A young Frenchman named Corentin Moutet was whipping forehands to both wings to take the 10th game against a fellow from Brazil named Karue Sell, clearly outmatched by the Frenchman. But this must be qualified.
C’est le mot, as a fellow from Neuilly-sur-Seine, which is to Paris somewhat as Alexandria is to Washington, might say, seeing as how this was a qualifying for a 500-level tournament. Just to be in a qualifying round is a huge achievement. In this case the match was to secure one of 64 places in the men’s draw at the Washington Open, known as the Mubadala Citi Open, its sponsors. At one time this tournament was known as the Washington Star, but that was when newspapers were solvent and represented the “media.”
If this was a qualifying match, it should be a hot and good week.
The tournament began as a charity event, and at a time when the Trump administration is cutting back on public philanthropy, this is worth remembering. The tournament was and still is a fundraiser for a private initiative to “get the kids on the courts to keep them out of court.” And I will say, all the coaches I have met at the organization that came out of this initiative, the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, say if it had not been for Arthur Ashe putting a racquet in their hands and his friend (and junior doubles partner) Willis Thomas, Jr., showing them how to use it, by God, who knows where they would have ended up. As to the kids now in the program, I can only speak of the few I know, but they are well on their way to being patriots and citizens and the kinds of men — and women — you would want your kids and grandkids to be.
An old and venerated tournament like the Washington Open always attracts top players, so if you have to qualify to get into the tournament draws, it does not mean you are anything other than a very strong pro. In the case of Moutet vs Sell, the fellow from the Paris suburb won by force of guile and steady nerves. He is renown for shrewd uses of deceptive shots as well as all-out power from the baseline.
So we’ll be seeing some more of Moutet this week. We will not be seeing more of Kyrgios’ Australian compatriot Bernard Tomic, because he was beaten in a match the next day, Sunday, by Zachary Svajda, who is from La Jolla, California. At 22 he has been on the tour for about five years and seems likely to keep progressing, having made it to the second round of the three-round qualifiers at Wimbledon for the past three years, which puts him a place or two from being among the 100-top ranked players in the world.
Tomic, who is 32, is much lower in the ranking due to being out of the tour lately, but he has been a top-20 player. Like Kyrgios, he is a beautiful player, whose movements never seem rushed but are astonishing in the power they release, which on a tennis courts means not only the pace — speed — of shots but the smartness with which they hit their targeted spot. You realize when the point is done, of course that was the right place to put the ball but who would have thought he could get it there?
As a fair-and-accurate just-the-facts TAS man I cannot be partial in these matters, but I confess I did want to see Tomic play because when he is on his game it is like listening to a virtuoso, Liona Boyd on classical guitar, or Ladyva on piano. Tomic did play virtuoso tennis — when he felt like it. There was little question, after a competitive first set, that Zachary Svajda was the hungry one in this match, and he took the second 6-1 over a Tomic who let his characteristic style work against him.
He can appear to take his time, slowly building to a winner that he will unleash. Not this time. Too often the moment of released trigger resulted only in the ball flying long. Svajda stayed steady, using aces when he needed them or to finish a game quickly; which is how he finished the match, quickly and with a big serve.
It was good tennis though, and if the stadium was far from full (the outside courts were packed), as it will be through the coming week, you could tell the fans knew it from their reactions to the points. Tomic is something of a bad boy, not in the histrionic manner of Moutet or John McEnroe, but in the old fashioned juvenile delinquent sense.
You do not hear the term much these days, maybe among aging policemen and teachers; it was used to describe the very kinds of kids the WTEF, with the help of this tournament, was designed to save. It would be interesting to talk to him about this, and then there was the matter of his rather oddball match against Bill Ackman, the financial whiz and campaigner against campus follies, at a tournament in Rhode Island two or three weeks ago. But this will have to wait. You should let athletes talk when they want to and if they do not want to, notably after a loss, there really is no cause to hurry the expression of the hurt that they may feel.
Taylor Townsend was playing in the qualifier for the women’s draw — which tells you something too about the level of the sport these days, as why should one of the best women’s tennis players in the USA need to qualify? — and she won two sets to zero over Emiliana Arango, who is from Colombia and made it to the second round at Roland-Garros this year. Miss Townsend won in doubles at the Australian Open this year and at Wimbledon last year. She played with spirit but could not break through Miss Townsend’s attacking game, on point after point moving toward the net and cutting points short with her volleys. If this was a qualifying match, it should be a hot and good week.
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