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Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: Wimbledon

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Wimbledon 101
Where to watch:  ESPN and WatchESPN.com
Main draw play runs daily through the finals on Sunday, July 10th
Social Media: #Wimbledon @Wimbledon

Marcus Willis’ Dream Run
If you’ve been following Wimbledon coverage at all, no doubt you’ve heard about Marcus Willis.  The British tennis instructor, ranked 772 in the world, played his way through pre-qualifying AND qualifying, and won his 1st round main draw match.  Willis had been on the brink of quitting tennis earlier this year, and was once nicknamed “Cartman” for being so out of shape.  With the win, Willis has earned £50,000 in prize money and the right to face Roger Federer in the 2nd round on Centre Court.  Anything is possible!

Seeds Out on Day 1
While there were some dramatic wins, there weren’t too many upsets on day 1.  Of the seeded players: #20 seed Kevin Anderson, lost a tough 5 set match to Denis Istomin.  Gael Monfils, playing his first match since Rome, lost to countryman Jeremy Chardy.    Pierre-Hugues Herbert took out the #21 seed Phillip Kohlschreiber in 4 sets.  Pablo Cuevas lost in 5 sets to the Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.

State of the Union
American men went 3 for 6 on Monday, with Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Stevie Johnson advancing to the 2nd round.  Taylor Fritz, the youngest player in the men’s draw, takes on Stan Wawrinka today while the top American John Isner faces Marcos Baghdatis.  Donald Young, Dennis Novikov, and Rajeev Ram are also in action.

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: ATP News Roundup

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This Week’s Tournament:
Internazionali BNL d’Italia – Rome, Italy

Portland To Host USA vs Croatia Davis Cup Tie
After much anticipation the USTA announced that Portland, Oregon will be the site of the next Davis Cup tie in July.  Portland is where USA won the cup in 2007, and we’re hoping for another victory against Croatia in July!  Stay tuned to the USTA website for ticket info!

Novak Djokovic Wins Record 29th Masters 1000 Title
Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in the Mutua Madrid Open final to capture his 3rd Masters title of 2016, and his 29th overall.

Why We Love Gael Monfils
If you’ve seen a Monfils match, you know that anything is possible.  He’s an incredible athlete who will jump, dive and go for every ball.  How does he jump so high?  In practice, he leaped over Davia Gavrilova.

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: ATP News Roundup

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Qualifying for Roland Garros starts in 2 weeks (!!) and all of the sport’s top stars are in Spain this week grinding it out on the red clay.  Here’s our roundup of the tennis news to know this week.

This Week’s Tournaments:
Mutua Madrid Open – Madrid, Spain

Juan Martin del Potro Continues Comeback
Del Potro scored the biggest win of his comeback earlier today in Madrid, taking out one of the hottest players on tour right now, Dominic Thiem, in straight sets.  The win clearly meant a lot to an emotional Del Po.  WE’RE NOT CRYING YOU ARE.

Roger Federer Pulls Out Of Madrid Open
Federer has pulled out of yet another tournament in 2016, this time with a back injury.  It’s hard to believe he’s only been able to play in 3 tournaments this season.  We hope he’ll be back on tour soon!


Diego Schwartzman Wins 1st ATP World Tour Title
The 22-year-old Argentine rallied from behind to take out Grigor Dimitrov in the finals of the TEB BNP Paribas Instanbul Open.  His route to the final also included taking out the #1 seed Bernard Tomic.


Grigor Dimitrov’s On Court Meltdown
Speaking of Dimitrov, he had an epic meltdown in that final against Diego Schwartzman.  We haven’t seen one this bad in a long time. After frequently breaking his strings throughout the match, he smashed his racquet with the 3rd offense leading to loss of the game and therefore the match.  While we certainly can’t support his lack of sportsmanship in this case, haven’t we all had one of those days?


USA-Croatia Davis Cup Tie Announcement Coming Soon!
We’ve been very (im)patiently waiting for the location of the Davis Cup tie between the US & Croatia coming in July.  According to the Davis Cup Twitter, an announcement should be coming later this week.  Stay tuned!  Jack Sock is ready with his #Merica Babolat gear.

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: Welcome to Miami

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This week the tour moves to the East Coast, with Miami Open action starting on Wednesday.  Enjoy this last hardcourt tournament in North America before the tour moves to Europe for the clay season!

This Week’s Tournament
Miami Open – Miami, FL USA

Novak Djokovic Wins BNP Paribas Open
Djokovic captured a record 5th title in Indian Wells.  It was one-way traffic in the men’s final, mostly due to opponent Milos Raonic’s recurring injury, but also due to Djokovic’s outstanding play.

 

Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut Win Indian Wells Doubles
P2Hugz and Nico had an incredible week, winning their first Masters 1000 title as a team.  (yes team, not squad ahem tennis commentators…)  They defeated “Team North America” in the finals, AKA American Jack Sock and Canadian Vasek Pospisil.  We’re big fans of both these teams and happy to see them continue to do well!

 

World Team Tennis Draw March 25
We already know that Andy Roddick will be leading the New York Empires in WTT this Summer in Forest Hills (best news ever).  The WTT draw on Friday will reveal the rosters for all of the teams in the league.  Stay tuned to WTT.com!

WTT_draftday2016

header photo via the Miami Open

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: Indian Wells

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All eyes are on the California desert as the first Masters 1000 event of the season is taking place this week in Indian Wells.  The BNP Paribas Open is one of our favorite tournaments of the year to watch.

This Week’s Tournament
BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA

#MERICA
The Americans have been making a splash at the tournament so far.  18-year-old Francis Tiafoe, one of the ATP World Tour’s #NextGen stars, was impressive in taking out Taylor Fritz and then playing a close match against world #18 David Goffin.  He may have lost but the match proved he could go toe-to-toe with a top 20 player.  Pittsburgh native Bjorn Fratangelo was also impressive in his match against Novak Djokovic, taking the first set 6-2 (no easy task) and fighting until the very end.   Be sure to catch fellow Americans John Isner, Sam Querrey, Stevie Johnson and Jack Sock in action today.

Jack Sock For President
Babolat launched a brilliant new campaign with the rising American star Jack Sock that we can totally rally behind.  Watch his “campaign” video below and make sure you sign up for a “S.O.C.K” at JackSockForPresident.com to show your support for #SockIn16!    We’re looking forward to a showdown between Jack and Dominic Thiem later today.  Let’s rally, America.

Grigor Dimitrov Hot Shot
Grigor lost in the 2nd round to another #NextGen player, Alexander Zrevev.  (We don’t want to talk about it.)  But not before hitting this crazy leaping behind the back shot.   Teach us your skillz.

Nadal vs Verdasco
Verdasco may have beaten Rafa in the 1st round of the Australian Open earlier this year, but there’s no bad blood between the two.  The teamed up for doubles in Indian Wells, loosing to the Bryan Brothers in an entertaining match.  They’ll face off against each other again today, 3rd on Stadium 1.  Will Rafa get revenge?

RAFA_Verdasco_2016_IW

header photo from BNP Paribas Open

Friday Five, Sports, Tennis

The Friday Five: Australian Open Preview (Fangirl Style)

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The Australian Open kicks off this weekend in Melbourne!  It’s time for our annual bae-watch list. Here are some of the (many) players we’ll be rooting for for the next two weeks.

1. Borna Coric

Coric finished 2015 as the youngest player in the top 100. He is definitely one of the top young guns to watch in 2016 – he already has a win over Rafael Nadal, and played his first ATP World Tour final last week in Chennai. And is it just us or does anyone else get a little Jake Miller vibe from him?

2. Jack Sock

The young American has started 2016 with a bang, beating top players Kevin Anderson and David Ferrer en route to the finals in Auckland. Jack has a powerful, aggressive forehand and the game to match. But he’s also known for his great sportsmanship, suggesting his opponent Lleyton Hewitt challenge a call during Hopman Cup last week.

3. Pierre-Hugues Herbert (AKA P2Hugz)

P2Hugz is p2cute. He teamed up with fellow Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to win the US Open doubles trophy last Fall. The duo also made it to the finals of the 2015 Australian Open, so they will be confident playing on these familiar courts. Pierre-Hugues is also looking to qualify for the singles draw (ALLEZ!!!)

4. Taylor Fritz

Taylor is another young American player on a hot streak. Since winning the US Open Juniors title a few months ago, he has gone on to win 3 ATP Challenger titles and risen to 154 in the rankings. Fritz is also playing qualifying st this years tournament.

5. Benoit Paire

We’re not sure which Benoit will end up at this year’s tournament: the one who beat Nishikori at the US Open or the one who has on court meltdowns. But we can guarantee he’ll be entertaining to watch either way! We also suggest following him on Instagram for heart- eyes worthy photos.

BONUS: Lleyton Hewitt

The Australian Open is sadly Hewitt ‘s last tournament as a professional. We’ll be cheering Aussie Aussie Aussie OY OY OY until the last point. We expect him to go down fighting in some epic 5 set matches.

Boys We Like

Tennis: The Ultimate Secret Fangirl Sport

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We aren’t big on sports, but we do LOVE tennis!  The first grand slam of the year kicked off last week in Melbourne, Australia in record-high temperatures of 107F and up.  Now that’s HOT but not nearly as hot as some of the men that play tennis.

We could tell you all the reasons why we love the sport, but instead just enjoy some photos of our favorite young players.  And if you aren’t a secret fangirl of tennis yet, this just might be enough to convince you to tune in for week 2 of the Australian Open.

1.  Grigor Dmitrov
The 22 year old Bulgarian, dating Maria Sharapova, just made it to the 4th round of a slam for the 1st time in his career.  We’re hoping to see more of Grigor in the 2nd week, especially if it means him sharing more photos like this:
Screen Shot 2014-01-19 at 9.35.34 PM

2. Ryan Harrison
Or, as we like to call him “Chino,”  thanks to his uncanny resemblance to one Ryan Atwood of The OC.  The 21-year old Louisiana native, is also really great at Twitter and has a self-confessed love of the song “Call Me Maybe.”  He can call us anytime.
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3. Milos Raonic
Hypothetically, Milos would be the Seth Cohen to Ryan “Chino” Harrison, but technically he is not.  The 6-foot-5 Canadian does have a fast serve to rival Cohen’s quick wit.
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4.  Jack Sock
The 21-year old American has on edge over his fellow players – he an already call himself a Grand Slam champion, after winning the Mixed Doubles trophy with Melanie Oudin in 2011.  He also has an awesome name – “Advantage, Sock.”
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5.  Quisner
Just look at these lovable dorks and occasional doubles team.  Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey are bearing the flag of US Men’s tennis, following Andy Roddick’s retirement in 2012. (WE MISS YOU ANDY!!)
quisner

The Australian Open is airing now on ESPN and the Tennis Channel nightly from 7pm EST, with Men’s Quarterfinal action in play today.   The Men’s Singles Final will be played on Sunday, January 26th.