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

The crowd surprisingly thinned out in Winnetka after the doubles match, perhaps jaunting off for the local fireworks or just because it was past their suburban bedtime of 9pm. Still, the crowd that remained was pretty invested, trying to rally Smyczek back into the match when his shots started missing the lines just that little bit too long or wide.

Any Smyczek match that Val covers has to include a little drool over his two-handed backhand. The sweet swing that can go up so high is appealing in form and has deadly function as it slams down a sharply angled, ungettable ball.

Kudla’s BH isn’t too shabby, either. 🙂

Click any of the thumbnails to see more pics from the warm-up and match:

                                

Kudla excelled at execution that day, and he won in straights, 6-3, 6-2. One stat that jumps out from the match is the 1st serve numbers. While Kudla only landed 53% of them in, he won 84% of the points. In contrast, Smee got 60% in, but only converted 47% into winning points.

With Milwaukee boy Smyczek being local enough, as well as being a high-profile guy for the tourney, he got a short on-court interview after the match. Which is not the easiest thing to do, and he extricated himself as gracefully as possible after a few questions.

The night ended with some final words from Kudla, who was understandably all grins after his stellar performance in the quarterfinals.

(CLICK for PAGE 4 and pics from both Kudla finals!)