January - February 2002
Vol. 13, No. 1 | Contents
OPEN Album
By Ryan John
[excerpts]
Far right: Champs Kerri Wachtel & Cliff Swain. Photo: Vicki Hughes.
Dramatic sub-plots always surround the Hilton U.S. OPEN, and this year started out with a doozy … the last-minute
forfeit of defending champion Sudsy Monchik. In a freak accident, he had stepped onto a rock, twisted his body to regain his balance and broken the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. It’s not yet known if he will return to action this season, but his absence definitely opened several doors ...
See the final on ESPN -- Friday, February 8 @ 1:00 pm eastern!
If Cliff reached the quarterfinals or better he would reclaim the number one ranking on the IRT. If he was somehow knocked out in an early round, perhaps Mannino or Ellis could step up and lay claim to the top ranking. If that happened, it would be the first time in recent memory that someone, anyone, other than Cliff or Sudsy would hold the number one spot.
Some other interesting observations: four out of the last six pro stops have seen neither Sudsy nor Cliff in the finals. Last year the first eleven stops featured one or the other in the finals and between the two they grabbed ten of those titles. Also the two pro finals leading up to the Open each featured a foreign player – a phenomenon that brought an “anyone-can-win” atmosphere to the Racquet Club of Memphis. And you could count on some of that same action on the
LPRA side, too.
But the U.S. OPEN always raises a few more questions than it answers. Is it time for a younger generation to begin a take over? Could Rocky Carson, Alvaro Beltran,
Kane Waselenchuk, or Jack Huczek break through? Or would an old favorite like
Ruben Gonzalez step up to test mother time? Whose would be the Cinderella story? There’s always at least one …
[Photo: Vicki Hughes]
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Through the week, Swain
(foreground) had appeared to raise his game to a level that fans hadn’t seen from him for some time. With the number one ranking already pocketed after the semis, would he still be able to sustain that level of play for the finals?
Ellis seemed pumped about his chance for a first U.S. OPEN crown. And the two are good friends, which became more obvious when Ellis came out wearing a Red Swain tournament shirt in honor of Cliff’s father, who passed away last year.
Swain opened the match by dominating the first game in his classic style. His serve was on and he deftly shot the ball to an efficient 11-5 win. Ellis was equally impressive in game two when he powered himself right back into the match with an 11-7 victory.
Pivotal in a five-game match, game three often decides the outcome. Both players sensed this as they played one of the best and most exciting games of the tournament. Despite a sloppy start, with both players losing serve several times on short faults, the action began to heat up. The players exchanged points through several ties and lead changes until, down 7-6, Ellis earned four straight points to take a 10-7 lead. Though Ellis served for the game three times, he was unable to shut the door and Swain fought back to tie the score at 10-10 and eventually take the third game 12-10.
Smelling blood, Swain dominated the fourth game much as he did the first with awesome serves and precise shots. He rolled to an 11-4 win in the fourth to earn his second U.S. OPEN title and put an exclamation point behind his new No.1 ranking.
The win, coupled with Monchik’s injury, puts Swain in the driver’s seat for an unprecedented
sixth tour championship. When asked about breaking that record and being considered one of, if perhaps not the greatest player to ever step on a court, Swain downplays it. “I’m comfortable with what I have accomplished when I lay my head down on my pillow at night …” then adds, “Comfortable but not complacent.” But when you look into his eyes and see how he was able to step up his level of play throughout the week you can definitely tell that he is thinking about it.
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In fact, Sudsy stepped on a rock in his driveway, turned too quickly in recovering his balance, and fractured his fifth metatarsal. “I have what they call a Jones fracture,” Sudsy explained. “It’s a very slow-healing fracture but it’s also a non-weight bearing injury. That means that I can’t put any weight on it at all or it could make the recovery a lot longer.”
Sudsy did make an appearance at the tournament (shown left, on crutches, at the banquet), but admitted that it was a little weird for him to sit and watch — and a little hard too. “I haven’t done too much watching at the U.S. OPEN; you can just look at my record at that tournament for the proof. I trained harder for this year’s OPEN than I have for the previous five. I am just real disappointed.”
Sudsy was able to keep the injury in perspective, however, partly because he lives in New York, where there’s been so much unrest. “I wouldn’t use the word ‘devastated’ for how I feel. There are a lot worse things happening to other people right now. I am just in disbelief about the whole thing.” Sudsy’s injury will keep him sidelined for a minimum of eight weeks, making it nearly impossible for him to hold his position and reclaim the end of season IRT top ranking. But if anyone can do it … it would be Suds.[Photo: Vicki Hughes]
by Todd Boss
[Photo: Vicki Hughes]
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Rice was attempting to capture her third U.S. Open championship and inch closer to reclaiming the top ranking spot. Wachtel
(shown in back court) was attempting to capture her first pro title ever – and on racquetball’s largest stage. The first game was tight throughout, with both players playing conservatively. After two service changes the score was 5-5, after four changes 11-9. Wachtel was forced out of her trademark hard-Z serve by Rice’s persistent offense attack, but had some success with a difficult nick lob serve to keep the game even. “She kept cutting off my drive Z with her forehand,” explained Wachtel. “I knew I had to keep it to her backhand so I started with the lob serve.” Rice regained the serve trailing 12-13 and quickly gave Wachtel a game point. At 12-14, a great rally ensued, with Rice making two diving gets to keep the match going. Wachtel took game one 15-13 on the next rally, getting a crack-out from an errant passing shot.
Rice, still showing the impact mark from the preceding day’s shot to the chin, came out in game two drive serving. She knew that she needed to be more aggressive and control the flow of play. Drive serves into the glass scored her some quick points, but Wachtel’s superior front-to-back movement forced Rice to take low-percentage shots. Play remained even in the second, with neither player really able to break away and take a commanding lead. Rice stretched the lead to 10-7 on Wachtel’s serve after winning a terrific rally. Wachtel regained the serve down 12-13 and needed a couple of big points. But Rice got a quick service return winner for 14-12 and then a quick skip for game two, 15-12.
With the match now tied at one game each, Wachtel served first and jumped out to 5-0, marking the biggest lead of the match. Jackie fought right back though on her own serve, winning four straight points and eventually tying the game at 8-all. At 10-10, Wachtel served again and showed Rice a new service look; a backhand wallpaper serve that defied short hop returns. The serve turned out to be very effective and Wachtel took 4 of the 5 points on her serve to get a game point at 14-11. Wachtel then took game three off Rice’s first serve for a 15-11 win.
Rice started the fourth with big serves to stay in the final, and Wachtel came out hot again. Up two games in the match and confident in her ability to return Rice’s serves, Wachtel jumped ahead to 6-4. A strange rally followed, in which an attempted ceiling ball by Jackie looked as if it would leave the court on the fly, but instead clipped the top of the back wall of the portable court and forced Wachtel to scramble to the frontcourt just to retrieve the shot. Rice put away the pass and the crowd shared the players’ amusement. With Wachtel serving up 8-7, Rice called a carry on herself, a tough call in a crucial situation. Back on serve, Rice hit a tough shot off the back wall to get to 10-11, but Wachtel’s service return game continued to score points for her. Wachtel got the serve back ahead 14-10 and needed just one point for the biggest win of her career.
A quick look into the gallery showed husband Chris Wachtel and mom Gerri Stoffregen (who had flown in from Cincinnati just for the final) looking awfully nervous as Kerri served for the championship. A quick rally, one last kill shot, and Wachtel won it all. Her amazingly consistent passing game was just too tough for the former champ to overcome. “Kerri just played awesome, she deserved to win,” a dejected Rice said after the match. “She deserved to win.”
“My goal this year was to win a pro stop, just one,” Wachtel said upon her victory. “It just happened to come at the biggest tournament of the year. Now I am going to have to go home and re-think all of my goals.”
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