On Wednesday, they will face off in the second round of the Kunal Patel San Francisco Open. But on Tuesday evening, Americans Christopher Eubanks and Michael Mmoh tossed aside their racquets for a night of basketball across the bay. Eubanks and Mmoh attended the blockbuster basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and Oklahoma City Thunder at Oracle Arena. A second encounter on the tennis court awaits them, following Mmoh's three-set victory at the Challenger in Charlottesville last year, but the two friends put aside their budding rivalry to watch the NBA's elite players do battle. Behind a dominant performance by superstar Russell Westbrook, the Thunder pulled the upset by a score of 125-105. "It was awesome," said Eubanks. "It's...
It didn't take long for Rafael Nadal to congratulate Roger Federer on his Grand Slam triumph in Melbourne, even if fans aren't hearing about it until now. "I immediately sent him a text message (after the Australian Open final)," Nadal said on Monday at the formal opening of the Mapfre Clinic of Tennis Medicine in Madrid, where the current ATP World Tour No.1 fielded questions with the hashtag #AskRafaNadal during a Twitter Q&A session. "I usually congratulate people I know in private rather than publicly. I've had a very good relationship with Federer for years now. I was happy for him; I congratulated him and I told him I'm always happy when he does well." Federer's victory at the Australian...
Tennis players are always at the center of the ATP World Tour’s world. But this week at the Ecuador Open in Quito, the country’s capital, the competitors paid a visit to the actual center of the Earth at the equator. Gael Monfils, his doubles partner Dorian Descloix, No. 1 Chilean Nicolas Jarry and home favourite Roberto Quiroz — the No. 1 player from Ecuador — played mini tennis on the equator during a visit to the Mitad del Mundo on Monday, where government officials presented the quartet with sombreros de paja toquilla — Ecuadorian hats. [ALSO LIKE] All of the players attempted to do something that cannot be done except on the equator: balancing an egg on a nail. Only...
Quito is called "The City in the Sky" for good reason: The Ecuadorian capital sits in (and often above) the clouds at 9,350 feet (2,800 meters) above sea level. A panorama of the mountainous region that's carved into the rugged Andes is breathtaking. The thin, high-altitude air can be breathtaking as well. Cerro Puntas, a protected wetland area in Quito, is home to the Paluguillo Drinking Water Treatment Plant of EPMAPS Agua de Quito, a sponsor of this week's Ecuador Open. Because of environmental pollution and contamination of the region's water supply, Cerro Puntas is vital when it comes to producing water that is pure enough for human consumption. Croatia's Ivo Karlovic and Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva, both entrants in...
The busiest month on the 2018 ATP World Tour calendar begins Monday. February will see 12 tournaments contested in 10 countries on four continents… and you can watch it all on TennisTV.com. Three ATP World Tour 250 tournaments begin next week in Sofia, Marseille and Quito. World No. 15 Stan Wawrinka leads the Sofia field, which also includes Philipp Kohlschreiber and Gilles Muller. Nitto ATP Finals runner-up David Goffin will be the top seed in Montpellier, where Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet will also compete. Flamboyant Frenchman Gael Monfils, Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos-Vinolas head to Quito, where players will battle at an elevation above 9,000 feet. The following week marks the first ATP World Tour 500 event of...
