NEWPORT, RI—When you get older, you start to think they broke everything that didn’t need fixing. When Newport the Tournament lost its ATP 250 status a couple of years ago, I was certain that a Challenger in its place would make tournament week here a shell of its former self.
Sometimes, it’s good to be wrong. The gorgeous grounds, the charming architecture and the historic environs make it seem like they could put amateurs on Centre Court and it would make for compelling tennis. I tested that theory by doing something I wouldn’t do at home–attend Challenger qualifying. The matches, although a far cry from the competition at SW19 across the pond, offered a feast for the senses.
Let’s face it–all tournaments should be joint men’s and women’s events, especially at the lower levels. It tricks the brain into momentarily imaging you’re at a Major. And in a place as beautiful as the Tennis Hall of Fame, there should never have been a two decades wait for the women to take the courts for competitive matches like it did until last year.
Some in the industry used to like to gripe about the timing of the tournament as an outlier on grass as the players are trying to ready themselves for the hard court American summer swing, but hosting the event during Wimbledon is subtly brilliant. Smelling freshly cut lawn as you walk into the venue is the sweetest smell to a tennis fan this time of year.
On to the qualifying. In the case of the WTA 125, it’s a single round. That made the four matches on Sunday resemble the main draw. “Top” seeds Momoko Kobori, Sahara Yamalapalli and Alana Smith advanced to the main draw, which is no easy feat since being seeded in 125-level qualifying is almost meaningless.
With only four women’s qualifying matches and twelve men’s contests on Sunday, there were some shades of the old ATP 250 going on.
US players Garrett Johns, Andre Ilagan, Ozan Baris, Alex Rybakov, Daniel Milavsky and Tyler Zink were all winners and advanced to the final qualifying round scheduled for Monday. Speaking of Monday, monsoon-like conditions are expected to wallop the Northeast tomorrow so I expect a complete wash-out. The Open may be playing catch up on Tuesday with qualifiers thrown into the lion’s den main draw hours after qualifying.
I have a soft spot for mean old man Adrian Mannarino, who is the top seed of the main draw in the ATP event. Today, a fan approached him and told him that Mannarino was his favorite player. The Frenchman made no acknowledgment of the fan’s praise and kept walking in the opposite direction. Years ago, I asked Mannarino the most softball question ever and he managed to give the most honest answer ever. I asked him what he thought of the tournament we were at, the New York Open at the Nassau Count Coliseum in Hempstead, New York.
“It kind of sucks,” he said. “They said it was closer to Manhattan than it really is. I brought my girlfriend and now there’s nowhere to eat.”
As he knows, this venue is in the heart of Newport and there are plenty of gastronomic adventures a racquet toss away from the courts here in ‘Merica’s Baby Wimbledon.
—S. Fogleman
Tennis Atlantic 
Return Serve?