New York Buzz vs. Delaware Smash
by Christopher Gerby
After leading the New York Buzz to an important road win over Hartford
on Friday night, former world # 1 Lindsay Davenport was scheduled to skip the team's
next match. With the Delaware Smash (league doormats with an 0-3 record)
across the net on Saturday evening, Davenport's services might not have
been needed anyway. However, to the surprise of a rather sparse crowd
which had paid $11 a pop to see lesser-known players, Lindsay turned
up after all. Returning to action after knee surgery laid her up for
eight months, the 26-year-old decided to continue her rehab by playing
another set of doubles for the Buzz. "We got in really late last night and I was just
sitting around all day, so I said I'd play a little bit," she explained
afterwards. "I was a little sore. I haven't played any kind of
competition and I just felt like women's doubles would be good."
(Benched in favor of Davenport was Buzz veteran Nannie de Villiers, who spent the bulk
of the evening chatting on her cell phone.)
First set: women's doubles -- Davenport/Huber vs. Reeves/Sharapova
Wearing one of those scandalous "skorts" popularized by Daniela
Hantuchova, leggy 15-year-old Maria Sharapova was an early contender
to steal the show from Davenport. However, the three-time Grand Slam
singles champion showed her who's boss right out of the blocks,
opening her love hold with a booming ace. Sharapova's teammate
Samantha Reeves needed a couple clutch first serves to bail the Smash
out of trouble in Game 2. Liezel Huber then held serve easily to
give the Buzz a 2-1 lead, despite one fairly miraculous reflex volley
by Sharapova. (The young Russian was simply trying to protect
herself, sticking the racket in front of her face and getting a lucky
winner for her trouble. Smash coach Craig Kardon deadpanned, "Great
shot, Maria! Just what you've been practicing.")
New York's third break point of the evening was converted when
Sharapova sent a backhand long. Kardon, the most
involved coach I've seen in Team Tennis this year, gave his charges
some quick doubles tips during the changeover at 1-3: "On anything low,
go. Low, go. Low, go." Delaware's spirits are what were low in
Game 5, which saw Davenport blast two more aces. The end came
quickly, as Sharapova badly butchered volleys on the last two points of
the 5-1 set. "I don't think she's natural at doubles yet. She's
very young," Davenport later observed of Sharapova, whom she'd never
seen before. "She seems very nice. I mean, I talked to her for a
few minutes, but I don't know anything about her. I haven't been
around, so all these new people I don't know."
OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 5, DELAWARE 1
Second set: women's singles -- Liezel Huber vs. Samantha Reeves
Any anticipation which might have built for a marquee matchup between
Davenport and the reigning Wimbledon juniors finalist was snuffed out
when Huber and Reeves instead took the court to warm up for singles.
Reeves is a fairly hard-hitting baseliner from Wisconsin who was able to dictate play
in most of her rallies with Huber. However, the first three games went to
winner-take-all 40-40 points and it was the South African prevailing on all
three occasions. Angry at herself for making impatient errors and
angry with the officials over questionable calls, Reeves looked out of
sorts. Already trailing 0-3 in the set and 1-8 in the match, Coach
Kardon got out the hook, sending in Maria Sharapova to sub for Sam.
One of the highest ranked juniors in the world, Sharapova has more to
her arsenal than just photo shoots and endorsement deals. Coached by
Davenport's old tutor Robert Lansdorp, Sharapova gets quite a bit of
pace on her groudstrokes, each of them accompanied by an interesting
exhale. (She sounds like she's trying to blow out candles on a
birthday cake.) However, she sprayed errors in much the same
way Reeves had and fell behind 0-4. "Good serve," Huber remarked
after one powerful delivery from the teen. It was one of only two
victorious points for Sharapova, though. "Don't worry about it,"
Kardon told her as soon as the 5-0 drubbing was complete. A very
good showing against two different opponents by Liezel Huber, who
hopes to crack the Top 100 when she returns to action on the WTA Tour.
OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 10, DELAWARE 1
Third set: men's doubles -- Bhupathi/Bower vs. Goldstein/Haygarth
"Welcome back," a fan shouted to Brent Haygarth as he took the court
for set number 3. The veteran doubles specialist logged a couple
seasons in a Buzz uniform and was recognized even though his homecoming
was, like Davenport's appearance, unscheduled. Haygarth was filling
in for Scott Humphries, who himself has been spelling John-Laffnie de
Jager on the woeful Smash roster. Mind you, all the losing and lineup
changes haven't dimmed their senses of humor. Haygarth and Paul
Goldstein engaged in a mock chest bump while Coach Kardon told
Samantha Reeves (who wandered over to the Buzz bench between sets) "stop
fraternizing with the other team." The comedy continued on the set's
first point: Haygarth helped win it with a terrific reflex volley and
got some backhanded praise from Goldstein, who dubbed Brent "the old
man."
After all four players won their opening service games, Justin Bower
found some trouble in Game 5. He threw in a second serve ace (which
skimmed the tape) to save one break point, but a winning return by
Goldstein did the trick for 3-2. Bower unhappily smacked a ball into the
trees, drawing a code violation for his tape measure shot. After
getting angry, the Buzz got even, reeling off eleven points in a row
for a 4-3, 0-40 lead. Triple set point in hand, Mahesh Bhupathi
netted a backhand return. There would be no Smash comeback, though
-- Haygarth failed to dig out a low forehand volley at 15-40 and the set came
to an end. Darkness hadn't even fallen yet in Schenectady as the
Buzz carried a staggering 11-point lead into halftime.
OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 15, DELAWARE 4
Fourth set: men's singles -- Justin Bower vs. Paul Goldstein
If heart and brains were all it took to win tennis matches, Paul
Goldstein would be racking up Hall of Fame credentials. Arguably the
most articulate player in professional tennis today, Goldstein is an
on-court scrambler whose off-court credentials include a degree in
human biology from Stanford University. Alas, Goldstein is 155 pounds
soaking wet and lacks the weapons to consistently beat top players.
That said, he did break from his traditional counterpunching style in his
meeting with New York's Justin Bower. Goldstein used some daring
serve-and-volley plays to rally from a 15-40 deficit and hold serve
in the set's opening game.
Despite cries of "C'mon Paul!" and "Goldie!" from teammate Samantha
Reeves, Goldstein did wind up surrendering the first break of the set
on a backhand error. A perfect drop volley on a game point then took
Bower to 3-1. Goldstein responded by
ripping the ball into an empty corner of the stands, earning a ball
abuse warning of his own. The umpire was on the hot seat again in
the very next game when a linesman hesitated before calling a Bower
shot out. "That call was about 7 1/2 days late," Justin complained
before marching up to the net. "If my girlfriend was that late, I'd think she was
pregnant," he quipped, patting umpire Candy Pantano on the hip. As
Bower self-destructed a bit, Goldstein took advantage, tying the set
at 3 games apiece.
Goldstein's finesse and hustle were gelling with Bower's
fluid one-handed strokes to produce the kind of all-court "conversational"
tennis you don't always see in the men's game circa 2002. Goldstein
has really been struggling to win matches lately, though, and he fell
short in the clutch here. After going up 40-30 in Game 7, he bricked an overhead
and pushed a running forehand into the net. Bower put his foot on the
accelerator at that point, scoring two aces and a big service winner
as he closed out a 5-3 win of the set.
OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 20, DELAWARE 7
Fifth set: mixed doubles -- Bhupathi/Huber vs. Haygarth/Reeves
Not since the perenially putrid Kansas City Explorers sputtered into
Schenectady last summer had I seen a Team Tennis match turn so lopsided
before the fifth set. Nothing was cooperating with the Delaware
Smash on this evening, including Samantha Reeves's cell phone, which
started buzzing just as the final set was about to get underway.
Cheerfully muttering an expletive as she ran over to turn it off,
Reeves realized that the alarm she thought she'd set for 9 AM was
going off at 9 PM instead. With a 13-game deficit, the wake-up
call was coming a little late for Delaware.
Playing with nothing to lose, Reeves and Haygarth kept pace with
Bhupathi and Huber, easily holding serve to 3-3. Craig Kardon
finally stopped giving advice to his players, choosing instead to
groove to the between-points music. But a funny thing happened in
the seventh game -- popping up out of the I-formation, Bhupathi
buried a reflex volley in the net on game point to give up the first
break of the set. Haygarth made the highlight reel in the following
game, drawing a smile from Bhupathi with a nifty behind-the-back
volley. At 40-all, Reeves laced a service winner to give Delaware a
5-3 win of the set and keep them alive...technically, anyway.
OVERALL SCORE: NEW YORK 23, DELAWARE 12
A hush fell over the crowd as Umpire Pantano explained the overtime
concept. The match would continue until the Buzz won a game or the
Smash won enough of them in a row to tie the overall score. The hush
ended when a laughing Lindsay Davenport blurted out "12 games!"
Eleven to tie, actually, but it was indeed an uphill battle facing
Haygarth and Reeves. A loose service game from Bhupathi and a good
one from Haygarth kept hope alive at 23-14. Haygarth spanked a
winning return to open the next game and give Liezel Huber something
to think about. She finally did serve it out, though, with an
errant Samantha Reeves backhand serving as the last nail in the
coffin.
FINAL SCORE: NEW YORK 24, DELAWARE 14
"If they needed me, I would have come back in, but they seemed to
handle it just fine," Lindsay Davenport said after her team's no-sweat
victory. Davenport's comeback from knee surgery began with a 5-2 loss in singles to
Meghann Shaughnessy on Friday night, but she feels like things are
progressing well. "I'm really happy to be out here and be, first of all,
pain-free. And second of all, I knew it was gonna take time to get back into
the swing of things. I started off with the singles and I didn't
play great, but the last couple sets I played doubles, it's gotten
better and better... I feel like I'm serving well. I feel like I'm
hitting the ball well. Just a little bit unsure at times of where
to go." Swimming and working out for six months has done wonders for
Lindsay's physique. "My whole plan since surgery was all about rehab
and all about what it takes to get back to the top of tennis. I feel
like I'm in better shape than I was before and I really think it's
just a matter of time until my tennis comes back around." Her next
test will come on Sunday evening, with her regularly scheduled
Schenectady appearance against Patrick McEnroe's New York Hamptons.
Departing from the Davenport interview to see if any other players
were available to take questions, I was flagged down by a quartet of
rabid On The Line fans. They peppered me with compliments,
surely in an effort to get free OTL pens out of my stingy possession.
(They were very nice, actually, and the positive feedback was
greatly appreciated.) So I missed out on interviewing anyone from the
Smash, but I'll try to grab Paul Goldstein and/or Maria Sharapova when
they return for July 17th's rematch.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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