Tennis Prose




Jul/17

31

Citi Open Monday

mail.google.comObservations…

Monfils and Zverev were having a good intense practice. Lots of hitting, lots of points. One observer was Sekou Bangoura who would later make his ATP main draw singles debut hours later vs Marius Copil. Qualifier Sekou told me Monfils is his guy, his inspiration. Sekou played well but Copil had a bit too much firepower. 6476.

Stefan Kozlov took on Yuki Bhambri in a tematch of their Aus Open quali duel won by the 25 yr old Indian in SS. Koz lost a tight first set 75 but looked fatigued or bothered by the heat. He retired at 02 in the second. I spoke with his agent after Kelly Wolfe who said he struggled with the heat and felt dizziness.

Caspar Ruud also retired down 03 in the third because of the heat to the suddenly surging Tommy Paul.

Bianca Andreescu had no trouble with the high eighty temos beating Camila Giorgi 64 in the third. Giorgi was quicker but Bianca was steadier.

Jared Donaldson blew a 50 first set tiebreak lead and lost the first set 68 but battled back to beat Dudi Sela in three. Montreal qualis next for Dudi who later gave me Harel Levy’s email to discuss his Rome win over Pete Sampras for Facing Sampras. Also spoke today with Juan Carlos Ferrero and Jan Mike Gambill on Facing Sampras.

I gave Dudi a copy of Facing McEnroe.

Question. Why is former no. 1 and two time Roland Garros Juan Carlos Ferrero not in the Hall of Fame?

One of the Bryan Bros was using a Wilson instead of a Prince during early evening practice. Hmmm.

Kyrgios and Sock practiced together again. If any players are having more fun enjoying tour life than these two buddies, please tell me who they are.

Nico Mahut had a Wash Post press request interview after his win. I think we all know what the story will center on.

Kiki Mladenovic came out to watch Thiem play doubles and nicely obliged all selfie requests. Thiems doubles record took yet another L to the Wimby kings Melo and Kubot.

Guido Pellas lefty forehand is about as explosive as any on the tour.

Domu Thiem is top seed in his first ever ATP event.

Isner has pulled out after consecutively winning Newport and Atlanta.

Tennys Sandgren looked really strong in practice today. He is still hunting his first ATP main draw win. Go Soeda will be Ten’s target tomorrow.

Very good crowd here for day one. One woman named Penny came all the way from Melbourne to see her fave Thiem. Next Penny is going to Montreal.

Stay tuned for more coverage tomorrow…

58 comments

  • Andrew Miller · August 2, 2017 at 4:32 pm

    Was Sandgren psyched? Relieved?

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2017 at 4:51 pm

    Ostapenko said on twitter Macci texted her the night before final to “hit harder.” voila. Im definitely going to the Slonie stevchard match! They are both Macci tactics poster players! Niculescu went to Macci Academy and got thrown out second day lol

  • catherine · August 2, 2017 at 5:19 pm

    Andrew = you are so right – Cahill pats Simona on the back for non-occ loss in GS – mutual congratulations – I’m so proud of you -you are so gracious and courageous – money changes hands and nothing else does.

    I think Simona should join the queue at Macci Academy – work out cheaper probably 🙂

  • Hartt · August 2, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    Stephens/Bouchard won their doubles match in 3 sets. A good day for Bouchard – she won her singles against McHale in SS.

  • Andrew Miller · August 2, 2017 at 7:42 pm

    Bouchard must be pretty happy – this is a way better result than last year’s tournament, where she lost to Giorgi (and hadn’t lost to Giorgi), and where Canadian press had written that she hated practicing with other wta players (even though she had practiced with Broady and Mladenovic the weekend before the match).
    Good stuff both for Stephens and the Genester!

  • Andrew Miller · August 2, 2017 at 7:46 pm

    McHale has had a tough year. She is probably one of the best practice players out there, now having lost her footing. She and Stephens were the future of USA women’s tennis.

  • Andrew Miller · August 2, 2017 at 7:55 pm

    Scoop, I’m sure Macci’s team texts every pro player the Hit Harder line. I’m not sure what he tells his charges, but his court coaches gave that advice! Hit harder!!!
    I can’t say I’ve been impressed with the occ advice I’ve heard, has anyone heard any occ advice that made any sense?
    If I coached I’d hand the player a card during occ and just tell them consider a and b and have a great set. That what NBA coaches seem to draw, dram up some plan and let the players absorb it.

  • TPBlogGuest · August 14, 2017 at 3:01 am

    Darrin writes:

    I do consider all of the concepts you've introduced to your post. They're really convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are very short for beginners. May you please extend them a little from next time? Thank you for the post.

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