Doing what comes unnaturally

Written by: Staff on 9th September 2010

Doing what comes unnaturally

Prize Giving Ceremony Argentina _ Coach Ruben Re, Andrea Collarini, Facundo Arguello and Agustin Velotti USA_Evan King, Coach, David Roditi, Denis Kudla and Raymond Sarmiento Russia_Mikhail Biryukov, Richard Muzaev, Alexander Kostanov and Coach, Vladimir Coorelov |

Somewhere within the laws of nature there must be a rule, a clause, a sub-section, that dictates that tennis at night is just not right. Tennis ought to played outdoors and during the hours of daylight – that is how it was meant to be and that is how is was designed back in the days when it was called Sphairistike. In those days, ladies and gentlemen could enjoy a gentle game on the lawns – weather permitting – before repairing to the terrace for tea and buns. It was dignified, it was genteel – and it was finished by dinnertime.

True, the night sessions in Flushing Meadows have their own, unique atmosphere, one not dissimilar from a bear pit, and the sound of 20,000 well-oiled New Yorkers roaring their approval from the nose-bleeds can be heard for miles around. But it is still not natural.

The biggest problem with all this running around under the floodlights is that it uses up all the matches. By putting on day and night sessions for all but one of the 13 days leading into the final, there are simply not enough matches left to go round by the time we get to the second week.

For those well-heeled types who forked out $385 for a posh seat in the Arthur Ashe Stadium on Day 11, the pickings were thin as they surveyed the order of play: a women’s doubles followed by the mixed doubles final and then – do try and contain yourselves, please – Stanislas Wawrinka against Mikhail Youzhny. Even the cheapest seats, those ones way up at the top of the stadium from which the tennis looks like two ants having a argument in a neighbouring state, were going for $85 a pop for this feast of delights.

Now, we at 10sballs.com have no wish to show anything other than the greatest of respect to both Stan the Man and Moscow Mike, but for a New York audience, they are hardly household names. The fact that they were playing in a force nine gale didn’t help their tennis much, either.

Another $100 would have bought a courtside seat for the night match – Rafa Nadal against Fernando Verdasco – and the added bonus of watching Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova take on Pat Cash and Mats Wilander. Yes, that’s right: two old birds playing two old blokes. “Why?” we hear you cry. Because the football is starting tonight, that’s why. TV wants Rafa to start around 8.30pm so as not to clash with the “NFL Opening Kickoff 2010 Presented by EA Sports” special that precedes the opening game of the new season (the Saints against the Minnesota Vikings). If Martina and Anna can keep everyone happy for an hour or so then Rafa and Fernando can start after the footy previews and no one will be any the wiser. And, anyway, there aren’t any other matches left to fill the gap.

But away from the main showcourt, the schedule of play for the 11^th day read like an episode of Extras. Those who had purchased ground passes found themselves knee-deep in junior matches. However, had they looked more closely, they would have discovered a tale of international wheeling and dealing in an attempt to save American tennis.

Over on the Louis Armstrong Stadium, Denis Kudla was beating his old mate, Evan King 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. A couple of years ago, these two formed the backbone of the US team that won the junior Davis Cup in Mexico. But despite that promising start to their careers, the two young men soon went their separate ways, Kudla turning professional and trying his luck on the tour and King going to the University of Michigan (presumably his mum sent him off to the US Open with a note for the teachers to explain why he wouldn’t be in school this week).

But, out on Court 13, one Andrea Collarini, now of the US, was taking a pasting from Filip Horansky 6-3, 6-4 (even Collarini thought he had played like a plank so it must have been bad). That would be the same Collarini who was on the Argentina team at that 2008 junior Davis Cup, the Argentina team that Kudla and King beat. If you look at the photograph above, Kudla is holding the trophy, to his immediate left is King while to his extreme left is Collarini. We have the proof.

Collarini, though, was actually born in the US while his parents were studying at NYU. Heading back to Argentina as a baby, he grew up there and learned his tennis there. That is when the USTA perked up – perhaps this lad could come and play for the US? He was born in New York, after all. And that is when it all started to go wrong for poor old Collarini.

He reached the final of the French Open juniors, true enough, but when he got there, he took a hammering from Agustin Velotti, the same Velotti who used to be his doubles partner when he still represented Argentina. And now that he is in Flushing Meadows, he cannot get past the third round.

Note to USTA talent scouts: if you are looking for a hope for the future who can play on clay, it is probably best to start saving your pennies now and put your name down for Rafa’s first-born. Persuading the bloke your own juniors have just beaten is probably not going to win you a whole heap of titles.

Topics: Arthur Ashe, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Bear Pit, Buns, Dinnertime, Floodlights, Gentle Game, Hours Of Daylight, Household Names, Ladies And Gentlemen, Laws Of Nature, Mikhail Youzhny, Mixed Doubles, Neighbouring State, Night Sessions, Nose Bleeds, Rafa Nadal, Stan The Man, Stanislas Wawrinka, York Audience

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