Some takeaways from my two days at the Rogers Cup:
Who knew Sloane Stephens hit the ball that hard? After a pair of one-sided sets each way, the third set in her match against Lucie Safarova was an absolute war which Sloane won after saving several match points, 7-5. It was one of the best sets I have seen all year of pure slug-it-out tennis between two women that I have never considered power players (probably because of their adequate but not great service games). Every point seemed to go on for ages, and both players were throwing absolute heat at one another stroke after stroke. (I remembered that the last match that I had seen on the Grandstand court was Simon versus Robredo in 2014. In terms of consistent power from the baseline, the guys weren't even close).
Caroline Wozniacki, version 2.0, is for real. It's not like she has radically altered her game--the changes are more subtle than that. But she is playing more aggressively from the baseline, first serving with greater authority, taking the net more, for putaways anyway, playing tougher, smarter tennis, and showing real command of the court. Her three-set win over Pliskova yesterday was a model of pluck and perseverance. Hope she doesn't lose any more weight--though. to be fair, she has never been more fit or covered more court.
Perhaps wishful thinking but the day when women struggled to hold serve may be coming to an end. Saw surprisingly few service breaks over all in my two days of attendance.
Saw a lot of fine young players on the backcourts, and none of them were faves Kontaveit, Mladenovic or Ostapenko (almost--gasp--watched her in doubles, but then the rains finally came for real. Saved me from myself, the storm did). I think the future of women's tennis is exceptionally bright.
If you can, everybody go see live tournaments. It is a for more revealing sport in person than it is on TV.
