Adventures in Zagreb
Continued

John Yandell

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The Sunday farmer's market in the square below the cathedral.

Aaron and I arrived In Zagreb Saturday afternoon local time (total flight time 15 hours--yikes) and immediately went over to the arena and ran into our old friend Jeff Salzenstein who had just won his first match in the qualies.

The 3 of us went out for an incredible fresh fish dinner at a local restaurant--crispy baked white fish with a name I can't pronounce caught the same day in the Adriatic Sea. Potatoes and local greens on the side. Fantastic.

The meal must have agreed with Jeff as he beat a tough Croatian player 3 and 5 on Sunday. His third match to get into the main draw was a heartbreaker. A 3-set loss with a tiebreaker in the third to a Czech player named Tomas Cakl, who proceeded to win his first round match in the main draw yesterday, and then hang for a set with Mikhail Youzhny before going down today. Yeah I know you never heard of him, but he was serving 135mph on the gun. It's frightening how good these guys you never heard of actually are.

Jeff and I had a chance to work a little on his serve and debate the complex technical points of the modern forehand. He's off to Italy to train, and maybe improve his shoulder turn and his extension on his inside out/inside in forehand attacks.

What with the jet lag thing, I got up early on Sunday and wondered around Zagreb on a brilliant, sunny, cold Sunday morning. You know how sometimes you find your rhythm and your timing is all good? I felt that walking around.

I may have been the only American on the streets, or even the only tourist. If you have ever wished you could just transport yourself into the middle of another culture to feel it directly, I'd recommend Zagreb--at least in winter.

There is a certain elegance and understated refinement about the people on the street--they dress in overcoats and scarfs and their best shoes and walk and talk among themselves. They sing along in the square to a group of young musicians playing traditional folk songs.

It's not a wealthy city, but seems rather uniformly and comfortably middle-class. Many of the buildings look like neglected Eastern block housing that is still going downhill. But that is balanced by the elegance and the beauty and the spacing of the historic parts. It's small yet very grand.

Still on my roll, I wondered through the Farmer's Market in the square and then up to that incredible cathedral and, totally by chance, just in time to watch people taking communion. It was quite amazing. The cathedral was packed. There was a feeling of engagement and solemnity that I felt privileged to witness. I almost took communion myself and I'm a Unitarian/Buddhist/Libertarian. You had the feeling that this church represented something with roots going back hundreds of years, which is in fact the case.

On tennis front, there was disappointing if not fully surprising news when we saw the draw. Andy Murray and Joachim Johannson dropped out. (The usual injuries thing which might be perfectly legit, for all I know.) But you get used to this in the smaller tour events and expect some attrition of the name players.

Feliciano Lopez also lost in the first round, unfortunately. I like watching him play because he is so smooth and minimalist and has those great volleys--when he tries. He looked great early in a tough fight with the Austrian Stefan Koubek. He won the first and got to break point at 4 all in the second and got all pumped up, but then couldn't convert, lost the second in a breaker, and then it was pretty a long losing slide.

It was similar for Fernando Verdasco. The mentality of these guys can seem as fragile as the average psycho club player. Verdasco was looking good early hitting that big forehand but at around 2 all went in and slipped in the midcourt and lost a point. Inconsequential right? You'd think he'd just gotten the news that his mother had died. Something went out of him and he never recovered. It was close in the second in a breaker but you never had the idea Fernando really believed he would win, or maybe even wanted to.

Don't get me wrong he appeared to be trying, but something was missing.

Marcos Baghdatis on the other hand, is fighting and scrapping his way through every point, making those improbable running winners all over the court. He's won two matches and looks like a bet for the final.

He's far more charming in person that you might suspect--there is a subtle, quizzical intelligence in his demeanor that I find quite engaging. Check out some of his comments in the video clip the Forum and see if you agree.

Another player who looks really tough is Thomas Johansson. If you every wondered how the hell he won the Australian and beat Marat Safin, just watch him in person.

I didn't hear one mishit in his whole match. He stands up close to the baseline, takes everything early and hits precise, flat lasers. He also has the quiet demeanor of a seasoned killer. He looks the best so far, better even that Baghdatis.

Which brings us to the Croatians. Ivan Ljubicic didn't play his first match til Wednesday. The crowds have been thin, but the hall almost filled to watch him beat a Croatian wildcard player in straight sets. He is the defending champion and seemed a little nervous.

This was the first time I actually have seen him play live, and in person he is much smoother and more rhythmic than he had appeared to me watching him on TV.

The country is counting on him to restore national pride after the stinging defeat Croatia just took from France in the Hand Ball world championships.

Hand Ball? Yeah that's what I asked but rest assured this not handball with two old guys sweating and slapping a ball around against a wall in a park in Brooklyn.

I'd never seen it, but it is a very fast, dynamic team sport. It's played indoors and you score the goals like water polo throwing the ball into the goal--the ball seems about the same. You can dribble, run, pass, and there is something close to tackling as well. I got on the Croatian bandwagon immediately and watched with all the people in the press room. Croatia was defending world champion, but the French players really took it too them.

I got on the Croatian hand ball wagon too late.

After the game it was the same kind of bemused melancholy you used to see from Goran Ivanisevic after he lost a close match that maybe he should have won.

Anyway, back on the stadium court, Marin Cilic, the 19 year old Croatian followed Ljubicic, and wasn't up to the occasion. He hit a few of those fluid winners that mark his potential for the top 20. But he missed many more routine balls. He's young, so there is plenty of time for him to step up to national hero. The crowd seemed disappointed and surprised, like they didn't understand what was happening, but not nasty or mean. In general here the people are just nice. Some service people are a little surly waiting on Americans who just speak to them in English. But they don't like it either when you use the Croatian greeting I learned on Google.

Most people though are happy to indulge your English and ask sincerely about California and San Francisco and Tennisplayer.net. They have told us about many amazing places to visit in the city and throughout the country. So forget about the February issue, I'm touring the Croatian countryside for the next few weeks. Just kidding, but it will remain a strong unfulfilled desire.

So the event may have lost a few players, but we have been piling up some wonderful footage as well. Now let's just hope Ljubicic can win another match--I'm going out to watch him right now--and make it to the quarters against Thomas Johannson.

John Yandell is widely acknowledged as one of the leading videographers and students of the modern game of professional tennis. His high speed filming for Advanced Tennis and Tennisplayer have provided new visual resources that have changed the way the game is studied and understood by both players and coaches. He has done personal video analysis for hundreds of high level competitive players, including Justine Henin-Hardenne, Taylor Dent and John McEnroe, among others. In addition to his role as Editor of Tennisplayer he is the author of the critically acclaimed book Visual Tennis. The John Yandell Tennis School is located in San Francisco, California.

Contact Tennisplayer directly: jyandell@tennisplayer.net

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