Archives 2005 - Tournament Recap

A Special One This Year

Everyone says it was a big success. Laurie appears more satisfied than years past. More of this, more of that, better organized events, more icing on the cakes, little things that appear to have added up. A big thank you to all who help make it happen... the sponsors, the volunteers, the USTA, everybody. Here is a recap of a few of the highlights and stories:

-Qualifying... there wasn't as many locals in the qualifying. The ATP changed the rule on players credentials for qualifying and as a result, locals can't really play. Our qualifying draw was a pretty good one though... Wayne Odesnik vs Jesse Witten was a good one. The ball kids really took to those 2 players as well. Tecau going down and the ambulance crew was not a highlight, but added to the drama after we realized he was OK.

The guys always seem to say the 1st round is important to get your teeth into a tournament and settle into the environment:

-Udomchoke & Cakl- lots of folks said Cakl powered Danai off the court. Big risk, but it payed off.

-Dudi Sela escaped from De Voest, a fan favorite, in the 1st round.

-Baccanello retiring 2 games into the tournament... unfortunate.

-Nathan Healey & Eric Taino, a good battle, but another fan favorite exiting early

-Guccione & Widom... Guccione on the serve and volley tactics made this interesting.

-Wurtzman and his first win on the Challenger level

-Bobby Reynolds providing us some 3 set matches, against Ram and Falla... both very entertaining.

-Great to see so many Americans... our 2nd All American doubles final, 2nd time to have 5 Americans in the singles quarters.

-Andy Murray getting over the Harsh hump... down 5-1 in the tiebreak. Ironically, Andy has an older brother that lost to Harsh earlier in the year at a futures event.

More highlights, not-so-highlights, words, stories:

-"Stupified", a new term to express lack of ability to understand various characteristics of fans.

-"his ability to just turn it up a notch"

-A few guys going to the towel every stinkin' point. The governing bodies need to put some limit on it. No way there is a need to do it every point and it gets boring. In one of the matches, the opposing player did get annoyed enough to say something.

-"I watched a few of Andy's matches last week. Most players lose their ability to play well when they get emotional and demonstrative on court. Andy appears to play better; a bit like McEnroe and Nastase. Also noticed that he concentrates better when in trouble, like down 1-5 in the second-set breaker against Mankad. Like many of the great players, he gives you the impression he has plenty of time during a rally-he doesn't look rushed and is willing to hang on in there using his very effective and elegant slice backhand to control the tempo. Only problem as far as I can see is the huge amount of pressure he will face from the British fans as he improves. They are desperate for a Wimbledon champ. He needs at least one other ''homegrown'' player to share the pressure with. Finally, credit to Andy's coach Mark Petchy, who was a very fine player in his own right."

-Stories from a few Brits...

"Out of interest, I looked on another player site yesterday for a forum in case someone was posting updates but didn't find one. However I was quite amazed to read the news item on the front page of his site preceding yesterday's matches - 'Alex will have to play 3 matches today. Firstly he takes on Andy Murray then 2 hours later he will play Brian Baker' (not verbatim but the gist). He he - that'll teach his editors to be so presumptive"

-On the day Great Britain was given the 2012 Olympics to be held in London a newspaper had many pages on the subject; on page 5 the only real picture of a recognizable athlete in the paper's vision of the Games was of "Andy Murray Going For Gold, 29th July 2012" at Wimbledon! He is only 20-1 to win Gold and amazingly only 33-1 to light the Olympic flame!

Already the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2004 voted by the British public, obviously BEFORE Wimbledon 2005 when many people stopped work to watch Andy etc etc.

The hype is ridiculous but I hope you get the picture in the US. With luck Andy can be left to develop away from home in relative peace for a while. However from the North of Scotland to the South of England he has already given us Brits a great deal of pleasure. Even my mother knows who he is!"

-"Your commentary is a great idea - it's very informative and full of the kind of detail that almost made me feel that I was there. I'm a British tennis fan who visited the site to follow Andy Murray's progress, but got a lot more out of it than I expected. Great job!"

-"A note to thank you for keeping us, here in scotland, up to date with andy's progress at Binghampton. Due to all his tennis activities we rarely see him nowadays, so the up to date pictures were indeed a bonus. I hope his tournament success at Binghampton is another big step in his quest for a top 100 ranking. Thank you again for your excellent coverage.

sincerely

Roy Erskine (Andy's proud grandfather)"

-"I wanted to share my Andy Murray story! We, here in Britain, are very excited about him! We've been waiting for someone to show some promise, but more importantly, some passion for ages! Andy has it in abundance! I watched him play at Queens and have never witnessed such a dramatic match as that which he played against Johansson in the third round. Andy lost the match in a tight third set (6-7, 7-6, 5-7), but it was after that match that everyone knew he has what it takes. It took a massive effort from him to win the second set and then he cramped terribly in the third set. His determination and his passion shone through in the third set as he pushed himself through the pain barrier carrying the crowd with him all the way. Everybody was disappointed when he lost, but he then went on to impress us all again at Wimbledon where he battled against all the odds to reach the third round. We are all very proud of him in GB and will be watching very closely next week in Cincy to see if he can't win a couple more matches. Also props to Mark Petchey, his coach. A very popular Sky Sports pundit, he has worked wonders for Andy. Long may they work together! Well done on a great tournament!"

Since we've ended up dedicating most of this page to Andy... and in fairness, most all of the stories we heard were Andy stories... we'll keep going.

British tennis touched here this week... though it is easy to listen to it and get caught up in the energy it has, some readers may feel it is a bit much given the other players who were here and that is a good point. Lleyton has been here, James was here, Tim was here, somebody this year that may well be it 5 years from now. It is possible one of the players will win a Grand Slam, or Andy may well win wimbledon some day out (look out if that happens). On the other hand, you do have to appreciate the energy... we've had Americans who have had great resumes come through here and the media doesn't even notice. The energy is good for tennis. All of it, regardless of who it is, has to make you feel fortunate to be able to see these guys in person, in Binghamton, for free.

Have to also point out the activity in Cincy yesterday. Andy won his 1st masters series match against Taylor Dent, #22 in the world, 7-6(4), 7-6(1)... coming from a break down in each set. He next has his first match against a top 5 player, who happens to have some knee problems and is known to be inconsistent which helps Murray's chances. Dmitry Tursunov (our top seed last year) played Rusedski just before Murray in Cincy, lost in 3. Andy goes from winning Binghamton, to beating Taylor Dent in the Masters Series. Look for him in the US Open, is he a wild card??

Is Andy one of the hottest streaking athletes to ever be here in Binghamton? We might not even know yet how great of a story this is.