Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️🎢
Today’s tennis mood: Chuckling at (with?) Brandon Nakashima and happy for just one 1000 tournament at a time.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 On tap: Now that Canada has wrapped up midweek (still trying to settle that in my mind), it’s all Cincy all day today. The seeds may not be in action, but there are some truly outstanding first-round matches. Plus, Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Grigor Dimitrov, Matteo Berrettini, and a bunch of other fan favorites will take the court. More on all of this below.
🎾 On the board: Iga Swiatek claimed her first title in nearly a year by winning the WTA 1000 in Toronto on Thursday evening. It was a straightforward 6-2, 6-3 performance over world number two Elena Rybakina. It was a gleeful moment for Swiatek, but she also had some words for her critics.
What she said: “It feels great,” Swiatek said after the match. “Especially, honestly, with all the people judging and hating. Honestly, international fans, but more at home. Not the fans even, but the experts. Honestly, I’m happy that year by year I give less sh*t about it, and I could win this tournament to prove to everyone that they don’t make sense sometimes.”
And what she said: “I was just very tired,” said Rybakina. “You could see that I wasn’t pushing with the legs enough. There was a lot of unforced errors, especially on top of the net. It was just pure lack of concentration.”
Noteworthy: After the match, Swiatek thanked her coach Francisco Roig, who wasn’t present but was on his way to Cincinnati, lamenting that he wasn’t there for their first title together. Others might wonder if she performed that well all week precisely because he wasn’t present.
🎾 Defended: That’s Ben Shelton. He not only defended his 1000 title in Canada by winning over Brandon Nakashima in the final 6-3, 7-6, he did it without dropping a set over the course of the whole tournament. Even if the final result was the same, Shelton saw a marked difference from one year to the next.
What he said: “This year I was closer up on the baseline in my positioning, I was more offensive with my shots. I was cleaner, more clinical with the way that I went about my service games,” Shelton said after the match. “I attacked at the right times. I was able to turn defense into offense a lot quicker, a lot more efficiently, and I think I moved a lot better as well. So this win is a lot more satisfying.”
And what he said: Typically-reserved Brandon Nakashima had some words for Toronto. Check out Social Tennis below. 🫠
🎾 One to watch: Botic van de Zandschulp vs. Tallon Griekspoor (1st round - ATP 1000 - Cincinnati): Watch this unfortunate first-round match between two Dutch players because it’s a battle every time they play. Expect hard court tennis at its finest with both players cranking groundies, turning defense to offense, using the whole court, and coming to the net. This is Botic van de Zandschulp/Tallon Griekspoor season!
The record: Tallon Griekspoor leads the head-to-head record over Botic van de Zandschulp 4-2.
On the line: Both players reached the round of 16 in Montreal last week, each taking a win over a top player (Zverev for Griekspoor and Medvedev for van de Zandschulp). And they both want to keep that winning feeling going after a rough spring and early summer. But only one can. Who will it be?
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
(Yesterday’s poll results: 63% of you called for Brandon Nakashima to defeat Ben Shelton. Shelton won 6-3, 7-6.)
And that’s game.
