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2000 Kroger St. Jude, Live Report #1, Feb. 16, 2000 I know my promised report is coming a little late,
but I gotta tell ya, these 12 hour days at the tourney are taking
it's toll. Sleep is a precious thing now, and so I've been crashing
as soon as I get home...which is usually after midnight. Anyway, here's
a tiny summary of what's going on for right now...
Monday was somewhat of a mundane
day, although my biggest highlight was catching Thailand's own, Paradorn
Srichaphan's match over in the grandstand that morning. His 3 set
match against the Italian Cristiano Caratti, gave him a win and a
place in the second round. I was thoroughly impressed in what I saw
in Srichaphan's game. He's a great player with a good attitude...unlike
Justin Gimelstob...OK, I won't go there right now.
So as I was saying about Srichaphan, he's a very
nice guy, as is his dad who always welcomes a conversation or a hand
shake. =) I tell ya, I dubbed the man to be Mr. Smiley. Every time
I see him, he's always smiling or laughing. They're a great family.
Paradorn's 2nd round match didn't turn out so well on Tuesday against
the German, Rainer Schuttler. Schuttler took the lead in the first
set over Srichaphan, Schuttler at 4-1. But Srichaphan continued to
break Schuttler's serve until Srichaphan had the match back in his
possession, and ended up winning that set 7-5. It was really awesome,
he fought really hard...and I've never seen a shot between the legs
and it actually be fair.
Wow, OK, so far this seems to be a Paradorn Srichaphan
watch rather than a Michael Chang watch, but Chang's kept mostly to
himself this tourney, and the times I've caught sight of him have
been somewhat awkward. This morning before Cecil Mamiit's match, Michael
practiced awhile with Jan-Michael Gambill and others on the Stadium
court.
The wind was knocked out of my sails alittle this
morning when I tried a shot at telling Carl good morning and if they
were ready for tonight's match. I mean, it was only a general question,
and he was literally less than a foot in front of me, but Carl only
would glance at me, and then completely ignore me, even after I asked
him twice...just in case he didn't hear me the first time. Oh well,
no worries, I will always give them the benefit of the doubt because
I greatly admire the Chang family, but I guess Carl just isn't a morning
person. I never see him smile or laugh. Michael was pretty nice when
I asked him if he was ready for tonight's match, and he hesitated
a little bit, and said, "Um, I think so." It wasn't the most confident
remark, but anyway.
Tonight's match with Chang vs. Axel Pretzch was a
true barn burner. Michael lost the first set at 5-7, but came back
up the last 2 sets, and won it at 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. I have never been
more tense in my life as I was tonight watching Chang play his hardest
and chase down every single ball under the moon. I cheered and clapped
until I couldn't talk practically, and tried getting the crowd going
as much as possible. I took pride in that, LOL. =)
Anyway, more stuff for y'all later. Cecil Mamiit
plays again tomorrow, Thursday, I believe. His third round match should
be against Wayne Ferreira. Chang's next match will be against the
winner of the Hernan Gumy vs. Nicolas Massu match.
Peace, Correction, I found the website to the KSJ finally.
Here's the draw for Thursday. Go to www.krogerstjude.com for more
info. See ya! =)
Thursday, February 17: 10:30 a.m. Session 7, Round
of 16
Center Court Grandstand Court
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