[Zirconek]

Originally Posted by Fee

Zack has a protected ranking and he can use that to get into the LA and Washington qualies, so he'll get some matches in before he heads to NY. He might also play this Battle of the Sexes event this weekend, but it will probably conflict with the LA qualies.

Go Zack
I hope he plays LA already

Originally Posted by Fee

Yep, that's the story with JP ( I wasn't going to publicize it). He told me about it when I saw him in May and he is very bummed, but he's staying in shape and playing prize money events whenever he can (he just played the Cleveland Classic doubles event last weekend).

as for JP, as he is not facing a 2 year ban, it shows it was not that serious, I guess he got a hard lesson from this story. But players should pay more attention to this kind of stuff


from the ITF link previously posted

(...)
Mr Fruttero admitted the offence and pleaded in mitigation that he bore No Significant Fault or Negligence. The Tribunal accepted Mr Fruttero’s plea of No Significant Fault or Negligence but imposed a suspension of 14 months, on the basis that Mr Fruttero could and should personally have done more to avoid committing a Doping Offence. The suspension runs from 1 October 2007 to 30 November 2008.
(...)

[Fee]

Yeah, it was a pretty stupid mistake by his doctor not looking up the sleeping pill by ALL of its names. They wrote to the panel, made their case and got the penalty reduced as much as they could. JPF only had so much money to fight it, so he took the year. It really should have only been 6 months, but it's almost over now and he'll be ready to play again as soon as it ends. He needed a little bit of time off to heal a small injury, and he looks pretty fit and strong now, so he could still have a few good years on the circuit when he comes back.

[Deboogle!.]

no qualies in LA for Zack - he got a WC! He's very popular at this tourney, not too surprised

[Zirconek]

Originally Posted by Deboogle!.

no qualies in LA for Zack - he got a WC! He's very popular at this tourney, not too surprised

good luck to Zack in his comeback.
He faces Gicquel in first round.

[Fee]

Zack earned that WC by winning the Shootout on Friday. They had it again this year, but they didn't post it on the website for some reason.

[Hrastar]

Originally Posted by Fee

Zack earned that WC by winning the Shootout on Friday. They had it again this year, but they didn't post it on the website for some reason.

Anybody know who did he beat in this Shootout?

[Deboogle!.]

Return to L.A. tennis is reward enough for Zack Fleishman
Former UCLA player loses in first round of Countrywide Classic at his alma mater, but after recovering from shoulder injury, he’s happy to be on court again.
By Lucas Shaw
Special to The Times

August 5, 2008

Zack Fleishman walked off the Straus Stadium court a loser Monday, after falling to Marc Gicquel, 6-3, 6-0, in the first round of the Countrywide Classic at UCLA. After the match he was so tired, he said he felt as if he'd fought a 12-round boxing match, yet the match lasted only 50 minutes.

"I felt like I got absolutely exhausted out there," Fleishman said. "I was able to hold it at three-all and then I feel like how I feel normally in a five-set match at three-all in the first set."

But for the former UCLA player, just getting on court and playing was what mattered. He has been recovering from a shoulder injury, and two weeks ago he hit a backhand for the first time in months.

"Of course it was an extremely disappointing performance," he said, "but to be honest I don't know what more I could've done given the time frame that I had coming off this injury. I did about as much as I could."

In early February, Fleishman went for a bike ride with a fellow pro in Palos Verdes and he found himself mountain biking down a hill, something he had no experience doing.

After walking down the first three-quarters of the hill, he said, he hopped on the bike. On his way down he hit a rock and his tire popped, sending him flying in front of his bike.

The damage to his left shoulder was so bad, doctors told him, that had it been his right shoulder, his career would have been over. Instead, he had surgery in March and then began rehabilitating the injury.

The timing was particularly poor for Fleishman because he had reached a career high in the rankings in November, an accomplishment aided by his run to the quarterfinals at UCLA last year.

Fleishman trained for only two weeks before this event, but he won the qualifying tournament to earn a wild-card berth. His lack of conditioning showed when, from 3-3 in the first set, he dropped the final nine games.

"I felt like I was going to be rusty coming into this tournament, but then I think I had a little false sense of confidence [from] winning that wild-card tournament," Fleishman said. "I think I'm a little bit rustier than I could've hoped for."

[Zirconek]

Any news about Zack? His last official match was at AO qualies.

edit: he is in US Open qualies, plays Kukushkin in first round. Good luck, Zack!

[chowdahead25]

Any word on Zack?

[Hewitt =Legend]

Any Americans know what Zack is up to these days? He played Wimby qualies and lost in the 1st round to Gicquel and that was his first match since the USO qualies in 2009...

Is the shoulder still troubling him?

[Snowwy]

Saw him play yesterday, he is one player that really gets the most out of his ability.