Rabbit
G.O.A.T.
Well, they owed me a day or two at work and I took one of them Friday. I decided that for the price of a tank of gas and $35 for a ticket, a day at the Racket Club of Memphis was too good a deal to pass up. So, I drove solo to Memphis to watch the day's tennis. I thought about how to present this, and what I decided was to list the matches, in the order that I watched them, and give details about each.
Murray had a hit on the main court prior to the first match. It was uneventful. I couldn't help but think of another post on these boards watching him equating Murray to Napolean Dynamite. Murray is a solid player and had a fairly uneventful hit with is coach.
Vliegen vs Capdeville
After watching Murray and 30 minutes into this match, I was questioning the wisdom of my $35 investment. This match looked to be little more than a practice session between two level 2 players. They could both hit the ball, but unfortunately, not away from each other. Errors ruled the day on this one.
I should take a little time here and explain the layout of the courts in Memphis. The court you see on TV is the stadium court. It has very close confines and you are practically sitting ********* no matter where you are. There are luxury boxes on one end and down one side. They don't have any better view although they don't have to go far for a libation.
The other two courts are housed in one common area. This appears to be a three court indoor building. The center court of these two courts has two bleachers, one facing east and one facing west (or north/south???). In any event, if you sit on the bottom bleacher, you are two - three feet away from the doubles line on either court.
Blake/Fish v Gimelstob/Huss
About 30 minutes prior to the start of this match, there was a mass exodus from the stadium court. Unfortunately, the two players named above had just finished the first set. I think they were left with an empty court. It is about 200 feet from one area to the next.
I got a seat in the bleachers right about mid court. Gimelstob and Huss were out hitting on the court. Gimelstob took great notice of the crowd coming in. (On the way home, Jethro Tull was on channel 40 doing a studio special. I light bulb came on. That's who Gimelstob reminded me of, Ian Anderson! Gimelstob looks like Ian Anderson (back in his prime). But, I digress.)
Gimelstob has to have the longest shins of any human on the planet. The guy's calves are stretched like rubber bands up them. Huss was the shortest player on the court. About five minutes prior to start, Blake and Fish arrived on court to a great round of applause. I should probably clear one thing up right now. The crowd was pro-Blake. I think Blake could have been playing with Satan himself and the crowd would have been behind him and not for (which is different than against) the other team. It became apparent right after the start that Blake and Gimelstob were the two best players on court. If it weren't for Fish's serve, he'd have been way outclassed.
The match went the distance, a third set 10-point tiebreak. I noticed early on that Gimelstob had his lower back wrapped. I also noticed that he had retired at 2-0 in his previous days' singles match. I surmised that he must have pulled something. After the first set, Gimelstob removed the wrapping. Mid-way through the second, and up a break, Gimelstob's serve was broken. He was not happy. He threw his racket toward the other wall. He began gesticulating and saying things which were (thankfully I think) covered up by the applause and then he attempted, I think, to grab his injured back in some sort of gesture. Unfortunately for the crowd, his hand became tangled in his shorts and with the downward motion of his gesture, Justin showed the crowd of side of him that no one in the crowd really cared to see. Steve Ulrich was in the chair and didn't notice the happenings. The crowd did and there was a synchronized aversion of the eyes.
Blake was very hard on himself. His serve was broken two or three times and each time, he fought the urge to bang his racket on the court, his bag, the wall, anything he could find. His frame says Prince on one side, and oddly enough, James Blake on the other. It has no special grommets, is leaded up at the 3 and 9, and has a Prince butt cap. Mardy Fish is now playing with a Slazenger stencil.
Blake was also very congenial. He and Fish both smiled frequently. At one point, Blake was hitting a ball to one of the ball kids. He hit the ball up in the air, about 2 feet off his racket toward the kid. He also put some severe spin on it which she didn't recognize. The ball bounced in front of her hands and then shot toward the backstop. Blake grinned ear to ear after this happened and then returned serve. Blake's forehand was awesome on returns.
Gimelstob played one helluva match as well. I never thought he had much athletic ability, but there were a couple of points where he saved the day for his team. He's not as fast afoot as his partner, but he has great hands and reflexes, especially for someone whose 9 feet tall.
Fish bricked a ton of volleys. It's clear that he's on the comeback trail. His serve was as good as Blake's, but past that, he really struggled.
Tommy Haas Practice
About 30 minutes prior to the end of the Blake/Fish doubles match, we could hear somone hitting on the adjacent (directly behind us) court. When the match was over, I walked around the bleachers and saw Tommy Haas and his new coach. Haas' coach can hit the ball boys and girls. The guy was clearly at home on the court. He couldn't move like Haas, but he didn't shy away from anything Haas hit either.
Haas worked all areas of the court. He took volleys and displayed great form, not missing anything. He didn't do anything flashy, but was solid as a rock. From the back court, Haas did hit some backhands that were incredible. If the ball bounced between waist and shoulder height, Haas was able to hit it down into the court with topspin. Some of these had incredible, almost overhead-like pace.
There were about 10 people watching him practice. By the time finished, there was more noise behind me.
Raymond/Stosur
If I had bought a basket, this match would have been the Easter egg. Lisa Raymond has the most incredible volleys of anyone on the women's tour. She and Stosur played one helluva match, I think they won the second set 6 - 0 against two good players. Raymond was shorter than some of the ballkids, but had awesome touch around net and some of the best court sense and shot selection of anyone I've ever seen. Her angled overheads were things of beauty.
Stosur is no slouch either. She knocks the cover off the ball and has great volleys as well. It was a great lesson to watch these two from about ten feet away. I concentrated on watching the player at net when they were returning serve. Raymond's attention was solely on the opposing net player. She stared at her, waiting to see what she was going to do. Raymond also had some great movement around the net and put volleys away left and right.
They had several extended points with all four girls at net hitting volleys. Not only could Stosur and Raymond pound the ball, they had great touch as well. Both girls hit great angles when they needed to. I had found some friends of mine in the stands. All of us agreed that this was the best match of the day. It wasn't very competitive by score, but it was very entertaining.
Haas v Tursonov
This match went three sets. Haas' F-bomb count was 3/first set, 2/second set, and 0/third set. Tursonov looked to have the match won. He made a couple of errors at the wrong time and Haas was able to come through. Tursonov hit one serve at 140 MPH and lost the point.
Haas' backhand was brilliant throughout the match. He hit with great variety and movement around the court. His forehand was great as well, but without the variety. Haas' serve appeared to let him down at points, and his opponents' returns were stellar.
Haas closed the match out after two hours.
All in all, Memphis is well worth the price of admission. The complex is very cozy as you are within reach of all the players. I plan to make a day trip out of it from this point forward I would think.
- Andrew Murray practice
- Vliegen vs Capdeville
- James Blake/Mardy Fish vs Justin Gimelstob/Stephen Huss
- Tommy Haas practice
- Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur vs Tetiana Luzhanska/Yaroslva Shvedova
- Tommy Haas vs Dimitry Tursunov
Murray had a hit on the main court prior to the first match. It was uneventful. I couldn't help but think of another post on these boards watching him equating Murray to Napolean Dynamite. Murray is a solid player and had a fairly uneventful hit with is coach.
Vliegen vs Capdeville
After watching Murray and 30 minutes into this match, I was questioning the wisdom of my $35 investment. This match looked to be little more than a practice session between two level 2 players. They could both hit the ball, but unfortunately, not away from each other. Errors ruled the day on this one.
I should take a little time here and explain the layout of the courts in Memphis. The court you see on TV is the stadium court. It has very close confines and you are practically sitting ********* no matter where you are. There are luxury boxes on one end and down one side. They don't have any better view although they don't have to go far for a libation.
The other two courts are housed in one common area. This appears to be a three court indoor building. The center court of these two courts has two bleachers, one facing east and one facing west (or north/south???). In any event, if you sit on the bottom bleacher, you are two - three feet away from the doubles line on either court.
Blake/Fish v Gimelstob/Huss
About 30 minutes prior to the start of this match, there was a mass exodus from the stadium court. Unfortunately, the two players named above had just finished the first set. I think they were left with an empty court. It is about 200 feet from one area to the next.
I got a seat in the bleachers right about mid court. Gimelstob and Huss were out hitting on the court. Gimelstob took great notice of the crowd coming in. (On the way home, Jethro Tull was on channel 40 doing a studio special. I light bulb came on. That's who Gimelstob reminded me of, Ian Anderson! Gimelstob looks like Ian Anderson (back in his prime). But, I digress.)
Gimelstob has to have the longest shins of any human on the planet. The guy's calves are stretched like rubber bands up them. Huss was the shortest player on the court. About five minutes prior to start, Blake and Fish arrived on court to a great round of applause. I should probably clear one thing up right now. The crowd was pro-Blake. I think Blake could have been playing with Satan himself and the crowd would have been behind him and not for (which is different than against) the other team. It became apparent right after the start that Blake and Gimelstob were the two best players on court. If it weren't for Fish's serve, he'd have been way outclassed.
The match went the distance, a third set 10-point tiebreak. I noticed early on that Gimelstob had his lower back wrapped. I also noticed that he had retired at 2-0 in his previous days' singles match. I surmised that he must have pulled something. After the first set, Gimelstob removed the wrapping. Mid-way through the second, and up a break, Gimelstob's serve was broken. He was not happy. He threw his racket toward the other wall. He began gesticulating and saying things which were (thankfully I think) covered up by the applause and then he attempted, I think, to grab his injured back in some sort of gesture. Unfortunately for the crowd, his hand became tangled in his shorts and with the downward motion of his gesture, Justin showed the crowd of side of him that no one in the crowd really cared to see. Steve Ulrich was in the chair and didn't notice the happenings. The crowd did and there was a synchronized aversion of the eyes.
Blake was very hard on himself. His serve was broken two or three times and each time, he fought the urge to bang his racket on the court, his bag, the wall, anything he could find. His frame says Prince on one side, and oddly enough, James Blake on the other. It has no special grommets, is leaded up at the 3 and 9, and has a Prince butt cap. Mardy Fish is now playing with a Slazenger stencil.
Blake was also very congenial. He and Fish both smiled frequently. At one point, Blake was hitting a ball to one of the ball kids. He hit the ball up in the air, about 2 feet off his racket toward the kid. He also put some severe spin on it which she didn't recognize. The ball bounced in front of her hands and then shot toward the backstop. Blake grinned ear to ear after this happened and then returned serve. Blake's forehand was awesome on returns.
Gimelstob played one helluva match as well. I never thought he had much athletic ability, but there were a couple of points where he saved the day for his team. He's not as fast afoot as his partner, but he has great hands and reflexes, especially for someone whose 9 feet tall.
Fish bricked a ton of volleys. It's clear that he's on the comeback trail. His serve was as good as Blake's, but past that, he really struggled.
Tommy Haas Practice
About 30 minutes prior to the end of the Blake/Fish doubles match, we could hear somone hitting on the adjacent (directly behind us) court. When the match was over, I walked around the bleachers and saw Tommy Haas and his new coach. Haas' coach can hit the ball boys and girls. The guy was clearly at home on the court. He couldn't move like Haas, but he didn't shy away from anything Haas hit either.
Haas worked all areas of the court. He took volleys and displayed great form, not missing anything. He didn't do anything flashy, but was solid as a rock. From the back court, Haas did hit some backhands that were incredible. If the ball bounced between waist and shoulder height, Haas was able to hit it down into the court with topspin. Some of these had incredible, almost overhead-like pace.
There were about 10 people watching him practice. By the time finished, there was more noise behind me.
Raymond/Stosur
If I had bought a basket, this match would have been the Easter egg. Lisa Raymond has the most incredible volleys of anyone on the women's tour. She and Stosur played one helluva match, I think they won the second set 6 - 0 against two good players. Raymond was shorter than some of the ballkids, but had awesome touch around net and some of the best court sense and shot selection of anyone I've ever seen. Her angled overheads were things of beauty.
Stosur is no slouch either. She knocks the cover off the ball and has great volleys as well. It was a great lesson to watch these two from about ten feet away. I concentrated on watching the player at net when they were returning serve. Raymond's attention was solely on the opposing net player. She stared at her, waiting to see what she was going to do. Raymond also had some great movement around the net and put volleys away left and right.
They had several extended points with all four girls at net hitting volleys. Not only could Stosur and Raymond pound the ball, they had great touch as well. Both girls hit great angles when they needed to. I had found some friends of mine in the stands. All of us agreed that this was the best match of the day. It wasn't very competitive by score, but it was very entertaining.
Haas v Tursonov
This match went three sets. Haas' F-bomb count was 3/first set, 2/second set, and 0/third set. Tursonov looked to have the match won. He made a couple of errors at the wrong time and Haas was able to come through. Tursonov hit one serve at 140 MPH and lost the point.
Haas' backhand was brilliant throughout the match. He hit with great variety and movement around the court. His forehand was great as well, but without the variety. Haas' serve appeared to let him down at points, and his opponents' returns were stellar.
Haas closed the match out after two hours.
All in all, Memphis is well worth the price of admission. The complex is very cozy as you are within reach of all the players. I plan to make a day trip out of it from this point forward I would think.
