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OPEN COURT

How Novak and Petra Conquered SW19; The Grass Court Season Grows; Capturing the Stars of Tennis; Tennis' Love Match

Aired July 17, 2014 - 05:30:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(MUSIC PLAYING)

PAT CASH, CNN HOST (voice-over): Big Ben keeps many Londoners running on time. But this year at Wimbledon, there are signs that the times are

starting to change.

Rising stars Grigor Dmitrov, Milos Raonic, Nick Kyrgios, Genie Bouchard and Simona Halep all won over new fans on the world's biggest

tennis stage. In the end, it was the old guard who prevailed.

Taxi.

All right, Driver, then take me to Wimbledon SW19 please, could you?

As I head back to Wimbledon, let's reflect on a memorable fortnight at the All England Club.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASH (voice-over): Novak Djokovic and Petra Kvitova won their first Wimbledon together in 2011. This month, they did it again.

Djokovic beat Roger Federer in five sets and secured his first slam win in 18 months. To top it off, he reclaimed the number one ranking.

JOHN MCENROE, TENNIS PRO: It was like a chess match being played at high speed and Roger's moved better there than I've seen in years and

obviously Novak's incredible in that way.

NOVAK DJOKOVIC, WIMBLEDON CHAMP: And this is probably the biggest win I had in my career and this hopefully can give me the conference and win in

back for what's about to come.

CASH (voice-over): Kvitova had maintained her top 10 ranking, but had not won a slam since her first Wimbledon triumph three years ago. She came

out strong against first-time finalist Jeanne Bouchard and never looked back. The match finished in under an hour.

STACEY ALLISTER: How she played today was phenomenal, that serve, the power, both the forehand and the backhand side, nobody would have beaten

Petra today.

PETRA KVITOVA, 2014 WIMBLEDON CHAMP: It was my first match today. I mean, I did everything what I had to. In the good time, I served well. I

really played my aggressive game from the first point. Definitely we need to celebrate this is a huge win for us.

CASH (voice-over): Over the past three years, OPEN COURT has traveled the globe coverage the careers of both Djokovic and Kvitova.

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CASH (voice-over): Shortly before the 2013 season, Petra invited me to a training center in the Czech Republic. I traveled 250 kilometers

outside of Prague to meet the Wimbledon champion.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASH: OK, success. Found it, Prostejov Tennis Club Hotel.

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CASH (voice-over): Hello.

KVITOVA: How are you?

CASH: Very well. I'm excited about hitting with you because you're my favorite player --

KVITOVA: Thank you.

CASH: -- so I'd really love to serve some balls out to me and see if I can hit them back. Please be nice.

KVITOVA: I will. Of course. I'm always nice.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): OK. Give me your best.

I wasn't warmed up yet. I wasn't warmed up yet. (INAUDIBLE).

Nice shot.

(LAUGHTER)

CASH: So your family play tennis as well, your brothers.

KVITOVA: When I was the baby I was on the tennis court every day with my mom and with my brothers. So I pick up the ball for them when they

played and then sometimes I'd play with them, but not very often. And then I played with my father and only Mom didn't play.

So that's -- we are like a tennis family.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH: Well, I've had enough. That was fantastic, really.

KVITOVA: Thank you very much for everything.

CASH (voice-over): The OPEN COURT team has made several visits to Serbia to spend time with Djokovic, both on and off court.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): We've watched as he's built Belgrade Arena and led Serbia's Davis Cup team, tried his luck on the pitch, rocked the red

carpet, rubbed shoulders with royalty and hired Grand Slam great Boris Becker to lead his team.

DJOKOVIC: He knows exactly what kind of challenges I have to face mentally to play a big tournament and big matches. He understands very

well the movement on the grass and the kind of game plan that can be successful.

CASH (voice-over): But there's one special person our team won't soon forget: Jelena Gencic was Djokovic's first tennis coach.

JELENA GENCIC, DJOKOVIC'S FIRST TENNIS COACH: I knew that Nole will be the best in the world.

CASH (voice-over): She coached Doran Ivanisevic and Monica Seles before turning her attention to a boy named Nole. We spoke to her in 2011,

two years before she passed away.

GENCIC: Somebody asked him, hey, boy, what do you want to be when you grow up?

All he wanted, be first in the professional tennis, first, first in the world. He was 6-year old, Novak knew very much about tennis because he

was watching TV, reporting the TV matches, the games, the Sampras, the Agassi, Edberg.

And once he asked me, Jelena, can I go tomorrow?

Yes, of course.

And can I do some hits like Sampras or Agassi?

Of course, you can show me and I will explain you.

CASH (voice-over): After winning his second Wimbledon and seventh Grand Slam, Djokovic paid tribute to Gencic from Centre Court.

DJOKOVIC: She was the one that had the most influence and on me when I was starting to play tennis and she was like my tennis mother. In a way

she not only took care of me on the court but off the court as well. She made sure that I have a proper mindset for a tennis champion because she

saw in me something that not many people saw before.

I was lucky to be able to share the Wimbledon trophy back in 2011 with her. And I know that this is a tournament we always dreamed of winning

together. I'm sure she's looking out from the sky and she's enjoying this moment, too.

CASH (voice-over): Growing up, Kvitova was inspired by the play of Martina Navratilova. The two champions share not only their Czech roots,

but their dangerous lefty serves.

Two years ago, OPEN COURT brought the champions together for a stroll around Wimbledon.

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA: Well, I'm so glad that I get to do this interview with you because I've never been to this museum. You feel like a

champion when you come here. I mean, now you're like part of history. Nobody can take it away from you.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

NAVRATILOVA: (INAUDIBLE). So there's the plate.

KVITOVA: Yes.

NAVRATILOVA: So what was the feeling when you finally got your hands on it?

KVITOVA: I can't find the words . I mean, it was special and I had trophies before from other tournaments. But this was (INAUDIBLE). I mean,

I was like surprised and happy and I don't know what else to do.

NAVRATILOVA: Well, thankfully there's somebody to tell you, OK, you, now you stand here --

(CROSSTALK)

KVITOVA: And you? What you are remember?

NAVRATILOVA: I held it up too soon and I forgot to put on my sweater. All I could think about afterwards, I'm like, oh, no; I forgot to put my

sweater on. And this was big muscles. My ma always told me, "Cover up your arms. You have too big muscles. You have to cover up your arms."

So I was like, no, I forgot to put my sweater on.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVRATILOVA: And then I'm always worried about the hair. What does the hair look like? But no, but really, the feeling of holding that for

the first time and.

Pretty cool.

NAVRATILOVA: So how many more of those are we going to see there? How many would you be happy with?

KVITOVA: Maybe nine. I have to be (INAUDIBLE).

NAVRATILOVA: Nine? OK. That's a good number to play for.

KVITOVA: But I will have to play a long time.

(LAUGHTER)

NAVRATILOVA: Well, I expect to see that name there more than once, that's for sure.

KVITOVA: Yes.

NAVRATILOVA: Once is definitely not enough.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): Kvitova has met her idol's expectation and added another Wimbledon trophy to her case.

She's returned to the Czech Republic to share her trophy with friends and family. And she knows that if she plays the way she did on Centre

Court this summer, her story is just beginning at the All England Club.

To read more about Novak and Petra's Wimbledon triumphs, you can log on to our website, CNN.com/opencourt.

And still to come on OPEN COURT, our journey to Wimbledon continues here while the grass court season is getting its first makeover in decades,

after the break.

MCENROE: Oh, you've got to be -- you cannot be serious.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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CASH (voice-over): Like many players on their way to Wimbledon, we've taken a quick detour to Queen's Club. The tournament is always been a

standout grass court event. It's where many of the world's best players have found their feet on the slick surface ahead of Wimbledon. It provided

Grigor Dmitrov with a perfect Wimbledon warm-up as he won the tournament here this year.

Next year the players will have an extra week to adjust from the slow clay courts to this green stuff. It's a move that's already attracted the

attention of grass court greats John McEnroe and Michael Stich.

The grass court season is about to grow. Next year Wimbledon will start a week later than normal and finish in mid-July. Grass court greats

John McEnroe and Michael Stich believe that change is long overdue.

MCENROE: After 30 years of waiting, I was starting to wonder. So it's nice to see it finally happen.

MICHAEL STICH, 1991 WIMBLEDON CHAMPION: Playing John said like from the end of the '70s, they always thought like a week extra between Paris

and Wimbledon would be a good thing to have.

CASH (voice-over): The move will give the players extra time to prepare for Wimbledon. They'll be able to choose between several grass

court warm-up events. The Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart has changed from clay to grass and will now be held in early June. This month, McEnroe and Stich

traveled to the tournament site to test out the new grass court.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): They supported Stuttgart for grass tennis, but the bigger question is, how do you change the date of the most famous tennis

tournament in the world?

RICHARD LEWIS, CEO, WIMBLEDON: You write with your question. We have thousands of meetings, hundreds of meetings. So we made a relatively quick

decision, certainly a quick decision by Wimbledon standards.

CASH (voice-over): Richard Lewis is Wimbledon's CEO. He also traveled to Stuttgart to take a look at the grass courts and meet with

tournament officials.

LEWIS: It's very exciting. Wimbledon's very exciting that over the last few decades it's been less grass court tennis, but now to be more

grass court tennis is a big thing for us.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): One of the players who could benefit from extra time on the grass if Rafa Nadal. For the past nine out of 10 years, he's

won the French Open but in recent years he's found it tough to advance to Wimbledon's second week. This year he played on two matches ahead of

Wimbledon.

MCENROE: All the players, especially if you look at Nadal, I don't think in a way every recovered totally from what he had to do to win the

French and that actually week's going to make a difference, I think, for the quality of play.

CASH (voice-over): In the mid-'70s, grass was the dominant slam surface. The Australian Open, U.S. championships and Wimbledon were all

played on lawn courts. More than 40 years later, only the All England Club maintains its manicured grass courts.

MCENROE: Esthetically it's beautiful. I mean, you turn on TV, see a grass court, you see the way the court looks there right now. It's

magnificent and, yes, I do miss some of that. I think that we got rid of it a little bit too early.

STICH: If you look at the tradition of tennis, coming from England, very popular in Australia and grass was the easiest surface to have and to

keep. You know, it's there; you just put out the lawn and definitely it's not the quality as it is right now. But so it's the -- it's the heart of

the game, basically.

CASH (voice-over): McEnroe closed out the exhibition match, scoring a tight victory over Stich.

STICH: Well, John is a good friend. You know, he's a great, great athlete and a lot of respect for him. But he's a great person as well.

He's a great character. You know, that's what tennis is lacking these days, I mean, on and off court.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): Fans cheered on McEnroe from the stands and laid a rose at their feet as he traded the strings on his racquet for some guitar

strings.

He may prefer blues to bluegrass, but when it comes to covering the classics, McEnroe can certainly cut it with the best.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): OK, Driver, let's finally get to the All England Club, please.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): Welcome back to OPEN COURT. I'm sitting in what's known as the Snappers' Pit. And this is where dozens of photographers all

jostle for position, trying to capture the shot of the tournament.

OPEN COURT managed to get a snapshot of life as a Grand Slam photographer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLIVE BRUNSKILL, TENNIS PHOTOGRAPHER: You're always trying to get the picture and everybody wants the picture. And not everybody gets it. You

can be patient; you can have every picture have (INAUDIBLE). But you need luck as well.

But I just realized I wanted to do it from the minute I got the camera. That was it. I remember going down the park and learning how to

shoot sport and print pictures in the darkroom, taught myself, basically. And it went from there.

You never know what the next picture's going to be. That's what's great about the job. It's addictive. It's like a drug.

You have to watch every ball. You have to watch everything those players do and you just have to be patient. And sometimes you can be an

hour and a half and you think, I haven't taken one picture that's any good. And then suddenly, you know, one great picture happens.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BRUNSKILL (voice-over): Wimbledon's just special. Wimbledon's like the best tournament in the world. As soon as you go onto Centre Court, you

know, you can feel the history in the -- it's just nice. It's special.

With grass court tennis, it's different and it's fast and you get a lot more explosive pictures and the players do dives. They do full,

whereas with the hard court tennis like in the U.S. Open, it's just -- it's not the same. For me, a good picture here would be a picture that tells

the whole story.

So something like last year, Andy lifting the trophy and all the crowd all -- in the sharp and he's out of focus. But it's like showing the

public how much they wanted him to win that trophy, you know, for the first time and how the men's champion, British men's champion, that's a good

picture for me.

Pat Rafter, when he ripped his shirt at Melbourne in the 2001 Aussie Open in the quarterfinal or fourth round. And he just walked up and ripped

the shirt. And it was just -- I just happened to catch when it was all the fibers were breaking and it was backlit with the sun behind. That was like

probably one of the nicest ones I've taken.

It's a really exciting time, tennis wise, photography wise, having Nadal and Djokovic and Murray effectively all fighting it out, the Grand

Slam's -- it's really exciting. And it not only makes good pictures.

Rafa, looking slightly out that way. That's it. That's the one.

Great, hold that, Rafa. That's great.

Being able to shoot them on a one-to-one basis and have their trust and that, that's probably the highlight, to be honest with you, through

all of these superstars who are like incredible athletes.

Always when you're walking around, you're looking at things, going photographically, how would I frame that? How would I do that? Would that

make a picture?

You're always thinking images.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASH (voice-over): We've made it easy for you to take a closer look at more of Clive's best tennis photographs. Log on to our website for a

special gallery, cnn.com/opencourt.

While the fans were glued to all the action here on Centre, there was a love match happening on the outside courts with a couple who have taken

courting to a whole new level.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

MICHAELLA KRAJICEK, WTA SINGLES AND DOUBLES PLAYER: To be very honest, I always said I would never date a tennis player. That's kind of a

funny -- that's kind of a funny thing now to say about our story.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CASH (voice-over): When mixed doubles pair Michaella Krajicek and Martin Emmrich met in 2013, they soon realized it was a perfect match.

MARTIN EMMRICH, ATP DOUBLES PLAYER: After 3.5 months talking about wedding is just crazy. But we felt it somehow. So the second week of

January, I started planning the proposal. Especially with the ring it took me a while. And then I wrote down three papers, corrected them all,

practiced like 30-40 times in the bathroom.

CASH (voice-over): After months of practice, Martin knew just the place to spring the big question: at the tournament where they first met.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Martin, the mike is all yours.

KRAJICEK: And when I saw him the first like 5-10 seconds, he started having really tears in his eyes, really teary-eyed he was. And then I

thought, uh-oh.

(LAUGHTER)

KRAJICEK: It's going to happen now. I can't believe it.

EMMRICH: Put it all in background.

KRAJICEK: Yes, because I was standing there, like sweaty and resting the tournament towel, OK, this is really funny.

EMMRICH: I cried once when I practiced it in front of the mirror, though. And then the nerves kicked in when I went on court. I was very

afraid that I don't find any word.

Today it's taken all my courage together to go down on my knees in front of you.

(APPLAUSE)

EMMRICH: To ask you in front of all these people, do you want to marry me?

(APPLAUSE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

KRAJICEK: I'm the happiest I've been and I think my results actually are showing it as well. And I'm playing better and better. So I think

that's always a positive thing overall.

EMMRICH: It feels so smooth, everything. Just very relaxed. And it helps that she plays tennis as well.

But for now we just enjoy life, each other and then everything else comes automatically, I guess.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASH: Well, our best wishes go to the happy couple. And remember, guys, I like a bit of wedding cake.

Well, next month, OPEN COURT heads across the Atlantic to New York and the U.S. Open. And I've just remembered the taxi meter's still running.

So it's goodbye from London.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

END