Profiling a New Tournament

[jimlosaltos]

In August, I was sitting in a $15-30 seat ~30 feet from an ATP player blasting 133 MPH serves. Two weeks later a front row seat to watch him blast those same serves at Novak Djokovic in the US Open cost thousands. It was the first Challenger-level or WTA 125 event I've attended and they have to be one of the best values in tennis.

The 21 photos in this month's TPN Tour Portrait all come from the inaugural Golden Gate Open, a combo WTA 125 and ATP Challenger tournament that brings women's pro tennis back to Stanford University's historic Taube Stadium, and men's pro tennis back to the bay area. This was once a seminal area for pro tennis in America, until both decades-old events, an ATP tournament run for years by "The Golden Bear" Barry MacCay and a WTA event created by Billie Jean King, were both sold off, leaving us without a main-tour-level pro tournament for the first time in 136 years.
https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ment_stanford/


Background:
MacKay, in 1970, bought the controlling interest in the ATP Pacific Coast Championships, which was founded in 1889.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_...ng_tournaments

The local WTA event started in 1971 as the British Motor Cars Invitational on the Virginia Slims circuit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_Classic


Today:
Pablo Pires de Almeida, a local pro, pulled off an act of diplomacy worthy of nuclear disarmament talks, Pablo got Stanford, the WTA, and the ATP to cooperate and get something done to fill the vacuum! The Golden Gate Open brought together the ATP and the WTA in the first joint-tour event to offer equal pay from inception It is a combo ATP Challenger and WTA 125, not the main tour-level events we once had but it is pro tennis launched with great players.

And what a variety of players. They ranged from 39-year-old Fernando Verdasco to then 18-year-old Alex Michelson. From 31 yo Coco Vandeweghe, who once played a singles final on the same court vs Serena, to 19 yo Diana Shnaider, the highest ranked college player since 1993. {Pop Quiz: Who was that player in 1993? I'll post the answer later in this thread, if you care to play along.}

And they came from all over, with the event's first singles champ, Yafang Wang from China to Constant Lestienne, the veteran French men’s singles winner, to a Saudi Arabia-born Floridian to players from Ukraine, Russia, Taiwan, and more.

Eighteen players are shown in the portrait at this link. Since those photos show match play strokes, and I had access to shoot some more close up & different poses than usual, I'll post some different images in this forum thread.
https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ment_stanford/

This is a collage-poster I created for the event

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[jimlosaltos]

Here are the players in the Tour Portrait

These are in the order I uploaded them to the tour portrait, your viewing results may vary <g> . I'll include different types of and larger photos in this thread.
Portrait link: https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...ment_stanford/

1. Title page
2. Emilio Nava, 20 yo from LA, reached two finals of the Boys' Singles Grand Slam tournaments in 2019. comes from a tennis family, per wiki: Nava is the son of Olympic sprinter Eduardo Nava and professional tennis player X?chitl Escobedo, both of whom are originally from Mexico. He is also the cousin of fellow pro tennis player Ernesto Escobedo. His brother, Eduardo Nava is also a professional tennis player who played college tennis at TCU and Wake Forest University. Must be easy finding someone to hit with.
3. Wang Yafan - Pre-covid world #49, won Stanford, then immediately flew to NYC and kept going, winning three qualifying matches at US Open, then took out last year's finalist Caroline Garcia for 11 straight wins.
4. Wang
5. Nava
6. Constant Lestienne - 31 yo men's champ. Former world no 48, has 13 titles across Challengers and ITF.
7. Lestienne
8. Ashlyn Krueger 19 yo from Dallas, won the 2020 Orange Bowl junior tournament as a wildcard player, and after Stanford, won her first WTA title in Osaka this September.
9. Sasha, Stanford women's team's number 1 Alexandra Yepfianova
10. Borna Gojo, you may have seen him play Djokovic at the US Open (although then with bleach blond hair). He is one of 2 players from the Golden Gate Open among the top 10 fastest serves in NY.
11. Yue Yuan qualified for the Australian Open and for Wimbledon this year.
12. Kaite Volynets 21 yo from Walnut Creek, Ca. Somebody apparently told her to build her quads and use them to leap out of the stadium on forehands. Makes her fun to watch. After a notable upset a national newspaper headline featured her ideal name for tennis Volley-Nets. Asked if that is how it is pronounced she said, "It is now". Wise beyond her years <g>
13. Diana Shnaider 19 yo, "A freshman at North Carolina State, Shnaider, passed up a $140,000 pro payday to stay on the school team. She is the first woman ranked in the top 100 of the pro game to play college tennis since 1993." She nearly won the Junior Career Slam in Doubles with multiple partners, winning Wimbledon, Aussie, US Open and making the French finals, all with multiple partners. Left-handed forehand is ferocious. NYT Coverage. "Diana Shnaider Is Mixing College Tennis With the Pro Tour, for Now" She’s the best player to play college tennis in a while, for sure,” said Geoff Macdonald, the former women’s coach at Vanderbilt.
14. Jodie Burrage 24 yo R85 got some buzz in Britain as half of an all-British final with Katie Boulter at Eastbourne be Wimbledon. Teamed with Oliva Gadecki to win doubles at Stanford.
15. Kateryna Baindl 29 from Ukraine, R62/ 2018, made R3 Aussie this year.
16. Baindl
17. Dalibor Svrcina 20 yo Czech is touted by the ATP as a potential NexGen finalist. Fast, reminds me of an Alex de Minaur (except with a load of 'tude & screaming ball smacking).
18. Alex Michelsen then 18 yo from Aliso Viejo, CA turned 19 during US Open, won the singles and doubles title at the 2022 Easter Bowl, was set to play for Georgia but after some pro success, dropped his amateur status. John Isner on Newport, R.I. grass is his biggest win so far.
19. Michael Mmoh 25 yo Floridian out of Saudi Arabia, world no 2 junior, ATP HR 265. Among fastest servers at this year's US Open
20. Yuan
21. Doubles finalists Hailey Baptiste (21 yo beat Madison Keys in first main draw singles event) and Claire Liu (ex Stanford, 23 yo HR 52) lost to Burrage and Oliva Gadecki 7–6(7–4), 6–7(6–8), [10–8]. Their semi took 3 hours of tough, back-and-forth tension despite having a Super Tiebreak third.
22. Credits

[jimlosaltos]

Let's focus in the forum thread on some close up images and expressions. Here is Wang Yafan beaming at her coach after winning the inaugural women's singles title. It's a huge comeback for her after losing years of her career through China's near-complete pandemic lock-down. Wang followed her Stanford title with an upset of Caroline Garcia at the US Open, where Garcia made the semis last year.


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[jimlosaltos]

Alex Michelson then 18 yo from Aliso Viejo, CA turned 19 during US Open, won the singles and doubles title at the 2022 Easter Bowl, was set to play for Georgia but after some pro success, dropped his amateur status. John Isner on Newport, R.I. grass is his biggest win so far. Alex seemed to like the attention of having his picture taken in the player's area; this is all new to him and he is enjoying himself.


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[jimlosaltos]

Volynets of Walnut Creek, is theatrical, a bit like a combo gymnast and modern dancer hitting tennis balls during her routine. That's a good thing!

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[jimlosaltos]

Yue Yuan r74 qualified for the Australian Open and for Wimbledon this year. Beat favorites more than once at Stanford.

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[jimlosaltos]

Kateryna Baindl, wearing Ukrainian colors, well her skirt is blue. Reminds me of Bogie's line from Casablanca: "I remember Paris well. You wore blue, the Germans wore grey."

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[jimlosaltos]

Emilio Nava, local-ish from near L.A. Mother, brother, cousin all pro tennis players, while father was an Olympic sprinter. Made the finals but the veteran Lestienne's returns kept him on his heels.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, your Pop Quiz Answer as a bonus for those patient enough to get here <g> : "Shnaider is the first woman ranked in the top 100 in singles to play college tennis since 1993, when the American Lisa Raymond played at Florida. Shnaider has gone undefeated in singles matches this season for N.C. State, which is not a traditional college tennis power. But the Wolfpack are 7-1 and undefeated with Shnaider in the lineup.

“She’s the best player to play college tennis in a while, for sure,” said Geoff Macdonald, the former women’s coach at Vanderbilt."

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[jimlosaltos]

This sequence with Wang, the women's champ, reminds me of Angie Kerber, who won on this same court
with that same knee-scraping-court backhand, albeit lefty.
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[jimlosaltos]

I found it! Here's Kerber with her knees scraping that same court, in the finals beating Pliskova in 2015

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[jimlosaltos]

Got a DM saying "Hey, what about a British player! You've got a veritable United Nations there with China, France, Russia, Ukraine, Slovakia covered here!"

Actually, I have a Brit in the Tour Portrait, but here is a close up for this thread of Jodie Burrage now ranked 85. Think that makes Jodie the second highest-ranked British woman behind Boulder at 50? Am I missing anyone? Emma R has sadly slid after her surgery and other issues. Jodie got some buzz in Britain as half of an all-British final with Katie Boulter at Eastbourne pre Wimbledon.

Teamed with Oliva Gadecki to win doubles at Stanford.

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