Halfway Point in Cincy: Brutal Conditions, Ending of an Era and a French Revolution

The opening week of the Western and Southern Open has delivered some of the most brutal conditions the tour will see all season. We’ve already seen multiple retirements, some from typically fit players like Frances Tiafoe and some from typically unfit players such as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. But conditions aside, the tournament has had its fair share of compelling results, most notably disappointing losses from a couple of former grand slam finalists.

The Lost Generation

Stefanos Tsitsipas was two sets up in the 2021 French Open final, and followed that with another major final appearance in 2023. His game was suffocating: standing on the baseline, whipping forehands and his subpar backhand flashed with moments of brilliance. Now, only two years later, he was the underdog in his first match in Cincinnati against Fabien Maroszan who has a career high ranking of 36.

While Stefanos did prevail against the Hungarian he promptly lost from a set up in the next round to Benjamin Bonzi. It was the Greek #1’s most recent in a string of losses to players outside of the top 30 including Chris O’Connel and Valentin Royer in the first rounds of Toronto and Wimbledon and Matteo Gigante in the second round at Roland Garros. A far cry from being a set away from a major title. Simply put, the man is washed. His backhand crumbles under pressure, and opponents who once would’ve been routine wins can go toe to toe with him. For Tsitsipas, working his way through a draw is a near impossible task.

A similar story is playing out with Daniil Medvedev. The Russian fell in his first match in Cincy to Adam Walton. I have nothing against Adam Walton, he’s in the form of his life, but before his 2nd round encounter with the 2021 US Open champion he had never won a set vs a top 50 player (0-24). And yet, on a terribly hot and humid day, he came back from a set down to beat Medvedev.

Like Tsitsipas, Medvedev’s loss does not come in a vacuum, it's the latest of many bad losses he’s taken this season (Tien and Bonzi at slams, Munar and Bellucci on hard courts) and he hasn’t won a title since 2023.

Not too long ago these two were next up, now they’re just… sad. If I had to bet neither will find their previous form. Medvedev may stay around the top 20 for a while, but for Stefanos, I’d be surprised if he is in the top 30 this time next year.

The Big Two

The reason Tsitsipas and Medvedev are fading is simple: young guys keep on getting better.The two that showcase that the most are Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who really deserve to be at the beginning of every post in this section.

Both won their first round matches in their own respective styles. Sinner showed Daniel Galan to the door in under an hour 6-1 6-1 while Carlos took the scenic route, taking three sets to beat the fiery (and one of my new favorite players) Damir Dzumhur. Alcaraz will face Nardi in the fourth round while Sinner gets Frenchman Adrian Mannarino.

A French Revolution

Three unseeded French players, two coming from qualifying, have made their way into the fourth round: Terance Atmane, Adrian Mannarino and Benjamin Bonzi.

Atmane is the most surprising of the three because, honestly, who the fuck is Terance Atmane. The 23 year old comes into the tournament with a career high ranking of 128 best known for the worst cramping episode I’ve ever seen at the 2024 Australian Open and for getting booed off Phillipe Chatrier by his own home fans, something I’ve never seen before. But after picking up a tight win against Cobolli and a demolition of Fonseca he has set up an intriguing matchup with Fritz.

Mannarino, at 37 years old, had all but disappeared from the tour a couple months ago. But wins against Machac and the underachieving Tommy Paul have him back in the top 75 in the live rankings.

Bonzi took down Musetti and Tsitsipas, each from a set down to start his Cincy campaign. He has found his Wimbledon form where he beat Medvedev. The Russian said Bonzi only reached that level once a year, guess he was wrong. Bonzi will face the struggling Felix Auger Alliasime in the next round.