DC Citi Open

[+ MysticMenace]

Gah! Totally didn't realize tennis hunks are just miles away from me...and Grigor Dimitrov....ah! Anybody watching live?

https://www.citiopentennis.com/players/

[BSR]

I hear the tournament is buzzing over Rafa.  It's the first time Rafa has ever played DC, and IIRC the first time any of the Big 3 has played DC.  Poor Jack Sock, he's getting clobbered by Rafa right now. Sock was ranked #8 in late 2017-early 2018 but suffered a thumb injury that knocked him out of the ATP rankings entirely.  He is currently #192 and was lucky to get a wild card into DC, but horribly unlucky to draw Rafa in the 2nd round.

The Big 3 rarely play ATP500 tournaments.  They play Halle and Queens because they need matches on grass before Wimbledon, and they often play Dubai because Dubai pays them jaw-dropping appearance fees.  But I don't think DC paid Rafa much if anything because they don't have much of a budget.  DC just lucked out that Rafa was looking to get back into form after an injury layoff -- he skipped Wimbledon & the Olympics because of a foot problem.

[+ WilliamM]

Nadal out of Washington tournament in three sets

[BSR]

Oops, spoke too soon.  When I wrote the previous post, Rafa was up 6-2 1-0 and looked like he was cruising.  Then Sock came back, won the 2nd set, and Rafa eked it out in a 3rd set tiebreak.  Today he got beaten by Lloyd Harris, who is having a pretty good season, but I'd still call it a pretty big upset.

The DC tournament director must be bummed because Rafa's practice sessions were drawing bigger crowds than some (most?) of the matches, LOL.

Ah well, not a disaster considering that Rafa is coming back from injury.  He has plenty of time to sharpen his game before the US Open.  Better than Federer, who just withdrew from both Canada & Cincinnati.  No official on whether Fed plays the USO, but it's not looking good.

[+ WilliamM]

Nadal lost in a tournament that has seldom lived up to expectations Hardly a good sign

[BSR]

Still a teenager for another week, Jannik Sinner becomes the youngest winner of an ATP500 tournament since the category was created in 2009.  He jumps 9 spots to a career high #15 in the ATP singles ranking.  Finalist Mac McDonald jumps 43(!) spots to #64.  The way the singles rankings are determined are a little nutty right now because they still include results from 2019 (Covid f*cked up everything).  A more accurate indicator of how well a player is doing is the Race to Turin ranking, which counts just points earned from the start of 2021.  In the Turin race, Sinner is #10 and Mackie is #30.

Unrelated to the DC Citi Open but not important enough to start a separate thread, Novak has officially withdrawn from the Cincinnati Masters1000 tournament.  So either Novak enters the Winston-Salem 250 (unlikely) or he goes into the US Open without playing a competitive match in a month.

[+ WilliamM]

Nadal is playing in Toronto this week for revenge and the Rogers  Cup

[BSR]

2 hours ago, WilliamM said:

Nadal is playing in Toronto this week for revenge and the Rogers  Cup

Rafa just pulled out of the Canadian Masters1000, citing the foot injury that took him out of Wimbledon & the Olympics.  Let's see if he plays Cincinnati.