{"id":1269,"date":"2026-08-01T06:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2026-08-01T06:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:38:08","slug":"lucky-losers-and-unbreakable-grit-at-the-mubadala-dc-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1269","title":{"rendered":"Lucky Losers and Unbreakable Grit at the Mubadala DC Open"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Y<\/span>ou can lose in the semis of the soccer World Cup and still you get an opportunity to win third place behind the winner and the finalist by playing the loser of the other semi. Thus England beat France, as they did in the French and Indian War. Justice of a sort prevailed, as the better men \u2014\u00a0 the better team, the team more fed up with losing \u2014 won,<\/p>\n

Read more Brazil\u2019s Lula Claims US Election Meddling, but Lacks Evidence<\/a><\/p>\n

If winning is satisfying, it\u2019s hating to lose that motivates.<\/p>\n

Some sports, notably tennis, allow for \u201clucky losers\u201d in the preliminary (or qualifying) rounds to fill a last-minute withdrawal. Thus, two qualifiers who had not made the cut, Zachary Svajda and McKenzie MacDonald, lucked out when handed first round slots into the Washington Open.<\/p>\n

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Each in his or her own way, Lorenzo Musetti and Alex Eola kept steadying their ships with grit and focus.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

The old tournament in Rock Creek Park is currently called the Mubadala DC Open after being called the Washington Star Open, which may say something about losers in journalism, but I do not know what.<\/p>\n

Svajda in particular must have liked the luck, as he had fallen apart in the tiebreak of the second set in the last qualifying round, then retired after two games in the decider, handing a walkover to Cruz Hewitt, whom he had crushed in the first set. Cramps or food poisoning, heat fatigue? Fact is, he dropped out.<\/p>\n

Whatever happened to win or lose, ill or healthy, never quit?<\/p>\n

Qualifiers sometimes surprise everyone and, energized, make a deep run, maybe win it all. This time there was no jolt, or the luck ran out.\u00a0 Svajda, who did not look well but never requested a medical timeout,\u00a0 went down in two sets to Alexander Vukic, himself a qualifier, while MacDonald, who also is from California and had lost in the qualies to Zachary\u2019s younger brother Trevor, was stopped by Alex Michelson \u2014 still another Californian. Trevor himself lost to Jakub Mensik, a fast-rising 20-year old from Czech Republic.<\/p>\n

All of which adds up to no great insight, just tells you losing and winning are like winning and losing, it all depends on your grit. How you react, what you do next, that\u2019s the test.<\/p>\n

Alexandra, or Alex, Eola, at 21 the most popular athlete in the Philippines (and wherever else she goes, evidently) beat Leylah Fernandez, the defending champion by means of grittying her way back from 2-5, or was it 1-5? in the first round. She sure did not want to lose, saving break points, building winning shots.<\/p>\n

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They were wearing very pretty, similar but different lime green outfits.\u00a0The momentum kept changing sides, and you could blame the wind \u2014 it was very windy in the morning in the Stadium at the Rock Creek, aka FitzGerald, Tennis Center \u2014 but you know mind \u2014 and grit \u2014 beats wind.<\/p>\n

Both girls \u2014 excuse me, young ladies, played beautifully in extended rallies until one or the other goofed or set herself up for a shot to her open court. The \u201cbottom line\u201d was that Miss Eola \u2014 the usage nowadays is to drop the honorific and I am unable to do so with young ladies, so nuts to usage \u2014 stayed cool calm and collected and maintained a steady pressure on Miss Fernandez whose moments of stunning brilliance she could not sustain. It was a tough loss; lose your grit, lose the match. But there were no cries of interference by political persons, notwithstanding this is their town.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s draw \u2014 here I accept the usage and do not say gentlemen \u2014 defending champion Alex de Minaur, pronounced demon-or due to his honey badger personality on court \u2014 prevailed in a three set power match against Sefanos Tsitsipas, also at the Stadium. He then took apart his fellow-Australian, 17-year old Cruz Hewitt, who had capitalized on his success in the qualies by beating Marcos Giron \u2014 yet another Californian \u2014 in the first round. It was no contest; it was actually a show of good sportsmanship on the part of the 28-year old, who plays for Australia in Davis Cup competition under Cruz\u2019s father, former no. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. He generously noted he expects to see him again, often on the courts.<\/p>\n

It must have been pretty good but I was watching Vukic as he tried to upset Lorenzo Musetti, who at 24 has a gorgeous game with a one handed back hand that reminds you of Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. He pulled it out. Against the mighty power of the lower ranked and somewhat older Alexander, Lorenzo il Magnifico held his nerve, showed grit.<\/p>\n

6-3, 5-7, 6-3 read the scoreline at the John Harris court, but outside the several aces both men hit, it was a nail biter for every point with shifts of momentum with clutch play and misplay alternating on both sides. They hit magnificent groundstrokes to tear the white paint off the lines, with Lorenzo using his backhand as both pace-changer and missile launcher.<\/p>\n

Each in his or her own way, Lorenzo Musetti and Alex Eola kept steadying their ships with grit and focus, letting their opponents spoil their chances with impulsive shot choices. In sports and much else, he wins who more intensely hates to lose, and plays accordingly.<\/p>\n

But though losing may be hateful,\u00a0Well you know life is a ball game\/But you\u2019ve got to play it fair<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Win or Lose, Everybody Can Play<\/strong><\/p>\n

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New Winners in France<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A most wonderful article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-serve-and-volley"],"yoast_head":"\nLucky Losers and Unbreakable Grit at the Mubadala DC Open - National Logistics Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1269\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lucky Losers and Unbreakable Grit at the Mubadala DC Open - National Logistics Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A most wonderful article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationallogisticspost.com\/?p=1269\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Logistics Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T06:38:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/af6e6ad9b3cf5bfe495dc5541ee6a5cc\"},\"headline\":\"Lucky Losers and Unbreakable Grit at the Mubadala DC Open\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T06:38:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269\"},\"wordCount\":955,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/f6a86997f9c9e73adc518d1555de76af.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Serve and Volley\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nationallogisticspost.com\\\/?p=1269\",\"name\":\"Lucky Losers and Unbreakable Grit at the Mubadala DC Open - 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