The best of the past week, on and off the courts, day after day, only for the readers of We Are Tennis by BNP Paribas. With Marion Bartoli’s return, a controversy surrounding Roger Federer’s absence on clay, and Eugenie Bouchard who’ll end up catching a cold.
Monday, April 9th
It’s not an « off » week but almost. In men’s football, tennis fans can enjoy two small ATP World Tour 250 tournaments, with only three members of the top 20 playing : the Americans John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Jack Sock in Houston. In Marrakech, the top seed is Albert Ramos Vinolas. In women’s tennis, it’s even worst : Kristina Mladenovic is the top seed of the Lugano Open in Switzerland, and the unknown Tatjana Maria is the favorite of the Bogota Open, after Daria Kasatkina’s withdrawal. The German is only the world number 62… The Australian Casey Dellacqua, who’s 33 years old, made the most of this quiet moment of the season to announce her retirement. Some sad news, but not as sad as the verdict given by the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence, in the south of France, who decided to cancel a wedding at the spouse’s request after looking at a few pictures : pictures taken on the wedding day, on which the groom is seen sulking ! Is Marcelo Rios married ?
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Tuesday, April 10th
Madison Brengle, who ? Pretty normal, with zero title won, the current world number 77 has never really managed to make a strong impression on the court. In the court of law, however, the American could make a name for herself, as she has decided to sue the WTA and the ITF. The reason ? Some alleged traumatic after-effects following a series of anti-doping controls that she and her colleagues have to go through every season. Meanwhile, the Williams sisters joined Billie Jean King in the « equal pay push » movement, to ask for equality in prize money in all Grand Slam tournaments, and the Japanese Masazo Nonaka, 112, officially became the oldest man in the world. 祝い.
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Wednesday, April 11th
A huge feat at home for Lamine Ouahab in Marrakech. The Moroccan, currently the world number 617, knocked out the world number 34, the German Philip Kolschreiber, in the first round. On his side, the world number 1 Rafael Nadal is waiting the defend his title in Monte-Carlo next week, and could soon open his own tennis academy in Boca Raton, Florida. In other news, Donald Trump was still toying around with Twitter as he wrote, « Get ready Russia, because missiles will be coming », as Claude, the daughter of former French president Jacques Chirac, donated a lot of her clothes to migrants. When will we see hipster t-shirts with her picture on them ?
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Thursday, April 12th
Lamine Wahab’s fairytale was very cute but a bit short : he lost in three sets against Nikoloz Basilashvili in the second round. Even worst, Mladenovic withdrew in the first round of the Lugano Open, and Ferrer announced that he won’t be playing in Monte-Carlo. Thankfully, the light came from Juan Martin Del Potro, who announced his presence at Roland-Garros next month, and Olympique de Marseille, who qualified for the semi-finals of the Europa League after winning (4-2) against the german side RB Leipzig. For you, Bernard Tapie.
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Friday, April 13th
« My face (all grimacing) after another week of training. The exhaustion is there, but there’s also the simple and pure happiness of playing tennis again. » Marion Bartoli gave news of herself on Twitter as she is still preparing for her great comeback. The Frenchwoman, 33, is still asking for more just like Ivo Karlovic, 39, who qualified for the semi-finals in Houston. He joined the three americans Tennys Sandgren, Taylor Fritz and Steve Johnson. As for the weather in Marrakech, some heavy rainfalls forced the organizers to push back the quarter-finals to the next day. Eugenie Bouchard took the opportunity to post a picture of her in a low-cut bathing suit. Take that, Anna Kournikova.
Saturday, April 14th
He dared ! Feliciano Lopez criticized Roger Federer’s choice to miss out on the clay season. « The clay season is as important as the season on grass or on hard surfaces, he told the Spanish news agency EFE. He should respect the circuit and play all year-long. » Clay-pigeon shooting at the ATP, one dead.
Sunday, April 15th
The verdict of the finals of the day : glory to Steve Johnson, Pablo Andujar, Elise Mertens and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who respectively won in Houston, Marrakech, Lugano and Bogota. A week of tennis is ending, as another one is already starting in Monte Carlo, and next weekend, we’ll also follow the semi-finals of the Fed Cup bay BNP Paribas between France and the USA - without the Williams sisters - on one side, and Germany and Czech Republic on the other. Girl power !
