Controversy! Johnson-Medvedev Grudge Match at Citi Open

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Andrew Miller writes:

Sock beat Raonic on same court. Dunno.

 

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Chazz writes:

2017 is the year of QBall, or Sombrero Sam (coined here). No American this year can match what he has done.

 

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catherine writes:

Down goes Muguruza to Keys. W'don jinx striking again

 

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catherine writes:

Or Garbine back to her post-Slam form ?

 

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Hartt writes:

Some interesting qualies matches in both Montreal and Toronto. Frank Dancevic made it through and plays Smyczek today. Escobedo and Opelka will face each other. In Toronto there are several good match-ups, including Rybarikova v. Lepchenko (wonder if Lepchenko will get to her match on time), and Barty v Brengle. Carol Zhao was the lone Canadian to get through the first round. She went to Stanford for a couple years before turning pro, so is a bit older and more experienced than the really young ones like Sebov. Zhao will play Alexandrova.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Sour grapes is ok after a bad loss. A lot of players do it. Take it for what it's worth.

 

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Andrew Miller writes:

Scoop, Gullickson once told Sampras when Sampras was complaining about Wimbledon's grass surface to get over himself and appreciate it. I'm pointing this out because Kudla complained frequently about summer hard courts saying grass is his surface of choice. Sock, a semifinalist at the dc tournament with a strong week of tennis behind him, blames the court. There's a reason that Sock and Kudla aren't reaching the promised land of the top ten any time soon. It may have to do with their attitude and they may be finicky. The top four complain about surfaces also. But they deal with it. They appreciate nuance, ball type, etc. If they need to get used to surface they do. They man up. They notice differences and adjust accordingly. So when I hear Sock blame court surface, could always say hey, the guy played well. My opponent took it to me. No I didn't scout him right. A little bit of self reflection wouldn't hurt. It wasn't as if the balls or court were different for his opponent. Last time I checked they were on the court at the same time...playing each other!!!

 

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Andrew Miller writes:

Hartt, is Montreal venue similar? I think it's pretty cool that Canada holds events at same time in two different cities. I get it's a Canada thing.

 

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Andrew Miller writes:

Scoop, what are your favorite tennis venues? Have you and Dan hit Canada's courts?

 

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Hartt writes:

Andrew, unfortunately I have never been to the Uniprix venue in Montreal, but I hear it is great and they always get big crowds. The Aviva Centre here would not be big enough to hold both the WTA and ATP tourneys at the same time, and I imagine that is true of Montreal as well. The WTA event used to be held during a different week and that had the advantage that it was easier to see both tourneys. But the schedule was very bad, it was hard to attract top players, so they came up with the current solution. One thing that is a bit odd is that the ATP Rogers Cup is a Masters 1000, but the WTA is a Premier 5, not a Premier Mandatory, so it is not at quite the same level.

 

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Duke Carnoustie writes:

I wish these guys would start complaining about their opponents instead of the surface, chair umpire, etc. Why not a little hatred for the person who is beating you down. Connors and Mac hated each other. Mac and Lendl, I guess Mac and anyone. These young guys are trying to be buddy-buddy like Fed yet it only really works for the Big Four. Dan among the current U.S. players I root for Querrey, Johnson and Young. Not fans of Sock, Isner and Harry though I respect what they do on court and won't root against them. Haven't been watching Fritz, Tiafoe, Paul etc long enough to form an opinion.

 

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Duke Carnoustie writes:

I am going to pick Coco over Keys and say that winning this match will officially make her a dark-horse to win the Open.

 

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Andrew Miller writes:

Duke I agree! Believe more of a second week thing, that Keys, Coco are preview of a solid us open QF. Nice to see Keys motivated. She probably took Muguruza as a worthy challenge. But I highly doubt it matters that much to Muguruza. She seems to brush it off, maybe even exits court thinking folks, I am Wimbledon champ, could care less!!!

 

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Andrew Miller writes:

Sombrero Sam Querrey! Isner and Querrey top dogs again in USA men's tennis. Sock moving DOWN the totem pole. Johnson staying put. Next Gen USA men wondering how Tommy Paul does it. Eubanks wondering if he can do it again. Mmoh in a statement match out in Lexington against Millman, has to prove himself. Bottom line: USA men's tennis is once again about Isner and Querrey and every other competitor is a subplot. Sock may be happy to be on another us hardcourt swing, but his performance is the same more or less with Harrison, Johnson and now...Tommy Paul. DY's early hardcourt swing has been disappointing, but he's hitting the ball well. The guys above will have their hands full in Canada and Cincinatti and NYC. We'll see who can grind out the big wins. I'm optimistic. They should aim to peak at the us open. Guys playing for scraps are everyone else from Donaldson on down.

 

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catherine writes:

Andrew - so Muguruza wins GS tournaments at the rate of one per year - W'don, FO done, next AO ?

 

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dan markowitz writes:

Just got an email from my friend, Brydan Klein, and he's in final round of Q's in Montreal today and then he says he goes to Vancouver to I guess play a Challenger and then he's coming to Open and might stay at my house. I'm going to have him hit with another friend who actually teaches my son occasionally, Erik Scharf, who once lost to Blake 6-4 in the third of the NCAA's. Scharf is 38, and never had a ranking below 1000 (although he complains that they stopped giving points for quali wins and that lost him a lot of points), but the guy is sick. Klein is ranked no. 159 in the world, but I want to see these two guys play sets because I wouldn't be surprised (but maybe I'm crazy; I might be crazy; very possible I'm crazy) if Sharf can beat Brydan. Anyway, Brydan beat a Canadian by the name of Leduc, I think, love and 3 yesterday. These pros must love when they come to a big national event and they draw some local yokel wildcard in the first round. Now he plays Vincent Millott today to try to quali for the Main Draw. Millot is 31. When you're 31 and still playing challengers and Qualis it means two things, you really love the game and you're probably French. I have been to Canada once, the Toronto site, and I was disappointed with it. Traffic was absurd. It's like 20 miles outside Toronto so I didn't get in to see the city much and I thought the site needed an upgrade. It's nice from a spectator point of view because the crowds are not intense and the players were practicing on the side courts a lot. Also, I had an interview set up with Djokovic through his manager and they blew me off.

 

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Andrew Miller writes:

No one's done the Montreal tourney? That's too bad. I'd bet it's nice.

 

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Scoop Malinowski writes:

Even the great Federer complained about the Madrid blue clay so I guess that opened the floodgates and now it's Fed Cool to complain about the surface. That Madrid thing was maybe Fed's wimpiest moment.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Andrew: I have covered these pro tennis events - Wimbledon, US Open, Newport Miami, Washington DC, Sarasota Open, Philadelphia indoors WTA, WTA year end championships at Madison Square Garden, Mahwah Classic ladies exo in the 90s, Powershares Senior Tour in Orlando FL, Delray Beach Open, Davis Cup final in Portland, WTT in NYC at Randalls Island. I really enjoyed each and every one but I might have to put Newport at the top of the list. Newport by a nose over Miami, US Open, Wimbledon, Delray, Washington, Sarasota. I have a lot of favorite venues but my favorite court of all is US Open grandstand which is now forever gone.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Even the great Federer complained about the Madrid blue clay so I guess that opened the floodgates and now it's Fed Cool to complain about the surface. That Madrid thing was maybe Fed's wimpiest moment.

I don't think Fed complained about blue clay. Lots of other players (notably Rafa and Nole) complained. Fed stayed quiet and won it.

Actually, the funny thing is that most people were complaining about the "blueness" of it. But, that was not the real problem. The real problem was that the clay was laid on concrete or something like that. I actually wish they fixed the real problem and retained the blue courts. The yellow balls on blue courts are lot easier to see on TV.