ATP INSIDER -- Giving you an inside look into the ATP this week
July 10, 2003
UP FRONT....
->> - A MAN IN DEMAND...Newly crowned Wimbledon champion ROGER FEDERER spent
more than five hours doing media activities after winning his first Grand
Slam title at the All England Club. Within hours of defeating MARK
PHILIPPOUSSIS on Sunday, the 21-year-old Swiss star taped interviews with
the BBC (UK), ARD (Germany), ESPN (USA), TSR (Switzerland), DRS
(Switzerland), RTL 5 (Holland), CNN, Sky (UK), ITV (UK) and Fox Sports
(Argentina) and also took part in a photo shoot with his coach and his
family. And all that was before he swapped his whites for a black tie for
the Wimbledon champions dinner at The Savoy, which he attended with his
girlfriend Miroslava Vavrinec. The next morning, Federer was up bright and
early at 7:30 on Monday and did another round of media interviews as part of
the Breakfast with the Wimbledon Champion. He was featured live on two BBC
radio programs as well as Breakfast TV and News on BBC television, Sky
Sports, Sky News, ITV and CNN. Federer then sat down with members of the
English and Swiss press looking back on the biggest achievement of his
career. (For pix, log on to
www.atptennis.com/en/media/insiderpics/).
->> - FEDERER GETS A HERO'S WELCOME...ROGER FEDERER arrived in Gstaad for
the Allianz Suisse Open in just the same manner as he left London - with a
huge grin and a hero's reception. The Wimbledon champion was flown into
Gstaad on a private jet, driven in a limousine to the Hotel Bellevue where a
pianist played 'We are the Champions' to greet his arrival, and was
presented with a car for the duration of the tournament. On it was written:
'Roger Federer, 2003 Wimbledon Champion'. The following day he was presented
to 6,000 fans packed into the Roy Emerson Arena, and given a third standing
ovation in seven days. "To be here as Wimbledon Champion is so nice," said
Federer. "This was such a nice reception. The way they applauded me, getting
a standing ovation for the third time in a row, I never got that before. I'm
living in a dream." (For pix, log on to
www.atptennis.com/en/media/insiderpics/).
->> - MILKING IT...Deciding what to reward a 21-year-old who has just won
the Wimbledon title with might be a tall order for some tournaments, but not
the Allianz Suisse Open. They gave him a cow, of course. An 800kg,
seven-year-old, Simmental milking cow called Juliette, to be precise. She
went down well with her new owner. "I never expected a cow, it's a great
gift," said Federer, as she wandered into the Roy Emerson Arena. "I'll milk
it, I'll do anything for it." A day later he visited Juliette at her home on
the mountain Vorder Eggli and milked her for the first time after a little
bit of advice from Emerson, who grew up milking cows on his father's farm in
Australia. "I think every Swiss has to [milk a cow] sometime, and today was
the first time for me," said Federer. "It was really a lot of fun - a funny,
strange feeling, kind of warm. I love cheese, milk and yogurt. It's a nice
cow I got." Federer will get cheese from his cow Juliette as long as she
lives. (For pix, log on to
www.atptennis.com/en/media/insiderpics/).
TOURNAMENT TALES
->> - IN GSTAAD...Australian Open finalist RAINER SCHUETTLER has developed a
habit of flying high and pushing the boat out in recent months. The German,
who is currently scaling the dizzy heights of 6th in the ATP Champions Race,
has been doing various activities at tournaments this year including
paragliding, rowing and car racing. In Gstaad this week, Schuettler boarded
a plane that took him up to ski on a glacier more than 3,000 meters above
sea level. The Glacier Diablerets held no fears for Schuettler as he skied
down it. "I skied a bit before practice, that's really cool," said the
German. "I like to do crazy things. I've been paragliding and shark-diving
and I wanted to go skiing because I haven't done it in a long
time."...FELICIANO LOPEZ went gliding on Monday from the Saanen airport next
to Gstaad. He went in a two-seater Gliding Plane together with a local pilot
for a flight overseeing Gstaad and the mountains. Lopez was airborne for 30
minutes, but when conditions allow, the gliders can be in the air for eight
hours. "It was a very nice experience, I've never done anything like this
before," said the Spaniard. "We saw the mountains and the glacier, in a
normal plane you don't see everything. I had some stomach problems and my
foot also fell asleep. Maybe it was because of the altitude. The worst was
the five minutes I wasn't feeling good. I started to sweat a bit but after
that it was nice. The pilot had everything under control."...WAYNE ARTHURS,
PAUL-HENRI MATHIEI and JUAN IGNACIO CHELA were among the players taking part
in Street Tennis with kids outside the Roy Emerson Arena...Prior to the
start of the tournament, ALEX CORRETJA, RAINER SCHUETTLER, MICHEL KRATOCHVIL
and STEFAN KOUBEK played an exhibition on the Centre Court with German
comedian Django Asül...UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his wife Nanne
spent time visiting the Allianz Suisse Open on Sunday. (For pix of
Schuettler, and Lopez, log on to
www.atptennis.com/en/media/insiderpics/).
->> - IN BASTAD... During the first two days of the Synsam Swedish Open some
of the players recorded songs for a special CD, which was played during the
player party on Tuesday night. Swedish band ABBA's hits proved popular
choices, with TOMMY ROBREDO singing "Mamma Mia," MARIANO ZABALETA and YOUNES
EL AYNAOUI performed their version of "Money, Money, Money," while NICOLAS
LAPENTTI and countryman LUIS ADRIAN MOREJON sang "Knowing Me, Knowing You."
JONAS BJORKMAN and his wife Petra were the only ones to choose a non-ABBA
song and instead opted for the Swedish 1984 Eurovision Song Contest winner
"Diggiloo Diggiley."
->> - IN NEWPORT...JAMES BLAKE, MARDY FISH, ROBBY GINEPRI, TAYLOR DENT and
BRYAN VAHALY participated in a photo shoot for ESPN, the Magazine at the
International Tennis Hall of Fame.
WEDDING BELLS...WAYNE BLACK will marry long-time girlfriend and WTA player
Irina Selyutina in Kazakhstan this weekend and will miss the upcoming Davis
Cup tie between Israel and Zimbabwe.
COACHING CAROUSEL: After 16 years with Javier Duarte, ALEX CORRETJA is now
working with Enrique "Bebe" Perez, the former coach of Andre Sa, Fernando
Meligeni and Francisco Clavet...ANDRE SA is now working with former ATP pro
Jaime Oncins...RICHARD GASQUET is no longer working with Eric Winogradsky
and is now with his father Francis, while fellow Frenchman PAUL-HENRI
MATHIEU is no longer with Thierry Champion and is now working with interim
coach Eric Deblicker...Sweden's MAGNUS NORMAN is now working with countryman
Mikael Tillstrom.
MEDIA MONITOR... With many newspapers praising the superb performance of
ROGER FEDER at Wimbledon, Sport's Illustrated's S.L. Price says it is a good
time for men's tennis. Writes Price in his Wimbledon recap: "Just a month
after the new generation's best clay court player, Juan Carlos Ferrero, 23,
won the French Open, it's finest talent won the most prestigious title of
all. Ferrero has the major he lacked, Federer has the breakthrough he
lacked, Roddick has the steadiness he lacked...The youngsters have come into
focus. Pick your man. It's time to care again.".....And MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS
also garnered the headlines during Wimbledon. Owen Slot of The Times writes:
"The tale of "Scud", as he is known, is more complex than the signature big
serve. His is a story of comeback and reform, of the fear that the end of
his career was nigh and the decisions he made to prevent that. He caged the
party animal in him, put aside the snowboard and parted with all but one of
his bikes, which he kept in his bedroom as a reminder. He also moved from
Miami to San Diego, where he embarked on a comparatively monastic lifestyle
that involves just three hours in the surf a day (he's not gone completely
cold turkey), then hard work, tennis work. Now he is playing frighteningly
aggressive and accurate tennis and it is not just his serve that instills
fear. If they could get the speedgun to record the pace of his groundstrokes
as well as his serve, those statistics would be scary, too."
SAY WHAT?
"We saw each other yesterday, I think we need a break."
- Roger Federer on his relationship with Juliette the
cow.
"I want to congratulate Roger, he's now a member of the All England Club.
Now when he knows how to do it, and with his talent, I can't see why he
won't win many more Wimbledons."
- Australian Roy Emerson on the new Wimbledon
champion.
"BBC, the English television channel, had a 10 percent increase in
television ratings and the German television channel also had about a 20
percent increase from last year...Tennis is in a transition period. The
familiar names are moving out and the young people like Federer, Roddick and
Hewitt are coming in which is something the public is not used to. I think
it's a question of time."
- Boris Becker on the increase in television audiences outside the
United States.
source
www.atptennis.comAfter all the press he's done, its amazing how he's still playing...looking forward to reading the SI article...Price might be one of those rare good tennis writers...trying to promote everyone!
"We saw each other yesterday, I think we need a break."
- Roger Federer on his relationship with Juliette the
cow.