Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith, head coach Will Hardy and former BYU head men’s basketball coach Mark Pope (now the head coach at Kentucky) were all at the same sporting event on Wednesday, but it was not basketball.
At different points during the day, Smith, Hardy and Pope were seen at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing, New York.
In the afternoon, Hardy was in attendance as Frances Tiafoe beat Alexander Shevchenko at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Somewhat interestingly, Hardy was sitting just a few seats away from New York Knicks wing Mikal Bridges, whom the Jazz reportedly tried to acquire from the Brooklyn Nets this summer before he was traded to the Knicks.
In the evening, Smith and Pope were in attendance with their wives as the legendary Novak Djokovic advanced past Laslo Djere at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Djokovic won the first two sets 6-4, 6-4 and was leading the third set 2-0 when Djere retired because of injury.
Tiafoe will next face Ben Shelton in an all-American third round match, while Djokovic will play Alexei Popyrin.
While Hardy and Pope are on a bit of a break now, they’ll be ramping back up in about a month as basketball training camps open.