Novak Djokovic Wins Record-Breaking Title - Mondays with Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 to win the Western & Southern Open men’s singles in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Kiki Bertens beat Simona Halep 2-6 7-6 (6) 6-2 to win the Western & Southern Open women’s singles in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

Daniel Evans beat Jason Kubler 4-6 7-5 7-6 (3) to win the Odlum Brown Van Open men’s singles in Vancouver, British Columbia

Misaki Doi beat Heather Watson 6-7 (4) 6-1 6-4 to win the Odlum Brown Van Open women’s singles in Vancouver, British Columbia

SAYINGS

“Definitely one of the most special moments in my career. Achievements, making history in the sport that I truly love is a great privilege and honor and something that I’ll be very proud of for the rest of my life.” – Novak Djokovic, after winning in Cincinnati and becoming the first player to win all nine ATP World Tour 1000 tournaments.

“It was just awful. But it’s OK. He served well. But missing every second serve on the forehand side, I don’t know what that was about. I don’t even want to look for reasons why it happened. I just think it did.” – Roger Federer, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati title match.

“I cannot find words for this moment. I’m so happy.” – Kiki Bertens, after winning the Western & Southern Open women’s singles.

“Maybe once I will win one because I love to play here.” – Simona Halep, after losing to Kiki Bertens in the Cincinnati final.

“There are no good guys and bad guys. We all have to come together. We all want what’s best for tennis and the Davis Cup.” – ITF President David Haggerty.

“Sad day for men’s tennis #ITF have voted for new format of #DavisCup (it’s no longer Davis Cup). Fooling themselves if they think top players will play a 18-team comp over one week at the end of the year????” – Pat Cash of Australia, former Wimbledon champion.

“Crying over two tragic deaths today. Aretha Franklin and @DavisCup …. RIP.” – French player Alize Cornet.

“Today is a black day for the Davis Cup. Something with an immense tradition has been lost and it will never be the same again.” – Czech Davis Cup team in a statement on Facebook.

“This is terrible, I’m not in favor of this. I’m sorry… Maybe Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray will quit in three or four years and none of them will play. And we may say it’s because of them the system has changed. It’s strange.” – Jan Kodes of the Czech Republic, 1973 Wimbledon champion.

“Sadly, the discussion in the last few days was mainly about money and not about the sport.” – Ulrich Klaus, German Tennis Federation.

“ITF Tennis. You guys are a shame for tennis.” – French player Lucas Pouille.

“I always played tennis because it is my passion. Yes, many players can make a good living from it. So do I. However. it is not the reason why I started. It has always been an honor to represent my country, but now a beautiful event only became about money.” – Dutch player Robin Haase.

SUCCESS – FINALLY

A dominant Novak Djokovic won her first Western & Southern Open title and became the first player in history to win all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles. And I did it with a convincing straight-set win over Roger Federer. “Obviously it’s a very special moment to stand here for the first time with the winning trophy here in Cincinnati,” Djokovic said at the on-court trophy presentation. “The hard times I went through, it’s been a rollercoaster ride in my career with injury, taking time off and having a surgery earlier this year. This seems a bit unreal to be back at this level.” And what a level it was. Djokovic was aggressive off the ground and efficient on serve throughout the match. Federer, on the other hand, struggled, hitting 39 unforced errors, including 20 on his forehand. It was Djokovic’s third straight victory over Federer, but his first in the Cincinnati final after losing to the Swiss star in 2009, 2012 and 2015. “Roger wasn’t obviously at his best,” Djokovic said. “He missed a lot of returns. He had a difficult time moving. He was not really playing as well as he did in previous matches this week, but at the same time I thought I was solid. I didn’t allow him to come to the net and be aggressive too much and I tried to kind of hold ground and protect the line.” Djokovic now has 70 tour-level titles, and the victory gives him multiple titles in 13 consecutive seasons. It was his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title since 2016 in Toronto. Federer suffered his first defeat in a Cincinnati final, falling to 7-1. He also was denied his 99th tour-level crown.

SAME RESULT, DIFFERENT SURFACE

Fighting through fatigue, Kiki Bertens staved off one match point before posting the biggest victory of her career, defeating top-ranked Simona Halep and capturing the Western & Southern Open women’s singles. “I think I didn’t have really a good time to get nervous because I was just so tired,” Bertens said. “I think it was such a tough match, and after winning that second set I knew, like, anything is possible.” Halep dominated the opening set and reached match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker. But Bertens won the next three points to level the match. Halep followed by playing her worst set of the tournament, committing 13 unforced errors as Bertens closed out the victory. “I am a little bit tired,” said Halep, whose lost snapped a streak of nine straight wins. Bertens closed out the win with a 109-mph ace. In the third set Bertens’ coach, Raemon Sluiter, came onto the court for a conference. “I was, like, ‘I’m dead,’” Bertens admitted. “Then I said to myself, ‘No, I can do this. Let’s go for it.” It was her eighth straight victory over players ranked in the Top 10, but her first over a player ranked number one in the world.

SNARE WILD CARDS

Two former US Open champions, Stan Wawrinka and Svetlana Kuznetsova, has been awarded wild cards into the main draws at this year’s final Grand Slam tournament. Others given entry into the men’s singles draw were Americans Tim Smyczek, Michael Mmoh, Bradley Klahn, Jenson Brooksby and Noah Rubin; Corentin Moutet of France and Australian Jason Kubler. Klahn earned his wild card by capturing the USTA US Open Wild Card Challenge; Brooksby won the USTA Boys’ 18s National Champions, while Moutet and Kubler are part of reciprocal agreements with the French Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia, respectively.

Joining Kuznetsova into the women’s singles draw will be two-time Grand Slam women’s champion Victoria Azarenka, Americans Amanda Anisimova, Danielle Lao and Claire Liu, USTA US Open Wild Card Challenger winner Asia Muhammad; USTA Girls’ 18s National Champion Whitney Osuigwe, and Harmony Tan of France. Tennis Australia is holding a playoff in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, this week and will announce its wild-card nominee later.

Osuigwe will be making her main-draw debut. The 16-year-old won the French Open girls’ title in 2017 and was the world’s top-ranked junior.

Awarded wild-cards into the men’s qualifying tournament were Americans Brandon Nakashima, Tom Fawcett, Donald Young, Chris Eubanks, Ulises Blanch, Martin Redlicki, JC Aragone, Sebastian Korda and Dennis Novikov. The women’s US Open qualifying tournament wild cards were awarded to Americans Kayla Day, Coco Gauff, Caty McNally, Ashley Kratzer, Ann Li, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Jessica Pegula, Sophie Chang and Gail Brodsky.

SECOND OF THE MONTH

Jamie Murray of Great Britain and Bruno Soares of Brazil captured the Western & Southern men’s doubles, their second doubles title of August. After dropping the opening set, they bested Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 10-6 in a match tiebreak. Murray and Soares also won the Citi Open in Washington, DC, two weeks ago. The pair have won nine titles since they teamed up in 2016, including the Australian Open and US Open.

SEVEN YEAR REUNION

It had been seven years since Lucie Hradecka and Ekaterina Makarova had played as a team. Now they are champions after capturing the Western & Southern Open women’s doubles in a straight-sets win over Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs. Between them, Hradecka and Makarova have won 34 doubles titles, yet this was the first the pair shared. They had partnered each other just once before, in 2011 in Luxembourg where they lost the title match to Iveta Benesova and Barbora Strycova. “It was a very tough match today, and our opponents played a great game,” Makarova said. “I want to thank my team, my coach, my physio – we’ve had a great week and look forward to the future.”

STAYING HOME

Spain’s Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez have pulled out of this week’s Winston-Salem Open. The 34-year-old Verdasco has played the event three times, reaching the quarterfinals in both 2013 and 2016. He will be replaced in the draw by compatriot 21-year-old Jaume Munar, who will be making his first start since losing in the semifinals of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel, Australia. Lopez will be replaced by Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. It will be the sixth time Baghdatis has played in Winston-Salem, where he reached the quarterfinals in 2011.

Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan also has withdrawn from the Winston-Salem Open. He will be replaced by Laslo Djere of Serbia.

SAYS HE TANKED SET

Upset over a line call, Nick Kyrgios admitted he “tanked” the second set of his three-set win over Borna Coric. Trailing 2-0 in the second set, Kyrgios watched his opponent hit a passing shot that was called in. Upset over the call, the Australian asked the crowd, “You wanna be a referee? You’re all eligible.” Then, when changing ends, Kyrgios looked at his team and said, “You never see a bigger tank than the next three game.” On set point, Kyrgios started walking to his chair before Coric had hit the final shot to win it. The 23-year-old received a code violation for hitting a ball into center court, and then a point violation for his on-court singing, which included some expletives. Kyrgios won the match 7-6 (1) 0-6 6-3. “I knew I was always going to compete in the third set,” he said. “I competed too hard in the first set to sort of just let the match slip and not give myself a chance to win … The second set, when I was 4-0 down … I knew if I lost the set 6-0, I was going to be serving first in the third set. I think I carried a lot of momentum from the first game and it ended up being a smart move.”

SHAKES UP DAVIS CUP

The International Tennis Federation has approved a controversial revamping of the Davis Cup in a bid to have more of the top players perform in the international team competition. Founded in 1900, the Davis Cup has suffered in recent years because so many top players have opted out of playing the three-day ties during the regular season. They competition was usually held in the week following a Grand Slam tournament. Under the new format, which will begin next year, 24 teams will take part in home-and-away matches, with the 12 winners moving into the final where they will join the four semifinalist of the previous year and two wild-cards that will be announced before the draw for the qualifying round. The finals will be held at one site with the countries, divided into six groups, playing a round robin consisting of three matches – two singles and one doubles – all best-of-three sets. The first staging of the new event, which has the backing of an investment group Kosmos led by Spanish footballer Gerard Pique, will be held in either Madrid, Spain, or Lille, France, from November 18-24, 2019. The host city will be announced in a few weeks. “This new event will create a true festival of tennis and entertainment which will be more attractive to players, to fans, to sponsors and to broadcasters,” ITF President David Haggerty said.

The vote to change the format was far from unanimous, however, with Great Britain, Germany and Australia among those voting against it. “This proposal takes away too much of what makes the Davis Cup special and unique,” Tennis Australia said in a statement.

SHOCKING LOSS EXPLAINED

Serena Williams learned the killer of her sister Yetunde Price had been paroled shortly before she took to the court in San Jose, California, USA. She promptly suffered the worst defeat of her career, falling to Britain’s Johanna Konta 6-1 6-0, the first time in 928 professional matches that Williams failed to win more than one game. At the time she spoke of having “so many things on my mind.” In an interview with Time Magazine, Williams said she had learned 10 minutes before she took the court that Robert Edward Maxfield, the man convicted of killing Price in a drive-by shooting in 2003, had been released from prison after serving 12 years of a 15-year sentence. “I couldn’t shake it out of my mind,” Williams said. “No matter what, my sister is not coming back for good behavior. It’s unfair that she’ll never have an opportunity to hug me.”

STREAK ENDING

Twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan have competed as a doubles pair at the US Open every year since 1995, winning five titles in 23 appearances in the year’s final Grand Slam tournament. The run is over. Bob will miss the remainder of this season due to hip surgery that will require six months of recovery. Bob Bryan has not played since May when he was forced to retire in the doubles final of the Madrid Masters. In Bob’s absence, Mike has teamed with five partners in six tournaments, winning Wimbledon with fellow American Jack Sock. The Washington Post reported that Mike Bryan and Sock will team up for the remainder of this year. By winning Wimbledon, Mike became the oldest player to be ranked number on in ATP World Tour history at age 40, nearly 15 years after he first topped the rankings.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Cincinnati (men): Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares beat Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 4-6 6-3 10-6 (match tiebreak)

Cincinnati (women): Lucie Hradecka and Ekaterina Makarova beat Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs 6-2 7-5

Vancouver (men): Luke Bambridge and Neal Skupski beat Marc Polmans and Max Purcell 4-6 6-3 10-6 (match tiebreak)

Vancouver (women): Desirae Krawczyk and Giuliana Olmos beat Kateryna Kozlova and Arantxa Rus 6-2 7-5

SURFING

Winston-Salem: www.winstonsalemopen.com/
New Haven: www.ctopen.org/
New York: www.usopen.org/

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

MEN

$748,960 Winston-Salem Open, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA, hard

WOMEN

$731,000 New Haven Open Tennis, New Haven, Connecticut, USA, hard