Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Andy Murray beat Milos Raonic 6-7 (5) 6-4 6-3 to win the Aegon Championships in London, Great Britain
Florian Mayer beat Alexander Zverev 6-2 5-7 6-3 to win the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany
Madison Keys beat Barbora Strycova 6-3 6-4 to win the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, Great Britain
Caroline Garcia beat Anastasija Sevastova 6-3 6-4 to win the Mallorca Open in Mallorca, Spain
Dominic Thiem beat Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-7 (2) 6-4 6-4 to win the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany
Nicolas Mahut beat Gilles Muller 6-4 6-4 to win the Ricoh Open men’s singles in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
SAYING
“To win here for a fifth time means a lot to me.” – Andy Murray, who became the first man to win five times at Queen’s Club.
“Congratulations to Andy for winning this tournament for a fifth time, but I’m sure it’s not nearly as special as having your first Fathers’ Day as well.” – Milos Raonic, after losing to Andy Murray in the Aegon Championships final.
“Playing a final is always special, but this was different. … I know winning a title doesn’t happen every week.” – Nicolas Mahut, after winning the Ricoh Open for the third time.
“For now, this is my best season. When you win your first title, you never know if you’ll win another. It was a dream to win my first, and now I have three, plus the French Open in doubles. The work I’m doing with my team is definitely paying off.” – Carolina Garcia, after winning the Mallorca Open.
“I played really good tennis in all my matches. Against Roger obviously it was a great highlight. Unfortunately, it had to end like this. But it happens. This is tennis. You can’t change it now.” – Alexander Zverev, who beat Roger Federer in the semifinals in Halle, Germany, only to lose the final to Florian Mayer.
“It was great to be back here and playing in Spain, and especially in my first tournament (since winning the French Open) it was even more special. Hopefully next year it will be better.” – Garbiñe Muguruza, after losing her first match on grass at the Mallorca Open.
“She’s no flash in the pan. She’s had to do it in her time, but now she’s ready.” Chris Evert, noting that Madison Keys could be a factor at Wimbledon.
“It was nice of Ivan to stick around for the presentation.” – Andy Murray, joking about his new coach, Ivan Lendl, who left immediately after Murray won at Queen’s Club for a record fifth time.
“It feels absolutely unreal because I came here without any expectations basically, and I’m pretty sure that it’s the most special title for me.” – Dominic Thiem, who won the Mercedes Cup, upsetting Roger Federer on his way to the final.
“It’s much better. I served normally last week, served a lot of aces and also quite a few into the net because I haven’t found my rhythm yet. But at the end it was quite good. I was happy.” – Roger Federer, talking about his back, which forced him to miss the French Open.
“I love hardcourts. A lot of people think my favorite surface is grass, but actually I grew up on hardcourts, so I prefer that. I feel right at home one it.” – Venus Williams.
SETS QUEEN’S CLUB MARK
For the fifth time in his career, Andy Murray has won at Queen’s Club. That snaps a record of four titles he shared with Boris Becker, Roy Emerson and John McEnroe. But there were shaky moments. With McEnroe as one of his coaches, Canadian Milos Raonic won the opening set and took a 3-0 lead in the second. Murray, though, wasn’t to be denied. A blistering cross-court service return in the fifth game allowed Murray to finally break Roanic’s moment. After that, it was the Scot who was in charge the rest of the way, winning his first tournament since Ivan Lendl returned as his coach. “This tournament has loads of history … it’s a pleasure to play in front of someone like John (McEnroe) … and any time you can do something a bit better than someone like him, it’s an amazing feeling,” Murray said during the presentation ceremony. The tournament has been played since 1890. Murray’s previous titles came in 2009, ’11, ’13 and ’15.
SIZZLING
Florian Mayer picked the right time to get hot. Ranked 192nd in the world, Mayer defeated his German compatriot Alexander Zverev to win the Gerry Weber Open. The 32-year-old is the lowest-ranked champion in the 24-year history of the Wimbledon warm-up event. “I would say it’s the biggest win in my career to win a 500 event here in Germany on grass,” said Mayer, who was ranked in the Top 30 before his career was interrupted by an adductor injury. His second career title – he won Bucharest in 2013 – was clinched on his fifth match point. “I had a hard time with so many injuries and not playing tournaments,” Mayer said. So it’s a special moment now for me to come back and win a 500 tournament. It helps a lot to be back in the Top 100 also.” Both finalists pulled off big upsets in the semifinals. The 19-year-old Zverev knocked off defending champion Roger Federer while Mayer stunned seventh-ranked Dominic Thiem. “It was a positive week,” Zverev said.
SHOWING HER POWER
Madison Keys is happy, which could spell trouble for the rest of the players on the WTA tour. The American had no problems defeating Czech veteran Barbora Strycova to capture the grass-court Birmingham title. “I love this surface, so the longer I am on it, the happier I am,” Keys said after collecting her second WTA trophy. Seeded seventh, Keys put on display her best match of the week against the unseeded Strycova, who was playing in her second Birmingham final in three years. The 21-year-old champion made more errors in the second set, allowing Strycova to use her tenacity and stamina to threaten to turn the match around. But while Strycova had three break points early in the second set and a fourth break point in the eighth game, Keys simply overpowered her opponent to come away with the victory.
SUPER TEENS
Germany’s Alexander Zverev joined a small list of young players who could be the next group to dominate tennis when he upset Roger Federer at the Gerry Weber Open 7-6 (4) 5-7 6-3. The 19-year-old Zverev is the first teenager to defeat Federer since then-19-year-old Andy Murray pulled off the feat 10 years ago in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. Zverev also is the first teen to knock off a Top 5 opponent since 18-year-old Borna Coric stopped Murray in Dubai last year. Coric was a year younger when he beat Rafael Nadal in Basel, Switzerland, in 2014, and Nick Kyrgios was 19 when he upset Nadal at Wimbledon the same year. Federer failed to reach the final in Halle for the first time in 11 consecutive appearances. The Swiss star was bidding for an unprecedented ninth title.
SELECT COMPANY
When he captured the rain-interrupted Mercedes Cup, Dominic Thiem became only the 29th man in the Open Era and the ninth active player to win titles on three different surfaces in the same year. His grass-court win in Stuttgart, Germany, followed a clay court title in Buenos Aires, Argentina; a clay-court win in Nice France, and a hard-court trophy in Acapulco, Mexico. Thiem captured his seventh ATP World Tour crown by stopping Philipp Kohlschreiber. When their match was halted by rain on Sunday, Kohlschreiber was leading 3-2 in the first-set tiebreak. “I didn’t play that well on grass over the past two years, and this tournament was so strong,” Thiem said. “I’m the winner here, I really cannot believe it.” On his way to the final, Thiem upset Roger Federer. He has won an ATP World Tour-best 45 matches this season.
SPECIAL WIN
Nicolas Mahut has a love affair with the Ricoh Open. The Frenchman stopped Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in a rain-delayed final to win the grass-court tournament for the third time. He last won the ‘s-Hertogenbosch title in 2013, the same year he won another grass-court event in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. “Getting the trophy is the most important thing,” Mahut said. “Winning the tournament (singles title) as the world number one in doubles is really special.” Mahut, who entered the tournament with a wild card, won his 60th career grass-court match in the rain-delayed final.
STEPS UP
By reaching the final of the Aegon Classic Birmingham, Madison Keys grabbed a spot in the WTA Top 10. She had been ranked 16th in the world going into the grass-court tournament. There have been 118 different players who have achieved a Top 10 ranking since the WTA rankings were introduced in 1975, and 27 of those have been Americans. But Key is the first American to reach the Top 10 since Serena Williams did so 17 years ago on April 5, 1999. Other Americans to break into the Top 10 in the last 25 years were Venus Williams in 1998, Chanda Rubin in 1996 and Lindsay Davenport in 1994. Since Serena and Venus are already in the Top 10, the entry into the select group by Keys makes it the first time since September 2005 that three Americans are in the WTA Top 10. That was when Davenport was ranked second, Venus seventh and Serena ninth.
SEPPI MILESTONE
When Andreas Seppi upset David Ferrer 6-3 6-4 at the Gerry Weber Open, it was his 300th match win. “For me, I never thought at the beginning of my career to go so far,” the 32-year-old Italian said. “I’m pretty happy to do it here in Halle (Germany). It’s a special tournament for me, especially beating Ferrer after being 0-9 in head-to-head. It was for sure a great day for me.”
SELECTED TOGETHER
It was not the return home Garbiñe Muguruza was hoping for. Playing her first match since winning the French Open, Muguruza was upset 6-3 6-4 by Kirsten Flipkens at the Mallorca Open. “I think it was very tough,” the Spaniard said, noting she couldn’t get comfortable on the grass court after capturing the clay-court Grand Slam event. “I barely had time to actually practice and enjoy the tournament. I wanted to play Mallorca so much and I tried, but then I went to the court and obviously I couldn’t find my rhythm.” Muguruza won her first major title in Paris by upsetting top-ranked Serena Williams in the final.
STRAIGHT IN
Lleyton Hewitt retired at the Australian Open in January, didn’t he? Apparently not in doubles. The former world number one and 2002 Wimbledon champion will return to the All England Club to play doubles with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson. Five other doubles teams received wild card entry into the main draw, including Kyle Edmund and James Ward, along with 2012 doubles champion Jonathan Marray and Adil Shamasdin.
Wimbledon officials also announced six of the eight men to receive wild cards into the singles main draw. They are Dustin Brown, Radek Stepanek, Liam Broady, Brydan Klein, Alexander Ward and James Ward.
SIGNED UP
In order to prepare for the Rio Olympic Games, Venus Williams will play the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, USA, which begins one week after Wimbledon. It will be Venus’ third appearance in Stanford in the last decade. “The Olympics is such a highlight, but at the same time it’s important to play tournaments so you can continue with success on the tour,” Williams said. “Also for me, it’s making sure I have a little bit of a break. This year I’ve been very successful. I will be starting out with Bank of the West, then playing one more event, then heading off to Rio is my plan.” The elder Williams sister is also entered in the Rogers Cup in Montreal. The Olympics tennis event is scheduled to be held from August 6-14.
SURFACE SWITCH
Switching from clay to grass? No problem. Just ask Caroline Garcia, who won her second title of 2016, the inaugural Mallorca Open where she stopped Anastasija Sevastova in the final. “I’m glad to win any tournament. It doesn’t matter what surface,” Garcia said. “When I arrived here it was my first tournament on grass this year, so I wasn’t expecting to go this far or win the trophy. It’s a great achievement after a long and difficult week, so I’m happy to be the winner.” She did it by besting Sevastova, who was ranked 36th in the world before injuries and illnesses forced her to briefly retire. The Latvian returned to the Top 100 earlier this year. All of that didn’t bother Garcia, who broke serve four times in the 85-minute finale. “It gives me a lot of confidence to head to Wimbledon with a title,” the Frenchwoman said. “I’d never played on grass with a lot of pleasure, but I think this week it changed a lot. Grass is a very difficult surface for everyone, but now that I’ve won one, maybe I’m a favorite (at Wimbledon), but a far-away favorite.”
STRAIGHT TO THE BANK
Austria’s Alexander Peya joined a select group when he teamed with Poland’s Lukasz Kubot to win their semifinal doubles match at the Gerry Weber Open. It was Peya’s 300th tour-level doubles win. In 2013, Peya was ranked a career-high third in the world in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. The pair lost the title match to Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram.
SENTENCE APPEALED
Maria Sharapova’s appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) seeking to have her two-year drug suspension thrown out or reduced has been put on a fast track. The CAS is expected to issue its decision no later than July 18. An independent tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) found that Sharapova had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation and suspended her for two years.
SANIA TOPS LIST
Sania Mirza has been selected as the Best Dress Sportsperson. In the survey conducted by an online ethnic marketplace, Craftsvilla.com, to celebrate World Ethnic Day and the crafts of India, Mirza received 62.9 percent of the votes. The online polls were open to customers of Craftsvilla.com from May 20 to June 5. Badminton star Saina Nehwal was second with 18.8 percent of the votes, followed by squash player Deepika Pallikal.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Birmingham: Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova beat Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3 7-6 (1)
Halle: Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram beat Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya 7-6 (5) 6-2
London: Pierre-Hughes Herbert and Nicolas Mahut beat Chris Guccione and Andre Sa 6-3 7-6 (5)
Mallorca: Gabriela Dabrowski and Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez beat Anna-Lena Friedsam and Laura Siegemund 6-4 6-2
SURFING
Eastbourne: www.lta.org.uk/major-events/Aegon-International-Eastbourne/
Nottingham: www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-open-nottingham/
Wimbledon: www.wimbledon.com/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$724,528 Aegon Open Nottingham, Nottingham, Great Britain, grass
WOMEN
$731,000 Aegon International Eastbourne, Eastbourne, Great Britain, grass
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN and WOMEN
Wimbledon, London, Great Britain, grass (first week)
