Tennis Atlantic

Locals Play Citi Open Tuesday, Nakashima Turns 20, Kyrgios Needs Points

• Nick Kyrgios begins his Citi Open title defense against Mackenzie McDonald. Kyrgios needs three wins this week to reach his first ATP Tour quarter-final since the 2019 Citi Open, where he saved a match point against Stefanos Tsitsipas and defeated Daniil Medvedev in two tiebreaks for the title.

• On Monday, Kyrgios dropped 250 of his 500 points from the 2019 Citi Open and fell to No. 77 – his lowest spot in the FedEx ATP Rankings since he reached the 2014 Wimbledon quarter-finals as a 144th-ranked wild card.

• Frances Tiafoe, who learned how to play tennis eight miles from the Citi Open, returns to his home event on Tuesday for a second-round match against countryman Jenson Brooksby. Tiafoe, who trained in nearby College Park, Maryland, won a round in singles and doubles for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics last week. 

• Tiafoe isn’t the only local who will play in front of friends and family on Stadium Court. Denis Kudla, who also trained at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, faces Feliciano Lopez in the first round. Kudla fell to Tiafoe in the Nottingham Challenger final on 13 June after teaming with him twice at the Citi Open.

• In another opening-round match, Brandon Nakashima celebrates his 20th birthday against Alexei Popyrin. Nakashima is coming off back-to-back ATP 250 finals at Los Cabos and Atlanta. He became the youngest American to advance to multiple finals since Andy Roddick went 5-2 in finals as a teenager from 2001-02.

• Nakashima is joined on Grandstand Court by Cameron Norrie, who defeated him in the Los Cabos final on 24 July. Norrie, who meets Marcos Giron in the second round, is tied with Andrey Rublev for third on tour with 36 victories in 2021. Only Tsitsipas (42) and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (38) have more wins this season. —-ATP