James, will there be a chapter on Vince? Wait and see. James Blake is reportedly about to start work on a book about his well-chronicled setbacks and comebacks. But during the US Open, he reacted negatively to the material in Vince Spadea’s recently-published Break Point, which describes Blake accusing Spadea of gamesmanship during a match. “I feel like in writing that book, he may have made a mistake, may have kind of rubbed a few people the wrong way and not made so many friends in the locker room,” said Blake in New York. “He's never reached out and really gotten to know me, so it's tough to write about someone when you don't know anything about them.”
Though it would bring journalism to its knees, Blake’s views shouldn’t hamper his own writing efforts – he blogged for the ATP in January and produced plenty of material on people he does know:
Bob [apparently not Bob Bryan] is a terrible, terrible swimmer, so he had no business being in the ocean at Bondi Beach to begin with. He noticed that there was a lifeguard on a jetski rescuing people all the time as people kept getting pulled out in the riptide.
Bob saw a woman who was struggling so much that she couldn't even get her arm up to signal the lifeguard. Bob went out to help her to get the attention of the lifeguard. When the lifeguard came over on the jetski she pushed off Bob, pushing him under the water. He sunk, then came back up and, as I said, he's a terrible, terrible swimmer. He couldn't get back to the shore.
As soon as they had taken her on the jetski Bob then had to put his hand up because he needed to be saved as well.
When you can tell stories like that about your friends, who needs enemies?
Maria, how can you be sure a bathroom break is legitimate? When it comes after a match. “Bring on the money,” said Maria Sharapova this summer, but she briefly put off collecting her winner’s check in Linz last week to make a quick trip to the bathroom first. “Sometimes there are things more urgent than picking up the money,” she said.
The most demanding job in tennis...
Roger, aren’t you glad you didn’t grow up in Madrid? It wouldn't have been fun to lose one of your first jobs because you didn't have the right figure. A week after winning a Madrid tournament stocked with model ballgirls, Roger Federer finally triumphed at his hometown tournament in Basel, where the ballkids are still kids and where Federer himself was once a ballboy.
After the final, Federer stayed on court and handed out medals to the ballkids, describing it as the most moving moment of the week because he remembered getting the same medals when he was young. He also took care of another tradition dating back to those days, ordering pizza for the ballcrew and sharing a slice with them.
As for his current colleagues, they’ll be glad to hear that at least one barrier to Federer’s eventual retirement has been removed – he didn’t want to end his career without winning Basel. “I’d have played till I was 65,” he said.
Serena, why study foreign languages? To be able to attend more tournaments at non-English speaking locations – not. Quebec City might have hoped that being able to practice her alleged French language skills would help lure Serena Williams to the tournament, but she turned down the wildcard offer for greener linguistic pastures.
Not playing wasn’t in itself a surprise – after initially showing interest in wildcards at some indoor European tournaments, Williams has ended up being spotted only plugging cold remedies and partying at nightclubs.
But she did have a more altruistic reason for not playing this week – attending the UN Global Youth Leadership Summit in New York and taking a related trip to Africa a few days later. Williams told the UN press conference that she had studied French in school because “my dream was always to go to Africa.”
Who has the most demanding job in tennis? Roger Federer’s trophy polisher? The physician who writes doctor’s notes for the players? Nikolay Davydenko’s travel agent? All good candidates, but the players' lower joints are making a compelling case these days (see right). What’s more, the most persuasive example went unphotographed – at St. Petersburg last Wednesday, Nikolay Davydenko and Jarkko Nieminen retired with foot injuries, while an ankle injury ended Mikhail Youzhny’s season.
Anastasia, where have you been? Ask Jurgen Melzer. Anastasia Myskina lost in the first round of the US Open to a 17-year-old and didn’t reappear on the circuit until Zurich, when she again lost her opening match to a 17-year-old.
Melzer told reporters in Vienna that the two are indeed an item and Myskina had been accompanying him to a few tournaments, including Vienna. Their post-US Open results, however, have been far apart – Melzer won his maiden ATP title in Bucharest, while Myskina has maintained the losing streak that stretches back to early August.
Andy R., why did you withdraw from Paris? The ankle, of course – didn’t you just see the photo? But it wasn’t the primary reason cited by Andy Roddick’s website: “In order to better prepare for the Masters Cup in Shanghai, Andy has withdrawn from next week’s final Master Series in Paris.”
Andy M., is the democratic process really a vital part of hairstyling? Why not? Andy Murray is conducting a poll to let fans decide on his next haircut – short at the back, messy on top; grade 4 all over; trimmed and thinned but keep it longish; cut it myself (again).
Also a vital part of the democratic process – write-in campaigns. The reverse mohawk suggestion sounds promising.
Kim, have you seen the things that have been making headlines recently? It doesn’t sound like it. On her website, Kim Clijsters wrote, “I must admit I keep on being surprised on how big a news item I really am. I only have to trip over my dog and all the newspapers are mentioning it. Just like the marriage, even though we still don't have date. Surely there must be more important things in life!” Of course there are. Like voting on Andy Murray’s hair.
And the survey says? The ATP will know. Politicians usually try to avoid implying they make decisions based on polls, but the men’s governing body has no such hang-ups. It cited some ill-defined questionnaire results as a mandate for making significant changes to the doubles game, and ATP chief Etienne De Villiers referred to another survey this summer when he pronounced the changes a success: “70% of the people that we polled, of the 305 peopleundefined we polled, which is a statistically significant sample, at exits at Cincinnati and Toronto understood it.”
He did the same thing last week when announcing that the tour would experiment with round-robin events next year. “Our research with fans, tournaments and media indicate a preference for round robin,” said De Villiers.
A current poll on the ATP website asks readers to "vote" on which doubels team has the best winning percentage in match tiebreaks (see right).
Coming soon: a survey which agrees that suspending players from playing is the way to make them play more.