Is Taylor Townsend the future of American tennis?

This week, I’m starting to get some emails about Taylor Townsend, someone I got to meet at the Easter Bowl earlier this month.

As you might know, Townsend, who turned 16, won the girls 18 title at the Easter Bowl. With her victory the Australian Open girls junior champion, became the No. 1 player in the world on the ITF rankings. A great accomplishment. In a country that’s been hurting as far as producing top talent, Townsend could be a real blessing.

Townsend is a terrific talent blessed with magical hands and uses a serve-and-volley style to trouble opponents. Certainly, she looks very promising.

But success in the juniors can be deceiving when it comes to professional success. Donald Young had one of the greatest junior careers, winning the Australian Open junior title as a 15-year old. Young was wonderfully gifted, but his body didn’t mature as much as people suspected, and his transition into the pro game has been bumpy. Young is still young, and he can have a great career, but he’s not the phenom people had predicted or hoped he would be.

Townsend is coached by Young’s father, and they have been terrific mentors for Townsend. Hopefully they can provide insight in managing all the expectations that will fall on her shoulders, and help her avoid pitfalls that might have derailed Young.

Townsend’s potential is exciting — very exciting. But lets wait to see if she how she does as a professional before we let the hype get too carried away.

Remember the kid who played Agassi and Graf’s son?

There was a really cute commercial a few years ago that featured Taylor Dent playing a little kid. But the kid wound up being really good, and Taylor had to play all out. At the end of the commerical, a minivan pulls up and it’s the kids parents, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Well that kid’s name is Connor Hance and he’s playing at the Easter Bowl this week. He’s into the third round of the boys 14s. Last week, he upset the No. 1 seed. He’s also a child actor.

Here is the video to refresh your memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJGpgmjy_w

Can John Isner win the French Open after Davis Cup success?

John Isner already has had an incredible year in Davis Cup, beating Roger Federer in the first round, and French stars Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga this weekend. And both were on the road on clay.

On Twitter, someone suggested Isner will be a force at the French Open, maybe even win it. I can only agree with half that statement. Isner plays the quintessential American game with a big forehand and big serve, but he doesn’t do it as well as Pete Sampras. Sampras never got to the finals of the French Open in an era where Roland Garros was wide open.  Sampras’ era never had a player who dominated the red clay like Rafael Nadal.  

Nadal wouldn’t be the only player Isner would have to struggle with. Federer has won a French Open title, and  Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have been better clay players than Isner. Asking Isner to beat one of the big four is a huge task. Beating two of the big four, which is likely what he would have to do to win the French Open, is a gigantic task.

But he certainly can do well. With the way Isner is playing, you’d think there’s no reason why he couldn’t get into the quarterfinals. Guys like Simon and Tsonga are expected to get to the quarterfinals, and Isner beat both this weekend.

 U.S. Davis Cup captain Jim Courier had the most success of any American in recent years when he claimed the French Open title twice in the early 90s. Courier is proving to have one of the best coaching minds in the game, and if he goes to Paris and helps advise Isner, that could help Isner’s chances.

I like Isner’s chances to have a good run at Roland Garros, and he’s had an exciting run this year. It could be a boost American tennis needs. But let’s not say he’s got a chance to win the clay court major — yet.

Tennis Channel’s encore of 100 Greatest Of All Time on April 7

In case you missed it, and I was one who did, Tennis Channel will have an encore showing of its 100 Greatest Of All Time on Saturday.

This is a great idea, and I am surprised it took the Tennis Channel a while to put something like this together. Who doesn’t enjoy debating who was better? Rod Laver, Roger Federer or Pete Sampras in the men’s game, or Martina Navratilova, Margaret Court, Serena Williams or Steffi Graf in the women’s game.  

Each segment was hosted by an all-time great in a sport other than tennis, which adds to the appeal of the show. These were golf’s Jack Nicklaus (No. 100-71), football’s Jerry Rice (70-41), track and field’s Carl Lewis (40-21), basketball’s Lisa Leslie (20-11) and hockey’s Wayne Gretzky (10-1).

For those of you who want to watch and not know the results, look away. Here’s my thoughts on the list, with the entire list to follow.

Roger Federer is one of the most extraordinary tennis players of all time, but I’ve never heard anything that would make me select him over Rod Laver as the greatest player ever. Laver has done something no other player has done in the past 40+ years, which is win the Grand Slam. And he did it twice! People want to be dismissive of Laver’s Grand Slam, but if you look at the depth of talent early in Federer’s career (think pre-Rafa), you could argue he should have won the Grand Slam and he didn’t. And if you look at that time, how many Hall of Fame players did Federer have to go through? It was less than Laver.

Rafael Nadal is No. 6, behind Pete Sampras at No. 5. Well, you can make an argument that Nadal should be ahead of Sampras since he’s dominated Federer, the No. 1 player on this list. And Nadal has won majors on all surfaces. Of course, we can’t ignore how Pete dominated the tour, finishing as the year-end No. 1 for six consecutive years. And he too dominated his main rival, Andre Agassi, who was No. 12.

Working in the women is a tricky thing. The top woman in the ranking is Steffi Graf at No. 3, followed by Martina Navratilova at No. 4, which seems just about right. Margaret Court is next at No. 8, followed by Chris Evert at No. 9 and Billie Jean King at No. 10. For me, Billie Jean King would be the top woman, but admittedly its for what she’s done socially for this country as an activist. But for just tennis accomplishments, 10 seems pretty good.

Serena Williams is at No. 14, and she might be the toughest one to place. She’s a one-of-a-kind talent who was dominant when she wanted to be. But there is a feeling of potential unrealized. If Williams stayed the course and didn’t have her medical problem, she should still be No. 1 now. Too bad.

Here’s the list.

The Top 10
10 – Billie Jean King, F, USA
9 – Chris Evert, F, USA
8 – Margaret Court, F, AUS
7 – Bjorn Borg, M, SWE
6 – Rafael Nadal, M, ESP
5 – Pete Sampras, M, USA
4 – Martina Navratilova, F, USA/CZE
3 – Steffi Graf, F, GER
2 – Rod Laver, M, AUS
1 – Roger Federer, M, SUI
 
Full list: (#11-100)
100 – Michael Chang, M, USA
99 – Ann Haydon Jones, F, GBR
98 – Henry Bunny Austin, M, GBR
97 – Pat Cash, M, AUS
96 – Manuel Orantes, M, ESP
95 – Thomas Muster, M, AUT
94 – Andy Roddick, M, USA
93 – Nicola Pietrangeli, M, ITA
92 – Svetlana Kuznetsova, F, RUS
91 – Shirley Fry Irvin, F, USA
90 – Bill Johnston, M, USA
89 – Dorothea Lambert Chambers, F, GBR
88 – Amelie Mauresmo, F, FRA
87 – Mary Pierce, F, FRA
86 – Tony Wilding, M, NZL
85 – Yannick Noah, M, FRA
84 – Norman Brookes, M, AUS
83 – Jan Kodes, M, CZE
82 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, M, RUS
81 – Vic Seixas, M, USA
80 – Marat Safin, M, RUS
79 – Gabriela Sabatini, F, ARG
78 – Ashley Cooper, M, AUS
77 – Molla Mallory, F, USA
76 – William Renshaw, M, GBR
75 – Pauline Betz Addie, F, USA
74 – Tony Roche, M, AUS
73 – Jaroslav Drobny, M, CZE
72 – Gottfried Von Cramm, M, GER
71 – Maria Sharapova, F, RUS
70 – Patrick Rafter , M, AUS
69 – Louise Brough , F, USA
68 – Helen Hull Jacobs , F, USA
67 -  Fred Stolle , M, AUS
66 – Bobby Riggs , M, USA
65 – Pancho Segura  , M, ECU
64 – Ellsworth Vines , M, USA
63 – Lleyton Hewitt  , M, AUS
62 – Hana Mandlikova , F, CZE
61 – Neale Fraser , M, AUS
60 – Virginia Wade , F, GBR
59 – Margaret Osborne Dupont, F,  USA
58 – Alice Marble , F,  USA
57 – Jennifer Capriati , F, USA
56 – Stan Smith, M, USA
55 -  Gustavo Kuerten, M, BRA
54 – Manuel Santana, M, ESP 
53 – Tracy Austin, F, USA
52 – Jack Crawford, M, AUS
51 – Doris Hart, F, USA
50 – Tony Trabert, M, USA
49 – Ilie Nastase , M, ROM
48 – Frank Sedgman, M, AUS
47 -  Jean Borotra, M, FRA
46 -  Henri Cochet, M, FRA
45 -  Kim Clijsters, F, BEL 
44 -  Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, F, ESP
43 -  Lindsay Davenport, F, USA
42 -  Jim Courier, M, USA
41 -  Guillermo Vilas, M, ARG
40 – Novak Djokovic, M, SRB
39 – Althea Gibson, F, USA
38 – Maria Bueno, M, BRA
37 – Evonne Goolagong Cawley, F, AUS
36 – Rene Lacoste, M, FRA
35 – Pancho Gonzalez, M, USA
34 – Jack Kramer, M, USA
33 – Mats Wilander, M, SWE
32 – Lew Hoad, M, AUS
31 – John Newcombe, M, AUS
30 – Martina Hingis, F, SUI
29 – Helen Wills Moody Roark, F, USA
28 – Arthur Ashe, M, USA
27 – Maureen Connolly Brinker, F, USA
26 – Justine Henin, F, BEL
25 – Stefan Edberg, M, SWE
24 – Suzanne Lenglen, F, FRA
23 – Fred Perry, M, GBR
22 – Venus Williams, F, USA
21 – Boris Becker, M, GER
20 – Ken Rosewall, M, AUS
19 – Monica Seles, F, USA
18 – Ivan Lendl, M, CZE
17 – Roy Emerson, M, AUS
16 – Bill Tilden, M, USA
15 – Jimmy Connors, M, USA
14 – Serena Williams, F, USA
13 – John McEnroe, M, USA
12 – Andre Agassi, M, USA
11 – Don Budge, M, USA

Andy Roddick on Timothy Bradley vs. Manny Pacquiao

For the last two years, Timothy Bradley got a chance to hang out with Andy Roddick at the BNP Paribas Open.

On Saturday, Roddick talked about that meeting and his take on Bradley’s fight against boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao.

“I told him he’s gonna be like the guy who shot Bambi if he wins that fight,” Roddick said. “I think one of the intriguing things is no one knows how good he is yet.  He hasn’t  fought someone like Pacquiao, so we’ll see. But he’s certainly quick.  You know, he has the hand speed, and we’ll see.  Those two guys don’t get hit very often. Hopefully someone will make contact.”

But Roddick also said that the fight he’s really looking forward to is Pacquiao taking on Floyd Mayweather, considered one of the top fighters of all time.

“I wish Bradley the best, but, you know, I think we all want to see Pacquiao-Mayweather, also,” Roddick said.  “I wish they would just get that thing done.  It’s crazy.  It’s the only sport in the world where the two best in the world will never ‑‑ they just won’t fight.  It doesn’t happen in any other sport, and it’s frustrating as a fan.”

Roddick said he watched Pacquiao’s last fight, a controversial decision over Mexican superstar Juan Manuel Marquez in the third fight of their legendary trilogy. Based on Pacquiao’s performance, Roddick said it changed his opinion of how a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight might go.

“That was probably the worst he’s looked in two or three years,” Roddick said. “I felt like he would have been the betting favorite against Mayweather before that fight.”

Novak Djokovic profiled on 60 Minutes on Sunday

World No. 1-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic advanced to the semifinals last weekend in the BNP Paribas Open before falling to American John Isner.

Now Djokovic will be profiled Sunday night on “60 Minutes”.  Djokovic and correspondent Bob Simon visit Djokovic’s homeland in Belgrade, and discuss how the war helped shape Djokovic into the tennis champion he is today.

The broadcast is from 7-8 p.m. Sunday on CBS.

Here’s the complete release from CBS.

WAR IN YUGOSLAVIA HELPED SHAPE NOVAK DJOKOVIC

INTO THE TENNIS CHAMPION HE IS TODAY – “60 MINUTES”

The war in Yugoslavia and the bombing of Belgrade were a frightening distraction for a young boy trying to become a tennis champion.  But it also meant no school and more tennis, says Novak Djokovic.  And he credits the war and the hardships it caused with instilling a hunger in him that ultimately drove him to fulfill his dream of becoming the world’s top ranked player.  Djokovic tells his story to Bob Simon for a 60 MINUTES profile to be broadcast Sunday, March 25 (7:00-8:00 PM, PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Djokovic takes Simon to the basement of his grandfather’s apartment in Belgrade, where he and his family spent a few hours in the middle of each night during the 1999 NATO bombing campaign on the city.  The fear and the disruption of sleep caused him to lose focus. “Because we were waking up every single night more or less at two, three AM for two and a half months,” he tells Simon.  “But the best thing about it…I always try to remember those days in a positive, in a very bright way…We didn’t need to go to school and we played more tennis,” says Djokovic.

He was a 12-yr.-old tennis prodigy during the bombing campaign, and now looking back, Djokovic says  it was a formative time for him and his family. “[The war] made us tougher. It made us more hungry, more hungry for the success.”  Watch an excerpt.

Now the world’s number-one tennis player has more than tennis on his mind. As a Serb, he represents the small country condemned by many for its role in the civil wars that destroyed the former Yugoslavia.  He is a hero in Serbia and is mindful of what he represents to his people. “We have a harder way to succeed in life as Serbs because of the past that we had and because of the history we had,” he says.  “We have to dig deeper…”

Djokovic dug deeper into his tennis game last year, managing to finally beat the game’s best players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, and taking three of tennis’ four major tournaments, including the sport’s Holy Grail, Wimbledon.    It was the peak of a mountain he began climbing at the age of six, when he started taking lessons with his beloved mentor, Jelena Gencic, who Simon also interviews.

“When I finished the match, when I ate the piece of grass, I had the flashback of my whole childhood, what I’ve been through,” Djokovic says.   “Memories, the first tennis courts that I grew up on,..the days spent in  Belgrade.  And it was beautiful.”

Working on returning the NBA and Phoenix Suns to Indian Wells Tennis Garden

Because of the lockout, the Phoenix Suns didn’t play their annual outdoor preseason game at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. But Richard Heckmann, a part-owner of the Suns and Rancho Mirage resident, was at the BNP Paribas Open and meeting with the tournament organizers about bringing the Suns back.

“We will be having the basketball,” said Raymond Moore, the president of PM Sports which manages the BNP Paribas Open and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.  “We’ve talked with Dick Heckmann.  We’ve got a couple of teams.  Dick actually yesterday mentioned it to Mr. Ellison and told him the teams he’s looking at bringing in.

“So I think pretty much that if we can find another team to play the Suns, it will happen again.”

Remembering Mark McCormack of IMG

The BNP Paribas Open is boldly talking of expansion and aiming to attract numbers that would surpass half of the major events. What makes it possible is the 54-acre Indian Wells Tennis Garden, roomly for players and over 370,000 fans in a 12-day span.

But tournament organizers points out the facility was made possible by a giant in the sports marketing world, IMG’s founder Mark McCormack.

“So we were successful in finding the right partner at the time with IMG, Mark McCormack, to build the stadium here, and that was a major step forward,” said Charlie Pasarell, the former owner and now CEO of PM Sports. ” Subsequently, we addressed all the challenges that came after that from 9/11 and all the other things that, you know, that really affected not only us but many people.”

Raymond Moore, the president of PM Sports which runs the tournament, said it was thanks to McCormack that the stadium stands today.

“If Mark McCormack didn’t sign off on guaranteeing the money to build this stadium, you know, I don’t know where we’d be,” Moore said. “Charlie and I didn’t have the balance sheet to support a $77 million construction, which is what this cost, and Mark McCormack did.  He stepped up. So without Mark McCormack, this wouldn’t have been here.”

Boxing and tennis? Could be a match for Timothy Bradley and Indian Wells Tennis Garden

A week ago, Cathedral City boxer Timothy Bradley, who will fight Manny Pacquiao on June 9 in Las Vegas, visited the BNP Paribas Open and shared a moment with tournament director Steve Simon that could plant the seed for a new venture for the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

“It was fun to see him.  We wished him well in his upcoming fight,” Simon said. ”I said, ’Well, if you go win that (over Pacquiao), then they have to come fight you in your house; this could be your house. 

“So he got pretty excited about that.  We like the idea.”

Bradley has fought three times in the Coachella Valley as a professional, with all three being at The Show inside the Agua Caliente Resort Casino. But The Show seats about 2,500, while the main stadium seats over 16,100 fans.

As with boxing, site fees will also be involved. And Raymond Moore, the president of PM Sports which runs the tennis tournament, said that could be an expensive conversation.

“We’d love to do that if Mr. Arum could make a financial deal for us that we’re not hocking our houses,” Moore joked.

John Isner on doubles

John Isner had his post-match press conference prior to his doubles final with Sam Querrey and had something funny to say about playing doubles here.

“I really enjoy doubles and I enjoy playing with Sam,” Isner said. ”We are quite goofy out there.  I don’t think either one of us ‑‑ we don’t really know how to per se play doubles like doubles teams out there.

“But one thing we can do is we can serve big, and we occasionally connect on some returns.  It makes for a fun time.”