Juan Martin Del Potro hit the practice court at a little after 2, first he was tossing a mini football around with his coach Franco Davin. Before starting to hit tennis balls on his way out to the court after a short break, Delpo wanted to play some football and signalcalled his physio to run a fade into the forehand corner. Delpo, showing some fine quarterbacking skills connected with a perfect pass/lob for the touchdown. Then he started his hit with a small crowd watching.
Quarterback Delpo completed this aerial.
Leonardo Mayer was on the practice courts at 9:30 am but did not look at full strength, his demeanor suggested he wasn’t feeling very well. He played at 11 against Adrian Mannarino of France and took the first set 6-1. But the flashy Frenchman closed the gap and edged the second set tiebreak. He eventually took down Mayer 6-4 in the third. Mayer later made an unexpected appearance in the media room, looking for his “prize money.” The boss of the room Lisa Franson directed the lost Mayer to the appropriate location.
Sam Querrey may have lost again, continuing his disappointing 2011, but he impressed everyone with his sportsmanship. Q lost the first set tiebreak and was down a break in the second to Ryan Sweeting. Sweeting served for the match at 5-4 but fell into a 0-40 hole. Q suddenly made three errors and it was deuce. Sweeting eventually won the game and match with an apparent ace. Sweeting roared like a lion and raised his arms to celebrate the big victory, one of the best of his career. When suddenly the chair umpire Somat of Egypt called a let.
After a brief dispute, Querrey conceded the match to Sweeting, saying he didn’t hear a let and that it was a good serve. At the post-match press conference, Q admitted he heard a let and said Sweeting had endured several bad calls and felt his “good friend” deserved the win. This is the highest ranked player Sweeting has ever defeated, previously it was #42 (Coria and Volandri).
Sam also said his shoulder is “a little sore” but he will arrive in Chile on Saturday to prepare on clay. He said, “Things were starting to come together in Memphis. I’m actually feeling good right now. I’m not low on confidence or anything, if my shoulder is healthy I feel I can play great.”
Sam may be the nicest guy in pro tennis. After losing he walked off the court, turned his hat backwards and agreed to take photos and sign some autographs for the waiting fans. He showed no disgust or anger.
I listened to several fans talking later about the match saying Querrey looked lethargic today and his serve was not full strength but they all were very complimentary about his sportsmanship.
Extras: Ryan Sweeting walking down Atlantic Ave. with two friends after his big win vs. Querrey…Nishikori practiced with Slovenian Blaz Kavcic who will play Tipsarevic in the nightcap. Blake did not practice before the match on site…Kevin Anderson was practicing his strokes outside the entrance of the media center at 5:30, with his coach. While he was shadow-stroking backhands, forehands and volleys, his partner David Martin came out to tell him they were called out to play teh Brazilians Franco Ferreiro and Andre Sa…Mats Wilander is still here, he was doing some kind of publicity event with kids and photographers on the clay courts…”Dodo” Dodig defeated “The Dude” Dudi (Sela) 6-2 in third after losing the first set. Dodig, who won the Zagreb event, has a very solid game, big serve and is at a career high ranking right now…
Updates–
A source says Querrey’s basketball shooting skills are not on par with his tennis ability. Sam shoots left-handed but does not possess a good touch. Mardy Fish then entered the lounge area which contains a basketball hoop and proceeded to drain several shots. One of Sam’s misfires a crazy ricochet off the rim and bounced over the food spread, almost knocking it all over. Stick to tennis, Sam.
According to my source who spoke to the site stringer, James Blake only has two frames here, not the typical six to eight some pros carry along with them. Also, interesting from the stringer, Malisse had 58 string jobs done the year he won here. That’s 58 at $25 a pop, you do the math.
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Dan markowitz · February 24, 2011 at 2:11 am
Man, scoop. When you cover an event you cover an event. I thoroughly enjoyed your observations. I’ll see you out there tomorrow after talking to Chris evert in a one on one interview at the evert academy in boca rayon.
RIP · February 24, 2011 at 3:47 am
Great report! Had a lot of fun down there and wish I was there for Nishikori vs. Blake tonight which Nishikori won. Asked Pat Cash about top young players and he cited Raonic, Nishikori and Dmitrov as players he is excited about.
If you get a chance there is a park called Pompey Park about 8 to 10 blocks form Delray Beach and they have two nice public parks courts with lights (free). Played there with the legendary Dan C. Weil and the volatile Alberto Amalfi on Saturday. They have a green wall in the corner with Tennis Week.com logo in the corner. Check it out if you get a chance – very nice courts and lights are great.