Well, my brief sojourn in Cincy is officially over; I need to head home to write the Nikolay Davydenko profile and get ready for our family vacation in Montana, which starts August 3. I'll be pretty much incommunicado between the 3rd and 14th, but am hoping to that some of our contributors will help keep the site running. In the past when I've been away, we've run Tennisworld "classics" - re-posting posts from at least 12 months ago. Maybe I can organize something like that for my absence this time as well. I need to sort this all out with the heavy-lifters, including Rosangel, Andrew, Ed McGrogan, Siva and others. I'll keep you posted.
I'm sorry I wasn't able to organize some sort of meeting for Tribe members out in Cincinnati (Jackie? Bissie?), but this was an especially busy - and brief - two days. In addition to getting squared away with Davydenko, I had a video shoot for Tennis.com, and I did a significant turn as a talking head for some Tennis Channel features that will be similar to those ESPN Classic documentaries that I've appeared on in the past. Basically, I'm pretty fried, but happy I made it out here again.
Earlier today, I was walking down the corridor at the Marriott when I happened upon one of best coaches in tennis, Bob Brett, walking along with Marin Cilic. We grinned at each other (I probably hadn't seen Bob in two years) and stopped to chat; he introduced me to Marin, a friendly, poised, manly 19-year old who stands 6-6 and makes the most of it on the court.
You may remember that Brett has coached three Grand Slam champs: Andres Gomez, Goran Ivanisevic, and Boris Becker. While Brett had the expected grasp of strategy and technique, his greatest asset, IMO, was his absolute understanding of the kind of discipline and personal integrity a great player develops, and a great coach understands and tries too impress upon a young buck in his charge.
Brett has always been very interested in values; at heart he's a teacher and moralist. This made for some wild times with Goran, and to some degree, Boris, because Ivanisevic was essentially a free spirit and Becker could be as haughty and contrary as a diva. But Brett was successful with both of them, because I think that even if they resisted or even ignored his point-of-view (it could be summed up in the simple phrase: There's a price for everything, and if you're not willing to pay you'll only be shortchanging yourself and your own hopes), they knew he had a good heart - the heart of a teacher, bent on making them better individuals as well as better players.
Brett ultimately grew weary of the incessant travel, which took an enormous toll on his life, and set up his own tennis academy in Monte Carlo. But former proteges and colleagues still seek him out when they want help with - or advice about - emerging talents, especially Europeans. So it is that Brett has been traveling some with latest "Croatian Sensation", Marin Cilic.
"What is it with you and these hot-blooded Croatians," I asked Brett, who's worked with Mario Ancic as well. "Are you some kind of glutton for punishment?"
"Goran sent him my way," Brett replied. "He's a very talented player and he was actually without a coach, drifting a bit."
We had a good chat in the player lounge at Cincinnati later in the day, and Brett told me that he's been impressed by Cilic's rate of progress, his attitude, and his innate analytical abilities. And Brett, who knows a thing or two about serving from his adventures with Becker and Ivanisevic, believes Cilic's serve is a major weapon. Cilic has been playing well this summer, and hearing Bob talk about him immediately raised his stock in my eyes. Cilic hasn't lost before the round-of-16 since Queens Club until he dropped today's match against a real blast-from-the-the past, Nicolas Lapentti.
If anyone will be able to help Cilic extract something useful from what is, by any measure, a bad loss, it's Brett. I probably should do a full post on him someday, but for now here are a few interesting facts: He's an Aussie, but he was shunned by the Aussie establishment, which has always tended to prefer Tennis Australia loyalists and insiders, especially top players, to men like Brett, who never made much of a mark on the tour but have great instincts as coaches.
Eventually, Brett lit out for the US, and went to work for his idol and, ultimately, mentor, Harry Hopman - the architect of the Australian Davis Cup dynasty of the 1950s and 60s. Brett's track record speaks for itself, yet the Aussies never made much of an attempt to mend fences. It's too bad, because I think Brett could have been another Hopman. He's firm, tough and highly principled.
And then there's this: back in 1991,Pete Sampras was contemplating replacements for his coach of the time, Joe Brandi. One of the men on his short list was Brett, but Bob declined to explore the opportunity because he was already committed to Ivanisevic. Brett and Sampras would have made a great pairing, but Brett will also be the first one to tell you that Pete Sampras made a great choice by hiring Tim Gullikson.
"Goran obviously wasn't as successful as Pete would be," Brett said. "But I had a good long ride with him. Sometimes it was frustrating, but you know Goran - he always kept things interesting."
This is your Crisis Center post for today. Please keep your comments on-topic (Brett, Cilic, and the upcoming matches) and try not to go off-topic until after the day's play is over.