We've reached the final sixteen for this first major championship of 2019. From the top: First Quarter Djokovic v Medvedev This quarter had a load of pretenders (Novak snacks), and you know I've been "requesting" this Medvedev match because this guy can play. Should be good, perhaps a whiff of resistance from the Russian before …
Category: Draw Analsysis
3rd Round: the Bottom-half
In the bottom-half, they're through two rounds and this is already what we see: Federer’s Quarter Cilic v Verdasco RBA v Khachanov Tsitsipas v Basiashvili Fritz v Federer Cilic is the 4th or 5th best player in the world, period. He's been making big final rounds now for a few years. He was last year's …
AO 2019 — More Draw Analysis
The most interesting questions at this point revolve around the Big 3 and mainly Novak. How would Novak succumb to an early exit in this tournament? Who could possibly beat the six-time winner, the winner of the last two majors, the current and future #1 player in the world? I uploaded some videos below, three …
U.S. Open Quiz!
What do these professional tennis players have in common? Vasek Pospisil Lorenzo Sonego Karen Khachanov Jack Sock Nikoloz Basilashvili Guido Pella Paolo Lorenzi You know the answer and if you don't know you better act like you do. Your sport is on life support. A study from 2011 surfaced that uncovered pretty corrupt U.S. Open …
Thoughts on the USO Draw
Start at the top. It's a bit fruitless to complain about certain players' draws, their luck or bad luck, and/or hint at some sort of suspicion or conspiracy. Two recent major draws that seem a bit soft are the 2018 Aussie Open for Federer and the 2017 U.S. Open for Nadal -- won by each …
Wrap D.C. and Preview Toronto
Washington, D.C. You know the big theme in D.C.: taken-over by a bunch of teenagers and Sascha, who's only twenty-one. Tsitsipas had a whiff of hope in that second set, but one can see the difference between these 19 year-olds and Sascha: inexperience and just a natural lack of professionalism. Sascha was de Minaur or …
2018 WB Quarter-finals Preview
We'll make this as quick as we can. Raonic v Isner. Raonic has been to this tournament's final, so clearly he has the experience (beating Federer in the SF that year -- 2016 -- doesn't hurt either even though the Swiss was ailing and about to forego the rest of the season). Isner is 3-1 …
Queen’s Club Draw
We touched briefly on the Halle draw this week, at least from Federer's perspective. His top half really gets interesting in the SF, although to overlook those first three opponents seems a bit rude, no? But you get the picture. Thiem, if he can sell his wares on grass, something he's been able to do …
French Open Draw 2018
Wawrinka I was literally preparing a few notes for a post on the Swiss second-string, in fact looking at his 2015 pre-Roland Garros results to see any kind of pattern that might lift our hopes for his 2018 French Open campaign. We have a pretty good indicator of Stan's chances against Rafa in Paris …
2018 Madrid Draw: A Few Thoughts
Stefanos v Sascha tomorrow could be quite an occasion, seemingly cousins though I am still a bit smitten with the 19 year-old's ability to come to net. That bottom bracket seems loaded (for tourney runners-up), but clay generally has that evened-playing-field feel. Fognini, Ramos-Vinolas and anyone else, practically, who gets the good wind (even Isner …
