This weekend the second annual Serbia Open begins with qualifying rounds. It is an official stop on the ATP tour. The tourney is a minor event, as it is used by the players as a warm-up to the culmination of the clay court season, the French Open. It is squeezed between the Grand Slam French Open, and two Masters Series events, the clay court tourneys in Monte Carlo and Rome. Because of the length of the ATP season and the other events occuring simultaneously, most of the top players skip it.
I called it last year the Novak Djokovic Open and it looks to be the same this year. The field does look a bit stronger and there are a couple of players that could possibly stop Novak from defending his title. The top-ranked player after Novak is ATP #22 Tommy Robredo, who has eight clay court titles in his career. USA players John Isner and Sam Querrey will be playing. I guess those guys enjoyed Serbia for the Davis Cup and wanted to come back. There are a few other names I recognize in the draw, Ivo Karlovic, the 6-10 Croat, Frenchman Richard Gasquet, and of course, the other ranked Serbian players.
Djokovic this weekend is playing the quarterfinals in the Rome Masters series. He takes on Fernando Verdasco today. He is an emotional, inconsistent player so you never know how he will do. He is very patriotic and loves playing at home and will be tough to beat. I have a feeling however, that someone will manage to upset him and ruin the party. I hope to take the family to one of the games. We went to the finals last year but I’ll try for one of the earlier rounds this year. We shall see if Novak can do it again. I enjoyed watching big John Isner play in the Davis Cup last month and I hope he can advance far into the tourney.
Yesterday’s NBL final was an amazing game with a fantastic finish. Partizan won in overtime by 1 point on a 3/4 length shot with 0.6 seconds on the clock. It came immediately after a three pointer by their opponents, Cibona, from Zagreb, that put Cibona up by two. It was so unexpected that the television feed missed the shot. The only view we had live was that of the Partizan players celebrating and a highlight from a floor camera, blocked by a coach on the sideline, showing Kezman’s miracle heave. You have to see it to believe it. I embedded the youtube.com video of the final moments below. Even if you don’t understand Serbian, the clip will give you goosebumps!
The NBL is a regional league made up countries from Yugoslavia. It is also known as the Adriatic Basketball Association. Partizan was playing host, Cibona, in Zagreb, Croatia. Cibona was the top seed going into this weekend’s final four. They thought they had the game won, until literally, the last second. Partizan on May 7th and 9th plays in the EuroLeague Final Four in Paris. They are also play in the Serbian Superliga which is still going on. It is quite an accomplishment for a team with such a small payroll to get to the finals in the European Club Championship. They play giants Olimpiacos of Greece and possibly Barcelona. I am looking forward to watching the games. Quite a few Serbian friends will be attending the games in Paris.
Yesterday we ran the half marathon in the 23rd annual Belgrade Marathon. Nadia and I had the goal of completing the half marathon (21 kilometers which is about 13 miles) and we did it. We ran together and finished the route in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 55 seconds. Above is the International School of Belgrade group and we are proud to say that we all finished the race. It was nice to have a group of students, parents, and teachers to support each other and along with the 3,000 other people running the half and full marathons, it was an exhilrating and exhausting morning. Once again, the Belgrade sun was shining brightly which made the sights all the more beautiful. We set the goal last year after we tried the 22 nd Belgrade Marathon. The last 5 kilometers were tough on both of us. For me personally, I find that now the limiting factor in my speed and distance is my legs and joints, it used to be my lungs. That is age starting to kick in.
I don’t think we are going to step it up again next year and do the full marathon, but you never know… Oh, and by the way, as we were finishing the half marathon, we watched the Kenyans finishing the full marathon. Wow.
Last week Partizan defeated Maccabi Electra 3 games to 1 in a best-of-five quarterfinal series in the Euroleague Basketball playoffs. They now qualify for the Final Four tourney to be held in Paris in early May. Maccabi is from Tel Aviv, Israel and for those readers not knowledgeable about basketball, the Euroleague is the equivalent of the Champions League in soccer. It is the premier professional club basketball league in Europe.
Logo of Partizan Basketball Club
Above is the logo of club. On top it says шампиони which translated from the Serbian Cyrillic means champion. In the Serbian Latin alphabet, is reads a bit easier for English speakers – Šampioni. On the bottom, KK stands for košarkaški klub. Košarka is “basketball” in English. The name Partizan in the cyrillic script then follows. The team is named after Tito’s resistance army in World War II, hence the Red Star in the middle. The club was founded right after WWII in 1945 as part of a youth sports association in the People’s Army of Jugoslavia (JNA).
I’ve been thinking about the Euroleague and Partizan. I wonder how Partizan would do in America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) or in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). One point I want to make, the Euroleague should study the nba.com and espn.com web sites on how to market and cover its league. The Euroleague website really could do a lot more in promoting the teams and players. There is little in-depth information and commentary on the games or match-ups. They do not highlight star players at all. If I was running the Euroleague, I would make it a lot better. I know that basketball is not as popular in Europe and it needs to compete with soccer, but a David Stern-like commissioner could really raise its level of popularity and money earning. They need an American sense of marketing sports entertainment.
When I arrived to Serbia last year, I picked Red Star as my team. (note – I just read an article that describes how Red Star basketball is facing bankruptcy.) But this year, I have admired the Partizan basketball team and now am a big fan. Two of our students at the international school have parents on the management board and another two play for the youth teams. I have a connection to the team and hope they can win it all. Unlike most European countries, basketball is a bit more popular in Serbia than soccer, although the Serbian national soccer team is in this year’ s World Cup and Red Star won a Champions League title in 1991. This gives Partizan an advantage in that it has access to a big pool of good young players and the packed arenas with knowledgeable and rabid fans, makes them tough to beat at home. Other arenas are much quieter. Serbs are also tall, active, and tough generally as a culture and this also translates to good basketball teams.
Partizan plays an exciting, fundamentally sound style of basketball. A big factor is their coach, Duško Vujoševic. The guy began coaching at age 17 and spent most of his career in Italy. He must not have been much of a player. He is currently the coach of the national team of Montenegro besides Partizan.
Like all the Euroleague teams, Partizan does have several imported players and three start for Partizan. This also gives a good chance to compare Euroleague basketball to the NBA or NCAA. The type of American players that end up playing in Europe are those guys that had excellent university careers, but couldn’t stick with an NBA team. So considering they are a bit older than the current college players in the US and they had strong careers in the NCAA, I think that they would do well in the “March Madness’ tourney, but not so well in the NBA. The two Americans players for Partizan are 6-8 center Lawrence Roberts and 6 foot point guard Bo Maccalebb. Roberts used to play for Red Star so I have followed him for over a year. He was an All-American and the SEC Player of the Year for Mississippi State. Maccalebb was the Sun Belt Conference player of the year for the University of New Orleans. Both guys first played in Turkey or Greece before coming to Serbia. I would like to interview them to see how they like living in Belgrade. The other import is 6-11 Czech forward, Jan Vesely. He is very thin and more of a small forward than a power forward. The other two starters are Serbian. Dušan Kecman is a solid 6-5 shooting guard and Aleks Marić is a 6-11 center that is a force inside, averaging 17 points and 9 boards in Euroleague play this year. Marić is a Serb that grew up in Australia (many Serbs left during the war) and then had a good career at the University of Nebraska, being named to the All Big-12 team as a senior.
They also have a strong bench of young local talent. Slavko Vraneš is a 7-6 giant Montenegrin. He played one game for the New York Knicks. He is a bit slow, but he takes up a lot of space near the basket. Aleksandar Rasić is a good back up point guard. Partizan puts a lot of effort into its youth program and they produce many great players. Unfortunately, many of them eventually leave for more money on other European club teams.
I’ll be watching the Final Four in Paris. Partizan faces some stiff competition with three giants of Euroleague basketball also qualifying for the final four. Barcelona (with Minnesota Timberwolf prospect Ricky Rubio), CKSA Moscow (last year’s runner up), and Athens Olympiacos (also in Final Four last year). The format is knock-out, just like the NCAA Final Four, and they play Olympiacos on May 7th. I don’t understand the delay, perhaps the national leagues are finishing first.
This afternoon we went over to New Belgrade to see the World Cup Soccer trophy. FIFA is sponsoring a tour of the World Cup trophy and soccer “experience” literally around the world. Coca Cola is advertising big time with the tour. The trophy was in a large hall. There was a lot going on that was frightening for the young Kralovecs. Between two bands of African drummers, an electronic soccer carpet, aerobic dancers, etc. the experience was a bit overwhelming for them as you can see by the look on their faces.
Ollie Jumps Right In!
The workers were nice and they let us cut to the front because of the kids. We got our picture, free cokes, and then headed out. Serbia is in the World Cup and the country is excited for June. I can’t wait to watch the games. Thanks to Eric for letting me know it was in town.
One of the nicest things about these CEESA events are the opportunity to make new friends. The visiting student-athletes are traditionally billeted with our students’ families when we host an event. This is a great way to forge new friendships and get to know people from a different cultures.
We are hosting two young men from the International School of Helsinki. They are shown above yestrday morning in the school parking lot with Nadia and the boys. Owen and Ollie have been so excited to have the “Husky” basketball players staying in our home. They will not leave them alone. They were so excited the first night, that we had a difficult time putting them to sleep.
Both Josh and Jani are very nice gentlemen and we have enjoyed hosting them. We’ll be sad when they have to leave on Sunday for Helsinki. These are just two of the many friendships that form over the years in CEESA. When we travel to the various events, our students are billeted with the various host families. The players get to know one another and make lasting friendships. It is all about bringing the nations of the Balkans and eastern Europe a little bit closer to each other.
It was nice that yesterday’s game between the International School of Belgrade and the American International School of Zagreb was about the students and no politics involved. All of the teenagers in the game yesterday are great examples of products of international schools. They was a strong spirit of camradarie and athletic competition.
We had the coaches dinner last night and that again, is an opportunity to make friends. We had a lot of laughs and this season, Nadia and I have gotten quite close to several of the other team’s coaches.
It has been a very rewarding basketball season. Our final game is this afternoon. It will be our 20th game of the season. We have 12 wins and 7 losses. We’ll see what the end brings us.
It was an emotional 58-56 win today in the semifinals for the International School of Belgrade against the American International School of Zagreb, Croatia. A tight game throughout, but the Dragons prevailed in the end. Above is a photo from the an earlier game today at the Pechersk International School of Kiev, Ukraine. The Dragons also won that game 53 – 37.
We will now play in the finals against cross-town rival, Gimnasium Milos Crjnanski. We split games with them this year, winning by 5 the first time and losing by 2 the second game. They have been the dominant team in the tourney, so we’ll see how it goes.
It will be a busy weekend of basketball as we are hosting the annual CEESA (Central and Eastern European Schools Association) Boys’ High School Basketball championship. This is the “blue division” or small school division of CEESA. We have a high school of 100 students. Teams are coming from Bulgaria, Finland, Ukraine, Latvia, Macedonia, and Croatia. One team pulled out of the tourney at a late date so we have another Belgrade team, Gimnasium Milos Crjnanski participating also. We will play at least 5 games in three days and it will be quite tiring and exciting.
Our family is also hosting two players from the International School of Helsinki. That is one of the nice things about these CEESA events, is that the players stay with host families. It cuts down on expenses for the players and helps them form friendships with families from other countries. Above is a picture of the team during practice last week. I’ll keep you posted with how we do.
Owen and Oliver the past few weeks have been practicing with a new football club, Atacante. Click here to see the boys’ photos on the club website. The boys practice on the weekends and they quite enjoy it. Oliver is a bit too young for the club, but the running around is good for him.
The club is run by Mihailo Jovanovic, a former professional player. The Belgrade native played first division soccer in Finland and Hong Kong. He speaks English and caters to the international community of Belgrade.
Update: John Isner lost in five sets last night to Novak Djokovic. He made Novak work hard and we have a new favorite player from the USA. Good on ya’ John. Serbia advances to play Croatia
This weekend Serbia is playing the USA in a Davis Cup Tennis round of 16 “tie.” Tie is Davis Cup speak for team match. Nadia and I attended the “rubber” yesterday, which was the middle doubles match of a 5 match series. A Davis Cup tie consists of 4 singles matches and 1 doubles, and the country that wins three, wins the tie.
We really enjoyed yesterday’s game between the Serbs (shown above) Janko Tipsarevic and Nenad Zimonjic and the USA team of 6’9″ John Isner and Bob Bryan. Nenad is the number one ranked doubles player in the world, but he usually plays with Daniel Nestor, a Serb born in Belgrade but Canadian-raised. Instead of Nestor, who can’t play for Serbia because he represented Canada in Olympic and Davis Cup play, Janko played with him. Tipsarevic is currently ranked #36 in the world and is the third ranked Serbian tennis player behind Novak and Victor Troiki. Isner was playing for the US in place of Bob’s twin brother, who contracted food poisoning. (I wonder where he ate?) Isner looked really good and should be playing more doubles tennis. He is suited for doubles with his powerful serve and quick reactions at the net. His mobility is not a factor in doubles and I hope he takes my advice and plays more doubles.
John's brother Patrick gives instructions to his team.
The US duo were clearly the stronger team and won in four sets. This gave the US their first win after losing the two singles matches American Sam Querry takes on Victor Troiki (#35 in the world) if necessary.
Whoever wins this tie will advance to the quarterfinals to take on Croatia in Croatia. A Serbia – Croatia will be a fascinating match and the first time the two nations have met since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the Davis Cup.
The Davis Cup is great and it has created a buzz in Belgrade. They even made a clay court in the Belgrade Arena to give the hosts an advantage. But what is lacking however, is a world buzz for a world championship event. I propose big changes in the event to make it better.
First, I would play the whole tourney in a two week Grand Slam format instead of stretching it over the year. Currently, they play Davis Cup weekends during lulls in the over crowded ATP schedule. It would be like the World Cup of Tennis and the top 8 teams in the world would be invited. You could have a playoff to determine teams if there are several closely rated countries. It could become the fifth Grand Slam on the ATP Tour.
The current Davis Cup is to determined by surface and host. Usually, the home nation wins because it has the crowd behind them and they choose the surface that best suits their players. In my Davis World Cup, I would have the surface selected randomly for each rubber, then the teams would have to find their best on a variety of surfaces. To make it even more interesting, lets select the surface AFTER the players have been selected to play. The four surfaces would be clay, grass, two hard court surfaces, perhaps one indoor and one outdoor.
It think if they select a good time, it would really take off and be a big event. I think the best players would play and there would be more worldwide fan interest.
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