By Scoop Malinowski
Apparently Genie Bouchard and Felix Auger-Aliassime went to a Drake concert together on Saturday night in New York City. This could become the highest profile tennis romance since Nick Kyrgios and Genie or Jimbo and Chrissie. Bouchard is 24, Felix is 18.
Word on the curb is within the next year or so Nike’s long term contracts with Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams will expire. Would Nike let all three of it’s veteran superstar names drift to another company all in the span of about a year? Well, the old Nike store here at the US Open is gone, replaced by Mercedes Benz.
I spoke with a veteran racquet stringer and he told me only three players ever tipped when picking up their gear – Marat Safin, Goran Ivanisevic and Lindsay Davenport, when picking up the racquets of Madison Keys. Goran tipped $200 on a $200 plus bill.
I spoke with a retired player who used to train a lot with Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Tim Henman and Patrick Rafter. He said he did not lose a set to Kafelnikov for three months. Henman was probably the most talented of the lot, but was transformed into a all court player instead of sticking with his attacking game. Back then Kafelnikov hit the ball hard but he couldn’t keep the ball in court. Eventually he found his range and became ATP world no. 1 and won two majors.
Donald Young and Juan Martin Del Potro are both 29 and have been on the ATP Tour for over a decade but have never played each other, until today at the US Open. Mark Woodforde and Lleyton Hewitt were over a decade apart in age but played each other four times in the span of about six months back in 1999.
Elias Ymer has hired former Australian Open finalist and 2004 Olympic gold medalist in doubles and bronze medalist in singles Fernando Gonzalez to be his new coach. His previous coach was Robin Soderling.
A name in the draw many of you probably have never heard of, who could be a future star is Jenson Brooksby. Brooksby defeated Brandon Nakashima 6–4, 6–3, 6–1 to win the USTA Boys’ under-18 national championship at Kalamazoo earlier this month. This victory earned the Sacramento, CA native a wild card into the main draw of the 2018 US Open where he will play Australian veteran John Millman tomorrow. Brooksby is verbally committed to playing collegiate tennis at Texas Christian University. The 17 year old has recorded Futures wins against Emilio Gomez and Thibault Forget, the sons of former ATP stars Andres Gomez and Guy Forget.
Brooksby made a Futures main draw QF as a high school junior in Claremont, CA – as a wildcard entry, Brooksby defeated All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and USC standout Jack Jaede, former No. 15 in the country and Florida State standout Benjamin Lock, before losing a tight match 7-6(3), 6-3 to the current No. 1 player in the country, UCLA senior Martin Redlicki. Brooksby is an accomplished USTA junior. He won the Boy’s 12s National Hard Courts gold ball, second place honors at the Boy’s 14s Clay Courts, and two silver balls at the Boy’s 16s National Clay Courts in Fort Lauderdale and Boy’s 16s National Hard Courts in Kalamazoo, respectively.
Bouchard · Felix · Jenson Brooksby
Hartt · August 27, 2018 at 4:53 pm
Good grief, Felix and Genie attend a Drake concert together and suddenly they are a romantic item? Maybe it was just two Canucks hanging out together, going to see another Canuck perform. It’s just a sign we are taking over! 🙂
jg · August 27, 2018 at 5:04 pm
yea scoop thats a stretch! although I must say these scoops are better than anything I have seen in the press who have been accorded press credentials. clearly Tennis Prose was the only outlet covering the Stephens Mugarutha practice.
Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2018 at 6:21 pm
Hartt, we will just have to wait and see. Duke is probably on it and has his sources watching both players closely, surely he will report more when he learns more 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2018 at 6:26 pm
Jg, I was the only one there and also the only one at Djokovic vs Zverev, two very potent combos which both could be a major semi or final in the near future. Most of the media don’t bother with qualis.
Duke Carnoustie · August 27, 2018 at 8:12 pm
Doubt it’s a romance but I’ll do some sleuthing.
Awful ESPN coverage with only one channel showing this Serena match. I can’t access my computer now for the real matches.
Duke Carnoustie · August 27, 2018 at 8:48 pm
Mourataglou with Serena and not Tsitsi
So his loyalty is with the queen for now. I give it 2 more years for him to make the jump.
Joe Blow · August 27, 2018 at 9:23 pm
ESPN cameras in Armstrong must be on the new roof. Think they want you to feel like you’re there with the worst seat in the building
Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2018 at 9:24 pm
Mouratoglu was not at the Tsip vs Baghdatis practice yesterday either, he’s all in on Serena who looks good tonight and she is wearing one of her nicest outfits, like those silver shoes too. I’d wear those.
catherine · August 28, 2018 at 2:27 am
Now we just sit back and watch Serena cruise to the title and service as normal.Imagine the media frenzy.
No big surprises on the women’s side except Simona – although I was pleased to see Carina Withoeft beat Dolehide because Carina hasn’t won a match for a while and a win is win.
Julia G squeaked past Kalinskaya in 3, not a great contest but Julia served 17 aces which should cheer her.
Simona said one of the reasons she lost is that the USO is too big and noisy for her. I can sympathise and understand. Wild horses wouldn’t drag me to it.
She should focus on W’don which must be the quietest and most calming of all the GSs.
We’ve reversed jinxed Muguruza who will now reach the final 🙂
catherine · August 28, 2018 at 2:50 am
Oh dear – poor Carina W plays Serena next. Actually I looked on the longest highlights I could find and although Serena played well Linette didn’t give her much of a match in the second set. Serena’s still not that fast around the court and she was puffing a bit on a couple of points. So not unbeatable. Will cruise past Withoeft though because Carina won’t be able to keep up the rallies.