McIntyre Tennis

Agassi Defeats Safin in Taiwan 'Rise of Legends' Exhibitions

By Mike McIntyre

A forty year old Andre Agassi showed he can still keep-up with the younger generation as he defeated 30 year old Marat Safin 2-6, 7-6(7), 13-11 during an exhibition match in Taiwan on Thursday.

Prior to their match, local tennis product Lu Yen-Hsun, ranked 35th in the world, defeated No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(5) in a one-set encounter.

Agassi and Safin reunited two days later in Kaohsiung (also in Taiwan) and again the older of the two retired tennis champions came out on top by a score of 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.

During their time together on the ATP World Tour, Agassi and Safin each won three times against each other between 1998 and 2004.

Safin defeated Agassi at Roland Garros in 1998 in the first round, a year before the American claimed his first and only Grand Slam in Paris.

Agassi will be back on a tennis court on February 28th at Madison Square Gardens in New York where he will face his old nemesis Pete Sampras in another friendly exhibition match.

Prior to playing Safin, Agassi said that todays rivalry between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal was "more compelling" than the one he once shared with Sampras.

Behind The Scenes at The Rogers Cup: Stenographer Linda Christensen Plays Vital Role

By Mike McIntyre

Who’s got the fastest hands on tour? Rafael Nadal or Justine Henin perhaps, or were you thinking of Andy Murray or Elena Dementieva? Try thinking outside of the box, or, more specifically, outside of the court. I’m not talking about the video review operator on center court or Roger Federer’s racquet stringer. Take your search into the players and media area and you will find a woman whose fingers are infinitely faster than any of the above.

Meet Linda Christensen, one of the ATP and WTA Tour stenographers. Able to type between 260-300 words per minute is a regular occurrence for this behind-the-scenes specialist who captures every sound uttered by the players in their post-match press conferences. Employed by ASAP Sports, Christensen gets the transcripts completed within moments of the players leaving the press room and into the hands of reporters and tournament organizers who can then share these valuable moments with tennis fans all over the world. In her spare time she also works as a CART provider (Communication Access Realtime Translation) which specializes in translating classes for deaf children who are in junior high and college.

A tennis enthusiast since the 1970s when her grandmother got her to watch Chris Evert, Christensen was initially trained as a court reporter, a role she fulfilled for 23 years. After years of working in the high-stress environment of the legal world, Christensen, a self-described sports enthusiast, decided to make the transition into the world of professional sports transcribing. Since the fall of 2007 she has covered college football, golf and most recently tennis where she began at the 2008 Australian Open.

I had the chance to talk with Linda last summer while covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto. There were many late nights where the two of us left the press room well past midnight. Getting back to the hotel past 2am is one of the tough realities of her job that she balances with the many positives she described to me one afternoon. Here is a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse into the vital role that Christensen plays in professional tennis.

Q: How does this fantastic process work with the machine and the audio and how do you put it all together?

A: It’s a training where you learn to write phonetically and it's a different language. So instead of typing one individual letter on a keyboard like your laptop, phonetically we make words and phrases and even whole sentences at a time so that we're able to take down up to 260-300 words a minute. And then that data is sent wirelessly into our laptop,  fed into our database, and it is translated into English.

Q: And phonetically, it's a hard concept to grasp for someone who is used to just your typical keyboard. But when I look at that machine there, you've got far less keys, they're not labelled at all. So does each key correspond to a sound?

A: A sound. Or combinations of keys. Lets just take the word "much." If you were on your laptop you would type m-u-c-h. When we write "much" it could be the initial "m" the "uh" and the final "ch" sound so we can write “much” all in one stroke. Or in court if you want to just say commonly used phrases, when an attorney addresses the jury he or she might say, "ladies and gentlemen of the jury," and we have that in one phrase, one stroke of our shorthand keyboard.

Q: Would you do the same thing in the tennis world then?

A: Yeah. “Backhand,” “cross court,” “hard court,” “grass court,” “clay court” are all pre-programmed in there as one stroke on the keyboard.

Q: Is it conceivable that someone could, with a regular keyboard, keep up with it all?

A: I don't believe so. I don't think anybody's ever been able to type that fast.

Q: What's your evaluation process like? How are you evaluated or how are you reviewed each year or what kind of process do they have in place for that? Or are you just on your own when you go to tournaments?

A: A little of both I guess. People read our transcripts in the company and we usually work with colleagues. This kind of tournament (Masters 1000 level) we work solo because they're smaller, but at the Slams we work in tandem with a computer person and a writer. And so we evaluate each other and challenge each other to be faster and more accurate.

Q: How hard is it to pick up?  When you started in 1983, how long did it take you to become comfortable with this process?

A: Well, I can say that the attrition rate in court reporting is very high. If I were to say a beginning class, let’s say, is 25, I would be hard-pressed to say that maybe one or two other people that started when I did are still doing it. It's a very high-stress job.  I'm talking legally. And then there's a whole other part of the business end and dealing with personalities like lawyers and paralegals, and deadlines. If they're in trial and they need something right away, you have to pull an all-nighter to get that transcript to them. And, you know, with ASAP, we say "When all is said we're done" - journalists have a deadline to meet and we know we're under the wire to get them their quotes from these interviews.

Q: In terms of tennis, who are some of the more difficult players to keep up with or understand and transcribe?

A: At the French Open in 2009 - the Serbians all speak very good English but they're very fast and fortunately they have a good cadence with how they speak. And Ana Ivanovic can be very quick, very rapid-fire.   I was working as the writer for her interview at the French and I had a scopist - meaning the computer person - a young man working with me, and we are able with our software to gauge how many words a minute people talk.  Anyway, Ana Ivanovic came in from a win and she just “took off,” and my colleague, after the interview, said that she had at times during the interview gotten to 330 words a minute. She was pretty quick. Others have very heavy accents.  Dinara Safina can be very difficult to understand, as is her brother Marat.   They have a very heavy accent. James Blake,(laughs) all the journalists know that he speaks very fast. And it's kind of a joke and he realizes that he's our nemesis, because he's even looked at us and said, "I know you hate me." ‘Cause he just really likes to talk.

Q: Do you ever get to a point where you're struggling to keep up or has it ever happened to you that you're falling behind - how do you compensate for that? How do you deal with those situations?

A: Yes, that is difficult. You learn a skill called trailing or carrying where you learn to be behind a sentence or two and you keep it in your mind and you catch up. If we have any questions, everything is also recorded to our hard drive simultaneously, so if we think we might have missed something or misheard, we can listen to that at the time we edit it before we send the final transcript.

Q: Any memorable moments in particular? Particular tournaments or interviews that stand out for one reason or another?

A: Well, yeah, the Australian Open of '08 my colleague and I - there were just really long matches, and everything for the women went three sets and everything for the men went five. And it being Australia, we took Lleyton Hewitt, he won over Baghdatis, and we took Lletyon's interview at 5:30am. We stayed up all night waiting for that. And the tennis fans of Australia are true fans. There were kids in the audience and nobody left (early). Last year at Montreal Marat Safin threw in some choice words. He's funny. He's very funny. He was retiring and was asked a question about his sister and just held nothing back and let the expletives fly. So that was fun.

Q: Do you have to transcribe those expletives word for word, verbatim?

A: Yes, pretty much.

Q: Any awkward moments between reporters and players

A: I can't think of a specific. Only when players lose and they don't like to be asked what they think are seemingly stupid questions. So they get kind of testy.

Q: Favorite tournaments for you in the year and a half that you've been doing this?

A: Indian Wells is wonderful, as is the Sony Ericsson in Key Biscayne. The Slams - the French is great, everything is translated and the translators are great. The US Open is gruelling because they have lights that they can start matches very late at night. So last year every other night is 3 to 4 AM into bed, and that gets a little tough after two-plus weeks

Lendl, Roddick, Safin and Sampras in Action in Atlantic City

By Mike McIntyre

The Caesars Tennis Classic is on today in Atlantic City and features some of the most exciting tennis players from the past twenty years.

First up is Ivan Lendl against Mats Wilander. That is followed by American Andy Roddick against recently-retired Marat Safin of Russia. Finishing the day is a battle between current player James Blake and former Grand Slam record-holder Pete Sampras.

Personally I would have enjoyed watching Pete take on Marat or Andy - but this is still a pretty entertaining line-up.

Have a look at the exhibition website. Hopefully we'll get a couple of video clips up in the days to come.

Quick Hits

By Mike McIntyre

Just a quick post to bring you up to speed on a few developments since the end of the Australian Open. The ATP and WTA Tours will now proceed with some smaller level tournaments on both hard and clay courts. March will showcase the two Masters Series hard-court tournaments in the United States before the official clay-court season is upon us and with it the road to the French Open in May. Until then, check back regularly for any exciting developments on the men's and women's game that you will not want to miss.

Lleyton Hewitt Injured:

Just when Lleyton Hewitt was rounding into top-twenty form, he has been hit by another injury. Hewitt had surgery on his right hip following his straight sets loss to Roger Federer in the fourth round in Melbourne. The injury was sustained during the Hopman Cup in January and is similar to the one on his left hip that kept him out of contention for much of 2008. Hewitt says he plans on coming back to the tour as quickly as he can and estimates that will be somewhere around the French Open.

For more info check out his official press conference transcript where he reported the news.

Ivan Lendl Exhibition:

Since retiring from the tour in 1994, Ivan Lendl has managed to stay away from playing any tennis exhibitions, instead choosing to focus on his golf game. That will change on April 10th as he plays former rival Mats Wilander at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. The event will be called the Ceaser's Tennis Classic and will be the first in a new annual tradition. Some of the proceeds will be used to help the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education group.

Also playing during the event will be Andy Roddick against recently retired Marat Safin. That's the same  Marat Safin who said we would never see him play in such exhibition events after his professional career ended.

David Nalbandian:

Speaking of hip surgery, after being out since May 2009 with an injury to his hip, David Nalbandian is looking ready to return to the tour on clay in Buenos Aires in two weeks. Nalbandian was aiming for a return at the Australian Open, but suffered an abdominal injury while practicing. While his ranking is officially 140th in the world, Nalbandian should have a higher protected ranking when he returns from his injury.

Ranking Movements:

The most noticeable change is Novak Djokovic overtaking Rafael Nadal as the number two player in the world. Nadal has dropped to the number four position after failing to defend the ranking points he earned winning in Australia a year ago. 

Youngster Marin Cilic moves up four spots into the tenth position after his first ever Grand Slam semi-final appearance in Melbourne. 

This Week on Tour:

In Chile we have the Movistar Open on clay with Fernando Gonzalez as the number one seed and Juan Monaco as the number two. Not too many other names worth noting at this one, except perhaps Jose Acasuso who is always a threat on clay.

Zagreb, Croatia hosts a hard court tournament with Marin Cilic as the top dog. Ivo Karlovic also lurks in the top-half of the draw, while veteran Ivan Ljubicic is the number two seed.

In Johannesburg, the SA Tennis Open is underway and showcases Gael Monfils and David Ferrer as the top two players. Aside from them the draw is quite sparse, so expect the two top-twenty players to meet each other in the final.

The Year That Was: 2009 In Review

By Mike McIntyre

Another calendar year about to come to a close means that we can officially turn the page on another exciting year of professional tennis. Truly 2009 was not just an ordinary year in the history of the sport, but one that had fans and media alike talking tennis at great lengths over the past twelve months.

Tennis grabbed the headlines for a variety of reasons - some good, some bad - and captivated us from Rafael Nadal's first hard-court Grand Slam victory in January to Nikolay Davydenko's unlikely season-ending triumph at the Tour finals in November. In between we had a comeback like no other from Kim Clijsters in the summer and a meltdown from Serena Williams that made John McEnroe look like a saint. What about December you ask? Well hey, we have to give these guys a break sometime don't we?

With all the high's and low's from the past year it is difficult to focus on just a few, but some certainly stood out more than others.

Roger Federer's Achievements:

Up until the last Slam of the year in 2008, our boy Roger was getting a lot of flack from people about his performance on the court. No major titles to his credit, a thrashing by Rafa at Roland Garros and losing to the Spaniard again at Wimbledon did not bode well for his attempt at continued domination and his desire to topple the Grand Slam record held by Pete Sampras. Eventually he did win the U.S. Open to salvage some much needed respect and confidence - but could he maintain it in 2009?

Roger responded with authority by making all four Slam finals, finally breaking through at the French Open to complete his career-slam and re-taking Wimbledon in a match for the ages (yeah I know, we said that in 2008 too!) He broke Pete's record with his 15th major title and also celebrated the year in his personal life with a wedding and the arrival of twins.

He is arguably now the greatest player of all-time and whether he adds to his Slam-total or not, it will be a good while before we even think about his record being challenged. Despite not being named the AP athlete of the year, this guy is as classy a champion as we'll ever see. He is without a doubt, the tennis played of the year for 2009.

Serena Williams' Ups and Downs:

On the women's side the distinction of player of the year goes to Serena Williams. I'm not sure if the word 'classy' can be thrown in along with that, but her record at the majors was untouched. Slam victories at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, along with the season-ending championship in Qatar,' all cemented her status as world number one. And let's not forget her doubles accomplishments with sister Venus, as the duo won three Slams together and finished the year ranked third overall despite only entering six tournaments.

Negating some of the praise for her tennis achievements was the unfortunate meltdown in her semi-final match at the U.S. Open against Kim Clijsters. Her verbal assault towards a line-judge was completely unacceptable and brought all the wrong kind of attention to the sport in a match that should have been purely about two great and talented tennis players. Foot-fault or not, she was deducted a point according to the rules and as it was on match-point it ended up being the end of the contest.

Take away that one incident - if you can - and everyone would have been singing Serena's praises for such a fantastic year. Personally I think we can shrug off this ugly heat-of-the-moment outburst and look for Serena to let her play speak for itself in 2010.

Comebacks:

Big-name, small-name, older and younger, there were several notable comebacks in 2009. The most impressive no-doubt goes to a certain Belgian player named Kim Clijsters. Clijsters chose a difficult time of the year to return to professional tennis - halfway through the season - and knocked off some tough competition in her first two tournaments back. It was in her third tournament, at the U.S. Open however, that she really showed us what she could do. After more than two years away from the game, Clijsters knocked off both Williams sisters en-route to her second career Grand Slam title. Makes you wonder if a little time away from the game might help some other players seeking to win another major, doesn't it? 

Other returning players worth note include Taylor Dent on the men's side who overcame a potentially career-ending back injury to jump from 804 to 75 in the ATP rankings. It's nice to see the affable serve and volleyer back on the court after such a prolonged absence from the game.

Kimiko Date-Krumm showed us that age is but a number when she returned to the court at 38 years old and became the second-oldest player behind Billie Jean King to win a tour event.

Maria Sharapova returned from an injury to her shoulder that kept her away from the game for ten months. While her powerful groundstrokes remain a threat, her serve was a disappointment as she attempted to use an adjusted motion. If she can keep the number of double-faults to a minimum there is no reason why Sharapova cannot return to Grand Slam success. January will mark two years since her last major victory.

A final comeback worth noting is that of Justine Henin. While Henin has yet to play a competitive match, she made her announcement in 2009 and one cannot help but think the success of her fellow-Belgian Kim Clijsters was partially responsible. What a great boost to the women's game that is already thriving with plenty of big-name appeal.

Andre Agassi's Revelations:

When eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi left the game in 2006, he exited as a soft-spoken, elder-statesman of the tour and a highly respected ambassador of the sport. It was hard to remember him as the long-haired, Big-mac eating, rock-star Agassi of the 80s or the over-weight, sullen, challenger-level Agassi of 1997. Agassi's autobiography, Open, reminds us of these times and other dark moments in his tennis career that we never even imagined. 

Recreational drug-use, lies to Tour officials about dope tests, and a deep rooted hatred for the game were all shocking admissions that Agassi shares with his readers. How did Agassi's confession sit with his peers and his fans?

Some, like Martina Navratilova, were quick to condemn him, while others like Andy Roddick stood firm behind him. Most voiced their surprise and disappointment and some applauded his candor. While the manner in which Agassi came clean is somewhat less than perfect, his book sheds much insight into the tortured inner-feelings of one of the sport's more complex characters.

Many lessons can be learned from his writing such as the pressure tennis parents place on their children, the completely ineffective drug-testing policies the tour's adhere to and the ability to overcome adversity and triumph through hard work and determination. 

Israeli Tennis:

It was a year of major tennis accomplishments and disappointments for Israeli tennis players in 2009. The ugly side of sports emerged in February in the United Arab Emirates when politics and racism reared their head in a controversial decision that had everyone talking. Israeli top-forty player Shahar Peer was denied entry into the Emirates despite qualifying for direct entry into the tournament in Dubai. Tournament organizers hid their motives behind so-called fears of security concerns for Peer. In truth, this was just another example of a country that attempts to appear progressive displaying its shallow prejudice.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour officials mistakenly allowed the tournament to continue despite Peer's exclusion. Fortunately the situation was corrected in time for the ATP event the following week with Andy Ram playing in the doubles draw. Despite Ram's entry, American Andy Roddick took a noble stand and refused to play due to the treatment of Peer. A nice gesture of solidarity on his part.

Just when that situation had resolved itself, Israel was once again in the middle of a controversy - this time in Malmo, Sweden, for a Davis Cup tie in early March. Player safety was again cited as the reason why the best-of-five tie would be played with no spectators in attendance. The controversial decision clearly did not help the favored Swedes, as Israel advanced with a surprise 3-2 victory.

Davis Cup would prove to be the saving grace for Israeli tennis in 2009, as the country would defeat a powerful Russian team to get to the semi-finals before bowing out against the eventual champions from Spain. With a roster compiled of unheralded journeymen such as Jonathan Erlich, Harel Levy, Andy Ram and Dudi Sela, Israel made it to their very first Davis Cup semi-final and shocked many along the way. After all of the sensational press they had received earlier in the year, it was a deserving, feel-good story for the Israelis. 

Other Noteable Events:

 - Rafael Nadal's first-ever loss at Roland Garros versus Robin Soderling. The most shocking loss of 2009 without a doubt and one that would greatly help Federer achieve his missing slam. 

 - Andy Roddick coming so close to winning his elusive second Grand Slam title. Boy did Andy ever take Roger into extra-innings at Wimbledon in June. He earned some much needed respect after that five set marathon.

 - Melanie Oudin's unexpected run at the U.S. Open where she made it to the quarter-finals. A nice shot-in-the-arm for American tennis that bodes well for the future.

 - Drug suspensions and subsequent reversals for Richard Gasquet, Yanina Wickmayer and Xavier Malisse. It is time for the ATP and WTA Tour's to conduct a serious review of how they handle positive drug tests. Gasquet's excuse that he ingested cocaine from a night-club encounter with someone's mouth just doesn't sit right.

 - The retirement of former Grand Slam champions Thomas Johansson, Amelie Mauresmo and Marat Safin as well as Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro and Ai Sugiyama.

Safin One Step Closer to Retirement

Russian enigma Marat Safin lost in four sets on Tuesday to unseeded American qualifier Jesse Levine, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Not only does Safin get one step closer to his impending retirement, but he also loses a pile of ranking points from his semi-final run a year ago at Wimbledon.

Check out the full press conference transcript from the official Wimbledon website. It offers up such gems as the following:

Q. How do you feel?

MARAT SAFIN: Relieved. Pretty much relieved (smiling).

Doesn't sound like a guy who's having any second thoughts.

Safin Goes Five Again

Marat Safin will  never have any energy left for the second week at this rate.  But maybe he won't need it if Andy Roddick defeats him in the next round:-)

From The Age: Safin weathers the storm, Roddick next

RUSSIAN Marat Safin used experience and Melbourne's unpredictable weather to survive a difficult five-set encounter 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0 with a little-known player from Israel last night.

After being pushed to the brink of defeat by 21-year-old Dudi Sela, Safin said his campaign would have ended in the second round if not for a rain delay in the dying stages of the fourth set.

Safin Employs Unique Comeback Strategy

From The Australian: No need to shout when Safin orders the drinks

Trailing two sets to one against German Benjamin Becker, Safin's mind was not completely on his fightback.

While sipping on a sports drink at the change of ends, his thoughts turned to coach Alexander Volkov.

Hailing a ballboy, Safin ordered the youngster to deliver his mentor a drink...

Safin Goes Five

From the AAP: Safin back and volatile as ever

The 2005 Australian Open champion Marat Safin reclaimed Rod Laver Arena last night, surviving a tense five-set first round clash to advance at Melbourne Park.

Safin, who missed out on defending his men's singles crown through injury last year, outlasted German Benjamin Becker 5-7 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3 6-4...

Safin Says New Generation Not Afraid

From The Age: Safin tries in vain to intimidate as younger players show no fear

MARAT Safin senses neither fear nor awe in the emerging generation of teenage tennis talent...

Safin, who won the US Open seven years ago as a 20-year-old, said he feared his older opponents much more back then, and while he tried to intimidate tour newcomers, he was having little luck.

"I don't think right now I do because it's a completely different new generation," he said. "They don't respect the older player.

"I was looking to them more as heroes and I was a little bit scared to play against them. Now, the new generation, they're not scared, they are pretty far from being scared, which makes it more complicated to play them.