Citi Open Notebook

[scoop]

Gael 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

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Anette writes:

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[Correspondent Kiu]

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]

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.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Jamel writes:

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[TFBlogGuest]

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