Cincinnati Western & Southern Recap

The Cincinnati Western & Southern Open has concluded once again, bringing a few new champions, and a few old to the legendary blue courts of Mason, Ohio. This US Open warmup has been a great event for years so today I am joined by "friend" and fellow Bonecrusher Marc Pretorius to recap our predictions for the tournament, some surprises, and of course the legendary food at the W&S Open.

Check out the Men's Draw and Results here.

Biggest Surprises:

Marc:

No question the biggest surprise of the tournament is the finals run that John Isner (USA) made.  He's currently outside the top 20 and even though he usually plays well in the US he had never made it past the second round in Cincy.  The most impressive part of his run was that he beat 4 top 10 players in 4 consecutive days.  With how aggressive he is hitting his groundstrokes and how well he is serving he will be extremely dangerous at the Open. 

Dimitry Tursunov (RUS, Cincinnati Qualifier):  This 30-year-old spends most weeks playing in the minor leagues of tennis, and has been doing so for quite some time. He has always had the potential to be a top player, and he has had his moments, but for the most part he is just too inconsistent to stay at the top of the game, mirroring the career of so many other talented Russians. At Cincinnati, he mowed down James Blake and David Ferrer (#4 in the world) to reach the Quarterfinals . It was really fun to watch him play so well this week and hit some amazing shots.

Albert:

 I watched the entire tournament from afar, but it was kind of surreal to see John Isner do what he did last week. In consecutive days, he beat Richard Gasquet (#9 in the world), Milos Raonic (#11), Novak Djokovic (#1, plus, HE OWNS ALL THE GOAT CHEESE!), and Juan Martin Del Potro (#6), dropping ONLY 2 SETS over that period. However, in each of these rounds, Isner relied on his big serve to carry opponents to a tiebreaker, which can typically end up being a toss-up. In the Final, Rafa did a great job of managing his own service (something which I admit, has improved drastically over the past few years) and winning the tiebreakers. 

Aside from Dimitry Tursunov's success at derailing my all-Spaniard Final prediction, the biggest surprise of the week happened after the tournament was actually completed. Following his Quarterfinal defeat, Roger Federer dropped to #7 in the ATP Singles Rankings, his lowest ranking since November 3, 2002. Think about that one for a second. There really may only be a few more years that we have to watch the greatest tennis player in history, but hopefully this could inspire the 17-time Grand Slam winner to add one or two more titles to his legacy. Today it was announced that Federer will be the 7-seed at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, the first time he has been seeded outside of the top-3 since Wimbledon in 2003. 

Isner vs Nadal: Rafa wins 7-6, 7-6

Marc:

Although Isner was playing great and is typically a bad matchup for Nadal, there was no doubt in my mind that Rafa would be raising the trophy on Sunday.  He is playing as well as I've ever seen him play.  Being a Nadal fan I couldn't be happier to see him win in my hometown, while taking out Federer along the way (even though Fed was my pick to win it).

 A message to the US Open field: watch out!

Albert: 

Boy, sometimes it really stinks being right all the time (okay, like, half the time). Rafa was my pick to win the tournament and after his Quarterfinal win over Roger Federer, it seemed inevitable that he was going to roll to the title. At just 27 years old, it seems crazy that Nadal is sometimes excluded from the "Young Guns" company of Djokovic and Andy Murray, mostly based on his iffy-health and his early rivalry with Federer. However, Nadal has taken time off over the past few years and if his knees can hold up, he still has an elite skill set and motor on par with any tennis player in the world. He seems healthy for now and he's definitely the most motivated he has been since his early 20's.

However, don't be surprised if whatever joints/steroids/scrotum that are keeping him standing up wears down after winning two consecutive hard court championships...

The Pretzel/Lemonade Stands:

Marc:

The Western & Southern Open isn't only about tennis.  The food is about half the enjoyment.  The lemonade and pretzel stands have been a fixture ever since I can remember, and they never changed it up....until this year.  Some of the pretzel stands offered jalapeno cheese stuffed pretzels, as well as sweet cream cheese stuffed pretzels.  As a savory guy myself, I was a HUGE fan of the jalapeno cheese pretzels with extra salt.  It's safe to say that will be my first purchase at the 2014 Western & Southern Open.

Albert: 

I was completely unaware of the change to the lemonade stands, but I will say this is serious news. The W&S Open is actually like 80% about the food and any changes should have to go by me first. However, I will take my colleague's word that these changes are for the better and I will be sure to vet the food renovations upon the 2014 Open. Nowhere else in the world can you enjoy a $5 lemonade that is 98% water, 1% lemon juice, and 1% crack while also snarfing down Skyline Chili or LaRosa's Pizza. Wimbledon can keep their strawberries & cream. 

Oh, and Victoria Azarenka defeated Serena Williams to win the women's tournament in Cincinnati. So, there's that. 

Enjoy, and we have more US Open coverage and predictions coming up in the next week.