February 12, 2001 - Patrick McEnroe got taken!
As the match started, Mal Washington tells Cliff Drysdale how he had a talk with the Swiss captain, Jakob Hlasek and that he was told that Roger Federer does not have any weapons, good strokes but no weapons.
When the 19 year old begin to hit huge serves with ease, one handed backhands with as much power as anyone as ever hit that stroke, moving as quickly as a young Michael Chang and with the composure of a seasoned veteran, the American announcers were still on the no weapons bandwagon.
Jakob knew that Mal would report his findings to Patrick and they would built their approach and mind frame according to what he found out, it wasn't until the end of the match did they begin to realize that the kid was for real and that he had huge game.
Let's hope Patrick learns and realizes that anyone in the top 100 has weapons that they build their games around and on even given week can put it all together and become world beaters.
It's also not a surprise that the US lost, they were relying on Todd Martin who had lost 6 consecutive Davis Cup matches, a streak which is now at 7.
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February 13, 2001 - Whatever happened to the Bryan twins?
They were supposed to be the next big thing a few years ago, unfortunately
like many can't miss prospects, they faded without first shining.
The next future Pete Sampras champion to fall short will be Andy Roddick, even if he has the talent to be a good player, the hype and the promise is simply too much.
It's certainly possible in the women's game where players who are predicted for success actually do reach their potential, but in the men's game, it's a wait and see thing, when Pete Sampras turned pro and before he won the Us Open or even afterwards, no one predicted that he would someday be the greatest grand slam champion of all time.
The next big man player will not be predicted, he will just appear and present himself, sit back and wait he's coming.
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February 14, 2001 - Czech the American in!
Ivan Lendl has been elected to the International tennis hall of fame.
*8 consecutive US Open finals
*8 consecutive masters finals
157 consecutive weeks at number one
270 total weeks at number one
*19 grand slam finals
Davis Cup champion with a 10-0 record
8 grand slam titles
*5 Masters titles
all of the above were achieved in a 10 year span, 1981 to 1991, he may not be the best player who has ever played, but he is certainly the most dominant tennis player of all time. He won on every surface, yes he did not win
Wimbledon, but 5 semifinals and 2 finals on the his worse surface is better than any other champion in the open era, who struggled on a particular surface.
I salute Ivan a true champion.
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February 15, 2001 - They get paid for not winning!
We want equal prize money the women's tour demands at the grand slams,
and I think they should get it, the difference between the men's and women's prize money at the grand slams is so minute that it really
should not be an issue.
The bigger issue should be which tour pays the most to players who do not win?
Which tour features the most players without a grand slam in their top 20 all-time
on-court earnings list?
The answer: The WTA
Almost half of the top 20 career money earners have not won a grand slam, with Natalie Zvereva on top of
that list.
On the ATP, outside of the Woodies who earned 90% of their cash on the doubles circuit, there's only
one player in the top 20 who has not won a grand slam, and you guessed it, Goran Ivanisevic, remember
him?
The WTA provides an opportunity for women to play and compete at a very early age and win tons of money, "Even" if you don't win!
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February 16, 2001 - Johnny Mac give it up!
Your days playing world class tennis are over, stop fooling your fans who still think that you can actually play with the big boys.
It's only doubles they say, and you can't tell me that he's not better than Justin Gilmestob, the last thing I want to do is defend Justin's tennis skills, but I'm afraid that the answer is yes, he is better than Johnny Mac, even if it's only doubles.
It used to be said that the best doubles team is John McEnroe and anyone else, but that was 20 years ago, the
man is now 42 years old. The main reasons why he stopped playing over a decade ago was not because his strokes
deteriorated, but because world class tennis had passed him by, he was
simply too weak and too slow for the modern power game.
Stop living in a dream world people, John McEnroe is an has been, deal with it!
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