KRISTEN’S COURT: ATP SERVES UP AN EVENTFUL SUNDAY

Written by: Staff on 18th June 2012

KRISTEN'S COURT: ATP SERVES UP AN EVENTFUL SUNDAY

epa03269930 Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (R) congratulates German tennis player Tommy Haas after the final of the Gerry Weber Open ATP tournament in Halle/Westfalen, Germany, 17 June 2012. Haas won the match. EPA/CHRISTIAN WEISCHE |

By Kristen Tracy

To say that today has been an eventful day for the ATP Tour and it’s players would be an understatement. Sunday featured two incredibly exciting finals, all whilst preparing fans for what I (and most everyone at 10sballs.com) consider to be two of the best weeks of the entire tennis season – Wimbledon.

The grass court season is somewhat shorter than the clay, considerably shorter than the hard, and only barely edges out the indoor in length because it hosts a grand slam. As tennis fans, we don’t take the grass for granted. We cherish and relish in its short-lived, but oh so poignant presence during the months of June and July, because we know it’s all we get for another 12 long months.

Maybe it’s the short-lived time of the grass court season that makes it so much more exciting. Or maybe it’s the tradition that surrounds Wimbledon; I mean, even non-tennis fans know what Wimbledon is. Whatever the reason, it’s riveting. And today proved to be no exception when both Wimbledon warm-up tournaments took turns for the good, the bad, and…the injured?

Being the essential optimist that I am, let’s begin with the good – or rather, the great. Tommy Haas, at 34 years old, becomes the oldest player to win an ATP title since Fabrice Santoro won in Newport in 2008 at the age of 35. Even more impressive is that his win at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle Germany came against Roger Federer, the no. 3 ranked player in the world. Haas played a nearly flawless match – winning in straight sets and showing that it’s never too late to make a comeback. Such an impressive win makes Tommy a very dangerous opponent going in to the year’s third grand slam tournament.

In other not-so-great (and almost bizarre) news, Marin Cilic won just his seventh ATP title when he was handed the AEGON Championships trophy after his opponent David Nalbandian was forced to default the match and the title after an incident of unsportsmanlike conduct that left a linesman injured and bloodied. After hitting a forehand wide that gave Cilic a break in serve, Nalbandian showed his frustration by kicking the advertising board that surrounded the chair of the lines person. The board then proceeded to break, hitting the lines judge and badly bloodying his left shin. After discussing the situation with the chair umpire, the tournament director proceeded to award the match (and subsequently the title) to Cilic – also noting that Nalbandian would forfeit all rankings points and prize money earned during the tournament. In a post-match interview, Nalbadian apologized – noting that he never intended to cause harm.

“I made a mistake and I apologize,” Nalbandian said. “I feel very sorry to the guy. I didn’t want to do that. This is a bad situation for everybody that I really apologize for.” Though an unfortunate situation for David, it does go to show that unsportsmanlike conduct cannot be tolerated – especially when it causes injury to another person.

And everyone says tennis isn’t exciting. Well, we at 10sballs.com know better!

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Topics: 10sballs.com, AEGON tennis news, Atp Tour, Cilic, David Nalbandian, Gerry Weber Open, Halle tennis news, Kristen Tracy, Tommy Haas, Wimbledon