WOMEN’S DAY AT THE GERRY WEBER OPEN TENNIS WAS AWESOME FROM HALLE, GERMANY BY CHERYL JONES

Written by: Staff on 18th June 2015

WOMEN'S DAY AT THE GERRY WEBER OPEN TENNIS WAS AWESOME FROM HALLE, GERMANY BY CHERYL JONES

Gael Monfils of France in action in the round of 16 match against Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan during the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, Germany, 18 June 2015. EPA/MAJA HITIJ |

Ladies Day and Exits

By Cheryl Jones

Wednesday is Ladies Day at the Gerry Weber Open. The tournament held in Halle has always saved a special day for women. They are treated with special rates and much more, as benefits that entail additions to more than a glorious day of tennis. Gone are the climbing apparatus and trampolines that dot the grounds during the opening days of tournament activities. A variety of clothing and spa treatment offerings are featured instead.

Today, the dreary weather even cleaned up its act as if the sun had been commanded to shine, shine, shine. It has been beaming most all of the day. In short, it’s simply been a good day for tennis. The dress code seems casual, but there are some spiky heals here and there. (In fact there are shoes galore to be purchased at one of the many kiosks scattered about the grounds. Big name brand tennis shoes are plentiful, but dressy heals are here too.) Retail therapy could serve as an alternate moniker for the Wednesday outing that offers a lot of top-flight tennis.

For the past twenty-two years, tennis is and has been the featured act in Halle. Twenty men began the day, still in the running for a Sunday final. At the end of the day, ten will remain. (Four singles players will be changing their plans to stay on in Halle, and four will remain in the green and lush community located in the most verdant area of Germany. Making up the remainder of the ten who will be leaving, six doubles players will be booking transportation to yet another venue and six will stay on, anxious to prove their adaptability on a surface that is the focal point of tennis for merely a few weeks each year. Just as the summer quickly approaches, grass court tennis arrives on the scene, where it catches a few days in the spotlight and then slides to the background until the next year.

American, Steve Johnson was one of those who will move on to another venue and maybe examine his plans for the future development of his lawn game. Florian Mayer, who spent the better part of last year and early this year out of competition with a groin injury, and of course a German crowd favorite, was the victor, 7-6, 6-3. Johnson said a disappointed farewell to the Gerry Weber Open after the match that saw many ups and downs.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the score that seesawed. Both players skidded on the slippery grass quite often, trying to navigate the turf that seemed to hold the balls close to the ground and made them more difficult to read. It was the first match of the day, and it was early afternoon on Centre Court. The crowd was decidedly pro-Mayer and the whole scene must have been dispiriting to Johnson who calls Manhattan Beach, California home.

Steve Johnson of the USA in action during the round of 16 match against Florian Mayer of Germany at the ATP tennis tournament in Halle, Germany, 17 June 2015. EPA/Maja Hitij

At first it seemed as if Johnson was going to dominate the match as he broke Mayer’s first service game and then held his own first two. In the middle of that first set, Johnson took a nasty fall that literally removed a divot the size of a tennis ball from behind the baseline on the add side of the court. It took a bit of time to scrape pieces of the court from his wrist, shoes and maybe even his psyche. It wasn’t all downhill from there, but his momentum had been interrupted and he couldn’t quite pull the pieces together to make even a semblance of his usually very tight game plan.

Earlier in the week, Johnson spoke of the conditions on the courts and not one to point fingers, he said it had been slippery in his first match on one of the outer courts, but he attributed it to a dewy morning. Evidently, the dewy surface has remained and now that it’s mid-week of the tourney, the grass is missing in places and there seem to be spots where it just isn’t safe to tread, especially with any sort of rapid movement.

Johnson is twenty-five. He spent four years at USC where he was a consistent standout. He will move on to Wimbledon with his 53 ranking. Last year he lasted a little longer in Halle, but that was because of a walkover against his second opponent, Teymuraz Gabashvili. He appears to be much more relaxed than he was last year, and seems to have his career in a steady and reasonable place. He has an immediate a goal – Make it further than he did last year and never look back. He will work on his serve, which has sparkled with 100 mile per hour spot-on second serves on occasion. As he pointed out he needs practice, practice, practice. He has a little time now to do some more strategic maneuvering as he prepares for Wimbledon where he hopes to climb higher up the ladder of tennis success, where he can spend a little more time on court and a little less time booking transportation to the next venue.

Topics: Atp, Cheryl Jones, Germany, Gerry Weber Open, Halle, Sports, Steve Johnson, Tennis News, Women's Day

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June 18, 2015 at 12:33 pm

WOMEN’S DAY AT THE #GerryWeberOpen #TENNIS WAS AWESOME FROM #HALLE, GERMANY BY CHERYL JONES- http://t.co/rftE2zlvRh #womensday #tennisnews