Wes Moodie Blog

Wes Moodie blog: New York here I come
- Mon 24 Aug '09
Why Sampras would beat Federer in Flushing Meadows – and a different kind of flushing altogether…

I’m busy typing this on my flight from Dayton, Ohio, to White Plains, New York, (via Philadelphia that is).

We lost to the Bryan brothers last night at the Cincinnati Masters. We lost the first set and were 5-1 up in the second-set breaker and it felt as if we lost six coin tosses in a row (now that’s unlucky?) to end up losing 13-11 in the breaker. A tie-breaker: also commonly know as a heart-breaker…

The Bryans, no doubt, were sound asleep and were probably looking forward to playing the semis, while I was in my hotel room at midnight trying to plot my next movement across the USA.

At 1am I finally decided on a flight and had to go through three different websites because they didn’t like the billing address I was using. After that it was on to a car rental, which was a little easier, and then I made preparations for arrival with the tournament in New Haven (hotel booking, airport pickup etc).

I’m arriving Saturday afternoon in White Plains and on Sunday I’m off to JFK to pick up my wife and daughter (and friend) and then hopefully will make the quick trip back to New Haven.

I’ve just been to the toilet on the plane, or as the Americans like to say, “restroom”. (I get the feeling that “toilet” is seen as a crude word here. I guess “restroom” seems to soften the blow….maybe you’re not supposed to let everyone know what you need to do – if you go to the “restroom”, you could just be going to wash your hands, but there are normally only two things you can do when you go to the toilet…)

I’m on a rather small passenger jet and I’d love to see the six-feet-10-inch Ivo Karlovic get up to use the restroom on this flight. I’m 6ft 5” and I feel like I have to get into this amazing gymnastic position (didn’t know I was that flexible) just to fit inside and close the door.

I simply don’t know how Ivo would fit in that “restroom”! He’d probably have to ask the lady in 28D to move so he can leave the door open and shoot for the hoop from a metre away…

The other night I watched an “ESPN classic” – the Sampras-Agassi 2001 US Open quarter-final night match. I picked it up from halfway through the third set. All I can say is WOW! Absolutely incredible tennis. Sampras won 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6.

Federer now has 15 Grand Slam titles and deserves to be called the best player ever BUT in my PROFESSIONAL opinion (so no arguing here) Sampras, playing at his best at the US Open, would beat Federer playing at his best eight out of 10 times. So come on, let’s see some comments on this…

I still back Federer as the best ever, also taking into account that if you put these guys on a different surface then the odds on Federer greatly increase – probably to the point where Federer would win nine out of ten times on a slow clay court.

I think the amazing thing about Federer has been his consistency, year on year and from surface to surface. No other player in the history of the game has come even close to the most consecutive Grand Slam semi-final appearances as Federer – to me that is a record perhaps as incredible, if not more so, than his 15 majors.

So, just a few days until the tour moves to one of the busiest and most interesting places in the world – New York City. I’ll be sure to write from there.

Wes
Wes Moodie blog: Cincy and sausages
- Thu 20 Aug '09
The South African reports from Cincinnati on sausages, bacon and Andy Murray’s road trip from Montreal…

So this morning I went to breakfast at the Marriott in Cincinnati and I had a quick squizz around to see what they had.

All the lids were down and I noticed this sign for sausages and another for bacon, each with a little stick-figure man on both (looking as healthy as a stick-figure man can) and the words ‘FIT carb-conscious’ alongside our Usain-Bolt-wannabe stick figure.

I asked John Lloyd about the sausages too, but he didn’t know either

I was suddenly highly impressed with the Marriott and their concern for their guests’ health and so I decided to lift the lids to see this super-duper healthy, low carb, ‘FIT’ sausage and bacon.

However, as I began to lift the lids I wondered why they would put that sign with sausage and bacon? Presumably there would be no carbohydrates in bacon, as it is just protein and fat and the sausages probably have only a very small amount of carbohydrate in them.

So for me that was stating the obvious, BUT I was still wondering about Stick Man and the word ‘FIT’. (Yes, I did actually think all this while I was lifting the lids!).

These FIT sausages looked very much like normal sausages but the FIT bacon did look a little different than normal – extra deep-fried and then dressed with more oil. I can’t be sure, but I might have seen some pork between all that fat and oil.

I was about to ask the waitress to help me understand their signs but it seemed as if the FIT sausages had got the better of her and so I asked GB Davis Cup captain John Lloyd instead, but he didn’t know either.

I decided to move along and started off with a bowl of oatmeal. I looked for a ‘FIT protein conscious’ sign but then presumed it had fallen under the table as I couldn’t see one anywhere. The smoked salmon (no sign either) was also very tasty!

Away from Ohio’s pork-based breakfast options, I bumped into Andy Murray yesterday who said he’d had a good 13-hour DRIVE from Montreal to Cincinnati.

He just said it passing so I was wondering if he was joking, but then I remembered that Jez Green (his trainer) had told me once that he (Jez) loves nothing more than a Monster and the open road…

For those of you that have never been into a gas station in the States a Monster is like a Red Bull – only five times the size. You may even have to be 21 to buy one.

Perhaps they rented a bus or something and Andy slept in the back while Jez, unblinking and on the edge of his seat, never took his eyes off the road.

I do have some more to write – next time there will be more tennis so look out in a day or two for another blog…

Wes
Wes Moodie blog: Canada calling
- Wed 12 Aug '09
The big man writes from Montreal about Wimbledon, health scares and a near-naked Novak Djokovic…

Well, to start off, I’d like to apologise to all those avid Wesley Moodie blog readers who were eagerly awaiting my next blogging sensation from Wimbledon 2009, only to be let down by a non-appearance!

That was due to a combination of writer’s block, renovations, a semi-final appearance in the doubles, a full house and last but not least, my forever-full-of-energy two-year-old daughter, Danica.

Well, to touch on Wimbledon… poor Andy Roddick. I’m sure coach Larry Stefanki did not foresee the importance of practicing Roddick’s high backhand volley to the open court much!

Djokovic stole the night dressed in a waistcoat and not much else

Probably an extra ten high backhand volleys in practice could have won him an extra point in the second set tie-break and given him a two-sets-to-love lead and a very probable Wimbledon victory against eventual champ Roger Federer.

Not surprising that Roddick pulled out of Davis Cup and other tournaments. These injuries seem to flare up at the most inconvenient times. (I would have done the same though…) Roger’s 15th Grand Slam could be considered a lucky one!

I have now had four of five weeks off and I’m ready to tackle the remaining four months of the tennis calendar.

In my time off I’ve played quite a bit of squash, have done some lifting in the gym, went back to school – to take my two-year-old daughter to nursery two mornings a week – and had some sleepless nights with renovations and was rushed off to hospital in an ambulance. Just your normal kind of stuff…

Turns out I have some non-life threatening heart problem, or what I like to call an IRREGULARITY. But nothing to worry about – it’s hereditary and both my 96-year-old grandfather and his older brother are still going strong. So I hope some of you are around to read my Wimbledon 2065 blog!

Turns out my heart doesn’t like heavy training, mixed with lack of sleep, a high-caffeine diet and stress from renovations-gone-wrong.

(Actually, in reality the whole episode was a test of love – just to make sure my wife still loves me. The tears were believable but the stress-induced rash which appeared the following day was fairly convincing!)

I am presently in Montreal – where USA meets France! It is quite intriguing really. I just got back to my room now after going to a fashion show.

Novak Djokovic managed to steal the night dressed in a kind of waistcoat and not much else. After teasing the audience around the room, he finally let go of it and paraded his tight Speedo-like underwear. I was hoping the blonde girl behind him would do something similar.

Well, it is off to bed for me, if anything exciting happens during the week I’ll be sure to let you all know. I’ll try and write again but if not then next it will be from the unlikeliest place to hold an ATP Masters 1000 series event – Cincinnati, or more accurately a rather small town called Mason.

Mason is rather like an unattractive girl with a great personality…

Au revoir tout le monde!
Wes Moodie blog: French Open
- Mon 08 Jun '09
The South African writes from Paris where he made the doubles final of the French Open with ‘Big Dick’ Norman…
Bonjour everyone….I’ve been in Paris two weeks now and it feels like I should have my French citizenship. (But just in case you’re wondering… I’m still travelling with the “Green Mamba*” aka my South African passport. You put that bad boy down at immigration and everybody jumps back – WOAH!)

I sometimes don’t get picked up or they arrive and ask for Mirnyi or even Dlouhy

Anyway, my tournament has come to an end – a loss in the doubles final. That’s two finals in a row for me (after finishing runner-up in Madrid too). It hurts a little, but I’d take another final next week if anyone is offering one to me! (Anyone..?)

My partner, Dick Norman from Belgium (known as “Big Dick” on tour due to his HEIGHT) made his first grand slam final. At 38 years old he decided to concentrate on doubles.

The good thing with that is that he (and I) will probably make a good amount of money this year – the bad thing is that he’s probably lost an easy $2million in his career by not playing more singles. He’s improved quite quickly over the last few months and we hope to continue to improve as a team.

Wow – two weeks in Paris is a long time when you don’t speak the language. You start doing strange things when you’re on the road too long like my wife who forgot something in our room.

She knocked on the door and wasn’t fazed by a Chinese man opening the door. She pushed past him and said, “Oh, are you cleaning the room?” He said “No” in perfect English and my wife continued into the middle of the room looking for something.

The room looked a bit strange to her at which point she looked back at the Chinese man and saw on the door that she was on the wrong floor! She left sheepishly without the Chinese man saying anything.

On the subject of international relations I have a question, or perhaps more of a suggestion (and this is true not only at the French Open). Why do INTERNATIONAL tournaments have very few English-speaking staff answering phones to players who want to book practice courts and airport pickups?

It usually goes like this…
I tell them my name. “Who?”
“Moodie. M-O-O-D-I-E.”
“Spell it.”
“M. O…
“M. U?”
“No. O…”

The conversation just gets worse from there….so that means I sometimes don’t get picked up at all or they arrive and ask for Mudei, sometimes Mirnyi and even Dlouhy.

Anyway, on to the tennis. As I write this Roger Federer is one match away from the French Open title. I wonder how he slept last night – probably not great which is a good thing because he’ll be too tired to get nervous.

I give Soderling a 1% chance of winning and Federer a 99% chance of being the greatest player ever. The last time he lost before a semi-final was against Guga when the Brazilian won it.

Let’s hope Federer remembers that he’s playing against a righty and not lefty Nadal in the final. I’d hate to see him covering the lefty slider out to the backhand on the return which he’s become accustomed to doing in finals at Roland Garros.

That’s it from me – thanks for listening and au revoir!
- A Green Mamba is a highly venomous snake found in Southern Africa.
Wes Moodie blog: Madrid musings
- Tue 19 May '09
South African doubles specialist Wes Moodie made the doubles final in Madrid. He gives us the locker-room low-down…

Today the unthinkable happened: Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal in straight sets and Wes Moodie/ Simon Aspelin lost in straight sets in the doubles final – just great! I get a “finalist” plate. That’s like getting a Porsche without an engine. Looks great when you first look at it, but then you notice that there is something missing and the initial “WOW” turns into more of an “Oh”.

It was interesting to sit with Roger before his night match against Juan Martin del Potro on Saturday night. We were in the training [physio] room watching a rather epic match between Novak Djokovic and Nadal. Roger seemed quite amused watching the match and the typical Nadal magic.

Djokovic got to match point on his serve and I shouted: “Serve and volley down the T!” Roger laughed and said: “Yeah, you have to! Even if you hit the volley into the stadium you can at least say you took a chance!” There was no S+V and Djokovic was sent packing. Roger seemed to have an unimpressed look on his face when Nadal won, although he seemed pretty relaxed going out to play Del Potro.

I saw most of Novak’s second set against Nadal. He played very well, relaxed, taking the initiative and changing tactics often. He did get to match point and surprise, surprise he served and volleyed up the tee! Coach Moodie was quite proud of himself – but sunk a little in his chair when the return was good and Roger missed the volley in the net.

I think if he lost serve then he would have resorted to tactic number two: we were commenting on how Nadal was lining up his water bottles between games and I suggested that maybe at Wimbledon Roger should take a “penalty kick” at his water bottles. He said that Gael Monfils had already done it previously in Doha: Monfils won 6-4, 6-4! So look out if Federer goes down a break at Wimbledon.

I’ll write again from Roland Garros.