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!👇

Infosys Hall of Fame Open ATP 250

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Newport, RI, USA

July 11 - 17, 2022

The Breakers Mansion - a Gilded Age mansion located at 44 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island built between 1893 and 1895 as a summer residence for Cornelius Vanderbilt II, of the wealthy Vanderbilt family. The 70-room mansion has a gross area of 125,339 square feet and 62,482 square feet of living area on five floors.

Surface: grass

Draw: Singles 28, Doubles 16

“The first US National Lawn Tennis Championship was played at Newport, Rhode Island in 1881 on the now legendary grass courts of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. That tournament evolved into the US Open. The Infosys Hall of Fame Open remains the only professional tournament played on grass outside Europe.” (ATP site) The Hall of Fame tournament has been held since 1976.

2021 champion: Kevin Anderson, who retired this past May (defeated Jenson Brooksby)

Seeds (in order of seeding): Felix Auger-Aliassime, John Isner, Alexander Bublik, Maxime Cressy, Benjamin Bonzi, Andy Murray, Jiri Vesely, James Duckworth

Other notables include Jack Sock, Tim van Rijthoven

Wildcards: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andy Murray (last played the tourney in 2006), Max Purcell

SINGLES DRAW

DOUBLES DRAW

OOP

Nordea Open ATP 250
Bastad Tennis Stadium,
Bastad, Sweden
July 11 - 17, 2022

Abisko National Park in Swedish Lapland, offers some of the best conditions in the world for seeing the Northern Lights. The unique climate keeps the skies almost clear, pollution light and the sight is next to nothing in this world. Here, you'll also find the Aurora Sky Station.

Surface: clay

Draw: Singles 28, Doubles 16

This is the 74th edition of the tournament.

Defending champion: Casper Ruud (defeated Federico Coria)

Seeds (in order of seeding): Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Diego Schwartzman, Roberto Bautista Agut, Pablo Carreno Busta, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Holger Rune, Sebastian Baez

Other notables include: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Lorenzo Sonego

Wildcards: Swedish player Elias Ymer, plus Lorenzo Musetti, Stan Wawrinka

Protected ranking: Dominic Thiem

Withdrawals include: Filip Krajinovic, Pedro Martinez, Alex Molcan, Oscar Otte

SINGLES DRAW

DOUBLES DRAW

OOP

Ladies Open Lausanne WTA 250
Tennis Club Stade – Lausanne
Lausanne, Switzerland
July 11 - 17, 2022

Chateau de Chillon - Island castle on Lake Geneva 32 km down coast from Lausanne in Vaud.

Surface: Clay

Draw: Singles 32, Doubles 16

This is the 29th edition of the tournament.

Defending champion: Tamara Zidansek (defeated Clara Burel)

Seeds, in order of seeding: Danielle Collins, Belinda Bencic, Camila Giorgi, Irina-Camelia Begu, Sara Sorribes Tormo, Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Caroline Garcia, Tamara Zidansek

Wildcards: Swiss players Susan Bandecchi, Simona Waltert, plus Kristina Mladenovic

Withdrawals include: Alize Cornet, Daria Kasatkina, Dayana Yastremska, Maryna Zanevska

DRAWS/OOP

Hungarian Grand Prix WTA 250
Romai Tennis Academy
Budapest, Hungary
July 11 - 17, 2022

Columbo Statue - on Budapest’s Falk Miksa Street - a life-size, extremely well-crafted bronze reproduction of the famous detective known from television. The piece reveals Peter Falk in the role of famous Detective Columbo, standing in his rumpled coat accompanied by a bronze sculpture of his droopy-faced pet named Dog. (For Leaping Laura)

Surface: Clay

Draw: Singles 32, Doubles 16

This is the 20th edition of the tournament.

Defending champion: Yulia Putintseva (defeated Anhelina Kalinina)

Seeds, in order of seeding: Barbora Krejcikova, Martina Trevisan, Yulia Putintseva, Anhelina Kalinina, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Zhang Shuai, Elena-Gabriela Ruse, Tereza Martincova

Wildcards: Hungarian players Timea Babos, Reka Luca Jani, Natalia Szabanin

Protected ranking: Laura Siegemund

Withdrawals: Include Marta Kostyuk, Andrea Petkovic, Ajla Tomljanovic, Zheng Qingwen

DRAWS/OOP

The Red Ruin Bar - a quirky communism-themed bar in the heart of Budapest that loves to poke fun at the city’s history. Along with most Eastern European cities that were once in the Soviet Bloc, Budapest has a sense of humor about its harsh political past.The décor takes communist propaganda and brightens it up with puns and colorful pop art. As visitors enter the bar, the first thing they see is a mural of Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong, all wearing birthday hats and celebrating a Communist Party.

There's nothing like having Canadian Shirley Hartt on this team - soon we'll be in Canada and we'll regale the Canadians with Shirley's research!