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What Happened Last Night Between Harrison and Young?

Posted by Admin on February 13, 2018
Posted in: ATP, New York, New York Open. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

What Happened Last Night Between Harrison and Young?

Donald Young (Photo:Chris Levy @Tennis_Shots for TennisEastCoast.com)

Donald Young (Photo: Chris Levy @Tennis_Shots for TennisAtlantic.com)

 

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK–Everyone knows there was some kind of disagreement last night between countrymen Ryan Harrison and Donald Young during Harrison’s 6-3, 7-6(4). Since no one requested Donald Young in the press room for a post-match conference, we’re left with serious allegations on a dangling tweet. While many are piling on Harrison and have twitter-convicted him of likely making a racist statement to Young based solely on his past on-court ranting, Harrison downplayed any controversy in his post match press conference only to discover the Young tweet long after the matches had ended at the old Nassau County Coliseum. The Young tweet was sent at 12:03 a.m. and Harrison responded at 12:47 a.m.

Harrison

Harrison Signing Busted Racquet for the Fan who Snagged It.

Twelve hours later, it was a ghost town of information at the tournament. Press doesn’t bump into players here every minute. The athletes are cloistered away in the basement of the Coliseum or better yet, they’re in their rooms in the Marriott just across the parking lot via an underground exit. Harrison teams up with Stevie Johnson this afternoon in doubles against Scott Lipsky and Divij Sharan. With a win, Harrison might be able to give us clues as to what may have been said by him that could have caused offense and harm to Young, even in a distorted context. Otherwise, most of us will have to wait for Young to play doubles tomorrow to get more information. Harrison and Young are each one doubles win away from facing each other on the other side of the net again at the New York Open.

I’m personally tired of politics and tennis together on twitter. I go to sports to escape reality. In my 40-something reality, I can’t even imagine a hot-head like Harrison ever saying something remotely racist on court to, of all players, an American teammate. I am not saying Young is a liar by any means. Both of the players are credible and I’ve enjoyed watching them over the years without regard to their personal politics. My brain has to err on the side of a big-time misunderstanding, because a racial taunt in our sport should never be tolerated and Team USA has never attacked one of their own like this. Part of the twitter “evidence” against Harrison is a statement he may have made at a prior tournament where he used a disparaging term against a German player. Well, “F*ing German” and these accusations are completely different. I’m desperately trying to get information from anyone who may have heard anything last night. Even the security staff in the building who were court side during last night’s match claim they heard nothing and none were aware of the resulting controversy on social media. As I write, Steve Johnson won the first set of his singles match, 6-1, meaning we’re closer to the moment that Harrison can address this matter and Americans can get back to winning matches in New York.

EDIT: I just spoke with a leading American player who indicated that he’d never sensed any animosity whatsoever between Young and Harrison and also lamented the twitter trial and conviction.

–S. Fogleman

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Missing the Man on the Mic: @DougAdlerTennis Confident He’ll Return to @CitiOpen in 2018

Posted by Admin on August 1, 2017
Posted in: ATP, Citi Open, Washington, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Missing the Man on the Mic: Doug Adler Confident He’ll Return to Citi Open in 2018
Steve Fogleman in Washington

CitiOpen Radio, Doug Adler, Marc Sterne, Washington 2012

Big Success: CitiOpen ATP/WTA and their
Little Radios

The 49th installment of Washington’s tennis tournament has so much going for it. A true world-class player field. A real World #2 in Simona Halep. Expanded tailgate options. Cocktail competitions. Decent weather!

But it’s missing something this year. As you come out to see Simona Halep, Jack Sock, Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori and Juan Martin del Potro later today, those little headsets you’ll be wearing won’t be the same because Citi Open Radio is missing its signature commentator, Doug Adler. Adler was with Citi Open ever since the tournament’s been called Citi Open and has been the go-to guy on the earpiece. His excellent reporting from Stadium Court allowed me to roam the outer courts all these years without ever missing anything happening inside the stadium. In 2012, during the women’s final, Adler and Marc Sterne invited me on the broadcast where I surprised them by picking underdog Magdalena Rybarikova to upset Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova–which she did.

Doug Adler

Doug Adler at Wimbledon

You’ve probably heard about the disastrous misunderstanding flamed by internet trolls which resulted in Adler’s hiatus from the Citi Open this year.

If you haven’t heard, let’s say that Adler was fired by ESPN after a speedy social media witch trial forced the broadcasting giant’s limp hand.

During an early round match at this year’s Australian Open on ESPN3, the 59-year-old announcer and former USC standout, who’s given his life to tennis, remarked that when Venus Williams charged the net on a second serve, she possessed a “guerilla effect.” Now, the term “guerilla tennis” has been around for a long time. It’s been used by Nike in an ad campaign and has been used by highly-respected tennis writer Peter Bodo.

Adler, who didn’t even use social media at the time, had no idea that a few twitter users passed instant judgment on his alleged remarks, and those twiterrati were clearly unaware that he’d devoted countless hours volunteering in youth tennis events in Central Los Angeles, his beloved hometown. His own co-commentator was also completely unaware of any controversy after the match until an ESPN executive came calling on them the next day in Melbourne. Adler apologized on-air for any potential misunderstanding as ESPN had demanded, even though he did nothing wrong. He was summarily yanked from a broadcast and fired the next day, ESPN execs deciding to throw him under the bus and avoid any controversy. This from the same company that just published poll results of the “50 Greatest Black Athletes” — as conducted by ESPN using the website “Survey Monkey.”

Let me make this clear. I ultimately lay the blame on his firing on no one but ESPN. An Executive of a major corporation (or a nation) who sets policy based on the current twitter feed is unfit to lead either. Generally speaking, twitter is a bunch of idiots. And anyone who consumes all of their news or makes major decisions based on a twitter feed is an idiot.

Adler’s horror story is emblematic of so much that is wrong with America in 2017: the way social media trolls destroy careers, the spinelessness of big corporations when offered a chance to stand behind an ordinary employee and yes, of political correctness run amok.

That is not what this post is about. It’s about Doug Adler as an excellent human being who’s given his all to the game and has never uttered a racial slur in his life. The worst part of Adler’s story isn’t that the Alt-Right decided to use his firing as a gotcha moment to lambaste the ‘mainstream’ media. The worst part is that Adler suffered a heart attack and nearly died a couple of months after his wrongful discharge from ESPN. When I spoke with him about a week ago, he didn’t want to argue his case about it. He’ll have his chance in the California judicial system.

He sounded sad, like any of us would have if we’d been smeared out of a career.

Adler knows who he is and who he isn’t, and so do colleagues who have worked with him. So does everyone who’s ever known him, so he’s understandably optimistic that he’ll get his career and his good name restored after this “horrible” year in which he “almost died.”

“I’m going to miss being at Citi Open this year,” he told me. “I love the people, the fans, the whole tournament. It’s a great atmosphere and I am going to miss everyone in the booth and I look forward to coming back next year.”

The matter may need to settle out of court for that to happen. His case against ESPN is scheduled for trial in the fall of 2018. In any event, I’ll be rooting for Doug Adler all the way and hope to hear his voice throughout the grounds of Citi Open for years to come.

2016 Seoul, Bordeaux, Heilbronn and Samarkand Challenger Recaps

Posted by Admin on May 17, 2016
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2016 Seoul, Bordeaux, Heilbronn and Samarkand Challenger Recaps
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

ATP Challenger Tour Official Page

Seoul

Top seed John Millman came through the first two rounds in straight sets, but not without a price to pay, as he had to withdraw from his quarterfinal match against Lukas Lacko citing a left ankle injury. Fifth seed Yen-Hsun Lu knows the feeling, playing only his first tournament of the year here after being out with injury himself. Lu started in fine fashion, shaking off the rust in three sets against Di Wu in the first round, before winning his next two matches in straight sets. Lacko was his biggest challenge thusfar, but Lu survived it in three sets, 7-6(4) 5-7 6-3.

Third seed Sam Groth ended his bad streak of losses against very low-ranked players with two three-set victories in his first two rounds, after which he faced Alexander Kudryavtsev in the quarterfinal. Kudryavtsev took out sixth seed Tatsuma Ito a round earlier, 7-6(6) 7-5. Disaster struck once again for Groth, however, having to retire at 4-1 down in the first set citing a right wrist injury. Kudryavtsev was an easy prey for Sergiy Stakhovsky in the semi-final, who beat him 6-2 6-4 and reached the final without dropping a set. There Lu’s comeback was given a mind-blowing ending, with Stakhovsky saving not less than seven match points to take down his fifth Challenger title, 4-6 6-3 7-6(7). Stakhovsky reentered the top 100 at #96, rising twenty-two spots. The same went for Lu, who rose eight spots to #100.

Bordeaux

Only two seeds survived the first round and only one of them the second round as well. Diego Schwartzman, top seed and new owner of a ATP title, knew a shocking first round exit, with wildcard Mathias Bourgue beating him 6-7(5) 6-4 6-1. In the second round Bourgue lost 3-6 6-3 6-4 to Steve Darcis, who because of injury played his first tournament in three months. He nearly managed to reach the semi-final as well, but Bjorn Fratangelo stopped him in a third set tiebreak, 4-6 6-2 7-6(3). Fratangelo won another crucial tiebreak in his next match, beating Maximo Gonzalez 7-6(5) 6-1 for a place in the final.

Elias Ymer took out second seed Lukas Rosol in the first round, 6-4 6-4, dropping the exact same number of games as in their quarterfinal encounter in Aix-En-Provence last week. A round later something even more remarkable happened, as Ymer had a nasty fall while match point up in the third set tiebreak at *6-5 against Roberto Carballes Baena, keeping him on the ground for a good while and forcing him to take a medical timeout. He recovered in miraculous fashion, however, losing the next point after he served underarm, but after that saving the match point and winning the tiebreak 9-7.

It didn’t seem to be a serious injury for Ymer, as he beat qualifier Jonathan Eysseric a round later to reach the semi-final. There Ymer was outsmarted by the lone seed who made it past the second round, seventh seed Rogerio Dutra Silva, who won 4-6 6-1 6-3. The final against Fratangelo was a piece of cake for the Brazilian, winning 6-3 6-1 to claim his eighth Challenger title. Dutra Silva is now also very close to his career high ranking of #84, rising nine spots to #85. Fratangelo rose twelve spots to #104, a career high.

Heilbronn

The many matches top seed Ricardas Berankis has played recently caught up with him, losing 6-3 1-6 6-3 to Marsel Ilhan in the first round. Ilhan’s opponent was decided between a blast from the past match-up between former top 10 player Janko Tipsarevic and former top 40 player Carlos Berlocq, both struggling with injury. Berlocq won 7-5 6-3 and also beat Ilhan a round later, 2-6 6-2 6-3. Rising youngster Jozef Kovalik was too much in the quarterfinal, however, with the match ending 6-1 6-4. Kovalik’s semi-final opponent was Nikoloz Basilashvili, who in all honesty was fortunate to win his previous two matches against Blaz Rola and eighth seed Igor Sijsling. Against both Basilashvili was the lesser player for the biggest part of the match, but had luck and clutchness on his side when it mattered. Rola and Sijsling respectively went out with 6-7(4) 6-3 7-6(5) and 6-2 3-6 6-4 scorelines. The semi-final saw Basilashvili play a lot better, at least after a terrible first set, beating Kovalik 1-6 6-4 6-3 for a place in the final.

Despite his loss Rola went viral, due to this remarkable shot.

In the bottom half another blast from the past, former top 20 player Florian Mayer. Like Tipsarevic and Berlocq, he struggled a lot with injury. Mayer started the tournament well and took out second seed Horacio Zeballos and Frances Tiafoe in three sets. In the quarterfinal sixth seed Jan-Lennard Struff was way too strong, however, 6-2 6-3. Struff continued his dominance in the semi-final against third seed Albert Montanes, 6-0 6-3. In the final the ever unpredictable Basilashvili played another great match, taking down his second Challenger title of the year, 6-4 7-6(3). This despite hiccups at 5-3* and 5-4 in the second set, where he missed a match point in both games.

A remarkable season so far for Basilashvili, in which he either won the tournament or played terrible tennis and lost after one or two matches. If only he would be able to build some consistency into his game, because the 24-year-old has an attractive game and lot of potential. Nevertheless, he is close to the top 100 again, rising twenty spots to #105. Struff rose five spots to #102.

Samarkand

There are not a lot of people who love tennis as much as Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. The 38-year-old refuses to retire and still has an endless passion for playing the sport, still being well capable of posting a decent result here and there. This was one of those weeks. Ramirez Hidalgo beat third seed Amir Weintraub 6-2 6-4 for a place in the semi-final against Ramkumar Ramanathan, which had to be played on the same day due to rain earlier in the week. No problem for the veteran. He ousted his 17-year younger opponent after a marathon match, 2-6 7-6(5) 7-6(0), even handing him a bagel in the deciding tiebreak. This also secured him of a record, that of oldest Challenger finalist of all-time.

Surely after effectively playing a gruelling five-set match he will be left with no chance in the final against top seed Karen Khachanov the next day, who is half his age at 19 and advanced to the final when Agustin Velotti retired after eight games? Not quite. Despite Khachanov winning the first set 6-1, Ramirez Hidalgo fought himself back into the match and in remarkable fashion managed to win the tiebreak after being 1-5* down in it, 7-6(6). A true testament to his character. There was no shame in the third set once again ending convincingly in Khachanov’s favor, 6-1. Khachanov rose fourteen spots to #109 after winning his second Challenger title, a new career high. Ramirez Hidalgo made a big jump of sixty-eight spots to #250, exactly 200 spots shy of his career high ranking of ten years ago. Keep on grinding, Ruben.

Last but not least, if you follow me on Twitter (@TennisPurist) and wondered why my account has been suspended, it’s because the ATP is behind it. Hundreds, perhaps evens thousands, of tennis accounts are regularly posting innocent videos about the sport we all love so dearly, providing the ATP with free advertisement through video clips of mostly thirty seconds. Yet I became the first person ever to get targeted for it due to copyright infringement, immediately resulting in the permanent suspension of my Twitter account.

Coincidentally I’m also one of the few people in the tennis world who extensively writes about match-fixing and doping, not only on Twitter but for example also through my own blog, making the reason why out of so many people to choose from the ATP only decided to target me seem very sinister. Read more about it here, I will update the thread if there are new developments:

What Would @IvoKarlovic Do (With Twitter Trolls)?

Posted by Admin on July 10, 2014
Posted in: ATP, Newport. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , .

Earlier today, after defending champ Nicolas Mahut lost his quarterfinal match against Sam Groth at the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport, he got a hate tweet. How did Nico deal with it? He tweeted it out, surely invoking the wrath of his fans against the angry loser of a bet.

Right after I saw that tweet, it was time to speak with 2 seed Ivo Karlovic. Now Karlovic is one of the funniest guys on twitter. But twitter clearly has a dark downside as well. So what would Dr. Ivo do when someone trolls him on twitter?

“There is a lot of them because they are betting and then when they lose the money, they are angry, but they should be angry at themselves, not at me. Usually, if it’s really mean, I block them, or I just answer about their mamas.”

Keep on tweetin’, Ivo!

And I don’t think you’ll have to block these girls anytime soon.

Karlovic Selfie

The Michelle Larcher de Brito Post

Posted by Admin on March 30, 2014
Posted in: Charleston, Family Circle Cup, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , .

There’s this one guy on twitter who bugs the hell out of me to follow Michelle Larcher de Brito around every time he discovers I’m at the same place at the same time as LdB. I think he’s gone through a few accounts.

Look, LdB is a very interesting and charming player. I have enjoyed watching her matches and meeting her family.

But this is the last time I worry about pleasing a single twitter follower with an agenda.

I’m sick of it.

You don’t always need to see. It would be good for you to just imagine a match once in a while.

This is your last fix, bro.

You won’t have me to boss around the twittersphere anymore.

And I should just tell you now. As for that Grace Min and LdB matchup tomorrow night? I’d love to see it. But you, my friend, can catch it on ESPN3 or some stolen feed. You’re on your own.

Michelle Larcher de Brito

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Can a Fan be Ejected for Using Twitter at a Pro Tennis Match?

Posted by Admin on March 29, 2012
Posted in: ATP, Indian Wells, US Open, WTA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

This tweeter has ceased to be!

By Steve Fogleman for TennisEastCoast.com

At the end of the day, I am an avid tennis fan. But at the beginning of the day, I am an avid fan of rules and regulations. As a trial lawyer, I am constantly arguing interpretation before the courts in which I practice. In addition, I chair a local regulatory agency where we are often asked to make decisions on intepreting rules and regulations in administrative hearings.

Rules? I love ’em. Without them, there would be chaos.
 
In January, I read a report on Tennis.com regarding spectators having been removed from the grounds of the ASB Classic and Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand for “using a handheld device, possibly to bet on specific points and take advantage of the delay of several seconds before other gamblers saw the points played on television”. According to the article, another man was ejected from Wimbledon last year for a similar offense.

This made me wonder: what kind of futuristic hand-held device could the transgressors have possessed? The answer is probably an I-phone.
Any cell phone can text scores to a third-party. Any smart phone can tweet scores through twitter to millions of people around the planet.

The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) was set up in September 2008 as a joint initiative of the ITF, ATP, WTA and the Grand Slam Committee to look into “betting-related corruption challenges that faced professional tennis,” according to its website. According to the article below, TIU keeps a “blacklist” of known on-site tennis bettors.

http://www.sify.com/sports/wimbledon-given-blacklist-of-tennis-betting-suspects-news-news-lgnoaogghea.html?ref=false

A review of TIU’s site quickly demonstrates that their primary focus is on disciplining players (as in the recent lifetime ban of Daniel Koellerer)  and others with a close association to the sport rather than fans. So, who’s the boss when it comes to a “twitter ban”?

ATP Rule 6.09 (F) says no tournament shall allow or authorize
dissemination, transmission, publication or release from the grounds of the tournament any live match score, or any related live statistical data until :30 seconds after the actual occurrence.

Section 17 (A) (19) of the 2012 WTA Official Rulebook states on Page 311 that

All media areas shall be gambling-free zones, and any persons credentialed for such areas, if found to be gambling on tennis or passing insider information to third parties for use in connection with gambling, shall have their credentials revoked. Media credentials must contain a provision whereby the media member acknowledges and agrees that he/she will not disseminate, transmit publish or release from the grounds of the tournament any live match score, or any related live statistical data until :30 seconds after the actual occurrence of the incident of match play or action that leads to such live score update (e.g. a point being scored), and that such use shall be solely for news reporting and editorial use. Any media known to be working for gambling companies shall not be issued credentials. If found to be working for a gambling company after issuance of the credential, the credential shall be revoked.

A look around the web shows that these rules are being highlighted in media credential requests from Wimbledon, Auckland, Indian Wells and the Estoril Open. However, it doesn’t appear that these rules were mentioned prior to 2011. And without naming names, I have seen many tournament credentials that did not have the required warning language.

In order for a rule to work, people need to know that such a rule exists. The WTA is now strictly enforcing this rule in 2012, according to an unnamed tournament official.

Why enforce the rule? It apparently exists to prohibit illegal gambling, in the sense that it is illegal to place a bet on something where a bettor has an advantage by already knowing the result before he/she places the bet. Betfair and other websites allow you to not only bet on the outcome of the match, but also place a bet on each serve, the number of points a player will win in a given game and so on. So, it seems that pro tennis wants to protect internet gambling from…the internet. The added irony here is that ALL ONLINE GAMBLING IS ILLEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES. I have no sympathy for gambling companies in this instance. If they use technology to allow these second-by-second exotic bets, then it’s obvious that the companies will occasionally be burned by someone who can use the internet better than they can.

Tennis Betting is Big $$$

Tennis betting does nothing positive for the sport, so why protect it? I’m still unclear on that. However, it is crystal clear that you can not disseminate match data for thirty seconds.

So, if you’re a fan who live tweets a score, they would probably have to (1) find you on the grounds, and (2) issue you a warning before tossing you out. If you’re credentialed media, you’ve already been warned by the notice on the back of your press pass.

Don’t look for any live tweets of match scores, medical timeouts or other determinative information from our website’s twitter account.

In reality, by the time a tweet is typed and then uploaded on a smart phone, thirty seconds should easily have passed. In fact, the wireless data reception is often terrible at tournaments. The US Open is famous for jammed smart phones. I always thought it was because thousands of people were overloading the nearest tower. Now I wonder if something more deliberate is afoot, since WTA and ATP rules authorize tournaments to tweak their own wireless service providers to build in a delay at their choosing.

So love it or hate it, it’s the rule. You’ve been forewarned, tennis tweeps!

Here’s a more traditional way to get tossed: