[gernica]

TALES FROM THE TRANSPO DESK: PART 3

DIE MARDY FISH DIE!

This year the transpo department’s fleet mainly consisted of mid-size Mercedes SUVs, plus a couple of sedans, and one larger six-seater SUV. Naturally the six-seater was entrusted to the tourney’s bestest, most reliable driver.

Now Mardy was also one of those players who was given a loaner SUV for the week. A just reward, I suppose, for the top seed who bailed on the tournament last year after winning Atlanta. Well, Mardy decided his SUV just wasn’t big enough for him and his Suitcase Girl wife so he sent his physio to the transpo desk to do his bidding. Though we needed the six-seater for airport runs (most of the foreign players are in the US with lots of luggage since they will be here until the US Open), and even though we had only one of those vehicles, Mardy was promptly given my car! :violin: So glad he lost to Gulbis in the final! I’d also love to see Mardy try this move at a tournament outside the US of A.

Now before you think I am over-reacting, mind you Mardy lives in LA. So he has his own car. Again, why you need a tournament vehicle when you live down the street in Santa Monica is beyond me. At least, unlike Tommy Tool, he parked in marked parking spots.


“NO, FCUK YOU, DENIS KUDLA”

Local boy Daniel Kosakowski is the son of first generation Polish immigrants. He comes from a tennis playing family and clearly is the most talented among his siblings. He went thru qualifying, taking out the top seed Tatsuma Ito and having to face Denis Kudla in the final round for a spot in the main draw.

Well, Kudla was antsy during the entire match, I suppose finding himself in the new position of being favored to win a match now that he is on the main tour was getting to him. Even as he went up a break in the first set, Kudla was just miserable and gave the break back and went on to lose the match in two sets. Now Kosakowski also played for UCLA, so he had a lot of fan support on these same courts where he has played plenty of collegiate matches.

Well, at the end of the match, Kudla had the nerve to not only give the middle finger in the direction of Kosakowski’s box but he also mouthed the FU words. Gotta love these up and coming brash Americans! Such an amazing legacy Roddick is going to leave us with. J Anyway, Kudla was promptly fined but I find it interesting that the ATP doesn’t readily provide such information to the public.

For example, Alex Bogomolov told me he was fined $2,500 at Wimbledon for yelling at a line judge, “Are you blind?” At first, the umpire thought he had said, “Are you fcuking blind?”, but to the credit of the line judge, he/she admitted the F-bomb was not used. This was the first I had heard of the fine so it seems the ATP does an awesome job of sweeping such messes under the rug.

Getting back to Kosakowski, he has got an incredible, quiet intensity about him. He can just give an opponent a look that says, “I’m going to beat you”. He also has a real desire to compete and win and doesn’t seem to feel the pressure of the moment. His height will always be a liability (don’t believe the ATP site which lists him at 6’1”) but if he continues to improve, he has some real potential.

For far too long we have collectively wondered what is in store for American men’s tennis once Roddick and company are put out to pasture. With Harrison, Kudla, Sock, and perhaps Kosakowski, the future doesn’t seem so bleak all of a sudden. One or more will hopefully become a mainstay in the top 50 if not go on to win a slam or more. Kosakowski has already been invited to play in the US Open Wildcard play-off.

Daniel’s older brother Marcin is a pro at my local courts, and he also got into the qualy draw just for showing up at the qualies sign-in. I’m not sure why our very own Charlie02123 can’t use the same strategy to get into a qualies draw somewhere instead of going all the way to Spain to perhaps get into a futures draw.

Anyway, prior to the Kudla match I told Daniel if he won, I would upgrade him to First class for his flight to NY for the Open and boy, did he ever do me proud! Like any 19-year-old, his eyes lit up at the thought of flying First class. Of course, if he makes it big time on the ATP tour, a few years from now, he’ll have to fly me somewhere on his private jet.

Back to the Kudla incident, there was a Davis Cup documentary on the Tennis Channel last year in which Sock and Kudla were invited to be hitting partners at the tie in Serbia. During a practice match against the Bryans, Kudla was fist pumping and high-fiving after winning points. The Bryans cut him down stat, telling him those were bush league moves for a practice match. In that segment, the Bryans came across as dicks for cutting Kudla down rather than taking him under their wings, but now having seen his antics in person, it is clearer to me that Kudla needs to treat others with greater respect.


DO YOU WANT TO MEET A TENNIS PLAYER?

For some odd reason the tournament scheduled Peter Fleming (McEnroe’s old doubles partner who was being enshrined into the tournament’s Hall of Fame) for a fan session at a local Beverly Hills bank. Well, you all can imagine what happened next. Not a single tennis fan showed up. Not one! Ouch, ouch, ouch! The staff had to resort to asking people on the street if they wanted to come inside to meet a tennis player. A disaster in every respect, not to mention people who go to banks in Beverly Hills probably aren’t millionaire recreational tennis players/fans, but rather their secretaries, personal assistants and such.


I WOULD HAVE BEEN A GREAT PICK FOR GREEN ACRES

I spent a lot of time explaining to Somdev Devvarman the concept behind many of TAT’s contests, and he seemed genuinely interested. In discussing strategy with him and his physio Milos (another awesome guy), it was interesting to hear them pick players based on their known strengths and weaknesses while I was trying to make the point that you also have to take into account how the player is trending based on recent results. Somdev had fun poking fun at himself saying he would have been a great pick for Green Acres, though he actually did win a couple of matches on grass this year. How can you not love a player who has such a healthy sense of humor not only about himself but also about his game on its weakest surface? (He is 3-6 lifetime on grass with only one of those wins coming prior to Green Acres this year)