Two Days in Winnetka — Pics and Thoughts from the 2014 Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship

On Saturday, we made the trek out again for the singles and doubles finals at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships. The evening began with…well, for us, a pretty good grilled hamburger from the food tent outside the court. Props for that, Winnetka. After that, we settled in for the Denis Kudla versus Farrukh Dustov match-up.

Kudla was still exhibiting the strong shot-making we’d seen from him on Thursday, and Dustov was leaving the audience wondering how he’d gotten to the final. The Uzbekistani player finally started to find his form in the second set, and his powerful groundstrokes and quick reflexes suddenly revealed how dangerous he could be when his game was on.

It was spitting rain for awhile, and we and the players all wondered a few times if play might be suspended.

Sky constantly spitting rain. Lines need to be dried on changeovers and I can feel my hair getting fatter by the minute. Aughh… — Tennis Inside Out (@TennisInsideOut) July 6, 2014

The clouds kept moving, however, and the misting stayed mild. Play continued.

CLICK any of the thumbnails below for more pics from the final:

          

          

          

In the end, Dustov’s resurgence was too little too late, and Kudla nailed the final down with his most decisive win of the tournament, 6-2, 6-2.

Denis Kudla once again smiled his way through the post-match interview, joking that he’d love to play a match where he never had to hit a forehand. “I hope none of your future opponents hears about this,” the emcee teased.

Denis dashed off court then, as he had a doubles match to prepare for in just a half hour. The spectators scattered, and we resisted the urge to nab another one of those good hamburgers.

(CLICK for PAGE 5, and doubles with Kudla and Kokkinakis!)