Tennis Prose




Aug/17

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Citi Open Notebook

raonicGael Monfils on why he is so accessible to fans: “I think it’s the way I am. I think it’s the way I was raised. I think fans are very important. It’s because if them that we can shine. It’s the minimum we can do.”

Mens champion will earn $355,400. Ladies winner – $43,000.

Simona Halep on her confidence following Wimbledon and French Open defeats: “I’m still confident but now I’m starting a different season. It’s hard court season and I’m ready, feeling great and looking forward to playing matches.”

Funny story: Pete Sampras used to call Richey Reneberg to practice in Florida. Pete, who was known for taking it easy in practice, would hit for an hour then go play golf. Reneberg, who flew to Florida cross country was miffed by the lack of court time: “I flew all the way here for this?!?”

Doubles star Bruno Soares has a new hairline.

Marcos Baghdatis told me in a biofile last night his greatest moment “was beating Roger Federer in Indian Wells. It was unbelievable.”

Dmitry Tursunov plays Gilles Muller today. They first played in 2003 in the Bronx Challenger round of 16, won by Tursunov 6475. The Russian has won three of their four duels.

Daniil Medvedev info: The #Nextgen star was born in Russia and has lived in Nice, France since age seven.

Raonic vs Mahut, AZverev vs Jordan Thompson and Dimitrov vs Edmund today will all be will be first meetings.

Richard Williams is in Baltimore to receive an award at the ATA Tournament.

New product alert: Alien Pros overgrips sport colorful artsy designs instead of a bland uni color. The grips are sweat resustant and feel great as you play.  Alien-pros.com is based in Hong Kong China and have a booth here at Citi Open. Email for purchase info at sales@alien-pros.com

 

 

 

68 comments

  • Andrew Miller · August 3, 2017 at 10:16 am

    Cahill seems to be a bad coach for Halep.

  • Hartt · August 3, 2017 at 10:31 am

    I am not surprised Puig is not doing well this year. She had an OK season before the Olympics but nothing great. Outside of Rio she has 1 WTA title, an international level tourney in 2014. I have seen her play live and although I know you can’t base too much on 1 match I was not impressed.

    She had a wonderful tourney in Rio and she will always have the honour of that gold medal. But I am not expecting anything wonderful from her here on in.

  • Dan Markowitz · August 3, 2017 at 10:41 am

    Wow, can’t believe Steve Jo lost that match. He was up a set and a break. My son was watching that match and he couldn’t believe Steve Jo’s had such a good career in college and the pros with that backhand. The guy cannot hit a backhand crosscourt pass to save his life. Medvedev can be an annoying player so I can see players getting upset with him.

    Chazz, I was watching on tv and even Ted Robinson I believe said NK was mouthing–and you can see it–I don’t to be here.

  • Hartt · August 3, 2017 at 10:58 am

    So many intriguing matches today in DC, including Donaldson v Sock, Delpo v Kei, and finishing up with Sascha v Tennys.

  • catherine · August 3, 2017 at 11:03 am

    Andrew –

    Simona will never split from Cahill. I would bet on that.
    Just too comfortable.

    I thought Cahill’s response to Simona’s loss at FO was preposterous. Seemed like a reward for failure and I can’t imagine anything worse.

    Her reaction when Cahill temporarily left the team after her cave-in to Konta tells a lot – she wanted him back because few coaches would want to deal with her apparent dependency needs. Not for long anyway.
    A stronger coach would have put their foot down about occ a long time ago.

    As I’ve said before, I’ll believe in SH when she wins a slam and shows she can do it without Cahill to lean on – ‘Big Hugs’ or no.

  • Duke Carnoustie · August 3, 2017 at 11:27 am

    Fognini and Kohlschreiber win today. Both are back on form and their rankings should go back to where it should be.

    Citi Open has shown the margins in tennis and how locked in you have to be. Sandgren simply wiped the court with an unmotivated Kyrgios. You have to be a fighter these days to survive.

    In Mexico, how about Taylor Fritz with some huge wins and he gets Kokkinakis next for a semifinal place. And Evan King nearly took down SW19 semifinalist Querrey.

  • Chazz · August 3, 2017 at 11:31 am

    Yes Duke, I noticed Fritz beating Ramos-Vinolas in straight sets. That deserves mention. Maybe Taylor is finally getting in the groove after taking so much time off.

  • Duke Carnoustie · August 3, 2017 at 11:49 am

    A friend said this joke to me:

    Fittingly Tennys d. Kyrgios

  • Andrew Miller · August 3, 2017 at 12:06 pm

    Hahaha!

  • Andrew Miller · August 3, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    Sandgren we’re pulling for ya. After two interrupted matches he deserves the courtesy of a complete match. Hope he can pull out a set and make Zverev thE Younger earn it. Even win.

  • Andrew Miller · August 3, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    Fritzy? Maybe checking his phone to see how Tommy Paul doing.

  • Hartt · August 3, 2017 at 12:39 pm

    Duke, interesting that you mentioned Kohlschreiber and Fognini because I’ve been thinking that Fognini has been flying under the radar, despite winning the title in Gstaad recently. Maybe, as a husband and father, he has finally matured and is concentrating on playing good tennis? Anyway, he is now No. 25 in the rankings, quite respectable. Unfortunately, for this Kohli fan, the news for him is not so rosy. He is at No. 47.

    They are facing each other in the Kitzbuhel SF. I would love to see it but it is scheduled super early my time. Kohli needs the win to get his ranking up a few spots.

  • Chazz · August 3, 2017 at 5:09 pm

    First set goes to Sock in a tiebreaker. Donaldson had 2 set points. It was close throughout. Much different than last time they played.

  • Anette · August 7, 2017 at 9:41 am

    Anette writes:

    Anette writes: Anette writes: I do accept as true with all the ideas you have introduced on your post. They're really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are too short for novices. Could you please prolong them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.

  • kiu · August 7, 2017 at 3:26 pm

    Add my 2 cents as I attended Tuesday. I have attended this event many many times over the years as this one is close, used to be called legg Mason. I have seen many sponsors come and go…

    Picture Courtesy of Citiopen Tennis.

    Lets talk champions, we ended with 2 new ones, Makarova and Zverev.
    Mr. Zverev also bagged the biggest hard-court title of his entire young career, he is only 20
    “This is the biggest hard-court title I have so far,” Zverev said. “This was the strongest player field they have ever had. Here I was seeded five and next week in Montreal [at a Masters 1000], I’m seeded four, which shows you how strong it was here.”

    I believe he has a major in his future, he seems to be the next Andy Murray(in my book). Now he has his name on the awning in Washington next to some greats of the game such as Vilas, Connors, Lendl and Agassi.

    As for Makarova, she is the 3rd Russian Woman to win this during the last 7 years, which is how long ladies have been playing this, this is also the first title for her in 2017, Makarova now has 3 titles to her name, I always like Ekaterina, she is class act, world class doubles player too.

    I have heard rumors that a new Stadium will be built on the grounds and this event will be growing, can't wait for that to happen.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 7, 2017 at 4:13 pm

    Scoop Malinowski writes:

    Welcome Kiu, thanks for your observations. This is a very special tournament with a lot of historic champions. Every year I've covered this tournament it's delivered high quality tennis and entertainment and often bizarre situations like this year the major hostility between Medvedev and Johnson and the crazy match tiebreaker between Soares and Murray vs Koolhof and Cerretani which went to I believe 21-19 and featured two match point put away volleys at net at 17-16 which Cerretani could not finish. Incredible. The media relations staff is first class and the tournament draws a very good sized media contingent. It's definitely one of my favorite events.

  • TPBlogGuest · August 8, 2017 at 4:54 am

    Jamel writes:

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  • Matty · August 10, 2017 at 2:15 am

    Matty writes:

    Funniest moment at Citi Open: A T.V. timeout after the first set of Sasha vs Tennys. Sasha: "It's 1:00 in the morning, nobody's watching this, let's play". Best match at Citi Open: Thiem vs. Anderson in round of 16. You'd pay to see that as a final it was so good. Most fun at Citi Open: Sock/Monroe vs. Brian's– Sock's running commentary back and forth with Popsicle, sitting at Court 2. Shotmakers, all of them. Best serve at Citi Open: Milos of course. Mahut now being fitted for contacts… Worst decision of the week: Tiafoe skips hometown tourney to lose to TK in Cabo's first round. Best decision of the week: TK asks for CABO wildcard. Special Trophy Award: Center Court at Citi Open — balls flew faster than an F-16 takeoff

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