The draw for the Citi Open of 2016 is out, and the match ups that will initiate the gentleman's hand to hand combat in this "jeu de paume" are an inspiring mixture of intrigue, sporting curiosity and personal drama. Having moved the date of the tournament up on the calendar to accommodate the many players who will go to the Rio Olympics, the tournament has already suffered the consequences of a glut of competitions that have had to be adjusted for the quadrennial event. Juan Martin del Potro and the Bryan Brothers have already withdrawn, and the effects on the American duo of John Isner and Jack Sock, who suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the Croatians, remains to be seen.
Top seed John Isner (mercifully) benefits from a definite 1st round bye, and likely preferable scheduling, before taking on the winner of a match up of scrappers who will vie for the opportunity to dethrone the presumptive king. James Duckworth, the Australian grinder who unceremoniously dismissed a fatigued Ryan Harrison last year, will have another American to deal with, the altogether (overly) generous Tim Smycek, who famously offered to replay a critical point in Australia against Rafael Nadal, for no (good) reason. Smycek has excellent hands, moves like a lynx, and is (typically for an American) uber-competitive. If he can find his way past Duckworth, he will have Kei Nishikori's model of victory in last year's final to emulate, if he is to do the unthinkable and advance to the 3rd round.
Everybody's favorite Cypriot, 15th seed Marcos Baghdatis, will also have a first round bye, with a chance to face John Millman or (the current version of Paul Goldstein - a really local favorite), Denis Kudla, who hails from across the river in Arlington, and as a junior made the daily Holden Caufield subway trek to the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Maryland, on his way to place at the table of professional tennis. Although not as fantastical as that of Leon Vessels, Kudla's journey to the Citi Open is no less inspiring. He immigrated from the Ukraine as a baby and was featured in a 2010 Documentary Who's Next. In it, it was revealed the extent of his obsession with tennis. As an 11-year old, with arguable assistance from his from his architect father, designed his very own tennis center. Kudla's parents spoke no English when they escaped the the dissolution of the USSR on Denis' first birthday in 1993 - quite an enduring gift.
If Ryan Harrison can conjure up the same grit and firepower that saw him through the qualifiers into the main draw last year, he will have his hands full with Stephan Robert, a Frenchman known more for his prowess in doubles than singles. Harrison doesn't suffer fools when it comes to competitiveness, and whereas in the past he has succumbed to both the light and dark sides of that trait, but he is still (relatively) young, still has a missile launcher for a right arm, and has quite a good head to head record against many of the players in the draw. The past is not necessarily prologue, and Harrison will both take solace and caution in that truism, for if he is to become the player so many have hoped and expected him to be, there is no time better than the present. My guess is Robert will have his hands full. Either one of them will have a grinder of the first order awaiting them in the second round, in Victor Troicki. If he has recovered his vocal cords following his unseemly (albeit "technically" justified) diatribe against Damiano Torella (for which he was duly fined $10,000 for unsporting conduct), he will want to save his breath for Harrison who is unlikely to go quietly himself, into the night.
In one of the most fascinating first round encounters, one of this author's favorite players on tour, (the Emperor H)Adrian Mannarino will take his well educated hands, and nimble footwork, into battle against one of the most powerful young guns in world, Francis Tiafoe. Another DC native who also plied his trade at the JTCC, Tiafoe's opportunity came from his own immigrant father who worked there as a maintenance man. He debuted here in 2014, where he lost to Evgeny Donskoy, but anyone watching that match would have been left in no doubt as to the potential of this human power unit, who burned 100mph+ forehands so frequently that the feat began to lose its luster by the end of the match.
Assuming he has addressed his serve, some dubious shot selection and his footwork, there is hope in the nation's capital that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship with the game. The winner of this match, mercilessly faces Steve Johnson, an American gaining such a reputation as a bare-knuckle brawling competitor, that he is seeded 5th, and my darkhorse to make his first ATP final in his homeland. He is coming off his first ATP title, an unexpected, but not inexplicable victory on the plushy grass courts of the English midlands (Birmingham) over Pablo Cuevas, a 2nd round loser here last year.
With any luck, the Real Bernard Tomic will appear to make good on his opportunity lost here last year, as he smiled and joked his way to a 3rd round loss to the aforementioned (Trojan) dark horse. You never know what you're going to get in the way of competitiveness and drive from Tomic, such is the burden placed on a (still very) young man from a country with a (still very) deep tradition of tennis nobility. But I would recommend setting a reminder on your calendar to witness for yourself some of the best hands in tennis, his second round match up against the winner of the yankee doodle duel between Donald Young and 20-year old Ernesto Escobedo. Rumor has it, Escobedo's two-handed backhand is every bit as deadly as the left-handed swing of his (no relation...probably because that Ernesto Escobedo was a figment of Tom Clancy's imagination) namesake in "Clear and Present Danger". Having come through the crucible of expectations for American teenagers in the dog-eat-anything world of professional tennis, I'm sure Donald will have some wise words of advice for his opponent...after the match, that is.
(Dr.) Ivo Karlovic, the esteemed professor in the art of "making it rain", fresh off his draining victory of Gilles Mueller in Newport, will get a first round bye, no doubt sharpening the blade of his sword as he awaits the winner of the Mesomorph, Sam Groth, and the drumbeat of (Mr.) Brian Baker. Groth's mammoth recorded 163mph delivery, will serve him well, even if he winds up on the recently repainted Court 1 where last year, he hit a serve that hit the tape...and was still record at 156mph. The fencing is kind of old, so I would not recommend standing behind Baker as he attempts to return that howitzer of a serve. Having said that, Baker's return of serve is one of the strength's of his game, and gives him a fighting chance to blunt the path of one behemoth to another. Baker's most enduring and endearing quality to a tennis amateur (in the classical sense of the word) is his resourcefulness, his tennis IQ and his hands. The combination of the three make him just the kind of player others would prefer to avoid, but I'm not going to miss that encounter.
Grigor Dimitrov is seeded and will receive a bye into the second round, although he's been hard at work here on his game, including a one-hour practice session Friday against a possible second round opponent in Daniel Evans. That would be a treat for those who just can't get enough of the 1-handed backhand, and spontaneous injections of pace into otherwise cagey rallies. Of course, Evans would have to make it past Benjamin Becker, the last man to defeat Andre Agassi on the ATP tour, himself a cagey veteran who made his way through the qualifiers, and replaces Tommy Haas who, for years, was typically the oldest German(/American) in the draw. If Dimitrov can navigate his way through to the 3rd round, he may encounter a dejected Jack Sock, who will have to summon reserves of competitiveness to atone for his Davis Cup debacle against Borna Coric. Fresh and fit, Sock would have been a co-dark horse with Johnson, but as it is now, I would credit him with a herculean effort if he were to simply justify his seed.
Alexander (the Great) Zverev, who sports a hellenic flock of sea gulls under (and over) what comes across as a wreath (but is actually just a head band) is a good bet to go deep in this tournament. I'm always suspicious of last minute entrants, but he too has been here since at least Friday, practicing on that day on the stadium court with Monfils, and seems motivated to do well. Zverev would face the winner of a 1st round tete-a-tete between Dudi Sela and Taylor Fritz. While I enjoy the (altogether necessary for his survival) ingenuity and improvisation of Sela's game, I would relish a chance to see these young starlets compete for a place in the 3rd round. Fritz could overpower Sela, but would find it difficult to do the same in the next round. My money would be on Zverev who seems to have Fritz's number dating back to their junior careers.
Another potential match up, that might qualify for the circus or an NBA game, is between Kevin Anderson, the man who nearly did last year at Wimbledon, what Sam Querrey managed to do this year, and the winner of the match between Reilly Opelka and Malik Jaiziri. Assuming Opelka is able to bludgeon his way through the wily Tunisian (who had never trained with weights until this year - a testament to his immense talent, which has hopefully not been wasted in its entirety) the 2nd round encounter might be the tallest in the history of the Citi Open. Opelka, who is listed at 7'0" (which is frankly just ridiculous) won the Wimbledon Junior title last year (which was very nearly a part of an American grand slam), would actually tower over Anderson, who at 6'8" would make the total height on display 164 inches. That's a hell of a lot of leverage.
Luxembourg hero Gilles Mueller, smarting from his loss to Karlovic in the Newport Final, is rewarded for his renewal with a seeding and a bye to the 2nd round, where he will face the winner of Nishioka Yoshihito and Ivan Dodig, the doe-eyed doubles specialist who initiated the stunning reversal of fortune in the Davis Cup tie against the US in Portland, by partnering Cilic in the defeat of the Bryan Brothers. Mueller, a purveyor of one of the best lefty slice serves, which curiously appears to be most effective when placed up the "T", was the guy who stole Roddick's mojo in 2005. That same year, he also defeated Rafa Nadal in the 2nd round at Wimbledon. This should have come as no surprise to Citi Open historians, who would note that he defeated Agassi in the semi final in 2004, before ruining the marquee match up with Lleyton Hewitt in the final (who prevailed in straight sets for his one and only Citi Open title).
Benoit Paire awaits the winner of Jared Donaldson and his compatriot Vincent Millot, who may very well have the most extreme forehand grip in the world, one that would make Alberto Berasategui proud. It's so far over on the grip, one wonders if he'd be better off rotating the racquet in the same direction for both the forehand and the backhand...it'd be a shorter trip. Donaldson, yet another American teenager in the draw, has not received the kind of attention that Fritz has, but in the long run, I like his fundamentals more. His footwork is reminiscent of Steffi Graf, his backhand is compact and effective, if not aesthetically appealing, and while I would recommend a smaller take back on the forehand, and a diminished reliance on the reverse forehand from the center of the court, the way he throws his body into that stroke reminds me of Jimmy Connors at his ball-busting best. He appears to be on the verge of throwing his racquet across the net with every desperate lunge into that stroke. Having impressed many with his entertaining (for all the right reasons) encounter against Monfils at the US Open in 2014, Donaldson is yet another reason that the light at the end of the American tennis tunnel, could indeed be an approaching train of supplicants to the throne.
The aforementioned Djokovic slayer, Sam Querrey, calmly awaits another American, the result of the curious (if not unfortunate) pairing of Alex Kuznetsov and Bjorn Fratangelo. Although he is not related to Mike Fratangelo (the form coach of the Atlanta Hawks), Bjorn is only slight taller, which has made it difficult for him to make good on the potential he showed by beating Dominic Thiem for the Junior title at Roland Garros in 2011. Fortunately for him, his opponent, Kuznetsov, equally vertically challenged, may very well be even more spindly. I may pop over to see that second round match with Querrey, if nothing else, to see if Querrey could drop 10 aces in a row all over again.
(The other) Alexander (the Great) Dolgopolov awaits the winner of Victor Estrella Bourgos and Jordan Thompson. The latter is an Australian who bravely stood in the canon's mouth for 4 & 1/2 hours attempting to return the serve of Ivo Karlovic at Roland Garros this year - making the most of a wildcard earned mostly on the back of his best year to date that included his first tour level ATP match win and a Challenger title in China. He lost to Karlovic 12-10 in the fifth, but the effort was both brave and impressive - the only inches he gave to his gargantuan opponent that day were the 10 inches in height. His opponent, is a crafty Dominican who typically brings a large contingent of supporters with him, and has one of the bigger forehands on tour. However, like Ken Rosewall before him, Burgos has never seen a backhand that he didn't want to slice, and may need to figure out a way to come over one or two if he is to improve on his second round loss to the towering inferno of John Isner's flame throwing serve.
Dolgopolov, the 2012 champion (the last Olympic year) took full advantage of that depleted field, and won the biggest title of his career over a resurgent Tommy Haas (who is sadly no longer with us...at this tournament that is, he's still alive!). I've always enjoyed the sheer maniacal physicality of Dolgopolov's game, and since I don't think the long-term prospects of being able to do what he does are good (if you've seen his serve and forehand, you'll know what I mean) it's good to see him bounding about the grounds here like a Roe-Deer in the Ukraine.
Borna Coric will impress me very much if he can recover from an emotional weekend in Oregon, and justify his seeding by overcoming the winner of Sugita Yuichi and Vasek Pospisil. Pospisil was the 2014 finalist here, this despite being less known for his singles exploits than his illustrious doubles partner. 2016 has not been kind to this kind Canadian who glides about the baseline as easily as a man his size can, and this would be a nice way to start a recovery of the remainder of his season. But he'll have to get through an exceptionally competitive Yuichi, who's coming off a grass court victory over Taylor Fritz, to do it, and the popular teen ager from Croatia who will have no American fans (old enough to drink) on his side, given what he heroically did in Oregon to one Mr. Sock.
The final places in the draw go to Gael Monfils, the flamboyant Frenchman left off the Davis Cup team that went to the Czech Republic and kept the dream alive of another night in Lyon, seeded 2nd and shorn of his infamous ungainly mane of locks. With any luck, he will also be shorn of any desire to entertain at the expense of competing, and hopefully he will also do his on court interviews in English. He awaits the winner of Randy Liu, who won a Challenger title on grass in England before Wimbledon this year, is probably the 3rd most famous player in the draw to beat Andy Roddick at a major (Wimbledon in 2010), and is in all likelihood the most famous athlete outside of Chinese Taipei from Chinese Taipei, and yet another American, Austin Krajicek. It may surprise you that he plays for the Stars and Stripes, given that he is a distant cousin of 1996 Wimbledon Champion Richard Krajicek and an even more distant cousin of Michaella Krajicek (Richard's half-sister). My money's on Lu in the first round, and Monfils in the second...an inspired pick, I know.
Well, that's probably everything you'd want to know (and then some) about the Men's Draw at the Citi Open this year!
After a rousing rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner, the audience, subdued perhaps by the heat, were lifted into the proper level of anticipation for a final that promises to be tight and enthralling. Wayne Bryan, one of the best things to happen to the Citi Open, brought his enthusiasm and energy to the proceedings by hitting balls into the crowd before the match.
Isner is introduced first to an enormous ovation, as "Bad to the Bone" plays on the stadium speakers. Nishikori also receives a good ovation. Isner comes out of his chair first, all smiles, bouncing up and down, and shaking hands. Nishikori saunters onto the court in no particular hurry, as is his wont. Although Nishikori has the better pedigree, this being his 3rd final in DC, Isner appears to be the more relaxed player. I noticed that he humbly moved into the court to retrieve a ball during the warm up, while Nishikori calmly waited for it to be retrieved for him, though the ball was at least 5 feet closer to him than Isner's.
Nerves? Tension? Habit?
Isner starts out firing on all cylinders, holding at love with two aces and two winners. Importantly his second serves are well overt 100mph, which seemed to be the tipping point for Cilic yesterday. Nishikori's first two serves are tame by comparison, but no less effective, hitting service winners and one cross court forehand winner from the center of the court. Isner then follows up with another workmanlike hold before the first changeover. His 1-2 combination is working, and will be key to his chances today if Nishikori returns the way we know he can and should - Isner is up 2-1.
Nishikori makes a nervous error on his first 1-2 combination, on a forehand error from the center of the court but recovers well with two service winners. Isner put the pressure on with a huge inside out forehand return for 30-30, followed by inside-out forehand error. Nishikori then gets to ad in with two forced errors in the rally to Isner's forehand. Isner appears committed to applying maximum pressure on the return of serve. But Nishikori draws first blood with a forehand return at his feet in the first point at 2-2. Isner responds with two aces up the T, before Nishikori grabs a bite of a poorly placed serve wide at 30-15, before belting a cross court backhand winner to get his first break point. Isner kicks it high on a second serve hit at 94mph, handling the break point, but Nishikori earns another with his feet as Isner dumps as forehand volley in the net after bossing him in the rally. Isner saves again with an ace up the T again to earn a third deuce. Two huge serves later he holds for a 3-2 lead.
Nishikori hits an 82mph second serve which Isner jumps on to take the first point, but he runs Isner ragged on the next point, which elicits return errors in the subsequent two points to get to 40-15 - Isner looks really out of breath. On game point he pulls Isner wide, then scores an easy 1-2 combination with a cross court backhand winner to hold. Isner then gets a service winner, then loses the second point after Nishikori chips the second serve kicked wide in the ad court for 40-15. Nishikori then chases the wide serve in the deuce court with a Jimmy Connors like stretch return on the two hander, before eliciting a backhand error in the rally. Isner holds with a service winner and leads 4-3.
With a long rally in the first point again elcits a return error in the second for a 30-0 lead. He then turns the screws with a drop shot, and elicits a return error to win the game. Isner then gets to 30-0 after Nishikori misses a backhand pass. A return winner for 30-15 is followed by a kick serve to the backhand, but Nishikori puts pressure with another great forehand return. Under duress Isner hits a 113 second serve, and after a heavy inside out forehand approach Isner hits a drop volley winner to hold for 5-4.
Scoreboard pressure now on Nishikori, who ropes a backhand cross court with both feet in the air eliciting a backhand error. Nishikori then tries a forehand drop shot but misses the cross court passe before Isner takes a big cut in the rally to get to 15-30, then a big inside out forehand to get to double set point off of a 76mph second serve. He then takes the set with a solid forehand return up the line. The crowd erupts as he gestures towards his box.
One has the feeling that the return of serve, particularly the second serve return, will determine this match. Isner has put only one second serve under 100, which was a huge kicker, but Nishikori, under pressure dropped below the 90's several times which costs him the set.
Nishikori starts the second with a huge cross court forehand, then another which rushes Isner into an error. He then hits a two handed half volley winner that clipped the net and a service winners to get to 30-30. Nishikori makes a long rally which Isner pushes a backhand long before acing. At deuce Nishikori for the third time belts a third forehand at Isner's feet. On break point he hits an ace wide that's challenged and overturned. He pushes a forehand wide and wastes a challenge - with his serve he wants as many of those in his pocket as he can get.
Nishikori then consolidates with a jeu Blanche, including a first successful net approach off another great cross court backhand. Isner gets to 40-0 with his serve, but Nishikori puts him under pressure with a two good passes. Isner then holds for 1-2. Clearly Isner's strategy is to unload even from the center of the court at the first opportunity. The idea is to put the result on his racquet win or lose. He then calls for the trainer on the changeover to work on his right shoulder and the area between the shoulder and the neck. That appears to be an issue of fatigue.
Nishikori comes out before time is called to get loose, but still floats a forehand long on the first point. After a long rally, Nishikori pushes a backhand up the line wide to bring up 0-30. In the next three points Nishikori targets Isner's backhand, until he pushes him wide enough to open up the deuce court. Isner chubs a forehand wide on a 116mph body serve. Isner then hits three service winners and an ace to hold for 2-3.
The CMO of Citi is an Irishman who's father played Laver at the oldest club in the UK, which held the first women's tournament.
Nishikori starts out serving two aces in a row, followed by a service winner to get to 40-0. The first double fault of the match suggests nerves for Nishikori, but he holds with a forehand winner from the center of the court. It bears noting that the match is at least half over at the hour mark with Nishikori up 4-2. Both players grab a drink illegally during the ball change. Isner is still serving above 80% first serves, despite going down a break in the second. Nishikori is actually serving better than Isner winning 73% serve points to Isner's 67%, also returning better with 33% to Isner's 27%.
Nishikori serves his way to yet another jeu Blanche, and Isner's follows with 3 service winners. He does not appear to be spending much energy on the return, but on his serve he is resolute and holds to force Nishikori to serve it out.
This would be Isner's first 500 level win if he can pull it off. The crowd raise their level of support to help him get there, but King Kei demands silence with a second serve ace followed by an Isner unforced error off the frame. Nishikori then belies his nerves when he hits his second double fault of the match before dumping in a 78mph second serve then an error. A good inside out forehand in the next point elicits an error in the net, but Isner belts a return to bring up deuce. Nishikori is down to 46% first serves this set. Nishikori holds after Isner hits it wide in the rally - in a Freudian slip he swipes away the mark on a close ball, though Isner doesn't challenge.
Isner is out of his seat early, but still starts with his first double fault of the match. He then earns the hold with 4 first serves in the high 120s/ low 130s range. Nishikori starts with a good serve on the first point, but Isner's focus has in erased palpably. He gestures to his box after eliciting an error off a low slice, then comes over a backhand return and polishes off a forehand volley winner and gestures again. Kei pulls a one two combination with a backhand cross court winner and an Isner makes an error for 1-1. Nishikori then hits a sliding backhand pass after an amazing return from the forehand. After an Isner ace, Nishikori belts another return at Isner's feet, eliciting an error, then another - this one a backhand to darn two break points. The break is complete when Nishikori frames a backhand return 6 inches inside the baseline which Isner jokingly tried to wave out before he realized it was going to land in. He hit a solid overhead, but from the baseline which Nishikori belted right back at his feet.
Nishikori hits a service winner, a backhand winner up the line then an inside out winner to consolidate the hold. Isner appears to be tired and the crowd impel him to keep his foot on the gas, with rhythmic claps of encouragement. Isner obliges with a service winner and a forced error, the another service winner on a wide serve in the deuce court. Isner finishes off the love hold with a 1-2 combination, fished with a cross court forehand winner.
Nishikori serves at 3-2, after massaging his thighs with ice packs during the changeover. That familiar subdued gait belies his concentration - he'll need it to deal with the scoreboard pressure. It a long way to go to consolidate a hold in the second service game. Nishikori elicits an error, the. Executes a leaping forehand winner up the line. Another forced error and a service winner consolidates the hold. Isner is now really facing scoreboard pressure now - a break would be fatal, as his fatigue is showing now piling up the unforced and forced errors. Isner holds when Nishikori nets a backhand slice approach after yet another scintillating return - he's making it look routine at this point.
Up 4-3, Nishikori can surely see the finish line, but he must concentrate - he starts with a 1-2 combination forehand winner to the ad court from the center of the court, and follows with a forced error. Isner then panicks and blast a second serve backhand return 6 feet wide (inside out). Isner gets his frustrations out with another wide serve in the deuce court followed by a massive inside out forehand winner. He follows up with two service winners to take the game and force Nishikori to serve it out.
Here is where Nishikori has been the shakiest all week. When serving under duress. The crowd implores Isner to prolong the match with supportive cheers, as a Georgia fan unfurls a banner in his view. Nishikori responds with another 1-2, then an irresistible backhand up the line that clips the baseline. A forces error sets up triple championship point which Nishikori takes with aplomb, tow forehands hit so well that Isner's dying resistance is put down with a backhand volley that Nishikori hits with his back to the court and exalts with relief at his victory.
It's been a long week, with three three set come back wins, including two in succession over two of the biggest serves in tennis. Otsukare sama deshita!
Cilic starts well, with deep penetrating cross court shots off of both wings, pushing Nishikori back and rushing the fastest hands in tennis. After holding, the break comes off of two forced errors on the backhand wing - a rarity for Nishikori, who is yet to impose himself on any point in the match. The Cilic serve is as good as it had been this entire tournament, whereas Nishikori's as inconsistent as it's been throughout the week.
Up until the 5th game Nishikori didn't hit a single clean winner until an inside out forehand in a neutral rally, followed by an ace up the T in the deuce court. On the strength of this momentum Nishikori gets three break points - the first he misses a forehand up the line, the second an ace up the T and the third a missed backhand up the line. Cilic then closes it out with a backhand up the line - the same one that Nishikori missed three points earlier.
In the subsequent game Nishikori goes up 30-0, then dumps another backhand in the net and a double fault before finishing the game off with a service winner. At 2-5, serving to stay in the set, Nishikori hits two forehand winners that wakes up his many supporters in the crowd - evidenced by a smattering of Rising Sun flags throughout the stadium. After a double fault at 40-15, he holds to force Cilic to serve it out. Cilic duly complies with two service winners, including one on a 116mph second serve to the forehand, which he has targeted whenever he needs a point.
Nishikori starts the second set missing a flat serve up the T by 6 feet, then getting burned on the second. He follows it up with an ace and an unforced error before holding comfortably with a forced error and a one-two combination of the serve and a cross court forehand winner. Cilic responds with another hard serve wide in the deuce court, for which Nishikori still has not found an answer. But finally, after imposing himself with the backhand, Nishikori breaks and the crows erupts as much in support of a good match as support for Kei. He nearly gives the break it right back in the subsequent service game, but he dealt with the break point with an ace wide in the deuce court, and a forced error on game point. At which point he calls the trainer and gets a medical time out to get work done on his right leg, abdominals and back. He is up 3-0.
The match is a study in contrasts that makes tennis an exceptional sport. Cilic is 6'6" with a huge serve and long languid strokes off both wings. His racquet is heavier and he uses it to produce flat penetrating strokes that elicit more errors than he produces winners. By contrast, Nishikori's feet are almost as quick as his hands, which produce enormous racquet head speed, spin and disguise: the direction is so difficult to read. Ironically, Kei produces more winners precisely because he defends better and hits with more spin.
Cilic puts up a good fight in the fifth game, down a second break, and burns one up the line two points in a row - the first a backhand winner, the second a backhand setting up a winning backhand angled volley. Nishikori is a deceptively good volleyer, with above average hands, which he uses more for disguise and racquet head speed. He finishes the game with a backhand up the line off a half volley and is up 5-0. At this point Cilic would do well to hold, if for nothing else, to force Nishikori to serve it out, and if he does, Cilic then serves first in the 3rd set.
But Nishikori makes a bid for the bagel, with heavy returns of Cilic's second serve, whose speed is now down below 100mph (whereas in the first set it topped out at up to 116mph). Nishikori holds a shaky one to finish off the set, including a very heavy inside out forehand winner to put Cilic out of his misery, but he serves first in the third.
Cilic finds the wide serve in the deuce court again on the first point followed by an approach to net and a half volley winner. After an error in the ad court, a carbon copy of the first point results in an error on the volley. The next point Cilic wins by hanging on and defending the net well - off of a weak volley that lands just inside no man's land, Nishikori outwits himself and tries to hit behind Cilic cross court, but Cilic holds his ground and wins the point. A loose error on a short forehand he tried to play inside out, and a deep backhand Nishikori placed in the corner that he thought was going out costs Cilic the break. Nishikori resolutely consolidates before Cilic finally breaks the momentum with a gritty hold. Nishikori replies with a workmanlike hold of his own.
At 1-3 Cilic now needs to hold to stave off the prospect of another breadstick, and starts with two service winners. Kei fights back with yet another pair of blistering forehands - the first a cross court pass that buckles the racquet in Cilic's hands, the second a straight forehand up the line winner from the back court. If you look carefully the words "Citi Open" are tatooed on that line. Cilic holds to force his way back to relevancy with a hold. Nishikori asks for the trainer again, getting his right wrist re-taped, which is disconcerting because an injury to that wrist kept him out of the game for a year. It doesn't appear to be affecting him, however, immediately winning long exchanges and hitting an ace before holding after targeting first the forehand on each serve. Nishikori has just refused to concede the baseline since the start of the second set, and Cilic is forced to defend, which is a weakness in his game. Nishikori then challenges on a wide ace at 15-15 that is reversed and Kei wins the point on another inside out forehand. Cilic stays strong with second serves above 100 and holds for 3-4.
Cilic then turns up the heat with a couple of blistering forehands and a Nishikori double that gives the big Croat the break he needs to even the match. In the words of John Newcombe, this is sweaty palms time for him now. After winning 10 out of the last 12 games, and well into cruise control mode, unless he can break back, he will be on the verge of giving it all away if he can't handle the scoreboard pressure. Nishikori challenges another huge forehand from Cilic that appeared to skid through the line - it was out. He then elicits an error, and hits the line off his own big forehand to break Cilic right back despite his challenge of a Nishikori backhand up the line - it was flush on the line.
Kei is now serving for it and after Cilic pushes a neutral backhand wide, he gets to 15-all with a deep backhand up the line that rushes Kei into an error. He tried to repeat the feat on the next point, dumping it in the net, before putting yet another neutral cross court shot out of bounds (this one a forehand) to bring up two match points.
Up 40-15, Nishikori experiences a rush of blood to the head, and belts an inside out forehand 6 feet over the baseline. He then closes out the match with a service winner to the Cilic backhand.
Let's be honest - his is not the most aesthetically appealing game in tennis. Not many will watch him play and wonder how he does it because it is as obvious as his game. An outstanding first and second serve that serves him well whether or not he's under duress, a heavy forehand that clears the net with plenty of margin, but still pushes his opponent behind the baseline, and the option to hit a two-handed backhand for penetration, or a slice for defense, gives Johnson a lot of options to compete. And competing is what the man does best. Just ask Bernard Tomic, Grigor Dimitrov and Jack Sock - three celebrated and talented opponents this week at the Citi Open whose heads rolled off the block of his guillotine.
You might not know it from watching him play, but Johnson, is a two-time NCAA singles champion from USC. In 2011 he took care of the much heralded Rhyne Williams of the University of Tennessee, and in 2012, Eric Quigley of the University of Kentucky. Both of his opponents play a style which is more in line with what one might associate with an ATP tour-ready game - and neither has been heard from since. That's because neither of them has the one element in their game that Johnson has in spades - 100% pure American steel.
If Johnson struggles coming over the backhand, he can slice it deep pushing the ball through the court and force his opponent to generate all his own pace while retreating. This is a skill that few players possess, even in the professional ranks, and it has been the one element of his game that has taken Johnson further up the international ladder in the last two years, than any of his more illustrious contemporaries. The serve is by far the strongest part of his game, if not for the pure pace of it, then certainly from the spin, accuracy and reliability. Aside from the occasional blip, like the double fault that cost him the first set against Australia's Bernard Tomic, Johnson's serve is as difficult to attack as any in the game. Hit with an exceptional amount of spin, giving him the option to attack from the baseline, or follow it to net, it is laboriously constructed, but it is a labor of love. The options available to him with the serve mean that even if a player gets a beat on one delivery, there are three or four other reliable ones that he can go to to keep the returner honest.
But most significantly in his arsenal, Johnson doesn't suffer fools when it comes to competing - unlike some players who seem to find solace in putting in a good effort, he's not here to play the straight man to someone else's punchline. The number next to his name in the draw is a meaningless to Johnson as it is deceptive to his opponents. A talented European who thinks that he might have an easy time of it with Johnson's gripping an groaning with every shot, will find himself on the wrong end of a junkyard dog's bite. And while others may prefer the streamlined grace of a greyhound, gliding about the court looking for space between the rain drops to place their shots, Johnson would just as readily put a hole in your chest, as the back fence...either way, as long as he wins the point. And boy, is he winning a lot of points lately.
An oddity of his career is that he is currently coached by a player with whom he might have teamed at USC, had they been born two years closer to each other. In the brief period that Peter Lucassen has worked directly with him, Johnson appears to have come to terms with the likelihood that success as a professional will depend less on his ability to dominate his opponents, than his ability not to be dominated. "Go ahead and try", he says, "it ain't gonna happen - not today, not tomorrow...not ever." And in a game driven towards homeostasis, Johnson's margin, athleticism, and dogged determination not to concede even the least significant of points, gives him the edge over the litany of pampered former junior phenoms who are learning the hard way that talent will only get you so far. Johnson does not appear to suffer from such delusions, and it is the strength of that acceptance, and the game he has constructed to make the most of it, that has left him one of two Americans left standing at the Citi Open.
I was struck by Johnson's match with Bernard Tomic the other day - though most were there to catch a glimpse of l'Enfant Terrible of Australian tennis, Johnson won the majority of the crowd over, not just because he is American, but because he plays with such American values: nobody cares how you get to the top, as long as you get there. With support from the crowd irrelevant to him, we probably felt better for giving him support than he did for receiving it - such is the depth of his concentration. Time and again, as Tomic tried to engage the funny bone of the intimate audience of Grandstand 1, and even on occasion his opponent, Johnson responded the only way he knows how - with a glare that would make Josie Wales do a double take, and a ferocity of resistance that might have saved Cassidy and Sundance.
The loose fitting clothes, the ever present baseball cap, and the simultaneously stiff and languid gait, belies a physical force to his game that leaves audiences and his opponents shaking their head in admiration. What drives someone to fight, scratch and struggle as he does? He doesn't appear to enjoy it. His is a frosty disposition, which seems to have no patience for even a single point lost, and if you didn't know any better, Johnson's resolute competitiveness almost appears masochistic. The truth is something more pleasantly sinister - he is, in fact, a sadist, prepared to put his opponent through the most miserable two hours of his life, if he wants to prevail. In doing so, he may find himself with nothing left in the next round, and if the roles are reversed, and Johnson wins, he'll do it all again to the next sucker who takes him for granted.
Perhaps two years of winning the NCAA championships has prepared Johnson in a way that breezing through the junior circuit, and earning the easy money that comes to so many of the Bolletieri brethren who show promise and turn professional before their fruits have ripened, has not. Perhaps, the education he received in college, including the commitment to learn from those who know more than him, the sense of independence that living on your own with nobody to tell you to go here and there or eat this and that, and the physical strength to break his body down every day, and build it back up the next (just a little bit better-stronger-faster each time), is exactly the kind of education that all of his contemporaries who eschewed the pursuit of knowledge for the pursuit of early glory, are missing out on.
I don't know how good Steve Johnson will be - he may win some tournaments, he may reach the top 20, and he may be a part of the hallowed US Davis Cup team. But one thing is for certain about Steve Johnson - the most admirable thing about him - if there's a stone unturned, he'll find it...and fire it right between your eyes.
King Kei slew the Australian Goliath today, in the first quarterfinal of the Citi Open at Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC. The match pitted one of the best biggest serves in the game, against one of the best returns in the game. And like the key in most matches on grass, where the serve is universally assumed to be the deciding factor, it was the player (ostensibly) bringing the least to the table in this regard, that prevailed.
Finding himself in a spot of trouble in his third service game of the first set, with an outstanding backhand return winner up the line from Nishikori, Groth bore down and served an ace. Then in a neutral rally in the next point, after getting pushed wide, Groth hit his best backhand of the match: a crosscourt backhand winner that left Nishikori flailing. To win the game at 40-15, he hit a comfortable 117mph wide serve in the deuce court, before finishing the point with an inside out forehand volley off of a heavy cross court return from Nishikori. After winning both of his first service games without a hint of his improved overall game, Groth sent a message to Nishikori that, even without an ace from him, it wasn't going to all the rising sun warrior's way.
Standing 6 inches shorter than his gargantuan opponent, it was impressive to me the way Nishikori's technique on nearly every shot was, not only superior to Groth's in its production, but in effect. Whereas Groth may have had the liberty of biding his time against his previous three opponents, before bludgeoning his way to net, that was not the case today. The irony of that condition is that, in many ways, the fewer decisions Groth has to make in the point, the better he does, and would it were not for the significant gap in quality between the two, the directive to shorten the points as quickly as possible, may have served the behemoth better than it in fact did.
In his fourth service game, after two solid returns, and three errors from Groth, he hit two aces, then off of a second serve, Nishikori chubbed the return, which Groth handled with an inside out forehand volley, eliciting an error. A few points, and some beautiful first volleys later, Groth faced a fifth break point in the proverbial 7th game, and after double-faulting in the deuce court, Nishikori promptly jumped on the opportunity with an outstanding return off a poorly placed first serve up the T, and eventually ran away with the set.
There are always questions about the extent to which a player with an enormous serve can benefit from it in the modern game, because the string and racquet technology frequently allow the returner, if they are sufficiently gifted in hand eye coordination, to put the ball back at the server's feet before he's reached his optimal court position to defend the net. Today, as soon as Nishikori got a beat on Groth's first serve, anything less than a perfectly placed bomb was returned with interest, and Groth was ironically unable to handle the pace of his own serve. Despite being up 0-30 in the game following his break, Groth was unable to get to net quickly enough, either in the rally, off of his approach shots, or off of his serve, to do what he does best - devour the net with his broad wing span, and massive upper body and lower body strength. Again and again, the quickest hands in tennis were a blur as he burnished a trail of felt whizzing by Groth's ear whenever he got a good look at a pass.
Along the way, Groth amazed us with several 145+ serves up the T, as well as the slider in the ad court that, if his opponent wants to hit it he'll have to make a trip into the deuce court to find it. Groth actually hit a serve 145mph out wide in the ad court, meaning it was in all likelihood 10mph faster up the T. But generally speaking the match, and it's result, never really appeared to be anywhere but on the strings of the #2 seed. Had Groth been able to consult with his coach, he most likely would have counseled him to stop hitting inaccurate flat serves in either court, and concentrate on creating as much movement after the bounce on his serve as possible, with any combination of topspin and slice that he could muster. The fact that Nishikori was more effective on his serve doing just that, makes one wonder how the biggest serve in tennis would fare at 25% less it's top speed, but 25% more spin. It would also have the added benefit of giving him more time to close the net. As it were he had neither, and it cost him a chance at the biggest win of his career and a chance to enter the top 50 for the first time.
For that he'll have to qualify for Montreal - either way, Nishikori won't have that problem.
The second set started in a similar vein, with Groth feeling the pressure of Nishikori's return, by now consistently more effective than in the first, being forced into a number of highly pressured second serves. Early on he was up to the task, holding his serve in the first game after several deuces, but as the match wore on, it felt like a matter of time before the result proceeded to its most natural conclusion. It wasn't until the 5th game of the set (Groth's third service game of the set) that Nishikori actually bothered to hit a lob - the first a topspin offering off the backhand that won him the first point, and a forehand defensive lob, that had enough height to clear row Z, which elongated the point and forced Groth into a tentative half court groundstroke that Nishikori desperately chased down and dropped 12 inches from the Groth's side of the net. Groth should have handled it easily, but the wind got a hold of it, pushed the ball within 6 inches of the on court camera, and disrupted him sufficiently to send the ball long into the open court.
It was at that moment that the match was won, because despite being up one more break point in the set, Groth never really looked like he was in with a chance to break Nishikori - ironic given the disparity in their serves, but fairly obvious given the equally patent disparity in their returns.
It turns out that was the most important, and deciding factor in the match, as it always is in men's tennis.
There aren't too many countries where tennis is king - maybe France during Roland Garros - but the pervasiveness of the game belies the white underbelly of that persistent question that just won't go away...how good of an athlete is a tennis player anyway? I'm not talking about your weekend warrior, but the real McCoy. Few would question the innate gifts, and athletic prowess of the so-called big 4, but they would not likely (and perhaps unjustly) be considered for anyone's list of the 10 most athletic people on the planet, would they? I've often wondered why. After all, most tennis players have played other sports growing up, and many had to make a choice of which sport to play professionally - Nadal, Federer and Murray all had legitimate shots at playing professional soccer, and at 6'9" John Isner could have taken a basketball scholarship, which would have surprised nobody in his native North Carolina.
But they didn't, and therein lies the rub, in my opinion. You see, in other sports, like football, you have Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders and to a lesser extent John Elway, prove without a shadow of a doubt their qualities as a professional in baseball, and the supreme athleticism of basketball players who've switched to football (like Tony Gonzales), leaves little doubt that this is a viable transition. Hell, even Michael Jordan hit .250 in the minor leagues, and he hadn't played baseball since he was a kid! Now, I have serious doubts as to whether any of these guys could ever pick up a tennis racquet with any hope of turning athletic prowess in their chosen sport, into a fighting chance in tennis - in fact, I don't think a single one of them could.
But it seems that we have, in the broad-shouldered, tatoo-sporting, super-serving, Australian behemoth Sam Groth, an answer to the question of whether tennis players could play other sports professionally, and through him, we could start to have an appreciation for the raw athleticism of tennis players. 50 long years after Ion Tiriac completed, what would today be considered, the altogether unimaginable transition from the 1964 Olympic ice-hockey team of Romania, to the 1969 Davis Cup finalist Romanian team in 1969, we have Groth.
He was a strong junior player - with his partner Andrew Kennaugh of Great Britain, he finished runner up in the 2005 Boy's doubles final to Jessie Levine and Michael Shabaz. A shoulder surgery, failed marriage and an extremely brief stint as an on court coach to his wife Jarmila Gajdosova (who famously told him that day in 2011 at Brisbane not to "...talk to me like a f---ing tourist") saw him burn out from the game and take up Australian Rules football with local second tier power house Vermont Football Club on the outskirts of Melbourne. For those of you who've never seen Australian Rules Football, it's a cross between rugby, and ultimate frisbee, played with a familiarly oblong ball, by athletes that all look like they could either win a slam dunk contest, or at the very least handle themselves if it got messy on the wrong side of town.
Physically, Groth fits in with that crowd just fine.
Upon returning to the game in 2013, he seemed to be uninformed of the changes in the game, that said serve and volley was as dead as the wood racquet, and proceeded to work his way through the challenger and ITF circuits (along the way hitting an ATP record 163 mph serve) until he made his way back into the hallowed territory of the top 100. Last year, he bludgeoned his way into the main draw at the Australian Open, just missed out on the show at Roland Garros, lost a tough 3-setter to Alexander Dolgopolov (a former champion at the Citi Open in 2012) at Wimbledon, and proceeded to make news at the US Open where he lost gallantly to Roger Federer in the second round. Along the way he captured the scalp of his compatriot Marinko Matosevic (himself a full-bodied exponent of the power game) before losing by one break in all three straight sets to the greatest player in the history of the game.
This year, his claim to fame is an unlikely and heroic performance in a Davis Cup cause that appeared entirely lost to the hugely proud and patriotic Australians, when the hopes of the nation, riding on the narrow shoulders of Thanassi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrigos, were revived by an inspiring doubles performance from Groth, who manifests physiclally, all the grit and determination that is the hallmark of his illustrious, and retiring partner, Lleyton Hewitt. Having obliterated their unfancied rivals from Kazakhstan in the doubles, the pair were so convincing in their performance and temperament, that they usurped their younger teammates in the singles the next day and proceeded to perform a one two-combination that would have made (the Australian) Tommy Burns proud.
This year at the Citi Open, Groth took on and beat Victor Troicki in two tough sets, surprising those who observed the match from the mesh fence behind Court 1 with the frequency with which his serves in the ad court had his Serbian opponent chasing shadows looking for the point of contact in the deuce court, such was the power and spin he imposed on the ball. With deft touch at net, and good skills of anticipation, time and again he defended the net as well as most modern players defend the baseline. He served and volleyed his way to the end result he sought - to neutralize his presumed technical inferiority from the baseline with an unknown dexterity and ease with contortion at net. Along the way he showed off a forehand that at any given moment can put his opponent out of his misery with power and spin, and a backhand which, although frequently hit off the back foot, works just fine when he hits it hard enough to push his opponent behind the baseline...just where he wants him.
It is this unusual combination of girth and nimbleness, reminding this observer of the special skills and talents of a strawberry blonde wunderkind from Leimen, so frequently absent from men of considerable size and strength, that makes it unlikely that even the fittest of the fit in other sports, would necessary translate into an irresistible force in tennis. There are specific skills and capabilities that are necessary in the game, making it as unlikely that someone over 6'4" will win the games most coveted titles, as someone that same size to possess all the skills necessary to play the game the old fashioned way. Groth has many of them, but not all of them...at least not yet.
I observed Groth working mercilessly on a Spanish footwork drill, where the coach with a ball in hand, directs the player up and back, left and right in a series of movements that, if traced on the court, would have the shape of an inverted 5-point star. Never lifting himself above or beyond the crouch position of a lightweight sumo, the burning in his thighs is as painful as it is productive, and the resulting pop (or should I say "boom") in his serve is as much due to the power in his legs as it is the rotation of those coat-hanger shoulders that spread as wide as a Texas bull.
Sam Groth may not win the Citi Open, but his impact will be felt by his opponents, line judges, ball boys any ill-advised spectators who take their eye off the court when he's serving. But through his exploits, wherever they may lead, tennis may just have in Groth its athlete that creates the appreciation for the raw athletic prerequisites assumed away in other sports.
Who the hell is Louisa Chirico? Well, for starters she's a woman who's had two victories over top 50 players in the first two rounds of the Citi Open, and finds herself in the quarterfinal of the event. That wouldn't be so impressive if she herself had a pedigree to speak of - she doesn't. She's a 19-year old wild card entrant who herself is ranked 128, and has never won a tournament at the WTA tour level. Her main claim to fame was winning the French Open wild card tournament, and proclaiming that she would have liked to play Serena Williams as a reward - a bit like winning the lottery and then looking forward to paying all the taxes and fees. But Chirico is fearless and one gets the feeling that competing with the best players in the world brings a kind of satisfaction of vanity that is required for precocious success in tennis. And her prospects of doing so are greatly assisted by the paucity of tactical acumen required by her style of play - if she were a man you'd say she wins based on balls and braun - a very Spanish style of play. For a woman, I call it big babe tennis, and Chirico is definitely a big babe. Whether she can continue today against Sloan Stephens (another big babe) in the same vain, is anybody's guess. But the way she's playing, and the fact that Sloan Stephens does not have the most cerebral game in the world, I'd say her chances are 50/50.
Lleyton Hewitt said good-bye to the tournament he won in 2004 - honored as a former champion, never called to task for his racial outburst in 2001, and well received by the tennis audience with probably the most black people he'll see in an audience of US tennis fans, Hewitt returned to the Citi Open over and over again. Accustomed to the hot conditions, he would have taken advantage of the quick surface that does much to facilitate the penetration of his strokes, which have always had the deceptive quality of being deep without giving his opponent much pace to speak of to work with. This quality in the early stages of his career, before all the issues with his hip restricted his movement, allowed him to consistently pull off a kind of tennis jujitsu, where you use the power of the bigger, stronger player against himself, until he looks like a giant buffoon power lifter, tearing his own arms off as he tries to clean and jerk a new world record. And if Hewitt weren't such a reprehensible personality when on the court, with the celebrating of his opponents errors, the confrontations with his opponents, the periodic abuse of officials, one might find more beauty in the Gilbertian quality of his tactical acumen. As it stands, I'm less than enamored of either his coming or going. Thanks to Feliciano Lopez, he's going.
Speaking of going, Bernard Tomic is going just as he came - shrouded in cynicism. I watched him practice Tuesday morning, and he looked very loose and relaxed, laughing and joking with James Duckworth who had a match later (that he lost to Kei Nishikori). I found it refreshing that after all he'd been through at Wimbledon with his Tennis Australia comments, then in Miami Beach with his Dade County police comments, that he seemed to enjoy himself a thousand miles away from all that misery visited upon him(self). Perhaps the purity of his time on the court was precisely the tonic needed to resolve some of the tension that must surely have built up over the last couple of difficult months.
Then I watched his match with Steve Johnson.
Now, to say that a player isn't giving his best effort is a serious accusation, one that I myself was reluctant to sign on to. After all, to be inside a player's mind and body is impossible, and without such an invasion, knowledge is inevitably subjugated to perception, and perception leaves us only with speculation. But not all speculation is equally tenuous, and the case of Bernard Tomic against Steve Johnson, is hardly tenuous. First, I noted that throughout the match, any time Tomic went down by two points on Johnson's serve, he made almost no movements at all towards the return of serve - and on the (frequent) occasion that the serve was hit within his wingspan Tomic's effort to return was as enthusiastic as it was succesful. I note also that frequently when he had sitters from Johnson's outstretched racquet, he would hardly move his feet at all as he blew through the shot for a winner - in fact at some point he hit an overhead drop shot, such was his level of comfort, not exactly the kind of shot one would expect from an uber competitive player.
In my opinion, Tomic is the better tennis player than Steve Johnson - he uses the ball to do his bidding, whereas Johnson appears to be fighting it with every stroke. Tomic easily switches from heavy spin to short slice, to deep flat, sometimes even side-spin - Johnson hits with heavy topspin whether or not it's in his interest to do so, and frequently it isn't. Nevertheless, one other important thing Johnson always does is chase the ball - every ball - regardless of whether he had a chance to reach it. Tomic frequently watched balls go by him from a safe distance - at first it looked like he was hoping the ball would go out, but at some point I started to get the feeling that he wanted the opposite, and commensurately to be put out of his misery. One particular game in the third set that went to something like 7 deuces, Johnson hit winners up the line of 3 ad court second serve returns in a row. Tomic watched each of them with a smile. Later in the game, Johnson figured, if he was making so little effort on the second serve, why not do the same on the first. As a matter of act, Tomic went wide in the deuce court so frequently, I started to wonder why Johnson wasn't keying on that and blowing a hole through the back fence. He almost did just that for another 2 points in a row. And Tomic smiled at every one of them, like a kid in his driveway, oddly smiling at perfect strangers as they drive by.
There were moments in the match where Tomic tried to engage Johnson in one or two of his running jokes - at some point Johnson's attempted pass hit the tape and then jumped up into Tomic's chest. Tomic looked over his shoulder in search of a smile or an apology - Johnson gave him neither. Before serving the next point he gave a gallic shrug and plaintively asked, "Why mate, why?" as in, "Why did you have to do that to little old me [Mr. Beauregard]". Johnson stared back blankly - his lack of facial expression a Nishikorian indication of his irritation. Later in the match, Johnson hit a forehand close to the baseline that was called out, which Tomic disagreed, and softly pleaded with the umpire that he wanted to concede the point. The umpire shook his head, insisting that the call was right. Tomic then asked to challenge the ball, which the umpire again refused (on what grounds, I don't know, but he refused nonetheless). Not satisfied, Tomic insisted, loud enough for anyone in the stands or walking behind the court to hear, that Johnson challenge the call. "Challenge Steve, challenge!" he said, feet spread eagle still unmoved from the end of the point, another gallic shrug, and palms pointed to the sky. The crowd laughed at his insistence, as did the umpire, but Johnson, who had initially turned his back and ignored him, turned to face him and responded again with another blank stare. Was he on to Tomic's ruse, or just wary of it?
I found the exchange entirely Freudian - it seemed to me Tomic really did want the call challenged, not because he thought it was out, but because (like so many who incorrectly challenged) hoped it was in - only here I think he wanted the ball to be in so that he could be one step closer to ending the match. In fact, the very next service game Tomic burned one up the T, Johnson hit a very short reply, Tomic charged the net, feigned a drop shot, then in the style of Federer hit a slice forehand deep - the ultimate tomfoolery that makes an opponent appear to be a puppet made to humiliate himself on the end of a string. Only Tomic promptly hit the slice forehand 6 feet out and humiliated himself - well he would have been humiliated if one assumes that he gave a shit.
It went on like this mercilessly, and towards the end of the match, in one of the longer deuce games, which conveniently persisted the illusion of effort, one had the feeling that Tomic grew irritated with Johnson that he was so profligate in all the opportunities he was giving him to finish him off. Tomic didn't appear to have any trouble controlling points when he wanted to, and although Johnson was making all the right moves, like a rhythmless enthusiast, desperately learning the moves to a Michael Jackson video, it was all there but horrific to behold nonetheless. Johnson is a committed professional, and will almost certainly maximize his results - he's serious and leaves no stone unturned...he just doesn't have a lot of stones. That match took an hour longer than it should have, although he prevailed in the end. If Tomic had tried as hard to win that match, as he tried to make it look like he was trying, the match would have been done an hour earlier as well - only the result reversed.
Speaking of a match that took longer than it should have, Grigor Dimitrov won his 2nd round encounter with Guido Pella 6-4, 6-1 7-6, 6-4. He should have won the match in less than an hour, but his old junior nemesis from Argentina held firm in the first and broke him precisely when the Bulgarian should have mercilessly closed out the first set. In fact, down a break at 5-4, Guido Pella proceeded to break, hold and break again, and had the set in his hands. But the South American lefty's convoluted and thoroughly concocted forehand broke down at the absolute worst times, and he wound up losing tamely in a tie-break. The second was a repeat of the first, with Dimitrov up 5-1, with two breaks. Then Pella held, broke and held, to bring himself within one break of equalling his feat in the first. In his interview after the match, Dimitrov intimated he was experimenting with going for his shots, almost as if he wanted to test the limit of how precise he could be if it was necessary. Well, it wasn't necessary, and he found out what the other side of the limit was last night, almost to his own detriment. Fortunately for him, he's come a long way since the juniors, and he was able to reel it in when he needed to. We'll see if he was experimenting or merely missing the mark, because I have a feeling that Johnson will not give him the gifts that Guido Pella did. Although on the basis of his performance against Bernard Tomic, I may live to regret that assertion. I was impressed (as I have been since I first saw him play in 2011) with his game, but unimpressed with this result for Dimitrov. I have a feeling Johnson will also be underwhelmed, in which case Dimitrov better figure out the right side of that limit, right quick.
Speaking of right quick, boy was that a quick and terrible journey for Andy Murray, who was eliminated from both the doubles and singles in the first round from the home tournament of his clothing sponsor, Under Armour. A bit like Lewis Hamilton going out of the race on the first lap of the German Grand Prix...if there were a German Grand Prix this year (but I digress). I have to say, Murray made an effort of it - he just came up against that terrible condition that all the top players fear. A guy who has a lot of tools in his kit, but is consistently inconsistent, just happens to put together the entirety of his arsenal...just for you. Gabashvili was hitting first serves consistently at or just below the 130 mark, which is unusual for him. Combined with a mammoth forehand, and a backhand that easily switched from cross-court to up the line, he presented the kind of problems that are normally reserved for only the best opponents Murray will face.
After going down an early break in the first, Murray found his way back to 4-4, then proceed to get broken for the set after some profligate serving and unforced errors trying to do the exact opposite of what got him back in the set. Namely, rather than daring the Georgian to see who would outlast whom in the cross court rallies, he attempted twice to change direction on the backhand up the line, which he's normally good at, but not off of the depth of Gabashvili's offerings last night. In the second, Murray settled down and did what he does best, hit harder and deeper to the same spots until he elicits a soft reply. In the ultimate game, Gabashvili was still the aggressor, and looked like he was getting exactly what he wanted down set point with long points shortened by his power up the line, eliciting a high defensive lob. Now I happened to watch Gabashvili practice overheads for about 15 minutes in his pre-match hit with Vasek Pospisil. So he would have been beside himself when he dumped his overhead 3 feet wide of the ad court sideline - he was, because before the score was called he had slammed his racquet in to the ground in disgust.
The third set was tense and the quality of tennis high. Although Gabashvili was resolute despite a calf-injury that appeared to be tempered by adrenaline, Murray was in control and served for it at 5-4. But after a couple of uncharacteristic (even for this match) unforced errors, Murray sent a backhand long and they traded holds until the tie-break. Murray went up 4-3, but wouldn't win another point after that. He again reminded anyone who would listen that it was his first hard court tournament since March, but that doesn't explain the loss, which was the result of Gabashvili playing exceptionally well for an exceptionally long time. Murray, who was his usual steady self, never really raised the level of his game, and it cost him the match. Here in DC, where only his reputation is at stake (and an extra 500 points is nothing to shake a stick at) it will be seen as an anomaly, but I found his entire stay here in DC to be subdued, from his interviews to his training sessions to his matches. In my mind I always found an excuse, it was hot in the presser, it was hot on court, it was a doubles match, and finally he hadn't played on hard courts since March...
Time will tell, but I have a feeling that Murray is displeased with something in his camp that hasn't come out yet. Frequently in the match, he looked over at his camp, and his answer to my question about using hawkeye data in practice in Miami this year, leads me to believe that something is amiss, of which his disappointing performance is a symptom. If it isn't resolved, like most immune responses, left untreated, will eventually kill his him - or at least his chances at the US Open.
I'm not going to lie - I love almost everything about Sam Stosur, and I have for years. One look at the second most famous pair of guns in women's tennis, and knowing what she came through 8 years ago to recover from Lyme disease and to come back, like the bionic woman, better-stronger-faster, only the most cynical of cynics would suggest that she is anything but 100% committed to being the best player than she can be. That may not seem like much if you assume that such commitment is universal, but from the mouths of (big tennis) babes in this piece, in fact, it is as refreshing as it is rare. On the basis of this commitment alone, the level of admiration for her, from all corners of the sports world, ought to be very high indeed.
And then when you get a look at her game, it's hard not to appreciate that as much (if not more) than her commitment. She hits one of the heaviest serves on tour, with a combination of pace and spin that is generally unseen in women's tennis. It helps that her shoulders are broader than mine, so that she can bring the racquet head up and over her crown the way she must, to make the ball leap off the court the ways he does. But the thing that really gets it done on that shot is her legs - nobody leaps up and into their serve like she does, and that's the main reason for its effect.
Similarly, on her forehand, she has a modern version of the stroke that minimizes the all racquet head movement prior to the point of contact. Whilst keeping the racquet head entirely on the forehand side of her body, she launches the full force of her legs and core into the stroke, with a follow through so full and violent, she finishes with a curl across her chest, or over her head, almost out of necessity. Both of those strokes impart more top spin on the ball than any other player on tour. And while her technical asymmetry, (a forehand far superior to her backhand) more characteristic of the ATP than the WTA I might add, presents defensive challenges for her, from an attacking perspective, no player is more capable of controlling the center of the court. And because her stroke production is efficient, she can do it equally well on all surfaces.
I asked Sam, in her pre-tournament press-conference, whether she and her coach talked about or worked on any conscious adjustments to her game as she made an unusual transition, this year from grass to clay to the hard courts in the span of six weeks. Her response was at once surprising and revealing: she said that while the clay is best suited to her game, and adjustments have to be made regardless of whatever surface you're coming from or going to, the vast majority of adjustments are the result of a natural (but accelerated) evolution of her game, and that is, in my opinion a testament to her technical efficiency. The fewer the moving parts, the fewer the adjustments that need to be made, and that bodes well.
Speaking of technical asymmetry, it didn't prevent her from pulling off one of the greatest upsets and most comprehensive major final victories, over Serena Williams, in 2011 at the US Open. There, she used the slice backhand more effectively than I've ever seen her do before or since, and the result was equally unique. Unfortunately that match is known more for this little tantrum from Serena, than for her brilliant technical and tactical mastery of the game, which I admired from start to finish, but the thing to remember in that match, is that Stosur had just lost to Serena in Los Angeles earlier that year, and earlier in Serena's comeback. So if there were a time for her to sneak one in on her more illustrious rival, it would have been on the West Coast - but fortunately for Sam, she used the information from the first encounter, to great effect in the second.
I've always admired players who ignore the illusory impact of the overwhelming head-to-head record (one of tennis' greatest myths) and persevere with both their mind and their technical arsenal. As the Romans used to put it, one should return from battle either with their shield or on it, and Stosur risked looking like the occasion had gotten the best of her (as it did in 2010 at Roland Garros against Francesca Schiavone), had her tactical approach caused her to fall on her face. But to her credit, she left it all on the court, mentally and physically, and deservedly won.
Since then, Sam's results have been more reminiscent of the limited success she enjoyed prior to what has turned out to be the zenith of her career. To the best of my ability, I haven't been able to figure out why. And that's why her victory over Irlina Falconi today at the Citi Open, the 501st in the career best female Australian player since Evonne Goolagong, was so encouraging for me to observe. Coming off of a comeback victory in the Bad Gastein final two weeks ago, Sam's game appears to have turned a corner, and the timing couldn't be better. The pace on her first serve was everything you'd expect it to be, and would have been uniquely impressive had it not been for the placement thereof. Time and again she hit spots on the court with pace 20 to 30 mph faster than her opponent. And no matter how many times Falconi belted one flat cross court forehand after another, the tight production of her own forehand not only kept Stosur in the point, but allowed her to get a foothold in the return of serve that gave her an insurmountable edge in the match.
But what I really like about the way Sam's game looks right now is her movement - nobody in the women's game floats around the court like Sam does. You'd think quickness was a strength, but that's not the same as having world class movement. At the end of the day, the paramount objective of any player's footwork, but especially Sam's is to get in position to hit her shots. And the most important shot of all is the forehand. Sam's ability to shuffle around the outside of the ball, in order to go big on the inside out forehand, and set up the put away to the other corner, is her footwork. And these days, it's as good as it's ever been, and then some. I, for one, would be delighted to see her carry that through to the 2015 US Open.
She'll need to if she is become (once again) the only player on tour to have beaten Serena Williams at her home major (with no asterisk attached) since Justine Henin did it in 2007.
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