So I wake up in my hotel room in New Orleans on Monday, turn on the news, and what do I hear? The mayor is trying to call in the National Guard. Really, Ray, I don’t need THAT much protection. It's hard to see N.O. in its current state, no doubt about it—my mental image of the city now is a big “X,” the symbol spray-painted across the front of thousands of empty houses after Katrina, a message by rescue workers to show that the homes had been searched for bodies.
Nevertheless, there are still plenty of characters in N.O., and I learned that more than a few of them are members of the venerable New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club, the country’s oldest. The club is located in the “sliver by the river” that didn’t flood, and while its five-person kitchen staff has been forced to move to other cities, the courts are up and running with new clay. I played a little on them and now wonder how anyone can stand the swamp-like summer air of New Orleans for more than a few games. It actually seemed worse at 8:00 in the morning. (I’ll tell rest of the club’s story in the September issue of TENNIS.)
More important, not everything is disastrous in New Orleans these days. My other lasting memory of my visit will be seeing local blues hero Walter “Wolfman” Washington play guitar. The Guard had just been called out, but it didn’t stop people from dancing at the Maple Leaf. That’s more than we ever do in New York.
Meanwhile, there was Stella Artois, which I tuned in when I could. Here, quickly, are five things that struck me as interesting about the premier Wimbledon tune-up.
- The Tim Henman/Lleyton Hewitt semifinal featured the first incident I know of where a player (Henman) repeatedly told the umpire that a call of his was definitively wrong. Henman was finding out from someone what the instant-replay system was showing. It was absurd—how long can we keep replay from being used at every tournament?
- Hewitt had more energy than I’d seen from him in a while. It seemed like he found some confidence in the second set of his quarterfinal against Rafael Nadal, and it carried over. If he can serve as well as he did against James Blake in the final, he’s a real threat to make the final at Wimbledon—or, I should say, he’s a threat to 126 out of 127 other players. Either way, Hewitt may finally be coming out of his year-long post-marriage slumber. Whether that's a good thing for the game or not, I don't know. Did you miss him?
- James Blake was due to beat Andy Roddick. I was shocked to find out before the match that he hadn’t done it at least once. Blake returned very well—Michael Stich, who was surprisingly good in the booth, correctly pointed out that Roddick was going to the same spots with his serve all match and had gotten predictable. Stich was hard on Andy, saying that he lacked variety and doesn’t have the right mentality to be a volleyer. He thinks Roddick goes to the net not wanting to volley and ends up just reacting to the ball.
- Roddick was the inferior American Saturday, which had to hurt. And he was generally testy the whole afternoon. But to his credit, Roddick came to the net after the last point with a big smile and a big handshake for Blake. It looked like a heartfelt congratulations for a friend on reaching a milestone. That gesture alone makes me hope that Roddick can hang around for the two weeks of Wimbledon. He may not be the best U.S. player anymore (it’s close), but now that he’s not as cocky as he once was, Roddick has developed a personality most Americans can understand and enjoy.
- Rafa on grass? There may be something there. He looks taller than he did last year, and his serve was more imposing in the two sets against Hewitt. Let’s say he’ll make the third round this year and get to the semifinals by 2008. Kudos to him, and Roger Federer, just for showing up the week after Paris.
Next week, we’ll be graced by the presence of my friend Jon Levey, a senior editor at TENNIS Mag. and a man who’s never at a loss for a punchy comment or two. We’ll start a back-and-forth conversation about Wimbledon, beginning with a preview after the draws come out. Jon will be at the site for the first week, then the main event, Mr. Peter Bodo, will make his entrance during the second week.