The Matlock Report

As we were watching Davidovich Fokina vs Fonseca, I looked at the court behind us and this match was going on with very few people in the stands which meant I could sit wherever I wanted to sit. I’ve watched some of Schnaider’s matches over the past few months so I took the opportunity to move from a crowded court to a less crowded one for a bit. Yue Yuan (CHN) is ranked #89 in the WTA rankings while Diana Schnaider (The Place That Shall Not Be Named) is ranked #20. Yuan made the most of her appearance on Court #4 by winning in three sets over Schnaider.

Schnaider ready to receive the serve from Yuan.

Yuan with the return!

This is what it looks like when one goes in the net.

Schnaider with a nice follow-through.

Grit and determination.

Schnaider serves!

I apologize, if I wasn’t lazy I would find a way to crop the leg out of the bottom right corner but…. enjoy it anyway.

Ayrna Sabalenka (Belaruse) is the WTA’s #1 ranked player and has been a top two player for a long time. Despite the endless grunting, she’s a lot of fun to watch play. On this evening she played against Marketa Vondroušová (CZE) who is currently ranked #58 in the world.

Sabalenka on the serve.

Sabalenka moving into position to strike!

Vondroušová getting ready to serve.

I’m not sure if both feet are off the ground or not but it’s a pretty good return.

Camera people hard at work!

Here we get a good look at that famous tattoo.

Same shot, different player.

Here’s a couple of Sabalenka pictures that are pretty impressive.

Finally, we get the post match shot at the net.

On a hot Cincinatti evening, we had Center Court tickets for this match. Taylor Fritz (USA) is the 4th ranked player in the world according to the ATP rankings. Emilio Nava (USA) is ranked 101st in the ATP rankings.

Let’s start out with some pictures of Fritz and Nava on the changeover. I wish I would have had one of those big fans to blow air on me during our trip.

Taylor Fritz gets in a serve right on the line.

Nava gets some real air in that service motion.

Nava makes a great shot…..

And celebrates the point!

Taylor Fritz about to make a hell of a return!

Now that’s a two-handed backhand!

More heat, more tennis… more fun! On Saturday afternoon we had Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina (SPA) ranked #19 in the world against Joao Fonseca (BRZ) ranked #52. The teenage Fonseca is supposed to be the second coming of…. someone but I haven’t seen greatness yet. He managed to win his way to the 3rd round after Davidivoch-Fokina withdrew up a set and down 4-5 in the 2nd set.

Davidovich-Fokina with the serve….

Fonseca with a serve of his own.

For some reason, this picture makes me think of “Live long and prosper”.

I’m not exactly sure how one contorts their body like this, but I’ll give Davidovic-Fokina style points for doing it.

Joao as a bunny???

Can you balance on one foot and return a volley? Dadovich-Fokina can.

In a battle of “L’s”, Learner Tien (USA) and Leandro Riedi (SUI) went to war on the Grandstand Court on this night. Tien (World Rank #55) beat Riedi (World Rank #433) in straight sets on a hot Cincinatti evening.

Riedi starts off with a serve right into the service box.

Not to be outdone, Tien lands a great serve.

Riedi stretches out to make the shot.

Tien returns a ball that quite frankly should be in Wilson’s ad campaign.

Riedi celebrates a point won.

Tien says “I got one too!”

Tien’s hit is heading or the line.

At the net….

Caty McNally (USA) – World Rank #104 literally had the home court advantage being as she is from Cincinatti. McNally won in straight sets against Maddison Inglis (AUS) in a thrilling matchup.

McNally not quite at a 90 degree angle returning the shot.

Full extension, return shot.

McNally serving like she is diving in the Olympics.

Stretch…..

Inglis getting ready to receive the serve.

I like this picture with the swoosh of the tennis skirt. A little bit of a different look.

Inglis with an interesting angle of the racquet, bringing the ball straight back.

McNally and an overhead view of her serve.

Inglis, with that nice looking Wilson racquet, making a good shot.

Apparently McNally hits a lot of returns this way because there are a lot of pictures like this one. I’m glad that I like them.

Look at the intensity of that stare after the serve.

Look at all that hair flying around!

How low can you go???

Inglis at full speed.

We arrived in Cincinatti on Friday afternoon for the evening session (Session 6) on day 4 of the tournament. Getting the lay of the land at my first tennis tournament took me a while but eventually got the hang of things.

Roberto Bautista-Agut (Spain) and his big serve.

Daniel Altmaier (Germany) with a serve of his own.

Bautista-Agut working hard for the point!

Bautista-Agut stretches for the ball.

Altmaier with a return of his own!

I had the privilege of attending the Cincinatti Open Tennis Tournament from August 8 – August 11 this year. It was a wonderful experience and a great event (even with the brutal heat). Over the next few days, I am going to post some pictures from the matches that I attended. I hope you enjoy them!

For a long time I’ve wanted to see what I could do with this camera and airplanes. For my first attempt at shooting, I managed to pick a day with the air quality was poor and smoke from wildfires somewhere were causing problems. Here’s a shot though, hopefully they get better from here.