There are two structural changes to the eye-arresting beauty of this wonderful haven called the Newport Hall of Fame. A new bleacher for the center court and a clubhouse building on the opposite side of the grounds. But the changes blend perfectly and the venue still has the old style feel which is so alluring.
The first action I see is Dancevic vs Weintraub with Dancevic up a set and two-love. Then they engage in a long third with plenty of deuces which is eventually won by the Israeli who appears to wallop the ball a little harder than the Canadien who has the superior serve. I stroll around the grounds to catch a bit of Kuznetsov vs Britain’s Daniel Cox who blows a 6-3 lead in the first tiebreaker to the veteran Kuznetsov. Cox looks just like one of Kuznetsov’s old Challenger peers – Michael Russell who retired last year and is now a USTA coach. Cox is a stocky fit fire hydrant type who like Russell almost looks more like a Greco Roman Olympic wrestler.
When I return to Dancevic vs Weintraub it’s now 2-2 in the second and both players are at their chairs like a changeover. What happened was a ballboy at the back was not paying attention and he got nailed in that most vulnerable region and the ensuing agony of the poor kid delayed the match for five minutes. Luckily the boy survived the trauma and did continue the match which proceeded to be a classic with Weintraub winning that game to go up 3-2. They battled to a second set breaker and Dancevic held the 5-2 lead and unleashed a huge serve wide to Weintraub’s backhand which he somehow lunged awkwardly to get back deep which caused Dancevic to net a backhand. From there Weintraub miraculously won four points in a row and then the tiebreak however Dancevic did not collapse and eventually won in three sets.
I saw Dudi Seli shortly after he beat Lacko leaving the grounds with his wife and two young kids in a stroller and asked if they were twins which Dudi replied no one was two years and the other was seven months. Later Dan and I watched Klein vs Brian Baker and Klein fell at net lunging for a backhand volley letting out a scream of pain but he got five minutes of trainer assistance and resumed play. Baker’s reaction to the near disastrous injury was total focus on himself as he had been through the agony of career stunting injuries several times already himself. Klein’s girlfriend was next to us and when Bryden complained to her about his knee she comforted her by saying: “You’re still the better player”
Klein actually was down 1-4 in the second but did battle back bravely to somehow earn a break point at 4-5 but Baker held firm and finished the match to earn a win he needed desperately. Klein despite the stiff looking knee returned an hour later for doubles and he and Yuichi Sugita beat the seeded team of Butorac and Lipsky who won an ATP title earlier this year. Later on in the later afternoon I saw Reilly Opelka enter the grounds with Steve Johnson and they presumably were going to hit together. I saw Young defeat (in straight sets) Rhode Island’s future star 19 year old Jared Donaldson who he had lost to earlier this year in a Challenger.
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Dan Markowitz · July 12, 2016 at 11:08 am
Klein was serving for the first set twice at 5-4 and 6-5, but said his serve was off. Nice to see both Weintraub and Dancy smacking the groundies so hard with their one-handers. It always appears to me up here when the players hit the ball so hard that the ball is going to sail way long, but most land within the confines of the lines. It seems almost miraculous. I think the reason I feel this way is two-fold: firstly, on the grass it looks a little like a baseball field and the players smack the ball and it looks like it;s going long and secondly, because the bounce is so low here, you don’t hit as much top-spin so you really are taking more hockey slap-shot strokes on the ball.