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Things heating up
The last few days before the tennis begins typically is an event onto itself with wild card requests coming in and Pilot Pen Tennis tournament director Anne Worcester bombarding agents of any top-flight players who happen to lose early in this week's ATP and WTA events with e-mails, text messages and phone calls, 2009 is no different.
This is what I know so far:
No. 13 men's player Gael Monfils has withdrawn his request for a wild card
No. 12 women's player Nadia Petrova has submitted a request for a wild card
Robby Ginepri has yet to request a men's main draw wild card.
Two-time men's finalist Mardy Fish, who has endured an injury-riddled summer, is expected into New Haven by either Wednesday or Thursday and should be good to go.
Now, switching to the "what could be" department:
The biggest news in the women's event in Toronto was Venus Williams' three-set loss to qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko. That result coupled with Williams' early exit in Cincinnati certainly raises the possibility of a clearly out of sorts Williams (60 unforced errors in Tuesday's loss) coming to New Haven for the first time since she won her fourth straight Pilot Pen title in 2002. But right now it is little more than wishful thinking. Williams is such a long shot to play here that she has barely been on Worcester's radar. Of course that changed once Tuesday's result came across her desk. Carlos Fleming, who also represents two-time New Haven men's singles champion James Blake, is Williams' agent. Worcester wasted little time in reaching out to Fleming.
Blake, a former Fairfield resident, is another interesting prospect. He played in New Haven from 2005-07, winning the titles in '05 and '07. A foot injury kept him sidelined this summer. He returned to the court on Tuesday against Igor Kunitsyn and he is currently going to a third set. If Blake gets knocked out early, a return to New Haven is a possibility.
Other noteworthy upsets which caught Worcester's eyes were the losses of No. 10 Fernando Verdasco and No. 11 Robin Soderling in Cincinnati and No. 22 Hantuchova in Toronto. She is also keeping tabs on No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 11 Ana Ivanovic, who have expressed some interest in playing in New Haven if they feel as if they did not get in enough tennis this week.
Look for some more concrete news to emerge on Wednesday and Thursday.
This is what I know so far:
No. 13 men's player Gael Monfils has withdrawn his request for a wild card
No. 12 women's player Nadia Petrova has submitted a request for a wild card
Robby Ginepri has yet to request a men's main draw wild card.
Two-time men's finalist Mardy Fish, who has endured an injury-riddled summer, is expected into New Haven by either Wednesday or Thursday and should be good to go.
Now, switching to the "what could be" department:
The biggest news in the women's event in Toronto was Venus Williams' three-set loss to qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko. That result coupled with Williams' early exit in Cincinnati certainly raises the possibility of a clearly out of sorts Williams (60 unforced errors in Tuesday's loss) coming to New Haven for the first time since she won her fourth straight Pilot Pen title in 2002. But right now it is little more than wishful thinking. Williams is such a long shot to play here that she has barely been on Worcester's radar. Of course that changed once Tuesday's result came across her desk. Carlos Fleming, who also represents two-time New Haven men's singles champion James Blake, is Williams' agent. Worcester wasted little time in reaching out to Fleming.
Blake, a former Fairfield resident, is another interesting prospect. He played in New Haven from 2005-07, winning the titles in '05 and '07. A foot injury kept him sidelined this summer. He returned to the court on Tuesday against Igor Kunitsyn and he is currently going to a third set. If Blake gets knocked out early, a return to New Haven is a possibility.
Other noteworthy upsets which caught Worcester's eyes were the losses of No. 10 Fernando Verdasco and No. 11 Robin Soderling in Cincinnati and No. 22 Hantuchova in Toronto. She is also keeping tabs on No. 6 Svetlana Kuznetsova and No. 11 Ana Ivanovic, who have expressed some interest in playing in New Haven if they feel as if they did not get in enough tennis this week.
Look for some more concrete news to emerge on Wednesday and Thursday.
Labels: Ana Ivanovic, Anne Worcester, Daniela Hantuchova, James Blake, Mardy Fish, Nadia Petrova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams
posted by Jim Fuller at
5:16 PM
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