year at No. 31. These guys are seasoned pros who have walked the walk as well as talked the talk.
The other day, when Ted Robinson (whom I also really like) and Arias were the TC team, a discussion on the court speed in London, and how much Roger Federer likes it, led to Arias remarking that the really critical issue was height-of-bounce (as opposed to the speed at which the ball goes through, which is usually what "court speed" is taken to mean). Robinson seemed to scramble, eager to demonstrate that he knew that as well—it seemed the kind of defensive reaction you get from someone who, for all his acquired expertise, research, and due diligence, just doesn't have the relaxed, self-confident attitude of a former pro.
Anyway, it's been a pleasure to listen to Arias' take on things. He's excellent at looking beyond technique and the minutiae of real-time tactics and strategy to shed light on those larger, subterranean issues like how and why momentum shifts, or where those shifts really take place (sometimes, at 15-love, 1-all in the second). After Tipsarevic held from exactly that juncture today, Arias observed: "That was an excellent game for Tipsarevic to get out of trouble. You could feel the momentum shifting a little but he held in spite of that."
Arias knows his X's and O's as well, of course. When Tipsarevic put away a forehand approach shot from the middle of the court midway in the third set, Arias remarked: "That wasn't as easy a shot as it looked. There wasn't much angle, and he decided to go with the inside-out, with spin, getting it up and down in a hurry (necessitated by being so close to the net). . . He didn't have an angle, he made one."
It occurs to me that some of you might not know Arias' history in the game so I'll tell the short version because it's fascinating. He's a native Buffalo, NY, where the NFL's Bills rule. To say that tennis is a minor sport in those parts is an understatement. It's still the land of the mullet and acid-washed blue jeans, and the fashion statement favored by many at Bills games in the suburb of Orchard Park is grease-stained Carhartt coveralls. Although you'll see a fair amount of camo, too—Advantage Realtree edging out Mossy Oak by a hair in the popularity department.
But Jimmy's dad was a tennis teacher and his son was good enough that Nick Bollettieri eventually took Jimmy under his wing. In fact, he was one of Nick's very first success stories, and it was big news when, at just 18, Arias turned pro. Although he was a mere 5' 9" and weighed barely a buck-fifty, his forehand was so big that his game could be considered the great granddaddy of the style that now dominates.
Jimmy reached as high as No. 5 and he was in the Top 10 for two years. It was a remarkable feat, and Arias pulled it off because his exquisite timing gave him an edge in the waning days of the wooden racquet era. Back then, most pros still played the standard-sized rackets and sought to control, rather than liberate, their swings. But Arias' timing was so superb that he lashed out at the ball off both wings—and the ball, loaded with wicked topspin, stayed within the court. I'm not sure Jimmy ever hit a shot, forehand or one-handed backhand, with even one of his feet planted on the ground from backswing to follow-through. He was all about racquet-head speed.
But technological innovation soon raced through the game like a prairie fire, and before long everyone was using mid-or-oversized racquets made of exotic materials and strung with increasingly specialized strings. I simplify, of course, but a long time ago Jimmy told me that he felt he lost a big advantage when technology leveled the playing field. From one minute to the next, every Tom, Dick and Harry was suddenly taking huge cuts and getting good results—without having the timing that made Arias' game unique, and impossible for most players to attempt. Jimmy came along a few critical years too late and thus he got caught up in the gears of change—but he was just in time to point the way to the future (with an assist from his lifelong friend, Bollettieri).
What bitterness Arias might once have felt over all this has long gone, and he seems a happy-go-lucky guy. At one point in the booth today, a ball Tipsarevic hit inspired the two commentators to drift naturally back to their playing days. They played just once, at Delray Beach in 1985, where Arias won in three sets.
"I tried to go around your forehand," Shiras admitted, acknowledging how foolish it was to attack that wing.
"You tried to go around the whole baseline," Arias remembered. "It was all serve and volley."
"Yeah, but you had a little hole on that backhand side."
"Oh yeah, I remember. . . " Arias replied, in a resigned tone.
I hoped that the modest exchange between those two old pros brought a smile to more than one face. Arias never won a major, but for a brief period he was a major force in the game, and he remains an asset to it today.