This week, for the Masters Series event in Toronto, I'll be joined from the tournament site by Canadian tennis journalist Kamakshi Tandon.
Hi Steve,
Not much of substance to contribute today, mostly due to a spell of bad timing: if I were a player, I'd have been spraying shots all over the
place.
The plan going into the morning was to watch Wayne Arthurs win his qualifying match and talk to him briefly afterwards. Arthurs is one of those
great cult players who's never becomes a big star but has nevertheless carved out a distinct identity and following on the circuit. Like many such players, he's got an unusual career trajectory, something legendary about his game, and an appealing underdog-who-made-(pretty)-good quality.
Six years after holding his serve 111 straight times at Wimbledon, Arthurs was beaten in the first round there this year by the ultimate cult player himself, Fabrice Santoro. He ended up flat on the ground with back trouble during the match. When the trainer asked what the problem was, Arthurs reportedly replied, I'm too old.
This year's struggles come after a solid 2005 season that saw him win his first career title at the ripe old age of 33, and he's said his results in the next few months will determine whether he carries on or calls it quits. His first child, a daughter, was born in March.
It seems like as a good a time as any to ask him to look back -- and forward.
Anyway, that being the plan, it should be no surprise that he proceeded to lose 6-3, 6-2 in desultory fashion against Teimuraz Gabashvili. The chances of an interview were further scuttled when the match ended around 1:15 p.m., just when all the machinery was being mobilized for a Rafael Nadal press conference scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
So the new plan was to cut my losses and instead see if Nadal would have any profound thoughts
to offer.
Naturally, though, "scheduled to begin" turned out to be the operative phrase. The minutes ticked by. And by. Finally, after about 40 minutes of waiting, I decided to wander out and catch a little of Kevin Kim vs. George Bastl. An empty chair can only be a compelling spectacle for so long.
When I wandered back five minutes later, Nadal had arrived, the press conference had started, and... the door was locked.
It's never locked.
I looked at my open-toed sandals. Kicking the door down wasn't really an option. So I turned around and went back upstairs. Kim and Bastl were just starting a very pretty first-set tiebreak, sprinkled with crowd-pleasing volleys from the Swiss player who memorably ended Sampras' Wimbledon career. But two forehand misses and double fault were too costly in the face of Kim's consistency, and Bastl was never able to seriously threaten in the second. Kim won 7-6(3), 6-3.
Meanwhile (according to the transcript), Nadal related how he's spent his time since Wimbledon: fishing, a minor car accident, an event for Nike in Amsterdam, and "thirty days of family parties."
"I was a little bit tired and I have a little bit of soreness in my hand so I need to stop, recharge myself," he said. "Now the first tournament (is) more difficult because when you go a month without competition, it's tough to get the rhythm."
He wasn't specifically asked about his draw this week, but with Roddick out, all eyes are looking at a quarterfinal meeting with James Blake, who has a 2-0 record against him. It was his defeat against Blake at Indian Wells, not Federer at Wimbledon, that Nadal named when asked about his most "challenging" loss this year. "I didn't play very good and he was playing very good," he said of the Indian Wells encounter. He did say the toughest win was his five-set victory against Federer in Rome.
Nadal brushed off a question about whether having two dominant Europeans hurts the sport in North America, but the most eloquent rebuttal may have been the mob scene that masqueraded as his practice session on Court 4 earlier in the day. A mass of fans with pens, caps, magazines and cameras were already flying behind the golf cart ferrying him to the court, and crowds were lined up four or five deep by the time he began hitting the ball. Things were reportedly similar when Federer had a hitting session on the grounds yesterday.
Today was also the aforementioned 'family day', which means face painting, cotton candy, kiddie shows, and maybe a little tennis just to unwind. The qualifying draw seems weaker than usual this year, so many practice sessions drew large crowds today.
By 4:30 p.m., Nadal was back on Court 4 for another workout. So was the mob.
Kamakshi
Reponses to your and reader comments:
• There's even less of a sense that the tournament is happening in Toronto than in Montreal, unfortunately, but there also seems to be a pretty solid core of people that come back year after year. The TV coverage is about as close to blanket as you could hope to get this side of the BBC, and the newspapers allocate decent resources to it as well. In my experience, the person in the street is aware the tournament exists (though they're never sure what to call it), but they often don't realize that it's a big one that attracts most of the top players.
• The old stadium vs. the new stadium: overall, I think I preferred the old site, but this one is definitely better for keeping up appearances. Maybe
more on that later in the week.
• In general terms, I don't discount Mathieu at all: despite frequent injuries, he's a big talent we've all seen get into winning positions against some of the best players. But even though this is Federer's first hardcourt event of the summer, Mathieu's won one match since Roland Garros and it would be a shock if he actually managed to pull off a victory.
• As for the last time a Canadian was guaranteed to be in the second round of a tournament, I have no idea. Sebastian Lareau and Grant Connell
played each other in the first round of Montreal in 1995, but it may have happened more recently elsewhere.
Tomorrow's lineup: I've circled Bjorkman vs. Henman, Feliciano Lopez vs. Thomas Johansson, Fabrice Santoro vs. Richard Gasquet, and Carlos Moya vs. Gaston Gaudio. Anyone who wants to make a make a match report request, post below -- if a consensus emerges, I'll do my best to catch it.