Haven't done a livestream article in awhile, so how about it?
Specifically, I will be livestreaming the match between Jenson Brooksby and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Tsitsipas, for a long time, looked to be on the brink of greatness and reached a high of world #3, but he has endured a year-plus long slump that saw his rank slip all the way to #88, in June. He's been playing better lately, though, and has moved his ranking back up to 53rd.
Brooksby's rank has also fallen far from his career-high of #33 (he's 73rd now), not so much due to a slump but due to an 18-month ban for missing doping tests.
For this particular tournament, Tsitsipas is seeded seventh (Brooksby is unseeded).
The Winston-Salem event is a unique one. It's always the week before the U.S. Open, and it always features 48 players instead of the standard 28 for tournaments at this level (ATP 250). That means more matches, and that weather delays are more impactful, so fingers crossed!
The tournaments the week before a slam always have a hard time drawing anyone of note, as top players would prefer to conduct more personalized and private prep ahead of the big tournament. The top seed here is Daniil Medvedev, ranked #8 in the world, and that's actually the highest ranking I can remember for someone playing a tournament the week before a slam.
The other problem tournaments-right-before-slams face is that the focus of the tennis media is already on the the slam event.
That's even more true for the U.S. Open, because their stunty million-dollar mixed doubles event is the week before the U.S. Open proper, and then there's qualifying, too.
Already today, the Tennis Channel has a) broken away from a Winston-Salem match between American Sebastian Gorzny (making his ATP tour-level debut) and Cruz Hewitt (Leyton Hewitt's 17-year-old son, fresh off a Wimbledon Junior's Final appearance) at 6-1, 6-7, 4-4 to bring us a U.S. Open Mixed Doubles match (unconscionable to cut away from a match that late and close, no matter who is playing), and b) has taken away the audio and given us just a split screen for part of this Brooksby-Tsitsipas match so it could give us an interview with the winners of said mixed doubles match.
Tennis Channel makes a number of decisions that infuriate me.
Anyway, that should be it for context. I'm expecting Tsitsipas to win -- his form has been much better than Brooksby's lately -- but I'm rooting for fellow 'Murican Brooksby.
It's currently 5-4 Tsitsipas in the first set, on serve. Both guys have broken the other guy's serve once, and Brooksby didn't lose a single point in his first three service games before getting broken in his fourth. It's 7:12 PM Eastern.
7:14: 0-30, make that 0-40, on Brooksby's serve. Triple set point for Tsitsipas as Brooksby's service game has fallen apart. He defended the first break point though, on a beautiful drop shot.
7:15: But he couldn't save the second break point. First set goes to Tsitsipas, 6-4.
7:19: Tsitsipas' momentum continues as he wins the first game of the second set on serve to love. He looks very sharp. Brooksby isn't even playing that bad. Both players are attacking and coming to the net a satisfying degree.
7:20: Now back to the f*****g split screen so we can talk to a player who won their US Open qualifying match.
7:22: Brooksby stops the bleeding and snaps Tsitsipas's five-game winning trot. 1-1.
7:26: Tsitsipas turns off god mode but still holds fairly comfortably. 2-1, on serve. If Brooksby can't take advantage of the second serves he's facing, he's toast.
7:31: Brooksby holds. The unforced errors for both players are increasing. 2-2.
7:33: Tsitsipas holds, but Brooksby missed two passing shots by mere millimeters and I think/hope the tide is turning. 3-2, Tsitsipas.
7:51: Brooksby held his serve, and then Tsitsipas did too, but only after a marathon game with 8 deuces. In the game, Tsitspas saved 5 break points. I've seen players crater after losing such a heartbreaking game, let's see how Brooksby holds up. 4-3, Tsitsipas.
7:56: No problem, Brooksby holds easily. 4-4. But this is exactly where Brooksby lost the plot in the first set.
8:04: Another struggle for Tsitsipas to hold serve, this time with three deuces and facing one break point, but again he comes through. 5-4 Tsitsipas. Brooksby is 1-for-8 on break points; Tsitsipas is 2-for-3. That's the difference in this match.
8:13: Now it's Brooksby that has to endure several deuces and three break points (which, at this scoreline, meant three match points) to survive and bring the match to 5-5.
8:17: This time Tsitsipas has a slightly easier time winning his service game. We're either headed for a second set tiebreaker, which given the flow of this set should be epic, or Tsitsipas will convert the first break point out of ten attempts by both players in the second set and win the match.
8:24: It'll be the former! Brooksby had to go through a couple of deuces, but we're headed for a tiebreaker, and right away in the tiebreaker he gets the mini-break to go up 1-0 in it.
8:26: Brooksby 3-0 in the tiebreak. Tsitsipas slammed a ball into the stands in frustration, getting a ball abuse warning.
8:27: Tsitsipas holds on his two serves. 3-2, Brooksby.
8:28: Brooksby hits one long and Tsitsipas gets the minibreak back. 3-3.
8:29: Brooksby misses one into the net and now it's Tsitsipas who is up a mini-break, 4-3.
8:30: Mini-breaks galore, and we are back on serve with Tsitsipas up in the tiebreak 5-4.
8:32: Still on serve, 6-6 now.
8:33: Brooksby hits one long and Tsitsipas takes the tiebreak, 8-6, and the match 6-4, 7-6. Very entertaining second set. Until next time!
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