Cincinnati Practice Observations

Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
I went to the Western and Southern Open today to watch some qualifying and practice. It's nice because I live on the golf course that's adjacent to the WSO facility so I can just walk over to the tennis complex. Here is what I saw...some of it was interesting, some of it maybe not. Keep in mind a lot of this is small sample size. I think it's just as much fun watching the top pros practice as it is watching matches. Especially when you are right next to the court. Due to the limited number of practice courts early in the tournament, most pros are paired up practicing with another pro. They usually hit for about 15 minutes to warm up then play a practice set.

Tiafoe and Chris Eubanks were practicing together. Eubanks has a LOT of game. Big serve, big forehand, uses his height well. He has a HUGE kick serve. Of course he's error prone too. Tiafoe was the steadier of the two but it was pretty even the 4-5 games I watched.

Zverev was playing with Emil Ruusuvuori. Man, Z crushes the ball. He was missing a lot of serves though. First and second. Emil was getting the best of him just because Sasha was missing so much. Sasha speaks in Russian when he isn't happy and he was speaking a fair amount of Russian today.

Korda and Kecmanovic. Miomir has legs like tree trunks. He hits a very heavy ball too. Doesn't cover the corners very well though. Korda looked just ok to me. Started a little slow and was playing better before I left for another court. I know he's just getting back into tournament play. He has a smooth game and generates good power with little effort.

Rune played a set with Wawrinka. Holger looked out of sorts to me. A lot of errors and a few shanks even. Stan won their set.

Tsitsipas played with Grigor Dmitrov. Nothing really stood out to me....only watched a couple of games. The most interesting thing about it was who was with Tsitsipas. Philippoussis was on court with him but no papa. Paula B was sitting on the chair inside the court watching. Pretty sure she's injured right now so that kind of makes sense given their relationship. She looked kind of bored until she started talking to Leila Fernandez who practicing on the court next to her.

There was a lot of other activity going on. Khachanov and Coric were practicing. Dan Evans was there...he looks like a surly type of guy. Saw Berretinni, Musetti, Mannarino (dude is surprisingly ripped), FAA, Norrie, Sonnego.

Fan turnout looked to be great as well especially for the Saturday before the tournament even starts. Hard to believe they would even consider relocating this event. Should be a great tournament.
 
N

Nadal - GOAT

Hall of Fame
Open Stance said:
I went to the Western and Southern Open today to watch some qualifying and practice. It's nice because I live on the golf course that's adjacent to the WSO facility so I can just walk over to the tennis complex. Here is what I saw...some of it was interesting, some of it maybe not. Keep in mind a lot of this is small sample size. I think it's just as much fun watching the top pros practice as it is watching matches. Especially when you are right next to the court. Due to the limited number of practice courts early in the tournament, most pros are paired up practicing with another pro. They usually hit for about 15 minutes to warm up then play a practice set.

Tiafoe and Chris Eubanks were practicing together. Eubanks has a LOT of game. Big serve, big forehand, uses his height well. He has a HUGE kick serve. Of course he's error prone too. Tiafoe was the steadier of the two but it was pretty even the 4-5 games I watched.

Zverev was playing with Emil Ruusuvuori. Man, Z crushes the ball. He was missing a lot of serves though. First and second. Emil was getting the best of him just because Sasha was missing so much. Sasha speaks in Russian when he isn't happy and he was speaking a fair amount of Russian today.

Korda and Kecmanovic. Miomir has legs like tree trunks. He hits a very heavy ball too. Doesn't cover the corners very well though. Korda looked just ok to me. Started a little slow and was playing better before I left for another court. I know he's just getting back into tournament play. He has a smooth game and generates good power with little effort.

Rune played a set with Wawrinka. Holger looked out of sorts to me. A lot of errors and a few shanks even. Stan won their set.

Tsitsipas played with Grigor Dmitrov. Nothing really stood out to me....only watched a couple of games. The most interesting thing about it was who was with Tsitsipas. Philippoussis was on court with him but no papa. Paula B was sitting on the chair inside the court watching. Pretty sure she's injured right now so that kind of makes sense given their relationship. She looked kind of bored until she started talking to Leila Fernandez who practicing on the court next to her.

There was a lot of other activity going on. Khachanov and Coric were practicing. Dan Evans was there...he looks like a surly type of guy. Saw Berretinni, Musetti, Mannarino (dude is surprisingly ripped), FAA, Norrie, Sonnego.

Fan turnout looked to be great as well especially for the Saturday before the tournament even starts. Hard to believe they would even consider relocating this event. Should be a great tournament.
Click to expand...
Nice post... a couple of questions..
how is the intensity in the practice sets they play?
Also how do they decide on close line calls during the practice set?
 
Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
Nadal - GOAT said:
Nice post... a couple of questions..
how is the intensity in the practice sets they play?
Also how do they decide on close line calls during the practice set?
Click to expand...
I'd say it's pretty intense. Probably an 8 out of 10. They certainly aren't going through the motions. It's competitive and intense but they aren't trying to rip each other's throats out. What was interesting is how there isn't much to the line calls. They both seem to know it's either in or out. On a very close call the player in the near court may make a subtle point or even a nod after the fact. They also never say the score. They know what it is. It seems like the coaches primary jobs during the practice sets are to pick up the balls.
 
D

Don Felder

Semi-Pro
I was there today also, watching practice and some qualies. At least when I was there (late afternoon until 8 or so), the wind was clearly bothering a lot of players. I saw a lot of players shanking balls, not hitting as big or clean as I know they can, etc.
 
BrokenForehand

BrokenForehand

Rookie
Nice post. Do you know the rules about taking camera (canon with 70-200mm lens) inside? And would players be bothered by people videotaping them while practicing?
 
V

vokazu

Legend
BrokenForehand said:
Nice post. Do you know the rules about taking camera (canon with 70-200mm lens) inside? And would players be bothered by people videotaping them while practicing?
Click to expand...
When I went to ATP Brisbane, the security asked how powerful my camera lense was, my camera was just a compact "bridge" camera, not really a DSLR, and they allowed me to take it into the stadium.
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
sportsfan1 said:
Stan practicing with rune? They must've gotten over their earlier riff after stan told him to stop acting like a baby on the court.
Click to expand...
That was in Paris in November last year. They had another scene at the net after their Indian Wells match in March. But Holger and Stan made up in MC this year:

4676987.jpg
 
LaVie en Rose

LaVie en Rose

Hall of Fame
Baseline_Bungle said:
I mean, it's Apostolos. You know he'll try to sneak into that box in 3/4 matches max. Heck, he'll put on a fake mustache and pretend to be a beer vendor if he has to...

Still, for the Tsitsi clan, this "announcement" was a fairly major step.
Click to expand...
Papa Apostolos must be devastated
 
C

CHIP72

Semi-Pro
BrokenForehand said:
Nice post. Do you know the rules about taking camera (canon with 70-200mm lens) inside? And would players be bothered by people videotaping them while practicing?
Click to expand...
I think most tournaments will post information on their website about the kind of cameras allowed. If nothing is mentioned, then the cameras should be allowed.

To oversimplify, I believe in many cases it is professional cameras = no, other types of cameras = yes.
 
T

Torben

Semi-Pro
BeatlesFan said:
Oh, that's too bad. This is a great, high quality thread. We don't get many threads where people here are actually at the tournaments, these threads are always gold.
Click to expand...
I remember your thread at Indian Wells earlier this year. It was great! You had excellent photos of several of the players.

Yes, they are appreciated by all of us because we are getting a rare glimpse of what goes on at a tournament. You feel like a kid in a candy store.

They are some of the more enjoyable threads here to be honest.
 
J

jmnk

Hall of Fame
I've spent entire day there today. I must say that this Badosa/Tsitsipas thing is soooo weird. She literally looks like a groupie sitting in the corner of the court while Tsitsipas is practicing. It is _not_ a good look. Thankfully I think not too many casual folks know who she is. But for me it was such a strange vibe - having a pretty good female tennis player act as an add-on to a male player.

I do not know how to explain it. But for example, later on Svitolina was hitting with Monfils. That felt natural.

Another observation. Somehow I've always felt that Wawrinka, while obviously a great player, has somewhat 'mechanical' (as in 'not that fluid) strokes. But when he was hitting with Norrie today it looked so good.

Alcaraz and later Djokovic were clearly the biggest draws during practice. The 3rd largest court, where Djoko was scheduled to practice with Hurkacz, was full like half an hour before they showed up. BTW - if one thinks that Hurkacz's forehand is not good, well, he needs an eye doctor. Alcaraz was practicing shirtless - I must say to the delight of many. He is just ripped.

Vondrousova was practicing with Muchova. OMG, they can hit the ball.

Ostapenko was hitting with Pavlyuchenkova and she was wearing a regular outfit. Not one of those strange dresses with collar. And she looked great, fit, like a normal athlete. She really needs to ditch that match outfits.
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
jmnk said:
I've spent entire day there today. I must say that this Badosa/Tsitsipas thing is soooo weird. She literally looks like a groupie sitting in the corner of the court while Tsitsipas is practicing. It is _not_ a good look. Thankfully I think not too many casual folks know who she is. But for me it was such a strange vibe - having a pretty good female tennis player act as an add-on to a male player.

I do not know how to explain it. But for example, later on Svitolina was hitting with Monfils. That felt natural.

Another observation. Somehow I've always felt that Wawrinka, while obviously a great player, has somewhat 'mechanical' (as in 'not that fluid) strokes. But when he was hitting with Norrie today it looked so good.

Alcaraz and later Djokovic were clearly the biggest draws during practice. The 3rd largest court, where Djoko was scheduled to practice with Hurkacz, was full like half an hour before they showed up. BTW - if one thinks that Hurkacz's forehand is not good, well, he needs an eye doctor. Alcaraz was practicing shirtless - I must say to the delight of
Click to expand...
@jmnk Wow! Outstanding stuff, thanks.
 
Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
jmnk said:
I've spent entire day there today. I must say that this Badosa/Tsitsipas thing is soooo weird. She literally looks like a groupie sitting in the corner of the court while Tsitsipas is practicing. It is _not_ a good look. Thankfully I think not too many casual folks know who she is. But for me it was such a strange vibe - having a pretty good female tennis player act as an add-on to a male player.

I do not know how to explain it. But for example, later on Svitolina was hitting with Monfils. That felt natural.

Another observation. Somehow I've always felt that Wawrinka, while obviously a great player, has somewhat 'mechanical' (as in 'not that fluid) strokes. But when he was hitting with Norrie today it looked so good.

Alcaraz and later Djokovic were clearly the biggest draws during practice. The 3rd largest court, where Djoko was scheduled to practice with Hurkacz, was full like half an hour before they showed up. BTW - if one thinks that Hurkacz's forehand is not good, well, he needs an eye doctor. Alcaraz was practicing shirtless - I must say to the delight of many. He is just ripped.

Vondrousova was practicing with Muchova. OMG, they can hit the ball.

Ostapenko was hitting with Pavlyuchenkova and she was wearing a regular outfit. Not one of those strange dresses with collar. And she looked great, fit, like a normal athlete. She really needs to ditch that match outfits.
Click to expand...
Great update. I agree about Badosa. It wasn’t like she had a racket and was helping pick up balls or hitting on occasional shot. She just sat in the chair most of the time. I can picture Court 3 being packed for Novak. For those that aren’t familiar, Court 3 seats about 4,000 people.
 
kevin qmto

kevin qmto

Hall of Fame
I am kinda bummed that 1st round play happened while the Canadien Open was still going on. I thought it didn't start till monday, but then I check the event to see that Eubanks and Shelton already played! I wanted to watch that live. Also was disappointed as I wanted Eubanks to win :(
 
T

Torben

Semi-Pro
Open Stance said:
I went to the Western and Southern Open today to watch some qualifying and practice. It's nice because I live on the golf course that's adjacent to the WSO facility so I can just walk over to the tennis complex. Here is what I saw...some of it was interesting, some of it maybe not. Keep in mind a lot of this is small sample size. I think it's just as much fun watching the top pros practice as it is watching matches. Especially when you are right next to the court. Due to the limited number of practice courts early in the tournament, most pros are paired up practicing with another pro. They usually hit for about 15 minutes to warm up then play a practice set.

Tiafoe and Chris Eubanks were practicing together. Eubanks has a LOT of game. Big serve, big forehand, uses his height well. He has a HUGE kick serve. Of course he's error prone too. Tiafoe was the steadier of the two but it was pretty even the 4-5 games I watched.

Zverev was playing with Emil Ruusuvuori. Man, Z crushes the ball. He was missing a lot of serves though. First and second. Emil was getting the best of him just because Sasha was missing so much. Sasha speaks in Russian when he isn't happy and he was speaking a fair amount of Russian today.

Korda and Kecmanovic. Miomir has legs like tree trunks. He hits a very heavy ball too. Doesn't cover the corners very well though. Korda looked just ok to me. Started a little slow and was playing better before I left for another court. I know he's just getting back into tournament play. He has a smooth game and generates good power with little effort.

Rune played a set with Wawrinka. Holger looked out of sorts to me. A lot of errors and a few shanks even. Stan won their set.

Tsitsipas played with Grigor Dmitrov. Nothing really stood out to me....only watched a couple of games. The most interesting thing about it was who was with Tsitsipas. Philippoussis was on court with him but no papa. Paula B was sitting on the chair inside the court watching. Pretty sure she's injured right now so that kind of makes sense given their relationship. She looked kind of bored until she started talking to Leila Fernandez who practicing on the court next to her.

There was a lot of other activity going on. Khachanov and Coric were practicing. Dan Evans was there...he looks like a surly type of guy. Saw Berretinni, Musetti, Mannarino (dude is surprisingly ripped), FAA, Norrie, Sonnego.

Fan turnout looked to be great as well especially for the Saturday before the tournament even starts. Hard to believe they would even consider relocating this event. Should be a great tournament.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the observations and thread. Very cool!

Keep us updated when you can. It’s appreciated more than you think.
 
Last edited:
Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
kevin qmto said:
I am kinda bummed that 1st round play happened while the Canadien Open was still going on. I thought it didn't start till monday, but then I check the event to see that Eubanks and Shelton already played! I wanted to watch that live. Also was disappointed as I wanted Eubanks to win :(
Click to expand...
Having back-to-back M1000s on consecutive weeks just doesn't work. Tiafoe played last night as well. They are supposed to expand both Canada and Cincinnati (hoping the tournament stays in Cincinnati) to 96 players / 12 days starting in 2025 so I expect to see some significant changes to the summer hard court schedule in the future.
 
D

Don Felder

Semi-Pro
jmnk said:
I've spent entire day there today. I must say that this Badosa/Tsitsipas thing is soooo weird. She literally looks like a groupie sitting in the corner of the court while Tsitsipas is practicing. It is _not_ a good look. Thankfully I think not too many casual folks know who she is. But for me it was such a strange vibe - having a pretty good female tennis player act as an add-on to a male player.

I do not know how to explain it. But for example, later on Svitolina was hitting with Monfils. That felt natural.

Another observation. Somehow I've always felt that Wawrinka, while obviously a great player, has somewhat 'mechanical' (as in 'not that fluid) strokes. But when he was hitting with Norrie today it looked so good.

Alcaraz and later Djokovic were clearly the biggest draws during practice. The 3rd largest court, where Djoko was scheduled to practice with Hurkacz, was full like half an hour before they showed up. BTW - if one thinks that Hurkacz's forehand is not good, well, he needs an eye doctor. Alcaraz was practicing shirtless - I must say to the delight of many. He is just ripped.

Vondrousova was practicing with Muchova. OMG, they can hit the ball.

Ostapenko was hitting with Pavlyuchenkova and she was wearing a regular outfit. Not one of those strange dresses with collar. And she looked great, fit, like a normal athlete. She really needs to ditch that match outfits.
Click to expand...

Badosa is a total biotch too. Saw her stiff two little kids asking for a pic rushing to go be a groupie and sit on Tsits’ court. Just a jerk.
 
BeatlesFan

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
Don Felder said:
Badosa is a total biotch too. Saw her stiff two little kids asking for a pic rushing to go be a groupie and sit on Tsits’ court. Just a jerk.
Click to expand...
Tsitsipas himself has always been curt and dismissive to fans, at least in my experience. I've seen him arrogantly shove past kids at IW begging for a selfie, and he's done that multiple times over the years there. He and Zverev are both insufferable in person. Felix and Casper are the exact opposite.
 
C

CHIP72

Semi-Pro
BeatlesFan said:
Tsitsipas himself has always been curt and dismissive to fans, at least in my experience. I've seen him arrogantly shove past kids at IW begging for a selfie, and he's done that multiple times over the years there. He and Zverev are both insufferable in person. Felix and Casper are the exact opposite.
Click to expand...
Just to defend Sascha Zverev a little bit - in 2015 I attended the first day of qualifying at the Washington Open. The first match I went to was between Kyle Edmund and Mischa Zverev on one of the outer courts (Court 4 or the one with the covered seats on one side for those of you familiar with the DC tournament). Shortly after I sit down in the stands I look to my right and 3 feet (1 meter) from me was a familiar looking late teenage/early 20s year old male. It took me a couple minutes, but I realized I was sitting next to Alexander Zverev, who was watching his brother's match from the stands. Mind you, at the time Zverev was only 18 years old and in the lower part of the top 100, so he wasn't widely known yet. I asked him if he was Alexander Zverev and he said he was. I also asked him why he was called Sascha (which is an uncommon name in the U.S.). He said that was his personal name and Alexander was his professional name. (I later did a bit more research and found out that Sascha has long been a common nickname for people named Alexander, especially in Eastern Europe.) I didn't want to bother the younger Zverev brother too much while his brother was playing, but he was cordial to me in the brief conversation we had.
 
D

Don Felder

Semi-Pro
BeatlesFan said:
Tsitsipas himself has always been curt and dismissive to fans, at least in my experience. I've seen him arrogantly shove past kids at IW begging for a selfie, and he's done that multiple times over the years there. He and Zverev are both insufferable in person. Felix and Casper are the exact opposite.
Click to expand...

Yes, Tsits and Badosa are made for each other. Taylor Fritz is another jerk. I saw him shoving past a very small crowd yesterday refusing to even make eye contact. Arrogant for nothing.

Felix and Rublev are super nice guys. Haven’t seen Casper but I don’t doubt he’s nice to the young fans too.
 
kevin qmto

kevin qmto

Hall of Fame
CHIP72 said:
Just to defend Sascha Zverev a little bit - in 2015 I attended the first day of qualifying at the Washington Open. The first match I went to was between Kyle Edmund and Mischa Zverev on one of the outer courts (Court 4 or the one with the covered seats on one side for those of you familiar with the DC tournament). Shortly after I sit down in the stands I look to my right and 3 feet (1 meter) from me was a familiar looking late teenage/early 20s year old male. It took me a couple minutes, but I realized I was sitting next to Alexander Zverev, who was watching his brother's match from the stands. Mind you, at the time Zverev was only 18 years old and in the lower part of the top 100, so he wasn't widely known yet. I asked him if he was Alexander Zverev and he said he was. I also asked him why he was called Sascha (which is an uncommon name in the U.S.). He said that was his personal name and Alexander was his professional name. (I later did a bit more research and found out that Sascha has long been a common nickname for people named Alexander, especially in Eastern Europe.) I didn't want to bother the younger Zverev brother too much while his brother was playing, but he was cordial to me in the brief conversation we had.
Click to expand...
If you happened to be in the same position now, the moment you started talking to him, he probably would have just gotten up and moved to a different seat without saying a word.
 
C

CHIP72

Semi-Pro
Don Felder said:
Yes, Tsits and Badosa are made for each other. Taylor Fritz is another jerk. I saw him shoving past a very small crowd yesterday refusing to even make eye contact. Arrogant for nothing.

Felix and Rublev are super nice guys. Haven’t seen Casper but I don’t doubt he’s nice to the young fans too.
Click to expand...
Though I'm not a fan of Nick Kyrgios, one positive thing I'll say about him is he appears to be good with kids. I've observed that firsthand at the Washington Open.
 
DSH

DSH

Talk Tennis Guru
What do the locals say that Cincinnati will no longer host a category 1000 tournament on the ATP circuit?
:unsure:
 
Rattie

Rattie

Legend
Don Felder said:
Yes, Tsits and Badosa are made for each other. Taylor Fritz is another jerk. I saw him shoving past a very small crowd yesterday refusing to even make eye contact. Arrogant for nothing.

Felix and Rublev are super nice guys. Haven’t seen Casper but I don’t doubt he’s nice to the young fans too.
Click to expand...
I can only speak from my own experience at Wimbledon this year. Fans lined a wall near the building next to the practice courts and many players went to and fro. Fans called out to players and while Fritz did come over and sign for them, he never looked at them and had a poker face on him. Tsitsipas did exactly the same thing. Meddy on the other hand smiled and engaged while he wrote autographs.
 
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