Tennis is Back!!! (At Normal Hours)
Tennis is a sport that never stops, the 6 week offseason is the shortest amongst all sports, and during that time many exhibitions, the next-gen finals and the overall vibes of the holiday season fill the gap for tennis fans. However, for fans like me who live on the East Coast, the weekly cadence of watching tennis is back for the first time since the US Open. Tennis moves to Asia after the year’s last Grand Slam, and the 12 hour time difference is not conducive to sinking your teeth into a Valentin Vacherot run to the title in Shanghai. Then of course the start of the year happens in Australia. While I am proud to say I woke up at 4 in the morning for the Men’s final, I didn’t watch with the same focus and joy I have for tennis at normal hours. Also, I hate to be that guy, but five set tennis is much harder to watch than best of three. Yes, it can produce some of the sport’s greatest matches, and it absolutely has its place, but there are also plenty of sets that get tossed, it takes forever, and again, there was a 16-hour time difference.
So for the sport with the shortest offseason, it's really been five months since the regular cadence of tennis fandom has been in full swing. There were three ATP events this week: 500s in Rotterdam and Dallas and a 250 in Buenos Aires. We will start with the best of the bunch, which is obviously the golden swing.
The Golden Swing: Opportunity Season
The Golden Swing is beautiful chaos. For the ATP regulars, it is their first time on clay since May, and they go toe to toe with South American challenger tour regulars who have been waiting for their chance at the golden swing all year. Success in this swing has made challenger players into tour regulars, the fields are absent of the heavy hitting Europeans and Americans, and the natives are comfortable in the conditions. Facundo Diaz Acosta was outside of the Top 100 when he won Buenos Aires two seasons ago, which catapulted him into tour regular status. Mariano Nanone picked up so many ranking points in the 2024 clay swing that he was the first player ever to be seeded in his first Grand Slam main draw. All that is to say the golden swing is a land of opportunity. But this season, the first tournament of the three was won by the top seed.
Francisco Cerundolo was crowned the champion after defeating Luciano Darderi 6-4 6-2 in a match that was far more competitive than its scoreline. Darderi was struggling with depth on his forehand, and mentally he was unable to cope with some luck for Cerundolo and the Argentine fans. It was a great moment for Cerundolo, he had fallen in the Buenos Aires final twice before his victory on Sunday. It's nice to see Fransisco have success, a pretty understated guy who has been a fixture of the top 30 for the past five seasons and leads the tour in apologizing for his good shots.
A Mashup of Other Notes
There were some other nice storylines in Argentina this week. First and foremost, Luciano Darderi is Argentinian??!! While he plays under the Italian flag, he was born in Argentina and may make the switch in representation in the coming years.
Joao Fonseca was in action and lost in his first match to Alejandro Tabilo. Tabilo plates well but my god the guy is a headcase. It's nice to have him on the tour because he’s got the goods from the back of the court, and the ability to lock in, but man does he get so nervous in the big moments.
My favorite random player from the week on the clay was Vit Kopriva. If you don’t know much about Vit Kopriva it's because he’s not that great at tennis. Standing all of 5 '10 the Czech player uses his left hand so much on his backhand that he is able to create unbelievable angles. He’s also a spectacular mover on the Clay, and must be an absolute nightmare to play, especially if you’re a big guy who struggles to move. On that note, he took down Matteo Berretini in straight sets and moved to the QFs before falling to the eventual champion.
All the players mentioned above will move on to Rio for the ATP 500 event this week. Luciano Darderi will get an opportunity at familial revenge as he will face Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the first round.
A Demon Indoors
Alex De Minaur also finds himself in the winners circle this week after dismantling a compromised Felix Auger-Alliasime in the Rotterdam final. The speed Demon is such a joy to watch especially indoors. He smacks his forehand and kind of bunts his backhand, but on both sides the shots are flat as a postage stamp. At times he can get out of sorts when playing outdoors and the conditions could affect timing, but indoors he is a marvel. While Felix was compromised physically in the final, he was still bludgeoning the ball, and it was not bothering the Australian in the slightest. Like Cerundolo, it's good to see De Minaur win a tournament, the guy really has gotten the most out of himself but he can’t get close to Sinner or Alcaraz at the slams. He deserves all the ATP titles he gets his hands on, and weeks where the top two are on the sideline is a top threat.
Juame Munar Makes Things Miserable
Now it's time to talk about Munar. The Spaniard is second in steal rate on the tour, only behind Carlitos, and in his 3rd round match against Bublik it was on full display. Sascha was hitting line after line and the touch on his drop shot was fantastic. But Munar was getting to every ball, making life difficult for the Kazak and pushed it all the way to a final set tiebreak where Bublik came out on top. Still, I love Munar. An absolute legend of the golden swing who has worked his way into a solid top 50 ranking.
And Then There Was Dallas…
The most vibeless 500 tournament on the ATP schedule. Two years ago they moved locations from SMU’s tennis center to the Dallas Cowboys practice facility. Now, instead of a packed tiny arena, it's an empty huge arena, with a camera angle so high it's hard to enjoy the tennis. That said, the field was stacked and the matches were compelling. Ben Shelton emerged victorious 7-6 in the third over Taylor Fritz in the final. Taylor said before the tournament that never winning the Dallas title bothered him. With the three championship points he squandered on Sunday, I don’t think that feeling is going away anytime soon.
Gotta Love a Vet
The player I most enjoyed watching in Dallas this week was Marin Cilic. The big man can still play. His serve is a force, backhand controlled and forehand deadly. He took out the surging Learner Tien in the first round, and Taylor Fritz needed two breakers to send the Croatian packing in the semi-finals. Cilic is drawn to face Brandon Nakashima in the first round of a 250 this week. That’s some quality for a Tuesday afternoon match in Delray.
Looking Ahead
That's about it for this week. Doha joins Rio and Delray next week as both Sinner and Carlos are back in action. With three tournaments in three time zones tennis will be happening all day. What a time to be alive.
