Top Things To Know
1) Team USA
No gold medals on the line here, but "Team USA" has shown up at the Delray Beach Open. From a record-tying 9 Americans into the second round to an American winning every match on Thursday to a guaranteed American in the singles and doubles finals, national pride is in the air and on the court.
2) Speaking of Olympic Medals...
Three Olympic medalists will be on court Saturday: 2020 gold medalist Nikola Mektic (Croatia), and 2024 silver medalist Austin Krajicek (USA) and bronze medalist Tommy Paul(USA). Three more started the tournament: 2020 silver medalist Marin Cilic (Croatia) and 2024 silver medalist Rajeev Ram (USA) and bronze medalist Taylor Fritz (USA). All six won their medals in the men's doubles competition.
3) Alternate Reality
Canadian Liam Draxl and Antiguan Jody Maginley live and train locally, so they dutifully signed in to the alternate doubles list each morning of the tournament in the hopes of getting in if a team withdrew. Starting seventh on that list, by Wednesday they were at the top after other players left. When a team withdrew they got the nod. That morning they defeated a wild card team, and on Friday they took out a team that has already won three titles this year and was on a 9-match win streak to reach the semifinals. Draxl and Maginley, who is playing in his first ATP Tour-level event, credit their comfort with the area and each other as why they are playing so well. It's something to talk about on the next episode of Maginley's podcast, The Changeover, where he talks about the reality of life on the tennis tour as a player who is often on the alternate list.
