Balls to the wall coverage of the ATP tour
Lebron James, Chris Paul, and Victoria Justice pose with tennis racquets at the Nickolodean Worldwide Day of Play event in Washington, D.C. Somehow, I do not think that any of them have ever even held a tennis racquet before. Although I would be intrigued to see how King James’s one-handed backhand would match up with Fed’s…
(Pic via Getty Images)
Funny thing: of all the pictures that I took at Legg Mason, the ones that came out the best by far were of Verdasco in his match against Radek Stepanek.
My action shots normally come out a bit blurry, but with Fernando I had one great freeze frame of him in motion after another.
The camera clearly LOVES Verdasco. That’s not really news, per se, Fer is known for looking good both on court and off.
The weird thing is, none of these shots were…how to put this as nicely as I can…effective? They were shanks, mishits, misfires. They may look great on film, but they did not win him ANY POINTS IN THE TENNIS!
It’s a complete paradox…shots that look like this should at least land somewhere between the lines, no?
Yeah, Verdasco, if I were you I would be totally annoyed by this too…
Check out more pictures of Verdasco on the facebook page.
(Pics via Racquet Required)
Though he’s not 50 years old. Lord help his poor body when he is….
(Video via Racquet Required)
After much cursing at YouTube and my computer, here are the full press conferences from the Legg Mason finals. I asked Stepanek about waving the Czech flag. I thought it was a legit question since I have only seen patriotic displays like that at Davis Cup. Not sure how that indicated support for his team as opposed to his country, but whatever you say, Radek.
I think this US Open series may just be the summer of the veteran, with Fish (29 yrs old) taking Atlanta and Steps (32 yrs old) winning DC. It’s interesting to see how maturity and experience is increasingly becoming a major factor on tour.
Speaking of maturity, that is what impressed, and surprised, me the most about Monfils this past week. No showboating antics on court, and thoughtful, insightful answers at the press conferences. I wonder if we are going to see a new Gael from now on. If he can maintain this new-found maturity, we will definitely be seeing Monfils in more finals.
(Videos via Racquet Required)
Stepanek celebrates his win at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic by, what else, doing the worm. I was surprised that he waved the Czech flag around as part of his celebration. I asked him in the press conference if he did that because he felt that this win was for his country as well as for himself, but he said that it was to thank his team for being there all week for him, not for his country.
Radek played a solid and smart match against Monfils, and was definitely the better player that day. His game was actually strong all week, and though many may be surprised that he took home the title, they really should not be. He played consistent, high-level tennis for the whole tournament. It remains to be seen if this one week was a fluke, after this performance, I’m sure no one on tour would want to face him on the other side of the net this summer.
(Video via Racquet Required)
Despite the massive rain delays, the semifinal match between Gael Monfils and John Isner at Legg Mason was high quality stuff. Check out some highlights of the match that I shot between the raindrops.
And the hug at the end at net? Heartwarming stuff 
(Video via Racquet Required)
During his semifinal match against Gael Monfils at Legg Mason, one of John Isner’s massive serves hit a woman in the crowd. She was given ice and led off the court, and reportedly will be ok, but as you can see from John’s reaction, it looked really, really bad at the time.
Mariya from Talk About Tennis asked Isner about the incident after the match. I can only imagine how bad he must have felt, though he is right, if you are going to sit on the baseline, you have to be careful and watch out for incoming tennis balls. Not that I think I could have dodged at +120 MPH serve, but I would also never sit there.
(Videos via Racquet Required)
I got the first question at Monfils’ presser, and he gave a great answer. So naturally it was the first time this week that my camera decided it did not want to cooperate. Here is what I asked and what Gael said about Isner:
RR: Gael, you and John showed great sportsmanship throughout the match and you had a special moment at the net. Can you describe your relationship with John?
Monfils: I have a lot of respect for John, I think he is a great player, and he has great mentality, and yeah you know it is always for me a pleasure to play against him and you know I think with year and year we become good friend on tour and always when I play him I think he is a good spirit and we trust each other.
Love how those two respect each other, and they watched Shark Week together during the rain delay?! I’m sorry, that is really kind of adorable.
We actually were not sure that Gael was going to do full press because the match ended so late. It was almost 2am. I definitely did not think that Isner would come in for a press conference, so we were all a bit surprised when they announced he was there for press.
Isner looked completely exhausted but he did not seem that bummed about losing. Not sure if he was too tired to express his disappointment, or if he felt ok about the loss because he played a really good match.
Glad someone asked about the condition of the woman who got hit in the eye with one of John’s serves. I also heard later that she is ok, but is going to have one hell of a shiner.
Note to self, never sit in those seats when John is serving. I have no desire to test my reaction time to avoid a shot in the face…
(Video via Racquet Required)
Most enlightening part of the Stepanek presser was when he said that he played 4 lefties in a row. I mean, I knew who he beat this week, but I had not even thought about that. All the lefties in the tournament were clustered in his quarter of the draw. Has that ever happened before?
But the most entertaining part of the Steps presser, for me at any rate, was how he gave @DailyForehand the business about his questions. That Radek, NOTHING gets by you, huh?
And second favorite part: when Radek says that he was not concerned about playing doubles later because “a winner is never tired” and then pulled out of the doubles an hour or so later because of “exhaustion.” Charming, Steps…
As for Young’s press conference, I have to say that I was really impressed with him. Not that I thought he was going to sit there and sulk, but my expectations of him were probably low due to all the negative antics you hear about him, but he seems like he has really gotten his act together. Maybe Donald can build on the momentum of this past week and start to finally live up to his potential.
(Videos via Racquet Required)
As I was headed back to the media center after the Stepanek / Young match, look who I happened to see on the practice courts? Sacrebleu! It was Isner! I do not think I even whipped out my camera that fast…you know, to document how he was looking on court before his semifinal match against Monfils.
Intense observation was absolutely necessary. Perfecting his volley technique, perchance?
Lots of girls came rushing into the stands when they realized who was practicing. Somehow, I don’t think John minded that one bit.
Isner was actually lucky to get his practice in before the rain. CB was giving him all positive feedback. Let’s see if that tactic works.
Check out more pics from John’s practice on the facebook page.
(Pics & video via Racquet Required)
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