In my last
column, I wrote about the likely retirement of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.
Not a week later the Spaniard made it official saying "I think the
time has come for me to abandon tennis. My motives are personal."
Her comments more than hit home for me. Although my tennis "career"
has been considerably shorter than Sanchez Vicario's, of late I have also
felt the need to move on and spend more time on other areas of my life.
So while I have enjoyed commenting on tennis twice a month for the
past couple of years, this marks my last column.
Instead of doing a "Champs & Chump" or "The Line Judge" column, I
thought I would share some of my more memorable moments over the six years
I have been regularly covering the world of tennis.
Interviews/Press
Conferences
Interviews and press
conferences give you the best insight into a player. It is certainly
an unenviable task. Could you imagine coming home from work each day
and having to explain to a group of people what you did right and wrong
that day or worse yet what is going on in your love life?
Having mostly covered
tournaments in Arizona and California, it is not surprising that the player
I have the most experience with is Andre Agassi. I've seen Agassi
with long hair and no hair, with Brooke and with Steffi, with Brad Gilbert
and Darren Cahill, and ranked anywhere between #1 and #120. Having
been a long time fan of tennis before being involved behind the scenes, I
have come to realize that tennis players are just like everyone else. Normal
folks with not so normal jobs. Agassi is no exception. I have
seen him in various moods from charming and amiable to sarcastic
and sometimes downright pissy, to nearly catatonic after a surprising loss.
It has always been hard to predict which Andre will show up and this
always makes for a must-attend press conference. Agassi definitely
has a star-quality aura about him and my runaway nominee for most beloved
player of either Tour. Fans just love this guy.
My favorite one-on-one
interview was with Lindsay Davenport at Indian Wells back in 1997.
Davenport at the time was #6 in the world. Our interview had been postponed
for several times and I ultimately ended up interviewing her just after
she earned her first ever semifinal showing in a Tier I tournament. A
bit pressed for time, my interview was done on the move as we walked across
the tournament grounds. It was certainly a bit disconcerting
to have to look up to the 6'2" Calfornian for the interview. The experience gave
me a taste of what it was like to be a recognized personality as folks yelled
out to the local favorite along the way. Even at this early stage
in her career, and to a journalist for not exactly the most well-known publication
in the world, Davenport was friendly and well-spoken. Davenport went
on to win the title. The next year I presented Davenport with some photographs
with her Indian Wells trophy. Davenport, who had significantly trimmed
down in the interim, graciously accepted the photos though I could tell from
her expression that seeing her "old" body might have been quite an eye-opener
for her.
Fortunately my first
year of covering tennis coincided with Stefan Edberg's last year
on the ATP Tour. In my rookie year, I mustered up the courage to ask
the Swede a question. I wondered if he saw himself playing any kind of role
in tennis after retirement. In his characterstic soft-spoken manner
and looking me right in the eye, he said that he really did not see tennis
playing a huge role in his life. True to his word, we have seen little
of Edberg in the past six years.
Overall, I have to
give Goran Ivanisevic the most entertaining interviewee. Win
or lose, the Croat's press conferences were always filled with laughs. On
the women's side, the audacity of the Williams sisters and Martina
Hingis always contained memorable (if not at times downright catty)
moments, while Anna Kournikova gets the "I'd rather be anywhere else
but here" award when questioning inevitably turned to her lack of titles
or her off-court life.
Tennis Parents
If you have been a
regular reader of my columns, you know one of my favorite subjects over the
years has been tennis parents. For good or bad, tennis parents are often
just as famous (or infamous) as their offspring. I can not count the
number of times I have heard fans whisper under their breath: "There's Richard!"
or "Is that Stefano?" Stephano, Richard, Heidi, Melanie, Samantha,
Damir -- for the seasoned tennis fan a last name is rarely a necessity (though
if you are stumped: in order they are Capriati, Williams, Graf, Molitor/Hingis,
Stevenson, Dokic).
From the early years,
one of my favorite moments was Marisa Vicario retrieving balls for
daughter Arantxa during a practice session. What is so unusual about
that you say? Well, the mom (who probably holds the record for most
matches watched involving one's children) was decked out in a skirt/blouse
combo and high heels. It is certainly an image that has stayed with me over
the years.
Of course, there were
plenty of uncomfortable moments parent/child moments along the way. I
will not forget a clearly miserable-looking Mirjana Lucic during a
practice session with her father at Indian Wells in the late 1990s (there
were rumors of an off-court incident between the two ealier in the week).
Nor will I forget Samantha Stevenson, shouting to daughter
Alexandra to pull down her skirt and adjust her shirt during a changeover.
Finally, if you want the ultimate tennis parent experience sit near
Richard Williams during one of his daughter's matches. Richard
engages in an ongoing and often loud, conversation with himself and/or one
of his daughters during a match. Just make sure you don't get whacked
by the huge telephoto lens he often totes around.
Semi-Juicy Blind
Item
Several years back,
I had an interesting experience with an up-and-coming player. At
the time, I had created a "fan site" consisting of statistics for this big-serving
player on the ATP Tour. I had scheduled an interview through the proper
channels with the player and waited for him to finish up with a post-match
massage. While waiting outside the trailer, one of the player's "people"
approached me with a young girl in his arms (I later found out the girl
was the daughter of trainer extraordinaire Gavin Hopper). The person,
who I believe was the player's manager, said to the girl, "Do you have something
to say?" and the youngster said, "xxxx can't talk to you today." What
followed was an inquisition by the manager about my website -- "Who gave
you permission to create this website?" and other "How dare you?" exchanges.
Fearing legal recourse, the next day I provided this person with printed
pages from the website. He realized that my intentions were good and
I was providing publicity for his player, and clearly backed off his aggressive
stance of the prior day.
But needless to
say, the experience soured my feelings toward this player (who probably is
not all that bad) and his overprotective entourage. I certainly did not have
much respect for a manager who needs to use a three-year-old to deliver a
message. I pulled my website shortly after the incident. Despite
making it to a Grand Slam final, this player has been plagued with many injuries
and never has achieved the success many predicted. I often wonder
if his entourage was too smothering -- or simply pumped up the player's ego so
much that he had to either know little or do little when it came
to life outside the tennis court.
Thanks
again to regular readers of my columns. I hope you enjoyed them. Ed Toombs will be soldiering
on with the Mr Ed column from this point forward, on a bi-weekly basis.