Washington ATP 500

[don_budge]

More on the Perspective of Christopher Eubanks...

An obviously out of sort Christopher Eubanks gets routinely dispatched into the next week by the 71st ranked player in the world and then...said player gets dumped by Taylor Fritz by almost an identical score. So Eubanks is seriously two degrees of separation from the top tier of the tennis food chain. I know it sounds like a long shot to everyone under the sun and that is just fine by me. I stand alone. He needs to be retooled into a predominately serve and volley player. It is a long shot too. While Eubanks does demonstrate the necessary skills (NBA skill level) he is raw and unbridled. His volley technique show promise but he is seriously two levels under where he needs to be. Tactically and so forth.

The most interesting aspect of his match was his psychological profile. Why was he so out of sorts? Jordan Thompson is a player who should be within Eubanks paygrade. But he looked completely distracted. He completely lost the rhythm of his serve. Girlfriend looked pretty miserable too. Fame and celebrity doesn't agree with everyone. It definitely could cause tension between the Mister and Missus. He was not prepared to take that court the other night. The question is always why. The coaches have to answer for that as well.

Serve and volley Christopher. It might take a year of retooling but that would be just in time for Wimbledon next year. A Wimbledon winner gets all kinds of slack during the rest of the year. If he tooled his game for the grass court season it would even pay dividends in the indoor realm. It's an idea. A concept. Outside the box. As usual.

[stroke]

Kind of what Maxine Cressy did. Eubanks has a better serve and much much better forehand

[jimlosaltos]

Good showing by Taylor Fritz, having to win two quarterfinals in one day, starting with the tough Andy Murray Match.

ATP: "Following his three-hour win against Andy Murray earlier on Friday, Taylor Fritz defeated Jordan Thompson in less than half that time to advance to the semi-finals at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The top-seeded American earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory to extend his winning streak to seven matches, all on home soil, beginning with his Atlanta title run last week. He will face 12th seed Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday, after the Dutchman beat both Gael Monfils and J.J. Wolf on Friday, having split sets against Monfils before rain halted play Thursday evening.

[stroke]

Good showing by Taylor Fritz, having to win two quarterfinals in one day, starting with the tough Andy Murray Match.

ATP: "Following his three-hour win against Andy Murray earlier on Friday, Taylor Fritz defeated Jordan Thompson in less than half that time to advance to the semi-finals at the Mubadala Citi DC Open.

The top-seeded American earned a 6-3, 6-3 victory to extend his winning streak to seven matches, all on home soil, beginning with his Atlanta title run last week. He will face 12th seed Tallon Griekspoor on Saturday, after the Dutchman beat both Gael Monfils and J.J. Wolf on Friday, having split sets against Monfils before rain halted play Thursday evening.

I like Taylor's game. I have always felt he had top 5 potential.

[jimlosaltos]

I like Taylor's game. I have always felt he had top 5 potential.

Finally realizing it. US Open will be an interesting test for Fritz. I recall how disappointed he was year. Lost very early and said something like, "I thought I was a contender."

Should be a viable dark horse IMHO.

[stroke]

Finally realizing it. US Open will be an interesting test for Fritz. I recall how disappointed he was year. Lost very early and said something like, "I thought I was a contender."

Should be a viable dark horse IMHO.

Certainly agree. I could see him winning it, but clearly he would have to have a lot go his way, as is life for most of us.

[jimlosaltos]

Certainly agree. I could see him winning it, but clearly he would have to have a lot go his way, as is life for most of us.

Oh, well. Just when I started believing

Tallon Griekspoor as he takes down no.1 seed Fritz 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 and advances to the final in DC

[stroke]

Tough out there. Griekspoor hits a big ball.

[stroke]

Speaking of tough out there, Grigor loses 1st set to Evans, and is in a dogfight in the 2nd. He appears to me to have better technique/shots on everything, but here he is.

[don_budge]

The Washington Star...days of yesteryear

Years ago it was called the Washington Star tournament. I attended it thanks to my stay at The Don Budge Tennis Camp in McDonough, Maryland. Mr. Budge would take the camp to the tournament and we strolled around taking in the stars of the day. I remember Guillermo Vilas was sort of just making some noise in the tennis world. Good old Don just loved the Vilas backhand with the big topspin rolling off the lefty's racquet. I walked up to Ion Tiriac and had a word with him. He seemed surprised that someone would dare to that. I thought he was awesome. He and Nastase.

Daniel Evans had a crazy, insane win yesterday or rather last night. At 33 years of age...5' 9" tall and weighing in at 165 pounds he took down the field with wins over the numbers 58, 93, 10, 20 and 26 ranked players in the world. No small feat. I watched some of the Tiafoe and Dimitrov matches here on Eurosport reruns and he was like a surgeon...with the sliced backhand. Amazing. It was like retro tennis in a sense. Incredible to watch him match not only strokes with the sluggers of the modern game but more importantly...match wits. He took out a page from the Roger Federer school of tennis and fell back heavily on the slice backhand to neutralize, parry and thrust his way through the field. I have always been an admirer and supporter of the Daniel Evans game and personna. He a gutsy guy. He takes chances in life. He has made some mistakes and risen up from ashes. There is more to life than tennis. It is worth discussing. But for now...just hurray for the little guy! He showed a lot of nerve the way he handled himself this week. He should take the week off so he doesn't share the same fate as Taylor Fritz who ran out of legs in his semifinal. He showed some fraying of the nerves. It's tough to go back to back on the tour.

I know that Mr. Budge would have loved this one. A one handed backhand slicing and dicing the field like a surgeon. He can pound the topspin as well but it was the slice that won him this tournament...just like Roger Federer.

[doctorhl]

The little guy....reminds me of slice and dicer Bitsy Grant at 5 foot 4 inches! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tVkp7S...c3kgZ3JhbnQ%3D

[don_budge]

https://www.atptour.com/en/players/atp-head-2-head/daniel-evans-vs-tallon-griekspoor/e687/gj37

[don_budge]

The Washington Star...days of yesteryear

Years ago it was called the Washington Star tournament. I attended it thanks to my stay at The Don Budge Tennis Camp in McDonough, Maryland. Mr. Budge would take the camp to the tournament and we strolled around taking in the stars of the day. I remember Guillermo Vilas was sort of just making some noise in the tennis world. Good old Don just loved the Vilas backhand with the big topspin rolling off the lefty's racquet. I walked up to Ion Tiriac and had a word with him. He seemed surprised that someone would dare to that. I thought he was awesome. He and Nastase.

Daniel Evans had a crazy, insane win yesterday or rather last night. At 33 years of age...5' 9" tall and weighing in at 165 pounds he took down the field with wins over the numbers 58, 93, 10, 20 and 26 ranked players in the world. No small feat. I watched some of the Tiafoe and Dimitrov matches here on Eurosport reruns and he was like a surgeon...with the sliced backhand. Amazing. It was like retro tennis in a sense. Incredible to watch him match not only strokes with the sluggers of the modern game but more importantly...match wits. He took out a page from the Roger Federer school of tennis and fell back heavily on the slice backhand to neutralize, parry and thrust his way through the field. I have always been an admirer and supporter of the Daniel Evans game and personna. He a gutsy guy. He takes chances in life. He has made some mistakes and risen up from ashes. There is more to life than tennis. It is worth discussing. But for now...just hurray for the little guy! He showed a lot of nerve the way he handled himself this week. He should take the week off so he doesn't share the same fate as Taylor Fritz who ran out of legs in his semifinal. He showed some fraying of the nerves. It's tough to go back to back on the tour.

I know that Mr. Budge would have loved this one. A one handed backhand slicing and dicing the field like a surgeon. He can pound the topspin as well but it was the slice that won him this tournament...just like Roger Federer.

The little guy....reminds me of slice and dicer Bitsy Grant at 5 foot 4 inches! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tVkp7S...c3kgZ3JhbnQ%3D

Yes...indeed. Bitsy Grant. David and Goliath. It was a win of Biblical proportions and I would know. I'm on my fourth lap of the Bible since the turn of the year. My dear old father would have asked me..."why are you reading the Bible" as he asked me some thirty years ago when I secluded myself in literature approaching my 40th birthday. My answer to him was..."we are all characters on this stage of life and the great writers developed characters in their writing so wonderfully intricately"...that I was trying to understand my character and my role. So Biblical proportions? Certainly a tinge of David and Goliath. I would say that I am reading the Bible...because it makes me feel good.

I watched the final with Tallon Griekspoor last night on Eurosport here in Sweden. The land of Borg. What a match and what a way to end it. Match point was a couple of slice backhands to fend off the onslaught and then...an error. What an amazing tournament from Daniel Evans. It makes me so proud that I have been in his corner all this time. Pulling for him. Rooting for him. In the land of the baseline bashing...I alone extolled the virtues of his retro game. He took down some really big hitters too. One poster marveled at Griekspoor's bashing and Evans just took him out of his game with the variety of shot. Griekspoor was shaking his head and talking to himself. A tad confused. Couldn't get a handle on the situation. Evans just kept it going. One more ball. Forcing his opponents to hit one more shot and not necessarily the shot they want to play. He took the air out of the ball and waited for his opportunity and then he pounced. Ala Federer...Roger Federer. One might say it was Federesque. There is a God!

[stroke]

Murray vs Sonego today, Murray the favorite. Stroke does not bet, but this one has upset written all over it. Sonego is tough, and as some poster was pining about the pugnacious one Dan Evans and weary legs, the same could be said about Murray, after last week.

Wrong thread here.

[don_budge]

Kind of what Maxine Cressy did. Eubanks has a better serve and much much better forehand

Precisely. Eubanks has the tools...but does he have the vision. Does the brain trust? As it is...he is at some sort of weird impasse. He has reached the wall...unless. An intervention. We'll see. The next month is going to be so revealing. So far...the result with Monfils is interesting.

Monfils dealt a hot hand so far in the Rogers Cup. Speaking of Monfils...he has another date with destiny coming around the corner. The date's name? None other than Aleksandar Vukic. Vukic's ranking up to a very respectable 62...up from 127 in May. He's eating his way up the food chain. Even though "The Amazing Mr. Monfils" is ranked a historically low 276 he is prime cut filet mignon on the food chain that is the ATP tour. Already Vukic has taken down the 14th seed "Born Again" Coric (ranked 15) and Sebastian Korda (ranked 32). Vukic is taking big bites. Perhaps his win over the highly touted Mr. Eubanks was a big confidence builder. He practically owns Eubanks now. Vukic is right where he wants to be now. He can propel himself right into the thick of things with a win over the Amazing One. Monfils also is right where he wants to be. A win over Vukic and he too is right in the thick of things.

This is what we are left with now in the post Federer phase of the game. Just speculation. Mere musing. Compared to Roger this is all window dressing. A salad of sorts.