Monday, June 27, 2022

Weekend Tennis Roundup


Nice grass-court wins for Stefanos Tsitsipas, Taylor Fritz, Petra Kvitova and Caroline Garcia on the eve of Wimbledon. Plus a whole lot more BELOW.


Earlier I was in shock that the censors hadn't gone after ESPN for broadcasting James Duckworth's ass in mandatory-white shorts! 


Stefanos Tsitsipas, whose grass game hasn't been looking good, edged Roberto Bautista Agut in Mallorca to claim his first tour-level title on the surface. In a topsy-turvy encounter, Tsitsipas was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set, but the Greek held firm to claim a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) win and clinch the ninth tour-level title of his career. 


Taylor Fritz outlasted 5-inch-shorts-wearing Maxime Cressy 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4) Saturday in an all-American* men's final for his second Eastbourne title. Was bummed because grass is probably the *Franco-American's best chance at a title, yet he came up a little short(s)


Top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic completed a British trophy double on Friday, following up last week's triumph at the Queen's Club with a successful title defense in Eastbourne.  The Croatians defeated Matwe Middelkoop and Luke Saville 6-4, 6-2 to win their fourth title of the 2022 ATP Tour season, all coming in the past two months. They did not drop a set this week and will now look to defend their 2021 Wimbledon title.


In probably the biggest surprise of the weekend, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova overpowered the overpowering Latvian Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 to win the Eastbourne title on Saturday. I'd like to think this means the Czech doll will be in fine form this week at Wimbledon, but you never know which Petra will show up to play


And the biggest disappointment saw Caroline Garcia coming back from a set and a break down to beat 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday in the final in Hamburg. Nice that the Frenchwoman won her first title in three years but really would like to see Bianca return to form. The bad news for Emma Raducanu is that she'll play Garcia in the second round at Wimbledon

Elsewhere around net: 


Andy Murray returns to the scene of two of his greatest triumphs



The oft-injured Christian Harrison qualified for Wimbledon for the just the second time at age 28



Dressed to thrill 



Now the alt-right pinup has a sense of humor?! 


Bad luck for Marin Cilic, a former finalist who was having a great grass-court season


Jack Draper reached the semis in Eastbourne, losing in a jizzfest against Cressey


The Dominican Republic has a hot export in Nick Hardt


Cam Norrie having some fun in Eastbourne


Hot box alert


I'd sure like to play with James McGee's pickle, balls


This is what Vasek Pospisil looks like when he's struggling


Carlos Alcaraz and Stan Wawrinka hit the practice court


Queen's Club finalist Filip Krajinovic cleans up nicely




I believe it, Doc


Little brother Christian made it into Wimbledon, but Ryan Harrison is looking equally fit




Hungry man dinner 


Liam Broady and Andy Murray need to get a room


Marcos Giron's run to the quarters in Mallorca included one of the most erotic unforced* errors in tennis history


Of course, that ass kind of forced it ... threw off his center of gravity! Watch HERE.


David Vega Hernandez is giving me daddy issues


Did you remember that Thomas Fabbiano once beat Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon? 


Kevin Krawietz enjoys some fresh fruit 


How do you say manspread in German? 


Adam Jones gets around: Here he is with Diego Schwartzman 


And Stefanos 


This is what all the excitement is about 


Dominic Thiem isn't there, but Austrian Dennis Novak qualified for Wimbledon and will face Facundo Bagnis of Argentina in the first round tomorrow


Daniel Masur fell in five to Christian Harrison in the final round of Wimbledon qualies, but looked awfully fetching doing so. He'll play Bernard Tomic tomorrow in a Challenger




Hot couple alert: Albano Olivetti and Santiago Franchini


Franchini with Boris Petrovic


Team Garin


You can always count on The Championships for hunky officials and grounds crew


I don't know what's going on here, but I'm awfully glad Alex Rybakov shared it


Mate Pavic celebrates with Coach Miki Jankovic


Jan-Michael Gambill has been branching out with his wardrobe ....


And his designer jackets can barely accommodate his ample bosom 


Enzo Couacaud was on top of the world when he made it through qualifying at Wimbledon 


But I was bummed to see that foxy Frenchman narrowly lost to John Isner earlier today, 7-5 in the fifth


Sporty Eduardo Nava


...  cleans up nicely


Jannik wants to be a sinner with Filip



Lloyd Glasspool always has his eye on the mancandy


Doubles partners Jackson Withrow and Nathaniel Lammons looking good  


Wimbledon's 2002 finalist David Nalbandian with star pupil Miomir Kecmanovic


How do you say "thick" in Serbo-Croatian?


Team Tommy Paul 


Mackenzie McDonald and his coach at the straightest event on Earth 


Hubert Hurkacz came up short in this photo with John Isner ... and in his first round match against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina


I could get into this Cam Norrie - John Millman sandwich 


Matt Ebden at your service


Lloyd Glasspool and Co. 


Looks like I picked the wrong weekend to go to Chicago ...


J.J. and the Wolf pack invade the Windy City 







Since he's not much of a tennis player, I do appreciate Karen Khachanov's interest in being the next Thor 


 Joe Salisbury is also a do-gooder


Big Joe hanging with his favorite Mick


A win for Ben Patael


And a winning friend, too 


Michael Venus joins the Christian Harrison posse


Yet he still seems to be playing with longtime partner Tim Pütz


Casper Ruud and Carlitos


Loved the French Open finalist's support for gay Norway


Kramies all grown up 


Team Shapovalov looks a lot better than he's been playing of late


Enzo with Arthur Rinderknech


... and Andrea Vavassori


Doggy style with Jonathan Eysseric


Jack Sock qualified for Wimbledon. He'll take on Bernabe Zapata Miralles tomorrow morning


What about French-on-French violence? Quentin Halys defeats Benoit Paire


Tim van Rijthoven's winning streak continues


Tommy Paul gets his first win at Wimbledon 




This is how Robert Farah carries on in the gym 


It was a shame that Serena Williams and Ons Jabeur had to pull out of the doubles in Eastbourne when the Tunisian twisted her ankle. I was hoping if they kept winning I would find out who the guy coming between them was

And last but not least: Who do you think will win this year? 


I'll start with my men's prediction, done using the mindset of a Nadal fan when he's playing the French: Ohmygod. The three-times-defending-champion Novak Djokovic -- who hasn't lost to Rafael Nadal on grass since 2008 -- is clearly the absolute underdog. (I'm surprised they even let him play -- he's barely won one tournament this year and looked incredibly shaky in his first-round match today.) If he can get a set off Nadal it will be an absolute miracle. (Please God, let him UPSET Rafa!) Prediction: Rafael Nadal -- who is going for the Grand Slam(!) and has beaten Djokovic in four of their last five matches -- will win it all. 


This one's very unpredictable, but it will be fun to watch. Iga Swiatek is playing head and shoulders above the rest, but has little experience on grass. Serena Williams can still hit the ball as cleanly as anyone, but her inability to move has been costly since the birth of her daughter. Whether her agility -- at age 40 with a year off -- has somehow improved will be the key to her success. If I had my way, Jabeur would be crowned queen. But I have never have my way, so let the suffering begin. 

1 comment:

ATANNER said...

The Duckworth behind is always must see tv!!!!