Mondays with Bob Greene
STARS
Nikoloz Basilashvili beat Andrey Rublev 7-5 4-6 6-3 to win the Hamburg European Open in Hamburg, Germany
Alex de Minaur beat Taylor Fritz 6-3 7-6 (2) to win the BB&T Atlanta Open in Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-3 6-2 to win the J. Safra Saraqsin Swiss Open in Gstaad, Switzerland
Jil Teichmann beat Kiki Bertens 7-6 (3) 6-2 to win the Palermo Ladies Open in Palermo, Italy
Anastasija Sevastova beat Katarzyna Kawa 3-6 7-5 6-4 to win the Baltic Open in Jurmala, Latvia
SAYINGS
“I don’t think I could start the American hard-court season any better than this.” – Alex de Minaur, who won the BB&T Atlanta Open.
“It hurts so much to lose a final, but I’m still confident and will keep moving forward.” – Taylor Fritz, who lost the Atlanta Open final to Alex de Minaur.
“It looks like I am playing my best tennis here … Just to see my name next to (Roger Federer and Andrei Medvedev, who also defending titles here) means a lot to me.” – Nikoloz Basilashvili, after winning in Hamburg, Germany, for the second straight year.
“I gave everything today, but it wasn’t enough. That’s tennis.” – Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, after losing to Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the Gstaad, Switzerland, final.
“I showed character at this tournament. It was difficult, so it was two times more pleasant to win.” – Anastasija Sevastova, who rallied to win the Baltic Open in her native Latvia.
“Everything was super close. It was a little bit of luck and a few lines that decided who was winning.” – Katarzyna Kawa, after losing the Baltic Open final.
“I was the world champion in tennis for about a cup of coffee until that guy Roger (Federer) started playing.” – Andy Roddick, who beat Federer only three times in 24 meetings.
“Injuries for an athlete is the worst thing ever. Also for your heart, because you really want to fight but your body cannot. I had a similar situation. I had to retire. There was no choice, I had to, otherwise I would have continued.” – Li Na, in an interview with Forbes magazine.
SUCCESSFUL DEFENSE
Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili successfully defended his Hamburg European Open crown, stopping Russia’s Andrey Rublev in the final. It was the 27-year-old’s third career title. “It looks like I am playing my best tennis here,” said the fourth-seeded Basilashvili, who became the first player since Roger Federer in 2005 to win back-to-back titles in Hamburg. Basilashvili had 26 forehand winners as he won his 12th straight match on the clay in Hamburg, including 10 main draw victories. “When you have achievements, people want more and expect more,” the winner said. “Everybody is writing to me, everybody is happy. I have a lot of support from home and it is a great feeling.” Despite the loss, Rublev was happy with his performance. “It was a good week for me,” he said. “For the moment, my best week.” Both players turned in outstanding semifinal performances to reach the title match. Basilashvili upset world number five Alexander Zverev, while Rublev knocked off top-seeded Dominic Thiem in straight sets.
SUPER WIN
Alex de Minaur was in dominant form as he won the BB&T Atlanta Open, defeating Taylor Fritz in a battle of young players. The 20-year-old Australian dropped just 10 points on serve and became only the third player to win an ATP Tour title without facing a break point since the tour began keeping statistics in 1991. Tommy Haas did it in Memphis in 2007 and John Isner repeated the feat in Newport in 2017. “This one is really special to me,” de Minaur said. “I felt like I really needed this.” After de Minaur won his maiden title in Sydney in January, he was sidelined for nearly two months with a groin injury. “You have to slowly grind your way back,” he said. “I’ve been playing great tennis and felt like if I could keep it all together, the good results will come.” The youngest player to win Atlanta, De Minaur lost just seven first-serve points during the week. He broke Fritz twice in the first set, but neither player faced a break point in the second. The Australian began the tiebreak by double-faulting on the first point. He won the next three points, however, to seize control and closed out the match with a backhand volley winner.
SEVASTOVA WINS
It wasn’t easy, but top-seeded Anastasija Sevastova came away with a victory in her home tournament, the Baltic Open. Latvia’s top player was three points away from losing as she trailed qualifier Katarzyna Kawa by a set and a break. “She played well, so it was two times harder, and not because of the fact that the stands wanted something from me,” Sevastova said. “Everyone always wanted something from me. Therefore, it was not necessary to prove something to someone, only to myself.” Kawa, a 26-year-old from Poland playing in her first WTA main draw, built a 6-3 2-0 lead in the final. Sevastova won the next three games, but Kawa broke again, moving in front 6-3 5-4, then winning the first point of the 10th game on Sevastova’s serve. “I had a 5-4 lead in the second set, which was a kind of chance for me, but in this game she played really great shots and I didn’t have any chances actually,” Kawa said. Buoyed by the home crowd, Sevastova reeled off five straight games and rallied from 15-30 down in the final game to capture her fourth WTA title. “It was a really great week. I know it because I spent 10 days here, starting from Friday of qualifying, so I saw it all,” Kawa said. “It’s never easy to lose a match, but I’m leaving Jurmala with great memories.”
SECOND TITLE
He had to wait for the rain to stop, but when he finally took to the court, Albert Ramos-Vinolas had very little problem brushing aside Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and winning the Gstaad clay court tournament. Because of bad weather, Stebe had to win two matches on Saturday to reach the final. Then the title match was four and a half hours late starting because of more rain. Stebe responded by breaking his Spanish foe in the opening game. But Ramos-Vinolas quickly settled down and broke Stebe four times in the match, twice in each set. “I feel great. After a long time waiting for this moment again, I’m really happy,” said Ramos-Vinolas, who won his first ATP Tour title in Sweden in 2016. He didn’t lose a set the entire week.
SICILIAN RETURN
Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann upset top-seeded Kiki Bertens to win the Palermo Ladies Open. It was Teichmann’s second WTA Tour title this year: she won the Prague Open in May. Three times Teichmann led by a break in the opening set before needing a tiebreak to move out front. She broke the fifth-ranked Bertens twice more in the second set. The Dutch player double-faulted five times, had 43 unforced errors and won just 55 percent of the points on her first serve. Teichmann had 17 winners against 23 unforced errors and did not lose a set during the week. The Sicilian clay court tournament returned to the WTA Tour after a five-year absence.
STARRING COCO
Coco Gauff picked up just where she left off at Wimbledon. The 15-year-old came through qualifying at the Citi Open in Washington, DC, USA, to reach the third main singles draw of her career. In July, Gauff became the youngest woman to reach the second week of Wimbledon since Jennifer Capriati in 1991. In the final round of qualifying in Washington, Gauff beat eighth-seeded Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 6-1 6-2, firing eight aces and saving all three break points she faced. She also qualified for Wimbledon as well as the Miami Open in March.
SIBLING TOGETHERNESS
Andy Murray, continuing his comeback from hip surgery, and his brother Jamie are doubles partners this week at the Citi Open in Washington. Both brothers have been ranked number one in the world, Andy in singles and Jamie in doubles. Andy underwent a hip operation in January and returned to the ATP Tour at Wimbledon, playing doubles with Pierre-Hugues Herbert and mixed doubles with Serena Williams.
SVETLANA STOPPED
Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova won’t be able to defend her Citi Open women’s singles title this week because of visa problems. Tweeting that she “never had issues like this in my life,” the 34-year-old Kuznetsova said she hopes to get a visa and play some tournaments in the United States, including the US Open. She won the US Open in 2004 and Roland Garros in 2009. The 2018 Citi Open is one of her 16 career titles.
STAYING HOME
Citing exhaustion, Novak Djokovic has pulled out of the Coupe Rogers. A four-time winner of the Canadian tournament, the world’s top-ranked player said, “With the support of my team, I have decided to give my body longer rest and recovery time before coming back again to play.” Roger Federer also pulled out of the Montreal event, making French Open champion Rafael Nadal the top seed.
SKIPPING WASHINGTON
Frenchman Ugo Humbert has withdrawn from this week’s Citi Open, citing exhaustion. The 21-year-old played six consecutive grass-court tournaments, including Newport, Rhode Island, USA. He then switched to hard courts at the Atlanta Open, losing in the second round to Miomir Kecmanovic.
SPLITSVILLE
Ivan Lendl is no longer coaching Alexander Zverev, and it doesn’t sound that an amicable separation. “I believe in ‘Sacha’ who is still very young,” Lendl said in a statement. “I think he will become a great player. But the problems outside the sport which he has at the moment prevent me from working in the way I would like to. I wish him the best for the future.” Lendl, a former world number one and inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, had coached the 22-year-old German for a year. Days before Lendl’s announcement, Zverev had complained that Lendl spent more time talking about “golf and his dog” than tennis. Under Lendl’s guidance, Zverev won the ATP Finals last year, the most prestigious title of his career.
SPOKESMAN FOR CBD?
John Isner has become the first tennis player to sign an endorsement deal with a CBD company. The American signed with the sports performance drink company Defy, which contains 20 milligrams of CBD per bottle. CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of the chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant. The World Health Organization (WHO) said the drink does not produce the psychoactive effects associated with marijuana. Defy was co-founded by former National Football League player Terrell Davis. Both Isner and Davis are graduates of the University of Georgia.
SUSPENDED
Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil has been provisionally suspended after failing a drug test. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said the 23-year-old had tested positive for an anabolic agent at the Croatia Open in June. “Positive tests for non-specified substances carry a mandatory provisional suspension,” the ITF said in a statement. Ranked 99th in the world, the left-hander qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon and upset a former Wimbledon champion, Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza, in the first round. She lost her second-round match to British wild-card Harriet Dart. Haddad Maia’s suspension went into effect on July 22.
SAD NEWS
Tennis is mourning Australia’s Peter McNamara, who died at his home in Germany from prostate cancer. He was 64. McNamara and fellow Australian Paul McNamee teamed to win the Australian Open doubles in 1979 and the Wimbledon doubles in 1980 and ’82. McNamara also won five singles titles and was ranked as high as seventh in the world in singles. After his playing days ended, McNamara became a successful coach, working with Mark Philippoussis, Grigor Dimitrov and Wang Qiang of China.
SHARED PERFORMANCES
Atlanta: Dominic Inglot and Austin Krajicek beat Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 6-4 6-7 (5) 11-9 (match tiebreak)
Gstaad: Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen beat Philipp Oswald and Filip Polasek 6-4 6-3
Hamburg: Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer beat Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof 6-2 7-6 (3)
Jurmala: Sharon Fichman and Nina Stojanovic beat Jelena Ostapenko and Galina Voskoboeva 2-6 7-6 (1) 10-6 (match tiebreak)
Palermo: Cornelia Lister and Renata Voracova beat Ekaterine Gorgodze and Arantxa Rus 7-6 (2) 6-2
SURFING
Washington: https://www.citiopentennis.com/
Los Cabos: https://abiertoloscabos.com/en/home/
Kitzbühel: https://www.generaliopen.com/
San Jose: http://www.mubadalasvc.com/
Karlsruhe: https://karlsruheopen.de/
Montreal: http://www.couperogers.com/en/
Toronto: http://www.couperogers.com/en/
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
MEN
$2,046,340 Citi Open, Washington, DC, USA, hard
$858,565 Abierto Mexicano de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemax, Los Cabos, Mexico, hard
$657,526 Generali Open Kitzbühel, Austria, clay
WOMEN
$876,183 Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, San Jose, California, USA, hard
$250,000 Citi Open, Washington, DC, USA, hard
$125,000 Liqui Moly Open Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany, clay
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$6,338,885 Coupe Rogers, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, hard
WOMEN
$2,830,000 Coupe Rogers présentée por Banque Montreal, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, hard
