| |
|  |
U.S. Open notebook Standing by Seles
Posted: Thursday September 09, 1999 09:08 AM By Richard Deitsch, Sports Illustrated NEW YORK -- Jimmy Arias saw the future in 1987. How could he have missed it? It was a two-fisted backhand coming right at him. He was 22 years old and a top-20 player then, the first of an endless wave of Bolletieri baseliners to find stardom on the pro tennis tour. One day, while training at the Nick Bolletieri Academy's courts, he was asked to hit with Bolletieri's latest find, a 13-year-old whirlwind named Monica Seles.
He may well have been. Seles turned pro at 16 and was No. 6 in the world by the end of her first season. Two years later she reached No. 1. The rest of the story, of course, you know. Her reign at the top ended on April 30, 1993, at the hands of a madman in Hamburg, Germany. Two years later she returned to the tour and has never been the same. Arias knows the story firsthand. He initially worked with Seles prior to her comeback in the summer of 1995, and then traveled to the Open that year with the Seles camp before abruptly departing Flushing Meadows after newspaper and broadcast reports referred to him as Monica's coach. Arias refuses to comment on the reason he left four years ago but says, "In 1995, although I felt like maybe I was more than a hitting partner, Dad was certainly coach. "Dad was No. 1. And now she doesn't have that. I'd say she looks to me a little bit more now than she did before." Karolj Seles passed away in May 1998 and Monica has had difficulty finding a full-time coach following her father's death. She asked Arias, who reached a career high of No. 5 in the world in 1983 and was in the top 100 for 12 years, to work with her prior to the Australian Open and again for a couple of weeks leading up to this tournament. "My dad passed away at a critical point in my career," says Seles. "I relied on him in every sense. Now suddenly I have to be the one making those decisions. It's hard." Arias estimates Seles is at 75% of where she needs to be in terms of her fitness, which against Serena Williams, one of the more fleet players on tour and her quarterfinal opponent Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, seemingly spells disaster. Still, Arias says, Seles can compete with top players even at her current fitness level if she plays a mentally superior game. "I'm trying get her mentally the way she needs to feel, to think the right things she needs to think about when she's on the court," he says. "As far as working out, it's already too late. Can't whip her up into shape as the tournament is happening." Undoubtedly, Seles still hits as hard as any player on tour; her shotmaking against Jennifer Capriati in the fourth round (her best match of the tournament) was proof of that. But it's hard to imagine Seles beating a sleek opponent like Williams who slugs as well as she does."She hits the ball as well or better than anyone in the world, maybe ever," says Arias. "But she's never had to use her head. She's just outhit everybody her whole life. And she's not in tip-top shape so she's got to realize certain things. I've been trying to get her to do certain things as far as when she's in a good and bad position. She's never had to recognize that because the other girls didn't used to be good enough to handle her shots." Coaching Seles will be a short-term project for Arias. Last week he announced that he was joining the senior tour. He also broadcasts for ESPN International, and he and his wife, Gina, have two young children at home in Florida, a five-year-old daughter, Julia, and a three-year-old son, Spencer. "I'd like to help [Seles] out when I can but I've got too many things on my plate to do this full-time," he says. "She's looking to do this full-time so there's a bit of an impasse. I can help out for four weeks and that's where we are. We haven't talked beyond that. I'm sure that I'll still work with her when I'm in Sarasota unless she gets a full-time coach. Then that guy probably won't want me around." Seles said she will focus on hiring a full-time coach after the tournament is over. One name to watch is Bobby Kersee, husband of Jackie-Joyner Kersee and a fitness drill sergeant extraordinaire. Seles has worked a little with him in the past and said this week that she has gotten input from him over the past couple of months. Playing the younger Williams should give her a good idea of how far she must go to compete week-to-week with the tour's top five players. "She's gotten in bad habits with her mechanics and footwork," says Arias. "Things that she used to very well, she let sort of slide. She was never particularly fast but she at least got to the ball quickly. She was not doing that anymore. She's at least turned around her mechanics so that I now have her hitting the ball and playing well. Whether that's going to be good enough to beat the Williams girls and the [Martina] Hingises of the world, we'll have to see." Seles is only 24. There is still time for another comeback. Aces and faults Kim Clijsters, the youngest player in the women's draw, nearly ended Richard Williams' dream of a family affair in the finals. The 16-year-old Belgian extended Serena Williams to three sets, leading 5-3 and serving for the match in the third before falling 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. The match drew the interest of a number of WTA players, including Anke Huber, Irina Spirlea, Nathalie Tauziat, Cara Black, Rennae Stubbs, Mary Pierce and Lindsay Davenport, all of whom watched the third set. "I'm getting close," says Clijsters, who will move up from her current No. 98 ranking next week. "I feel like I'm close to Serena. It was a good lesson for me." The match drew overflow crowds to Louis Armstrong Stadium (yours truly, naturally, was trapped watching Vince Spadea and Laurence Tieleman in Stadium 3). Fellow countrywoman Sabine Appelmans says Clijsters will be one of the hardest hitters on tour. "I've seen it in practice all the time. Sometimes she hits so hard, it was just a matter of time before it came out in a match. ... The fastest serves of the tournament so far belong to the Williams sisters. Venus clocked in at 121 mph, Serena at 117 mph. ... From the department of choice bites: Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario and Pierce dined this week at Nobu, the hip restaurant of the moment, while Davenport and Mary Joe Fernandez checked out Asia de Cuba. ... Looking ahead to the finals: Davenport and Hingis are 7-7 against each other in 14 meetings. The Williams sisters have played three times -- all dreary finals -- with older sister Venus holding a 3-0 advantage. The most interesting matchup pits Davenport and Venus Williams. The D-Train currently holds an 8-3 lead, but Venus has been rising of late. She's won the last two meetings, including last month at San Diego and New Haven. ... Caught up with not-so-funnyman Jon Lovitz roaming around outside the players lounge on Monday. He was searching, futilely, for Spadea prior to his match with Richard Krajicek. "I taught him his serve," cracked Lovitz. He better not quit his day job. Spadea was smoked in a straight-sets blitz by the big Dutchman later that night. Richard Deitsch is a Sports Illustrated reporter.
 Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines.
| |||||||||||||||||||
