|
TWO
COACHES ARE BETTER THAN ONE
Brad's
guru is watching Andre
By
Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
PARIS,
June 4 – The
Brain Behind The Brain is at Roland Garros coaching the coach of
Andre Agassi. That would be one Tom Chivington, who was recently
inducted into the USTA Northern California's Tennis Hall of Fame
along with his prize pupil, Brad Gilbert. "Chiv" not only taught
Brad how to think on court, but also coached the Foothill Junior
College's men's team to numerous team titles. Brad recently said
that he aspires to be Chiv, because he has the best mind that tennis
can offer.
 |
|
Susan
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
|
That's
no small praise from a man who has lead Andre Agassi to six of
his seven Slam titles.
Chiv
loves Andre's draw right now, saying he got a huge gift when Marat
Safin was upset by Fabrice Santoro. He doesn't believe that Sebastien
Grosjean poses much of a threat to Andre, because like Andre's
victim today, Franco Squillari, he runs around his backhand and
will exhaust himself doing so if the match goes five. Plus, Grosjean
doesn't stick the forehand like Squillari does, although he is
much quicker.
Chiv
doesn't necessarily fear Alex Corretja in the semis because he
believes that Andre can hit through him. He realizes that if Roger
Federer does beat Corretja, the Swiss could be troublesome because
he has flair and variety on most of his shots. But Federer nearly
died overcoming Sargis Sargsian 9-7 in the fifth set in the second
round and is sure to be tested by Corretja's wall-like defense.
It's doubtful that he'll have a lot of juice left when he faces
Andre.
Brad's
guru really likes Lleyton Hewitt's chances to reach the final,
even though that means the Adeleide bad boy has to go through
JC Ferrero and either Guga or Kafelnikov. He believes that Hewitt
has a great foundation for clay and is displaying the proper patience
for the surface. Plus, he fights like hell.
Lleyton
also swears like hell and can abuse linespeople with the best
of them, which is why he was fined $1,000 today for his behavior
in his win over Guillermo Canas. Lleyton told the chair umpire
he "Only wanted to get out of the chair when you want to get your
face on TV." It was near dark and the cameras were turned off
at that point, so maybe Lleyton was on to something.
Can
Lleyton fell the much talked about Juan Carlos Ferrero, who hasn't
been tested at all here because of his brilliant play? Yes, but
there's no way he's coming form two sets down to do it.
Most
of the world is picking Guga to take out Yevgeny Kafelnikov here
for the third time. I don't see it that way. Kafelnikov had him
last year and choked badly but that won't happen again. He admitted
the gag, which is always the first sign of recovery. And he knows
how to play Guga – keeping
moving forward and don't allow him to pin you deep.
|
