Ht: 6-5  Wt: 200

DOB: September 17, 1985 in Valasske Mezirici, Czech Republic

Tennis Heroes/Inspirations: “If I have some heroes in tennis? No I don’t have any heroes, not in tennis, not in other kind of sports, nothing. I’m trying to play and be myself.”

Hobbies/Leisure Activities: “Yeah, of course my hobbies — if you are in pro tennis you don’t have much more time. So if it’s chance to go watch some good films, cinema, listening to some music. And I think for a tennis player the best is relaxing.”

Early Tennis Memory: “My father (Martin) told me when I was starting to play tennis I was always hitting the ball — not ever in the court [smiles]. But I hit the ball with the racquet not missing the ball. (At least) no missing the ball.”

Pre-Match Feeling: “Whew. I’m trying to concentrate for my match and feeling — sometimes I’m nervous, sometimes not, depends on which kind of match is it. So some special feeling? No I don’t have it.”

Favorite Meal: “I like a lot of different meals. But favorite…let’s say chicken and some because for tennis you can eat some.”

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Chocolate.”

Favorite Movies: “I like the English name — three movies Lord Of The Rings. They were amazing, it was unbelievable.”

Musical Tastes: “I like a lot of the performers like Metallica, U2 and the style like this, not techno.”

Greatest Sports Moment: “Win in Paris Bercy (defeated Ljubicic in five sets in 2005). And of course beat Roger Federer at Olympic Games (2004).”

Most Painful Moment: “I don’t like to lose any match. So every match that I lose is painful.”

Favorite Tournament(s): “Outside the Grand Slams? Dubai. It’s a beautiful place. Something different. And it’s nice.”

Closest Tennis Friends: “Of course your kind of friend is you coach because you are spending a lot of time with your coach. And I think a lot of players in the tennis, you’re friends with everybody. But closest friend — I don’t have only one friend. But I have a lot of friends with the Czech.”

Funniest Player Encountered: “I don’t know. I don’t have any special just one who is the most funny.”

Toughest Competitors: “I have to say Roger. Of course the toughest match was with Roger in Australia because he’s the top player of the world and it was the toughest match for me, for this time.”

Favorite Vacation Spot: “I haven’t been there but I would like to go to Bora Bora.”

On Win Over Federer In Miami 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-6(6): “The match like this, to beat the No. 1 player in the world, the best player so far, you know, it’s great feeling, you know, just to go through. But still, it was not a final. There is another match waiting next day, another really tough opponent…I need to take all the positive things, all the confidence from this match and just go next for next match. Be ready for the other one. Then we can be let’s say talking it was good tournament with couple of good wins or something like that. But so far, yeah, extremely happy after that match. But I’m looking forward to next matches.”"The last match before this one we played in Australia I was two sets up, so, you know, if we gonna play for just best of three sets, then I would win the match again. But that one was different, you know, best of five sets and at the Grand Slam. So, you know, he came strongly back and won that match, and he deserved it and played well. This one was another chance. I was trying to just go for it same as the match in Melbourne, and finally it happened.”

People Qualities Most Admired: “People has to be funny, fair and not be (like), Okay, you are good, good. And he goes to somebody else and says, Oh, he’s bad. And like this.”

Read more about tennis at Scoop’s tennis site: www.tennis-prose.com

“Even though I won worlds in ‘93, I wasn’t expected to win at the Olympics. We went to the Olympics as a new country, just split from Russia. I didn’t understand what was happening. The story happened with Nancy (Kerrigan) and Tonya (Harding). I just did my job, skated as well as I could. I came out of nowhere like a tornado.”

Baiul became the first female athlete to win the gold medal for Ukraine. Today, she’s just about on par with the Klitschko Brothers – in terms of fame in Ukraine. Naturally, this natural born competitor who overcame long odds in her life, just loves the sport of boxing.

“I like boxing, I love to watch it live, it’s very exciting. It’s a very tough sport,” says the 31-year-old who lives in Cliffside Park, N.J., across the Hudson River from New York City. “I love sitting there enjoying how people fight. It’s a fighter sport. That’s what I love about it. I’m a fighter too. What you learn in your sport helps you in your life. Life knocks you down, you get up. Life knocks you down, you get up again. You have to learn how to fight, fight towards pain and resistance. You see all that in the ring, when you are sitting there watching the match.”

What was her first ringside experience? “I can’t remember the first one. One of them was with Katarina Witt (another Olympic skating champ) in Germany. I skated in her show. She said, Come to the fights with me. So I went to the fights. Katarina, she loves boxing too. We saw English fighters, I don’t remember the names. I remember we talked about how the boxers came out to the ring, how they played the music. It’s really exciting. I remember we were kidding with each other – about the girls going out on the ice and fighting each other [laughs]. Skating is a little like that, but more graceful.”

Baiul compares the pressure before a major skating competition as similar to what the boxers go through before a fight. “In skating there is the tension like boxing. Before the free program there is a six-minute warm-up. It’s a real difficult area to be in, with the other skaters. Pressure is enormous, you’re anxious,” she says. “So you just stand there, shake your legs. So many things go through your mind. Me and Katarina were like, Just go out and fight before the free program, that would make it funny.”

Baiul has been to many live fights and has met many of the modern greats. “I’ve met so many of them. Oscar, I went to his fights. Mike Tyson. Lennox Lewis. Muhammad Ali. The Klitschkos. You meet them, it’s interesting. Then you see them how they fight in the ring and they’re different people. But when you talk to them, they’re like big marshmallows [laughs]. They’re like big bears.”

Her favourites? “I like Oscar De La Hoya, when he was in shape. And Mike Tyson. You cannot deny it – a genius. And the Klitschkos. I feel okay watching them fight. It’s exciting. I see Wladimir at the fashion shows, I’m very friendly with him. He’s very nice.”

She met Iron Mike Tyson. “At the ESPY Awards in 2007. He tried to stay away from people. When you go through the life experience he went through – I think he put the gate up around him.”

Her favourite fight? “Let’s say Vitali is fine. When he got the title (vs. Corrie Sanders). I was at the next fight he had at Madison Square Garden (vs. Kirk Johnson), it wasn’t really a fight. A lot of Ukrainians flew in from all over the world to see it. That place was packed with Ukrainians, they came from Calgary, Canada, Rochester, all over the globe.”

When asked why she thinks Eastern Europeans are dominating heavyweight boxing today, Baiul replies, “My sport is going through the same thing as boxing, like Eastern Europeans dominate heavyweight boxing now, in skating, Asians are dominating the sport. It was never like that, never. Now it’s all Asian people. I think it’s because of the coaching. And you have to be very hungry to do this or that. You really have to be hungry, to love the sport and fight for it.”

Her favourite boxing movies? “Rocky, of course. And Raging Bull. I went to the premiere of the remake with Martin Scorcese. Raging Bull is a pretty great movie.”

Favourite boxing book? “I have the Klitschkos book. I really do. It’s about both of them. It’s a beautiful book, quite a lot of pictures of them through their lives, at home, doing different things.”

Earlier, Baiul commented about how there is a common tension before a boxing match and a skating competition. So I decide to ask her if she has noticed any boxers who have the coordination and potential to make a good figure skater? “It’s interesting to say. In figure skating you have to be graceful. That TV show ‘Dancing With The Stars’ – the football players and boxers do that show and they do well and become popular. Skating is similar,” and with a laugh, she adds. “I think Vitali would be a good figure skater!”

It’s not blood lust or a taste for all night outings that motivate him, but a trace of Transylvanian tradition that comes to tennis in the form of Nicolas Massu, nicknamed “Vampiro” for his affinity for vampires. The winner of six career ATP singles titles including Buenos Aires, Amersfoort, Palermo, Kitzbuhel, Athens and Costa do Sauipe, Massu reached career high ATP singles ranking of No. 9 in 2004. Massu became a Chilean national hero when he swept Gold Medals in singles and doubles at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Massu and Gonzalez captured Chile’s first gold medal in the 108-year history of the modern Olympic Games with a 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 triumph over Germany’s Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler in a taxing five-set match that ended at 2:30 a.m.. In a memorable climax to that match, the Chileans engaged in an emotional embrace and crashed to the court together. Gonzalez and Massu had cause for celebration. The pair fought off four match points trailing 2-6 in the fourth-set tiebreak then rallied from a 1-3 deficit in the decisive set by winning five of the final six games to seize one of their nation’s greatest sports victories in a three hour, 43-minute that offered tense, tenacious — and at times tremendous — tennis. Massu concluded that match collapsing on the court in Gonzalez’s arms in an emotional embrace and returned the next day to make another five-set stand and beat American Mardy Fish to strike gold in singles. In a stunning span of 24 hours in Athens, Massu captured consecutive gold medals for his country, roaring back to earn a 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Fish and the respect of all who watched as he completed an astounding sweep of both singles and doubles gold medals. “What he achieved back in Athens winning singles and doubles, it’s never going to happen again, you know,” World No. 1 Roger Federer said. Scoop Malinowski, whose Olympic experience was confined to teenage backyard boxing matches that saw him play the roles of both former U.S. Olympic boxers Michael and Leon Spinks (unlike Leon, Scoop has retained his front teeth despite his affinity for the sweet science), caught up with Massu recently for this Biofile interview.

Height/Weight: 6-feet, 177 pounds.

 Born On: October 10, 1979 in Vina del Mar, Chile.

Childhood Hero: “Rocky the movie [smiles].”

 Tennis Inspirations: “When I start when I was younger — Boris Becker and Muster. Those were my two.”

Hobbies/Leisure Activities: “I like to play soccer. To be with my friends, go out with my friends.”

Nicknames: Nico, Vampiro.

Favorite Movies: “Gladiator.”

Favorite TV Show: “The Simpsons is my favorite.”

Musical Tastes: “Spanish music, Ricky Martin.”

Early Tennis Memory: “The first time that I passed the top 100 in 1999. After winning Challenger in Santiago in November ‘99. Was doing good in Challengers, I won three Challengers. Then when I won my first ATP tournament in Buenos Aires (2002), I saved match points (in final against Calleri).”

Pre-Match Feeling: “All are different. Sometimes you’re nervous, sometimes not. Sometimes you are more confident, sometimes without confidence. Normally, a little bit nervous but not too much. Just depends on when I go out on the court to play.”

 Favorite Meal: “Pizza.”

Favorite Breakfast Cereal: “Everything.”

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: “Vanilla.”

First Job: “Tennis.”

First Car: “‘Chevrolet convertible, black. ‘96, I have it in ‘99.”

 Greatest Sports Moment: “Now I think August 2004, champion of Olympics in singles and doubles. And also carried my countries flag at 2000 Olympics (when Marcelo Rios did not show up).”

 Most Painful Moment: “I think when we lost some important Davis Cup — Zimbabwe, India, Slovakia, Russia, Israel, Croatia. (Massu’s overall Davis Cup record is 29-17 including 17-4 on clay.)”

Funny Tennis Memory: “Just not in singles, when I play doubles I have a lot of good memories.”

Closest Tennis Friends: “Marcelo Rios and Fernando Gonzalez, some Argentine and some Spanish players.”

Funniest Players Encountered: “Fernando Vicente. He’s funny and a good person.”

Toughest Competitors: “Federer, Nadal, Hewitt, Agassi, Ferrero.”

Favorite Vacation Spot: “Cancun.”

Favorite Athletes To Watch: “I think Mike Tyson when he was young. Because I think he was a good competitor. And he was the best in the world. He had a lot of confidence.Michael Jordan. I read one time a book of him, I like it. My favorite soccer team is Everton from Vina del Mar. (Tennis?) I don’t have any one now. You don’t have idols when you play because you play against all these guys. I don’t have idols.”

People Qualities Most Admired: “Good, friendly people. Good person. And respect, you know?”

Tennis Week contributing writer Scoop Malinowski’s latest book Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle was called “A smashing success,” by Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward, who called the book “one of the two best boxing books I’ve ever read.” Author Joyce Carol Oates, whose book “On Boxing” is regarded as a classic calls Scoop, “one of the hottest young journalists in pugilism.” He’s recently done Biofiles with Billie Jean King, Asafa Powell, and Olympic gold medalists Carolina Kluft, Oksana Baiul and Tirunesh Dibaba. Please visit his site www.thebiofile.com. Scoop is also a ham and egger tennis player, currently ranked No. 4 in the USTA Eastern 35s and holder of the Tennis Week singles title.