Tag Archives: Andy Murray

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: Let The Season Begin!

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The 2017 tennis season has officially begun!   Nearly all the top players are back in action this week, in tournaments in Australia, Qatar, and India in the lead up to the Australian Open.   We love how tennis starts the year off strong – first slam of the year is less than two weeks away!

This Week’s Tournaments:
Brisbane International – Brisbane, Australia
Qatar ExxonMobil Open – Doha, Qatar
Aircel Chennai Open – Chennai, India
Hopman Cup – Perth, Australia

Nadal and Federer are Back in Action
Fans around the world are thrilled that both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are back after a short hiatus.  Before this week, Federer had not played since losing to Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July and dealing with a lingering knee injury.  How excited are people to see him?  Over 6,000 showed up just to watch him practice in Perth.   Nadal has been looking strong so far, with wins over David Goffin and Milos Raonic in an exhibition in Abu Dhabi.   Rafa’s playing in the Brisbane Open, which means hanging out with koalas!

 

Make That Sir Andy Murray
Andy Murray ended 2016 by becoming the #1 tennis player in the world, and he just started 2017 by being given a knighthood in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honours List.

New Season, New Coaches
Lots of coaching changes happened in the off season.  Novak Djokovic announced he would no longer be working with Boris Becker.  Rafael Nadal added Carlos Moya to his team, while Milos Raonic’s new head coach is Richard Krajicek.

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#TeamMilos

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Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: 2016 Season Comes To An End

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This Week’s Tournaments:
Davis Cup Finals – Zagreb, Croatia

Andy Murray Is Year End #1
For the first time in history, the battle for the year end #1 ranking came down to the final match in the last tournament of the year.  Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray fought for the #1 spot in the ATP World Tour Finals, with Murray  winning 6-3, 6-4.


Davis Cup Finals November 25-27
If you thought the tennis season was officially over, not yet!  The Davis Cup Finals are happening this weekend.  Argentina will take on Croatia at the Arena Zagreb.   Argentina has never won Davis Cup, but have come close as 4 time runners up.   Croatia won their only Davis Cup title in 2005.   With Delpo in action (remember his 5-set epic win over Andy Murray in the semi-finals?)  and a strong Croatian team, it should be an exciting final.

Argentina: Juan Martin del Potro, Guido Pella, Federico Delbonis, Leonardo Mayer

Croatia: Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, Ivo Karlovic, Ivan Dodig


ATP #NextGen Finals Launching in 2017
The ATP announced that Milan will host a season-ending final tournament for the top players under 21 starting next year.  The format will be similar to the ATP World Tour Finals, with the top 7 players under 21 qualifying based on ranking points earned throughout the season.  The 8th spot will be awarded via wildcard.  We love this idea and if anyone would like to send us to Milan next year, we are so there.

The tournament will feature “rule changes and innovations,” to make tennis more appealing to “the millennials,” to which we must again say please, please leave the format and rules of the game alone.

If the tournament existed in 2016, the players would have been: Nick Kyrgios, Sascha Zverev, Kyle Edmund, Borna Coric, Karen Khachanov, Taylor Fritz, Yoshihito Nishioka, Hyeon Chung


It’s The Off Season!
For everyone not participating in Davis Cup this week that is.  That means vacation Instagrams from your favorite players for the next month or so.  Also a reminder the Australian Open is in 55 days!

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Putting my agent to work // @chrisgmccormack

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Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: News Roundup

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This Week’s Tournament:
NONE! 😦

It’s hard to believe the regular ATP World Tour season has come to an end.  While we’re trying to adjust to life without live scores and results to check everyday, we still have a couple of big events left to look forward to in 2016!  The ATP World Tour Finals kick off on Sunday in London and the Davis Cup Final between Argentina and Croatia is November 25-27.

Andy Murray Reaches #1 Ranking
Andy Murray captured the BNP Paribas Masters title in Paris, securing the #1 ranking in the process.  The #1 spot has been a long time coming for Murray, who has spent significant time as #2.  It’s a fitting end for a year that has seen Murray win 8 titles, including Wimbledon, along with an Olympic gold.

 

Draw Revealed for ATP World Tour Finals
The ATP World Tour Finals start on Sunday, November 13th from the O2 Arena in London.  Novak Djokovic will take on Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic will take on Gael Monfils on Day 1.

Singles Group John McEnroe
Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic

Singles Group Ivan Lendl
Novak Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils, Dominic Thiem

Doubles – Group Fleming/McEnroe
Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut; Marc Lopez & Feliciano Lopez; Henri Kontinen & John Peers; Raven Klassen & Rajeev Ram

Doubles – Group Edberg/Jarryd
Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares; Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan; Ivan Dodig & Marcelo Melo; Treat Huey & Max Mirnyi

 

Reilly Opelka Wins Charlottesville Challenger
2016 has been a great year for the next generation of young American players.  Reilly Opelka just won his first pro title over the weekend at the ATP Challenger event in Charlottesville, VA.   Opelka joins fellow American teens Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe, who also won challenger titles this year.   USA!  USA!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMfMDdmgTq9/?taken-by=reillyopelka

 

Juan Monaco Trends Worldwide on Twitter
We were surprised to see Juan Monaco, AKA Pico, trending worldwide on Twitter on Sunday night.  Turns out he was a guest on a talk show in Argentina (hello, off season!)  In case anyone needs advice on “selling tennis to the millennials,” we suggest going this route instead of trying to find ways to re-invent and shorten the game.

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: News Roundup

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This Week’s Tournament:
BNP Paribas Masters – Paris, France

It’s hard to believe we’ve already made it to the last tournament of the regular season of the ATP World Tour!   The tour wraps up this week in Paris, with 2 more spots on the line for a spot in the World Tour Finals happening later this month in London.  Marin Cilic moved up to the 9th position after winning the title in Basel Last week, with Dominic Thiem just ahead at #8.  The year end #1 ranking is also on the line in Paris as Andy Murray closed in on current #1 Novak Djokovic by winning the title in Vienna last week.

 

Jack Sock Wins Doubles in Basel
American Jack Sock won his 2nd doubles title of the year, this time with partner Marcel Granollers.  This was Jack’s 4th final (singles and doubles) since the end of the US Open.  Jack Sock for President!

 

BNP Paribas Showdown 2017 Lineup Announced
2017 marks the 10 year anniversary of the BNP Paribas Showdown.  The annual event, held at Madison Square Garden, features the top names in tennis facing off in an exhibition match in celebration of World Tennis Day.  This year’s event features Venus Williams vs Garbine Mugaruza, Jack Sock vs Nick Kyrgios, and Kei Nishikori vs Juan Martin del Potro.  The showdown is March 6th 2017 at MSG and tickets are on sale now!

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: News Roundup

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This Week’s Tournaments:
Shanghai Rolex Masters – Shanghai, China

Kyrgios Wins 3rd Title Of 2016
Nick Kyrgios won the biggest title of his career so far at the Rakuten Japan Open in Tokyo!  The title is Kyrgios’ 3rd of the season, and his first 500 level trophy.

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Good week #tokyo🇯🇵

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Murray Defeats Dimitrov in Beijing
Andy Murray won the 40th title of his career in Beijing, defeating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 7-6(2) in the finals.

 

Frances Tiafoe Enters Top 100
#NextGen American Frances Tiafoe won the challenger title in Stockton, defeating fellow American Noah Rubin 6-4, 6-2 in the final.  The win puts Tiafoe into the top 100 for the first time in his career.

 

The Return of Tommy’s Pumpkin
It’s that time of year again, Tommy’s pumpkin is back!  If you have no idea what we’re talking about, you need to be following Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul on social media.  Trust us, just do it.

In case you missed it, the OG pumpkin of 2015:

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: ATP News Roundup

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This Week’s Tournaments:
Aegon Open – Nottingham, England
Wimbledon Qualifying – London, England

Lleyton Hewitt Receives Wimbledon Doubles Wildcard
We knew Lleyton couldn’t stay away from tennis for too long!  While he officially retired from singles at this year’s Australian Open, Lleyton has since suited up for Davis Cup doubles and he was just given a wildcard into Wimbledon.  Lleyton is teaming up with fellow Aussie Jordan Thompson in doubles.  Get your “c’mon!” cheers ready.

Dominic Thiem Hot Shots
Thiem has pretty much been a highlight reel lately.  Check out some of his hot shots from Halle.  We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, we are so on board #TeamThiem.

Herbert/Mahut Win Queen’s Club Title
The French duo picked up their 4th title of the season at the Wimbledon warm up.  We’re hoping to see them team up at both Davis Cup in July and the Olympics in August.  ALLEZ!

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One more time🍾🏆

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Andy Murray Wins Record 5th In London
Murray couldn’t have asked for better prep for Wimbledon.  With coach Ivan Lendl back on his team, Murray defeated Milos Raonic in a 3 set final.  He became the first man to win a 5th Queen’s Club Title.

Sascha Zverev Beats Roger Federer In Halle
Thiem isn’t the only young gun to have defeated Federer this season – 19-year-old Sascha Zverev took out Federer in 3 sets in the semi-finals in Halle.  We’re excited to see more from this #NextGen player this season!

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: Roland Garros Week 2

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It’s been an eventful week at Roland Garros since we last checked in … even with play being pretty much canceled 2 days in a row.  We’re doing an anti-rain dance so we can watch some tennis tomorrow!  (Or at least so the 4th round matches can get finished?)

manofthehouseraindance

Rain Rain, Go Away
Monday, May 29th was a complete washout, with all match play canceled for the first time since 2000.  Tuesday wasn’t much better, with a stop and go day, players got in just over 2 hours of play.  And unfortunately things aren’t looking much better for the rest of this week.  Djokovic took the rain in stride, carrying an umbrella sourced from the crowd in 1 hand and his racquet in the other.

Nadal Withdraws With Wrist Injury
We can’t even talk about this still.  After looking strong in his first 2 matches, Nadal called a press conference where he announced his withdrawal from the tournament due to a left wrist injury.   Not the best way to celebrate his big 30th birthday, on June 3rd!  Get well soon Rafa!!

Bottom-Half Quaterfinals Set
Richard Gasquet was impressive in taking out Kei Nishikori in the 4th round, reaching his 1st Roland Garros quarterfinal as the last Frenchman standing in singles.  He’ll take on Andy Murray, while defending champ Stan Wawrinka will take on Albert Ramos-Vinolas.  The top half will catch up.  Some day.

Wawrinka Hits With Ballkid
One of the reasons we love Stan – he stayed warmed up during a medical time out to hit with a ballkid.  He totally made this kid’s day/year/life!