Washington, D.C

DC Open Has Its Best Year During Olympics

Published

43 mins ago

August 2, 2024

DC Open Has Its Best Year During Olympics

Frances Tiafoe reacts after a point against Daniel Elahi Galan during day 4 of the Mubadala Citi DC … [+] Open 2024 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 30, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

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Never mind that on the other side of the Atlantic, the 2024 Summer Olympic Games are in full swing. Right in the nation’s capital, some of the top names in tennis are going head to head in this year’s Mubadala Citi DC Open, with every single ticket sold out.

Among the talent is local favorite Frances Tiafoe, ATP’s No. 29-ranked player, known for his strong serve and aggressive style of offensive play. Tiafoe, who grew up nearby in Maryland, made an eighth appearance at his hometown tournament a decade after his professional debut at age 16.

Tiafoe attended a solo press conference on Monday afternoon to discuss his goals for the remainder of this year and the importance of this tennis event in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park.

“Obviously coming here, I want to perform,” Taifoe said, also saying that seeing his name and image around the stadium “gets me going. I mean, I need to get a few matches under my belt,” he added, “obviously try(ing) to get some good momentum to get me to the (U.S.) Open.”

On Thursday, Tiafoe advanced from the Round of 16 after beating fellow American Aleksandar Kovacevic in three sets. When I spoke directly to Tiafoe after the presser, he said that his intensity would not let up.

“I like to play hard, and I’m always going try to get to the net more aggressively, hit my serves hard, and play hard but keep it smooth.”

Tiafoe, who entered the Mubadala Citi DC Open’s men’s singles tourney as the No. 5 seed, also said he focuses on the mental aspect of his game most.

“My game is my game, and I know I’m dangerous. So, I know it’s about my mental game and how I can bring my best week in and week out.”

When I asked about playing in Washington, D.C., and being the hometown favorite, Tiafoe said there’s something special about being close to where he grew up.

“Generally, when I play anywhere around the States, I feel a lot of love. I feel it in New York and places like Cincinnati, but obviously home is home,” Tiafoe said. I’m going to my favorite restaurants while (at) home. I’ve got my friends in the stadium, (plus) family, parents, and cousins here watching. It’s a really big thing.”

When I asked Tiafoe which challenger he felt has helped him the most recently in the ongoing evolution of his game, he said the current world No. 3 player and two-time consecutive Wimbledon champion, Carlos Alcaraz.

“Playing Alcaraz, We’ve gone to the brink twice in huge matches. I think he brings out the best in me, and I bring out the best in him. ”

Tiafoe saw competition against Alcaraz a month ago at Wimbledon, in which the defending champion survived a major scare versus Tiafoe in Wimbledon’s third round on Friday, July 5. Eventually, Alcaraz rallied to beat Tiafoe in a five-set thriller 5-7, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2.

At the US Open in 2022, Tiafoe tested the Spaniard in a five-set match-up en route to his only US Open title.

DC Open: A local favorite and then some

Mark Ein, an American former tennis player, venture capitalist, and sports executive, has chaired the DC Open since 2019.

Ein says that even with the Olympics going on—with a lot of attention from tennis diehards to attendees in Paris like Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, and WTA world No. 1 Iga Świątek—the Mubadala Citi DC Open is having perhaps its best year.

“Our player field is really strong. It’s a small draw in that there are on 28 players on the women’s side, and 48 on the men’s. We have seven of the top women’s players, plus exciting players in Sloane Stephens, Sofia Kenin, Emma Radacanu,” Ein said. “That means every round, you draw players who are really good.”

Nine of the world’s top 20-ranked players were on the docket at the DC Open, including Aryna Sabalenka (3), Ons Jabeur (10), Grigor Dimitrov (10), Daria Kasatkina (12), Ben Shelton (14), Liudmila Samsonova (15), Victoria Azarenka (16) and Anna Kalinskaya (18), as well as Madison Keys (13), who withdrew at the last minute because of an injury.

Sabalenka, Azarenka, and Karolína Plíšková are all one-time world No. 1 players, while Sabalenka, Azarenka, Kenin, Stephens, and Raducanu are all Grand Slam winners. Azarenka is also an Olympic Gold Medalist (London 2012, Mixed Doubles).

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 31: Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after a shot against Kamilla Rakhimova during … [+] day 5 of the Mubadala Citi DC Open 2024 at William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center on July 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

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Ein, who also plays a role as a limited partner with the Washington Commanders, points out that for the last two consecutive years, the Citi Open ticket office has completely sold out, and he thinks this has a lot to do with the top-level of talent in the DC Open, and it being so accessible for the fans.

But it’s not just the talent on the court that DC Open can boast about. The William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center, home of the DC Open, is tucked into the picturesque wooded are known as Rock Creek, a U.S. National Park Service location.

Also on hand for fans is a world-class selection of food that consists of both Michelin-starred chefs and DC-area local favorite coffee spots and sandwich shops.

“It’s great tennis up close, with this incredible summer festival,” Ein said. “In the middle of the day, when tennis is being played and all the fans are out, the DC Open has great energy.”

Ein also points out that the DC Open is one of the most innovative events in the sport, as the world’s first combined 500 event. In pro tennis, both ATP, the men’s tennis authority, and WTA, the women’s tennis authority, sponsor events in which tournament singles champions collect 500 ranking points.

“When we took over the DC Open (in 2019), our event was a men’s 500 and a women’s 250,” Ein said. This meant that you couldn’t highlight both sides equally, but we decided to fix that.”

Aryna Sabalenka, currently the WTA’s No. 3-ranked player and a two-time consecutive Australian Open champ (2022, 2023), is known for her intensity on and off the court, like Tiafoe.

She hints that the Mubadala Citi DC Open is a great alternative to the Olympic tussle and provides a great opportunity not only to regroup but to win.

“I definitely feel like being in Paris right now, it’s a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure, like different pressure,” Sabalenka said during her Monday presser. Here, it actually feels much, much easier to breathe.”

Read Frye’s interviews with Maria Sharapova and Billie Jean King.

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Washington, D.C

Washington tennis picks: Rublev vs. Tiafoe, Shelton vs. Shapovalov

Published

7 hours ago

August 2, 2024

Press Room

Washington tennis picks: Rublev vs. Tiafoe, Shelton vs. Shapovalov

A marquee quarterfinal lineup in Washington, D.C. on Friday features a showdown between top seed Andrey Rublev and home favorite Frances Tiafoe. Left-handers Ben Shelton and Denis Shapovalov are also taking the court.

(1) Andrey Rublev vs. (5) Frances Tiafoe

Tiafoe has mostly underwhelmed in 2024, but an encouraging performance at Wimbledon and now an appearance at his home event–the Citi Open–could have him back on track. The 29th-ranked American reached the third round at the All-England Club and pushed eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz to five sets. Tiafoe’s hard-court summer began with an Atlanta quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Yoshihito Nishioka, but so far in the district he has defeated Daniel Elahi Galan and Aleksandar Kovacevic.

Up next for the fifth seed on quarterfinal Friday is a fourth meeting with Rublev, who trails the head-to-head series 2-1. Tiafoe has prevailed twice at the U.S. Open (2021 and 2022), while Rublev got the job done 6-3, 6-4 at the 2022 Indian Wells Masters. Like his opponent, the eighth-ranked Russian has struggled for the majority of this season. From out of nowhere he captured a Masters 1000 title in Madrid, but that has been followed by another slump. Rublev’s only decent result since Madrid is a semifinal showing in Umag, so he can only hope that wins over Luca Van Assche and Arthur Rinderknech are the start of something special in D.C. Unfortunately for the No. 1 seed, that probably isn’t the case. Tiafoe has built up slightly more momentum that Rublev, is confident in this particular matchup, and should benefit from home-court advantage.

Pick: Tiafoe in 3

(WC) Denis Shapovalov vs. (2) Ben Shelton

Shelton and Shapovalov will be squaring off for the second time in their careers and the second time this summer. They just faced each other in the Wimbledon third round, and it did not disappoint; Shelton survived 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. The 14th-ranked American decided to skip the Olympics to focus on the U.S. hard-court swing, and so far returns are mixed. He lost right away in Atlanta to nemesis Jerry Shang but so far in Washington, D.C. has ousted Radu Albot and Brandon Nakashima.

Shapovalov is a dreadful 15-17 this season as he returns from a knee injury, but he is showing signs of a turnaround. In addition to his Wimbledon performance he also reached the third round at Roland Garros. The 139th-ranked Canadian kicked off his hard-court summer with a second-round showing in Atlanta; now he is through to the last eight in D.C. thanks to victories over Roberto Bautista Agut, Adrian Mannarino, and Miomir Kecmanovic. Still, consistency remains an issue and this is the first time since Wimbledon in 2023 that Shapovalov has won three matches in a single tournament. He has not won four since Vienna in the fall of 2022.

Pick: Shelton in 2

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Washington, D.C

Former D.C. drug kingpin Rayful Edmond set to be released next year

Published

15 hours ago

August 1, 2024

Press Room

Former D.C. drug kingpin Rayful Edmond set to be released next year

Rayful Edmond III, the long-ago drug kingpin whose army of dealers and mountain of profits made him a symbol of the District’s murderous crack cocaine epidemic in the 1980s, has been moved from a federal penitentiary to “community confinement” and is set to be released late next year, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said Thursday.

Edmond, 59, has been behind bars since his arrest in April 1989. Initially sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole, he became a government informant during his decades of incarceration, providing an “unparalleled magnitude … of cooperation,” a judge wrote in 2021 in significantly reducing his sentence.

Now the city’s bygone “king of cocaine,” as he was dubbed, appears to be inching closer to freedom, with “a projected release date” of Nov. 8, 2025, the Bureau of Prisons said.

A lawyer for Edmond did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.

In a statement, the bureau said Edmond was transferred Wednesday to “community confinement” under the supervision of the agency’s Nashville Residential Reentry Management Office.

The Nashville office is responsible for “providing oversight to halfway houses in Kentucky and Tennessee,” according to its website. The bureau declined to say where Edmond is being confined.

“Community confinement means the individual is either [in] home confinement or a Residential Reentry Center,” meaning a halfway house, the statement said. “For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not specify an individual’s specific location while in community confinement.”

Edmond, who was convicted of federal drug-trafficking charges in D.C. and sentenced in 1990, oversaw a sprawling operation that smuggled as much as 1,700 pounds of cocaine into the city each month in the latter part of the 1980s, authorities said. They estimated that Edmond raked in about $2 million per week in those years.

The huge profits available in the crack trade spawned open-air dealing in many areas of the District back then, with competing street crews guarding their turf — and encroaching on others’ territories — through nightly gunfire. As D.C.’s annual homicide toll climbed sharply in the late 1980s and early 1990s, peaking at nearly 500, the city acquired the nickname “America’s murder capital.”

The epidemic of crack dealing and bloodshed ravaged communities all over the country. Edmond himself, though, was never found guilty of any violent crimes.

During his years of imprisonment, authorities said, Edmond cooperated extensively in investigations of drug and homicide cases in the District and elsewhere. In return for his help, federal prosecutors in D.C. asked a judge in 2019 to modify Edmond’s sentence of life without parole, allowing him to someday go free.

“I am very remorseful,” Edmond said at a 2019 court hearing on the government’s motion. It was the first time he had apologized to D.C. residents for the wave of addiction and violence he helped bring to their city. “I am sorry for everybody I hurt, for everybody I disappointed,” he said. “If I ever get the opportunity, I will do my best and whatever it takes to make up for all of my crimes.”

Prosecutors sought an adjusted sentence of 40 years, but U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan went further in his 2021 ruling, reducing Edmond’s sentence to 20 years. While Edmond’s “involvement in the criminal enterprise damaged this community deeply and resulted in the destruction of the lives of many individuals,” Sullivan wrote, the “unparalleled magnitude” of his cooperation warranted a significant reward.

At that point, Edmond already had been behind bars for nearly 32 years, far more time than his new 20-year sentence. But he had another sentence waiting to be served: 30 years in federal prison for dealing drugs in the U.S. penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa., while he was an inmate there.

Edmond’s lawyers asked a federal judge in Pennsylvania to reduce that pending 30-year term so it would be covered by the extra time that Edmond had served on his modified sentence in the D.C. case.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Harrisburg, Pa., on Thursday declined to comment on Edmond, referring questions to the Bureau of Prisons. In its statement, the bureau said that Edmond’s effort to have his sentence reduced in Pennsylvania was successful and that his remaining period of incarceration can be measured in double-digit months.

“He has now served over 35 years in federal custody,” the statement noted.

correction

A previous version of this article misstated the date when Edmond is projected to be released from “community confinement.” His projected release date is Nov. 8, 2025. The article has been corrected.

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Washington, D.C

Things to Do in the DC Area This August

Published

22 hours ago

August 1, 2024

Press Room

10 Best Things to Do in DC
Want More Things to Do?

Happy August, DC!

Summer break is closing out with a bang this month. August adventurers can celebrate 20 years of DC Jazz Fest, see actress Rachel Bloom live, and rap along with Future and Metro Boomin at Capital One Arena.

10 Best Things to Do in DC

by Pat Padua

Books

Evan Friss

August 14

Politics and Prose (Connecticut Avenue)

Friss’s new book, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore, surveys the tangled saga of our country’s book business, from Benjamin Franklin’s Philadelphia emporium to fabled volume slingers like the Strand and the Gotham Book Mart.

Comedy

Rachel Bloom: Death, Let Me Do My Show

August 11

Photograph of Bloom by Robyn Von Swank.

Lincoln Theatre

Bloom’s musical collaborator Adam Schlesinger died of Covid in the early days of the pandemic; around the same time, her daughter was born. In this new one-woman show, the creator and star of TV’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend explores what that profoundly disorienting period was like.

Theater

Soft Power

August 6–September 15

Signature Theatre

What if Hillary Clinton fell in love with a Chinese theater producer and the couple debated their beliefs about American democracy through song and dance? That’s what Tony winners David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and Jeanine Tesori (Kimberly Akimbo) have conceived in this wild political satire.

Music

Future and Metro Boomin

August 17

NV: Day N Vegas Music Festival - Washingtonian — Photograph of Future and Metro Boomin by Sipa USA via AP.

Capital One Arena

Atlanta rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin bring their brooding beats and rhymes to town to support two recent collaborative albums, We Don’t Trust You and We Still Don’t Trust You.

Theater

Nine

August 2–11

Kennedy Center

Tony winner Andy Blankenbuehler directed and choreographed this revival of the hit musical adapted from Federico Fellini’s movie fable about the creative process, 8½. Steven Pasquale stars as Guido, a seasoned film director facing writer’s block and the wrath of past lovers.

Museums

“Voting By Mail: Civil War to COVID-19”

August 24, 2024–February 23, 2025

Official Federal War Ballot issued in 1944 for absentee voting b - Washingtonian — Photograph of war ballot courtesy of National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

National Postal Museum

The coronavirus pandemic required voters to follow what seemed like unheard-of absentee protocols, but democracy by postal service was not unprecedented. This exhibit includes such historical artifacts as a tally sheet mailed to record the votes of Ohio soldiers in 1864, an Alabama soldier’s request for an absentee ballot during World War II, and an instruction sheet from the 2020 election.

Books

Dinaw Mengestu

August 6

Politics and Prose (Connecticut Avenue)

The journalist and author left war-torn Ethiopia as a child, and since his 2007 debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, he has regularly written about Washington’s thriving community of immigrants from his home country. In his fourth novel, Someone Like Us, Mengestu tells the story of a journalist who investigates his own father’s death.

Music

Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra

August 4

by Karpati and Zarewicz KLW image with orchestra and flag - Washingtonian — Photograph of Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra by Karpati and Zarewicz.

Kennedy Center

Orchestra founder Keri-Lynn Wilson conducts Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony–in Ukrainian. The program, performed by musicians who are either based in Ukraine or exiled from their homeland, opens with “Freedom,” a piece by Ukrainian artist Victoria Poleva composed in response to the invasion.

Music

DC JazzFest

August 31–September 1

Jazzopen 2023 In Stuttgart - Washingtonian — Photograph of Joy by Thomas Nieder Mueller/Getty Images.

This year’s iteration of the 20-year-old staple includes fresh talent such as singer Samara Joy, as well as veterans like David Murray, whose saxophone has shouted through gospel and the avant-garde for nearly 50 years, and Baltimore-born guitar great Bill Frisell.

Opera

Silent Night

August 9, 11, 15, and 17

Christmas in August? This Pulitzer-winning work by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell is based on the 2005 film Joyeux Noël, which dramatizes a Christmas truce during World War I. The opera’s multilingual book–sung in English, German, French, Italian, and Latin–offers a message of world peace that’s welcome every day of the year.W

Want More Things to Do?

by Briana Thomas

Arts and culture:

To commemorate the centennial of James Baldwin, Strathmore is screening James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket at AFI Silver Theatre (August 2, $10, Silver Spring).
Artscape marks 40 years of showing off Charm City’s creativity (August 2-4, free, Baltimore).
Swap books by local authors at MahoganyBooks’ Black Books Matter Fest in honor of James Baldwin’s 100th birthday (August 3, free, National Harbor).
YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen visits Sixth & I with his debut book, Shameless: Republicans’ Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy (August 14, $20+ for in-person, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
Artist Tuan Andrew Nguyen makes a DC debut with the multimedia installation “The Island” (August 16-May 4, 2025, free, Smithsonian American Art Museum).
To mark the 25th anniversary of The West Wing, cast members Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack will discuss the show’s impact at Sixth & I (August 17, $40 for ticket and signed book, $12+ for virtual, Downtown).
The National Book Festival returns with author talks and signings from award-winning writers like James Patterson and Candace Fleming (August 24, free, Library of Congress).

Community and heritage:

Fiesta Asia Silver Spring highlights the traditions and cultures of Asia. (August 3, free, Silver Spring)
DCBX16 brings Latin dance, fitness, food, and live music to the city (August 22-26, $50+, Downtown).
Don your best 16th-century attire and stroll Revel Grove’s 27-acre village at the Maryland Renaissance Festival (August 24 through October 20, $23+ for adults, $13+ for children, Crownsville).

Theater:

See comic play Noises Off at Keegan Theatre (August 1 through September 1, $50, Dupont).
Watch a variety of movies and documentaries at African Diaspora International Film Festival (August 2-4, $30+, George Washington University).
Get tickets to Nine—a musical adaptation of the film 8½. (August 2 through August 11, $59+, Kennedy Center).
Explore the themes of music, family, and Greece in this revival of MAMMA MIA! (August 13 through September 1, $49+, Kennedy Center).
The highly-anticipated MJ the Musical arrives at National Theatre (August 13-September 8, $45+, Downtown).
View short documentaries and narrative films from local producers and creatives at DC Black Film Festival at Miracle Theatre (August 15-25, $15+, Eastern Market).

Shows and performances:

Comedian Tom Papa performs his stand-up live at Maryland Hall (August 2, $60+, Annapolis).
Comedian Jordan Klepper arrives at the Kennedy Center. (August 3, $39+, Kennedy Center)
Get tickets to comedian Tony Rock’s DC Improv show before it sells out (August 8-11, $35+, Downtown).
This lively event invites concertgoers to sing-along to a movie screening of The Sound of Music (August 16, $29+, Vienna).
Jerry Seinfield arrives at Wolf Trap to perform two shows (August 19-20, $55+, Vienna).
This summer’s Opera in the Outfield broadcast is a screening of Turandot (August 24, free, Nationals Park).

Music:

Rapper Missy Elliott headlines her first-ever tour. You can groove to her upbeat hits alongside Ciara and Busta Rhymes (August 8, $80+, Capital One Arena).
Mayday Parade, Maine, and Wonder Years headline Sad Summer Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 9, $59+, Columbia).
Watch the Nats play against the Los Angeles Angels, and stick around for the Teddy Swims post-baseball concert (August 9, $23+, Nationals Park).
Pop-rock star Grace Potter and renowned jazz-fusion band Snarky Puppy are the main acts at Maryland’s Hot August Music Festival (August 10, $89+, Cockeysville).
Rock out to AFI’s hardcore-punk rhythms at Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 15, $25+, Columbia).
Listen to New Found Glory play their entire Catalyst album live (August 19, $42+, Silver Spring).
Punk-rockers The Gaslight Anthem perform live at the Anthem (August 20, $45+, Wharf).
R&B superstar Usher arrives in DC to promote his latest album (August 20-21, $174+, Capital One Arena).
Korchfest celebrates musician Brandon Korch’s 40th birthday with live music collaborations at Black Cat (August 23, $15+, Shaw).
This dance party tribute to Sophie includes pop-up drag performances (August 23, $15, U Street Corridor).
If you couldn’t snag a ticket to local group All Time Low’s DC shows, then catch the rock group perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion (August 24, $45+, Columbia).
Rapper Ohgeesy takes the Howard Theatre stage (August 24, $25+, U Street Corridor).
Sing-along to all your Avril Lavigne favorites from the ’00s at Jiffy Lube Live (August 31, $78+, Bristow).
Pack your tent and spend Labor Day weekend with fellow roots-music fans at Appaloosa Festival (August 31 through September 1, $60+, Front Royal).

Bites and beverages:

Taste of Leesburg has break-dancing performances, celebrity impersonators, and, new this year, an arcade (August 10, free, $40+ for taste tickets, Leesburg).
Catch brunch, lunch, and dinner deals during DC Summer Restaurant Week (August 12-18, $25+, various participating locations).
Bourbon connoisseurs and beer aficionados can sample drinks at Virginia Bourbon and Beer Festival (August 17, $40+, Fredericksburg).
Old Town’s Oronoco Bay Park offers a chance to try cuisine from around the globe, including Japan, Malaysia, Peru, and Lebanon at Around the World Cultural Food Festival (August 24, free, Alexandria).

Things to do with kids:

The family-friendly Howard County Fair is back this month carnival rides and fair food (August 3-10, $10, West Friendship).
It’s the 75th Montgomery County Fair; don’t miss the pig races (August 9-17, $12+ for adultes, free for ages 11 and under, Gaithersburg).
There’s horse shows, kid attractions, and more fun at Prince William County Fair (August 9-17, $25 for adults, $15 for children, Manassas).
Youngsters can ride a ferris wheel at Clarke County Fair (August 11-18, $10 for adults, free+ for children, Berryville).
Kids can exercise and venture through obstacle courses on Kids Court at Arlington County Fair (August 14-18, free, Arlington).
The whole family can take part in carnival ride, live concerts, and farming fun at Maryland State Fair (select dates August 22 through September 8, $15 for adults, free for children under 5, Lutherville-Timonium).
Kids can venture through a 12-acre play area, ride a cow-themed train, and roast marshmallows at Great Country Farms (August 31 through September 30, $16+ for adults, $14+ for children, Bluemont).