He’s Out. Details on Tuesday.
On the 45-minute ride to Washington from Baltimore today, I was impressed with the amount of spots I heard promoting the Citi Open on WTOP, a local all-news station. Think the 1010 WINS of Washington. This is a station I have listened to for the better part of my life and I’m a huge fan. I’m one of those guys who listens to news-talk in the car. Don’t judge.
At the bottom of the hour, I heard a tease that said “…and the Citi Open suffers a big loss”. I pulled over and checked twitter. Nothing there.
I figured I’d better hurry along down there in case something big was happening.
I still had another 20 minutes to drive, so I figured I’d hear it during the sports report if not sooner. As I drove into the Citi Open parking lot, the sportscaster said, “I have just learned that Gaels Monfils has withdrawn from the Citi Open due to a knee injury.”
Keep in mind that this information was reported last Friday by the tournament.
At first, I was relieved that this was actually old news to tennis fans, but after contemplating who else could have withdrawn in ‘breaking news’ before the main draw started tomorrow, I became superstitious.
On my way home, I got the press release from the tournament on my phone. I opened it right away.
I recommend everyone do that when they’re covering a sporting event.
There it was. The WTOP Curse was real.
Dimitrov out with a sinus infection and the flu.
All the news that’s fit to print is printed below. If you don’t have time to keep reading, don’t worry. WTOP will announce it on Tuesday.
—S. Fogleman
GRIGOR DIMITROV WITHDRAWS FROM CITI OPEN® TOURNAMENT DUE TO SICKNESS
WASHINGTON (July 27, 2014) — Grigor Dimitrov, currently the No. 3 seed, has withdrawn from the Citi Open® Tournament due to sickness. Today, a doctor diagnosed him with the flu and a sinus infection.
“We will miss having Grigor as a part of this year’s tournament, but his health is priority number one,” said Jeff Newman, tournament director. “We hope he gets better quickly and wish him great success for the rest of the year.”
Even with Dimitrov out, the strong Citi Open® Tournament men’s field still has seven of the top 25 players in the ATP World Tour. Main draw play begins Monday, July 28, featuring recent Bogota champion Bernard Tomic, Eastbourne titleholder Madison Keys, and DC tennis phenom Francis Tiafoe. In addition, John Isner, who captured the title in Atlanta today, as well as world No. 5 ranked player and top seed Tomas Berdych, world No. 11 Kei Nishikori, and world No. 1 doubles team Mike and Bob Bryan will play either Tuesday or Wednesday.
—Citi Open
Tennis Atlantic 