The Washington Post - 01.08.2019

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3

BY AVA WALLACE

Felix Auger-Aliassime has been
training so hard and for so many
years on a tennis court that the
18-year-old from Montreal has not
yet found the time to slow down
and get a driver’s license. Luckily
for him, should he need a ride
anywhere around Washington
these next few days, he has a few
volunteer drivers lined up.
“Maybe somebody could be my
co-pilot?” Auger-Aliassime joked
in a French-accented lilt Wednes-
day at a Citi Open fan event after
his 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 second-round win
over Reilly Opelka. Hands shot up
throughout the crowd.
Wednesday’s match, which sets
Auger-Aliassime up for a third-
round meeting with No. 6 seed
Marin Cilic, was the teenager’s
first at the Citi Open. It was theo-
retically an introduction to fans in
Washington who may not have
seen some of Auger-Aliassime’s
biggest moments of the year,
which came in such locales as Indi-
an Wells, Calif., Miami and Rio.
But this year, Auger-Aliassime,
now No. 22 in the world and turn-
ing 19 next week, has become a
known quantity even without log-
ging a major run at a Grand Slam.
That much was clear when he
played Opelka, an American, on
Wednesday and had at least half
the late-afternoon crowd behind
him.
“To receive that kind of support
away from home, even sometimes
in Europe or everywhere in the
world, it’s very special for a guy
like me,” Auger-Aliassime said.

Auger-Aliassime has won fans the world over thanks to the mile- stones he has logged at such a young age. A much-heralded player on the junior circuit, the 6- foot-4 Canadian broke into the top 100 in February after becoming the youngest finalist at an ATP 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro. He logged his first win over a top-10 player — Stefanos Tsitsipas, the top-seeded man at the Citi Open — in March at Indian Wells. He became the youngest man to ever reach the semifinals of the Miami Open the tournament after that. In a spring and summer season full of young stars emerging on tennis’s biggest stages, many close observers of the sport believe Au- ger-Aliassime is a cut above. When he broke into the top 200 for the first time in 2017 when he was 17 years 1 month old, he was the youngest man to do so since Rafael Nadal in 2002. “It’s not normal, what he is doing, at 18,” said Auger-Aliassime’s coach, Guillaume Marx. Tall and thin with room to add muscle, Auger-Aliassime has a smooth yet powerful all-court game, with the ability to crack serves — he hit 12 aces Wednesday — and turn defense into offense even against a powerful, 6-foot-11 server such as Opelka. He prefers to be the aggressor, dictating points, and is clearly comfortable at the net. But what stands out most about Auger-Aliassime is his preternatural control on the court and maturity off it. He lists getting frustrated and being impatient as his primary flaws, but he never showed it Wednesday, even in a tricky second set, beyond the occasional exasperated glance at his coach. He holds eye contact when he speaks and can be more reflective of his short career than many tour veterans.

“It’s not really on court that I’ll have an outburst,” Auger-Alias- sime said. “Just in my head, little demons in my head tell me like, ‘You should do this better, you should be doing that instead.’ ” The ability to keep those demons in check and go about busi- ness is what his fellow pros have noticed most. “He’s 18, but he acts like he’s 35,” longtime friend Frances Tiafoe said. Said Tsitsipas: “I’m not sur- prised to see him doing well at 18. He’s got a very bright future. He’s very humble, very polite. He’s very — ethical? He does everything the right way.” Said fellow Canadian Milos Ra- onic: “He’s just very professional. He’s meticulous.” The son of French Canadian schoolteacher Marie Auger and Togolese tennis instructor Sam Aliassime, he learned tennis from his father, who began playing as a young man after European tour- ists visited Togo and played the game. “I don’t have memories of not being on the court,” Auger-Alias- sime said. When Auger-Aliassime started getting serious about tennis when he was around 7 or 8, his father taught him a visualization technique. Every day in practice, he wouldn’t just go through drills on court. Auger-Aliassime would vi- sualize moments in matches in which the shot they were practic- ing would come in handy. He would take the time to think about why practice was important — because he is trying to be No. 1 in the

world. Those techniques helped him stay calm so he could close out the match against Tsitsipas in March and make his run in Miami. They have helped him weather the intense increase in attention from journalists around the world, but especially back home in Canada. “Every time I’m training or doing something tennis-wise, I always think, ‘Okay, I’m doing this for the future to be the best player I can.’ I’m visualizing myself being at that level,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I don’t feel at any time like I’m not supposed to be here.” Auger-Aliassime’s two coaches — Marx and Frederic Fontang, who split the yearly travel and have become like second parents to the young player — have contin- ued this visualization trend in practice. The three talk a lot on court, about the purpose of every drill and Auger-Aliassime’s goals. “We had to work on patience,” Marx said. “He’s very mature, but at the beginning of the year he was out of the top 100 and the main word we had to say always was to be patient, patient, patient. Don’t rush the things. They won’t hap- pen if you rush the things.” There are reminders that Au- ger-Aliassime is still new to the spotlight. After his big win over Tsitsipas at Indian Wells, he and his older sister, who he counts as his best friend, went shopping in Los Angeles. He bought his sister Gucci shoes and himself a Tom Ford sports coat. “I knew when I came back there would be TV shows and things and I wanted to be suited up well,” Auger-Aliassime said with a toothy grin. “I just look at it like, you do something good, sometimes you’re able to treat yourself. It was good. I was looking good on TV. Right outfit for the right occa- sion.” [email protected]

BY AVA WALLACE AND MATTHEW GUTIERREZ

Washington native Hailey Bap-
tiste’s short, sweet time at the Citi
Open ended Wednesday with a
6-4, 4-6, 6-3 loss to Kristina
Mladenovic in the second round.
Mladenovic, an experienced tour
pro with one career title, advanc-
es to face qualifier Anna Kalins-
kaya, who defeated 2016 Olympic
gold medalist Monica Puig, 2-6,
7-6 (7-5), 6-4 earlier Wednesday.
Baptiste’s run ended under the
bright lights of Stadium Court in
front of a sparse yet passionate
crowd that tried to spark her
throughout a tiring third set in
which her level dropped consid-
erably. The 17-year-old had won
the first WTA match of her career
the night before over 2017 U.S.
Open finalist Madison Keys and
showed the same controlled pow-
er the second time around.
Baptiste’s serve hovered
around 110 mph all night, and she
also deployed a fabulous kick
serve to much effect. The teen-
ager is quick, with good spin on a
powerful forehand, but Mladen-
ovic, who had 11 double faults
and was off her normally crafty

game, has more experience clos- ing out matches. She honed in as Baptiste wilted. Still, getting to play at the tournament’s largest venue was a special moment in Baptiste’s young career. The Washingto- nian grew up near Rock Creek Park Tennis Center and partici- pated in the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation’s pro- gramming. As a part of the WTEF, which owns the ATP sanc- tion and is the beneficiary of the Citi Open, Baptiste would sneak into the tournament as a child just to get a peek at the tennis. “It felt really good playing on that court. I’ve watched so many matches there, and so many peo- ple that I’ve looked up to played on that court,” Baptiste said. “It was really cool to be able to play on the same court.” Next up, Baptiste plans on heading to USTA nationals in San Diego to compete for a wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open.

Davis outlasts Kenin The grandstand crowd waited nearly three hours for release, and as Lauren Davis closed in on

a spot in the Citi Open quarterfi- nals, the crowd was ready for the moment. “Come on, Lauren!” came a yell. “Here we go, LD!” came another. When Davis finally sealed the match, completing a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win over fellow American Sofia Kenin, the crowd stood and roared. Davis, a 25-year-old American and former finalist in Washing- ton, knocked out the highest remaining seed in the women’s draw. Kenin, a 20-year-old Rus- sian native with American citi- zenship, is enjoying her finest year as a professional, including a third-round win over Serena Williams in June at the French Open. But she became the third top seed to fall, only a day after No. 1 seed Sloane Stephens and second-seeded Keys — and 15-year- old sensation Coco Gauff — exit- ed the WTA draw. Despite winning the first set, Kenin was not sharp Wednesday against Davis, a player who reached a career-high rank of 26th (May 2017) and currently checks in at 75th in the world. Throughout the match Davis re-

mained calm while Kenin kicked a ball, hit one toward the side and shook her head after unforced errors. “I played well. I’m happy to be doing it and enjoying the tennis,” Davis said. “I just had a game plan and I executed it. At times it wasn’t the prettiest, but I com- peted really well. Just happy with the way I fought.” Davis said she and Kenin have trained together in Delray Beach, Fla., and she knew precisely how Kenin wants to play. Davis dis- mantled the speedster by staying aggressive with her backhand and showing quickness in the midafternoon humidity. Neither player is imposing. Davis stands 5-foot-2, Kenin 5-7. But each struck the ball well and played with power. Davis knows Kenin likes to dictate the point and countered her opponent’s approach with a simple mind-set: “I just tried to not hit it right at her,” Davis said. Davis advances to Thursday’s quarterfinal against American Jessica Pegula, to whom Davis lost earlier this season. [email protected] [email protected]

CITI OPEN NOTES

D.C. native Baptiste’s run ends in the second round

Rising star Auger-Aliassime moves on

Heralded 18-year-old gains devoted following during Citi Open debut

ROB CARR/GETTY IMAGES
Felix Auger-Aliassime, the son of a French Canadian schoolteacher and a Togolese tennis instructor, beat Reilly Opelka on Wednesday.

BY DAVE SHEININ

An MLB trade deadline day marked by inaction and minor moves — with mostly third and fourth starters and middle relievers changing hands, instead of aces and closers — began gaining steam in the hours before the 4 p.m. deadline and finally erupted in the minutes just after, as news of some late-arriving deals trick- led out. And one team, the Hous- ton Astros, emerged as the day’s clear winners, if not this fall’s clear World Series favorites. While other top contenders picked around the margins of the marketplace, or stood pat com- pletely, the Astros, nearly alone among the elite teams, made the kind of bold move that often means the difference between winning and losing in October. Already in possession of one of the best rotations in the game, as well as an American League-best 69-39 record entering Wednes- day, the Astros sent four top prospects to the Arizona Dia- mondbacks for veteran right- hander Zack Greinke — a 35-year- old ace with a Cy Young Award and six all-star appearances on his résumé, not to mention the ninth-lowest ERA (2.90) in the majors this season. Pity the team that runs up against the Astros in the Division Series, where their Games 1, 2 and 3 starters, in some order, will be Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Greinke — who are a combined 36-13 this season and rank first, fifth and second, respectively, in the majors in walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP). With apologies to the Los An- geles Dodgers (Hyun-Jin Ryu, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler) and Washington Na- tionals (Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin), no potential playoff team in either league could put forward such a trio in October. “You just don’t know when you’re going to assemble a group this talented again,” Astros Gen- eral Manager Jeff Luhnow told reporters. “So you have to take advantage of it.... We are defi- nitely going for it this year.” The Astros’ late-arriving move — which didn’t even leak until roughly 15 minutes beyond the 4 p.m. deadline, as paperwork was approved at Major League Base- ball’s Manhattan offices — was reminiscent of their trade two years ago for Verlander, a move that ultimately helped them win the 2017 World Series. But there was one major difference: that deal occurred on Aug. 31, at the so-called “waiver” trade deadline (because involved players had to first clear waivers) — which baseball eliminated this year, consolidating its trade pro- tocols into a single July 31 deadline. The Astros’ cost to land Grein- ke was understandably steep. The four prospects they sent to Ari- zona — first baseman/outfielder Seth Beer, right-hander J.B. Bu- kauskas, right-hander Corbin Martin and infielder Joshua Ro- jas — were rated the third-, fourth-, fifth- and 22nd-best mi- nor leaguers in their system by MLB Pipeline. The Diamondbacks also reportedly sent $24 million to the Astros to partially offset Grein- ke’s remaining salary in 2019, plus 2020 and 2021, when his $35 million salaries will again rank among the game’s highest. Greinke also represents a solid hedge in the event Cole, as most industry observers expect, de- parts via free agency after this season. Less sexy, but potentially cru- cial in their own right, were the Astros’ late-breaking trade with the Toronto Blue Jays for reliever Joe Biagini and swingman Aaron Sanchez. Neither pitcher has been at his best this year, but given the Astros’ reputation and track record for turning around struggling pitchers, it would sur- prise few if Biagini and Sanchez, the latter a former all-star, wound up contributing for them down the stretch and in October. While the Astros moved swiftly and decisively to add pitching, their chief competitors in the AL, the New York Yankees and Min- nesota Twins, were far less bold. The Yankees, with their rotation suddenly compromised by injury and underperformance, made no big league deals whatsoever, while the Twins added a solid reliever — Sam Dyson from the San Francisco Giants. The AL East-leading Yankees, at 67-39, trailed the Astros by a game in the

overall league standings entering Wednesday, while the Central- leading Twins (65-41) were four back. Notably, Greinke had the Yan- kees as one of the 15 teams on the no-trade list in his contract, but did not have the Astros on it. Meanwhile, the National League lacked the same sort of signature move that the Astros pulled in the AL, but the Chicago Cubs made a late-breaking trade with the Detroit Tigers for outfielder/third baseman Nicholas Castellanos — who should help them against left-handed pitching down the stretch while serv- ing as insurance as Kris Bryant deals with a knee injury. Castella- nos cost the Cubs two pitching prospects. The Los Angeles Dodgers, whose 70-39 record entering Wednesday led the majors and stood 6^1 / 2 games clear of their closest NL pursuer, were also curiously quiet. Despite an obvi- ous need for bullpen help, which had them linked to most if not all of the top available relief arms on the market, the Dodgers added just one modest piece — lefty Adam Kolarek, who had a 4.19 ERA in parts of three seasons with the Tampa Bay Rays but has limited left-handed batters to a .209 batting average. The Dodgers would have pre- ferred all-star lefty Felipe Vázquez of the Pittsburgh Pirates — as would any team — but reportedly balked at the Pirates’ high demands for him. There seemed to be a lot of that dynamic going around, in what was decidedly a seller’s market — aided by the wide open wild-card races in both leagues that result- ed in few teams being clear sell- ers. Despite rampant rumors and speculation in the weeks leading up to Wednesday, top starting pitchers such as San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner, the New York Mets’ Noah Syndergaard and Texas’s Mike Minor, as well as relievers such as Toronto’s Ken Giles, San Francisco’s Will Smith and the Mets’ Edwin Diaz stayed put. “We tried,” Boston Red Sox president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters after his team, out of range of the Yankees in the East but in the hunt for a wild card, failed to address its bullpen shortcom- ings. “We just didn’t like the asking prices. We went right to the very end.” But as always, moving decisively at the trade deadline was a choice some teams made, no mat- ter the costs, and some didn’t. While the Astros clearly ruled the day in the AL, their counterparts in the NL were the Atlanta Braves. Even as the Braves’ battered bullpen was blowing another save Wednesday at Nationals Park — in a game against Wash- ington that Atlanta ultimately won in 10 innings — their front office was pulling off major deals, completed within minutes of each other, to acquire a pair of accomplished relievers: Detroit Tigers closer Shane Greene, an all-star this season, and Giants veteran Mark Melancon, a three- time all-star. Those moves, paired with their trade for Rangers right-hander Chris Martin the day before, should overhaul the Braves’ bullpen as the team embarks on a two-pronged mission to hold off the Nationals in the NL East and construct a roster capable of tak- ing on the Dodgers in the NL side of the playoff bracket. The dealmaking may have been slower than in years past, and the biggest names on the market — those of both players and teams — may have stayed put at the close of Wednesday’s busi- ness. But as the Astros and Braves and a handful of other teams showed, there were major, game- changing deals there to be made. All you had to do was say yes. [email protected]

With Greinke trade,

Houston eyes October

Astros emerge as deadline day winners after late blockbuster

Citi Open Through Sunday at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center TV: 1 p.m., Tennis Channel Results, today’s schedule. D8

ROSS D. FRANKLIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS The Astros landed veteran right-hander Zack Greinke, a Cy Young Award winner who has made six all-star teams.

The Washington Post - 01.08.2019

Get our desktop app

Company

Features

Documentation

Resources