ATP Washington 500: Citiopen 2014

[Moxie]

I uploaded your latest photos to your photoblog, Kiu:

http://www.tennisfrontier.com/blogs/photo-blog/kius-photoblog-citiopen-2014/

Care to make any comments about what you've seen, so far? Thanks for the photos.

 

[Moxie]

Also, is there a lot of buzz on Francis? You said there were a lot of photographers around.

 

[TsarMatt]

Good first round win for Tomic.

I'd watch out for him. He's a man on a misson....







... to get his money back.

 

[herios]

Yeah, but he's 16. There's time. He's the youngest of the promising teenagers.

Despite some big flaws in his game, he has something you can't buy...he knows how to win. He won both the Orange Bowl and Easter bowl back to back, the first since since johnny Mac.

Since the DY fiasco, I will stay on the conservative side. Wake me up when he starts winning ATP tourneys.

Uh, what do Donald Young and Francis Tiafoe have in common, beside the obvious shared nation and race? And if that is all you're talking about, how does that warrant a comparison? They are completely different human beings, and similar players.

And yes, DY has been a huge disappointment. I just don't see how the two are comparable in any significant way.

Agree..totally different situations. Where do a start?

-Francis has good coaching/DY's mother basically destroyed his career.

-Francis is 6 foot 1 at 16/DY is barely five ten.

-Francis seems totally grounded and appreciative of the USTA's help/DY was a spoiled, thankless brat.

-Francis has not received anywhere near the hype.

EDIT: DY stupidly turned pro at 16.

What is the common ground is that both are American. They are so hungry to see a new talent rising on the horizon, that the hype will inexorably start and media will be all over them. And by the way, both also won the Orange Bowl.
That is all.
I saw the match, and all I am saying is he needs a lot of work. Sorry if I am not going into more technical details. I will let the kid and his coach work on them for now.

 

[isabelle]

Why is Dimitrov out ?

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Flu and Sinus infection:
http://www.citiopentennis.com/news/grigor_dimitrov_withdraws_from_citi_open/

Scores from Monday:
Men's Singles - First Round
[Q] R Ginepri (USA) d A Falla (COL) 64 62
[Q] R Ram (USA) d [Q] J Donaldson (USA) 67(1) 64 75
L Lacko (SVK) d [WC] F Peliwo (CAN) 75 63
T Smyczek (USA) d [Q] A Kuznetsov (USA) 63 60
E Donskoy (RUS) d [WC] F Tiafoe (USA) 64 64
M Jaziri (TUN) d S Stakhovsky (UKR) 76(2) 64
B Tomic (AUS) d A Gonzalez (COL) 63 62
D Young (USA) d [Q] Y Sugita (JPN) 64 46 64
B Paire (FRA) d F Dancevic (CAN) 64 60
M Matosevic (AUS) d [Q] I Marchenko (UKR) 64 75

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR7DBkqnOyA[/video]

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Some updates from tonight:

Querrey, Johnson and Sock all through their first rounds in straight sets. Kamke lost to Estrella Burgos in a third set tie break and Sela beat Groth in three.

Lu is the first seed to get knocked out in R2, Lacko beat him 1 and 4. Anderson, Istomin and Hewitt have beaten Donskoy, Tomic and Matosevic in straight sets. Shame for Bernard as that was a winnable match for him, in my opinion.

Paire and Karlovic are 4-5 on serve in the third. Paire must have saved a few match points in winning the second set tie break 13-11. Stepanek and Becker leading by a set against Jaziri and Kavcic respectively. Chardy and Smyczek are about to take to court.

Things getting more interesting tomorrow with the top seeds introduced:
Nishikori v Querrey
Sock v Raonic
Berdych v Ginepri

 

[Moxie]

And Hewitt is still in it. He does astonish.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Of course: Karlovic d. Paire 7-6(5), 6-7(11), 7-6(2)

Shame that Benoit doesn't seem to be coming back up the rankings.

 

[Billie]

Good job Rusty, I watched a little bit while browsing on the Internet

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

One step forward, two steps back for Tomic.

 

[Billie]

One step forward, two steps back for Tomic.

I don't know Murat, a tournament win is worth more than 1 step forward to me. It's more like 2 steps forward, 1 step back.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

One step forward, two steps back for Tomic.

I wouldn't go that far. Bogota was a solid success against a very weak ATP field, this is a slightly underwhelming loss to a beatable opponent who is ranked above him. But 2 steps forward, 1 step back suggests he'd be worse off than before he won Bogota, which I don't feel is the case at least.

At least he lasted longer than 20 minutes

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

so mr tomic lost to denis istomin..the man who looks like trevor horn 1979 era from the "video kills the radio star" video.

I wonder what "the atomic tomic" is thinking these days..at *nearly 22yrs old with all these 17-20yr old guys starting to make some noise ?.*asterisk alert: his burfdayy is later in the year than I thought on oct 22nd, that's still nearly 22yrs old even tho its 3 months away almost..sort of.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

I uploaded your latest photos to your photoblog, Kiu:

http://www.tennisfrontier.com/blogs/photo-blog/kius-photoblog-citiopen-2014/

Care to make any comments about what you've seen, so far? Thanks for the photos.

I will mail you more pictures, I took another 300+ today.

The match between Karlovic and Paire was the match of the day, it didn't end nicely either, Paire had a few kind words for Ivo at the end.

I also saw some of Groth vs. Sela, Querry vs. Russel and couple of other matches. I will not be able to put in a full day tomorrow, but I will go in for the late shift.

Here is the order of play:

 

[herios]

so mr tomic lost to denis istomin..the man who looks like trevor horn 1979 era from the "video kills the radio star" video.

I wonder what "the atomic tomic" is thinking these days..at *nearly 22yrs old with all these 17-20yr old guys starting to make some noise ?.*asterisk alert: his burfdayy is later in the year than I thought on oct 22nd, that's still nearly 22yrs old even tho its 3 months away almost..sort of.

So far, Tomic won titles, the other you say are making noise did not. Also, even Dimitrov did not win any titles until he was 22.

 

[herios]

Two upsets last night:
Jaziri upset Stepanek
Smyczek upset Chardy

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

One step forward, two steps back for Tomic.

I wouldn't go that far. Bogota was a solid success against a very weak ATP field, this is a slightly underwhelming loss to a beatable opponent who is ranked above him. But 2 steps forward, 1 step back suggests he'd be worse off than before he won Bogota, which I don't feel is the case at least.

At least he lasted longer than 20 minutes

I think we are getting confused with the number of steps but my point is when you do something good, like Bogota, it is a solid step in the right direction. And then you lose early in the next tournament, it is disappointing in so many ways. You could not sustain the good level of play, could not prove to yourself and the others that you were on the right track, over the hump...and you are back to where you have started, and maybe a bit behind psychologically...

 

[herios]

One step forward, two steps back for Tomic.

I wouldn't go that far. Bogota was a solid success against a very weak ATP field, this is a slightly underwhelming loss to a beatable opponent who is ranked above him. But 2 steps forward, 1 step back suggests he'd be worse off than before he won Bogota, which I don't feel is the case at least.

At least he lasted longer than 20 minutes

I think we are getting confused with the number of steps but my point is when you do something good, like Bogota, it is a solid step in the right direction. And then you lose early in the next tournament, it is disappointing in so many ways. You could not sustain the good level of play, could not prove to yourself and the others that you were on the right track, over the hump...and you are back to where you have started, and maybe a bit behind psychologically...

I watched Bernie in the first round against Gonzalez and he played a very good match. I am not putting too much emphasis on his loss to Istomin.