Washington, Kitzbuhel, Los Cabos Review

A flamboyant champion in the U.S. capital, and a first title on home soil for a rising star. This is the Up The Line Tennis tournament recap for last week on the ATP Tour.

Washington- ATP 500

Nick Kyrgios (AUS) can be described as many things, however, talented will always be correct. His talent was put on full display this week, as he captured his second title of his 2019, both at the 500 level, as he defeated Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 7-6(6), 7-6(4) on Sunday. Kyrgios admittedly did not battle the toughest of opponents through the first few rounds, including a quarterfinal win over lucky loser Norbert Gombos, who had taken the place of fourth seeded Kevin Anderson, who withdrew from another tournament with a continuing elbow issue. However, a stern challenge awaited with top seed and one time doubles partner Stefanos Tsitsipas, which ended up with a 9-7 third set tiebreak win for the Aussie, in what most would call the match of the week. The final was a more straightforward affair in the scoreline, but Kyrgios would not compete without drama, as the Russian took a 5-2 lead in the first set tiebreak, and had a set point at 6-5, and both times Kyrgios upped his level with some commanding groundstrokes to flip the momentum on its head. The second set was more straightforward, with Kyrgios capturing a mini break early on in the tiebreak to take control. The Aussie rises back inside the top 30 for the first time in almost a year, and seems to be finding his form at the right time on his favorite surface.

Kitzbuhel- ATP 250

Dominic Thiem (AUT) had never won a title at the Generali Open in Kitzbuhel, only reaching the final in 2014, at the tender of age of 20. He had to wait five years since that day, but finally won on his home soil, defeating Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP), champion at Gstaad last week, 7-6(0), 6-1. The first set was a marathon, including 5 break chances on the Thiem serve and a rain delay midway through. However, Thiem’s level skyrocketed during the tiebreak as he skunked the Spaniard, and broke twice quickly in the second to grab the match by the throat. Continued heavy groundstrokes sealed up the match, and the third title of his 2019, one at each ATP level (Indian Wells 1000, Barcelona 500, Kitzbuhel 250).

Los Cabos- ATP 250

Diego Schwartzman (ARG) seems to post good results on all surfaces, including R4 appearances at both the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in the past year, and a semifinal in Rome on clay. However, the Argentine posted the biggest hardcourt result of his career with a title in Los Cabos, Mexico on Saturday, defeating rising star Taylor Fritz (USA) 7-6(6), 6-3. Schwartzman saved three set points at 0-40, 5-6 in the first set, before setting up three of his own at 6-3 in the tiebreak. However, neither of those sets of three were converted, as Fritz stormed back to 6-6, before a crucial nervous patch caused him to throw in a double fault, allowing Schwartzman to serve it out on set point #4. The second set slowly tipped the way of Schwartzman, as he captured the break to go up 3-1, and from there took the match. An impressive week from both players, as Fritz gets to a career high of 25 with the final, while Schwartzman is slightly higher at 23.

Wimbledon 2019 Preview

The world’s most recognizable tennis tournament begins on Monday, with a wide open draw and lots of intriguing clashes. Below are four storylines that will be important to the next two weeks and predictions for the tournament.

The ATP Player Rep Situation

At the time of writing, the decision seems to have been made to have Weller Evans, longtime ATP executive, become the third ATP player representative for the rest of the 2019 season, replacing Justin Gimelstob, who has stepped down after being charged with assault after allegedly attacking his neighbor. Evans beat out Nicolas Lapentti for the spot by a vote from the two existing player representatives, Alex Inglot and David Egdes, after the player council reached a 5-5 deadlock. After the decision was made, Robin Haase, one of the council members, announced his resignation, due to issues that he felt were important not being focused on. Rumors swirl that he will not be the only one to resign in the coming days. As Evans only is in the seat until the new year, this will be a very interesting dynamic to watch, especially if Lapentti is interested in running again.

Djokovic to Defend Wimbledon?

In news that has to do with the playing of the game, Novak Djokovic begins the defense of his massive amount of points here at Wimbledon, and faces ever present Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round. While the German will probably not cause problems like he did in Indian Wells this year, Djokovic could face a stern test as early as the fourth round, from either the rising Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, who seems to be great on every surface. or mercurial Frenchman Gael Monfils. Djokovic seems to have an easier half than both Federer or Nadal, but there are many banana skins that line his road to the title, including a matchup with either of the two greats in the final.

Young Seeds Looking to Cause a Stir

We’ve already mentioned Felix Auger-Aliassime, but he and other young players that are either seeded or close to the top 32 are ready to crash the party here. Matteo Berrettini, a big serving Italian who seems to be able to play on all surfaces, has a good draw lined up for him that could include a Round 4 clash with Roger Federer later in the week. He did not drop serve all week en route to winning Stuttgart, and his only loss on grass came to David Goffin, who’s playing his best tennis on grass in a long time. Alex De Minaur, even though he is rusty and not that in form, has a pretty open draw by his standards. It depends on both the seeds in his draw being out of sorts, which are Nishikori and Isner. Neither have played a grass event, and Isner has not played since Miami. However Taylor Fritz is in this section too, coming off his first title on the circuit. Don’t be surprised if one of them make a quarterfinal.

Seeding Arguments and Rafa’s Draw

Controversy has reigned over the past week with Roger Federer, ranked three in the world, being awarded the second seed at Wimbledon at the expense of Rafael Nadal. This is due to Wimbledon having its own seeding formula, which puts a premium on points from grass court events, which Federer always has due to his participation at Halle and better track record at the All England Club, while Nadal only plays Wimbledon. Nadal has been supported by Brad Gilbert and other former players and names in the industry, saying this method of seeding should be done away with. Compounding his struggles is a potential second round matchup with foe Nick Kyrgios, his conqueror in Acapulco this year, where tensions ran very high between them, and still do today. Other names such as Tsonga, Dan Evans, and former finalist Marin Cilic lurk in his section, making his run to a possible title pretty difficult.

Predictions!

Round of 16-

Djokovic vs. Auger-Aliassime

Chardy vs. Tsitsipas

Herbert vs. Raonic

Khachanov vs. Zverev

Thiem vs. Tiafoe

Evans vs. Nadal

Nishikori vs. Fritz

Berrettini vs. Federer

Quarterfinals-

Djokovic vs. Tsitsipas

Raonic vs. Khachanov

Thiem vs. Nadal

Fritz vs. Federer

Semifinals-

Djokovic vs. Raonic

Nadal vs. Federer

Finals-

Djokovic vs. Federer

Wimbledon 2019 Champion-

Roger Federer

Check back on Tuesday for coverage on each round as it happens!

ATP Challenger Review- Week of January 21

Taylor Fritz celebrates his second Newport Beach Challenger title with son Jordan.

Taylor Fritz (USA) continued his hot start to the 2019 season by capturing the Newport Beach Challenger title for the second year in a row, defeating Brayden Schnur (CAN) 7-6(7) 6-4 to win. Taylor said in his interview with Josh Meiseles from the ATP that his key to winning was “My serve. My serve got me through a lot of tough situations and it closed out the match for me. I knew it was going to be a close match, because he doesn’t have much to lose playing me. I expected him to come out swinging. I just tried to neutralise his serve as much as possible with deep returns. I told myself that it doesn’t really matter how well he serves, as long as I don’t get broken. In the second set, I was able to steal a break and hold my serve through the rest of the match.”

Taylor will move to a new career high of 40 in the world with the points from his third round appearance at the Australian Open, and from this title defense. Schnur will move to his career high as well, jumping 32 spots up to 164 in the world.

Other Challengers-

Berankis celebrates his 11th Challenger title of his career in Rennes.

Rennes, France- Ricardas Berankis captured his first title of the year with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Frenchman Antoine Hoang. Even though Hoang was able to make 73% of first serves, Berankis ripped him apart in his return games, converting 4/7 break points to cruise to the win. This win takes him to 104 in the world, coveting a return into the top 100 soon.

Burnie, Australia- Canadian Steven Diez took home his maiden ATP Challenger title at the third try in his career, defeating Aussie home favorite Maverick Banes 7-5, 6-1. Diez, who was able to enter the tournament due to his ITF ranking, which is 32nd in the world, will move up over 100 spots to 307 in the ATP. The Aussie swing continues this week in Launceston, Tasmania.

Punta del Este champion Thiago Monteiro.

Punta del Este, Uruguay- Thiago Monteiro was able to overcome a determined Facundo Arguello 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to capture his second Challenger title, and first since Aix-en-Provence in 2016. It was a very strong week from the Brazilian, navigating tough competition such as Gianluigi Quinzi and Gonzalo Lama, without dropping a set until Sunday’s final. However, Arguello came out punching in the first, with Thiago able to reel the match back to his control for the second and third sets. He will rise up to 107 in the world, the second winner this week to near the Top 100 once again.

Next Week- Challengers continue in Cleveland, USA, Quimper, France, and Launceston, Australia.