Sunday in Washington: “Praction” Distraction From Qualifying @CitiOpen
Stephan Fogleman, Tennis East Coast
As a fan, sometimes you need a break from the matches during qualies. After all the newish names you hear on the courts on a qualifying weekend, you need a break from the new.
In with the old.
You want to put on your comfy slippers. The ones you know so well.
You know, the Top 25 or even, say, Players Who Have Won a Major.
But you also want to see some tennis action right then and there.
That’s when you need–Praction. The action of tennis, with all the big names, at a fraction of the price of being on Center Court because–it’s Practice Action. So here’s a Praction Round-Up from Sunday at the Citi Open in Washington.
Let’s examine how much Praction you can get into in just one Sunday afternoon.
Next Stop On Tour Pretty Much Like the Last Stop: Lleyton Hewitt
Hewitt was in Cruz control again. This is the third time in a row I’ve seen son Cruz take the court before Codger Dad. I’m thinking Cruz is like a professional food-tester for Lleyton. Or just looking for ‘Bubbles!’ on the court.
To Lleyton’s defense, there is absolutely nothing for a child to see in the way of sights in Washington, so this is an even better idea than it is in Adelaide.
Top Dog Praction: Tomas Berdych
Though I didn’t personally catch him in the act, the Daily Forehand, the first-born of tennis-writing virtuoso Ben Rothenberg, uploaded this video of Top Seed Tomas Berdych in praction today:
Tower Power: Milos Raonic & Kevin Anderson
With John Isner stuck in Atlanta waiting to play his ATP 250 Final, the other skyscrapers, Raonic and Anderson, teamed up for a hit on Sunday. The security staff, not regular tennis fans, were naturally shocked by the duo’s distance from the court to their heads. The non-regulars ogled at them, more so for their size than their ability to smoke a serve so hard the fences shook.
And finally, Kei Nishikori‘s Praction was featured in our last post. The best part of his praction was Kei himself checking out the vocal 2nd set tiebreak going on at the match court next door featuring Gabriela Dabrowski and Olga Rogowska (Rogowska won that tiebreak and the match in 3).
The next time you don’t feel like going to qualies with your tennis-crazed significant other, just remember: there’s Praction out there. You know these guys!
Tennis Atlantic 