Doug's Sports Dish

Snow Dogs Meets Cool Runnings: The Story of Jamaican Musher Newton Marshall

Douglas Robson — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:04:00 GMT

You won’t find Newton Marshall among the Iditarod leaders charging towards Nome in what is shaping up as another classic finish. But his story is as compelling as any of the 71 mushers who started the 38th edition of the so-called Last Great Race on March 6. Marshall, 27, is aiming to become the first Jamaican or Caribbean national to complete the 1,049-mile race from Anchorage to Nome. He would be just the third black musher to do so. The trip to Nome, however, pales beside the twisting journey Marshall took just to reach the starting line.

Marshall’s Iditarod mission is the brainchild of wealthy armchair adventurer Danny Melville. Melville owns a tour company in Jamaica and has been the visionary behind the Jamaican Dogsled Team, which is backed by, among others, singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett of “Margaritaville” fame. Melville has set his sights on mimicking the success of the Jamaican bobsled team, which first competed in the 1988 Calgary Olympics and brought unheralded media attention to the tiny Caribbean island.

Last month, I traveled up to Lance Mackey’s Comeback Kennel outside Fairbanks, Alaska, to learn about Marshall’s story first-hand.

The Road Leading to Mackey's Comeback Kennel

Marshall spent the winter training with legendary musher and three-time defending Iditarod champ Mackey, who is currently leading the Iditarod with about a third of the race to go (Mackey is also a two-time ESPN/ESPY “Toughest Athlete” nominee.) During my two days, I was able to watch Mackey and Marshall interact, conduct interviews and develop a more in-depth picture of Marshall’s extraordinary voyage from the impoverished St. Anne Parish in Jamaica to Alaska, where he is poised to become the next Jamaican sporting hero.

In the post that follows, I’ve created a multimedia platform with text, pictures and video that describes some of his story, including interview clips from Marshall, Mackey, and Mackey's wife, Tonya. You also can follow Marshall and Mackey’s progress at www.iditarod.com and learn more about the team at jamaicadogsled.spreadshirt.com.

Marshall comes from a hardscrabble background. He grew up poor and uneducated. In fact, he was illiterate until just a few years ago. He spent his youth living on a “compound” with four sisters and various cousins. His parents split when he was young and he was mostly raised by his grandmother.

With little education, Marshall bounced between odd jobs. He ultimately landed a gig as a gardener at Melville’s Chukka Cove company and graduated to working with the tour company's horses.

Marshall with one of Mackey's Numerous House Pets

Most pets in Jamaica are treated as disposable objects or, in the case of dogs, cheap alarm systems. Cruelty is widespread. Strays are everywhere. Yet Marshall found a way to express his gentle spirit through animals. He described to me how as a boy his first contact with pets was a stray cat that used to climb through a broken window in their house. It would enter and climb in bed with the four or five children sleeping together on one mattress. Marshall says it often snuggled up to his neck and kept him warm. He developed a sensibility for cats and later dogs, which helped when he began to work with the horses at Chukka Cove.

I’ve heard some people call him a “dog whisperer.” Mackey’s wife, Tonya, noticed his special affinity to animals, too.

Marshall’s skills didn’t go unnoticed at Chukka Cove. Soon, he was taking care of the tour company’s assortment of rescued mutts, used for dry-land sled dog tours. The team’s motley crew of mixed breed dogs were found on the street or collected through animal prevention to cruelty programs. Even so, at first Marshall had trouble imagining what the sport was, much less that dogs were able to pull humans.

Before long, he was being groomed for Melville’s grand vision – running a sled dog team in the Iditarod. The first stop was a stint training on real snow in Minnesota. Marshall had no idea what cold was. He slipped on the ice. Others recall Marshall calling from Minnesota and wondering, ‘How come I need to pee so much?’ It never dawned on him that he wasn’t able to sweat as much when bundled up against the elements. And why should it when you’ve spent your life escaping heat rather than seeking it? Marshall told me what his first exposure to sub-zero temperatures were like, both in Minnesota and later in Yukon, Canada, where he trained last year.

There were other perks to working at Chukka Cove. Marshall’s family had so little money that they couldn’t afford books or clothes or lunch money to send him to school regularly. He never learned to read. He felt shame, but was determined to overcome it. At Chukka, he met a retired special education teacher from Michigan named Shelly Kennedy who spent winters in Jamaica and ran an ad hoc tutoring program on the company’s property. One day a shy kid with cherubic cheeks who looked far younger than his 18 years showed up. Marshall had heard about the American lady who could teach you to read. As soon as Kennedy gave him the green light, he couldn’t stay away from her classes. It wasn’t an easy trip – he had to walk, take buses, sometimes spend what little he had on a taxi or just hitch a ride. Sometimes he would show up at sunset as class was ending after finishing whatever job he was doing. Kennedy couldn’t let that kind of dedication go unrewarded. So she would stay in the dark with the kid holding a flashlight as they sounded out letters. Soon Marshall was reading whole words, then sentences. He now reads at a fourth or fifth-grade level and it has helped open his world and give him confidence.

When Marshall came back from his first trip off the island to Minnesota – his first trip anywhere – Kennedy noticed he wasn’t as dedicated in class. He seemed a tad full of himself. With so little of the world at his disposal, the kid was already immature for his age. It was a dangerous mix, hubris and childishness, and it contributed to what happened next. No one knows for sure why he did it, not even Marshall himself.

One evening when the Kennedy’s were back in Michigan, Marshall took the keys to a car on the property and went joy riding with a buddy through town. That was bad enough. But the kid could barely drive and didn’t have a license. He ended up ramming the car into a ditch, totaling the front to the tune of $8,000 in damage. No one was hurt, but he was do terrified that he told the Kennedy’s that he and his friend had been hijacked by armed robbers and forced to drive.

The lie quickly unraveled. Everyone around him – Melville, the Kennedys, other workers at Chukka Cover – was dismayed and disappointed. Marshall, who by then was living on the Kennedy’s property, was dismissed from their home and indefinitey suspended from Chukka Cove. Shelly Kennedy was upset but didn’t go ballistic. She had seen kids fall off and come back from her special ed days back in Michigan. Wasn’t it reminiscent of any number of teenagers doing something stupid? She wanted it to become a lesson so that Marshall could learn to be a better person.

Still, Marshall was despondent. He took a long walk along the coast and his friends and family thought intended to throw himself into the sea. He cried all the time, lost weight and barely functioned.

It was even worse when Marshall turned himself into the police after admitting his guilt for the accident. He got so emotional that the cops felt sorry for him and let him go.

He remained on the outside looking in. The job of training for the Jamaican Sleddog Team’s first big race – the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest – was given to another Chukka Cove worker. It stung. But over the next few weeks and months a contrite Marshall found the courage to call the Kennedy’s and apologize. He did the same to Melville and others at Chukka Cove, but all was not forgiven so easily. When the Kennedy’s returned in the fall, Marshall again apologized face-to-face and asked Kennedy if he could come back to class. Since she taught on Chukka Cove property, she wasn’t sure Melville would agree. He agreed that Marshall had learned his lesson and could continue, but there were conditions. Class was no longer free. Kennedy told Marshall he had to pay the storage fee for the damaged car, which amounted to about $5 per class.

A humbled Marshall became a dedicated student. He never missed class. He studied whenever possible. He also got back into the good graces of Melville. When Marshall’s replacement to run last year’s Yukon Quest had second thoughts and pulled out, Marshall got a second chance. He spent the winter training with Hans Gatt (who won a fourth Yukon title last month) and last year completed the grueling race from Yukon to Fairbanks, finishing a respectable 13th out of 29 mushers and winning the coveted Challenge of the North Award for best exemplifying the spirit of the Yukon Quest. It was a tough journey, not only because of uncompromising taskmaster Gatt but also due to the harsh conditions. Pushed to his limits, Marshall recalls experiencing hallucinations induced by the constant darkness and sleep deprivation during the Quest.

The Yukon Quest was only a warm-up act. Melville had bigger plans. So this year he sent Marshall up to Fairbanks to live and train with Mackey, the legendary musher, cancer survivor and all-around tough guy, to prepare for the much more competitive Iditarod. As Mackey explains, the Yukon Quest and Iditarod are roughly the same distance but two different animals. Before they left, he was confident Marshall would be able to finish.

During Marshall’s three months with Mackey, there were cultural differences to overcome. Mackey’s wife, Tonya, marveled at Marshall’s excitement when they gave him his first iPod. He was fascinated with the video game Wii (golf and bowling are his favorites). He struggled at times to manage basic tasks like ordering food at a restaurant. There were tough moments, and sometimes Mackey lost his temper.

Tonya often played peacemaker and eventually became a surrogate mother to Marshall, helping to ease the tension between demanding mentor and fraught mentee.

Even with his experience last year on the Yukon Quest, Marshall had much to learn. At 40, Mackey is also learning, because what you can pick up over the course of a day or a week or a winter takes a lifetime to master. Mackey’s mantra is patience. “It’s never the dogs’ fault,” he says. The musher always has final responsibility.

Mackey Instructs Marshall Outside his Home in Fairbanks

Despite lives worlds apart, the two mushers bonded. Like Mackey, Newton is a survivor just to have emerged from his small parish of St. Anne. Both have humble beginnings and checkered pasts. Mackey had a wild youth, battled drugs and throat cancer before becoming the most dominant musher in the sport’s history. Marshall could not read and was headed for a life of menial jobs and nearly sabotaged his big chance with his wanton joy-ride that got him thrown off the Jamaican Dogsled Team.

The paralles created a bridge between them, even if they didn't discuss it at length. In a sense, both grew up leading lives like dogs on a musher's gangline – defined only by limits. It’s why Mackey recognizes that if Marshall can finish the Iditarod, it could change his life.

Marshall’s time with Mackey and his family wasn’t all frigid temperatures and scooping dog poop and learning the ropes of mushing. There was fun, too.

Marshall was able to pal around with Mackey’s stepson, Cain Carter, and the two other handlers who help keep Mackey’s Comeback Kennel and its roughly 75 dogs humming. They went sledding together, traded musical tastes on their iPods and sometimes took turns showing off dancing moves. In this clip, Marshall dances at the small shack he shared with another handler on Mackey’s property.

The Toughest Job in Mushing: Picking up Poop

Some will probably call Mackey a mercenary and publicity seeker for agreeing to train Marshall. Like most things, he sees if differently. With the sport buffeted by financial woes this year, the sport needs all the help it can get.

Despite being 4,000 miles away from home, Marshall isn’t afraid to draw on his own traditions to help him reach his goal. That includes singing reggae and other Jamaican tunes to himself and his dogs on long runs, like this one here, which is one of his favorites.

Marshall told me that he cannot fail. He said that he feels the weight of his country on his shoulders as the most famous winter athlete from Jamaica since the bobsled team competed at the Olympics. He also feels great personal responsibility to Melville, his benefactor and employer. I asked Marshall, who dreams of making enough money in the Iditarod to buy a small home of his own in Jamaica, what compelled someone from the tropics to try to achieve something many who have grown up in cold climes and raced dogs never have.

Marshall, wearing bib No. 14, is currently in 49th place out of the remaining 58 mushers heading to Nome. He is more than half-way through the race and has dropped just two of his 16 dogs.

Marshall's Race Suit

Standing on Mackey's Deck overlooking his Kennel

Nalbandian Tries to Defy the Odds in Comeback from Hip Surgery

Douglas Robson — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 02:13:00 GMT

David Nalbandian will never win over fans with his personality. Disdainful of the media, surly with tour officials and opponents and seemingly indifferent to his public persona, the Argentine has no time for the image-making responsibilities that come with sports celebrity.

But the former Wimbledon finalist’s crafty, dogged style can be captivating, even beautiful. For opponents, it can be maddening. So while it might be a stretch to say he was missed in the locker rooms or press briefings, Nalbandian’s return in February following hip surgery is a notable addition to the start of the 2010 tennis season, the meat of which really begins here in the California desert. With the women’s tour oversaturated with comeback stories, Nalbandian is the most intriguing return-from-prominence narrative on the other side of the aisle (Mario Ancic is a close second).

Nalbandian faces a tough road. At 28, he is on the back end of his career. And few players have returned to their previous level after going under the knife to repair a damaged hip, as Nalbandian did last May. It brought down the career curtain on some big names, among them three-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten and former No. 2 Magnus Norman. What’s more, Nalbandian is no stranger to physically taxing matches. A shotmaker hiding inside a grinder’s mentality, Nalbandian often seems to possess a masochistic streak, preferring to torture and frustrate his opponents before putting them out of their misery. We sometimes joke in the press room that a two-set deficit for Nalbandian is a sign he’s done warming up.

Whatever his shortcomings, Nalbandian has always been a big tournament player. I use that phrase to distinguish him from being a big-match player, which, he has demonstrated on numerous occasions, he is not. Check the stats. Despite his all-surface talents, the Argentine has never won more than two titles in any season, and owns just 10 in a decade-long career. On the other hand, he has captured the season-ending Masters Cup and is one of only four active players along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic with an appearance in the semifinals of all four majors.

In the players’ lounge Friday, the former No. 3 said it was too early to predict whether he could recapture the form that made him a deep threat in any tournament with mega prize money or best-of-five sets. His immediate goal is matches. “First of all, I want to be on court again and try to play healthy a few tournaments,” a surprisingly pleasant Nalbandian said after beating Stefan Koubek of Austria 6-2, 7-6 (2) to move into the second round. Sunday, he goes up against streaky No. 22 seed Jurgen Melzer, also of Austria. With a few tournaments under his belt, he added, he could better assess where his game is. “I think they can be high goals,” he said, “but I don’t know if I am 100%, 90% or 75%. I have to play a few tournaments to see how good I am.”

Nalbandian’s on-court ethic rarely has been in question. Off-court, there have been rumors and reports of life in the fast lane, both figuratively and literally (he is a big fan of race car driving). Nalbandian insisted he dedicated himself to his recovery all last year, working hard five days a week and only taking time to pursue his hobbies like fishing and speedy driving on weekends. He also hung out with his extended family at his home of Cordoba for the first time in years. “It was the most time I spent there since I was 12-13,” he says.

His recovery still took longer than anticipated. Nalbandian, who is ranked No. 139 but has a protected ranking, hoped to return in January at Auckland and then play at the Australian Open. He had to pull out, and then suffered another setback at his return in February on clay at Buenos Aires. He won his first two matches and then withdrew due to an abductor tear in his right leg. It left him wondering if he had come back too soon. “It was a long time out of the circuit,” he said. “I’m not 100 percent happy with the beginning of the year.”

That didn’t dissuade him from traveling to Sweden for his country’s first-round Davis Cup tie this month. Despite his backup role, Nalbandian played the hero in his first Davis Cup match since the ugly infighting during the team’s tense loss to Spain in the 2008 final. He bested Andreas Vinciguerra 7-5 6-3 4-6 6-4 in the decisive fifth rubber for 3-2 win in Stockholm.

Nalbandian admits it was “a lot of risk to play there.” But it was the kind of lift he needed, even if he has arrived at Indian Wells drained. “It was good for the mind, for the confidence….I’m a little bit tired, but it feels good.” He adds: “I think the people know I love Davis Cup.”

If Nalbandian can’t compete in the big events, will he hang it up? It’s hard to see a player with nearly $10 million in earnings that performs best at significant tournaments satisfied with a top-50 ranking and first-week exits at Slams. But he said that would not necessarily drive him from the tour. If he can’t be an elite player again, he said he would reassess -- “try new goals,” in his words. Then he smiled, his crystal blue eyes beaming. “It can be,” he said of attaining his former place in the sport.

Making Sense of the WTA’s New Sony Ericsson Deal

Douglas Robson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:16:00 GMT

Most tennis observers saw the positive news this week for women’s tennis with Sony Ericsson staying on as a major sponsor. Some of the news reports on the extension with the WTA left me wondering what the “same level of profitability” meant. It also wasn’t clear to me if the tour could go ahead and sell title rights before the current agreement ends in 2012.

The answer to the latter is no. By renegotiating the last year of the six-year deal that ends this year and extending an agreement to 2012, Sony Ericsson is taking its name off the WTA but not its position as sponsor kingpin. As the tour’s leading global sponsor, any other company seeking title sponsorship can’t sidestep Sony. The upshot: The WTA will have no title sponsor through 2012. “The agreement specifies that we will not sell above them,” a tour spokesman told me.

In the case of profit margins, which the tour has said will essentially remain the same, one must keep in mind that the $88 million Sony ponied up six years ago is a gross number and does not reflect all the goods, services and other benefits the tour delivers. Under the new terms, Sony is paying the tour less – 40% less than the $14.7 million annual average, according to Sports Business Journal – but also getting less in return. Thus, the tour’s profit margin is about the same, even though it is receiving less gross sponsorship money from Sony than before.

As reported, the tour has a free hand to re-sell the title sponsorship at its year-end event the through 2012. That includes the final year in Doha (2010) and two of the three years when it relocates to Istanbul from 2011-13.

WE'LL RETURN SOON

Douglas Robson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 21:32:00 GMT

I've been on a bit of a blogging hiatus -- is there such a thing in this 24/7 news cycle we live in? -- but we will be back.

Agassi-Safin: Contradictions Part of their Appeal

Douglas Robson — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:36:00 GMT

With Andre Agassi hitting the airwaves in force today – morning TV shows, NPR, David Letterman – and Marat Safin ending his career with a loss in Paris, it occurred to me that they make nice bookends for a quick discussion of what they have been unduly called out for: hypocrisy.

As we learn in Agassi’s new book, Open, the eight-time major winner consistently said one thing while thinking another, layered the truth in white lies and on occasion delivered outright falsities. The volatile Safin was equally prone to complete contradictions or statements that served the efficacy of the moment.

I don’t condone Agassi for his lies to the ATP after testing positive for meth anymore than I do Safin’s relentless double-sided bitching (good entertainment though it was). But I also think both these players deserve some slack. Everyone evolves. Everyone changes his or her mind from teenager to 30-year-old. Everyone is entitled to develop, grow up, or as in the case of Agassi, reinvent himself. These are young, famous, continually scrutinized and ultimately fragile people. Why should we hold them to a standard by which they are not allowed to change, to advance, to figure out who they are and what they are doing? They are human beings, flawed and often with the most narrow of blinders.

If they were politicians, different story. Those are people we elect with a contract that they will serve our needs based on their policy positions. When they switch mid-course for personal, political or philosophical reasons, we, the voters, get burned. Athletes? Not so much.

And, a large part of the appeal of personalities like Agassi and Safin is that we get to see them progress, see their mistakes, their struggles, their triumphs, and can relate them to our own lives, or identify with them, however great or small the similarities might be. Who couldn’t love a guy who was so excited after a brilliant drop shot winner that he pulled down his pants. Who can’t admire a man who goes out of his way to point out his flaws and has meantime become one of this era’s greatest philanthropists?

If you didn’t catch it, here is Monday’s USA Today’s Agassi story, with links to part II and part III of the interview, plus and a reaction story. Here, too, is my piece on Safin today.

My Dinner With Andre

Douglas Robson — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:44:00 GMT

OK, it wasn’t over a meal, but I did spend a delicious hour with Agassi in Las Vegas at his eponymous academy a few days ago for a story in USA Today that will run Monday. Whatever one thinks about Agassi – pre- or post- his new book, Open – the guy knows how to articulate his views, however conflicted, duplicitous and self-serving they can feel at times. When you sit down with Andre, you have a conversation. That is rare in this era of Teflon tennis players.

Agassi preparing for the photo shoot on the roof of his academy in Las Vegas

The book is chock-full of insight one rarely sees in the jock genre. Agassi mocks several of his peers, among them Boris Becker (he and Gilbert call him “B.B. Socrates” for his phony high-minded intellectualism), Michael Chang for his holier-than-thou religiosity, and Thomas Muster, who once tousled his hair at the net following a loss. He disembowels Jimmy Connors, who he first met as a 7-year-old, labeling the five-time U.S. Open winner an “egomaniac prick.” He relates how after his final match in 2006 only one man stood apart and refused to applaud in the locker room – Connors. “Poor Andy” he says of Roddick, then coached by the five-time U.S. Open champ. He labels Nick Bollettieri “The warden,” and disses not only his tennis knowledge but also his narcissistic greed.

Gil Reyes, Andre’s surrogate father figure, comes off as a near hero. Ditto his two main coaches, Brad Gilbert and Darren Cahill. Andre’s childhood friend, confidante and ex-business partner, Perry Rogers, also is shown in a positive light. Their subsequent financial battle and personal rift is not discussed, however. Nor is Rogers mentioned in the acknowledgements, but as Andre explained to me, the book ends at age 36, before that happened.

Perhaps no one comes off worse than his father, Mike, who Agassi depicts as a tyrannical, sadistic, hard-charging and heartless figure that is “violent by nature.” There is a stream of other revelations – how he beat NFL great Jim Brown as a 9-year-old to win a bet for his dad; how his biggest fear going into the 1990 French Open final was losing his hairpiece; how his father gave him speed or some kind of upper as a junior before matches; and the most sensationalized portion, his use of crystal meth during his fog of 1997 and his lie to the ATP to avoid a drug suspension when he tested positive. (Agassi told me he wasn’t even sure what the drug was since his assistant “Slim” bought it, prepared it and dispensed it.) There is his ill-fated marriage to actress Brooke Shields and his warm-and-cuddly courting of Stef(anie) Graf. There are some beautiful lines in the book, too, such as this one about Agassi's tormented soul: “This gap, this contradiction between what I want to do and what I actually do, feels like the core of my life.” (Thanks J.R. Moehringer). And much more.

Suffice to say, this is a must-read for tennis fans and a near-must for anyone else.

Beyond the juicy anecdotes in the autobiography, the central question for me after reading the book and talking to Andre is this: If the eight-time major winner has had a consistent pattern of concealing the truth or outright lying, why should we believe what he writes now? Frankly, I’m not sure where I fall, particularly since I didn’t cover tennis during the most turbulent times of his career. People will have to make that determination for themselves. I will give him the benefit of the doubt in this regard. It’s his book, it’s his memory, it’s his view of his own life. He’s entitled to lay it out as he sees it, though the truth, too, can be “open” to interpretation.

Adam Scott Speaks about A.I.

Douglas Robson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:04:00 GMT

Misery loves company, or at least it provides a platform for commiseration. That could partly explain the growing romantic bond between tennis player Ana Ivanovic and Adam Scott, two promising young stars suffering through major slumps.

Scott, 29, and Ivanovic, 21, met prior to January’s Australian Open and have been captured by paparazzi together at golf events, the beach, and canoodling in New York City. While their relationship has blossomed, their careers have withered.

The likable Ivanovic won her first major at the French Open in 2008 and became the first from Serbia to reach No. 1 before a string of injuries and self-doubt undid her steady progress. Her last significant title came at Indian Wells, Calif., 19 months ago (she has none in 2009) and she pulled the plug on her season for what amounts to a mental health break following first round losses at the U.S. Open and Tokyo (including this odd announcement on her website in which she said she had over trained in the early part of the season and suffered from a shoulder injury that demanded a change to her service motion). Ivanovic, 3-4 since Wimbledon, dropped out of the top-10 and is sure to fall further than her present No. 13.

Scott, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour and just the second player born in the 1980s (along with Sergio Garcia) to reach the top-5 in the world rankings, has been embroiled in his own tailspin. The Adelaide native hasn’t posted a top-10 finish since tying for second at the Sony Open in January, and he’s missed 10 of 17 cuts thereafter. His ranking has fallen from a high of No. 3 to No. 69 in 16 months.

Scott was in town for last weekend’s President Cup at Harding Park, so I pulled him aside to get his view on sweetheart Ivanovic’s state of mind (she did not accompany him). Scott told me that they were able to sympathize with each other’s career woes and that it offered a point of intersection. “Yeah, for sure,” he chuckled. “It’s not easy.”

Scott, a somewhat controversial captain’s pick by fellow Aussie Greg Normal who went 1-4 in the competition won by the USA, explained that it was probably wise for Ivanovic to take some time away from tennis and didn’t question her reasoning. “It’s been a rough year,” he said. “If she thinks that’s the right thing to do, it’s the right thing to do.”

Scott didn’t say if he was planning to join Ivanovic for a mini hiatus, but he said he is confident that she will be back. Few observers of the women’s game would want anything other than a strong return from one of the sport’s most pleasing stars, both on and off the court. “I think she’s so talented that she’ll be fine,” he insisted. “She just needs to get really healthy.”

Raising my Caipirinha

Douglas Robson — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:02:00 GMT

Rio’s win in the Olympic sweepstakes is obviously the big headline of the day. My take? As a native Chicagoan, I’m disappointed, mostly because I know my birthplace of 3 million residents is one of the world’s great and perennially underrated cities. Rarely does anyone who visits come away unimpressed. It has tons going for it: world-class architecture, a stunning lakefront, excellent transportation infrastructure, sports-mad locals, a great music/comedy/entertainment scene, etc. Plus, it has that annual collective glee that bursts out in its many music and cultural festivals that only cities caked in ice for several months can showcase when the temperature rises. Summer in Chi-Town is full of fun, celebration and solidarity.

Did I think Chicago was going to win? I did. I’ll cop to bias when it comes to the Windy City. And I’ve long subscribed to the continental rotational theory, which based on recent and future Summer Games (’00 Sydney, ’04 Athens, ’08 Beijing, ’12 London) means that ’16 should have been in America. I suppose since it’s South America, that counts. Based on some articles I’ve read, it sounds like the U.S.O.C. bungled the bid. It apparently also has lost some of its influence.

“The United States, within the Olympic movement, hasn’t engaged as well as we could have for a long time,” Robert Ctvrtlik, the U.S.O.C. vice president for international relations, told the NY Times. “There’s a lot of politics going on. This isn’t just on the merits. I don’t think it’s anti-American. Maybe we still don’t have the horsepower to do some of the politicking within the movement.”

While the last minute lobbying of the Obama’s will be parsed in the days ahead – did it help or hurt? – certainly no one expected that kind of firepower to fall so flat. Voted out in the first round? Forget Second City. How about Fourth? Even some IOC members were stunned. “I’m shocked,” Australian IOC member Kevin Gosper told The Associated Press. “The whole thing doesn’t make sense other than there has been a stupid bloc vote. To have the president of the United States and his wife personally appear, then this should happen in the first round is awful and totally undeserving.”

No doubt Rio will put on a mind-bending party. South America also deserves its first chance to stage the Games. Hopefully it won’t bankrupt Rio or drag down the Brazilian economy. The Summer Games are an expensive prospect to carry. They certainly have the panache to put on a spectacular experience. My one caveat (at the expense of sounding bitter): My experience in Brazil and with Brazilians (both as tourist and journalist) is that organization is not their strong suit. But that never stopped me from downing a few caipirinhas.

Back in the Saddle

Douglas Robson — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:41:00 GMT

Today is the first day of Q4 2009, and as good a time as any to get back on the blogging wagon after a month-long hiatus. This posting will just be a small warmup. Much has gone down in the tennis world since the end of August -- the emergence of Melanie Oudin and Yanina Wickmayer, the coming of age of Juan Martin del Potro, Serena-gate, and most recently the not-so-surprising return of Justine Henin. As rumors swirled of a return and compatriot Kim Clijsters fought her way to the U.S. Open title in just her third tournament back after a two-plus year layoff, I joked to a colleague of mine that Henin was no doubt sweating buckets on a treadmill in the middle of the night in Europe watching her longtime rival win the final on TV.

In any case, here's the sabbatical story I wrote when the news of Henin's comeback broke. I don't begrudge her the right to change her mind, but it is remarkable how adamant she was that she was done with competitive tennis just a few months ago. Even Larry Scott, who was WTA Tour CEO when Henin pulled the plug on her career (he's now head of the Pac-10 Conference) told me by email he was surprised. The video clip of her press conference at this year's French Open (as Tweeted by my friend and respected colleague Bonnie Ford at ESPN.com) proves how definitive she was. The first two questions in the clip are from yours truly, followed by Ford. Here also is my second-day follow on Clijsters' victory in USA Today, which only ran online.

I noted with interest Roger Federer's decision to pull out of Tokyo and Shanghai last week. Though he cited a "physically challenging year" for his withdrawal, I wonder if his back is acting up again. While it received less attention for his struggles in 2008 ("struggles" being relative since he won a major and reached two other Grand Slam finals), Federer told me this summer than it was a big reason he did not feel physically up to par for much of last year. He also had mononocleosis. The bad back affected his movement, but also his serving, which was horrendous in last month's U.S. Open loss to del Potro. According to the stats page I just pulled out of my file, the Swiss No. 1 hit a paltry 50% of his first serves in (41% in the first set, which he won 6-3) and blasted 11 aces -- 44 fewer than he did against Andy Roddick in his five-set Wimbledon win. While that doesn't tell the entire story of the match -- del Potro gets props for taking speed off his own first serve to up his percentage and pummel Federer with his increasingly deadly forehand -- it does suggest something was wrong, that perhaps Federer was not able to stretch up enough on his first serve comfortably. That he was having back issues was confirmed after the match by a member of his team, though Federer, class act that he is, never mentioned any physical ailment after his defeat.

Meanwhile, in Japan this week, the top women have dive bombed out of the tournament like kamakazi, bolstering the contention that few WTA players can manage the long season and their fragile psyches at the same time. Look for strong showings from two of the women still alive -- Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic -- for the remainder of the fall. Sharapova craves matches and is hell-bent on building up her match toughness, while Jankovic has mega points to defend from her late-season push in '08 to finish the year No. 1. It's only a year removed, but it must feel like a lifetime for the streaky Serb.

U.S. Open Picks

Douglas Robson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:14:00 GMT

We're down to the final major of the season, and I find myself more excited for New York than I have been in recent years. In 2008, the players dragged themselves in for the season-ending Slam after the Beijing Olympics. This year, everyone arrives fresher, more eager, with an eye for making up lost opportunities. More than a handful of players come into the Big Apple with bright prospects, and perhaps more important, fresh legs.  My predictions:

Men's Singles:
Winner: Murray
Finalist: Djokovic

The top of the men's game has rarely been as deep and consistent. Week in and week out, the top 6-8 players make deep runs in big tournaments. Whoever makes it to the second week here will have to play lights-out ball because there aren't likely to be too many surprises or upstarts in later rounds.

On the men's side, I'm going with Scotland's Andy Murray. He genuinely likes New York. He was a junior champion here and he calls it his favorite Slam (a poke perhaps at stuffy Wimbledon). He trains here and owns a place in Florida. He reached the NY final in '08, and throughout the season he has been the most consistent player on hard courts, with two big titles (Indian Wells and Montreal) and a ATP Tour-best 34-3 record. It won't be easy for him or anyone, but I think he has enough Grand Slam seasoning and confidence to muscle in on the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal duopoly (incredibly, they have won 17 of the last 18 majors). Two things could hold him back: His penchant for passivity in long matches; and a brutal draw.

Federer -- back at No. 1, secure in history with a record 15th Grand Slam, a father of new twin girls -- heads the top half of the men's draw. It's hard to argue with the silken Swiss reaching another final. He's the hottest player on tour with a 26-1 mark and four wins in his last five events. He's also the five-time defending champ. He brushed aside two of his main nemeses, Murray and Novak Djokovic in winning Cincinnati. During the three days I spent in Cincy reporting tomorrow's cover story on him for USA Today, he appeared as relaxed as I've seen him. As Mike Bryan told me, "He's on cloud nine." But I felt he was almost too relaxed, which is why I'm not picking him to reach the final.

Federer has a tough road even to the semis in the top quarter of the draw, with the likes of 2001 champ Lleyton Hewitt in the third round, James Blake in the fourth, and either French Open runner-up Robin Soderling or No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko in the last eight. Those opponents won't allow him to relax much, but 28-year-old has too many weapons -- not to mention the growing affection of local fans -- to fall before the final Saturday.

The other quarter in the top part of the draw features No. 4 Djokovic and No. 5 Andy Roddick. There are some other dangerous players around -- New Haven champ Fernando Verdasco, Tommy Haas, John Isner, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Igor Andreev -- but I expect Djokovic and Roddick to face off in the quarters. Roddick has owned Djokovic this season, going 3-0, all on hard courts. But this time I'm going with the Serb. Djokovic has been a bit of an enigma this year, reaching four Masters finals but repeatedly coming up short. What caused him to lose his way after a stellar start to 2008 that included an Australian Open title is unclear. Did he get too cocky? The racket switch to start 2009? The distraction of owning, running and playing in a tournament in his home country? Whatever the case, the super talented Serb is due for a big result, and despite the ill-will he generated with fans in New York last year, I'm picking the 22-year-old Serb to get past Roddick and Federer and reach his second U.S. Open final in three years.

The lower half is brimming with talent, too. The top quarter features No. 7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Thomas Berdych, Fernando Gonzalez, Gael Monfils, 2007 U.S. Open semifinalist David Ferrer and, of course, third-ranked Nadal. That's a lot of firepower. I believe Nadal when he says he arrives in New York in less than top form, though the 23-year-old Spaniard usually downplays his chances. He played well to beat Berdych in Cincy, but overall he hasn't looked as sharp in his movement or serving as he did when he won in Melbourne or prior to his two-month injury absence. A tricky first-round opponent in returning Richard Gasquet won't cause many problems (Gasquet is still too shellshocked from his doping suspension) and I expect Nadal to get better with each match, but I'm not feeling it for him this year. One of the big hitters will take him out, likely Tsonga or Gonzalez, in the fourth round.

Murray has a wicked path to the last eight, with streaky Ernests Gulbis in round one, the dreaded Ivo Karlovic in round three, big-hitting Marin Cilic in round four and then dangerous sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinals. Murray will use his speed, range, smarts and improved serve to beat them all back, and then he'll take out Tsonga in the semis to reach a second straight final in New York. If he hasn't run out of gas -- and I'm predicting he'll have just enough left in the tank -- this time he won't leave a bunch of balls sitting mid-court as in '08 and bring home Britain's first Grand Slam Championship in almost three quarters of a century.

Women's Singles:
Winner: Serena
Finalist: Safina

How can you pick against Serena Williams in the majors, considering her unwavering ability to turn it up on big stages, not to mention opponents -- Venus notwithstanding -- that wilt under the pressure of important venues? The 11-time major winner hasn't done much outside the Slams. Her only three tournament victories over the last 12 months are in New York, Melbourne and London. But if she gets to the second week and smells the trophy, few can stop Serena but Serena herself.

I've always felt that when the 27-year-old American gets smug, when it comes too easy, she loses focus. I believe that was her downfall after the 2002-03 "Serena Slam." She's not as sure a pick as last year when she came in licking her wounds from the Wimbledon defeat to her older sister, but I'm giving her the nod. However, it would not surprise me if one of the three Slam-less wonders on the top half of the draw -- No. 1 Dinara Safina, last year's finalist Jelena Jankovic, or perennial Slam contender Elena Dementieva -- winds up with the spoils.

In the top half, Safina has a tricky third round opponent in fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova but otherwise has a pretty clear path to the quarterfinals. The bottom part of the first quarter should see an all-Serb matchup in the fourth round with struggling Ana Ivanovic and rebounding Jankovic (unless promising German Sabine Lisicki knocks off Ivanovic a round before). I've lost faith in the '08 French Open champ and former No.1 for the moment, and if they meet, Jankovic will prevail. The Safina-Jankovic should be a classic power vs. guile match-up, and though Jankovic beat Safina in the final at Cincinnati, this time the 23-year-old Muscovite will manage her game better and reach a fifth straight Slam semi.

In the other quarter of the top half, I like the recovering Maria Sharapova to make a run to the semifinals, though it won't be a cakewalk. She will have to get by No. 4 Dementieva in the third round, who is arguably the hottest player on tour coming into New York following her victory in Toronto (over Sharapova in the final). I like New Haven winner Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark to advance to the quarters over French Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova and face 2006 Open champ Sharapova, who will outhit her to reach the semis. The all-Russian semis promises plenty of grunting and baseline fireworks, but Safina is the more experienced Slam player at the moment. Sharapova is still a few months (and a more reliable serve away) from becoming a legit Slam contender, but she's making progress fast.

The lower half of the draw pits Serena and Venus for the semifinals, but my pick to reach the last four from the top quarter is mom Clijsters. With several top-20 wins under her belt, the athletic Belgian is already back in the mix and probably just a few tournaments away from looking like a top-5 player. Venus, 28, hasn't won a event on cement in the U.S. since '02 and lost two her last three matches to unheralded competition. She could step up and blow through people as she often has in majors, but she's too unpredicable. In this quarter, wild card Clijsters will out-hustle the hardworking No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who has had a solid season (two Slam quarters) since winning Miami in April.

Serena's quarter has hardworking Sybille Bammer and resurgent Samantha Stosur; none can match the American's power on hard courts. No. 7 Vera Zvonareva has done little since coming back from injury, so I'm going with veteran Amelie Mauresmo of France to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since '06 in New York against Serena. There, the Frenchwoman will be overwhelmed. Clijsters' defense will give Serena problems in the semis, but clutch serving and a few extra fist pumps will pull her through to a fifth New York final and second in a row.

Serena is her generation's big-match player. I expect Safina to finally play closer to her ability in her third major final, but Serena is her generation's big-match player. One way or another -- blowout or nailbiter -- she will bag a 12th Slam.

Time for Querrey to Make His Move

Douglas Robson — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:12:00 GMT

If Sam Querrey is to step up and take it to the next level, he has to learn to separate friendship from business, especially against his American peers. He admitted as much Monday night following a 6-3 6-4 first-round win over Yen-Hsun Lu here at the Cincinnati Masters.

“Those are the three guys that kind of when I was 17, 18 they would invite me to their house and practice,” explained Querrey, referring to the three players ahead of him in the rankings, Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and James Blake, who together own 9-1 mark against their younger compatriot. “I mean, you don't feel bad if you beat them. You want to beat them. But at the same time, you're showing them a lot of respect out there because they've kind of showed you the way and they've been role models. They've given know me so much advice out there. You almost feel bad beating them.”

Querrey’s emotional discord when playing his compatriots is evident in his results: He’s a combined 1-9 vs. Roddick (0-3), Fish (0-1) and Blake (1-5). He can go a long way towards severing the national umbilical cord in Wednesday’s evening match against fifth-ranked Roddick, who took him out in the round of 16 at Washington, D.C., 7-6, 6-4, two weeks ago. It could be the most important contest of Querrey’s summer, which has seen the towering talent play at a consistently high level but continue to underperform in big events.

Querrey is no longer the gee-shucks kid who once went on court with a hole in his shoe. Now 21 and ranked in the top 30, Querrey says that he’s earned enough respect of his own the last three years to put feelings for his American peers aside. “It’s getting better,” he said. “It's just tough playing them. They're your friends, guys you watched growing up. You got to get over this little hump.”

Querrey has put together a fine summer at some of the tour’s smaller events, winning Los Angeles and reaching the final at Newport, R.I., and Indianapolis. He is second in the U.S. Open Series points race. A string of wins, even against lesser competition, is not to be discounted, and can propel a player forward, much as it did No. 6 Juan Martin Del Potro last summer when the Argentine won four consecutive tournaments leading into New York. “I've got a lot of confidence just after those three (events),” said the 26th-ranked Californian. “Look at Del Potro last year here….Hopefully, I could do something like that.”

But Querrey has yet to score a major breakthrough at a Slam or Masters, including a disappointing first-round exit at Montreal last week to 45th-ranked Philip Petzschner – a result Querrey said “sucked it up.” And though he has beaten decent pros such as No. 22 Tommy Haas and No. 30 Dudi Sela this summer, he also counts losses to No. 181 Rajeev Ram and No. 95 Robby Ginepri. His sole win over a top-10 player in 2009 came against Gilles Simon, who he bested at the lightly regarded World Team Championship round robin at Dusseldorf.

Querrey reached a career-best fourth round at the U.S. Open last year but followed with first-round exits at the Australian Open and Roland Garros this season. He reached the third round at Wimbledon, and knows he’s still searching for a serious run when the world is watching. “I want to start doing a little better in the bigger events,” he said. “That's how you're gonna get your ranking up. That's it.”

The 6-6 right-hander will never be known for his wheels, but he has the tools to reach the top 15, and perhaps even go higher. His serve is a major weapon – he is seventh on the men’s tour in service games won at 86% -- his fitness has improved, and hard work on his return-of-serve is paying off. “I'm returning much better I think than I was a year ago,” he said. “I'm fitter and making better decisions on the court.”

Blake, who has beaten Querrey twice this year and bowed out in three sets to Igor Kunitsyn here Tuesday, said the goofy, laid-back surfer in tennis attire is poised to make a move. “Sam is playing a lot better,” said the 24th-ranked Blake. “I think we've all kind of seen how good he is. Whether it's in practice or matches, he's got such a big serve that he can be dangerous to anyone….I love his attitude and his confidence.”

With a 34-20 record through Monday, Querrey says his goal is to get another 25 matches under his belt and finish in the top 20. Barring a disaster in New Haven next week, Querrey should arrive at the U.S. Open as a seed for the first time at a Slam.

Against Wimbledon runner-up Roddick, Querrey will have to serve huge, pick his spots to attack and manage his game smartly. The crowd will be behind Roddick, the 2003 and 2006 champion here. “I'm sure it's gonna be another close one,” said Querrey. “He's playing well. I'm playing well. Just gonna have to adjust a couple things to get him this time.”
 Beating Roddick would go a long way in establishing Querrey as the No. 2 American both in ranking and bragging rights. But he still sounds a little conflicted about his fellow Yanks. “I want to do the best I can, but I don't want them to drop,” he said. “I want all of us to keep going up. At the same, I want to be the highest, too.”

Catching up with Lance Mackey

Douglas Robson — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:26:00 GMT

I spoke the other day to 2007-09 Iditarod champ Lance Mackey – dragged him off his Bobcat truck to take the call, in fact. It had been a while since I'd spoken to the iconoclastic musher, so I was eager to hear what he's been up to. Mackey told me he took a bit of time off after his third consecutive Iditarod win with trips to Barbados and Las Vegas -- "nice," he purred in his raspy voice. He went east for a couple of business trips and more recently has been a regular on the local speaking circuit (he hits a lot of summertime state fairs). But for the most part he has stayed close to home to work on his house -- a necessity in the months when the sun rarely sets. “It’s still got Tyvec on the outside,” he said, “but I added a two story addition on the side.”

Mackey's Tyvec-laden House in March

The hardworking/hardscrabble cancer survivor told me that he started gearing up for his 2010 assault on the 1,100 race from Anchorage to Nome a week ago. After a summer of leisure, his superlative line of dogs has been doing their paces with dry runs on wheeled sleds. Snow won’t hit the trails outside his home near Fairbanks till about October. His young male dogs spent the summer in Seward giving rides to tourists, while his older ones “sat around all summer being lazy,” he said.

There will be a new addition to the Mackey household come December. No, not another kid. The 39-year-old Mackey has signed on to work with Newton Marshall, a Jamaican attempting to be the first person from his island nation to complete the “Last Great Race” (Cool Runnings anyone?). Marshall will be the first from ReggaeLand to attempt the race, but despite his rookie status he is not a novice to mushing. Earlier this year he became the first Jamaican to complete the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest, another grueling race.

Nor is Mackey a stranger to sharing some of his training secrets. Last year, he helped train native Alaskan and Army National Guard staff sergeant Harry Alexie for his Iditarod run, which he completed 10 days, 12 hours (finishing 37th out of 51). Mackey said his son, Cain Carter, and his dog handler, Braxton Peterson, will train Marshall’s dogs. He sounded a tad concerned that Marshall was not due to arrive in Alaska until December, “right in the middle of race season.” Coming from the easier climes of the Caribbean nation to frigid tundra will be “culture shock,” predicted Mackey.

14-year-old Kicks off Pro Career; Twitter Warnings

Douglas Robson — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:25:00 GMT

Young American Training in France Does Well in First Pro Event
When I recently spoke to Patrick Mouratoglou about the Jan Silva shoulder situation, I asked him about Sachia Vickery, the young American girl who relocated to Mouratoglou’s Paris academy in February. Vickery, 14, whose mother has been working as a bartender at a North Miami nightclub to fund her tennis, reached the semifinals of her first pro event in Evansville, Ind., last month. “That’s not bad at all,” said Mouratoglou, whose past students include Marcos Baghdatis and Aravane Rezai.

Mouratoglou praised her mother’s support as “really focused” and crucially important to become a top pro and lauded Vickery’s speed. “She has a lot of physical abilities we need to develop and is an unbelievable athlete,” he said. Short and sturdy, Vickery is likely to be giving up more than a few inches on today’s top pros (her height is not listed on the WTA website). “She doesn’t give the feeling she is going to be tall,” admitted Mouratoglou. “The muscles are already quite strong and she looks like an adult with the body.” He said Vickery reminded him of 5-3 Dominika Cibulkova, who reached this year’s French Open semifinals. “There is a place for everyone in tennis,” said Mouratoglou.

After losing to top-seeded Kristina Mladenovic in the second round of Junior Wimbledon, Vickery maintained she could have won even though she was thoroughly outclassed (I watched part of the match). Mouratoglou said that kind of self-belief, even if it encroached on the unrealistic, was a positive. “I prefer someone who is very disappointed and feels that she could win rather than someone who could win and thinks she couldn’t – which is often the case with many players,” he said. He added: “It’s a good problem to have.”

 Twitter Warnings
As previously reported (including on some Twitter postings), the ITF sent out emails the last couple of weeks warning players to be careful about what the Tweet. The rules are not new, said ITF executive director Bill Babcock, but like any messaging system, when players communicate to the public outside of the court, “the current rules could put them in jeopardy” if they disclose sensitive information (read: Something wagers could use). The reminder was prompted in part by media reports of how the NFL is handling the Twitter phenomenon (by clamping down, of course). “It was a simple notice to remember that there can’t be any communication devices on court and be careful off court,” Babcock told me.

Child Prodigy Had Shoulder Issue

Douglas Robson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:51:00 GMT

When I last reported on child prodigy Jan Silva, his parents were contemplating divorce and the entire family had returned to the U.S. from France, where they had relocated in 2006 to pursue their tennis dreams.

In the course of reporting that story (see this link), Jan’s father, Scott Silva, told me that he had kept his son away from tennis for several months after a particularly noisome tantrum. That seemed like an awfully harsh punishment for a 7-year-old who loved to swat balls almost as soon as he learned to walk. Later, the tennis instructor at a local Sacramento club who was working with Jan and his older brother confirmed me that “Jani” had arrived in California with little tennis under his belt the last six months – but he told me it was due to a shoulder injury.

“That’s a lot of time for someone his age (to be off),” remarked Joseph Gilbert, tennis director at the Rio Del Oro Racquet Club. “When he came back he hadn’t played much. It’s kind of like he’s starting over.” I went back to Silva to check on the injury. He told me there was no injury. Gilbert then also called me back and said he’d had his info wrong. It was a little odd.

More recently, an anonymous caller phoned to say that the Silva family had left the Mouratoglou Academy in France not for personal reasons -- the explanation both Scott Silva and academy officials gave -- but because Jan was injured. The caller even said Jan had undergone surgery. A 7-year-old under the knife? That was troubling, so I decided to find out what I could.

In conversations over the last week with both Silva and Patrick Mouratoglou, the owner/founder of his eponymous academy in the Paris suburbs, I learned that Jan, the subject of a July 2007 USA Today cover story, did in fact have a shoulder injury on his right (serving/dominant) side. Both flatly denied that any surgery was involved. “No, no, no, never,” said Silva. “That is a huge, huge, huge error.”

Silva reiterated that he kept Jan away from tennis for several months due to his ongoing tantrums. But he backtrack somewhat from his earlier statements. He admitted that his son’s shoulder had signs of problems even though Jan was healthy and could have continued to play tennis.

“We pulled him away from playing because there was the possibility that his shoulder could have problems,” he said. “What the (French doctor) told me in his broken English is that his shoulder is fine but that if he continues to play tennis lots and lots and lots over a long period of time, by the time he turns 12 at this rate he could develop problems, which is true of any kid in any sport. But because I have a special kid, I’m thinking it’s better to make sure I take special care of him.”

According to Mouratoglou, Jan hurt his shoulder in an “accident” and was kept away from tennis for about eight weeks, though he continued to do other sports like soccer. “He fell, not playing tennis but with kids, but it was not something really bad,” said Mouratoglou. “We had to prevent him from playing for a few weeks….It’s not a problem to stop for eight weeks when you are that young. It’s nothing at all.” Mouratoglou also said Jan’s injury had been reported in the French sports daily L’Equipe, which has also followed the young American’s story. The information about surgery, he added, was “completely untrue.”

Mouratoglou wasn’t sure of the exact nature of the injury, so he checked with his medical staff and came back with a diagnosis of “acromioclavicular sprain with a slight distension” – a shoulder sprain, in layman’s terms. I asked a friend of mine who is an orthopedic surgeon about this diagnosis. He told me the acromioclavicular area encompasses the joint where the collarbone meets the shoulder blade, and sits right above the rotator cuff. He told me these injuries are quite common in kids that fall from bikes or whatnot. He also said that if this area were distended or irritated, the rotator cuff is usually involved, which, in turn, could be a component of overuse or tendinitis.

Both Silva and Mouratoglou defended Jan’s training and insisted he that he had not overplayed. “I don’t feel like that at all,” said Silva. “I feel like I created an opportunity for Jan that had never been heard of in tennis and will probably never happen again.”

Mouratoglou said Jan never trained more than 2.5 hours a day and that, as with most kids, he could have played much more. “Really, to be honest, not at all,” he answered when I asked if he felt that all the tennis might have been too much for Jan’s young body. “I’ve seen thousands of kids and I can tell you that most of them play much more….(Playing) the same sport for more than 2-3 hours a day at that age creates body problems. But if he plays two hours tennis, one hour soccer, one hour basketball, it’s OK.”

The good news is that Jan is back playing. As the Silva family continues to pick up the life they left in Northern California, Jan has been competing in 10- and 12-and-under events, according to his father. On-court meltdowns are still a issue, Silva said, and Jan yet to win a tournament, but he did reach a final this summer. The youngster’s ambition is intact. Silva says Jan has been talking about “winning majors by age 16.” Meantime, Silva said the family plans to lay low. “I want to stay out of the public whatever for the next 20 years until Jan does something special,” Silva said.

Stanford Tidbits

Douglas Robson — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 23:09:00 GMT

Serena Admits She Can’t Dance in Heels – At Least Not All Night
Serena Williams has finally come clean about the left knee injury that eventually required surgery: She tweaked it grooving at an L.A. dance club in 2002. Asked why she hadn’t come clean earlier on Thursday following her 6-3, 7-6 win over Melinda Czink, Serena said: “I just didn’t want my parents to know. I don’t think they know yet. I’m still a little nervous about that.”

The No. 2 American went on to say the accident was “embarrassing” and “ridiculous,” and that she learned her lesson. “Whenever I go out now I always bring a pair of flats,” she chuckled, noting that she never returned to the same nightclub again. “I don’t dance the whole night in heels.”

However, there was a silver lining: The injury absence meant she was able to spend time with her half-sister, Yetunde, who was murdered in the Williams sisters' hometown of Compton, Calif., in 2003. “It was good because I ended up spending the whole summer with my sister, so I have zero regrets,” Serena said. “Maybe it happened for a reason….I just thought it was all worth it at the end.”

Dementieva Calls Out Jankovic’s Criticism of Roadmap
On Sunday, Jelena Jankovic, of all people, groused about the new roadmap keeping her out of events she wants to play. Without going into all the details, suffice it to say that based on the re-jiggered player commitments, it is possible that some top players are prevented from competing everywhere they want. Coming from Jankovic, who never saw a tournament she didn’t want to enter, it was a little ironic. That was not lost on elegant Russian Elena Dementieva. Asked about Jankovic’s complaints the other day, the fourth-ranked player laughed: “I don’t know what to say. It looks like she’s playing every single week, more than anyone else. If she can play two tournaments in a week, she will do this.”

Serena on Indian Wells, Beer Summit
A couple of days ago I chatted with Serena about the Henry Louis Gates-James Crowley-President Obama situation. I wondered if, in light of what was probably an overreaction on the part of all three, she might ever see the situation at ’01 Indian Wells with different colored glasses. She was adamant that she had experienced a racist reaction from the crowd, and that had it been, say, Chris and Jeanne Evert, it might have been different.

“I didn’t overreact,” she said. “I under reacted. If I had over reacted, I would have said something when I had a chance. I definitely didn’t overreact. All I did was show up and play my match. It was nothing that I did. Especially at that age, as a teenager, what could I do?” Serena said she was affronted both by what she perceived as bigotry and the idea that her father was fixing matches between her and Venus. She summed up: “Never say never, but I’m not going back anytime soon. Not next year.”

Thursday, I decided to ask Serena about tonight’s “Beer Summit” at the White House. She seemed only marginally enthusiastic. “I definitely think it could be a good idea,” the 11-time major winner said. “I don’t know if any thing will change or if it will all work out. We still have a long way to go. It’s definitely a good start. I’d be interested to tune in…There’s been a lot of mistakes lately in the police force as per killings.”

Post-Wimbledon Stories

Douglas Robson — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:45:00 GMT

I'm at the Bank of the West Classic in Palo Alto this week, which has one of the best fields in tournament history (Serena, Venus, Jankovic, Dementieva). Meantime, here are a few stories under my byline since Wimbledon:

Clijsters Returns

Federer Faces Fatherhood

Serena Stays No. 2

Ciao from SW19

Douglas Robson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:37:00 GMT

Another great Wimbledon men's final, another historic five setter. Props to both Andy Roddick and Roger Federer for adding some sheen to this golden era of men's tennis. Here's my story from yesterday (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2009-07-05-wimbledon-mens-championship_N.htm)

I'm on holiday the next week or so but promise to be back blogging more regularly this summer....

News Bites from Week 1

Douglas Robson — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:41:00 GMT

I’ve been woeful in blogging since I arrived in SW19, but here is a rapid-fire smattering of news bits I heard last week:

--A source close to injured Rafael Nadal says the player has been affected by his parent’s troubled marriage and plans to divorce, which was first reported in the English press by Tennis.com’s Peter Bodo and later confirmed by Spanish paper La Vanguardia. Nadal would never make such a claim, but he did mention “personal” troubles following his loss to Juan Martin Del Potro in Miami.

--If Federer reaches the final he will come to Wimbledon, regardless of what he’s saying to the press, according a broadcasting source.

--A major bone of contention during the ATP board meetings last week was, surprise surprise – the Davis Cup schedule. Players continue to be unhappy about the demands of the year-long nation-vs.-nation competition. They want it scaled back or revamped into a more condensed format.

--A highly placed IMG executive estimates that $30 million has been taken off the table in sponsorships in 2008 due to the crippled economy.

Meantime, here are a few highlights of my coverage for USA Today from last week:

Grand Slam Drought for U.S. Men

Five Setters

Vulnerable Serena

Larry Scott exit story

Roddick Kicks into Form

Size Matters

Wimbledon Picks -- The Women

Douglas Robson — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:38:00 GMT

Better late than never. There were no major upsets Monday and little changed, so here we go:

Women's Singles:

Winner: Serena Williams

Finalist: Venus Williams

Considering the unreliable state of women’s tennis and that the Williams sisters have won seven of the last nine Wimbledons, it’s hard to pick against one of them bagging another. The tougher call is, which one? Although she has admitted it only sparingly, I think Serena’s loss to in last year’s final to Venus was particularly bitter. Family affections aside, you could see the revenge factor in her eyes and gesticulations as she fought off 10 set points (or was it 12?) against her older sibling at the U.S. Open semifinals on her way to the title. I think she wants it bad; it’s been six years since she won here; and let’s face it, she’s been the most consistent player on tour in big matches for the last 10 months.

The top half of the draw is led by No. 1 Dinara Safina, who says she doesn’t like grass (turf aversion apparently runs in the family) and who still has a Grand Slam chip on her shoulder after folding in the French Open final to Svetlana Kuznetsova. She has something to prove, and I see the Russian reaching her first semifinal in London. She will have to step it up against some tough competition, including 2006 champ Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth round and a possible rematch with Kuznetsova in the last eight, if Kuzy gets by Caroline Wozniacki.

No. 3 Venus doesn’t have an easy path either, with confident Samantha Stosur in her round of 32 and then either slumping Jelena Jankovic or Na Li in the quarterfinals. I’m picking Li, who won’t have enough power to get past Venus. By the semifinals, Venus will be hitting her stride. Her defense will be too much for Safina, who will finally realize it’s grass underfoot and implode.

The weakest quarter is the top section of the lower half, with the likes of No. 4 Elena Dementieva, 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, French Open semifinalist Dominika Cibulkova and No. 7 Vera Zvonareva, who is recently back from injury. Suffice it to say, whoever emerges from this part of the draw – I’m going with Dementieva on seeding – will have little chance against their semifinals opponent.

The bottom quarter features No. 2 Serena Williams, who won her opener Monday. The 10-time major champ has a rough road, with 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist Jie Zheng in the fourth round, and one of two big-hitters in the quarterfinals – rising Victoria Azarenka or 2004 champ Maria Sharapova. Serena wants it bad, and she’ll gut her way past either opponent for another look at the trophy with Venus standing in the way.

In a tough three-set final, Serena will deny her sister a sixth Wimbledon and win her third All-England Club championship, putting her one shy of idol Billie Jean King’s career total of 12 majors – just as Venus remains one trophy short of tying King’s mark of six singles titles.

Wimbledon Picks -- The men

Douglas Robson — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:56:00 GMT

After a two-year hiatus bunking in the city, I’m back staying in Wimbledon village this year and I must say it’s fun to be back in the thick of it, especially the first few days of the tournament. I saw the odd player here and there during my run yesterday and bumped into Robin Soderling’s coach, Magnus Norman, buying some provisions. It’s pleasant for a change to chat with folks in a casual, real-life environment as opposed to jostling to get a comment from them in the players lounge after wins and losses.

So here we go with my last-minute predictions -- with the women to follow later.

Men's Singles:

Winner: Murray

Finalist: Federer

So much is going for Federer: He’s finally conquered Paris; he’s on the surface where he has the biggest advantage against the rest of the field; he's motivated to tie Pete Sampras' major mark; he is in essence playing with house money after bagging a career Slam earlier this month; and of course, there is no Nadal to contend with. And yet, I’m just not feeling it for the Swiss Maestro. It's time to crown King Murray, despite his tender 22 years.

First, though, to the top half of the draw. As much as it would be nice for the hardworking American, Andy Roddick, to at least reach the final and perhaps come away with a second major, I think he matches up too poorly with Murray. I expect a fired-up Roddick to blast his way to the semifinals. Obstacles on the way include former Wimbledon junior champ Jurgen Melzer and the winner of Nikolay Davydenko and Tomas Berdych in the fourth round. If rising Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina reached the last eight – his grass court game is unproven – Roddick’s experience and drive will prevail.

Scot Murray has his own set of challenges in the bottom quarter, namely Stan Wawrinka or last year’s semifinalist Marat Safin (third round) followed by explosive Fernando Gonzalez or Gilles Simon in the quarterfinals. But Murray is a gamer on grass, and despite the ridiculous pressure on him to win here, he will use his guts and shotmaking repertoire to beat back the challenges and meet Roddick in the semifinals. Although Roddick has the bigger game, Murray is able to get the American's serve back and do damage with his own improving delivery. Once the ball is in play, Murray has a keen advantage, and he will use it to advance to his second Grand Slam final.

The highest seed in the top quarter of the bottom half is Novak Djokovic. The Serb has lost some of his swagger this year, and I'm picking a dark horse from this section: Either Marin Cilic or Tommy Haas. The long and powerful Cilic has a great game for grass, and the German veteran has been playing top-15 tennis of late. The winner of their third round clash will move on to take out James Blake and then Djokovic. I'm leaning towards Cilic for a breakout tournament.

Federer is in the toughest section of the draw, with streaky Philippe Kohlschreiber, big lefty Feliciano Lopez, French Open finalist Robin Soderling and the always-dangerous Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He could face another lefty, Fernando Verdasco, in the quarterfinals. It would not shock me if Federer went down to one of these players, especially if they get hot, but the Swiss No. 2 will be too experienced and determined to lose early on grass and will make it to the last four.

He will crush his opponent there --- either Cilic or Haas – and look primed for a sixth Wimbledon and third major in the 10 months. But Murray will have taken some lessons from his U.S. Open loss to Federer, and with a soccer-like backing from the home crowd the Scot will bring home Britain’s first major by a man in 73 years.