[Ten_Isse_Fan]

I was surprised that I didn't see Xavier and Ollie in the doubles draw but I didn't pay attention to it THAT much. I was just surfing on Xavier's website and most of the news about that are in Dutch. I speak a bit of German so I could understand some parts and it doesn't seem very pretty But I couldn't understand everything.

Does anyone know what happened ? or could someone who speaks Dutch go on the NEWS part of Xav's website and tell me what happened
http://surf.to/malisse

 

[hablovah19]

there is stuff about on lalibre.be

 

[Scotso]

Olivier got sick of being the bottom just because he's small (in height). They had this big fight and Philipp took advantage of the situation to become Olivier's new "partner."

 

[Kat!]

something about Xavier not being selected for Davis Cup.......... (have no idea - since I can only babelfish it!) if anyone understands french and can provide a rough translation, that would be great!

http://www.lalibre.be/article.phtml?id=2&subid=111&art_id=237223

 

[Ten_Isse_Fan]

Oh well I'm French. :lol: I just didn't understand Dutch. Olivier is pissed because he says Xavier doesn't respect his belgian team mates. He only plays Davis Cup when he feels like it and that's why he wasn't selected to play against the USA. They told him that in order to be selected, he would have to play in 2006 and he didn't wanna invest himself in this. He withdrew from doubles at the USO saying he was afraid he might have to play more hours because of uncertain weather. They're not talking to each other anymore, barely saying hi when they see each other in the hallways. Olivier says : It's stupid, because we really got along well. But it's his fault. That sucks. I hope they'll get over this. Time will tell

 

[Scotso]

Xavier does seem like a bit of a brat.

 

[Ten_Isse_Fan]

Xavier does seem like a bit of a brat.

Yes he does Can't help loving him :shrug:

 

[Kat!]

Oh well I'm French. :lol: I just didn't understand Dutch. Olivier is pissed because he says Xavier doesn't respect his belgian team mates. He only plays Davis Cup when he feels like it and that's why he wasn't selected to play against the USA. They told him that in order to be selected, he would have to play in 2006 and he didn't wanna invest himself in this. He withdrew from doubles at the USO saying he was afraid he might have to play more hours because of uncertain weather. They're not talking to each other anymore, barely saying hi when they see each other in the hallways. Olivier says : It's stupid, because we really got along well. But it's his fault. That sucks. I hope they'll get over this. Time will tell

Thanks for that! yeah.... does seem Xavier is in the wrong here.

 

[Lee]

Well, I'll like to hear X-man's side of the story.

 

[Ten_Isse_Fan]

Well, I'll like to hear X-man's side of the story.

After all Lalibre is a Franco-belgian website They're certainly not gonna be on Xavier's side

 

[NyGeL]

malisse is very individual

 

[Kat!]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...ug30,0,6897593.column?coll=sfla-sports-tennis

Absence of Malisse bodes well for U.S. hopes
Published August 30, 2005

NEW YORK · Xavier Malisse sat at an interview table Monday, less than an hour after winning his first-round match at the U.S. Open, and delivered the good news to the U.S. Davis Cup team in his usual languid manner.

Wait. Let me amend that. Let's say I'm pretty sure it's good news when Belgian captain Steve Martens dumps Malisse off the squad that will play the United States, on clay in Belgium, Sept. 23-25.

Of Belgium's three leading players, Malisse (46-33) is the only one with a career winning record on dirt. And now he's Davis Cup history, maybe for good after this less-than-amiable split.

The Belgians will go with the smurf-like Rochus brothers, 5-foot-5 Olivier and 5-7 Christophe. Both are having their best years. Both also have career losing records on clay: 50-63 for the big guy and 36-48 for his younger brother.

Not that the U.S. is in great shape for this tie, with Andre Agassi not playing and the tie on clay, a surface on which Agassi is the only accomplished American player. And if the U.S. loses, it is eliminated from the 16-nation World Group, meaning captain Patrick McEnroe's team can't compete for the Davis Cup in 2006.

But having Malisse out of the mix certainly doesn't hurt the Americans' chances. Even if Martens wanted to play the Rochus brothers in the four singles matches, why wouldn't you want to have Malisse on the squad in case one of them got hurt?

What happened, said Malisse, is simple. "I said to the Davis Cup captain I'm available to play and he didn't select me. That's basically what it comes down to."

Martens dumped Malisse because he wouldn't commit to playing Davis Cup all through 2006. He will find out, if he loses this tie to the U.S., that there is no 2006.

Malisse, who has lived in Bradenton for years and trained at Bollettieri's there, loves to play Delray Beach, where he was a finalist in 1999 and 2001. He's not keen on flying there from Australia, then flying back to Belgium "or wherever."

He hasn't discussed this controversy with the Rochus brothers because, he said, they were obviously in on the decision to leave him off the team.

Olivier is ranked 29th, Christophe 53rd and Malisse 54th. But Malisse is a very dangerous opponent. When his emotions are right, as they were when he reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2002, he can beat anyone. And he would be particularly difficult to beat on clay.

"I'm not bitter," Malisse explained. "But if they're going to turn this against me, I will be bitter. If they make it seem like I didn't want to play."

You're not going to catch McEnroe celebrating over this news, at least not publicly. When he's ready to comment, he's going to say something on the order of: "We have a great deal of respect for Xavier's game, but the Rochus brothers are having great years, and on clay they can beat anyone.''

Everyone connected with the U.S. team would feel a lot more confident about getting back into World Group if Agassi was playing. But Andre is in no position to definitely commit.

His sketchy back and sciatica problem could flare up at any time, and I'm guessing there's about a 10 percent chance Agassi will play against Belgium. You can't rule him out, but it's not probable. Even the Davis Cup team is mentally preparing itself to play without Andre for this one.

McEnroe has until Sept. 13, two days after the men's final here, to declare his team. There's no question Roddick and the doubles-playing Bryan twins will play, and the fourth spot will go to Robby Ginepri, James Blake or to Agassi.

The Rochus brothers are great runners and clever players. But they haven't been particularly brilliant on clay this year. Christophe is 10-9 and Olivier 4-8.

But they're playing at home and against a U.S. team that, aside from the 2004 French Open-winning Bryan twins, has not staggered anyone on clay.

Still, it's going to be a lot easier with Malisse out of the way.

Charles Bricker can be reached at [email protected].

..................smurf-like...............

 

[Hagar]

Xavier does seem like a bit of a brat.

Not a bit. Completely. And it's getting worse. With a better mentality he would have had a much better career.

 

[Damita]

..................smurf-like...............

yeah, very nice huh?

 

[binkygirl]

Xavier does seem like a bit of a brat.

I don't know about him being a brat, but from observing him upclose, he seems extremely introverted in a sort of eerie way.

 

[Peta Pan]

I know he likes to spit at umpires and linespeople. I've never been a fan of Xavier's, but the day I watched 2 of his matches in one day and he spat in both of them at AO I decided I could never warm to him. I love Oli so I guess at least this means I won't have to watch Xavier if I want to watch Oli play doubles now!

 

[JuanRodriguez]

I have a dual feeling about this. I understand that Oli & Christophe aren't too happy that Xavier doesn't want to commit himself completely for the Belgian Davis Cup team. On the other hand Malisse is playing most of the time in the United States, while the Rochus brothers are playing in Europe. And at the time he'll have to play the davis cup tie in february, he'll also have to defend his title in Delray Beach. Quite understandable that he wants to play there rather than for Davis Cup.

But most annoying of all... I've bought myself tickets for the Davis Cup tie against the USA and really was excited to see Xavier play for the first time. Dammit!

 

[Action Jackson]

I don't know about him being a brat, but from observing him upclose, he seems extremely introverted in a sort of eerie way.

Maybe being anywhere near you would have this effect on Xavi.

 

[its.like.that]

Belgium will beat the US anyhow.

 

[Castafiore]

The Belgian team asked from Xavier that he would engage himself totally to every match the Belgians had to play in this world.
Xavier has turned down a couple of matches when he had a tournament elsewhere and he says that his own career takes priority over the Davis Cup in general and that's the basis of the conflict apparently.
Malisse said that he was available to play against the US but they turned him down saying he just can't pick and choose when and where he plays: say yes to high profile matches against the US but turn them down for lesser known tennis countries. He either plays every match or none at all.
Malisse replied that they weren't being fair because he has offered to play for lesser known tennis countries. He doesn't really care all that much if he has to play against the US or against some unknown country because he likes to play for Belgium but sometimes he puts his own career first and Rochus apparently does not accept that.

O. Rochus said in reply to Malisse that he has had to turn down tournaments to play for the Belgian team as well. He has had to make sacrifices as well.
Also, when they organized meetings for the Davis Cup, Malisse was not always present.
There's a short clip with Rochus reactions from the Flemish tv VRT but Rochus speaks French so some of you might understand him.
(click on "reactie Olivier Rochus")
http://www.vrtnieuws.net/sport_master/tennis/us_open/050829_malisse_rochus/index.html?video_1

Malisse replied that he plays most of his matches in the US and Rochus plays most of his matches in Europe. It's easier for Rochus to come to the meetings and to do these Davis Cup matches and he has to offer up less time. If he's playing in the States and he has to come back home for the Davis Cup, he has to sacrifice three weeks of his own calendar and that's a lot. Rochus said that Malisse is being ridiculous because it takes 6 hours to fly back home and he can do so in business class.

Malisse was surprised that he was turned down to play against the US like that and with the way all this was handled so he told Rochus that he did not want to play doubles if he chose to do things that way.
Malisse is not an easy person to get along with but he's made out to be the brat and the bad guy too often.

Rochus said that financial matters were part of the reason why Malisse turned down a couple of matches because Xavier thought that the players weren't being paid sufficiently.
Malisse said to that this that Rochus is not giving the entire explanation. All the players did not agree that the players received only a small fraction of the money that went back to the Belgian Davis Cup team. The Rochus brothers weren't happy with that financial situation either but they let Malisse do the talking and be the 'difficult one'.
Malisse said that he's good enough to do these sort of fights for them and they all turned to him to make their protest about that known but now, they refuse to see his point of view so he's pissed off about the whole situation.