Busterovic
06-03-2012, 02:00 PM
Seeing Tommy Haas playing yesterday got me thinking about this.
At first I felt like my notions were incorrect. The guy could still compete, he was playing with one of the best in the world, holding his own and maybe somehow clawing his way to the round of 16 at one of the 4 most elite tournaments in tennis.
After losing a semi competitive first set tiebreaker, I then saw Haas laboring around eating breadsticks like an obese 14 year old.
Haas had a great week. He qualified for the tournament and followed that up with 2 pretty solid victories to get himself to the round of 32. Tommy will take him over 45,000 euros. An amazing run really for a 34 year old. Even more amazing considering he's ranked 112 in the world.
But wait a second here. We're not talking about Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo here, or Bjorn Phau, or even Sam Querrey. We're talking about Tommy Haas .
He's been ranked #2 in the world. His career prize money tops 10 million (plus other millions in sponsorships and endorsements).
He's won an AMS1000 waterford crystal shield. He's been a finalist in one of those things.
He's made 4 quarterfinal appearances in grand slams. 3 semifinal apperances in grand slams.
So why is he laboring around, playing qualifiers, playing challengers! Does he even know what the definition of a challenger is?
My guess is that he's really, really broke.
Another guy that comes to mind is James Blake. I'm a big Blake fan but this is getting out of hand. He accepted a WC to Stockholm last year. He made the semifinal and had a nice showing.
But really, why is this guy accepting, or should I say stealing a wild card for a Grand Slam from much, much more deserving players?
Blake Hasn't won a single match all year at the ATP 250 level. Take a second to let that sync in. This same man accepted, or probably forced his way into a wild card into one of the 4 major tournaments this sport has to offer.
Blake is going to walk away with 17,000 euros for taking a comprehensive 2,1,2 beating in the first round. Not bad for showing up for less than 2 hours. Where do I sign up? I probably wouldn't have lost much worse.
The only answer for these two guys has to be that they're flat broke. Dead flat broke and in dire, dire financial need.
It cannot be their desire to compete. If they really want to compete, then thats exactly what they should do. Kudos to Haas for playing the qualies. He had to do that since his nation doesn't swap wild cards with France, but he did what he had to do.
Its still embarrassing that a guy like Haas is playing challengers, but atleast he did something the right way this week.
Blake on the other hand should be ashamed of himself. Seriously? Accepting a wild card when you're almost 33 years old and haven't won a match the entire year.
If Blake had any self respect he would have played qualifiers and let someone like Michael Russell, a 35 year old veteran who's grinded his ass in the game, actually made a SF of a ATP 250 this year, and actually NEEDS the money.
Or maybe a guy like Ryan Sweeting who's still somewhat young in tennis terms and again could really use the money.
There should also be a rule that if you're over the age of 28 you can't play challengers.
I read somewhere that Verdasco is signed up next week to play a challenger since he's getting a big appearance fee. I remember Lalo playing one last year after his deep Wimbledon run. Just pathetic and extremely annoying.
If you want to be relevant again, play qualifiers and work your way up instead of taking hand outs for what you did years ago.
If Blake is really broke I'm sure he could get a job at ESPN with one phone call. He's articulate and Harvard educated.
I'm not putting Rusty Hewitt on this list because he's a grand slam winner and he was the face of Australian tennis the last 10 years.
But these other two guys desperately need to quit embarrassing themselves and their legacy.
I hope the last wild card Blake accepts is at the US Open this year.
It would save the last bit of credibility he has left.
Not everyone can ride into the sunset like Pete Sampras but theres something to be said for guys like Ljubicic and Gonzalez who did things the right way.
At first I felt like my notions were incorrect. The guy could still compete, he was playing with one of the best in the world, holding his own and maybe somehow clawing his way to the round of 16 at one of the 4 most elite tournaments in tennis.
After losing a semi competitive first set tiebreaker, I then saw Haas laboring around eating breadsticks like an obese 14 year old.
Haas had a great week. He qualified for the tournament and followed that up with 2 pretty solid victories to get himself to the round of 32. Tommy will take him over 45,000 euros. An amazing run really for a 34 year old. Even more amazing considering he's ranked 112 in the world.
But wait a second here. We're not talking about Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo here, or Bjorn Phau, or even Sam Querrey. We're talking about Tommy Haas .
He's been ranked #2 in the world. His career prize money tops 10 million (plus other millions in sponsorships and endorsements).
He's won an AMS1000 waterford crystal shield. He's been a finalist in one of those things.
He's made 4 quarterfinal appearances in grand slams. 3 semifinal apperances in grand slams.
So why is he laboring around, playing qualifiers, playing challengers! Does he even know what the definition of a challenger is?
My guess is that he's really, really broke.
Another guy that comes to mind is James Blake. I'm a big Blake fan but this is getting out of hand. He accepted a WC to Stockholm last year. He made the semifinal and had a nice showing.
But really, why is this guy accepting, or should I say stealing a wild card for a Grand Slam from much, much more deserving players?
Blake Hasn't won a single match all year at the ATP 250 level. Take a second to let that sync in. This same man accepted, or probably forced his way into a wild card into one of the 4 major tournaments this sport has to offer.
Blake is going to walk away with 17,000 euros for taking a comprehensive 2,1,2 beating in the first round. Not bad for showing up for less than 2 hours. Where do I sign up? I probably wouldn't have lost much worse.
The only answer for these two guys has to be that they're flat broke. Dead flat broke and in dire, dire financial need.
It cannot be their desire to compete. If they really want to compete, then thats exactly what they should do. Kudos to Haas for playing the qualies. He had to do that since his nation doesn't swap wild cards with France, but he did what he had to do.
Its still embarrassing that a guy like Haas is playing challengers, but atleast he did something the right way this week.
Blake on the other hand should be ashamed of himself. Seriously? Accepting a wild card when you're almost 33 years old and haven't won a match the entire year.
If Blake had any self respect he would have played qualifiers and let someone like Michael Russell, a 35 year old veteran who's grinded his ass in the game, actually made a SF of a ATP 250 this year, and actually NEEDS the money.
Or maybe a guy like Ryan Sweeting who's still somewhat young in tennis terms and again could really use the money.
There should also be a rule that if you're over the age of 28 you can't play challengers.
I read somewhere that Verdasco is signed up next week to play a challenger since he's getting a big appearance fee. I remember Lalo playing one last year after his deep Wimbledon run. Just pathetic and extremely annoying.
If you want to be relevant again, play qualifiers and work your way up instead of taking hand outs for what you did years ago.
If Blake is really broke I'm sure he could get a job at ESPN with one phone call. He's articulate and Harvard educated.
I'm not putting Rusty Hewitt on this list because he's a grand slam winner and he was the face of Australian tennis the last 10 years.
But these other two guys desperately need to quit embarrassing themselves and their legacy.
I hope the last wild card Blake accepts is at the US Open this year.
It would save the last bit of credibility he has left.
Not everyone can ride into the sunset like Pete Sampras but theres something to be said for guys like Ljubicic and Gonzalez who did things the right way.