by Pete Bodo
Mornin'. It appears that the glitch in Typepad has been fixed and now I'm also having to use a new task bar. I won't bore you with the details, but changing font style and size in Typepad has been a major annoyance, but I think it's better now. BTW, what size type do y'all like? I mean, it used to be small until about a year ago; I then changed the style and increased the size by a point. Should it be larger still?
Anyway, I had to go pretty hard last week, what with a podcast (it should be up already) from the BNP Paribas and TENNIS.com Taste of Tennis event at the W hotel, we bagged just about every interview we wanted, including Victoria Azarenka, whom I've officially picked to win the tournament. We missed Brad Gilbert, a bummer to me if not to you, because David Rosenberg, our photo editor, was all fired up to catch Alex McCord.
Alex who? Got me, but I learned that she's a desperate housewife on television, not a tennis player. But don't get me wrong, David really knows his tennis, particularly the WTA brand. I confess before all of you that I wouldn't know Anna Keothavong if tripped over her. David can spot them all and he knows their "situation" cold.
It was a little depressing, though, to see how this entire "red carpet" thing that's so vital to the celebrity world works (in this case it was a green carpet, presumably to acknowledge that this was tennis, not your typical film or music industry drill). There's something ghastly about the whole celeb-media-fan nexus, especially when all the parties agree to play ball. Reminds me to read Nathanial West's classic novel, Day of the Locust again sometime, if not in this life then my next.
On the other hand, there's a kind of energy about these events and it was kind of fun to just hang around gabbing and laughing as we watched the players and various celebrities who wouldn't know a racket from a rocket parade themselves. Gilles Simon was all jacked up and hamming it up to the point of appearing goofy, but great fun to interview (finally, an ATP player who admits he—and his colleagues—study the draw at any given tournament). Most of the WTA women looked terrific—none moreso than Sabine Lisicki. That girl can get dolled up when she puts her mind to it. She looked hotter than a two-dollar pistol on Thursday night.
I noticed that Long John Isner was supposed to be part of this crew at T of T, but he never appeared. This makes me think that Isner is still down at Saddlebrook, or at home in North Carolina, or maybe holed up in Manhattan, resting that ankle and trying to get fit enough to compete in the upcoming tournament. It must be a bummer for the folks at Amex, who built a whole "Next Contender" ad campaign featuring exclusive material around—and with—Isner, Melanie Oudin, Sam Querrey and Caroline Wozniacki. On the other hand, Wozniacki is the top WTA seed and both Querrey and Isner (if he's fit) have to be considered players who could go deep in the men's draw, so maybe that will prove to be a coup for Amex. Be sure to check it out.
Also, I had a long conversation the other day with the world's fifth richest man, Larry Ellison. I'll be posting more on this, but probably not until after the U.S. Open is done. Ellison, most of you know, bought the Indian Wells Masters 1000 early this year. I was somewhat skeptical when we decided to do a story on Ellison; I mean, what if he was just another rich schmo who bought himself a trophy sporting event/franchise?
But boy, does this guy know—I mean really know—his tennis. He's going to be a enormous asset to the tennis community, in which he's already neck deep. Just talking to him I got the sense that the guy is nothing less than a genius, which only makes sense, given that he was given up by his mother as a child in the Bronx (New York) and ended up where he is today.
What can you say about a fella whose hobbies include flying decomissioned jet fighter planes?
I also see that Wozniacki is on a roll—still carving her way through opponents this week in New Haven. While I've been very skeptical of her ability to defend her final finish of last year, the momentum is bound to help her—if it doesn't leave her worn out, and set up to suffer an upset at the U.S. Open with the excuse of fatigue in her back pocket. Not that she'd do that consciously, but you know how it is in tennis.
Anyway, Arthur Ashe kid's day at the Open. See you all later.