AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
The AP reports that Sam “Samurai” Querrey returned to the practice courts last week after a freak accident at September’s Thailand Open came close to ending his tennis career. The 6′6″ American fell through a glass table in the tournament’s locker room while sitting on it to tie his shoes. A shard of glass cut through 30% of two different muscles in his serving arm, nearly severing a nerve (check out the scar in the above photo). He required emergency surgery in Bangkok and wore a splint for two weeks afterwards. Though he has suffered pain and uncertainty, he says that his training is going well.

”My shoulder, it takes a while to warm it up and get that (service) motion going,” Querrey said. ”Other than that I feel no difference in any part of my game.”

Querrey says there was one upside to the injury, which cut his career-best season short: an encouraging email from Roger Federer.

”That was the greatest,” Querrey said, smiling. ”I was so happy. It made my day. It was almost worth it.’‘

Looks like we can add yet another ATP member to our roster of Fedophiles!

Source: New York Times and GTT reader Liz for forwarding the tip!

Yikes! Sam Querrey required emergency surgery on Monday, after cutting his forearm after a practice session in Bangkok. Here’s the story via the AP:

Sam Querrey cut his right forearm in a freak accident after practicing for the Thailand Open in Bangkok and will be out at least four to six weeks, the U.S. Tennis Association says.

USTA spokesman Tim Curry says the 21-year-old Querrey sat on a glass table after practice Monday and fell through, hurting his arm. The injury required emergency surgery.

Not sure if it was Sam or his intern Twittering but here’s his message today around 2pm ET.

After this week’s Thailand Open, Querrey was scheduled to play the China Open in Beijing and the Shanghai ATP Masters.

**UPDATES** 11:21p.m. PT

The Los Angeles Time spoke with Querrey’s agent:

John Tobias, president of the tennis division for Blue Entertainment Sports Television (BEST), who represents Querrey, said Querrey sat on a glass table in the locker room at the site of this weeks’ ATP tournament in Bangkok. “He was just bending over to tie his shoes,” Tobias said, “and the table shattered. A piece of glass slashed his right forearm.”

Tobias said Querrey underwent surgery to close the wound but that no ligaments were sliced. “He’ll most likely be shut down for the rest of the season,” Tobias said, “but this is an injury that will heal. He was lucky.”

And via Querrey’s website:

Sam will head back home to LA on Wednesday from Bankok where he will work with his doctors on healing his arm as soon as possible to get back in the swing of things.

Sam’s arm has healed enough to make Twittering possible – his latest message reads: “I will fight the good fight ”

And a word on glass tables - they are an accident waiting to happen! One of my earliest childhood memories (I was probably 4 years old at the time) is of goofing around the dining room table (made of glass) until the top fell off in huge jagged pieces. I still remember my mom crying while she cleaned it up  – at first I thought she was mad at me for breaking the table but she was really just grateful I hadn’t sliced myself in two! Remember, mom?

So I’d suggest staying away from the glass – at home and in the locker room!

The men put in a good day’s work on Day Four of the US Open on Thursday, including some solid wins by Tommy Haas, Fernando Verdasco, Novak Djokovic and Tommy Robredo. Here are some of our snapshots.

*fellow bloggers are more than welcome to use our photos, please link us if you do.

 

Bob the Samurai, a “founding member” of Sam Querrey’s fan club, contacted me regarding a post I wrote last week about Tommy Haas’s negative reaction to the shirtless cheerleaders at the LA Tennis Open. (Click here to read “Tommy Haas loses to Sam Querrey and the ‘No Class’ Samurai.”) The Samurai have even issued an official statement inviting Tommy Haas and his girlfriend, Sarah Foster, to a Beer Summit: “Beck’s of course.”

The Samurai want to clear some stuff up. Here’s what Bob wrote to me:

1. In your article, something was mentioned about a “kegger.” Sure, while some of us enjoy the simple pleasure of a beer here and there, we DO NOT drink at Sam’s matches.

2. We are not a group of dumb frat kids (no matter how much the media wants to paint us as.) We attend a diverse group of colleges all around the nation (Cornell, Boston college, UCSD, UCLA, etc) studying everything from Industrial and Labor Relations, to History, to Music and Film, to Economics, to Philosophy. We pride ourselves on being a well mannered, laid back, and ambitious group of kids, not the kind that would ever take their shirt off in public. The fact that we do, is what makes the group so enjoyable and funny to all of our friends and families.

3. Unlike the majority of tennis professionals, Sam did not attend a Tennis Academy growing up as a child. His entire life he attended public education schools. Andy Roddick once famously referred to him as the “after school tennis kid”. This makes Sam somewhat of an anomaly and may explain why he has such a vivacious cheering squad: Most of us have been going to school with him since we were 10 years old. To us, Sam is still the tall goofy kid in Biology class with goggles on trying to dissect a frog leg.

I never accused the Samurai of being drunk or frat kids (gasp!). I did say the group got on my curmudgeonly, tennis-snobby nerves, though. But enough about me, how do Bob and his crew feel about annoying Tommy Haas and the other players?:

As for the players, there have been a few occasions where Sam’s opponent has decided to focus on us rather than on the match. In these situations, we do our best not to respond directly to the player. Players like Davydenko, Ball, Ram, Ginepri, Fish, Blake, Nadal, Wawrinka, Anderson, Tursunov and many others have all managed to keep cool heads during tough matches against Sam while we were in attendance. All of them had nothing but positive things to say, if any, about our cheering in the post-match interviews.  We have tremendous respect for all of the players on tour and hope that they will continue to enjoy the little bit of atmosphere we bring to the stadium.

But is chanting “BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!” while Querrey’s opponent is serving really just about providing atmosphere? Bob says the Samurai are taking that one out of their repertoire:

“Maybe it was our naiveté, but we did not expect that chant to create so much controversy. In our minds, we were simply channeling the chant toward Sam in hopes of pumping him up before some crucial points. Now, we see that his opponents feel like it is being directed towards them. This was never our intention. We are constantly adding new chants and sayings to our repertoire and letting old ones go the way side. We are always open to criticism and new ideas because it is truly not about us. We are only there to provide some boisterous encouragement and support for the Samurai Godfather, Sam Querrey.“

Bob also told me that they don’t have plans to travel to many more tournaments this summer: “we do have lives and they include work, school, and families.” But if Querrey makes a good run at the US Open, they’ll try to get the band back together:

“Hopefully, if (Querrey) has a good run at the U.S. Open, a few of us will be able to skip class and take the red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York and again cheer Sam to victory. Last year’s fourth round battle against Nadal at the U.S Open is one of our favorite Samurai memories. Getting 22,547 fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium on their feet chanting, “Sam! Sam! Sam!” is a feat none of us will ever forget. Of course we got a little help Sam’s unbelievable play.”

So you’ve been warned US Open fans! Either pack your Samurai headbands or your earplugs. Or maybe bring along your own posse of shirtless buddies. Don’t worry, Bob says the Samurai enjoy “hanging out with fan clubs that support other players.” Rogerholics, Rafanatics, Tsonga-Gonna-Wrong-Yas, see you there.

A new round of US Open Series videos with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Sam Querrey has been released for our youtubing pleasure!

Rafael Nadal reels us in (check out that smile at .17!) It’s great to hear that Nadal will indeed take part in the US Open Series, confirming via his website that he’ll be traveling to Montreal tomorrow (click here.)

Even at a young age, Novak Djokovic just wanted to be one of the guys:

Sam Querrey Ace Face:

Thanks to C Note at FortyDeuce for bringing these to light.

Sam Querrey won the LA Tennis Open on Sunday, beating No. 205 ranked qualifier, Carsten Ball, in three sets: 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. It was his third final in about as many weeks and Querrey’s first ATP title since he won his first in Las Vegas last March.

Now that Sam’s the US Open Series leader, he seems to have an eye on that $1 million in bonus prize money: “If I keep playing like I am playing now hopefully I have a shot at the US Open. You don’t want to think if I do everything perfect maybe I can get to round 16. You want to think you can win it.”

Sam’s playing great tennis right now, but he’ll have to raise it to another level in Montreal and Cincinnati, where the Big Boys (including guys who aren’t 6′5″) will be ready to play. He’s also signed on to play the next four weeks of the Series – D.C., Montreal, Cincinnati, and New Haven. He’ll need to pace himself to be in best-of-five shape in NYC.

And his Samurai better save their vocal chords.

Sam Querrey beat Tommy Haas on Saturday evening at the LA Tennis Open, 6-3, 7-5. The towering American was surprisingly fleet of foot, hit serves consistently in the 130s and rushed the net when he could. It was a great win for Sam, who is now in his third straight ATP final, having played Sundays at both Newport and Indianapolis this summer. He’ll play a surprise finalist, qualifier Carsten Ball, in the final this Sunday.

It was not so great of a night for Tommy Haas, the No. 1 seed and a two time champion in LA (2004 and 2006.) Sam’s big shots kept Tommy pinned near the fence for much of the match – Haas was angry when the line judges got in his way. He failed to convert any of the 5 break opportunities he had. And the on-court conditions were driving Haas nuts – he complained after Friday’s quarterfinal that the balls were flying and he couldn’t get a good feel on the ball.

The conditions got a hell of a lot worse on Saturday.

I’m talking about Sam Querrey’s rowdy fan club, the “Samurai”, a group of his high school buddies who have been busting eardrums all summer. The Indianapolis tournament even flew them out last week in a questionable effort to boost its unpopulated tournament. The Samurai rallied Saturday night at UCLA for Querrey’s match against Haas, commandeering a corner of the small stadium. They cheered, cajoled and beat their painted chests after every point. They used a drum during changeovers.

An example of the Samurai effect: 1st set, Sam’s up 4-3 on serve. Tommy’s serving and down 30-40. The Samurai – always on their feet – link arms, sway and start a slow and steady chant before Haas steps to the line: “BREAK! BREAK! BREAK! BREAK!”

It works. Sam gets his break and serves out the first set, hitting two aces and sprinting up to a feathery drop shot on set point that Haas obviously thought he couldn’t touch.

“They were awesome.” Sam said of his Samurai after the match. “You couldn’t ask for a better group of friends and a bunch of guys who support me.  They get me through a lot of the Love-40 downers and (keep me) fired up on set points.”

Tommy Haas did not find the Samurai awesome, saying the group had “no class” and behaved inappropriately: “It’s up to Sam to take control of the situation. This was not the fifth set of a US Open.“

Sam disagreed: “I think they’re pretty considerate considering none of them play tennis. They’re just fired up. It’s a home match. It’s the semifinals. It’s a night match. Yeah they get fired up, but it’s not my fault.”

To complain that the Samurai have “no class” is just stating the obvious. We’re talking about a swaggering gang of shirtless dudes in bodypaint – just add kegger. And Sam (or his intern) has obviously trained them on a few etiquette basics. I was sitting two rows away – lucky me! – and observed the group applauding Tommy’s winners every now and then. They kept their mouths shut during the points and between first and second serves. Sure, they cheered Haas’s errors, but nowadays even the players fist pump when their opponents’ double fault.

Sarah Foster, Haas’s fiance, warned ESPN’s Pam Shriver that there would be blood if the Samurai didn’t behave. I’m sure she was sharpening her knife to a deadly point all match long.

But what did the ticket-buying “neutrals” in the crowd think of Sam’s Club? I disagree with Querrey’s own appraisal that “99% of the people in (the stadium) think that they’re awesome.” A couple feisty kids and their mom got into it with the Samurai, and I detected a few sighs and shaking heads around me. Personally, the dudes got on my nerves. My ideal tennis crowd is energized, balanced in its support and respectful of the game’s sporting traditions. Like at Wimbledon. But the LA Tennis Open ain’t SW19. (Talk about stating the obvious!) And I admit that I’m a curmudgeonly tennis snob who likes her players classy and the fans wearing shirts.

“That’s why (tennis) isn’t more popular.” said Sam, reacting to the criticism. “I think if you had a group like (the Samurai) in every stadium tennis would be more popular.”

Well, what do you think?

Here are some photos of some of the action on Saturday night:

 

Tuesday was a busy day at the L.A. Tennis Open, the ATP 250 event on the bucolic UCLA campus. Marat Safin (click here), Sam Querrey with his Samurai, John Isner, Robby Ginepri, Ernests Gulbis, Taylor Dent, and Marcos Baghdatis all played their first round singles matches today. Here’s some of the action from the stadiums and practice courts.

 

Taylor Dent gets his own gallery because of his insane facial expressions. The guy is a “hunk” in the most literal sense – he’s built like Paul Bunyon! Which must be why he can whack his serve down at 144 m.p.h. It’s really a sight to see. Despite all that power, Dent faded in the third set and lost to Ryan Sweeting.

 

The results for Day 2: Singles – First Round
[5] Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) d [Q] Somdev Devvarman (IND) 75 62
[6] Sam Querrey (USA) d Denis Istomin (UZB) 62 60
John Isner (USA) d [7] Benjamin Becker (GER) 76(8) 76(3)
[8] Marat Safin (RUS) d [SE] Robby Ginepri (USA) 36 63 64
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) d Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) 75 62
[Q] Ryan Sweeting (USA) d [WC] Taylor Dent (USA) 64 26 63
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) d [SE] Frank Dancevic (CAN) 76(3) 63
[Q] Carsten Ball (AUS) d Marc Gicquel (FRA) 62 76(6)
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) d [Q] Josselin Ouanna (FRA) 62 63

Tomorrow’s marquee match-ups include Safin vs. Gulbis, Isner vs. Baghdatis and Haas vs. Jesse Levine.

“I really had no expectations but I had no pressure either. It’s funny how things work out,” said Robby Ginepri after beating third seed Sam Querrey, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships on Sunday.

This was Ginepri’s first title in four years – the last one also coming at Indy in 2005 (over top seed Andy Roddick). Robby entered this week’s tournament ranked 95 in the world and with only four match wins for the season. His slump was mainly due to a burst appendix he suffered before Indian Wells this year – requiring over a week in the hospital and causing him to lose about 30 pounds. He was off the tour for eight weeks.

Given that 2005 turned out to be Robby Ginepri’s best season, including a semi final run at the US Open, things are looking up for the American. And for the next week, at least, Ginepri can say he’s the U.S. Open Series leader.

Robby Ginepri will be playing this coming week at the L.A. Tennis Open.

Congrats, Robby! (And Sam, you’re going to need more than your Samurai to get you psyched up for these big matches.)

Photo via tennisindy.com

I know we’re still basking in the glow of Roger’s U.S. Open victory, but I just read some interesting news about our sport’s next big event, the Davis Cup semifinals and world group play-offs this September 19-21.

Reports say that Sam Querrey is taking James Blake’s place when the U.S. faces Spain in the semis on outdoor clay in Madrid. As recently as last Thursday, team captain P. Mac was naming Blake as the fourth member of the team. It’s unclear why the switch was made. At first I thought it might be Sam’s tough four-setter against Rafa at this year’s U.S. Open – one of the best matches of the tournament. But then I remembered that James has beaten Rafa a couple times. So who knows? U.S. D-Cup stalwarts, Andy Roddick and the Bryan brothers are also on the official nomination list released by the ITF.

For more Davis Cup excitement, including info on the other, more competitive, semi-final, click on the “Read More” link below. . .

The big hype here is USA vs. Spain, even though with Rafa playing on clay in front of a home crowd there is virutally no hope for the Americans. Spain also has Ferrer, Verdasco and Lopez, who could all do well on U.S. hard courts as well. But don’t forget the other semi-final which pits Russia against Argentina in Buenos Aires . Both teams have amazing line-ups. Argentina has D-cup warrior David Nalbandian, hottest-player-on-the-tour Juan Martin del Potro, hottie-hot-hottie Juan Monaco and badass backboard Guillermo Canas. Russia has a solid line up including good ol’ Kolya Davydenko, Igor “I-took-Roger-to-5-sets” Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov and Igor Kunitsyn. I saw Kunitsyn and Marat Safin play some great doubles together in L.A. this summer, so it’s a shame that Safin’s not on the team. But I know better than to ever second-guess the schemes of team captain Shamil Tarpischev.

Of course I would like the U.S.A. to win again, but I’m too realistic. I think the final’s going to be between Spain and Argentina, given skill level and home-court advantage. At least we’ll have one heck of a final! And if Rafa wins the Davis Cup for Spain this year, he’s gotta get props for one of the all time best years in the history of the sport. Laureus Sportsman here we come!

Highlights of the World Group Playoffs (i.e. the stuff we won’t see on Tennis Channel) include Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka leading the Swiss team against the Belgians on indoor hardcourts in Lausanne and the British team led by the Murray brothers against Austria on grass courts at Wimbledon. It will be fun to see some grass court action in September and look out for a rematch of Melzer vs. A. Murray, who played a tight five-setter at the U.S. Open last week.

So take a deep breath and get ready for yet more great tennis! Are you fan-enough?

***UPDATE*** Just read Pete Bodo’s take. James Blake is out with “exhaustion.” Click here for more.