Indianapolis Tennis

This photo was taken outside the NCAA Hall of Champions. If we visit again, this could be a great distraction/attraction for a few hours. Downtown Indianapolis had some decent attractions nearby including a Sports Art Museum, the zoo, an IMAX theater, a Canal Street walk, bike rentals, White River Gardens, and this NCAA museum.





The kids and I took turns trying to get good tennis photos. Chelsea took this picture below and caught Ivo Karlovic celebrating a point he won after he had fallen to the ground during the point!! The American Sam Querrey missed the passing shot giving Karlovic the point. (Note: This match featured two of the tallest pro players; Karlovic is 6'10" tall and Querrey is 6'6"!!) Sammy ended up winning the match 8-6 in the 3rd set tiebreaker after saving a couple match points. Great stuff!

Karlovic Fist Pumps

After this great match we saw a strange match between two Russians, Dmitry Tursunov (#3 seed) and T. Gabashvili. In the 2nd set, Tursunov lost it mentally but somehow regained his composure to pull out the win. The final score was 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.

But, the best match of the day may have been the last one of the afternoon. A qualifier Kei Nishikori from Japan played a German, Michael Berrer. Nishikori at only 17 had just won his first ATP match ever in the first round of this tournament. Well, this would be his second as he used incredible shot-making and excellent speed to win the 3rd three-setter of the day, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. There were not many people in the stands for this one so we moved way down to about the 5th row or so. I actually got a ball that Nishikori hit into the stands on one point!

Who knows how this kid's career will turn out but I was very impressed with his groundstrokes and speed. How does someone get this good by the age of 17?!?!?! He looked a bit whipped by the third set but you would not know it from the score. I'd say he's a player to watch in the coming years; maybe a top 30 player in the next couple years...

Nishikori hits a blistering backhand to Berrer