Reigning US Open Champion Sloane Stephens and Finalist Madison Keys are heading to Newport this summer!
Propelled by a big win in Miami last month, Stephens is now ranked inside the world top-10. Keys, who is currently ranked world No. 13, kicked off 2018 with a bang, advancing to the Australian Open quarterfinals. While the historic grass courts in Newport have had an extensive history in hosting women’s professional tennis, the exhibition match will mark the first time that current WTA stars will compete in Newport in more than 25 years.
“I’m really looking forward to being in Newport this summer. I’ve never been to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and as someone who has spent her whole life loving this sport, it sounds like an amazing place to visit. It’s always a challenge when Maddie and I are on opposite sides of the net, but, it’s always a lot of fun as well!”
– Sloane Stephens
“I’m really excited about the match with Sloane in Newport. She and I love to play each other, we push each other really well. We’ll have a competitive match for sure, but it will be a lot of fun for both of us and for the fans as well.”
– Madison Keys
Tickets are on sale now on HallofFameOpen.com, and include access to the day’s ATP World Tour matches as well. You won’t want to miss this ticket, reserve your seat today!
www.Tennisfame.com
Newport@tennisfame.com
401-849-6053
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There will also be a PowerShares one day tournament on Final Sunday featuring four former ATP champions, which may include John McEnroe, James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick.
Dan Markowitz · April 26, 2018 at 9:20 pm
Not a good sign in my eyes. Why would you bring in Sloane and Keys to play an exbo match unless you have a lousy men’s field which was very much the case last year when I think both Ebden and Gojo were semifinalists.
Newport used to be an event that the Fish’s, Spadea’s, Blake’s and Gimelstob’s used to play now it’s basically been avoided by the American players although I think last year Fritz did play. But how can Donaldson not play Newport when he’s from Rhode Island?
Scoop malinowski · April 26, 2018 at 9:27 pm
Martin could be ushering in a future at a event. I like the idea and a new twist attraction only adds value. Very good draw last year. Hope Hewitt and Deminaur plays dubs like they will in Estoril. Dan Newport is always superb draws. Last year Sandgren Kozlov Fritz Ivo Gojo played.
Duke Carnoustie · April 26, 2018 at 9:32 pm
Is Donaldson definitely out of Newport? I am not showing up then.
Gojo fans will be out in force again, I would imagine.
So I don’t read much but a friend gave me this book called ‘The Only Story’ By Julian Barnes. Its a romance between a 19-year-old and 49-year-old that started at a tennis club in England. I wonder if this is based on a true story.
catherine · April 27, 2018 at 3:24 am
When I read Dan/Scoop on Newport I can’t believe they’re attending the same tournament 🙂
Duke – I haven’t read Barnes’ book but I know Julian Barnes and Martin Amis were both enthusiastic tennis players at one point so Barnes’ very likely based his story on something he knew about or heard.
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 8:10 am
This is a different topic, but the other threads are too long now, so will post this here.
The youngster Stefanos Tsitsipas (19 years old), just had an easy win over Dominic Thiem, 6-3, 6-2. Dominic was way below par, but Stefanos played very well. Scoop, you saw Stefanos’ potential early on, so I started to pay attention to him. The way he is playing this week in Barcelona, a lot more people are paying attention to Tsitsipas now.
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 8:40 am
My last post, that I did recently, is not showing.
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 8:41 am
As soon as I made a new post my last one suddenly appeared!
Scoop Malinowski · April 27, 2018 at 8:54 am
Hartt, it’s so nice to see Tsitsipas breaking out big right now, this is his best win of his career. He really does look like a combo of Federer and Kuerten. Right now you might have to make Tsitsipas the no. 2 contender for Roland Garros based on this astounding win over Thiem. If Nadal wasn’t Nadal still, I would say Tsitsipas is ready to pull a Guga. heck, he still might do it. Just imagine what this kid will be doing at 22-24? He actually could become a star on the Federer level. he has the look and the beautiful elegant game. Federer vs Tsitsipas at Wimbledon fourth round … who would miss that match??
Catherine · April 27, 2018 at 9:28 am
Hartt – have you tried changing your browser ? I went on to Explorer and the problem is better. If you look at that long thread britbox tells you how to refresh and see your comment.
You’ll be thrilled to see CoCo put out Simona in SS, 6-1 final set. I could spot some Porsche bigwigs with their heads in their hands.
If it turns out Simona was injured I think I’ll scream.
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 9:28 am
My last 3 comments appeared briefly and then disappeared again! 🙁
catherine · April 27, 2018 at 9:35 am
Hartt – your comments are all here now. I was posting at exactly the same time which may have had an effect. You can refresh CTRL + R on a PC.
catherine · April 27, 2018 at 9:46 am
That was a trashing by CoCo – she was in control the whole of the match and Simona was desperate enough to serve/volley at one point – on clay ! Passed, goes without saying.
Back to the drawing board Mr Cahill !!!
catherine · April 27, 2018 at 10:00 am
I blame Nike 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · April 27, 2018 at 10:20 am
Catherine, Cahill is not on this trip, he’s in Vegas and attending Golden Knights playoff games.
catherine · April 27, 2018 at 10:48 am
Oh well, that explains it. Simona’s just a puppet ?
Certainly she seemed clueless as to how to handle CoCo. For the current No 1 player I’d say a pretty dispiriting performance.
No one seems very interested in Stuttgart but it’s thrown up some results and issues which may have significance for the future – but then may not. That’s tennis.
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 10:57 am
Scoop, I am thrilled to see Stefanos playing so well. He has said that clay is his best surface, so he may not be ready for grass heroics just yet.
I think there will be a terrific rivalry between Stefanos and Shapo, and perhaps Felix as well.
catherine · April 27, 2018 at 11:52 am
Oh I can’t resist it – the curse of the glossies strikes again 🙂
Duke Carnoustie · April 27, 2018 at 1:53 pm
Tsitsipas is just what the sport needs. Can’t recall a great Greek player and the fact that other players hate him should create rivalries.
Domi may be struggling since his relationship with Kiki became public.
Scoop Malinowski · April 27, 2018 at 4:49 pm
Hartt; Tsitsipas looks like the more consistent and reliable player over Shapovalov, who keeps putting up dud performances. Are you, like me, beginning to have doubts in Shapovalov?
Scoop Malinowski · April 27, 2018 at 4:52 pm
Duke, Who hates Tsitsipas besides Medvedev, who is a far worse match staller than Tsitsipas is, just ask Steve Johnson. Tsitsipas is one of the nicest players I’ve ever met and I’ve never seen him disrespect another player or cause any kind of friction or controversy. Medvedev totally overreacted, worse than Steve Johnson did when Medvedev stalled him with an injury timeout after a changeover and after the umpire called “time.”
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 6:05 pm
Scoop, no I don’t have doubts about Shapo. He is terrible on clay, that is no secret. I hope he can be convinced to change his game on clay, because his super aggressive tennis will not work on that surface. He must learn to be a bit more patient to have success on it.
But when the grass season starts Denis should come into his own. I did not expect miracles after his great run last summer, he is still a work in progress. He just turned 19 and is about 8 months younger than Stefanos. But he acknowledges he still has to work hard to develop his game. And that fearlessness that he has cannot be taught.
Scoop Malinowski · April 27, 2018 at 6:48 pm
Hartt, if Laurendeau has not been able to change Shapovalov’s clay game, perhaps it’s another omen that the time has come for the kid to acquire a coach who has played in the top echelon of the ATP. Surely Laurendeau is a good coach but it’s hard to imagine he’s giving Shapovalov the highest quality counsel that coaches like Gambill, Ginepri, Fish, Gimelstob, Ljubicic, Grosjean, Norman, Bjorkman, Goran, etc share. Would like to see Denis add a coach to his team, such as Davydenko, Mariano Puerta, Wayne Ferreira, Jimmy Arias, or Jesse Levine.
Duke Carnoustie · April 27, 2018 at 7:53 pm
Good nice to hear Tsitsipas is liked on tour. Still hatred is good for rivalries!! They may hate him soon for this success.
Clay is tough to judge many players since the North America s generally stink on it these days.
What Rafa is doing is amazing. How can he lose on the court named after him?
Hartt · April 27, 2018 at 9:17 pm
Denis has been working with Laurendeau for just a little over a year. I don’t think it is time to give up on that coaching relationship. There will come a time for a change, obviously, but I would have concerns about Denis having to adjust to a new coach right now. It is not easy to get a player to change his natural approach – we have seen players a lot older than Denis resist that kind of change.
For this season, I think if Denis can consolidate his top 50 ranking and if he can play well in the last few months, this year will be a success. Then, with a full year on the main tour, he should be able to move up the rankings next year. Remember, this time last year he was still playing Challengers.
catherine · April 28, 2018 at 6:47 am
On the topic of young players, I’ve noticed Marta Kostyuk, at 15, speaks pretty fluent English – I don’t know if she’s spent any time training in the US or somesuch, tried to find out, if not then it’s pretty impressive – even bearing in mind that picking up languages is easier at an early age.
Marta wanted to marry Djokovic ‘when I was young’ – she’s old already 🙂
I have to say of all the prodigies I’ve seen in the past few years she’s most likely the one who’ll make it – if she’s not over publicised and overplayed.
Hartt · April 28, 2018 at 9:52 am
I am fascinated by people who can speak several languages well. I know how hard I worked to learn French, and how easy it was to lose much of it.
I asked the Romanian poster if he’d ever lived in an English-speaking country, and he said “sadly no.” He credits his colloquial English to Hollywood movies and also chatting online with English speakers.
Many Canadians speak 2 or 3 languages because their parents were immigrants and wisely they taught their kids their own native language. You can certainly see that in Canadian tennis players. And players from Quebec can usually speak both French and English.
Hartt · April 28, 2018 at 9:54 am
Stefanos Tsitsipas just beat Carrena Busta in SS, and will play in the Barcelona final! PCB was not at his best, making many UFEs, but Stefanos played some impressive tennis.
catherine · April 28, 2018 at 10:23 am
Hartt – re languages, interesting about the Romanian guy – I once had a student who picked up English from watching cartoons on tv all day because she had a repressive husband who wouldn’t let her go out !
I ‘learnt’ French and German at school but we almost never met native speakers so it wasn’t inspiring. I was bad at German and hated it but now find I can understand some comments online and listen to German commentary and it makes more sense. Adds a special interest to tennis following 🙂
Apparently a talent for mimicry is involved in foreign language acquisition – being able to imitate sounds easily I suppose.
I’ll have a look at Stefanos T – sounds very promising.