Tennis Acumen

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Photo of the Day: Maria Sharapova and Jimmy Connors

In 2013, Maria Sharapova hired Jimmy Connors as her coach, following a loss and an injury at Wimbledon. Her first appearance came in Cincinnati, playing against young American Sloane Stephens. Sharapova had beaten Stephens in straight sets in their three previous meetings, so she started with confidence.  Sharapova was up 6-2, 2-0 before losing a second set tiebreak and falling in three sets. This was the only match Connors ever coached. After this single match, Connors was fired.  This rare photo shows the two on court in Cincinnati.

Photo credit: Karl Corbett. Photo (c) Tennis Acumen

 

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Photo of the Day: Rafael Nadal

In 2013, Rafael Nadal won the Cincinnati Masters title. On the way to the final, he beat Benjamin Becker and Tomas Berdych in straight sets, also taking down Grigor Dimitrov and Roger Federer in 3-set matches. 

He beat American John Isner, the Marathon Man, 7-6, 7-6, to win the trophy.

Photo: Tennis Acumen, (c) 2013

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Photo of the Day: Roger Federer

Roger Federer loves Cincinnati. After Wimbledon, where he has won eight titles, Cincinnati is his second ‘sweet spot’. Between  2005 to 2015, he took the Cincinnati Masters title seven times. In 2018, the only time he made the final and lost, Novak Djokovic broke through to become the only player to win all 9 Masters Series events. 

In this 2015 photo, Federer serves to  Djokovic, with the tournament trophy in the foreground. Federer won in straight sets, 7-6, 6-3. He did not lose a set the entire tournament. Cincinnati is a ‘sweet spot’, indeed.

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Photo of the Day: Reilly Opelka

Reilly Opelka had a great run in Atlanta at the 250 tournament in July,  2019. On the way to the semifinals, he beat former Atlanta champion John Isner. His ranking leaped from #57 to #43, his first entry into the top 50.

photo credit: Karl Corbett (c) Tennis Acumen

Photo of the Day: Novak Djokovic

IN 2013, Novak Djokovic made it to the 3rd round in Cincinnati, and all the way to the finals in the US Open that followed. After that, he went on a 31-match winning streak and took the titles at Beijing, Shanghai, Paris and the year-end finals at London. 

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Photo of the Day: Tennys Sandgren

Just turned 22, American tennis player Tennys Sandgren caught our eye at the 2013 Lexington, Kentucky Challenger event. 

He qualified into the tournament on his birthday, ranked at # 253 in the world. Read our exclusive 2019 interview with Tennys Sandgren here: (LINK)

tennyssandgren

 

Photo of the Day: Alexander Zverev

In 2019, German ace Alexander Zverev came into the Cincinnati Masters tournament on a roll. He made it to the quarterfinals in Montreal, just the week prior. Here, his luck ran out, as he lost his second round match to Novak Djokovic’s hitting partner, Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic, in three sets.

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

Photo of the Day: Maria versus Sharapova

Dateline: Melbourne, Australia, January 16, 2018

One of our favorite score lines of all time. In 2018 at the Australian Open,  Tatjana Maria faced Maria Sharapova in the first round.  This created an interesting display on scoreboards in the stadium and around the world.

 

 

Photo of the Day: Andrey Rublev

Andrey Rublev fights off a shot to the body, and loses his first-round  match in Cincinnati, 2018. Kei Nishikori won the contest, 7-5, 6-3. Rublev’s  world ranking dropped from #38 to #71, as he dropped points from the US Open in 2017, where he reached the quarterfinals. At this posting, Rublev has just made it in to the top 10 for the first time.

photo credit: Karl Corbett (c) Tennis Acumen

Photo of the Day: Fernando Gonzales

Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi, born 29 July 1980, is a former professional tennis player from Chile. During his career he made it to the quarterfinal round of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the 2007 Australian Open, losing to top-seeded Roger Federer.

 He is the fourth male tennis player in history to have won each Olympic medal (gold in doubles and bronze in singles at Athens 2004, and silver in singles at Beijing 2008).

In 2005, Gonzales had a nice run at the Cincinnati masters event, defeating Novak Djokovic and David Nalbandian on his way to a third-round loss against Nikolai Davydenko.

Photo credit: Karl Corbett, © 2021 Tennis Acumen

Photo of the Day: Juan Martin del Potro

Delray Beach, Florida, Juan Martin del Potro.....

In 2016, following wrist surgery, the popular Argentine returned to tennis after 11 months.

He had surprising success, beating American Dennis Kudla, Aussie John-Patrick Smith and  Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, all in straight sets... . In his first semifinal since 2014, he fell to eventual champion Sam Querrey. Here. he signs an autograph for an appreciative fan.

  

Photo of the Day: Fabio Fognini

Fabio Fognini, born 24 May 1987,  is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is red clay, upon which he has won eight of his nine ATP singles titles, most notably the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters.

Together with Simone Bolelli, Fognini won the 2015 Australian Open doubles championship, becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era.

Fognini flourished at the 2014 Cincinnati Masters, beating Lleyton Hewitt on the way to a fourth-round loss to Milos Raonic of Canada.

Photo credit: Karl Corbett, © 2021 Tennis Acumen

Photo of the Day: Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko, born in 1981, is a former Russian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 in November 2006. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the semi-finals on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open, losing to Roger Federer in 3 of those 4 matches. Davydenko retired in 2014.

 

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

Pictured here in Cincinnati, 2005: Davydenko played great tennis, defeating Sebastien Grosjean, Paul-Henri Matthieu and Fernando Gonzales before losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals.

Photo of the Day: David Ferrer

David Ferrer, born in April 1982, is a retired Spanish player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer won tournaments at every level (ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a Grand Slam, and has the seventh highest career prize money earnings of all time among male tennis players. Ferrer also holds the distinction of winning the most matches on the ATP tour without having won a Grand Slam.

 

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

 

Pictured here in 2014, he carries his towel in his teeth, as he often did. Ferrer advanced to the Cincinnati final by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mikhil Youzhny, Tommy Robredo and Julian Benneteau before falling to Roger Federer in a 3-set championship match.

Photo of the Day: Stan Wawrinka

Stan Wawrinka has one of the most interesting stat lines in professional tennis - he has 3 Majors but just 1 Masters 1000.  The Swiss needs Wimbledon to complete the career Grand Slam.  Ironically, the lone Masters 1000 that he won was against Roger Federer at Monte-Carlo.  Federer has never won Monte-Carlo.

Working with coach Magnus Norman sparked confidence in Wawrinka's game and helped lead to his fantastic results on the ATP Tour and an eventual place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

 

Stan Wawrinka, one of the few players on tour with a Yonex racquet.

Peter Ziebron Images

Photo of the Day: Oh, Canada

Canadian Milos Raonic had Canadian fans flocking to his matches at the 2018 Cincinnati Masters tournament. To the fans’ disappointment, Raonic lost to Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

Photo of the Day: Genie Bouchard

Genie Bouchard reached the Wimbledon final in 2014. 

In addition, the Canadian had a record at the majors in 2014 of 19-4 as she was a semifinalist at the Australian Open and Roland Garros as well as the round of sixteen at the US Open.  Her losses at the first three majors of the year were to the eventual Champion:  Li Na in Australia, Maria Sharapova in Paris and Petra Kvitova at Wimbledon. 

In October 2014, Bouchard was ranked #5 in the world.

 

Genie Bouchard in action on Court 3 in Cincinnati

Peter Ziebron Images

 

Photo of the Day: Nadal Wins Cincinnati - 2013

Rafael Nadal won Cincinnati for the first time in 2013. Along the way, he beat Benjamin Becker, Thomas Berdych, Grigor Dimitrov, who later won Cincinnati, and Roger Federer, who has won Cincinnati seven times. 

In the final, Rafa took down John Isner for the championship in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6.

To reach the final, Isner had beaten Richard Gasquet and then three top-10 players in a row, first Milos Raonic, then Novak Djokovic, then Juan Martín del Potro in the semifinals. Isner did not win a Masters title for another five years, with a 2018 triumph in Miami. 

 

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

 

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Photo of the Day: Tommy Robredo

Tommy Robredo Garcés, born 1 May 1982, is a Spanish professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 5, which he reached in August 2006.

Robredo remains the only player in Open Era history to mount three consecutive comebacks from two sets down, a feat achieved en route to the quarterfinals of Roland-Garros 2013.[6] He has one of the highest percentages of five-set matches won with 77.3 per cent (17–5 win-loss record).

Robredo excelled in  the 2014 Cincinnati Masters event. Robredo beat Jack Sock, Sam Querrey and Novak Djokovic in succession, all in straight sets, before falling to Davis Ferrer in the quarterfinals.

Photo credit: Karl Corbett, © 2021 Tennis Acumen.