February/March 2019 Tournaments

First topic message reminder :

Some big-point tournaments coming up, including the sunshine-double of IW and Miami. You probably saw that Tsonga, after an injury-hit 2018, took the title yesterday in Montpellier. He took out four fellow Frenchman to win it. Good to see him back.

Argentine WC Londero won in Cordoba having never had a single win on the main circuit. Incredible. Far more predictably, Medvedev triumphed in Sofia.

GB women, after some heroic stuff, won all their matches in the Fed Cup in Bath and now face a play-off in April to get promotion. The women have a tournament in Doha this week, while there is a fairly strong field in the men's tournament in Rotterdam. No Fed this year, but he's scheduled to play Dubai later in the month.

Djoko is very secure in the number one position and is likely to be top for some time. I think Fed's record of 310 weeks in total at number one will eventually go.

Qualifying has started for IW, with Heather Watson losing but Katie Boulter winning.

Dan Evans, now up to 100 in the rankings, is seeded 10th in the qualifying and has Bemelmans of Belgium up first.

Main draw for the women has been made, with Osaka having a tough quarter. Halep, at the bottom of the draw, has it far easier.

sirfredperry wrote:Qualifying has started for IW, with Heather Watson losing but Katie Boulter winning.

Dan Evans, now up to 100 in the rankings, is seeded 10th in the qualifying and has Bemelmans of Belgium up first.

Main draw for the women has been made,  with Osaka having a tough quarter. Halep, at the bottom of the draw, has it far easier.

Is that not now just a double barrelled name?

I’d love to know the percentage of Watson’s matches which go to three sets and the percentage she then loses. Feels she’s constantly having really close matches only to eventually lose 64 or 75 in the third. She lost the 3rd set yesterday 64 having been 42 up.

Watson invariably loses if it's a tight finish. More of a mental thing, one reckons.

Katie Bouler beaten in final qualie round but Dan Evans won first Q match.

Draw for men's main tournament is out. Fed is in Rafa's half. Djoko could face Kyrgios early on! Kyle Edmund might have to get past Tiafoe in his first match.

sirfredperry wrote:Watson invariably loses if it's a tight finish. More of a mental thing, one reckons.

Watson has had plenty of tight finishes to imagine it is more than just a mental thing - she maybe doesn't have the skill, fitness levels, stamina, physical strength to draw upon in these situations.  If she had all these attributes that would give her confidence and confidence might look like "mental strength".

According to the testimony of some of the great players - they often also have to work through physical pain (without physically injuring themselves) to get the win - which includes in training.   This suggests that they are getting more out of the body than the body would normally sustain.  

In this case it could be argued that "mental strength" was operating to get more physical performance out of an ailing, tiring body.  Maybe "better able to handle pain" would be a more accurate term to use than the "mental strength" concept (cliche?) in this situation.

With Heather Watson I think a number of factors operates that ultimately limits her when it comes to competitive tennis.

Women's main draw matches start today, with Konta first up against Parmentier.

Azararenka also playing today. If she wins she'll meet Serena. Osaka has a tough quarter. Not sure she's going to stay number one for long. First, she has an IW win from last year to defend and secondly she seems temperamentally unsuitable to be numero uno if her recent remarks were reported accurately.

Bit of a contrast with Federer who, back in 2004, when asked if he felt pressure being a new number one replied along the lines of: "Oh no. I love being number one." Well, the love affair lasted 237 weeks and a good few more weeks after that as well.

Cameron Norrie went down to fast-emerging Felix A-A in first round. Evergreen Karlovic became first man to win a main tour match in his 40s since Connors in 1995.

Williams sisters face big challenges. Serena will meet Azarenka while Venus takes on Kvitova.

@SFP: Nice mention for Karlovic there, Ivo still going strong.

No disgrace for Norrie losing to Felix. Next up for the young Canadian is an intriguing match-up with Tsitsipas.

Congrats to Dan Evans for coming through qualifying to reach the main draw - he has a tough but potentially winnable match against Wawrinka.

Following on from Kyrgios' win in Acapulco we can really judge if he's seriously becoming a contender as he's due to play Djokovic if they both win their opening matches.

After a meeting in Indian Wells, it was announced that Chris Kermode will stand down as ATP president at the end of this year.

According to reports, Djoko, as president of the Player Council, was keen for Kermode to go, while Fed and Rafa were keen for Kermode to stay on.

Djoko, apparently, has been a bit cagey about his part in all this and also says he's not spoken about it to Rog or Rafa. Djoko says he wants to see changes but hasn't exactly said what they should be.

One thing that could emerge from all this is that the year-end championship will move from the 02 in London.

Stan the Man bt Evans in three while Konta had a convincing win over 27th-seeded Hsieh.

Serena bt Azarenka in straight sets while Sloane Stephens crashed out (that phrase again!) to qualifier Voegele. No problems for Halep who won 2 and 4.

Men's seeds in the top half of the draw all play today, including Djoko, Zverev and Thiem.

Evans had 0-40 at 2-2 and three more break points at 3-3 in the third but unfortunately couldn’t take any. Stan then took his only break point at 4-3 and closed it out. Good match from Dan though and comfortably back in the top 100 now.

Djoko safely thru in IW, but won't have to face Kyrgios who lost in straight sets to Kohlschreiber. Felix A-A stunned Tsitsipas.

Osaka won but AO runner-up Kvitova beaten by Venus after being a set and two breaks up. Caroline W among the seeded casualties.

Bottom half men's seeds in action today. Will Fed and Stan the Man come thru to meet in the third round?

Nadal won 1 and 1 on Sunday. Fed also thru in straight sets and now meets Stan who won a 3hr 24 min marathon.

Kyle Edmund dropped just two games in beating Jarry. Very few surprises but Goffin and Fognini both out.

Bertens edged Konta while Serena had to retire ill against Mug. Watch out for 18-yr-old Canadian Bianca Andreescu who is already up to 60th in the rankings and is thru to 4th round

Rain halted play early so Djoko will have to play today. Struff bt A Zverev in straight sets but Zverev was suffering from a virus, apparently.

There was a thrilling finish in the Nishioka v Felix A-A match when the young Canadian saved MPs at 1-5 and 2-5 in the final set only to go down in a tiebreak after leading 5-3.

Raonic was a break down in the final set against qualifier Giron before winning. Karlovic, Monfils and Thiem also won.

Osaka had few problems beating Collins 4 and 2. Seeds Sevastova, Goerges and Tsurenko all lost.

Fed faces Stan today, with Edmund taking on Albot which could be a tough match.

Nishikori and DJOKOVIC (!!!) out overnight. Edmund through to face Federer, and Nadal having a routine-looking win.

Djokovic not blaming illness (which has been doing the rounds a bit this tournament), but just said it was one of those days where he just didn't have it.

Shavopalov beating Cilic is an interesting result - perhaps signs of development from Denis?

Shocks in the women's, too, with Osaka and Halep beaten. Come back of the day was Kerber beating Sabalenka after being two breaks down in the final set.

Bianca Andreescu, who I mentioned above, won again. Also wins in long matches for Mug and Svitolina. At least Djoko, partnering Fognini, won his doubles.

Thought Edmund would at least give Fed a run for his money but Kyle played a poor first set and Rog got home in two.

He won't have to face a seed in the quarters with Hurkacz taking out Shapovalov. It's looking like a Rafa-Rog semi.

Monfils and Thiem will play tonight and the winner could well go on to the final.

Bianca Andreescu's dream run continued with a 1 and 1 demolition of Muguruza. Svitolina also won.

Raonic thru but Monfils had to pull out thru injury. Surprised if Fed and Rafa don't both make it into semis today.

Bencic continued her one-woman demolition of the top 10 with victory over Pliskova, while Kerber ousted Venus in straight sets. Women's semis are both today.

On a separate note, Paul Hutchins has died, aged 73. A former player, he was DC captain when GB reached the final in 1978.

After Rog and Rafa advanced to the semis, Rafa today has had to pull out thru injury. He had to have treatment to a knee yesterday and he hinted that he might not be OK for today.

Rafa's whole year is built round the European clay-court season. Last year he didn't play IW or Miami and I expect he'll skip Miami next week now. Every year he wants to be in peak condition for April, May and early June. Invariably he picks up 4,000-5,000 points in this period.

In the women, there's no stopping Andreescu who in the final will meet Kerber who finally stopped Bencic's splendid run.

Thiem vs Federer @IW. #101 looks very likely.

Fed has had two very quick matches and a w/o. Thiem was on court for two-and-a-half hours today, so it will be a big ask for him to stop Rog in the final.

Nadal should consider skipping HC season all-together. It will give him the longevity that gets marred by this injury cycle every year.

Rafa has said his next tournament will be Monte Carlo. Agree with LF above that he would do better to miss IW and Miami next year.

Two finals today. Seen a few clips of Andreescu and she looks good, but I'm taking Kerber to win. Thiem is quite capable of beating Fed but Rog will be the fresher.

Andreescu and Thiem win their respective first Masters. Congratulations!

Good win for Thiem and an amazing triumph for Andreescu. She missed three MPs at 5-3 in the final set but got home when she broke Kerber in the next game.

The whole circus moves on to Miami now. The battle at the top of the women's rankings is amazingly tight now.

Thiem played very well in the third set, and deserved to win because Federer did not play that badly at all in the third set after a weak second set.

However, I think Federer partly lost because he wouldn't quit playing drop shots while he was ahead. He did some really good ones but it was becoming more and more obvious and he had one where he won the point but only because Thiem missed the shot after getting to it. After this point, I figured he should stop it but he threw another one in I think at 30-30 on serve in his last service game where he got broken. That was a tactical error.

Draw is out for the men at Miami. Fed is in Zverev's half of the draw and could meet Stan the Man early on. Kyle Edmund could meet Raonic in third round.

Djoko might face Berdych in round two. Pretty safe to say that last year's champion Isner will be hard pushed to retain the title.

Quiet start to Miami in that rain prevented any play on Tuesday and also curtailed play on Wednesday.

Plenty of matches did finish though, including one won by Tipsarevic (remember him?). Plagued by injuries, he missed the whole of last year and this was his first main-tour victory since August 2017.

JWT failed to make it thru the qualies (not sure why he didn't get WC into main draw). All the GB players in the qualies are out.

There was another win for 17-yr-old Anisimova. Seem to be a lot of very good teenagers around.

LATER: Dan Evans into main draw as an LL.

Evans made the most of his LL spot, winning in straight sets in his first round match. Cameron Norrie lost a tight three-setter, though. Evergreen David Ferrer, shortly to retire, beat Sam Querrey and now takes on A Zverev.

There was a 15-yr-old winner in the women's - American Cori Guaffe -while another US teenager, 16-yr-old Whitney Osuigwe, also got thru'.

Come back of the day was by IW trophy winner Bianca Andreescu who came from a set and 5-1 down, saving one MP, to beat Begu. Stosur knocked out Keys. Men's seeds in top half of the draw play today.

Surprised to see Thiem exit in his first match in Miami, especially after the IW win.

Djokovic beats Tomic.

Yes, poor result for Thiem who now has a stack of points to defend in the European clay-court season.

Big opportunity for someone (Kyrgios?) in the bottom half of the top of the draw, with Nishi and Thiem already out. Kyle Edmund is thru to play Raonic but Konta is out. Felix A-A won again.

Svitolina was beaten but Andreescu continued her amazing run and now plays Kerber in a repeat of the IW final.

Good to see that Kyle Edmund is heading back in the direction of the top twenty (currently ranked #22) after the loss of massive amount of points from AO 2019. Edmund has to remain injury free of course - this is likely going to be an on-going issue with him.

It seems that many players just don't have the physical robustness to cope with the ATP tour nowadays (Raonic, Krygios, Edmund, Cheung ...)

laverfan wrote:Surprised to see Thiem exit in his first match in Miami, especially after the IW win.

Djokovic beats Tomic.

I thought Thiem was a clay court specialist - and so have been surprised on his overall recent success on the hard-courts.

No name Bertie wrote:

laverfan wrote:Surprised to see Thiem exit in his first match in Miami, especially after the IW win.

Djokovic beats Tomic.

I thought Thiem was a clay court specialist - and so have been surprised on his overall recent success on the hard-courts.

I wish Thiem played equally well on all surfaces. He is a nice player to watch.

In the past, IW/Miami have been called the Blue 'clay' tourneys. . The court speed is very similar, with IW being desert, while Miami is humid. Unlike some of the faster HCs, IW/Miami are getting slower and slower.

Ferrer beats Zverev, while Federer scrapes through. Wawrinka loses to Krajinovic.

@NNB.. (notice the index for Shanghai is lower in 2018 than in 2017)



from Masters 1000 Court Speed in 2018.

laverfan wrote:... @NNB.. (notice the index for Shanghai is lower in 2018 than in 2017)



from Masters 1000 Court Speed in 2018.

:Chapeau:   So there is evidence that many hard courts are extremely slow.  The theory has been Federer would have done / would be doing better if they played on faster courts - especially nowadays when he has difficulty moving quickly around the court + his stamina.

Perhaps Ferrer should reconsider his retirement decision! I see Cilic lost again. He's 4-4 for the season and appears to be struggling.

Fed was close to losing at 3-3 break point down in the final set. Thought it might be a tough match, as Albot has been in good form.

Amazingly, Andreescu has beaten Kerber again and should really have won in straight sets. She seems full of confidence both on and off the court. Bit of a contrast to Osaka who seems weighed down by her number one tag.

No name Bertie wrote:
.........................
  So there is evidence that many hard courts are extremely slow.  The theory has been Federer would have done / would be doing better if they played on faster courts - especially nowadays when he has difficulty moving quickly around the court + his stamina.

Perhaps he would have done better ..... perhaps not. It’s very hard to say conclusively.

What we do know is that Federer is putting on a good show all the same, not least given that he is just about the oldest guy in the top 100 ; or certainly the oldest to be getting - stiil - to the business end of tourneys. He won Dubai and came very close to taking another Indian Wells title. It needed a strong Thiem to stop him on the day, with all the youthful benefit of a 12 year age gap.

Not sure just how much longer Fed will compete on Tour. Doubt very much it would stretch beyond, say, 2020.

No name Bertie wrote: The theory has been Federer would have done / would be doing better if they played on faster courts - especially nowadays when he has difficulty moving quickly around the court + his stamina.

It is a tough what-if. Similar to Nadal and his injuries, or, Djokovic's injuries,...

• If Nadal had a different playing style, would he have won much on Clay with less injuries, or,
  
• would he have won more on HC, and less on Clay, but would have more slams, or,
  
• would Djokovic have won if his elbow was better and Todd Martin/Boris Becker were absent,....
  

We may get better answers from TARDIS.

Kyle Edmund chalks up his best win - since beating Djokovic last year - as he takes out Raonic in straights.

Impressive stuff

Another big test for him next, in the shape of John Isner.

From a British tennis perspective, its v encouraging to see the good recent results for Evans and Edmund. On the former, its been a tough old slog back up the rankings after his return from the recreational drug ban, but he's stuck at it and come through a few tournaments in qualifying, earning a bit of luck as a 'lucky loser' entering the main draw at Miami, to follow up with an impressive 1st round win. A 3 set loss to Shapovalov is hardly a disgrace, and playing such a high calibre of opponent will be doing him a world of good.

Onto Edmund, I was a bit worried that he could struggle for confidence after losing a tough 1st round Aus Open match to Berdych, but, following the inevitable fall down the rankings, he's now picking up points at a time of year where he did poorly 12 months ago. This will therefore keep him in the seedings for French Open and Wimbledon at least this year. Great win over Raonic, and that will stand him in good stead for another big server in form of Isner.

Looking at how the draw is panning out, Djokovic ought to be shoo in to reach final. Not sure how tired Federer is - looking at Coric, Kyrgios or even whisper it Dimitrov to reach final otherwise.

Was having a look at winners of the Masters events over the past few years, and struck by a few things:

Up until 2017, there was a real 'big 4' stranglehold on the Masters titles, with only the occasional other winner e.g. Wawrinka, Tsonga, breaking this pattern.
Murray's haul of 14 Masters titles is a seriously impressive achievement during the era of Fed/Rafa/Djoko, and it puts him clearly above Wawrinka (just the 1 Masters) in career legacy.
The past 2 Masters tournaments have been won by 1st time Masters winners - Khachanov in Paris and Thiem in Indian Wells. I'd be surprised if we don't have another 2 Masters 1st-time winners this year - you'd expect the likes of Tsitsipas, Coric, Medvedev, Shapovalov to step up and win at that level. After all, Zverev, for all his under-achieving in slams, already has 3 Masters titles, each at different tournaments.

Excellent win by Edmund. Reckon he's got a good chance against Isner as long as he can win tiebreaks!

Just been watching highlights of the wins by Halep and T. Maria. Halep had to dig deep against a player performing quite brilliantly. Stephens looked completely lost against an opponent (Maria) prepared to mix it up including chip-and-charge tactics.

sirfredperry wrote:Excellent win by Edmund. Reckon he's got a good chance against Isner as long as he can win tiebreaks! ...

John Isner is the defending champion so although Edmund has a chance I think we have to have Isner as a firm favorite.

Some tasty-looking Miami matches due up later today ..... highlights among them :

Edmund v Isner
Coric v Kyrgios
Tsitsipas v Shapovalov

and Bautista-Agut takes on Djokovic. Can the Spaniard spring another surprise ..... as in their last meeting at the start of the season .....

Interesting reflections from Radu Albot on a first encounter with RF
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/what-it-is-like-to-play-roger-federer-albot-miami-2019

Albot certainly gave Fed something to think about. After his victory yesterday Rog now takes on Medvedev which could be another tough match.

David Ferrer went down fighting, as you would expect. Tsitipas v Shapovalov is indeed cracker.

Andreescu's heroics came to an end with a retirement. Halep had less trouble with Venus that might have been imagined. Kvitova has a chance to get to number one.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/47704618

Kyrgios using the underarm serve again.

JuliusHMarx wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/47704618

Kyrgios using the underarm serve again.

Judy Murray says she loves it .........

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/tennis/miami-masters/2019/nick-kyrgios-underarm-serve-backed-by-judy-murray-as-genius_sto7202682/story.shtml

(lots of other stuff from Planet Kyrgios in above piece ...... )

Edmund has succumbed to Isner after two tiebreak sets. I said he would have to win the tiebreaks and he certainly should have won the first of them, having been 5-2 up in it.

You really stand no chance against Isner if you lose tiebreaks. The percentage of his sets to reach 6-6 is unbelievable, as he rarely drops serve or breaks his opponent.

Felix A-A has won again, beating Basilashvili in straight sets. He'll now play Kyrgios or Coric who are just about to start.

On the underarm serve: If guys are going to disappear miles behind the baseline then it's a good tactic.

Edmund continues to progress. He is surely learning a lot from these match-ups with top guys, as he becomes more battle-hardened. We at least have another Brit to watch in the upper echelons of the sport.

Isner has vastly more experience at this level so whilst disappointing on the day, it was no shame to be edged out having pushed him to TB’s.