Tennis may be shifting to become a young man’s game again. Three teenagers are into the round of 32 at the Delray Beach ATP tournament.
Young Russian Andrey Rublev, a tall lanky Gilles Simon physique type, but with explosive pop on his shots, downed Dudi Sela 64 l6 63. Sela is recovering from the flu where he was forced to pull out of Memphis after flying down from Europe. Sela spent last week in NYC getting medical attention and obviously was not at full strength today. The seventeen year old Rublev, a wildcard entry into the draw said after, “It’s an unreal feeling to win my first ATP match.”
Japanese teen Yoshihito Nishioka straight setted the Dutch muscle man Igor Sisjling. Nishioka could be on a patch like his countryman Kei Nishikori who rolled all the way to winning the title as a teenager in 2008 vs. James Blake.
And Thanasi Kokkinakis, eighteen, continued his impressive year by bouncing out Filip Krajinovic in straight sets. Kokkinakis impresses me the most. Super fit, he can bash and grind from the baseline and mix up his shots. Big easy serve and an easy forehand. I think veterans may see Kokkinakis as a bit of a fluke, a kid they are not yet taking seriously but he can play. He’s big and strong and eliminating some quality players out of main draws this year. He’s also getting experience – he beat Gulbis at the Aussie Open this year and played Nadal respectively last year on Laver Arena. I can see Kokkinakis making a deep run this week.
According to the ATP this is the first time since 2007 Indianapolis when three teens reached the round of 32.
Seventeen year old Stefan Kozlov was not as fortunate today. Tim Smyczek was too good today, dominating the match from 5-5 in the first. Kozlov, still seeking his first ATP singles match win, smashed a Head during the second set, in losing to Smyczek who he defeated 7-6 in the third in a California Challenger late last year.
Smyczek is off to the best start of his career, losing in five sets to Nadal in Australia, with a Dallas Challenger win two weeks ago.
In other results today, Randy Lu, coached by Thai veteran Danai Udomchoke, outlasted Samuel Groth 67 76 64.
Steve Johnson and Bernard Tomic straight setted Mike Kukushkin and Malek Jaziri respectively.
Top seed Kevin Anderson routed John Patrick Smith in the first stadium night match. Smith, a lefty Aussie, wore a dark almost camouflage outfit.
An interesting doubles match featured last year’s ALTERNATE stars Vahid Mirzadeh and Sekou Bangoura trying to repeat their success this year. Last year as alternates, they beat the #2 team in the world Klassen and Butorac in one of the biggest shock upsets of the year. This year they got a main draw invite, today they faced Aljaz Bedene and Alejandro Gonzalez. The battled all the way to 63 36 and a 9-5 lead in the match tiebreak. That’s four match points. Unfortunately for the underdog team they lost six points in a row and the match. Ouch. Talk about heartbreaking losses.
Donald Young battled the wind and Ivan Dodig, in a first time meeting. Young struggled with his serve and backhand returns but played well enough to prevail 75 75. Momma Young supported DY the whole match a couple of rows away watching the entire match also was Dodig’s doubles partner Max Mirnyi.
The odd thing about Young is he never rips a backhand return. he plays them all very safe. Too safe. He also never attacks a forehand return either. I think that’s a part of DY’s game that he can improve and upgrade his ranking from the 50’s into the 20’s or 30’s.
It was a disappointing day for Sam Querrey, who won the first set 63 vs. Alejandro Gonzalez but then hurt his back and had to retire in the second set. Sam also pulled out of the doubles with Steve Johnson.
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Dan markowitz · February 18, 2015 at 5:27 am
Wow interesting fact about 3 teens into 2nd round although none of the wins was a big upset with Sela being sick. QBall can never seem to get on a roll except at the Challengers these days. Although playing the grueling match with Nishikori probably precipitated this injury.
Yes DY is a safe player, but I’ve seen him rip returns on forehand. His backhands not so good so maybe he’s just managing it. Watching Izzie lose first set to Matosevic. TC was showing as many shots of Ashley Fisher and Gimel, the two coaches, as they were the players. Gimel’s was talking more to McPhereson than he was watching match. If Izzie lost that one it’s another bad loss.
Dan Markowitz · February 18, 2015 at 7:28 am
Wow, Izzie lost 4 and 4 to Matosevic. Can US men’s tennis go anymore down? QBall goes down to injury, Izzie goes down to a mediocre player. DY is not going to soar up the rankings. What happened to the rise of Kozlov, Donaldson and Tiafoe? Instead, we’ve got Rublev breaking through on American soil.
I guess there’s still hope in Stevie Johnson and maybe Kudla and Harry, but the cupboard is looking very bare. The Gimel experiment might be a very short one. My problem with Gimel, as exposed last night I think, is the guy seemed more interested in his conversation with David McPhereson than he was in focusing in on Izzie and sending him positive emotion.
Scoop Malinowski · February 18, 2015 at 8:36 am
Not a terrible loss to Matosevic. If you see all the scorelines Isner barely eked by Matosevic every time, 76s 64s, but this loss does show that Isner has lost his edge or something. He’s not the same player, or is it that Ashley Fisher gave Matosevic the right words and blueprint? A 26 26 loss would have been bad but 46 46 is just a couple of points. But this does not reflect well on Gimelstob’s coaching debut, he’s not achieved the desired initial results with Isner and he could be jettisoned sooner than later.
Dan markowitz · February 18, 2015 at 9:19 am
Scoop, bad loss any way you slice it. Izzie was 3-0 against Matosevic in 2014 and the Aussie has won one match this year entering Delray. How come Donaldson didn’t play Delray?
Andrew Miller · February 18, 2015 at 9:52 am
Bad loss. Gimel was given the benefit of the doubt. Now that benefit is revoked, doubt only!
Scoop Malinowski · February 18, 2015 at 10:27 am
Donaldson lost first round in qualies Dan.
Scoop Malinowski · February 18, 2015 at 10:32 am
I think Isner has been stuck in a plateau for two years, he’s maximized his game and ranking and can’t go any higher. He’s had his hurrahs and big moments – truly miraculous momentous victories which don’t get the credit they deserve – but he can’t go any higher. No coach, no new words, no new instruction can change Isner at this point. He’s pushing 30. Players are figuring him out, and he’s not improving. Remember, Isner won a lot of matches by the narrowest of margins. He’s lost that edge. This is no disrespect to Isner, he is one of the most unlikely guy-who-came-outta-nowhere stories we ever saw in tennis. Unknown college player who most fans never heard of before, bursts suddenly into ATP and eventually takes down Fed and Djokovic and reaches top ten. We may not see another NCAA player do this for two more decades. Hat’s off to Isner.
Andrew Miller · February 18, 2015 at 12:48 pm
Agassi said he would gladly work with Isner. Maybe Isner looked into it and it was all talk.
dan markowitz · February 18, 2015 at 2:27 pm
I disagree with you, Scoop. I think a certain type of coach could help Izzie. He’s a southern boy and needs a little oomph, push, kick in the butt. I think Gimel has that side in him (heck, I did an article with Gimel for Tennis Magazine where I went to work out with him in Joisy, and the guy working us out was a big football guy who trained NFL players. We were like pulling tractor tires across the gym floor and heavy lifting power stuff like that), he’s a tough guy who’s disciplined.
But because he’s now a TV personality and involved in management with the ATP, he’s got to be more of schmoozer. I couldn’t believe in last night’s match, Gimel didn’t once that I saw in the first set pump his fist at Izzie while Ashley Fisher was directly involved with facial gestures to Matosevic. Izzie should hire Lendl or Agassi (doubt both actually) so maybe Jeff Tarango.
Andrew Miller · February 19, 2015 at 10:22 pm
“Young movement” indeed in Delray. Not just Tomic and Nishioka but dy , his third atp qf in four tournanents. Read on tennis.com that dy focused on what he can do during a match, staying focused. Got some help.
Another blog I like: tennis-x xblog and tennis-nerds for the challengers.