SPORTSLINE
In order to get our readers' minds off this winter's crushing freezes, befuddling thaws, and freak storms and floods, we'll delay reporting on winter sports for a week, and bring in the Ukrainian new year with news about summer-ish sportage.
SOCCER
Some continue to gather trophies even after they're gone. Walt Chyzowych, a player and coach on a number of international U.S. soccer teams was honored posthumously as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America inducted him into the National Soccer Hall of Fame at the NSCAA's annual convention in Nashville, Tenn., on January 15-19. The award was accepted by his brother, Ihor.
The NSCAA is (believe it or not), the largest single-sport coaching organization in the U.S., with more than 11,500 members. Potential honorees to the Hall of Fame are nominated from the four major national soccer organizations - the NSCAA, the National Intercollegiate Soccer Officials Association, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and the American Youth Soccer Organization. All inductees from each of these organizations are honored in the National Soccer Hall of Fame's two museums in Oneonta, N.Y.
Mr. Chyzowych, who passed away in September 1994, began coaching at Philadelphia Textile College in 1961, leading them to a 122-35-15 record and five NCAA tournaments in 1966-1975. He then jumped to the USSF, where he served as director of coaching (1975-1981; 1984-1986), and head coach of the World Cup, Olympic, Pan American and National Youth teams, compiling a 65-44-21 record.
Although the U.S. team failed to reach the 1978 and 1982 World Cup during his tenure, squads under his direction did qualify for the Pan Am Games, the Olympic Games in 1980 (boycotted by the U.S.) and the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1981.
Mr. Chyzowych was instrumental in refining the U.S. national coaching system in terms of training and application, and attracted coaches from abroad to conduct clinics. He is credited with the training of 650 "A" level coaches throughout the U.S. and over 20,000 others at various clinics, camps and schools.
In 1981-1984, he helped establish the Major Indoor Soccer League, playing a major role in the development of the league's structure and playing rules, and served as the league's assistant commissioner. He also coached the Philadelphia Fever team.
Mr. Chyzowych joined the staff of Wake Forest University in 1986. He led its team to an Atlantic Coast Conference title in 1989 and was named South Region Coach of the Year. Other awards include the NSCAA Coach of the Year award (1975) and the ISAA Jeffrey Award in Coaching (1981). He was also elected to a number of collegiate and regional halls of fame during his lifetime.
Mr. Chyzowych, born in Sambir, western Ukraine, in April 1937, was brought to the U.S. by his parents in 1949, and from the late 1950s until 1975 starred as a player on a number of squads, setting a college scoring record while at Temple University and twice being selected as the most valuable player on the U.S. World Cup team.
ATHLETICS
On a brief, but distressing note, Sergey Bubka, the man from Donetske who has owned pole vaulting for about a decade, is facing the possibility of retirement.
On January 22, Agence France Presse reported that the five-time world champion and 30-time world record holder would not be among the star-studded field in the eighth annual pole vault competition he sponsors and organizes in his home town.
Mr. Bubka had to sit out his own meet when he pulled a calf muscle in practice.
Nevertheless, top vaulters such as Olympic champion Jean Galfione of France and 1992 Olympic champion Maxim Tarasov of Russia competed in the tournament that began on January 26.
"Obviously, I'm very disappointed not to perform in front of my home crowd," Mr. Bubka was quoted as saying through his spokesperson, "But it's too risky for me to vault now." Doctors advised him to rest for two months.
Mr. Bubka complained of chronic burning sensations in his legs, and voiced feelings that it might be time to retire from the sport he has dominated in such impressive fashion.
TENNIS
The professional tennis season kicked off as the tune-up tournaments to the year's first Grand Slam - the Australian Open - got under way.
Women
At the outset, it should be admitted that this space has largely neglected doubles play, and as a result the considerable success enjoyed by two women from Ukraine has gone mostly unnoticed.
For example, Larisa Savchenko Neiland was last year's Australian Open Mixed Doubles Champion of 1996, together with her Aussie partner, Mark Woodforde, as well as being a finalist, semifinalist and quarterfinalist several times over in the women's doubles draw, and yet the best she could manage on the singles circuit was a third-round victory at the Indian Wells Tournament.
For her part, Natalia Medvedeva (still living in Kyiv) has won 10 women's doubles tour titles. The two Ukrainian-born women teamed up for a tournament in San Diego in 1995, reaching the quarterfinals.
To start the tennis new year, it can do no harm to provide basic prosopographic data on everyone as they come up.
Ms. Neiland was ranked second in the world in doubles behind Spaniard Arantxa Sanchez Vicario as of January 27, 59th in the world in singles.
At the Australian Open, played in Melbourne from January 13 to 26, Ms. Nieland beat Evie Daninikovic 6-2, 6-7 (2-7), 6-0. The young Croat later made it to the quarterfinals in the Junior Girls' Draw. In the second round, the Ukrainian expatriate met the indomitable German No. 1 seed Steffi Graf, who sent her packing 7-5, 6-2. Unfortunately, Ms. Graf (perhaps disturbed by her father's jailing for tax evasion) proved quite domitable a few rounds later, but not soon enough for Ms. Neiland.
However, the Lviv-born star's aptitude in doubles play soon was in evidence. Paired with John de Jager, who is not even rated on the ATP singles rankings, they reached the final, having dropped only one set in four matches. However, the Ukrainian-content tandem lost to Manon Bellegraf of France and Rick Leach of the U.S., 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7.
Ms. Nieland also played in the women's doubles draw alongside Czech Helena Sukova (whom she downed in mixed doubles action in round two), reaching the semifinal before being ousted by Americans Lindsay Davenport and Lisa Raymond, 5-7, 3-6.
On the WTA tour a year longer than Ms. Neiland, after an explosive beginning to her career, Ms. Medvedeva has been hobbled by injuries that forced her to pull out of part of the 1993 season (just as she reached her best ever ranking, 23rd in the world) and miss much of 1994. Andrei Medvedev's elder sister, coached by their mother Svetlana, was ranked 60th in doubles at the beginning of this year, 78th in singles.
At the Australian Open, she beat Li Chen of China in the first round, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, before bowing out to the French-based but Canadian-born Mary Pierce, who roared past the sunny Kyivan, 6-2, 6-2, and into the final against eventual champion Martina Hingis.
In the women's doubles draw, Ms. Medvedeva didn't fare much better yoked to Russian Elena Makarova, and they got knocked off in the first round by Mary Joe Fernandez and Katrina Adams of the U.S., 6-2, 6-2.
It was a different story in the mixed doubles draw, for which she was paired with Dutchman Jacco Eltingh. The European twosome reached the quarterfinals, and seemed poised for a Ukrainian East-West face-off between Ms. Neiland and Ms. Medvedeva in the semis after going up 6-3 against the Bollegraf-Leach duo. However, the Uke-killers took the next two sets 6-3, 6-4 and eliminated that possibility.
The Weekly's readers deserve to be aware of other Ukrainian doings on the WTA tour, particularly of the anomaly that places Ukraine's Olha Lugina (46th) ahead of Ms. Medvedeva in the doubles rankings. If she's that good, she's sure to swim into our viewfinders soon, and information about her successes will be forwarded posthaste.
As listed on the WTA website (their spellings, not ours), Ukrainian women in the world singles rankings system are provided below. The rank shown is the highest achieved by that particular athlete in the past month.
| 177 | Brioukhovets, Olena |
| 192 | Tatarkova, Elena |
| 192 | Lugina, Olha |
| 277 | Sukhova, Irina |
| 475 | Nemchinova, Natalia |
| 485 | Beiko, Talina |
| 500 | Kovalchuk, Tetiana |
| 533 | Zaporozhanova, Anna |
| 647 | Tsiganii, Tanja |
| 660 | Chasovaya, Natalia |
| 726 | Bondarenko, Natalia |
| 869 | Zdorovitska, Angeli |
| 929 | Tchvanova, Nadia |
| 1003 | Kavun, Kate |
| 1022 | Turpak, Daria |
| 1033 | Nossenko, Irena |
| 1045 | Davidyuk, Juliya |
| 1067 | Semenets, Juliya |
| 1101 | Sholuh, Anna |
Men
A switch in genders brings us to our perennial favorite, and reluctant hero in his country, Andrei Medvedev.
Currently ranked 36th in the world in singles, and somewhere in the hundreds in doubles, Mr. Medvedev has carved out a nice career for himself despite dropping out of the top 20s of late. Since turning pro the year of Ukraine's independence (which, as Weekly readers know, he has oft bemoaned), he has won 10 ATP singles tournaments, the first coming at the IP Cup in Genoa, Italy, in June 1992, and most recently in Hamlet, Conn., in August 1996.
The new season began rockily for the 22-year-old Kyivan, as on December 31, 1996, he was mercilessly thrashed 6-1, 6-1, in the first round of Sydney's Grand Slam tune-up Australian hardcourt tennis championship by Jonathan Stark of the U.S.
Whatever new year's resolutions Mr. Medvedev may have drafted appear to have been passed by his psychic legislature, because he arrived in Melbourne in good focus. He dispatched Frenchman Thierry Champion 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round, only to meet the always-dangerous Michael Stich (15th seed) of Germany.
Their battle royal lasted three and a half hours. Both players made whopping amounts of unforced errors (68 Stich, 62 Medvedev), both allowed scores of break points, and both scorched winners from all sides and depths of the court. It also appeared that Mr. Medvedev has settled down into a comfortable service routine, as he committed only two double faults in the match, and got 58 percent of his first serves in (an astounding 80 percent in the second set). Suffice it to say, the Russian Ukrainian prevailed in the arduous five-set battle 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 9-7.
Mr. Medvedev probably needed a respite after that ordeal, and Dennis Van Scheppigen of Holland seemed willing to oblige. The outspoken Kyivan won 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 in a leisurely 70-minute cakewalk.
It's hard to avoid biggies in the fourth round, and U.S. powerhouse Michael Chang (seeded second in the tournament) was Mr. Medvedev's biggie. Ukraine's top player managed to take the first set 6-4, but Mr. Chang loves a comeback, and he rolled over Mr. Medvedev 6-2, 6-2, 6-1.
It was actually much closer than the score suggests. Mr. Medvedev continued to maintain a high first-serve percentage throughout the match (61), and had more winners than the Chinese American star (26-23). However, the very high number of unforced errors (58, exactly twice as many as his opponent) proved his undoing.
The other top-flight Ukrainian in the field, Canadian-born defector to the U.K. Greg Rusedski is struggling of late, seemingly distracted by the arrival of Tim Henman as chief Union Jack bearer, and continues his slide in the rankings.
In late November, Mr. Rusedski stood at 38th, a few weeks later he was 10 points further down, and on January 27 he'd fallen out of the top 50, coming to rest (for how long?) at 56.
Of course, first-round exits in succession will do that to you. After his distinctly unmemorable performance at the Australian hardcourt championship, Mr. Rusedski was faced with a high hurdle in his first rounder at the Grand Slam in Melbourne.
Spaniard Felix Mantilla has been on a surge of late, climbing up to 15th in the ATP rankings and, although the ex-Montrealer put up a fight, Mediterranean passion prevailed on the Australian Open's bakingly hot courts. The score was 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2, with the Ukrainian Canadian Brit at the short end of the stick.
Fans of service cannonades will be glad to know that Mr. Rusedski still has a yen for aces (he unleashed 16 in that match), but his unforced errors (47), double faults (11) and relatively weak play behind his second serve (40 percent) still do him in.
In other men's tour notes, according to the website maintained by the "Stats Queen" (billed as "the site the ATP tour hates"), Ukrainians of various stripes known to Sportsline occupy the following spots in the world rankings as of January 27, with the +/- numbers indicating movement in the most recent rating period.
| 28 | Medvedev, Andrei | +8 |
| 56 | Rusedski, Greg | -1 |
| 334 | Rybalko, Andrij | - 2 |
| 489 | Poliakov, Dmytro | -3 |
| 855 | Yakymenko, Denys | +2 |
| 1038 | Muzyka, Dmytro | -3 |
| 1093 | Dovban, Serhiy | -4 |
| 1169 | Litvinov, Andrei | -2 |
| 1302 | Lys, Volodymyr | -4 |
| 1302 | Yaroshenko, Serhiy | -4 |
The fact that Messrs. Lys and Yaroshenko appeared by happy coincidence to be tied for 1,302th in the world is neither happy, nor a coincidence. It is simply an indication that the rating system places everybody who is doing not very well, or is even mostly inactive (such as the retired Yannick Noah of France) tied at the bottom, with a loss of ranking positions every time they don't play in an ATP-sanctioned tournament.
On another note, a certain Max Mirnyi registered as having lost in the Australian Open's first qualifying round to Mark Knowles of the Bahamas, 6-7, 4-6, 2-6. At press time it was impossible to confirm whether Mr. Mirnyi is Ukrainian and which country he calls his own.
Any reader with information about Mr. Mirnyi, or about any other player this column has neglected is hereby encouraged to pass it along. In addition, any readers burning with outrage at the injustice dealt those athletes mentioned are enjoined to write acid letters to the editor.
The Stats Queen's site provides diverting statistical analyses of the progress of our sporting pilgrims, with categories such as "Movers and Losers" and "Time to Get a Day Job." This brand of wit is no doubt what garners her such affection from the professional circuit. Happily, Mr. Medvedev is listed under the "Movers" column, and Mr. Rusedski's headlong plunge, if not to the depths, then out of the loftier heavens, escaped notice of the "Losers" crib.
The site's address is: http://www.jdland.com/tennis.html
- compiled by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 9, 1997, No. 6, Vol. LXV
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