US Open fun August 26: Williams, Zverev, Lopez, Federer, more
Known for its bubbly atmosphere, the US Open has not waited too long to take the public for a wild ride. To sum up the backstage first day of the last Grand Slam, let’s have a look at the unusual predictions, new apparitions, and word games trending at Flushing Meadows.
Monday brought a surprising first round adversary for six-time US Open champion Serena Williams. The World No. 8 met Maria Sharapova for their twenty-second career clash, and here comes a fun fact: the two former World No. 1 had never faced in the first phase of a tournament—always finding each other in the draw in or past the round of 16.
Excitement was at a high level, even pushing fellow WTA stars to reorganize their schedule ahead of the match. “When you go dinner at 6pm so you can be back in the hotel to watch US Open Serena - Maria. Who you got?” wrote Donna Vekic.
Williams had no trouble bypassing her Russian opponent with a double 6-1, but the US Open social media followers might boast to have known it since the beginning. How come? Thanks to the American Grand Slam’s peculiar prediction system. Timber, Monday's Pooch of the Day at Flushing Meadows, had to pick between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, a few hours before the encounter. He was positioned a few feet away from the pictures of both tenniswomen, and ran to Williams' portrait; a few hours later, news came that he had nailed his prediction.
We cannot talk about tennis and dogs without mentioning Alexander Zverev—whose love for pups is renown. The German has made his apparition on Twitter and Facebook a few days before the American Grand Slam, and has received a wave of welcome messages from tournament profiles, journalists, the ATP, and fans. He recently retweeted one the US Open’s videos, where the wonderful Bailey Conley raised admiration with her impressive dog ball skills.
For those would didn’t have the luck to see Bailey, there were still plenty of eye-catching sights on other courts, or so it seemed to one of Feliciano Lopez’s fans. The woman couldn’t resist taking a picture of him while he was taking off his shirt, a reaction that hasn’t escaped the radars of social media.
Blonde woman, top left. She is all of us 😂 pic.twitter.com/3EG7DHl32d
— 💨No Match Windy, No? (@nomatchwindyno) August 26, 2019
The popular Spaniard beat Taylor Fritz in three sets to one to book his place in the second round.
Let’s conclude this short tour by deeply feeling Tennys Sandgren’s words, “Take a shot everytime they say ‘not Nadal, but Nagal.’ Good luck.” How many times has this occurred in the past days? Ever Roger Federer, who faced India’s Sumit Nagal in the opening round, was tired of the pseudo-joke. “No…” he said, when asked if for a moment he had thought his opponent was his great rival Rafael Nadal. “But maybe for you guys, on social media it is.”
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/30DgP80
No comments