Tennis Atlantic

We’re here in College Park after the short drive out Missouri Avenue from the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in DC. While a good time was had by all (thanks Gus Johnson) at Legg Mason Kid’s Day, the Tennis Center at College Park is where the points are being doled out. Tournament top seed Shahar Peer had the fight of her life in the match against Tamira Paszek, but the crowd-supported Peer pulled it out from Paszek by a final score of 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Peer received a gift from the Chair Umpire in the tie-break. After hitting the ball over the net seven times, the ball caught the net on the eighth. Peer immediately grabbed the ball and handed it to the Chair, who determined it was a broken ball and the point need to replayed. The call took Tamira’s point off the board, and the Israeli won 4 straight points to take the tiebreak easily. The ball was not broken, but slightly de-compressed, like most of the balls Tennis Marylanders use when playing on elementary school courts. Whether the call was correct or not, it completely changed the tiebreak and Paszek dwelled for too long, arguing her case for a couple of minutes. She never recovered.

We’ll have video at 11. Seriously.

In College Park, University of Virginia freshman Mitchell Frank had a crowd of nearly a thousand packed into Grandstand Court in his qualifier against top-seeded qualifier Matthew Ebden. He lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, but the performance was admirable.