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From My Seat Sports

A Memphis Tennis Top 40

CREDIT: Memphis Open

Memphis Open

Jimmy Connors

This week’s Memphis Open marks 40 years of professional tennis at the Racquet Club of Memphis. With thoughts of the late, great Casey Kasem, here’s a countdown of the top 40 players to visit our annual stop on the ATP Tour.

40) Vijay Amritraj — Won the 1976 Memphis Tennis Classic, a precursor to the U.S. National Indoor Championship, which arrived at the Racquet Club the next year.

39) Luke Jensen — Ranked 419th(!) in the world, the doubles specialist upset Andre Agassi in the 1996 tournament.

38) Marcelo Rios — The top seed in 1998, Chile’s favorite son lost to Mark Philippoussis in the semifinals.

37) Yannick Noah — The 1983 French Open champ reached the final of the ’85 U.S. National Indoor, where he lost to Stefan Edberg.

36) Eliot Teltscher — Reached the quarterfinals four straight years in Memphis (1982-85), but never got beyond the semifinals (1984 and ’85).

35) Gustavo Kuerten — Known as Guga by his adoring fans, the Brazilian upset Agassi in a 1997 three-set thriller. Four months later, he won the first of his three French Open titles.

34) Joachim Johansson — Won the 2004 championship in Memphis, one of only three career ATP titles for the unseeded Swede.

33) Kenneth Carlsen — Like Johansson before him, the Danish lefty won the 2005 title at the Racquet Club despite not being seeded. One of only three ATP titles for him, too.

32) John Isner — The towering American entered the 2012 Regions Morgan Keegan as the top seed but fell to unseeded Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals.

31) Steve Darcis — The Belgian beat Robin Soderling for the 2008 Memphis championship, one of only two ATP titles to his credit.

30) Jurgen Melzer — Ranked 38th in the world, the Austrian upset Canada’s Milos Raonic for the 2012 championship. At age 30, he was the oldest Memphis champ in 21 years.

29) Marin Cilic — The top seed in 2013, Cilic fell to then-unknown Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinals. A year later, Cilic gained some revenge (and then some) by beating Nishikori for the U.S. Open championship.

28) Milos Raonic — Reached consecutive finals at the Racquet Club, but lost to Andy Roddick in 2011 and Jurgen Melzer in 2012.

27) Magnus Larsson — This Swede only reached one Grand Slam semifinal (the 1994 French Open), but beat Byron Black for the 2000 Memphis championship.

26) Johan Kriek — The South African upset John McEnroe for the 1982 championship and reached the final again seven years later when he lost to Brad Gilbert.

25) Sam Querrey — The 8th seed beat John Isner for the 2010 singles championship then teamed with Isner to win the doubles title.

24) Mats Wilander — The winner of seven Grand Slam titles made two appearances in Memphis but failed to reach the semis both times.

23) Todd Woodbridge — Reached the 1997 final, where he lost to Michael Chang. With partner Mark Woodforde, won a record four doubles titles at the Racquet Club (1992, ’93, ’98, ’99).

22) Vitas Gerulaitis — Two years after winning the Australian Open, Gerulaitis reached the Memphis semifinals in 1979 where he lost in three sets to Jimmy Connors. Reached the quarterfinals here in 1982.

21) Guillermo Vilas — The big Argentinian reached the quarterfinals of the 1977 U.S. National Indoor, the same year he won both the French Open and U.S. Open.

20) Taylor Dent — Upset Andy Roddick in the final to win the 2003 Memphis championship, one of his four career ATP titles.

19) Gene Mayer — Beat Yannick Noah in the semis and Roscoe Tanner in the final to win the 1981 championship, one of his 14 career ATP titles. Lost in the 1982 semifinals to John McEnroe.

18) MaliVai Washington — The only black player to win a Memphis title, Washington beat Michael Chang and Jimmy Connors on his way to the 1992 crown. Reached the final at Wimbledon four years later.

17) Brad Gilbert — Known today for his work as a TV analyst, Gilbert won 20 ATP titles and was crowned champion twice in Memphis (1986 and ’89). Upset Stefan Edberg for his first championship here.

16) Michael Stich — The unseeded German beat Wally Masur to win the 1990 championship at the Racquet Club. The next year, he beat countryman Boris Becker for the Wimbledon title.

15) Mark Philippoussis — The Aussie won 11 career titles, two of them in Memphis (1998 and 2001). Reached the semis as the 10th seed in 1996.

14) Todd Martin — Reached the final in Memphis three straight years and won the 1994 and ’95 championships, two of his eight career titles.

13) Ivan Lendl — The eight-time Grand Slam champ only appeared in Memphis twice, but beat Michael Stich for the 1991 title.

12) Tommy Haas — One of three men to win three Memphis titles (1999, 2006, ’07). Playing for Germany, won a silver medal at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

11) Arthur Ashe — The groundbreaking legend reached the Memphis final in 1979 where he lost in three sets to Jimmy Connors.

10) Kei Nishikori — The first player to win three consecutive titles at the Racquet Club (2013-15).

9) Andre Agassi — Two months shy of his 18th birthday, Agassi won the Memphis title in 1988. In five other appearances at the Racquet Club, he never reached the final.

8) Jim Courier — In six Memphis appearances, the four-time Grand Slam champ reached two finals and won the title in 1993.

7) Michael Chang — Appeared in Memphis 16 consecutive years (1988-2003), winning the 1997 championship and reaching the final in ’98.

6) Bjorn Borg — The five-time Wimbledon champion won the first official Memphis title at the 1977 U.S. National Indoor (a few months before winning his second title at the All-England Club).

5) John McEnroe — In the most star-studded final in Racquet Club history, beat Jimmy Connors (7-6, 7-6) for the 1980 Memphis title. In three other Bluff City appearances, reached one more final (a loss in ’82 to Kriek).

4) Stefan Edberg — Raised the trophy in Memphis the same two years he won the Australian Open (1985 and ’87). The six-time Grand Slam champion lost to Brad Gilbert in the 1986 final.

3) Pete Sampras — Won 14 Grand Slam titles and appeared in Memphis six times, beating Todd Martin for the 1996 championship.

2) Andy Roddick — Appeared in 12 consecutive Memphis tournaments (2001-12), the top seed for nine straight years (2003-011). Won three titles (2002, ’09, ’11).

1) Jimmy Connors — Reached at least the semifinals in eight of his ten Memphis appearances, winning a record four titles at the Racquet Club (1978, ’79, ’83, and ’84). The event’s top seed six times.

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From My Seat Sports

Memphis Sports 2016: Change is Coming

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

2016 will be a year of change in Memphis sports. Just as 2015 was, and 2014 the year before. If there’s a single, unifying reason any of us turn to sports on a daily basis, it’s the mystery of what’s to come. The changes happening — often in dramatic fashion — between serial tweets and highlights. A basketball game (or football game, or tennis match . . .) has long been the best reality show on television. The only thing consistent with sports prognosticators (including yours truly) is how much we get wrong. Change is coming.

Larry Kuzniewski

ZBo: Will he stay?

The Memphis Open is under new ownership (again). Kei Nishikori can’t possibly win a fourth straight title at the Racquet Club, can he? The FedEx St. Jude Classic has a new tournament director. Stephen Piscotty will open the next baseball season in the St. Louis Cardinals’ outfield, not that of the Memphis Redbirds. A year ago today, Austin Nichols and Nick King seemed like both the present and future of Memphis Tiger basketball. A year ago, we all wondered what more Justin Fuente and Paxton Lynch could give us. And few people on this side of the Mississippi River knew the name Mike Norvell. Change is coming.

The most significant change we’ll see this year on the local sports landscape? I’m convinced it will be with the roster of the Memphis Grizzlies, and I don’t mean the kind of change that yields Brandan Wright or subtracts Kosta Koufos. This is the year we could see the Beatles break up.

The Grizzlies’ version of the Fab Four — Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph, and Tony Allen — is playing its sixth season as a band, aiming for a sixth playoff appearance, and roughly six millionth smile generated in the Mid-South. Particularly in the modern NBA, such a run is epochal. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili have set a standard for teammates by playing 14 seasons together (and winning four championships) in San Antonio. But who is their Ringo Starr? Bruce Bowen? Kawhi Leonard? (It’s actually their coach, Gregg Popovich.)

One of the greatest foursomes in NBA history was the one that took the Boston Celtics to four straight Finals in the 1980s. Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Robert Parish, and Dennis Johnson played seven seasons together, merely one more than the current Griz quartet have enjoyed. But that was an era when stars like Parish and McHale, let alone superstars like Bird, ignored the siren calls of free agency. It didn’t hurt, of course, to be contending for the Larry O’Brien Trophy every spring.

Allen turns 34 this month and has one more season ($5.5 million) on his contract with Memphis. Randolph turns 35 in July and likewise has one more year ($10.3 million) under contract with the Grizzlies. The franchise’s career games leader, Conley, will be a free agent. Since Gasol re-signed with Memphis last summer, the presumption has been his point guard will follow suit in the summer of ’16. Perhaps he will, and perhaps the Grindfather and Z-Bo will come back for one more tour in 2016-17.

But be prepared for change. On January 1, 2015, the Grizzlies were 23-8 and heading toward what looked like the franchise’s first division title. Today, Memphis is 18-17, sixth overall in a weaker Western Conference. It’s a team that should reach the postseason, but is it a team that appears able to win a series? To win two and return to the conference finals?

Sentiment can be deadly, both in reality TV and sports. Teams that get old together inevitably lose together. In their last season as a band, that famed Celtics foursome blew a 2-0 lead and lost their first-round series (then a best-of-five) with New York in the 1990 playoffs.

Change is coming in 2016. How it impacts this city’s only big-league franchise remains to be seen. Let’s keep watching.

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From My Seat Sports

Frank’s Top 10 Memphis Sports Moments for 2015

This week (and next): the ten most memorable local sporting events I attended this year.

10) FESJC second round (June 12) — I like to walk the Southwind course before the weekend cut, when you can see a wide range of rising (and falling) PGA talent, young unknowns (Harris English in 2013) on their way to fat Sunday paychecks and players with major titles in their rearview, galleries shrinking as birthdays come and go. I followed former Masters champ Mike Weir for a few holes in the morning, his “gallery” small enough for each of us to hear conversations between the player and his caddie. In the afternoon, I set up camp near the third tee and awaited the arrival of the day’s star trio: Graeme McDowell, Retief Goosen, and Phil Mickelson. (Each man has at least one major title to his credit.) I managed to stay with the mass of humanity following this group for two holes. It’s said but not often seen so vividly: stars sell tickets. Phil Mickelson is a star.

9) Tigers 75, Connecticut 72 (February 19) — For the second straight season, the Tigers beat the defending national champions … twice. In the first of two wins over the Huskies, three Tigers — Austin Nichols, Kedren Johnson, and Markel Crawford — each played 38 minutes, combining for 51 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and seven blocks (all of the rejections by Nichols). UConn star Ryan Boatright was held to seven points in 32 minutes and Memphis earned the victory despite being dominated on the glass (41 rebounds for the Huskies against their 27). This was the Kedren Johnson (21 points, six assists) many saw during his days with Vanderbilt. Such sightings, alas, were too few last winter.

8) Kei Nishikori wins Memphis Open (February 15) — Until Nishikori handled South Africa’s Kevin Anderson (6-4, 6-4), no player had won three consecutive championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis. Nishikori earned his eighth ATP title the hard way, dropping the opening set in his three matches prior to the final. The Japanese baseliner became just the fourth player to win three Memphis titles for a career, let alone consecutively. And he’s the first to proudly raise the tournament’s new trophy: a guitar.

7) Oklahoma 84, Tigers 78 (November 17) — Despite hosting this contest, Memphis was supposed to be little more than a welcome mat for the 8th-ranked Sooners. The nationally televised affair was filling a slot on ESPN’s round-the-clock menu, an introduction for Oklahoma’s preseason All-America, Buddy Hield. Instead, the Tigers took punches and landed a few of their own for the entire 40 minutes, taking the lead with just over 90 seconds to play. Hield scored 30 points, but Memphis freshman Dedric Lawson scored 22 and grabbed 15 rebounds (10 on the offensive end) to steal some spotlight. Had a three-pointer here or a few free throws there found the net for the U of M, we would have seen the Tigers’ biggest upset in quite some time. Instead, we got to know a team with far more promise than any doormat.

6) Colts 35, Titans 33 (September 27) — This is as local as the NFL gets. My first trip to Nissan Stadium in Nashville coincided with rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota’s home debut. The 2014 Heisman Trophy winner out-dueled Indianapolis star Andrew Luck (another Pac 12 product) for three quarters, tossing a pair of touchdown passes to give Tennessee a 27-14 lead after 45 minutes of play. Trouble is, NFL games are 60 minutes. Luck threw two touchdown passes midway through the fourth and Frank Gore dashed six yards for what proved to be the game-clincher with 2:51 left on the clock. I enjoyed the game with a friend I’ve known more than 40 years, which made the result all but incidental.

Check back next week for the Top 5.

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We Recommend We Recommend

Good As Gold

Few and far between are the Memphis sporting events to reach a golden anniversary. This weekend at Southwind’s TPC golf course, though, Memphis and the PGA Tour will be doing the links equivalent of blowing out 50 candles.

What might you find different about the 2007 Stanford St. Jude Championship, as compared with the 1958 Memphis Open? Well, start with the prize money. Billy Maxwell won that inaugural event (at the Colonial Country Club) and took home $2,800 out of a total purse of $20,000. This year’s winner can cash a check in the amount of $1.08 million, with the total purse no less than $6 million.

Among the favorites for this year’s winner’s check are Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, David Toms (pictured), and last year’s champ, Jeff Maggert. Adding to the drama of this year’s event is the fact that the SSJC is the final tune-up before next week’s U.S. Open.

An important final note: Last year’s tournament donated more than $1 million of its proceeds to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Now THAT is a gold standard every Memphian can celebrate.

Stanford St. Jude Championship at TPC at Southwind through June 10th. For more information, go to stanfordstjude.com.

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Opinion Viewpoint

Getting the Shaft (Again)

Eldrick Woods (you know him better as “Tiger”) will not be playing in this year’s Stanford St. Jude Classic. For the 11th consecutive year since he turned pro, the greatest golfer of this generation has, in golf terms, given the shaft to Memphis.

Tournament director Phil Cannon takes a dignified stance each year — no surprise there — when asked about the absence of Woods. He tells anyone within earshot that the greatest golfers in the world “playing golf” this weekend will, indeed, be playing in Memphis. And he’s spot on. But Cannon, his professional colleagues, and the legion of volunteers who make the tournament hum deserve better from the preeminent personality in their sport.

As a journalist, I find myself objectively rationalizing Eldrick’s continued absence. He has more money than anyone outside of Bill Gates’ accountant could manage. He’s all about winning majors, having won 12 before his 32nd birthday and chasing Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 like Ahab did that pale whale. Eldrick’s handlers would tell you their moneymaker is “resting up” for the U.S. Open (to be played next week in Oakmont, Pennsylvania), which is like the Cleveland Cavaliers coming to town and LeBron James staying home to “rest up” for the Cavs’ next game in Detroit. When the spotlight is brightest, says Eldrick Woods, I’ll show up. And when convenient.

What Woods is forsaking in his continued dismissal of our local tournament is the very heritage — golf’s heritage, mind you — that makes him so famous and wealthy today. There would be no “major” PGA event were it not for the weekly tournaments that gave the tour weight in the middle of the last century.

The rise of Arnold Palmer’s “army” made golf a sport that could be embraced (and played!) by hoi polloi. As public courses sprouted across the country, no longer was a country club membership a prerequisite to swinging a two-iron with all your unrefined might. (Palmer, by the way, played in Memphis five times between 1958 and 1972.)

Growth in popularity, Woods well knows, means growth in sponsorships, television coverage, and yes, money. When the Memphis Open was first played in 1958, the total purse was $20,000. This week, the field at Southwind will split a cool $6 million. Find me another enterprise that — even allowing for inflation — grows 300-fold in a half-century. Tiger is cashing the check that tournaments like ours in Memphis have made possible. And he can’t make one appearance per decade to say thanks?

In a city with as large an African-American presence as Memphis, you think Woods spending a weekend here wouldn’t have some impact? When Venus Williams came to town last February and stormed to victory in the Cellular South Cup, she had the entire city wrapped around her media-friendly finger. It was an exchange of affection that will last years, whether or not Williams returns to the Racquet Club on an annual basis.

Woods, alas, is too culturally blind to see the impact — off the golf course — he might have in the Mid-South. If it’s not mere blindness, I’d argue, the annual snub is that much more damning.

Nicklaus won two majors the first year he played in Memphis (1963). He won his second Masters the same year he won the Memphis Invitational Open (1965). He won two more majors in 1966 and picked up $4,650 for finishing 4th in Memphis. However many majors Woods eventually accumulates, for Memphis fans he’ll never be able to match the Golden Bear. Matter of fact, he’s not even on the same course.

As Cannon would remind us, there will be some great golf played in Memphis this week by the likes of Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, David Toms, Justin Leonard, and defending champ Jeff Maggert. Whether following them on the course or watching on TV in your living room, find one — or many — of these players to cheer.

Just remember, Memphis golf fans, to cheer them the following week, too. And the week after that. Until Woods pays Memphis a visit, I’ll be cheering his competition along. And the only Tigers I’ll be backing are those wearing blue and gray.

Go to MemphisFlyer.com for Frank Murtaugh’s weekly sports column,”From My Seat.”