Good morning, Court Theorists! ☕️☀️
Today’s tennis mood: Stunned by Coco, annoyed by the U.S. Open, and bracing for a crazy week.
Let’s tennis!
-Allen
🎾 On tap: With the U.S. Open kicking off later this week, today is a busy one! First- (and some second-) round matches are on the docket in Winston-Salem and Monterrey. Meanwhile, in Flushing, men’s and women’s qualifying kick off. And so does the mixed doubles qualifying, in which the world’s number one doubles players have been relegated (🙄). As for me, I’ll be at the WTA 125 Philly Open, where Talia Gibson, Lois Boisson, Tereza Valentova, and Sloane Stephens, among others, are on today’s schedule.
🎾 Good luck: Serve worked out. Forehand fixed. Confidence up. Good luck to the women at the U.S. Open. Coco Gauff is runnin’ it. In Cincinnati, she dropped her first set of the tournament and then never again for the rest of the two weeks, including her 6-2, 6-4 win over Jessica Pegula in the final. I watched as player after player tried to break down her forehand to no avail. They expected service games to be thrown away with double faults. Nope. She racked up service winners and aces with speed in the 120s.
What she said: “I think it was a long journey, but I’m happy,” she said after the match, referring to the changes she’s made to her serve and forehand starting one year ago. “I’ve obviously got more years of tennis to play, but I think last year I was just frustrated with my game, and I felt like I was declining, and it’s not something any player wants to feel. You always want to feel like you’re getting better. So last year I was in a weird predicament; I made sudden decisions that most people probably wouldn’t do before a slam, but I think it’s worth it. And obviously, I feel like it’s night and day — the player I am from last year to now.”
🎾 An ace down the tee: Arthur Fils became a first-time Masters 1000 winner on Sunday after defeating a hampered Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 in a strange match that careened with momentum from one player to the other and back.
What he said: “It was tough, because I started very, very strong, and then in the second set I lost a little bit of focus,” Fils said after the match. “He played unbelievable and put me under pressure. I had a small talk with myself in the toilet. I looked at myself in the mirror and said, ‘Man, even if you have to lose, you’re not going to get worse. So you need to fight, and you need to find a way.’”
🎾 Stickin’ it to the man: Stan the Man’s career at the majors has come to an end after U.S. Open tournament organizers did not offer the former U.S. Open champ a wild card. Instead, 27-year-old Patrick Kypson (ranked 115) and 18-year-old Darwin Blanch (ranked 224) were awarded the final wild cards. Wawrinka has not commented on the decision. But he declined to play qualifying, which says a lot about how he feels about the situation. In his final year on tour, Wawrinka, a three-time major champion, deserved better. So did tennis fans.
🎾 One to watch: Jenson Brooksby vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas (2nd round - ATP 250 - Winston-Salem): Watch this one for two former top-tier players doing everything they can to battle back to their former positions. Expect Tsitsipas to try to overpower his opponent, which plays right into the hands of Brooksby’s counterpunching ways. The question becomes: How long can Brooksby sustain those blows until he has a chance to go for his own winner?
The record: Jenson Brooksby leads the head-to-head record over Stefanos Tsitsipas 1-0. However, that win was more than four years ago at Indian Wells.
On the line: Ranking points aren’t on the line here. Confidence going into the U.S. Open is. For one of them, an early exit is going to hurt.
🎾 🏆 🎤 YOUR CALL
And that’s game.
