Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Weekend Tennis Roundup


I'll bet tournament officials in Stuttgart regretted giving native son Tommy Haas a wildcard into the event, when he outfoxed No. 1 seed Roger Federer in a three-set second-round match, even saving a match point.


Somewhere Nancy Lieberman was screaming at the Swiss legend: "You cannot be friends with that man!" -- and friends they were, doing promotions in the days leading up to the event. 


Dreamy Feliciano Lopez took advantage of the opening, meeting Lucas Pouille in the final. The Frenchman looked to put his poor showing at the French Open behind him, winning the final in three tight sets.


Almost a smile!


At the other grass court event in the Netherlands, a rather silly final featuring Gilles Muller and 98-year-old Ivo Karlovic unfolded. As expected, each set played went to a tiebreak, with the Luxembourger coming out on top in both. The tournament was more a missed opportunity for Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev, who both lost in the semis.


Perhaps the happiest news from the sport came in Birmingham, where Donna Vekić won her second career title -- and first in three years -- over Johanna Konta. Stan Wawrinka's girlfriend rallied to beat the British No.1 2-6, 7-6, 7-5, which I didn't see but probably featured a major meltdown for no reason.  


Still, after having been the subject of crude actual locker-room talk and hilarious cruel posts like this, the win had to feel good.

2 comments:

Marc said...

98 year old?

Kenneth M. Walsh said...

I'm sorry, is he still 97? :-)