kenneth in the (212): Weekend Tennis Roundup

Monday, August 16, 2021

Weekend Tennis Roundup

Daniil Medvedev and Camila Giorgi won big in Canada. Full report from Up North plus all the ATP eye candy fit to pub BELOW.

After a stellar week playing some of the best tennis of his life, Reilly Opelka came up short in his maiden appearance in an ATP Masters 1000 final in Toronto, falling to No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4.

Although I was disappointed that the 23-year-old American wasn't able to put much of a dent in the No. 2 ranked Russian, it was reassuring to see he had some killer spirit in him, which I feared he lacked.

The women's final, of course, was just the latest embarrassment for the game, as unseeded Camila Giorgi (No. 72!) beat Wimbledon runnerup and World No. 4 Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5. In order to find a silver lining in the idiocy of it all, I discovered that Giorgi was the daughter of two Argentine-born Italians, so we shared the news with Damian's mom and tried to put a brave face on it all. (Look for her to lose early in Cincinnati.)

In doubles, Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram stunned all-but-undefeated No. 1 seeds Nikola Mektic & Mate Pavic 6-3, 4-6, 10-3.

Elsewhere around the net ...

Neal Skupski rides in style

Novak Djokovic is regrouping in Montenegro for the U.S. Open. Will he pull a Serena 2015/Martina 1984?

Adorable Marco Gulisano

Early exit at his home tournament for Vasek Pospisil, but he gave us a lot to remember

Tommy Paul isn't feeling Reilly Opelka's phone technique

How do I get to be the meat in a Dusan Lajovic and Miomir Kecmanovic sandwich?

Tommy boy

Diego Schwartzman and his maté mate

A few days after posting Dave Pfister and his twin, I found out he's a Christian believer

Matteo Berrettini with and without his blondie brother

Andreas Seppi & Co.

It's always the right time for Brayden Schnur

Quentin Halys looking hot in San Marino

Would be remiss to not mention D.C. runnerup Mackenzie McDonald's hot coach Jaime Pulgar

Aljaz Bedene might be the only man on tour who doesn't look better with a beard

J.J. Wolf fell to fellow American Marcos Giron in the quallies in his hometown event ...

But he'll always have these erotic photos of his fellow lower-body god to remember the experience

Jan-Michael Gambill shared a throwback photo for the ages

Swiss Misses: It's starting to look like Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer will never return

“I’ve been doing a lot of checks with the doctors on my knee... I hurt myself further during the grass-court season and it’s just not the way to go forward. "They told me... to feel better [that] I’ll need surgery. I decided to do it."

That said, Juan Martin del Potro is still plugging away

Birthday boy Stefanos Tsitsipas blew it against Reilly Opelka

Medvedev got revenge on Hubert Hurkacz for Wimbledon in Toronto -- but the Pole's new haircut has me noticing him in ways I never had before

Was Tommy Paul cruising Miomir Kecmanovic?

Scratch that: Tommy only has eyes for J.J.

My weekly tribute to Thomas Fabbiano

Elena Vesnina goes for the gold ...

The Cincinnati heat already seems to be getting Filip Krajinovic

German bonding in Cincy

Albano Olivetti ...

and his favorite Frenchie, Alex Robein

Tobias Simon says ... take off your pants

Czech teenager Dalibor Svrcina captured his first title on the ATP Challenger Tour on home soil by winning the Prague Open, defeaing Dmitry Popko from Kazakhstan 6-0, 7-5 in Sunday’s singles final.

On Saturday, Jonas Forejtek and Michael Vrbensky took the Prague doubles title. The Czech pair defeated the all-Russian combination of Evgeny Karlovskiy and Evgenii Tiurnev 6-1, 6-4. The encounter lasted 55 minutes.