By Chris Oddo | Friday February 19, 2016
Here’s what’s Happening around the tennis world on Friday, February 19:
Video: Dustin Brown strikes again, this time at the Wroclaw Challenger. Stunning!
Konta Leaves Interviewer Red-Faced? Rumor has it that Johanna Konta was a bit, how shall we say, snooty during her taping of the Jonathan Ross show. We’re not sure how surly Konta’s behavior was, but we do know that the taping of the show is getting a lot of press.
Here’s a snippet from a Telegraph article about the show:
In an attempt to lighten the mood, the tennis star is challenged to hit grapes into the mouth of Twilight star Taylor Lautner using her racket.
When Mr Ross encourages her to change her grip, she snaps: “Really? Leave me alone.”
During a section of the programme, another guest – comic Rob Brydon – said he had heard Tim Henman say tennis players need a selective memory to forget bad shots straight away.
Konta hits back: “Is that what you do with your performances?”
According to Konta, things went well, and she even advertised the spot on her Twitter, so… :
Your weekly gambling in tennis update: According to a leading sports gambling watchdog, 73 matches were reported to the Tennis Integrity Unit over 2015—more than three times the amount reported in any other sport .
Additionally, a Thai player was given an 18-month ban by the Tennis Integrity Unit.
Why the whole world of tennis is rooting for Delpo: Simon Briggs of the Telegraph penned this piece on Juan Martin del Potro’s comeback, stating that not only is Delpo an awesome athlete, he’s an “awesome guy.”
Here’s a snippet:
At only 27 years old, Del Potro still has the time and the talent to climb the mountain once again. But can his body sustain him through the journey? Modern men’s tennis still has a place for timing and tactics, but the pecking order is increasingly shaped by physical attributes: speed, strength and – above all – resilience.
It is too early to judge whether Del Potro can cope with the relentlessness of the tour. Even on Wednesday, he was settling for one-handed chips and slices off his backhand wing on the majority of points. This handicap did not prevent him from schooling Kudla by a 6-1, 6-4 margin, but it did present the spectacle of a man playing – almost literally – with one hand tied behind his back.
Sophia Olivia Murray. Beautiful name, isn’t it? We haven’t heard much from Andy Murray and his wife kim—no baby pics yet? But we did learn the name of the Murray baby, and we’re giving it the stamp of a approval. Sophia Olivia Murray has a nice ring to it.
Tweet of the week (we're using Photoshop to do our GIFs now and we're very excited!):
One-handed backhand a dying art? Well, don’t tell Stan Wawrinka—or Dominic Thiem for that matter. But SI’s Richard Mills writes that the shot is on the decline, and even points out that Carlos Rodriguez, former coach of Justine Henin, predicts that the one-hander will die out in the next decade.
Get to know Kiki better: France’s Kristina Mladenovic pens her journal for Sport 360. She talks about the “sportiness” of her family and how it has shaped and aided her career.
I’m so proud of all of us. What is crazy is that we are four, my mum, my dad, myself and my younger brother and we all play different sports. What is cool about it is that we all – almost – are professional.
I say ‘almost’ because my brother is the younger one and he’s now trying to turn professional and he just signed his first contract with a professional club and my dad used to be a handball goalkeeper playing for the national ex-Yugoslavia team and for many years in the first division in France, very famous, he has an Olympic gold medal, and my mum used to play volleyball also at the highest level for the national team of former Yugoslavia
WTA seeds sent packing in Dubai For the first time in history, the WTA has played a tournament in which all eight seeded players failed to win a match this week. That’s pretty astounding, but then again, with the depth and chaos of the tour at an all-time high, we had to know it was coming, right?
WTA Insider Courtney Nguyen breaks down the madness here.
Sushi blamed for Nigel Sears’ collapse in Australia: Nigel Sears isn’t totally sure what caused his collapse during a third-round match at the Australian Open last month, but he believes it might have been caused by bad sushi. Sears says he ate sushi ten days in a row and he thinks that a “dodgy” piece may have done it. More important, Sears says that doctors have determined that his heart is fine, and he was already back in Dubai this week, hard at work coaching Ana Ivanovic.
Delpo’s spreads the love What is it about Juan Martin del Potro that makes people want to cry? He’s just so sweet, like a giant puppy that has sharp teeth but would never dare use them to harm anybody. Check out this sweet video of Delpo handing a bandanna to one of his fans. Absolutely classic.
Have a great day!