First Tennis Memory: Meeting Chris Evert at a hotel lobby in Boston in early 70s. Mom said to get her autograph because she is famous. I didn’t know what tennis was then but she was so nice to my brother and I she made me love her and the sport which I started watching years later.
Tennis Inspirations: To try and play at the level I believe I can. Almost there!
First Famous Player You Met Or Encountered: After Chris Evert… it was randomly meeting Tim Mayotte in 1992 at a Mets game at Shea Stadium in the press elevator and doing a Biofile interview.
Greatest Tennis Moment: So many… impossible to pick one from first time at Centre Court Wimbledon, sat front row to see Sampras vs Byron Black… any day covering Miami Open at Key Biscayne or Newport Hall of Fame Championships… doing Biofiles with Don Budge, Chris Evert, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Guillermo Vilas, Rafa Nadal, Margaret Court, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe… winning the back draw of the St Petersburg, FL Level 2 national tournament three years ago… watching Marcelo Rios play at his best… Tennis Magazine calling my Facing Federer book “addictive reading”… meeting so many great people from tennis. Everybody who plays national tournaments have achieved extraordinary things in tennis and in life.
Most Painful Tennis Moment: Losing two matches in one day both with match points, five total, round robin of a 4.5 national qualifier… seeing the greatest female tennis player in history have the best years of her career stolen by a German maniac and the justice system failing to put him in jail for even one night…
Strangest Player Encountered: Played with a guy in Sarasota who I met hitting on a wall. A few weeks after we hit at Gillespie Park, he called me from jail asking if I could bail him out.
Most Interesting Players To Interview: Novak Djokovic. Guillermo Vilas. John McEnroe. Bianca Andreescu. Su Wei Hsieh. Don Budge. Dusan Vemic. Mats Wilander. Fred Stolle. Leander Paes. Vera Zvonareva. Ernests Gulbis. Todd Martin. Andre Agassi. Rick Leach. There’s a lot more too.
Favorite Story: A lot can’t be printed and must stay secret! Miami Open doubles, Leander Paes and Radel Stepanek vs Bryan Brothers. Court 2. They had beaten the Bryans in Australia Open final and were ahead in the second set. I was sitting behind their changeover chairs next to coach Leach. Radek looked at Paes and said to him, “I love you.” Paes then grabbed Radek’s head with both hands and kissed the top of it.
Favorite Tournaments: Miami Open at Crandon Park. Hall of Fame Championships Newport. Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open ATP Challenger. Washington DC Mubadala Open. WTA Finals at Madison Square Garden.
Best You Ever Felt On Court: Winning every match 5-0 this year in Suncoast League doubles with Andres Alarcon, who played Davis Cup for Ecuador and beat Spadea at Wimbledon qualies. I had a match in USTA 35 in NJ vs Mark Sanders who had beaten me twice previously in tournaments both in straight sets. Third match I was up 60 in first set tiebreaker and lost it 14-12 but still won the match 67 64 76 in about 3 1/2 hours. Winning the first set this year 64 at St Pete Nationals 1R vs the no. 53 player in the world George Newton. Winning Miami Open media tournament five times. Winning my first doubles match with RD Ferman at Talbert Cup three years ago at Merion Cricket Club grass court in Philadelphia. Winning the final of Bergen Tennis tournament 8-0 2018.
Favorite Players To Watch: Marcelo Rios. Djokovic. Feliciano Lopez. Su Wei Hsieh. Andreescu. Sampras. Connors. Evert. Al Cirulli age 96 who plays at Holmes Beach courts in FL. Tien. Moutet. Kozlov. Seles. Hingis. McEnroe.
Racquet Used: Just found an old Wilson K Factor K Zero Arophite Black – love it.
Shoes: Nike, Yonex, Fila, Mizuno, rotation.
Marcelo Rios · Miami Open · Newport · Novak Djokovic · Scoop Malinowski