Tag Archives: Richard Gasquet

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: News Roundup

Leave a comment

This Week’s Tournament:
St. Petersburg Open – St. Petersburg, Russia
Moselle Open – Metz, France

France & Belgium Headed to Davis Cup Final
Team France made it back to the Davis Cup Final for the first time since 2014.  With the insane amount of talented French players, we think they are long overdue to hold the Davis Cup trophy!  Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Lucas Pouille, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nico Mahut helped the team get the win in their semi-final against Serbia.  They’ll take on Belgium in the finals, who defeated Australia in a close and dramatic 5th rubber.  The 2017 Davis Cup Final will be held in November in Lille.  Allez!

Laver Cup Kicks Off on Friday
The inaugural Laver Cup starts this Friday, September 22nd from Prague.  The 3 day event will see Team World taking on Team Europe in a new team format, led by captains John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg.   There will be 3 singles matches and 2 doubles match per day of competition.  All sets will be the best out of 3 sets, with the 3rd set being decided as a 10 point tiebreaker if sets are split.    The matches are weighted by day, with Sunday’s matches counting the most toward the overall team score.   We’ll definitely be tuning in to see how this plays out and to see if Rafa & Federer will team up for doubles!   They also unveiled an all-black tennis court for the occasion because #aesthetic.

Team World: Sam Querrey, John Isner, Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock, Juan Martin del Potro* and Denis Shapovalov.  *Del Potro was replaced by Frances Tiafoe.

Team Europe: Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Sascha Zverev, Tomas Berdych, and Marin Cilic.

This new team competition hopes to become an annual event, with the 2018 Laver Cup to be held somewhere in the United States. Laver Cup will air in the US on Tennis Channel.


ATP #NextGen Finals Unveil New Innovations
Another new event on the tennis calendar is the ATP #NextGen Finals.  Like the ATP World Tour Finals, the #NextGen Finals invite the top 8 players under 21, based on their points accumulated throughout the year.   Sascha Zverev is currently holding the top spot in the race to Milan, followed by Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov.   The event will unveil a few new “innovations” to the traditional tennis tournament.  The latest is that there will be no linesmen on the court – all lines will be called electronically using hawkeye.

This adds to the previously announced changes of having short 1st to 4 game sets, shorter warm ups, a shot clock to enforce time between serves, playing let serves, a limit on medical time outs, and player coaching.  While we’re excited to see the future #NextGen of men’s tennis at the event, let’s hope this isn’t a preview of the #NextGen of tennis tournament rules that take away from the game itself.

Richard Gasquet Wins Challenger in Poland
Richard has had a difficult 2017, as he’s been trying to recover and make his way back from a variety of injuries.   Richard played a tournament at the challenger level last week, the Pekao Szczecin Open in Poland, and won the title!  We’re hoping the win will help get Richard back on track.

View this post on Instagram

Sundays @lecoqsportif #backsoon #tennislife #lecoqsportif

A post shared by Richard Gasquet (@richardgasquet34) on

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: News Roundup

Leave a comment

This Week’s Tournaments:
ASB Classic – Auckland, New Zealand
Apia International Sydney – Sydney, Australia

Last Week’s Winners:
Brisbane International – Grigor Dimitrov
Qatar ExxonMobil Open – Novak Djokovic
Aircel Chennai Open – Roberto Bautista Agut
Hopman Cup – France (Richard Gasquet & Kiki Mladenovic)

Grigor Dimitrov Wins First Title Since 2014
It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 3 years since Grigor Dimitrov won his last title, at Queen’s Club in 2014.  That same year he reached the top 10 for the first time, and made it to the semi-finals a at Wimbledon.  It’s been a tough couple of years for Grigor, who has been working hard to get back in top form.  He started 2017 in commanding fashion, taking out 3 top 10 players (Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori) on his way to the Brisbane title.  He also took one of the cutest and most excited trophy winning photos of all time.  More of this in 2017, please!

View this post on Instagram

🏆

A post shared by Grigor Dimitrov (@grigordimitrov) on


Dominic Thiem Hits The Beach
One of the hardest working men in tennis, Dominic Thiem, hit the “beach” in Sydney ahead of the tournament there this week.   Our dream job would be planning and supervising these ATP player field trips during tournaments.  Where can we sign up?   (Also someone please take Grigor back to a zoo while he’s in Australia so we get more of this)

James Blake Wins 2016 Powershares Season Finale in Brooklyn
Professional tennis made it’s return to Brooklyn for the first time since  1935 on a snowy Saturday night at the Barclays Center.   James Blake won the Powershares QQQ Cup, the last event on the 2016 Champions Tour.  James defeated Andy Roddick in the first semi-final, breaking Andy in the final game of the set.   (Andy’s serve is still on point in case you were wondering).  John McEnroe beat Jim Courier 6-3, before losing to James in the final.   The final set was an entertaining battle of the New Yorkers, with an energetic crowd cheering on both players.

Taylor Fritz Expecting First Child
Tennis Channel just casually mentioned that Taylor Fritz is expecting his first child any day now!   Fritz wed his longtime girlfriend Raquel Pedraza over the Summer.   Congrats Taylor and Raquel!

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: News Roundup

Leave a comment

This Week’s Tournaments:
Erste Bank Open 500 – Vienna, Austria
Swiss Indoors Basel – Basel, Switzerland

Juan Martin del Potro Wins First Title Since 2014
Delpo won the first title of his 2016  comeback at the If Stockholm Open in Sweden.  He defeated Jack Sock in the final 7-5, 6-1.  With the win, Delpo is back in the top 50 (where he belongs!).   Impressive considering Delpo started 2016 ranked 1041.  Welcome back!

View this post on Instagram

Qué felicidad!!! // So happy!!! 😀🏆

A post shared by Juan Martin del Potro (@delpotrojuan) on

 

Richard Gasquet Wins Inaugural European Open
Gasquet won his 14th career title at the new 250 ATP tournament in Antwerp, Belgium.   2016 has been an up and down year for Gasquet, who battled some injuries.  The title is his second of the year and puts him up to #18 in the race to London.

 

Thiem Dominates Tie Break Tens in Vienna
Homeboy Dominic Thiem won the Tie Break Tens exhibition in Vienna, kicking off the Erste Bank Open.  The event featured round robin play, with each “match” consisting of one 10-point tiebreak.  Thiem defeated Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, Tommy Haas, and Goran Ivanisevic en route to the final, where he played against Andy Murray in a winner-take-all tiebreak.  Wimbledon hero Marcus Willis was also in lineup, playing entertaining tiebreaks against Murray and Ivanisevic.

 

Rafael Nadal Ends 2016 Season Early
After struggling with a wrist injury for the second half of the season, Rafa officially shut down his 2016 season last week.  We’re looking forward to a well rested and healthy Rafa next year!

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: Roland Garros Week 2

Leave a comment

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!

Sports, Tennis

Tennis Tuesday: ATP News of the Week

1 Comment

It’s no secret that the only thing we love as much as music is tennis!  Lucky for us, the tennis season lasts nearly the entire year, hitting every corner of the globe.  We thought we’d take a weekly look at the ATP World Tour action, both on an off the court.

This Week’s Tournaments:
Memphis, TN, USA
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Buenos Aires, Argentina

Del Potro Returning at Delray Beach
Juan Martin del Potro announced that he is making his return to the tour very soon at the Delray Beach Open!  We’ve missed Delpo, and it’s wonderful to see that he is healthy enough to play again!

Gasquet Wins Montpellier
Our petit-ami, Richard Gasquet, played his first tournament of 2016 in Montpellier last week.  And won!  Gasquet missed the Australian Open due to an ongoing back injury, and we’re thrilled to see him back on court and playing well!

Fier de conserver mon titre !! #opensuddefrance #montpellier #atpworldtour

A photo posted by Richard Gasquet (@richardgasquet34) on

ATP Players + Puppies = Love
We love the off-court features on the ATP site,   This week they took a look at players and their pets!  Of course there’s Djokovic’s dog Pierre, Murray’s terriers Maggie May and Rusty … and Alexandr Dogopolov has the coolest looking cat we’ve ever seen.

DJOKOVIC_pets_ATP
#MERICA
The Memphis Open is underway, and is the first tournament to have 5 American teenagers in the draw since 1989.  Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul, Frances Tiafoe, Michael Mmoh, and Jared Donaldson all made it to the main draw of the tournament.   Not sure about you, but we are super excited about the future of American tennis.  USA!  USA!  USA!

ATP_Memphis_Merica_Teens

Friday Five, Sports

The Friday Five: US Open Preview (Fangirl Style)

Leave a comment

As we’ve said before, tennis is the perfect sport for fangirls.  And the US Open is finally here!  After spending the rest of the year watching our score app or trying to find a live stream, we finally get to see our favorite players up close and in person.  So, in honor of the US Open kicking off on Monday, August 31st, here are our 5 players to watch.

1.Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor is one of the hottest young rising stars in the sport.  And if you’ve ever wondered what Grigor’s favorite Backstreet Boys’ song is, we suggest you watch this video.  (also an ATP boyband?  Yes please!)

2.Rafa Nadal
Thank you, Tommy Hilfiger.  Thank you.

3.Richard Gasquet
The Frenchman has by far the most beautiful backhand in the game, among other things. We’ll be cheering “ALLEZ!”

4.Mardy Fish
We’re thrilled to see Mardy back at the US Open this year, as he’s played some of our favorite matches ever at the tournament.  Sadly Mardy will be retiring after this year’s US Open.  We’ll never forget the crowd cheering “who lives in a pineapple under the sea?”  “MARDYYY MARDDYYYY”

5.Pierre-Hugues Herbert
Or as well call him, “P2Hugz,” thanks to his Twitter handle.  The Frenchman was officially inducted to the French Davis Cup squad earlier this year, and they made him sing.

(header photo via Nike Court)

Friday Five, Tennis

The Friday Five: Our Favorite Tennis Players

Leave a comment

Changing things up for this week’s Friday Five!  This week we’re looking at our favorite tennis players.  If there is anything we like more than music, it’s tennis.  We’ve previously discussed how tennis is the ultimate fangirl sport.  Not only are these athletes extremely fit and excellent at what they do, but it seems like there is a requirement to be good looking to play in the ATP tournaments.

1. Grigor Dimitrov – @grigordimitrov
We like to call Grigor our “Bulgarian bon-bon” (sort of like Viktor Krum to Hermione Granger). It’s not surprising that his nickname is “baby Fed” because of his skill and precision during the game. Dimitrov’s one handed back hand is something to envy, as well!  He isn’t just good at tennis, he’s also really entertaining on Twitter. Grigor likes to share adorable photos of himself with puppies, enjoying the flowers, as well as this gem:

2. Richard Gasquet – @richardgasquet1
Here is another player with a really beautiful backhand (yes, backhand…..that’s all we’re implying….no innuendos here!!) Gasquet is French and plays the sport with an elegant flair.   Simply put, he’s just a beautiful player to watch.  When he gets frustrated, he throws his sweaty socks on the court because he can.  (At least he’s not smashing racquets?)  Sadly he doesn’t use Instagram as much as Dimitrov.

Richard Gasquet backhand gif

3. Rafa Nadal – @rafaelnadal
“For me, it will be a tough match for sure, no?”  Rafa is so humble about his game, even in first round matches where he is sure to bagel his opponents.  Rafa always fights his hardest and plays like it’s the final of a grand slam. He also gives the best acceptance speeches and press conferences, for sure.  And then there’s that Armani commercial where he just takes off his suit and puts on some jeans, because why not, no?

4. Ryan Harrison – @ryanharrison92
This kid is the next Andy Roddick, at least we think he has the potential! He needs to bring Andy back to be his coach (but it seems like Ryan is taking cues from Andy already). It also kind of freaks us out how much Harrison looks like Ryan Atwood from The O.C., or as We like to call him, Chino.  Can you tell who’s who?

Screen Shot 2014-04-17 at 7.54.43 PM

5. John Isner – @johnisner
JOOHNNYYYY!!!  At nearly 6’10”, we love that he plays tennis and didn’t go into basketball. John is super loveable and watching him play is always a joy, even during stressful tie-breakers.  Which he tends to play.  A lot.  During on court interviews, he literally dwarfs any other player and interviewer. We love when he teams up with fellow American & BFF Sam Querrey for doubles!  Go Quisner!

quisner

The Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters is happening right now – visit ATP World Tour for the latest scores, news & updates on your favorite players.