US Open Record Breaker Monday

[scoop]

By Scoop Malinowski

A whole lotta observations and scoops today. In no order…

Misa Eguchi is an interesting story. Last year she was two points away from an ITF title vs. Krystina Pliskova but hurt her knee and had to retire – just two points away from winning a championship. The injury caused her to miss seven months and now she’s back under protected ranking which allowed her to get into the main draw of her first Grand Slam. Her opponent today? Krystina Pliskova again. Japan’s Eguchi lost 62 62.

The Japanese journalist told me Kimiko Date retired today. She played a few ITFs but various pains and soreness all over her body contributed to her decision to finally quit tennis once and for all at 46.

Sachia Vickery, was down a set and in a tight second when I heard her say to the chair umpire ‘Don’t talk to me.’ No one around could explain why she said that but after that point of the match Vickery was able to take control and win 46 64 61.

At 11 am I saw Darian King watching his pal Evan King play 12 seed Pablo Carrena Busta. Long day for King, who is now playing the second night match against Alexander Zverev.

Also shortly after 11 Dudi Sela was returning Gilles Muller’s serves to prepare for his later match with big serving Georgia Tech star Christopher Eubanks. Sela won 62 64 62. Muller also later won in four sets against bernard Tomic. Muller lost the first set and smashed his Wilson at his chair but regrouped to send Tomic back to the party scene. Tomic battled his best but 19 seed Muller is in the best form of his career right now.

Ernests Gulbis won his first US open match since 2014 after missing the last two years, with a four set win against lefty Italian Gianessi. Gulbis seems to have revived his old wingspan forehand and also his old coach Gunter Bresnik was there watching and supporting though he was not sitting near the current coach of Gulbis.

Kevin Anderson routined Virginia’s JC Aragone who is the no. 5 at UV. The top four? Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Colin Altamirano, Alex Richard and Carl Soderlund. The UV assistant coach Scott Brown told me that all five could beat any of the other five on any given day. Kwiatkowski just missed beating 23 seed Mischa Zverev in five sets.

Upset of the day was Mikhail Kukushkin beating David Ferrer, 21 seed.

Tennys Sandgren was very impressive in his first US Open main draw, pushing former champion Marin Cilic to a tough four sets. Sandgren’s excellent play and hustle and shotmaking thrilled the crowd and earned him a very nice ovation after.

I meant to watch Denis Shapovalov vs Daniil Medvedev but missed the entire match on court 7. Because I was busy doing Facing Sampras interviews with Henri Leconte, Thomas Johansson, Mark Woodforde, Thierry Champion and Wayne Ferreira, who revealed to me his tactics which were able to slay Sampras seven different times.

I did attend the Shapovalov and he is a very nice, bright, mature, media savvy player. He said he did not blame the USTA for not granting him a wildcard and when leaving the main interview room while Sloane Stephens was entering, Sloane professed to Denis was a big fan of his she is, and Denis countered that he’s a big fan of her too.

Mark Woodforde said he was beaten by Sampras 12 or 13 straight times before finally winning their final meeting. Henri Leconte said he was 2-0 vs Pete.

Gilles Muller has a unique thing about his serve. He starts with his toes over the line but then on the windup he back up his foot, lifts and then places his front part of shoe about an inch behind the line. Very close to footfaulting, almost teasing the linesperson.

Sam Querrey warmed up for his match with Gilles Simon with fellow Fila player Janko Tipsarevic. Querrey won in three and Tipsy beat Kokkinakis in five from two sets down.

Maria Sakkari beat Kiki Berten in straight sets. Thomas Johansson is “helping out” Sakkari, of Greece. I was talking with Johansson after, and he was hugged by various members of the Sakkari family. I asked him how long he’s been working with Sakkari and Johansson answered with a smile, “three weeks.” I’ll bet you could think of a few players who would benefit greatly with Thomas Johansson, the former Australian Open champion, as their coach.

Jared Donaldson continued his winning ways with a four set win vs Nikoloz Basilashvili on court four. JD reached the third round here last year.

Borna Coric lead his first set tiebreaker vs Jiri Vesely 5-0 then lost five points in a row for 5-5 and then won the next two points. 20-year-old Coric rolled to a 76 76 62 win. Coric has only gotten past the first round once in his last five majors (second round at Roland Garros).

Jack Sock saved a host of match points but ended up losing again to Jordan Thompson in five sets on the temporary Louis Armstrong stadium. The struggles for Sock continue.

While I was waiting to interview Mark Woodforde, the former world no. 1 in doubles, Nick Kyrgios, in a black sweatshirt walked by, hardly recognized. A few second after he glided by, an older woman shrieked in awe, “That was NICK KYRGIOS!” A few kids followed in his wake but seemed too afraid to dare to ask him for anything, not wanting to halt his purposeful walk.

Claire Liu, the qualifier, battled her best but fell short to the gigantic former Chinese volleball player Ying Ying Duan 76 76.

I was surprised that Kyle Edmund was able to rout the 32 seed Robin Haase in straight sets.

US Open Sets All-Time Opening Day-Night Attendance Record

August 28, 2017 — The US Open set an all-time Opening Day and Night attendance record on Monday, August 28, 2017, with a combined 61,839 fans coming through the gates of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (Day: 38,068; Night: 23,771, a sellout).

The previous Opening Day-Night record, set on August 31, 2015, was 61,392.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

Sad comments by Tomic, you have to feel for the guy. He has no one in his life to get him on the right track and the tennis tour is full or piranhas. In typically candid comments afterwards, Tomic said he had his motivation back after his break but still felt "trapped" in the sport he has played fulltime since he was a child, given his lack of other options to fund his lifestyle. "I mean, it’s tough. Everyone has their own work, their own job and it’s not like I can go and start real estate or something, restaurants. I’ve got no idea about that," he told the Australian Associated Press. "Yes, I can afford to do those things, but I’ve got no idea. My job’s only to play tennis and it’s all I know. I’m not going to finish a doctor’s degree. I’m not the smartest person in the world."

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Simona out - I missed most of the match live so can't say much except it seemed pretty close at times and I was reminded of the saying 'a good big'un will always beat a good little'un'. Maybe Simona just didn't have the firepower in the end. Or Cahill.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Tomic - if he really wanted to get started in another career, restaurannts, real estate, whatever, he perfectly well could but he'd have to start in an unfamiliar place - at the bottom with low pay.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

dan markowitz writes:

Amazing I was at the Sock v Thompson match in the the put-together Louis Armstrong Stadium, its not really a stadium its more like they slapped together some stands, and Thompson is a bigger guy than you think, say 6-2. But Sock, the guy has just fallen apart. I mean in the second set he hit only two aces. And this is a guy who's supposed to have a big serve. A Qball or Muller will hit two aces in one game. Also, Sock's backhand while not hideous just has no top spin to it. He hits it almost like SteveJo with a flat delivery and doesn't seem to get under it the way he can obviously on his forehand. Give him credit for coming back from two sets to love down and going five, but in that kind of match, at home in the US Open, you've got to win that match. It's not like you're playing Lleyton Hewitt in his prime. Other interesting matches I saw yesterday were Gulbix-Giiannessi, Gulbis's serve for example, is much bigger than Sock's. He closed the match out hitting three aces in the last game. Gullbis looks good and he gave a great interview after the match to a handful of reporters including me, and even gave me a nod as he walked out as if to say, "Good questions1" Dudi Sela was masterful against Eubanks, who wore the new Adidas kit that looked like a throwback to older tennis outfits. Eubanks came out firing, and he looks a litlle body-wise like Arthur Ashe, skinny and long-legged, but Dudi never looked like he was late on and of his beautiful strokes and when he steps up and clocks his backhand down the line for a winner it's a thing of beauty. It was nice to see two players both hitting one-handers in a match. Watched some of Chung v Zeballos and Zebo also has a sweet one hander. Chung is about as colorful as an accountant on the court but he's solid. It struck my as it was early in the day and I had played tennis that morning and was in sync with the game, how beautiful and challenging the sport is. Sometimes you watch a match, even live, and you're bored by it. It just seems like two players trading endless and pointless groundies. But sitting behind the court in the stands above the court, I had a great view to see the players working the point and how when two players are evenly matches as Chung and Zebo were, what a great physical chess match tennis is. I watched KevAnd beat Aragone and I was impressed by Aragone, particularly in the first set when he was making things mighty tough for the tall South African. The pace of their rallies was really exrtraordinary. I don't know if the 22 year old Aragone is going to be a top 100 player, but he does hit the dickens out of the ball and he flies around the court and hits with the energy of an old Jimmy Connors, and Aragone is about Jimmy's height, I'd say 5-10. The guy was practically doing splits on his open-stanced backhands. It was something to see his flexibility, timing and foot speed. Kevin plays a very solid big game and he was into it. He seemed to know if Aragone won the first set, KevAnd could be in for a long day and he was pumping his fist and saying, "Come on!" Sock could use some of this professionalism. He has a weird way about him where he looks up at his camp a lot and gives wry smiles when things go wrong. He almost seems like Tomic--who actually seemed engaged in the Muller match--that he doesn't really care if he wins or loses. The amazing thing about the First Day of the Open is the amount of matches going on, late into the night Donaldson and Sock were still playing their matches--and the little stories attached to each one. I was watching a few matches with Tennis-Prose poster, Ryan Balon, a big tennis fan. Ryan remembers when he was in college coming down from Providence for five days and watching tennis from 11 am to 10 pm each night. And Ryan loves the more oddball, foreign player matches like Lorenzi v Saou. One of his favorite players, Cuevas, will play today and it's amazing the guy is no. 31 and he hasn't played a summer hard court match yet. Finally, got to see some Nico Mahut, I like this guy he's a stylish sort with his hair coiffed just right and a great serve and just beautiful strokes capped by a one-hander. He was playing a Hungarian young guy, who's name escapes me now and the Hungarian guy had his coach and hot girlfriend in the front row on Court 10 I think, and one time when he had double break point on Mahut and couldn't convert, he just looked over at them and shook his head like, "This old fellow Mahut is tough." Finally, saw Schwartzman just cream his countryman, Carlos Berloq, another guy it's amazing to see still getting into main draws, and Schwartzman is the quickest player to the ball I think I've ever seen. He's looks like Matt Damon a bit and if he's 5-7, then I'm 6-5.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

dan markowitz writes:

Funniest thing Gulbis said, and he's very charming with an impish smile and obviously a good looking chap, Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times was questioning Gulbis about entering the Open on a Protected Ranking because Gulbis is no. 255. Rothenberg, and sorry if I have his name wrong, said Gulbis was one of six players to use a PR to get into the Open Main Draw. One of those six was Dimitry Tursunov, who retired in his match against British qualifier Norrie. And Rothenberg asked Gulbis if he thought it was fair to use a PR to enter a slam main draw even if you know you're injured and won't be able to compete up to your full ability. Players usually do this anyway because they want the money they receive for playing a slam main draw. And Gulbis said he doesn't judge anyone else and he's not too smart. He flounders his PR's sometimes like a couple of weeks ago when he forgot he used his PR to get into Montreal qualms and then when he was staying in the Hamptons with a friend and forgot to pull out of Montreal, he lost one of his PR's. Kamishi Tandon, I think her name is, who writes for Tennis.com, asked Gulbis then, "Don't you have an agent who handles these kind of things?" Gublis smiled and said, "My agent kind of lost interest when I dropped out of the top 100."

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Dan Markowitz writes:

Amazing Sharapova win. Boy, the WTA needs her, with the exception of Sloane Stephens I couldn't have cared less about women's matches yesterday, but I watched first set of Maria v Simona and Maria from her black sequined Nike dress to her powerful groundies and serves (and her looks, let's be fair, she's a very striking woman which Halep is not) was the show. Halep is about as exciting to watch as say a Catskills stand up comic of the 40's and that might be giving her too much credit. She has the second serve of a junior boys player and walks around kind of glumly and piqued like she just got a parking ticket. Thank God, Maria's back. I don't care what she's taking.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

scoopmalinowski writes:

Anderson was intense! Fist pumps in the first games but no shouts. He took Aragine as a threat. Sock has little intensity. Those two losses to Rafa broke his spirit it seems.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

scoopmalinowski writes:

Posted day one photos on my facebook page. Gulbis Busta Tomic Muller Paire...

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Dan - We know you really don't like women's tennis but honestly you don't have to go on about it. And for someone who's supposedly liberal you certainly seem to have some, shall we say, chauvinist attitudes. Would you say those things about a male player which you've dumped on Simona ? She can't help what she looks like and I expect you might have seemed glum and piqued yourself if you were facing Maria yesterday. Maybe you could offer to be Simona's serving coach since Cahill doesn't seem to be doing a great job. Never mind - I'll be here to support Angie as long as she stays in the draw, which might not be beyond today,and I'll continue to comment on the women's game when I feel inclined because apart from Hartt I'm the only woman on this site.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Hartt writes:

Scoop, thanks for the roundup. There were a couple results that I had not heard yet, some surprising results. I did see the Shapovalov vs Medvedev match on TV. My Canadian sports channel had it as "commentary free," as though that is some sort of bonus. Anyway, at least I got to see the match and was surprised at how easily Denis won the last 2 sets, after a relatively close first set. I don't think he has much of a chance against Tsonga, but then I thought that when he played Delpo and Rafa at Rogers Cup. Was glad to hear that in his press conference he was " a very nice, bright, mature, media savvy player." In an interview with a Canadian journalist Shapo said he played for himself, his family and his team. I hope that is true, because he is going to be under tremendous pressure with his sudden success.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Chazz writes:

Dan's posts are a perfect example of a need for paragraphs, which apparently still don't work on this site. I watched most of the Sock-Thompson match and that was a really good observation about his serve. Something is off. I will say this about Jack - his on-court demeanor was the best I have seen in a long time. He didn't get caught up in the line calls or do any of the annoying tactics has had been doing this year. He had mostly positive energy and it was a really fun match to watch. He just blew it when he was up a break at 4-3 in the 5th.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Chazz writes:

Hartt, I think Shapo has a really good chance to beat Tsonga. Tsonga hasn't been playing that well in the past few months and Shapo will have the crowd largely in his favor.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

Some observations of what I watched. Saw some of Sandgren-Cilic. Sandgren acquitted himself well and Cilic later said the way he got pushed was good for him because he was lacking in match play. Cilic may play his way into the tournament as a factor. Odd first set but Sam Querrey handled Simon easily. Simon played next to nothing on hard courts but still a nice easy win. I watched a good amount of Kwiatkowski-Zverev but missed the last set. Thought the kid had it but credit to the elder Zverev - who I feel always looks beatable yet has been a top-30 player. Ben Rothenberg did a story on PRs, it's good. Tursunov was ripped on Twitter for pulling out of that match. Ferrer going down meekly shocked me. Sela-Eubanks was a no contest from the start. The kid had no idea how to stay in against the veteran. I agree on Sock, terrible loss. His behavior was fine but at 4-3 up a break in the fifth, you have to win against an opponent who was clearly less than 100 percent. I am no fan of Shazza but womens tennis needs her. Simona's serve was atrocious. I felt good for Maria to win since deep down, she is a cutthroat competitor who loves the sport. No one can deny she is a great champion. Sascha Zverev doesn't look ready to win this Slam. He played OK but didn't take the ball early and was content to rally with the qualifier King. Tactically he was lacking and emotionally played like the young kid he is. He could easily lose the match against Coric; they played three tight sets in Cincy two years ago and Coric won't fear him.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

One other Sascha Zverev comment. He's a big-match player - winning six of his last seven finals including Ws over Fed Djoker and Wawrinka. The setting hurt him since playing that late in an empty Ashe had no atmosphere. Sascha loves the big stage and people watching him.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Hartt writes:

Chazz, I just saw that Tsonga went out early in both Montreal and Cincy, think it was in the first round, so as you say, he has not been playing well the last few months. But I will always be nervous when Denis plays - youngsters aren't usually super consistent. (NP) I am still surprised at the amount of crowd support Shapo is getting at the USO. I expected that in Canada, but it's great to see that American fans have taken to him. Someone wrote that he could not get into Denis' match yesterday - there was a huge lineup and no one was leaving. On tennis.life, Stephanie Myles wrote that Denis left the match with a couple big security guys nearby, so things have already changed for him.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Team Shapo big timed Marc Berman of the NY Post too. After his press conference, Shapo did a couple of one on ones with Japanese TV and another and then they left and Berman tried to get him for a few Qs as he left and his agent or mgr said "We're done." And strode out of the room. Venus also was asked again about retiring and she said she has "no plans" so expect her to be around for years. She also was asked by Lloyd Carroll about USA patriotism with other US players and gave a very vague answer than struck Carroll in how she really has no connection with other US players. Never have we seen Venus go and watch and support Keys or Stephens or any US player. Lloydster was shocked by how womens tennis is so self centered.

 

[scoop]

Scoop Malinowski writes:

Chazz; I would make Shapo the favorite vs Jo. Clear favorite. Tsonga is fading. Shapo could win the whole tournament, he really can.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

Duke Carnoustie writes:

Q. You obviously had the momentum at the end of the second set. Before the third, she left the court. SIMONA HALEP: Like always. Q. Did that throw you off at all? SIMONA HALEP: I'm used. When I play against her, she does that all the time. So I didn't think about that. It's her style and I don't comment.

 

[TFBlogGuest]

catherine writes:

Scoop - I wouldn't say women's tennis is self-centred so much as realistic. All players at the top of the game are competitors potentially, no matter what country they come from. Outside Fed Cup it's not a team event. Some are good friends, but off court. Venus is a lot older than the new generation of US players - she probably feels she has little in common with them. And she may have plans about retiring but I doubt she's going to tell a roomful of hacks. NP: Simona's serve - it was pretty ineffectual v Maria but quite a lot of smaller women have good serves so if Cahill's any kind of coach he should work on that.