BB&T Atlanta Open thread

[jakemcclain32]

Main draw is up. Here we go.

1. John Isner - Bye

2. Rajeev Ram vs Qualifier - Looks like his good showing at Newport helped Rajeev.

3. Steve Johnson vs Donald Young - You have got to be kidding me. #400 in the world gets a main draw, and has never won a main draw match out of four tries. This HAS to break Young's streak. If he loses this match, they could give up on him. There is no more of a cupcake first round than this to hand to Young to build his confidence back.

4. Jack Sock vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. - Could very easily be an upset. Bogomolov's all over the place mentally, and playing terrible this year, and Sock just won a main draw event in Newport, so he'll have some confidence.

5. Andy Roddick - Bye

6. Paul Capdeville vs Nicolas Mahut - Oh gee, no possiblity of Mahut-Isner till the semis. Of course, Roddick will plaster either of them in the second round.

7. Michael Russell vs Qualifier - Russell's continuing his build up the rankings after being 132. Looks like he's getting a sweet first rounder in whoever he plays. Of course, Mikey's best chance to get to the quarters is hope Kevin Anderson loses to Paolo Lorenzi, and that's not happening.

8. Paolo Lorenzi vs Kevin Anderson - Serve will be too much for Lorenzi. Next.

9. Go Soeda vs Xavier Malisse - Can go either way. Malisse finally woke up and started playing decent tennis, but he forgets he's still fat and inconsistent. Soeda's having a nice year, so this COULD be an upset if he finds Xavier's bad day.

10. Brian Baker vs Igor Kunitsyn - Kunitsyn 4-19 this year...Baker utter badass. Next round for Baker and a date with either Soeda or Malisse.

11. Dmitry Tursunov vs Qualifier - Looks like the schedulers want that Disney movie for Baker, don't they? Soeda and Malisse next round, one of these two next.

12. Kei Nishikori - Bye

13. Ryan Harrison vs James Blake - Harrison on an absolute tear lately, and playing some great tennis vs a way past his prime ball basher with no strategy. Harrison in two and like 4 and 3.

14. Matthew Ebden vs Qualifier

15. Gilles Muller vs Marinko Matosevic - Ughhhh!!!! Fifty shades of ugly as hell here. Matosevic's had one good tourney this year and nothing else, and Muller's an error machine. Put this match in Hammond Park in Sandy Springs, hidden from the rest of the crowd.

16. Mardy Fish - Bye. Glad Mardy gets an easy second round.

 

[JeMar]

Main draw is up. Here we go.

1. John Isner - Bye

2. Rajeev Ram vs Qualifier - Looks like his good showing at Newport helped Rajeev.

3. Steve Johnson vs Donald Young - You have got to be kidding me. #400 in the world gets a main draw, and has never won a main draw match out of four tries. This HAS to break Young's streak. If he loses this match, they could give up on him. There is no more of a cupcake first round than this to hand to Young to build his confidence back.

4. Jack Sock vs Alex Bogomolov Jr. - Could very easily be an upset. Bogomolov's all over the place mentally, and playing terrible this year, and Sock just won a main draw event in Newport, so he'll have some confidence.

5. Andy Roddick - Bye

6. Paul Capdeville vs Nicolas Mahut - Oh gee, no possiblity of Mahut-Isner till the semis. Of course, Roddick will plaster either of them in the second round.

7. Michael Russell vs Qualifier - Russell's continuing his build up the rankings after being 132. Looks like he's getting a sweet first rounder in whoever he plays. Of course, Mikey's best chance to get to the quarters is hope Kevin Anderson loses to Paolo Lorenzi, and that's not happening.

8. Paolo Lorenzi vs Kevin Anderson - Serve will be too much for Lorenzi. Next.

9. Go Soeda vs Xavier Malisse - Can go either way. Malisse finally woke up and started playing decent tennis, but he forgets he's still fat and inconsistent. Soeda's having a nice year, so this COULD be an upset if he finds Xavier's bad day.

10. Brian Baker vs Igor Kunitsyn - Kunitsyn 4-19 this year...Baker utter badass. Next round for Baker and a date with either Soeda or Malisse.

11. Dmitry Tursunov vs Qualifier - Looks like the schedulers want that Disney movie for Baker, don't they? Soeda and Malisse next round, one of these two next.

12. Kei Nishikori - Bye

13. Ryan Harrison vs James Blake - Harrison on an absolute tear lately, and playing some great tennis vs a way past his prime ball basher with no strategy. Harrison in two and like 4 and 3.

14. Matthew Ebden vs Qualifier

15. Gilles Muller vs Marinko Matosevic - Ughhhh!!!! Fifty shades of ugly as hell here. Matosevic's had one good tourney this year and nothing else, and Muller's an error machine. Put this match in Hammond Park in Sandy Springs, hidden from the rest of the crowd.

16. Mardy Fish - Bye. Glad Mardy gets an easy second round.

Steve Johnson is no cakewalk.


Look him up on YouTube. There's quite a lot of buzz about this guy-- and for good reason.

Also, Mahut beat Roddick the last time they played and has given him a lot of trouble in the past.

 

[jaggy]

I'd say go back to Indy but the NCAA knocked it all down so they could have more parking so I guess it isnt going to happen.

 

[Doublebounce]

johnson definately has more than just a chance against young. anyone know if hes gone pro, or still at UVA?

i feel like baker gets the eaisest draws in every tournament, but im not complaining. rooting for the guy to do well

hoping for an andy/mardy final, with a hat trick for fish.

 

[TopDawg]

johnson definately has more than just a chance against young. anyone know if hes gone pro, or still at UVA?

He graduated from USC a few months ago so he is 100% professional now. I think he definitely has top 100 potential so this will be a good early test.

 

[Tammo]

is the US open series where the WC's and Qualifers get 2x points?

 

[widmerpool]

I'd say go back to Indy but the NCAA knocked it all down so they could have more parking so I guess it isnt going to happen.

It's pretty crowded today for 2nd round of qualifying.

Beats being in a third tier city like Indy.

I'm going to enjoy watching Baker and Isner.

 

[jakemcclain32]

johnson definately has more than just a chance against young. anyone know if hes gone pro, or still at UVA?

i feel like baker gets the eaisest draws in every tournament, but im not complaining. rooting for the guy to do well

hoping for an andy/mardy final, with a hat trick for fish.

Johnson can have all the potential in the world, and I'm sure he has loads of it, but he still is 0-4 in main draws in his career. That means he has to get the mentality of getting over that hump, and combine that with getting experience against players that always play main draws, and DY is no exception. This is still DY's best chance to break that streak.

We'll just see what happens.

 

[jokinla]

Eric Sock was in qualifying, is that Jack's bro?

 

[jaggy]

It's pretty crowded today for 2nd round of qualifying.

Beats being in a third tier city like Indy.

I'm going to enjoy watching Baker and Isner.

Yes atlanta's the best ever

 

[widmerpool]

Yes atlanta's the best ever

Lord. You know. Atlanta is a bigger tennis city than Indy, by magnitudes.

You are never going to get a huge tourney right on top of Wimbledon.

Hopefully they've found a winning formula hosting it Intown.

In all honesty, Atlanta is a ****ty city as far as supporting pro sports. But a one week tennis event in a big tennis city will do well and hopefully grow each year.

 

[jaggy]

I didnt know that as I know nothing about Atlanta, Indy did have some history however but my beef is more with the ncaa who I am assured threatened to leave the city if they didnt get more space for parking at their HQ. A huge tennis center gave way for it.

 

[Tammo]

My predictions
Isner vs Ram
Johnson vs Sock
Roddick vs Mahut
Anderson vs Russell
Soeda vs Baker
Nishikori vs Tursunov
Harrison vs Ebden
Fish vs Muller

 

[JackB1]

Anyone else going to the tournament? I live about 20 mins away.
Probably going to go to the semis or finals.

 

[Doublebounce]

He graduated from USC a few months ago so he is 100% professional now. I think he definitely has top 100 potential so this will be a good early test.

oops, knew it was a college in the south east. i remember watching his team win the NCAA tournament when he was a junior on tv.

 

[papertank]

It would be freaking awesome if Brian Baker won this tournament.

 

[JackB1]

Blake vs Harris might be good

p.s. Can someone post a direct link to the men's draw?

 

[widmerpool]

Main draw

Monday Sked

 

[JLyon]

oops, knew it was a college in the south east. i remember watching his team win the NCAA tournament when he was a junior on tv.

Since when is USC located in the Southeast? I always thought LA was West Coast

 

[Nostradamus]

Isner won the hall of hame. His serve looked unreturnable. why can't he play like this at wimbledon ?
Hewitt completely whiffed on several serves.

 

[Qubax]

Steve Johnson is no cakewalk.


Look him up on YouTube. There's quite a lot of buzz about this guy-- and for good reason.

Also, Mahut beat Roddick the last time they played and has given him a lot of trouble in the past.

Yeah I mean Mahut beat Roddick on clay and Mahut is even worse then Andy on the red stuff(hard to believe I know)

I don't think Andy is an overwhelming favorite to plaster anyone...especially in the first couple of rounds of a tourney.

Andy will get better as things go along, assuming he survives match by match.

 

[Doublebounce]

Since when is USC located in the Southeast? I always thought LA was West Coast

i think USC is university of south carolina :???:

 

[JLyon]

i think USC is university of south carolina :???:

haha, West Coast I guess is University of Southern California, while in South Carolina it = University of South Carolina.
Johnson played at the West Coast USC

 

[jakemcclain32]

And Johnson gets his first ATP win...congrats. DY, get your crap together because you are embarrassing.

Next up...Baker vs Kunitsyn

 

[jakemcclain32]

Baker down a set and tied 2-2 in the second. PLEASE don't lose to Kunitsyn of all players!

 

[jakemcclain32]

Wow...just...WOW!

I guess if you play the game long enough, or watch the game long enough, you'll get your share of surprises. Igor Kunitsyn knocks Brian Baker out of Atlanta.

4-19 for the year, and he plays the best match in a long long time. I'm not even caring that another pick goes down the drain in the first round, and one I didn't see coming again. That's tennis for you.

It just shows that Brian Baker, while a great story, still has a ways to go to get to that upper echelon...as it should be. He has many reasons to keep busting his ass and working hard. This match is a very good reason.

 

[widmerpool]

I watched the Baker match until after midnight.

Kunitsyn played really well. Baker showed flashes. Didn't watch Kunitsyn at his peak but he was playing better than 100 or whatever he's ranked.

Either one would have beaten Young 1 and 1.

 

[Qubax]

Wow...just...WOW!

I guess if you play the game long enough, or watch the game long enough, you'll get your share of surprises. Igor Kunitsyn knocks Brian Baker out of Atlanta.

4-19 for the year, and he plays the best match in a long long time. I'm not even caring that another pick goes down the drain in the first round, and one I didn't see coming again. That's tennis for you.

It just shows that Brian Baker, while a great story, still has a ways to go to get to that upper echelon...as it should be. He has many reasons to keep busting his ass and working hard. This match is a very good reason.

Ofcourse 6 monthes ago Brian Baker beating Kunitsyn may have been a story.

Additionally it's the consistency of day in and day out tennis that Baker has yet to be healthy enough-long enough to hone.

I would really Love for Roddick to win this tourney. But Isner looks like the favorite at this point.

 

[Doublebounce]

sock vs johnson? good opportunity for both

 

[widmerpool]

I'm glad the Young match wasn't televised because it would have turned the general public off of tennis.

I know Young is an easy target, but wow, horrendous. He was hitting unforced errors 5 feet wide. First serve was 100MPH. BH mostly landed 3ft inside of service line. And it wasn't like Johnson didn't want to give the match away.

No way Young would have made it through qualifying.

 

[spot]

Someone gave me tickets for tonight's matches. VIP access included whatever that means. Hopefully there is some good tennis out there today!

 

[JackB1]

Someone gave me tickets for tonight's matches. VIP access included whatever that means. Hopefully there is some good tennis out there today!

got any extras??

 

[Doublebounce]

unfortunately everything was rained out. so frustrating!

 

[Moose Malloy]

Additionally it's the consistency of day in and day out tennis that Baker has yet to be healthy enough-long enough to hone

I have a feeling this Baker 'story' isn't going to end well. He's been playing so many matches in such a short amount of time. I wonder how long his body can stand up to the rigors of the tour, considering his history.

 

[jakemcclain32]

Russell takes out Kuznetsov in three sets. Good for him.

I bring this up because I notice that this is a pretty good year by Russell standards, and for 34 years old too.

2nd Round in Montpeilier
2nd Round in San Jose
Semifinal in Houston
2nd Round in Wimbledon
2nd Round in Newport

Now Atlanta

Now that's not much for most pros, but he's still aiming and achieving some stuff at 34. The grandpa thing is going into the past, thankfully. Good success for him this season.

 

[norbac]

I have a feeling this Baker 'story' isn't going to end well. He's been playing so many matches in such a short amount of time. I wonder how long his body can stand up to the rigors of the tour, considering his history.

Baker only cares about the Slams.

 

[Tcbtennis]

Old Man James Blake shows that he can still take it to the young guns. He beats 20 year old Ryan Harrison 1-6;6-3;7-5. He still has that vicious forehand. Good job!

 

[jokinla]

Old Man James Blake shows that he can still take it to the young guns. He beats 20 year old Ryan Harrison 1-6;6-3;7-5. He still has that vicious forehand. Good job!

Good win for Blake, surprised Harry couldn't pull this one out.

 

[jokinla]

Russell takes out Kuznetsov in three sets. Good for him.

I bring this up because I notice that this is a pretty good year by Russell standards, and for 34 years old too.

2nd Round in Montpeilier
2nd Round in San Jose
Semifinal in Houston
2nd Round in Wimbledon
2nd Round in Newport

Now Atlanta

Now that's not much for most pros, but he's still aiming and achieving some stuff at 34. The grandpa thing is going into the past, thankfully. Good success for him this season.

Guga mentioned his win over Russell as a major one for him, funny that Guga is in the hall, and Russell is still grinding away, awesome job.

 

[jakemcclain32]

I should also mention that for as nice of a year as Russ is having on the ATP side, he is absolute ass on the Challenger circuit. Just one semi appearence in Sarasota with a couple second rounders and a bunch of one and outs. Guess he's trying to outgrow that circuit.

 

[jakemcclain32]

And I've been singing this guy's praises and telling people to watch out for the guy, so here goes.

Congrats to Go Soeda. First time he's been seeded in an ATP tourney...seeded 8th. Started out the year 120th in the world and is now 54th...and beat Malisse in 3 sets today. I have liked this guy all year long, and I'm happy for him.

 

[Zildite]

And I've been singing this guy's praises and telling people to watch out for the guy, so here goes.

Congrats to Go Soeda. First time he's been seeded in an ATP tourney...seeded 8th. Started out the year 120th in the world and is now 54th...and beat Malisse in 3 sets today. I have liked this guy all year long, and I'm happy for him.

It would be funny if he did this last year and swooped in on Project 45 when it was always about Nishikori. Guess not too many care nowadays.

 

[groundbreaker]

I should also mention that for as nice of a year as Russ is having on the ATP side, he is absolute ass on the Challenger circuit. Just one semi appearence in Sarasota with a couple second rounders and a bunch of one and outs. Guess he's trying to outgrow that circuit.

The fact that he's still hanging around the top 100 at the age of 34 with no killer weapons says something. The guy is an absolute warrior on-court.

 

[Alohajrtennis]

And I've been singing this guy's praises and telling people to watch out for the guy, so here goes.

Congrats to Go Soeda. First time he's been seeded in an ATP tourney...seeded 8th. Started out the year 120th in the world and is now 54th...and beat Malisse in 3 sets today. I have liked this guy all year long, and I'm happy for him.

I watched Go beat Jack Sock here in Hawaii back in January and at the time I was disappointing in Jack. Looks like my mistake...

 

[rainingaces]

And I've been singing this guy's praises and telling people to watch out for the guy, so here goes.

Congrats to Go Soeda. First time he's been seeded in an ATP tourney...seeded 8th. Started out the year 120th in the world and is now 54th...and beat Malisse in 3 sets today. I have liked this guy all year long, and I'm happy for him.

Your the biggest bandwaggoner on this board. One win and your all over it because he is seeded.

 

[spot]

So the tickets that were given to me turned out to be front row, right behind the players. These are temporary courts put in just for this tournament so we were RIGHT behind the players and the ump. To be honest, the seats were so close that it was a bit tough to watch the action but it made the Malisse/Soeda match tremendously entertaining.

First of all the thing that needs to be lead with is that Xavier Malisse is a tremendous Dbag. EVERY shot he missed he would have something to blame. First it was annoyance that he could hear people talking up in the corporate suites. (which he *****ed about the whole second set) Then he was annoyed that the ball kids weren't offering him the balls correctly. Then he was annoyed that the ball kid didn't read his mind about wanting another gatorade. Then that the ball kid wasn't reading his mind about bringing a towel over to his side of the court. He was annoyed because he got called for a footfault. (and he was barely footfaulting on many serves) Then he got annoyed because the umpire gave him a formal time wasting warning without giving him an informal warning. Just constantly annoyed and nothing was ever really his fault.

A couple things in his favor- it looked to us like hawkeye may have been a bit off but the lines people were overturned constantly. IN the Harrison/Blake match there were at least 5 successful challenges. And there probably was more ambient crowd noise at this tournament than there has been in the past just because of where they had the tournament. THey had it in an area thats going to draw a younger and more lively crowd than they have in the past. And even though the umpire said that he did give Malisse an informal warning that Malisse didn't hear, we were RIGHT there and didn't hear a thing.

Malisse started asking if the lines people were going to be fined for the calls that were overturned. Then he asked the umpire who was going to pay for the money he should have had for making the second round. At one point the umpire was trying to pre-emptively stop Malisse from *****ing about not having his towel available and wanted a ball kid to take it over to that side- the ball kid went and grabbed his spare racquet instead and watching the umpire's reaction was pretty funny.

Soeda was just consistently grinding out the points. There is no doubt that Malisse had the bigger game and from the stands we kept expecting him to put it together and take the match. Soeda just kept playing his game. Either Malisse would play better after his outbursts or it would rattle Soeda a bit but Soeda missed a ton of break point opportunities. I haven't heard of Soeda before but it was a good match to watch.

In the Blake/Harrison match the story of the match was how poor Harrison's serve was. Blake seemed to just be getting his arm loose and looking to pick spots. Not sure the radar gun there was accurate but Blake wasn't hitting 105 on his first and his second was in the 75 MPH range. Harrison just couldn't capitalize at all on Blake's serve outside of the first set where Blake didn't hold. Blake was being ULTRA aggressive and it just seemed like he knew that he needed the match to be over quickly and he didn't have the stamina to drag it out. Blake finished the 3 set match in maybe 1:40.

I'm a bit bummed that Baker and Harrison are already out of the tournament. I've got tickets again for Friday and those are definitely guys I would have wanted to see again.

Oh- and one thing that I wasn't expecting is that there were a LOT more women than guys attending the match. At least a 2-1 ratio.

 

[Fastpace Ace]

Hey SPOT, I hope you get this soon as I am planning on heading to the tournament here in a bit just to walk around the area. The tournament website is not helpful to me at all in this regard. Is Nishikori still in the mix? And are there main draw matches going on early in the day today? the site only shows stuff going on from 4pm and after that. Thanks!

 

[Qubax]

So the tickets that were given to me turned out to be front row, right behind the players. These are temporary courts put in just for this tournament so we were RIGHT behind the players and the ump. To be honest, the seats were so close that it was a bit tough to watch the action but it made the Malisse/Soeda match tremendously entertaining.

First of all the thing that needs to be lead with is that Xavier Malisse is a tremendous Dbag. EVERY shot he missed he would have something to blame. First it was annoyance that he could hear people talking up in the corporate suites. (which he *****ed about the whole second set) Then he was annoyed that the ball kids weren't offering him the balls correctly. Then he was annoyed that the ball kid didn't read his mind about wanting another gatorade. Then that the ball kid wasn't reading his mind about bringing a towel over to his side of the court. He was annoyed because he got called for a footfault. (and he was barely footfaulting on many serves) Then he got annoyed because the umpire gave him a formal time wasting warning without giving him an informal warning. Just constantly annoyed and nothing was ever really his fault.

A couple things in his favor- it looked to us like hawkeye may have been a bit off but the lines people were overturned constantly. IN the Harrison/Blake match there were at least 5 successful challenges. And there probably was more ambient crowd noise at this tournament than there has been in the past just because of where they had the tournament. THey had it in an area thats going to draw a younger and more lively crowd than they have in the past. And even though the umpire said that he did give Malisse an informal warning that Malisse didn't hear, we were RIGHT there and didn't hear a thing.

Malisse started asking if the lines people were going to be fined for the calls that were overturned. Then he asked the umpire who was going to pay for the money he should have had for making the second round. At one point the umpire was trying to pre-emptively stop Malisse from *****ing about not having his towel available and wanted a ball kid to take it over to that side- the ball kid went and grabbed his spare racquet instead and watching the umpire's reaction was pretty funny.

Soeda was just consistently grinding out the points. There is no doubt that Malisse had the bigger game and from the stands we kept expecting him to put it together and take the match. Soeda just kept playing his game. Either Malisse would play better after his outbursts or it would rattle Soeda a bit but Soeda missed a ton of break point opportunities. I haven't heard of Soeda before but it was a good match to watch.

In the Blake/Harrison match the story of the match was how poor Harrison's serve was. Blake seemed to just be getting his arm loose and looking to pick spots. Not sure the radar gun there was accurate but Blake wasn't hitting 105 on his first and his second was in the 75 MPH range. Harrison just couldn't capitalize at all on Blake's serve outside of the first set where Blake didn't hold. Blake was being ULTRA aggressive and it just seemed like he knew that he needed the match to be over quickly and he didn't have the stamina to drag it out. Blake finished the 3 set match in maybe 1:40.

I'm a bit bummed that Baker and Harrison are already out of the tournament. I've got tickets again for Friday and those are definitely guys I would have wanted to see again.

Oh- and one thing that I wasn't expecting is that there were a LOT more women than guys attending the match. At least a 2-1 ratio.

Would you be excited to see Roddick there? He's atleast got the biggest star power in the field?

 

[spot]

Hey SPOT, I hope you get this soon as I am planning on heading to the tournament here in a bit just to walk around the area. The tournament website is not helpful to me at all in this regard. Is Nishikori still in the mix? And are there main draw matches going on early in the day today? the site only shows stuff going on from 4pm and after that. Thanks!

Nishikori got a bye in the first round and faces Ricardas Bernakis in the 3rd match tonight.

I don't think that there are any matches before 4pm except for Friday and Saturday when they have a split day/night matches.

 

[spot]

Would you be excited to see Roddick there? He's atleast got the biggest star power in the field?

Absolutely I'd be happy to see Roddick. And Isner and Fish. Friday is the quarterfinal so I'm just disappointed because just as an example a Nishikori/Baker match would have been far more fun for me than a Nishikori/Soeda match. Harrison vs Fish would have been another fun one though it would be a rematch from one I saw last year so maybe a little variety is a good thing.

Isner is another tough one for me- I think his career is very cool but I'm not sure how much fun he would be to actually watch play.