Saturday, July 21, 2012 5:30pm
Stuart Barefoot
The headlines this weekend were dominated by the British Open and Penn State fiasco. For all of us avid tennis fans, things were a little more subdue. But like always, there was more than one interesting occurrence this weekend and they comprise your Monday Mashup.
Andy Roddick has a habit of winning tournaments before even bigger ones. Before Wimbledon he won at Eastbourne. With the Olympics less than a week away he won the BB&T Atlanta Open where he won his first ever tournament 11 years ago. As Yogi Berra would say "It's deja vu all over again." Roddick won his first ever title in Atlanta in 2001. 31 titles (including the 2003 U.S Open) later he isn't taking anything for granted. "I've won 32 times now and I never assume I'm going to win again," Roddick said. "I try to go about the process of playing and I work hard and try to put myself into position to create success for myself." The former top ranked player has won 11 of his last 12 matches and two of his past three tournaments. And people think he shoul retire? Highlights of the match can be found here.
Juan Monaco is on his way to being ranked in the top 10 now that he beat Tommy Haas in the German Championships final. The Argentine won 7-5, 6-4 to claim his sixth career title, which oddly enough have all come on clay courts. Haas, who is from Hamburg, missed out on the opportunity to win another title at home. Here are the highlights of the match.
Now that Nadal isn't going to the Olympics, he needs a fellow countrymen to take his place. That's where Feliciano Lopez comes in. He will go in Nadal's stead. Lopez will also be playing here in Winston-Salem next month, which is really cool. The focus, however, will remain on Nadal. For a really interesting take on the situation, check out what Howard Bryant from ESPN has to say.
Brian Baker gets to go to the U.S Open. After starting the year ranked somewhere around 10,000th (actually 458th,) Baker has stormed up to 79th and gets an entry into the U.S Open, since the top 101 players get to automatically go. He will of course, be playing here in the triad before he goes. After following the link you will notice the video that goes along with the article is virtually unrelated. Other than being about tennis it has nothing to do with Brian Baker or the U.S Open. It is, however, a nice, albeit short preview of the Olympics. The Backhand will have more details about the games on Friday, when things kickoff in London.
Here is another little preview for you: This Thursday we will be doing our second Inside the WSO story. Our first was when Andy Roddick came to town. This week, will will get to kknow our beloved mascot, Bo. The lovable tennis ball made his TV debut this past Friday to promote events that happened this past weekend. Give it a look here, and maybe that will get you excited about Thursday's story.
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