Day 3 Citi Open Spotlight: Hitting, Isner > Shaq, and Flaring Tempers
I have already hit twice today. Once at 11, the next at 12:30. Now, I would think that I am not that out of shape but when it comes to hitting with these players, their endurance is incredible. More rain has come down on the Citi Open but to my knowledge, we are still going to have a long night here in D.C. The Order of Play alone has 28 matches scheduled. 3 of which were supposed to be played yesterday. And what do you know, it rained again while the last few matches were playing on courts. Thankfully, Wawrinka and Young finished their match and Young came out triumphant.
During tennis matches, there are a lot of distractions that can cause a player to overreact or let loose their anger before or after a point. Before Benoit Paire had his ginormous outburst, Bagdhatis (or should I say Fat-dhatis) was screaming about how a trash can was rolling down the sidewalk and causing a "distraction" while he was playing. Pretty funny am I, right? And during Donald Youngs match, the fans always get too excited rooting for the home crowd favorite. While leading at 5-3 in the second set tiebreaker, the momentum shifted when his serve was overturned and then followed up his second serve by hitting it straight into the net. He ended up losing the next 4 points and dropping the second set. The last point of the second set involved fans screaming prematurely and oohing and awing to the point which drove Donald to the point of screaming and swearing at the umpire.
John Isner is Shaq So, John Isner CAN dunk. But are we really that surprised? With these blogs and videos that I post, I want not only sports fans but tennis fans as well to understand that these players are indeed human. When I had the opportunity to sit in on John Isner's press conference, I wanted to ask him questions the conventional media doesn't ask. So, I asked him what it is like to dunk. The main point that came across for his answer was that it is not as fun to dunk when you don't have to jump. Which makes complete sense. If you want to find out what else he said, check out our vlog down below!
Watanuki, The Future of Japanese Tennis Now I know what you are thinking, who the F is Yosuke Watanuki. Well let me tell you; he is someone that you have never heard of but will hear of very soon. At only 20 years old, is already in the Top 300 in the world and has already made a strong start to the hard court season. Taking the NextGen Russian, Medvedev, to a tight three-set match, there was a lot of upside from his match. With a stunning forehand and strong physical play, Watanuki is definitely one to look at as one of the future Asian stars on the ATP Tour.