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Another packed day, with eyes on Rafael Nadal, who takes on Cameron Norrie in a bigger test than he faced in his Bastad opener against Leo Board.
Nadal is 4-1 against Norrie, with nary a set lost on clay and, in fact, just one set lots, period, in United Cup a year ago.
But this isn’t vintage Nadal, even as it’s not vintage Norrie, either.
Holger Rune, Alexander Zverev, Arthur Fils and – finally – Félix Auger-Aliassime are also in action.
Weather concerns: spot thundershowers in Gstaad (not unusual in the mountains) but warm. Serious heat in Palermo (the heat index already 38C at noon), with wind gusts up to 40 km/h. Similar conditions in … Budapest, of all places, with less wind but a similar heat index, and more of a chance of thunderstorms. The women will really be up against it.
Women’s schedule:
Men’s schedule:
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Knee procedure for Hurkacz
After his awful-looking slip on the court at Wimbledon against Arthur Fils in the second round, after which he was forced to retire, it wasn’t surprising that Hubert Hurkacz ended up undergoing a “knee procedure” on Monday. But on Wednesday, he was already in the gym rehabbing.
As with Novak Djokovic before Wimbledon, it looks to be a quick rehab for a dedicated, professional athlete. And he hasn’t yet ruled out the Olympics.
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You know you’ve made it when … you get papped
Jannik Sinner’s private life was pretty low key when he was that kid on the comeup with the girlfriend unknown outside the tennis world.
But now that he’s No. 1, with the attractive WTA player Anna Kalinskaya as his partner, he’s getting the post-Wimbledon paparazzi treatment previously afforded Nadal in his annual post-Wimbledon boat trip with his pals off the coast of Mallorca.
To wit:
Paparazed for the 1st time ✅️
— Janniksin_Updates (@JannikSinner_Up) July 17, 2024
😅🦊
📷 @chimagazine pic.twitter.com/j7DKtqv3KW
How happy does he look, though? It’s great.
We live in crazy times.
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Newport to be a Challenger town
The quaint grass-court event in Newport, Rhode Island has always been an outlier on the calendar – perhaps even more than the clay-court swing after Wimbledon. Because after Wimbledon, most players want to be done with grass.
But after the tournament’s license went up for sale last fall, the ATP decided it would prefer to retire the event, given it will be expanding the Canadian and Cincinnati 1000 tournaments to 12-day schedules beginning in 2025.
As with Atlanta (which has its finale next week), where is just “no more room” in the ATP’s “OneVision strategic plan” for the smaller events.
So the original home of the US Open will be consigned to the dustbin of history. And it was announced on Wednesday that a new chapter begins in 2025.
The site of the International Tennis Hall of Fame will host a joint men’s Challenger 125 and women’s WTA 125 next year, with a new date. It’ll be during the second week of Wimbledon, so a week earlier.
While those “second-week” slots have proven fertile ground for top-level players eliminated early from Masters 1000s earlier in the year, the surface – and the date – probably won’t have the same effect on this event.
The good news is that women’s tennis will be back in Newport for the first time since the WTA was sponsored by a cigarette company (back in 1990).
The event the tournament is really built around, the annual Hall of Fame inductions, won’t happen that week, though. They haven’t finalized the details but it appears it will be moved to August, closer to the US Open.
When you look at the players who will be inducted in the next few years: the Williams sisters, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Wawrinka, Murray … it’s truly a shame. Because those July weekends in Newport could have been incredible.
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Grand Slam champions in Toronto qualies
The entry lists are out for the qualifying in Toronto, and for the main draw in Cincinnati.
And if there’s a conclusion to be drawn, it’s that Rafael Nadal has no intention of playing either.
Last week, the Montreal tournament director said they would be putting forth their best arguments to try to convince Nadal to come to Montreal, where he is a three-time champion. But while the Mallorcan has entered the US Open with his protected ranking, he has not done that at either warm-up tournament.
If that changes – if he feels good coming out of the Olympics – the turnaround would be to short for Montreal. At best, assuming he plays the US Open at all, he might think about Cincinnati.
So with three wild cards still to award (one is already given to Denis Shapovalov), you can cross him off the list. But if not Nadal, who?
Milos Raonic tells Open Court that he has requested a wild card into Montreal. But if so, you wonder why they haven’t either confirmed that or announced it already.
Meanwhile, the Toronto qualifying list features three former Grand Slam champions: Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin and Emma Raducanu, last to squeeze in at No. 94.
The last time Raducanu played qualifying anywhere was the 2021 US Open, which she won. It’s hard to fathom she’ll break that streak in Toronto. But you never know.
Karolina Pliskova is also on the list, the second alternate into the main draw (so you would think there’s a good chance she’ll get in). Also in qualifying should be Wimbledon sensation Lulu Sun, Amanda Anisimova (on her protected ranking of No. 61) and Wimbledon doubles champion Taylor Townsend.
The Montreal men’s qualifying list has Kei Nishikori (who is always a question mark for every tournament these days) and Roberto Bautista Agut. Also – Wimbledon star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, whose leap in the rankings came a week too late to make the big show in Montreal.
He will be the No. 2 seed (or maybe even the top seed) in the qualifying. But there’s no chance he could make the main draw without a miracle wild card.
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Anyone missing in Cincinnati?
As with Canada the week before, the Cincinnati tournament unveiled its player list Wednesday. And since all players eligible by ranking are automatically entered, it pretty much looks like the Canadian list.
Last in is Alexei Popyrin, at No. 43. But unlike in Montreal where his new ranking status hadn’t yet kicked in, Wimbledon breakthrough player Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard is almost there – first alternate when someone withdraws.
And unlike Toronto, Mirra Andreeva is entered. You would think that, at 17, she still may have some limitations under the WTA age eligibility rules and this is a consequence of that.
Alja Tomljanovic and Paula Badosa are in on protected rankings. Anastasia Potapova, ranked No. 41, is last straight into the main draw for the moment.
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Final Laver Cup selections announced for Team Europe
Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas are the final two selection for Team Europe, for September’s Laver Cup in Berlin, Germany.
That means the team will be like so: Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Ruud, Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal.
While you’d have to put Nadal’s participation as a “let’s wait and see”, it’s hard to see anything “Team World” can come up with taking that squad down.
So far, with two spots remaining, Team World boasts Alex de Minaur, Taylor Fritz, Tommy Paul and Ben Shelton.
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New Zverev brothers podcast!!!
It’s not as though the tennis world really needed another podcast.
But hey, here comes one anyway, starring Alexander Zverev and his brother Mischa.
You have to be a Tennis Channel subscriber to get the English-subtitled version (try not to stampede there all at once). Otherwise, your German needs to be up to par.
The inaugural episode features … Boris Becker. The scenery looks lovely.
The podcast promises “a variety of personal interviews with celebrities from the world of sport and entertainment”, and was announced during a post-match interview after his first-round win in Hamburg. An interview conducted by … his brother Mischa.
Tennis Channel and its website arm, Tennis.com, are promoting this, no doubt it’ll be a huge success. Mischa Zverev has been doing work for Tennis Channel and its international arm for a number of years – much of it pretty much piggybacking on his brother’s renown.
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