i went to the cary classic challenger on july 5 last saturday and have been meaning to write up a little thing about my experience and the matches i watched so here we go!
saturday was the men's doubles final, men's singles semis, women's doubles semis, women's singles semis, and then the women's doubles final. my husband and i watched men's doubles, both men's semis, and then one of the women's semis before the sky started getting cloudy and turning green 😭
men's doubles final (patrick harper/trey hildebrand v. finn reynolds/james watt)
james watt is SO TALL!!!! i had to look up how tall he is, and he's 6'7". i felt like i had to crane my head back to look at him even just sitting where i was omfg
trey hildebrand has a really lovely serve
patrick harper missed a ball and threw his racket. trey had to bring it over to him slkfdjsldjf harper also threw his racket and kicked it on another missed ball
harper/hildebrand's runner up speech was funny because one of them (i THINK it was harper) made a joke saying he was getting real sick of reynolds & watts because they were tired of losing to them
overall, a fun match and thankfully wasn't TOO scalding hot in the day for the players yet
men's singles semi (rei sakamoto vs. patrick kypson)
"i just walked past sakamoto while he was warming up, and he was in a full lunge and STILL taller than me." - my 6'1" husband right before the players came onto the court
sakamoto's yonex sponsorship was sponsorshipping so hard. decked head to TOE in yonex. good for him
a hot american male tennis player wearing a dark colored tank top and short shorts and his name is patrick???? welcome back, patrick zweig
sakamoto's coach spent the entire time yapping at him, which was interesting AND entertaining to overhear. my fave things he said: "MESS WITH HIS MIND!!! GET IN HIS HEAD!!!" "if you can't do it, FAKE IT!!!" "DISCIPLINE!!!! DISCIPLINE DISCIPLINE DISCIPLINE!!!!"
both sets wound up going into a tiebreak, and tbh that seemed to be the only reason sakamoto won because he was kind of crashing out before that. i genuinely thought kypson was going to take it, but sakamoto wound up stepping up!!
sakamoto is incredibly calm on the court, even when celebrating points. asian art donaldson????? (i can make this joke, i'm asian)
he's also the king of slouching. stand UP, king 👏🏽
felt like a low stakes match but was still enjoyable. i thought it was cool getting to see the 2024 winner of boys' singles at the aussie open play, though!!
men's singles semi (wu yibing vs. liam draxl)
wu's serve is SO CLEAN!!!! my favorite serve of all the players i saw that day
this match felt much more high stakes than sakamoto vs. kypson. these guys were throwing their heart and soul into smacking the shit out of that ball. a much faster paced match, too
draxl has one of the most unusual service motions i've seen...welcome back, patrick zweig part 2. his return position is also unlike any i've seen before. bro just loved holding his racket straight out in front of him, arms stick straight, idk
i was rooting for wu, and he really looked like he was going to win. even though draxl won, i think wu is the stronger player, but that's also just my little opinion
when it was getting down to the wire in the second set, wu missed a ball and threw his racket. the racket was FUCKED. like, bent at a 90 degree angle. he had to go get a new one, and as he was walking over to get the new one, he was trying to straighten the broken one 😭 didn't work
this was probably my favorite match of the day. the quick pace, the breaks and break backs, it was just a good one that kept me engaged and on my toes. wu might have lost, but morgan riddle follows him on insta, so did he REALLY lose???? i don't think so
women's singles semi (darja vidmanova vs. yexin ma)
THE LEGS ON DARJA!!! SO TALL!!! she towered over poor yexin ma, who's only 5'4" 😭
darja also wore shorts, and i love a tennis girlie who goes the shorts route versus a skirt/dress
yexin ma was breadsticked in the first set, but she fought back in the second set, which sent it to a 6th game
also, for someone as small as she is, you wouldn't think her serve would be as powerful as it was, but she really packs a punch with it. short girl representation <3
her ball toss is also super high cue tashi duncan at applebee's telling art he's getting too much height on his ball toss idk good for her
darja's shots down the line are also [chef's kiss]
towards the end of the 6th game, i thought the skies were going to open up because the clouds turned green, and i was worried there'd be a rain delay, but the match wound up ending before we got to that point!
anyway, the tournament was a lot of fun! it was my very first tennis tournament, and i'm glad i started with a local challenger. everything was really laidback, and it was inexpensive enough that we were able to get vip tickets, which put us in shaded seats with fans on us, free beverages (including alcoholic drinks) and snacks, and a free serving of ice cream from the ice cream truck they had there! the port-a-potties were also really clean, and i just had a great experience overall! i wound up following the players i saw on instagram, i got a cary classic cap, and i shockingly didn't die of heat so. a wonderful, wonderful day 🥰