Tennis News From ATP | Good Days At The Office For Mercurial Performers • Players Kyrgios, Paire, And Gulbis

Nick Kyrgios of Australia in action against Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in their match in the Western & Southern Open tennis tournament at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, USA, 17 August 2018.  EPA-EFE/TANNEN MAURY

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

You never know what you are going to get from Nick Kyrgios, Benoit Paire, and Ernests Gulbis on any given day. Tuesday turned out to be a good one for all three.

 

Kyrgios and Paire advanced through their Kremlin Cup openers, while Gulbis reached the second round of the Stockholm Open.

 

The toughest test was presented to Kyrgios, which was not unexpected based on the draw. He had to go up against Russia’s own right off the bat in Moscow, and the result was a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory for the fifth-seeded Australian. Kyrgios, who blasted 25 aces while serving at 71 percent, appreciated the crowd support he got throughout even though he was facing an opponent from the host nation.

 

“I was surprised that the public cheered me here,” the 23-year-old said. “It’s nice. Normally when I’m not at home I’m not the most loved person, but it was nice to hear some cheering. I felt almost at home here…. I love to play indoors.”

 

“[I] played a lot with Andrey in juniors,” Kyrgios added. “He’s going to have a great career.”

 

Paire joined the world No. 37 in round two with a 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-1 defeat of Mischa Zverev. The Frenchman served at a horrific 44 percent and double-faulted five times, but he benefited from seven Zverev double-faults and broke the German three times. Paire was pleased with his performance despite some less-than-stellar statistics.

 

“It was a good match,” he assessed. “I wasn’t doing well at the beginning but then I got much better.”

 

Gulbis was good from start to finish on Tuesday, and it has already been an especially productive week for him in Stockholm. The 30-year-old Latvian qualified to get into the main draw and parlayed that success into a 6-4, 6-3 win over Swedish wild card Mikael Ymer. Gulbis saved all six of the break points he faced while getting the job done in one hour and 49 minutes.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @TennGrand.

 

Editors Note: there’s great tennis being played globally. ATP | WTA. And yet the stands are empty. Live feeds don’t lie!

•Tennis seats must be priced too high? We see it week after week. It’s so sad. Suits. Do you job! Market the players. The sport!

• Lower seats prices.

• Build smaller stadiums – tennis was never meant to be watched from the clouds….

• How about reasonable family plans on tickets.

Make it affordable to ALL!

• The indoor tourneys can hide the empty venues with darkening out the arenas. And then for TV by shooting “tight” shots of the court.

• Suits fix this sport before Pickleball wins!

• Why have ATP | WtA supervisors courtside if they do NOTHING…?

They Hold walkie talkies. Watch tennis from front Rows. What’s their jobs? Why are they there? Welcome back MO!

(LJ)