North American / Canadian Summer Swing - ATP 500, ATP 250, WTA 500, WTA 250

Back to buildings/monuments....A painter, a sculptor, a writer, they can express freely. They don't affect society as a whole. We build buildings that have a purpose, that stay there for hundreds of years or decades. Moshe Safdie

The Washington Monument....The Washington Monument officially was dedicated on February 21, 1885. In a speech written for that event by Robert Winthrop, who attended the groundbreaking ceremony in 1845, there was one memorable line: “An earthquake may shake its foundations … but the character which it commemorates and illustrates is secure.”  

Still Europe and Start of North American Swing ATP 250, WTA 250

 

Plava Laguna Croatia Open, Croatia, ATP 250
Generali Open, Kitzbuhel, Austria, ATP 250
Truist Atlanta Open, Atlanta, USA, ATP 250
BNP Paribas Poland Open, Warsaw, Poland, WTA 250
Livesport Prague Open, Czech Republic, WTA 250

Another Week on European Clay in July: ATP 500 Hamburg, 250 Gstaad - WTA 250s Hamburg, Palermo, Italy

 

ATP 500 Hamburg European Open
Hamburg, Germany
ATP 250 EFG Swiss Open
Gstaad, Switzerland
WTA 250 Hamburg European Open
Hamburg, Germany
WTA 250 33rd Palermo Ladies Open
Palermo, Italy

Congratulations to this week's Champions - Bastad - Francisco Cerundolo, Newport - Maxime Cressey. And Budapest - Bernarda Pera, Lausanne - Petra Martic.

This week we have an ATP 500 in Hamburg, Germany, a 250 in Gstaad, Switzerland, and two WTA 250s  - Hamburg and Palermo, Italy.

We're taking a gastronomic tour in each of the cities - Food was the unanimous choice of this week's theme so let's go👇

POST WIMBLEDON: ATP 250s Newport, Rhode Island USA, Bastad, Sweden; WTA 250s Budapest, Hungary, Lausanne, Switzerland

ATP 250 Infosys Hall of Fame Open

Newport, RI, USA

ATP 250 Nordea Open

Bastad, Sweden

WTA 250 Ladies Open Lausanne

Lausanne, France

WTA 250 Hungarian Grand Prix

Budapest, Hungary

Congratulation to this year's surprise Ladies Wimbledon Champion Elena Rybakina -a young 23 year old whose odds to win Wimby were 111/1 going into the tournament!  Not quite like last year's USO Champion - Emma Raducanu - who came out of nowhere as an 18-year-old Brit with no WTA titles - through qualies and winning 10 matches in straight sets, thrilling her home crowd winning her first title - a Major but who unfortunately has struggled mightily since. But the 23-three-year-old Rybakina also had few under her belt - two 250 titles in the last 3 years, so her win was quite unexpected. Unfortunately for Elena (and the rest of the players who did well) this year Wimbledon in deciding to ban Russian and Belarusian players from participating, also decided to not award any ranking points for the tournament, which punished the eligible participants but the handsome paycheck won't hurt anyone who did well especially during the 2nd week!  

Then there was Novak Djokovic - the Men's Singles Champion, whose odds were quite likely to defend his 2021 title.  He now holds seven Wimbledon titles and 21 Majors. Both Novak and Rafa Nadal are still quite capable of adding another one (or two) before either retire and the Big 3 is now whittled down to the Big 2. Roger Federer (who'll be 41 yo in August) is not quite letting go just yet or officially throwing in the towel, but to say he's not been around in awhile is an understatement. Hopefully we'll see him sometime this year even if it is at his Laver Cup.  Also Wimbledon was plagued this year with withdrawals, quite a few due to Covid and quite a few seeds fell early not even making the 2nd week.

Congratulations  are also in order to the Men's Doubles Champions Matthew Ebden/Max Purcell, Women's Doubles Champions Barbora Krejcikova/Katerina Siniakova and the Mixed Doubles Champions Neal Skupski/Desirae Krawczyk. 

So this week, we have the last grass tourney of the year in Newport RI and three clay tournaments in Europe, next week there's a few clay and a harcourt tournament on both tours for the rest of July before we head into the hardcourt swing in North America in August.

This week's thematic pics are unusual and/or unique places in each city to put on your bucket list when you visit! So let's get to it!👇

Wimbledon 2022 - Week 2

 

Wimbledon, The Championships
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
London, England
June 27 - July 10, 2022