Okay, so, Monte-Carlo. You didn’t think we’d forgotten about it over here at The Changeover, did you? In reality we’re just all still recovering from the past few weeks of on-site tournament coverage, wrapping up lingering writing from said tournament coverage, and working on some exciting behind-the-scenes moves that we will hopefully be talking about publicly over the next few weeks. Also, let’s be honest, there’s not a lot of suspense in Monte-Carlo. It’s Rafa’s house, everyone else is pretty much there for the party and the view.
But the last couple of days have been a bit entertaining. Shall we revisit?
Berdych gets upset by Fognini, CAN DO WHATEVER HE WANTS.
Today Berdych was rather shockingly routined by the illustrious Fabio Fognini. Truth be told, I slept through the match like the Worst Blogger In The World, but the lovely folks on Twitter alerted me to a Berdych rant, and you guys were right as always, it is AMAZING.
After being completely outplayed in the first set, Berdych was hanging on early in the second and trying to swing the momentum back his way. At deuce on his serve at 2-2, Fognini wasn’t convinced of the line call so he went over to check the mark, like you do. But Berdych was immediately ready to serve again, and when Fognini was still checking the mark he was not happy. The Czech eventually got broken, and he went back to his chair for the changeover FUMING to umpire Pascal Maria. Here’s a loose/unofficial transcript, because they’re talking really fast and overlapping and not properly mic’d and I really hate transcribing things.
Berdych: I don’t care. You have the time, you said you were strict, then what? BUT WHAT? (Me: DO YOU?)
Umpire: Let me explain you … he is allowed to check it somehow. You are allowed to check the ball mark as well. (Me: That sounds fair!)
Berdych: BUT 25 SECONDS. He has no time to check it. You go this rule or the other one. You cannot combine two rules into one. (Me: LOL.)
Umpire: No, no, no, Tomas, I think you’re thinking over now. (Me: There’s a first for everything!) The rule says you have to follow the pace of server if it’s reas …
Berdych: TWENTY-FIVE SECONDS.
Umpire: No, no, no, following the pace of server if it’s, if you want to serve at 10 (seconds), you’re too fast.
Berdych: I WAS READY. (Me: Now you’re thinking under.)
Umpire: You’re too fast.
Berdych: I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT. (Me: New Nike slogan?)
Umpire: No, it’s a reasonable pace. We can check that any time.
Berdych: Why don’t you just take the racket and go play? If you want to do everything just go play. It’s fine. You can do everything. Just call the time when I can, when I cannot, what I can do, what I cannot. Just judge it by yourself, I don’t have to be there. It’s not about me. Am I right?
Umpire: No, I don’t think so you’re right, Tomas, no.
Berdych: So do we have rules or not?
Umpire: Yes, we do have rules. I just tried to explain to you the rules.
Berdych: BUT YOU SAID 25 SECONDS. (Me: Dead.)
Umpire: No, this is not. (Gives up completely.)
Tomas went on to lose the next three games, and thus, the match. Shocking. He also set an Official Tennis Record for being the only person other than Fabio Fognini to ever be the most dramatic player in a Fabio Fognini match.
Gulbis has another meltdown, and somehow it’s still noteworthy.
After taking out John Isner in the first round and seemingly shaking off his rust, Gulbis fell to Pico yesterday in the second round 0-6, 6-3, 3-6, which is just such a very Ernests Gulbis Scoreline. But the match was most notable for Ernie’s meltdown. Wait, what’s that? You’re not at all surprised? Yeah, neither is Anyone In The Entire World.
Chris Oddo from Tennis Now does a fabulous job recapping the entire thing step-by-step, so I’ll just send you there, but SPOILER ALERT: Gulbis got a game penalty in the third set. That’s right, he was deducted an entire game in the third set of the match. Sigh.
He also did this a few times:
Wow, Ernests Gulbis crunched that racquet #MonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/FoNVryTZQD
— TennisTV (@TennisTV) April 17, 2013
@10sworld Haase on Gulbis: ”He’s an unpredictable player. You never know what he’s going to do. Most of the time he doesn’t know himself.”
— Josh (@TheSixthSet) April 18, 2013
According to my metric, Gulbis is indeed one of the most inconsistent players on tour. (You’re shocked, I know.)tennisabstract.com/reports/atpCon…
— Jeff Sackmann (@tennisabstract) April 18, 2013
Jarkko Nieminen upsets a cramping and confused Juan Martin del Potro.
Oh Delpo. I don’t even know what to say about today. He lost to a very impressive and in-form Jarkko Nieminen, but what was really noteworthy was that he sat down at 4-5 in the third set tiebreak, not during a changevoer, with what appeared to be a cramp. The trainer was called, but then the trainer was going to be a while, so he played on and lost the next two points and thus, the match.
Once again I’ll link to Chris Oddo, who tries to explain what happened.
My take? Complete and utter B.S. I mean it. You just don’t do that. It was gamesmanship whether he realized it or not, he was tired after a long rally and he did not handle it well. His camp said he wanted treatment for an actual injury, but obviously he didn’t want it that badly since he played on.
All the credit in the world to Jarkko Nieminen, who showed his veteran-ness by not letting the break in play phase him. This is surely one of the biggest wins of his career, as he reached his first Masters Series quarterfinal since 2006, and his first ever Masters Series quarterfinal on clay. Not bad for a 31-year-old.
After the match he heartwarmingly celebrated on twitter:
THANK YOU!!! I am so happy. This was one of the most memorable matches in my life. I won Del Potro for the first time, in a big tournament,
— Jarkko Nieminen (@NieminenJarkko) April 18, 2013
Audience was amazing. They wanted me to do encore like the rock stars do after the concerts. I have never felt anything like that before.
— Jarkko Nieminen (@NieminenJarkko) April 18, 2013
Aaaaw. He gets Djokovic next, and with the No. 1 still looking uncomfortable on that ankle, an upset isn’t out of the question.
Stanislas Wawrinka crushes Andy Murray and it’s somehow still about Roger Federer.
So Andy Murray’s stay at No. 2 was a brief one for now, and his clay court prowess is still very much a myth. He never seemed to show up against a completely on-fire Stan The Man, and lost 6-1, 6-2. That’s right. HE ONLY WON THREE GAMES.
This loss means The Other Swiss Tennis Player, Roger Federer, will be back to No. 2 next week.
Here’s how our favourite British reporter saw things:
Early levels of Murray and Wawrinka outstanding
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
So Stan breaks first, having survived a couple on his own serve. Some scratchy shots – his first – from Murray. 2-1 Wawrinka
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
Wawrinka two breaks to good. Murray has to snap out of ‘poor soul me’ mood. Started so vigorously, has to pick that up again. 4-1 Stan
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
That set is best consigned to the bin. Wawrinka breaks Murray serve three times, wins set 6-1. So far, particularly easy for him
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
Ivan Lendl has barely moved a muscle all match. Like he is carved from stone. Very cold stone as of this moment
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
I just said I still think Murray will win. Don’t know where that optimism sprang from.
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
Murray hanging in there, holds serve from break point down but Wawrinka remains steady on own delivery. 3-2 on serve in 2nd
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
Murray opens up the court perfectly and then pays a shocker of a backhand volley. Wawrnka breaks to lead 4-2 in 2nd set.
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
GSM Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2. Far, far, far too easy for him. Lendl strolls off, not saying a thing
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
A few jeers for Murray at end (a few at the beginning as well). There are times when he does not do himself any favours with body language
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
Murray into press within two minutes of end of match, at a loss to know why he played so badly. “I know I have to improve on that,” he said
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
@brokebacktennis When announced he was coming into press two minutes after match, I’d taken huge water gulp and it came gushing back out!
— Neil Harman (@NeilHarmanTimes) April 18, 2013
And here’s how STANLEY!!! saw things:
@neilharmantimes dommage 😉
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) April 18, 2013
Elle fait du bien celle la!! 61 62 conte Murray!!!
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) April 18, 2013
@chrissieevert small 😉
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) April 18, 2013
Best.
Linz,
Think we have Juan Jose loser of the week already so I can not wait to hear the explanation. Wonder if he will give Nieminen some love as he won 2 three set deciding tiebreakers in a row.
Stan had better be in the running for one of those ATP fan-favorite awards at the end of the year. All the fan service aside, Donna Vekic sassing him on a regular basis is too cute for words.
Thank you for bringing the Berdych rant to my attention Linz- it was entertaining to say the least!! Every time I see Nieminen being mentioned I’m reminded of the post that Juan José wrote about his 6-0, 6-0 thrashing of David Goffin and how utterly ridiculous that whole thing was. Never gets old! Fair play to him though, was surprised when he beat Milos but good to see him back it up with the win over Delpo. Hope to see an interesting match between him and Nole tomorrow. And how great is Stan on twitter?! You just have to love his whole approach to tweeting, it’s unique 🙂
OMG, this is so good Linz! Loving this blog. Thanks for all the goodies. Harman’s tweets are hysterical. He’s always in denial about Muzz. And I appreciated your
take on Delpo’s apparent gamesmanship.
You know that a tennis tournament has become dramatic enough to garner a full Changeover post on it when its Frenchmen (Tsonga, Gasquet) are among the LEAST dramatic players there.
Thank you for a great blog post, Lindsay!
PS. I sincerely hope Juan José is doing fine after Jarkko-Delpo match.
Why do you mock Neil Harman from afar and never tag him directly in your tweets. I feel you have passive-aggressive issues. Confrontation is best, don’t let him get to you.
I think Stan is one of the most underrated players on Twitter. His sense of humor comes out when he tweets.
As for Berdych – ugh. He needs to get over himself and just play tennis.
Lindsay, I loved this line: “He also set an Official Tennis Record for being the only person other than Fabio Fognini to ever be the most dramatic player in a Fabio Fognini match.”
Those videos were gold. Berdych’s was the best, but watching the Gulbis videos on the link you provided, all I could think was, good heavens child, stop it! I just felt bad for the spectators, and for Pico.
I was on Twitter when the Delpo match was going on and I saw all the tweets. I have a weird soft spot for Jarkko though, and even though he beat Delpo, aw good for him.
STAN! His tweet to Neil Harman was brilliant.