Johanna Konta

Mondays with Bob Greene

 

STARS

Gael Monfils beat Ivo Karlovic 5-7 7-6 (6) 6-4 to win the Citi Open men’s singles in Washington, DC, USA

Fabio Fognini beat Andrej Martin 6-4 6-1 to win the Konzum Croatia Open in Umag, Croatia

Johanna Konta beat Venus Williams 7-5 5-7 6-2 to win the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, USA

Paolo Lorenzi beat Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-3 6-4 to win the Generali Open in Kitzbühel, Austria

Feliciano Lopez beat Robin Haase 6-4 7-5 to win the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open in Gstaad, Switzerland

Laura Siegemund beat Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-2 to win the Ericsson Open in Båstad, Sweden

Yanina Wickmayer beat Lauren Davis 6-4 6-2 to win the City Open women’s singles in Washington, DC, USA

 

SAYING

“To be honest, today was pure luck.” – Gael Monfils, after winning the Citi Open men’s singles by stopping Ivo Karlovic.

“Normally I should have (won). I was better in the first two sets and I didn’t use my opportunity. And then after that, I was dead. I couldn’t move any more.” – Ivo Karlovic.

“It’s been a long wait since 2006, but it’s been worth it. This is a very special tournament with a lot of tradition where a lot of Spaniards have won in the past. It’s a unique place to play.” – Feliciano Lopez, after winning in Gstaad, Switzerland.

“Three years ago I received a goat for reaching the final. So this year I was dreaming about winning a cow and the trophy. Hopefully I can come back next year and do better.” – Robin Haase, who lost to Feliciano Lopez in the Gstaad final.

“I wasn’t happy with my game, but it’s not about perfection. It’s about making it work in that moment. Obviously it worked out in the end.” – Laura Siegemund, after winning the Ericsson Open.

“I gave my 100 percent, but I guess that was not enough.” — Nikoloz Basilashvili, the first player from Georgia to reach an ATP World Tour final, after losing in Kitzbühel, Austria, to Paolo Lorenzi.

“I think it was a great week for both of us. He’s a lot younger so he will have a lot of time for winning.” – Paolo Lorenzi, a 34-year-old Italian who beat 24-year-old Nikoloz Basilashvili in the Generali Open final.

“I have to be happy. A title is always a title.” – Fabio Fognini, following his victory in Umag, Croatia.

“Right now it doesn’t feel so good, but over time I will appreciate what I did this week.” – Andrej Martin, who lost to Fabio Fognini in the Konzum Croatia Open title match.

“Unfortunately the road we were sharing on this journey is separating and I wish only the best for Goran in the future.” – Marin Cilic, announcing he is no longer working with his coach Goran Ivanisevic.

“I’m a very emotional player. Sometimes that’s a benefit and sometimes a hindrance.” – Katerina Siniakova, following her 7-5 6-1 semifinal win over Swedish Open defending champion Johanna Larsson.

“I’ve dedicated 26 years to Indonesian tennis, as a player, as a Fed Cup captain, and as coach as well. So what I’m looking forward to are some new players who really have their goals and their dreams. To tell you the truth, I haven’t found it yet. Hopefully at the clinic I can see some of the younger ones who might have a brighter future. I’m hoping.” – Yayuk Basuki, a member of the Indonesian parliament who when on the WTA tour as a player was ranked as high as 19^th in the world.

“We know Rio will be our last Olympics, I can safely say that. It’s been a huge priority. When we sat down to plan the year … we said peaking for Rio was the goal. Winning in Rio would mean everything.” – Bob Bryan, who with his twin brother Mike will be playing in their fourth Olympic Games.

“You have to earn your way off the Tour, and you have to blast your way out. No one wants to limp their way off. (Pete) Sampras had the perfect send-off. He won the US Open and said goodbye.” – Mike Bryan.

 

SUCCESS IN WASHINGTON

Under bombardment from one of the biggest serves in tennis, Gael Monfils won his first ATP World Tour title in 2½ years. It wasn’t easy as the 6-foot-11 (2.11m) Ivo Karlovic blasted 28 aces and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set. “I still had this little hope,” Monfils said. “Maybe he will get tight a little bit. And obviously he got tight a little bit.” Monfils finally converted his seventh break point of the day and sent the battle into a tiebreak. Karlovic had a match point at 6-5 in the tiebreak, but Monfils came up with a huge serve of his own that Karlovic sailed long. Two points later the match was all even, and the Frenchman broke again to move in front 2-1 in the third set, a lead he would never relinquish. “At the end,” Monfils said, “I knew a little bit that it’s tough to serve-and-volley for two hours in the heat.”

 

SOLID

Great Britain’s Johanna Konta didn’t blink when she went up against one of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. Equally solid on both her serve and return games, Konta knocked off Venus Williams to claim her first career singles title, the Bank of the West Classic. Konta also was playing in her first WTA career final. Britain’s top-ranked woman led 5-3 in the opening set before Williams won two straight games to knot the score. Konta responded by winning six of the next seven games, grabbing the opening set and taking a 4-1 lead in the second. Williams wasn’t through, however, taking four straight games and six and seven to force a deciding set. By then, the 36-year-old Williams appeared to tire and Konta had no problem ripping through the third set. It wasn’t Konta’s first win over Venus: she stunned Williams in the opening round of the Australian Open in January. Konta became the fourth-oldest first-time champion this year and was the first British woman to reach the final at Stanford since Virginia Wade was runner-up in 1981.

 

SPANISH TRIUMPH

It took Feliciano Lopez 10 years to return to the title match in Gstaad, Switzerland. This time, he took home the big trophy. Ten years ago, Lopez was runner-up to Richard Gasquet. This time, the Spaniard bested Robin Haase to capture the J. Safara Sarasin Swiss Open. “It’s an amazing feeling, I’ve been waiting 10 years to win this title,” Lopez said. “It’s been a long wait since 2006, but it’s been worth it.” It is the first title the 34-year-old has won since Eastbourne in June 2014. Haase, who had beaten Lopez in three of their four previous meetings, raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. But Lopez won the next three games, then broke Haase again to move in front 6-5 before holding serve to capture his fifth ATP World Tour title. It was the second time Haase has lost the Gstaad final. Three years ago, he fell to Mikhail Youzhny in the title match and is now 2-3 in ATP World Tour finals.

 

SUPER EFFORT

At the age of 34 years and 7 months, Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi became the oldest first-time winner of an ATP World Tour event when he stopped Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia in the Generali Open final. “This is a present for me,” Lorenzi said. “I think it was a fantastic week.” It was only his second career final, losing to Federico Delbonis at Sao Paolo two years ago. And Lorenzo became the first Italian to win an ATP title since Fabio Fognini captured Vina del Mar, Chile, in February 2014. The 24-year-old Basilashvili, making his first trip past the quarterfinals in any tournament, was the first player from Georgia to appear in an ATP final. “Today I was playing really good. I am really happy with this win,” said Lorenzi.

 

SIEGEMUND VICTORIOUS

“This is one of my favorite tournaments and I can’t believe I won this one,” Laura Siegemund gushed after doing just that, downing Katerina Siniakova in the Ericsson Open final for her first WTA title. “I knew I could do well here, but winning the whole thing is something you might not really expect or think about.” Siegemund made her main draw debut at Båstad six years ago. Now 28, the German made a memorable run earlier this year in Stuttgart where she went through qualifying to the final. She upset fellow German Julia Goerges in the semifinals, then, after surviving a tricky opening set against Siniakova, dominated the second set to close out the victory in 83 minutes. “When I’m tight, like today in the final, I take a minute to sit on the bench, close my eyes. If it all gets too much, I think about how this is amazing, and who wouldn’t want to be here? It’s great weather, your favorite place to be, and all these people are here to watch you play and do what you love to do,” Siegemund said.” It might be a feeling of thankfulness, and trying to stay out of that narrow, unhappy perspective. I try to see the big picture more now than before.”

 

SNARES TWO TITLES

It was a great week for Yanina Wickmayer. The Belgian won her fifth career WTA title, the Citi Open, by stopping American Lauren Davis. That came a day after Wickmayer teamed with Monica Niculescu to capture the doubles, downing the Japanese team of Shuko Aoyama and Risa Ozaki. Davis was playing in her first WTA final. She found Wickmayer too much to handle. The Belgian broke serve five times and won 67 percent of second-serve return points to dominate on the hard courts in Washington, DC. The 22-year-old American staved off two match points on her serve late in the second set, but Wickmayer closed it out on her third opportunity.

 

SKIPPING TORONTO

Three of the world’s top four players will skip the Rogers Cup in Toronto this year. Wimbledon champion Andy Murray cited fatigue for his reason not to play the Canadian event, while third-ranked Roger Federer says he needs more rest before going to Brazil for the Olympic Games. Rafael Nadal has not played since withdrawing from the French Open with a wrist injury. “I only started practicing a week ago after my wrist injury and I am not ready to play such an important event,” the fourth-ranked Nadal said. Headlining this week’s field in Toronto are top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Canadian star Milos Raonic, who reached the Wimbledon final earlier this month.

It wasn’t just the Rogers Cup men’s field that was hit by a highly-ranked withdrawal. Serena Williams pulled out of the women’s event in Montreal citing shoulder inflammation. Winner of 22 Grand Slam tournament titles – including this month’s Wimbledon – the top-ranked Williams has won three Rogers Cup titles and reached the semifinals the last two years. Eugène Lapierre, Rogers Cup tournament director, said he understood. “Because this is an Olympic year the players have very full schedules,” Lapierre said. “Sometimes your body needs rest.”

 

STRAIGHT-SET WIN

On his second try, Fabio Fognini is the Croatia Open champion. The Italian beat Andrej Martin in straight sets to capture the clay-court tournament in Umag. Three years ago, Fognini lost the Umag final to Tommy Robredo. This time, Fognini never had break point on his serve and finally broke his opponent to take the first set. Then the Italian raced out to a 5-0 lead before Martin, playing in his first ATP World Tour final, held serve. Fognini then held at love to capture his fourth career title, but first since 2014.

 

SPLITSVILLE

No longer are Croatia’s only Grand Slam tournament singles champions a team. Marin Cilic, who won the US Open in 2014, has split with coach Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 Wimbledon champion. “It was a huge privilege to work with Goran, I enjoyed our work all this time and Goran helped me to reach many goals,” Cilic said. “Unfortunately the road we were sharing on this journey is separating and I wish only the best for Goran in the future.” The last time the two worked together was at Wimbledon, where Cilic built a two-set lead in the quarterfinals only to lose in five sets to Roger Federer. Cilic was part of Croatia’s 3-2 comeback Davis Cup quarterfinals win over the United States.

 

SORE IN SWEDEN

Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber withdrew from the Swedish Open after injuring her elbow. The left-handed German, who also reached the Wimbledon final earlier this month only to lose to Serena Williams, suffered the injury during a second-round victory over Swedish wild card Carolina Lister. Kerber received medical treatment during the match, but pulled out of the WTA event before her third-round match against Lara Arruabarrena of Spain. “I was practicing this morning and I was not feeling 100 percent,” Kerber said. “It’s still painful so that’s why I decided not to risk it and why I’m withdrawing.”

 

SALUTED

Taiwan’s Hsu Ching-Wen is the latest winner of the Fed Cup Heart Award. The 19-year-old Hsu made her Fed Cup debut a special one, leading Chinese Taipei to a 4-1 victory over Poland. She upset Paula Kania 6-3 6-4 in the opening rubber, then captured the winning rubber by defeating Magdalena Frech 6-2 4-6 6-3. The second Chinese Taipei player this year to receive a Fed Cup Heart Award, Hsu will receive a check for USD $3,000, which she is donating to her chosen charity, the Sanchong branch of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families. Hsieh Su-Wei was given the Fed Cup Heart Award for her performances in the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I event in February. Besides Hsu, other Heart Award winners who competed in World Group and World Group II playoffs in April were Angelique Kerber of Germany, Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain and Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.

Five Heart Awards were presented earlier. Winners were Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine, Hsieh, Nadia Podoroska of Argentina and Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus. The Heart Award recognizes players who have represented their country in Fed Cup with distinction, shown exceptional courage on court and demonstrated outstanding commitment to their team.

 

STUCK DOWN AGAIN

Oft-injured Caroline Wozniacki is hurt again. The former number one retired from her second-round match against Samantha Stosur when she injured her left arm. “There was a point where I hit a backhand and I just felt it, and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s nothing,’” Wozniacki said. “But then I hit another backhand and I was like ‘OK, it’s something.’ And it just got worse.” The Dane first felt pain at 5-all in the first set. After being treated by a trainer, she won the next two games to win the set, then stopped playing after being broken in the seventh game of the second set to trail 3-4. Runner-up twice at the US Open – in 2009 and 2014 – Wozniacki has not won a Grand Slam tournament match this year, falling in the opening round at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. She missed the French Open because of an injured ankle.

 

STARTS WITH HOPMAN CUP

Roger Federer will compete in the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, for the first time in 15 years. The Swiss star will partner 16^th-ranked Belinda Bencic in the mixed-team competition Jan. 1-7. Federer teamed with Martina Hingis to win the Hopman Cup in 2001 and played the following year with Miroslava Vavrinec, better known now as his wife, Mirka Federer. “I think it will be a perfect tournament for me to start the season,” Federer said. In recent years, he has used the Brisbane International as his main lead-up to the Australian Open.

 

SECURITY CLASH

Viktor Troicki and Bernard Tomic were on one of the practice courts at the Citi Open in Washington, DC, USA, when a United States Park Police officer walked onto the court and ordered them off. The public information officer for the US Park Police, Sergeant Anna Rose, said the officer had been summoned by City Open security after the players had refused to leave the practice court after repeated requests. The reason? Severe weather had been forecast for the area. Troicki said the officer threatened to arrest him if he did not get off the court. He said he would have done so immediately if the officer had explained what was happening in a non-confrontational manner. “If he was just said it nicely, and if he said, ‘Storm is coming, guys, we’re taking care of you. Big storm is coming, get off the court please. It’s dangerous. It’s our job to keep you safe.’ (Then) no problem. We got it. No worries,” Troicki said. “The way they came at us and (how) they started to talk to us was crazy.” Tournament director Jeff Newman said he talked with Tomic and the Australian player understands what happened. “Was the intent the right one?” Newman asked. “Of course. They were trying to protect the players. Do the players feel that it should’ve been handled better? They have every right to their opinion and that’s where I come into play and I have to talk to the players and explain the situation to them.”

 

SOUTH AMERICA-BOUND

Seven Russian tennis players will compete in the Rio Olympics, despite the McLaren report describing systematic and widespread doping in Russia. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said it “welcomes the decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to permit clean athletes to compete in Rio 2016 and to let each international federation determine the eligibility of its respective Russian athletes.” The ITF said the seven tennis players who have been nominated to compete in Rio have passed a rigorous anti-doping testing program outside Russia that including urine and blood tests both in and out of competition. The seven are Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina, Ekaterina Makarova, Elena Vesnina, Andrey Kuznetsov and Evgeny Donskoy.

 

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Båstad: Andreea Mitu and Alicja Rosolska beat Lesley Kerkhove and Lidziya Marozava 6-3 7-5

Gstaad: Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos beat Mate Pavic and Michael Venus 7-6 (2) 6-2

Kitzbühel: Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop beat Dennis Novak and Dominic Thiem 2-6 6-3 11-9 (match tiebreak)

Stanford: Raquel Atano and Abigail Spears beat Darija Jurak and Anastasia Rodionova 6-3 6-4

Umag: Martin Klizan and David Marrero beat Nikola Mektic and Antonio Sancic 6-4 6-2

Washington (men): Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin beat Lukasz Kubot and Alexander Peya 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4)

Washington (women): Monica Niculescu and Yanina Wickmayer beat Shuko Aoyama and Risa Ozaki 6-4 6-3

 

SURFING

Toronto: www.rogerscup.com/

Montreal: www.couperogers.com/en/

Biella: http://ifaggiclub.it/

Astana: www.ktf.kz/

Rio de Janeiro: www.itftennis.com/olympics/home.aspx

Atlanta: www.bbtatlantaopen.com/

Granby: www.challengerbanquenationale.com/

Florianopolis: www.brasiltenniscup.com.br/

 

TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK

 

MEN

$4,691,730 Rogers Cup, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, hard

$100,000 Presidents Cup, Astana, Kazakhstan, hard

$100,000 Thindown Challenger, Biella, Italy, clay

 

WOMEN

$2,513,000 Rogers Cup, Montreal Quebec, Canada, hard

 

TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK

 

MEN AND WOMEN

Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, hard (first week)

 

MEN

$693,425 BB&T Atlanta Open, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, hard

$125,000 2016 International Challenger Chengdu, Chengdu, China, clay

$100,000 Challenger Banque Nationale De Granby, Granby, Quebec, Canada, hard

 

WOMEN

$250,000 Brasil Tennis Cup, Florianopolis, Brazil, hard

$250,000 Jiangxi Women’s Tennis Open, Nanchang, China, hard