Mr. Ed's Memories (November 23, 2002)
by Ed Zafian

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.



You may read previous Mr. Ed columns by clicking here.