Tennis Prose




Aug/15

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Tommy Paulmania at US Open Qualies Friday

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Tommy Paul was sensational today, just dominating Fed friend since teenage years Marco Chiudenelli on court seventeen, with Reilly Opelka, Jay Berger, Jose Higueras and Dan said Mardy Fish in the house. I spoke with Chiudinelli’s coach Jan Vacek after and he said he was surprised more how poorly Marco played, but also credited Paul’s forehand and his overall game, adding his serve can be improved, most of all Vacek, a former ATP player, likes Paul’s demeanor on court and his attitude which he said is great but also humble. He doesn’t like the younger players who think they know everything even thought they are still teenagers.

Elias Ymer also straight-setted his way to the US Open main draw, I really like how this guy plays, he moves like a cat and he hits the ball he really hits the ball, and he has a stone cold killer look in his eyes. After the win, Ymer came off the court and signed a few things and took some photos but there was no coach there for him, no family, no entourage, no friends, no Swedish Federation, just fans. He walked back to the Ashe locker room by himself – after I believe making his first major main draw. I was able to do a Biofile with him at this time and it’s a good one. Stay tuned.

Federer and Goffin practiced on Armstrong at four, Fed’s favorite time to hit on Louis – some fans told me later Fed lost both sets to Goffin and was showing signs of frustration, whacking some balls around.

Hewitt was hitting with Tomic on the first P court, Hewitt was looking very good, and really enjoying himself. Tomic was having a hard time with Hewitt’s game which seemed to be ready to rock some damage in the first week, he’s moving well, making the shots on the run like the good old days and just feeding off the thrill of being at his final US Open, enjoying everything and taking the wonderful experience all in. After their hit, Kyrgios came over to hit shortly with Hewitt who then gave the court over to Monfils who had come over from hitting with Kohlschreiber, who is now working with Santoro. Kyrgios and Monfils were blasting balls all over the court, then Nick mishit one over the fence and for some reason he wanted the ball back and came over for it, saying nothing, just gesturing to give it back which the fan did, Hewitt also came over and when the ball was tossed over, Kyrgios just took it and said nothing and it was Hewitt who said, “Than you.”

Nadal and Robredo were hitting for two hours on grandstand in total complete seriousness, while at the same time on Armstrong Querrey and Isner worked out together, joking around and having fun, even interacting with fans. Gimelstob was on court dressed in a suit.

In the late afternoon Keys was hitting with a male and Davenport, they did one set up with Keys on the baseline and they placed white towels about a yard off the baseline trying to make Keys hug the baseline and not step on the towels. Boy, Keys can really hit the ball well.

Dodig and Zverev had a great battle on a packed court thirteen with the youngster prevailing 76 75. Very very impressive display by Zverev.

Andrey Rublev also qualified for the main draw with a 6-4 in the third set win vs German Pole Gojowzcyk. In the final game, Rublev was up 40-love then lost the next two points, on the third MP he suddenly showed some kind of leg problem, and rolled a soft serve first long but smacked the second serve normal and then nailed a backhand winner down the line. Rublev looked up to the sky and did the sign of the cross on his chest – this I believe is his first major main draw. A fifth teenager Nishioka also qualified for the main draw.

Also, saw Michael Chang’s wife towing a baby carriage in to the gift shop by the P courts and media center, I asked her if she ever played Serena but she didn’t.

Also was told Pancho Segura will be traveling from California to attend the US Open, he is about 95 years old and in a wheelchair for a few years now, but the tennis legend still loves coming out to the US Open every year. Amazing.
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27 comments

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2015 at 10:32 am

    Attendance record set by this year’s US Open qualies, over 48,000 attended during the week,

  • Dan Markowitz · August 29, 2015 at 12:20 pm

    It was a madhouse at the Open yesterday. The place was packed. A couple of years ago, the USTA floated the idea that they’d start charging a nominal fee for the Open Qualis, but to their credit, they did not and now it is just one of the best weeks in the New York sports scene.

    When you think about it, when I was a man in my 20’s–as opposed to being a woman–we used to have the season-ending Masters Event at the Garden and Challengers in the Bronx and later even at Forest Hills and Armonk, NY. There was even a nice ATP event staged before the Open at Forest Hills I think called the Tournament of Champions.

    Now we have the Open and that’s about it. We don’t even have a WTT team anymore. There’s the one day cheesy exhibition match at the Garden in March, too, but that’s it.

    Scoop, you didn’t mention what a jerk Zverev seems to be. I mean you talk about a crybaby and this guy’s picture is in Webster’s for the definition. He must’ve complained to the ump about 10 times in that first set against Dodig, and Dogig didn’t complain once. I think Zverev wore poor Ivan down as much with his kvetching as he did his game, which is formidable.

    The other thing about Zverev is he takes a year and a day to hit his serve. I mean it was hot yesterday afternoon, but the young man looked almost like he was going to keel over. He constantly was pulling up his shirt from the waist–revealing his skimpy belly–and wiping sweat off his face. And he’s like Djoko and Nadal in his ball-bouncing before serving. But then Dodig started taking a long time bouncing the ball too.

    It’s interesting how you can watch a person play tennis and me, being the judgmental sort I am, can think the guy or girl is a real cad. Like I watched Brydan Klein in Newport and now the US Open Qualis and the guy is moping out there, complaining about an injury to his girlfriend/massage therapist, saying his opponent, Ebden is playing terrible, but he’s playing worse, and then, when I met him after the match and started talking to him, he seemed like a great guy, humble and not full of himself.

    There’s just an unbelievable amount of tension/pressure on these young people. I guess they’re used to it–and most of them harden themselves to the attention and task at hand–but when you really think about it, it’s amazing to me how these players usually handle it so well.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2015 at 1:04 pm

    I wasn’t bothered by Zverev’s behavior on the court, yes he was respectfully and non verbally arguing some of the calls which were close very close, it didn’t bother me at all, and it was a hundred times more mild than the way McEnroe did it Dan, or a thousand times — I like Zverev a lot, he’s a good kid, this is a big moment in his career, he’s trying to qualify for his first US Open against a very very VERY tough opponent, he handled the situation very well — I will always remember doing a Biofile with him in DC, I got there early while the Fish press conf was going on and Zverev was sitting in a chair outside waiting to go next, so the ATP person and Alex agreed to do the interview then while we waited, he wanted to get up and stand up to do the interview but I said no, stay seated, you just played – and he replied I didn’t want to disrespect – then he gave a great Biofile, very thoughtful and smart kid, I’m a big fan of him now, also like the way he plays — these guys have to believe and they have to be cocky, look how hard it is to make it, look at all the Oudins and Harrisons, these kids have to have the belief, they don’t want to fail, they have to give it their all — again, Dan, Zverev’s behavior is a million times more mild and respectful than McEnroe, just can’t see how you can be so bothered by Zverev and adore Johnny Mac ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2015 at 1:06 pm

    Good point about the dearth of events in the area, also we used to have the Pathmark Classic later renamed AP Classic, the womens event in Mahwah NJ where Cal recently won his title — there was a charity exo in New City — maybe there is an opportunity for a promoter to stage a Futures or Challenger in this area, or even a series of exos —

  • Dan Markowitz · August 29, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    Zverev was not being respectful. And he complained about everything, pick your spots, brother. Look it was hot, the court was absoulutely mobbed and Dodig is a tough opponent; he really made Zverev work for his win and US OPen Main Draw berth, but the kid turned me off with his whining and complaining.

    I adore Mac’s game, still do, but I never liked his attitude. I thought he was a jerk, but even so he entertained with his comments. Zverev didn’t show me any creativity in his comments and he mopes around in between points with bad posture and takes a long time.

  • Andrew Miller · August 29, 2015 at 5:37 pm

    Thanks for reporting on the qualies! I checked tennis.com and there was zero, Tennis Prose comes through again!

    Had no idea about this player Tommy Paul. Tiafoe is playing his 2nd slam of the year (unbelievable!) because he won Kalmazoo. That’s unbelievable that Paul was the last one standing as a U.S. player in the qualies.

    I was wondering about the main draw for the men. Here’s what we got.

    Wildcards
    Harrison, Ryan: Harrison’s into the open again on a wildcard. No comment.

    Donaldson, Jared: Ranked lower than Harrison.

    Tiafoe: Won Kalmazoo, so automatic entry into main draw.

    Fratangelo: Won US OPen wildcard challenge, so earned his way into the draw like Tiafoe, who had knocked off Kozlov. At 111 also, so either way he was in position. Good job Bjorn.

    Krajicek, Austin – at #67 makes no sense why he’s a wildcard – his ranking must’ve been too low at decision time.

    Others:
    Johnson, Steve
    Kudla, Denis: gets in on his own merits! Nice to see this.
    Querrey, Sam
    Ram, Rajeev: Probably the most under-appreciated u.s. mens player. His ranking has been higher and he’s played better than Harrison for years!

    Shane, Ryan: Amazing how he won the NCAAs from UVa. Still shocked he beat Noah Rubin and others. He’s in and Dan will enjoy his beautiful one-hander.

    Smyczek, Tim: Another of the most under-appreciated players from the U.S.

    Sock, Jack: A very good year, Sock enters as a seed, right?

    Young, Donald: He’s in it, no wildcard!

    —————————-

    Rankings:

    13, Isner
    28, Sock
    38 Querrey
    49, Johnson
    67, Krajicek
    68, Young
    74, Kudla
    87, Ram
    95, Smyczek
    111, Fratangelo
    133, Harrison
    146, Donaldson

  • Andrew Miller · August 29, 2015 at 6:03 pm

    Mardy Fish – glad to see him come back for a final tournament. He disclosed everything. Even if what took place was bizarre – he’s playing the best he’s ever played and suddenly is gone from the sport without much information, then he’s playing golf, etc.

    Glad to see him see everything through and play his final matches. I always liked his game better than any other U.S. player in the post Sampras-Agassi era and he remains the one player that shows that a U.S. player can improve and compete against the best by doing what they are best at and fixing their weak spots.

    I’d say Fish outranks Blake as well.

    Probably the only sore spot in his record was not giving up his Davis Cup spot to let Spadea play. Other than that I think he’s been a solid performer. Well above today’s U.S. players – all of them.

    Generation next should aspire to do better than Blake and Fish.

  • Andrew Miller · August 29, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    The stats for U.S. players’ win loss records. Isner’s not doing badly in this regard, he will have a better record than Fish.

    Isner, 277-171
    Roddick, 612-213
    Fish, 301-218
    Blake, 366-256
    Agassi, 870-274
    Sampras, 762-222
    Spadea, 311-359
    Gambill, 201-196
    Todd Martin, 411-234
    MaliVai Washington, 254-194
    Michael Chang, 662-312
    Brad Gilbert, 519-288

  • Dan Markowitz · August 29, 2015 at 8:24 pm

    Hey, Andrew, what are you a wise guy publishing Spadea’s career record of 311-359!? Nah, still not bad that he’s 8th on this list and Mardy won’t pass him.

    That’s also amazing Gilbert had more than 500 victories. Thanks for the heads up on Ryan Shane’s one-hander. I’ll look out for him. Absolutely, Tennis-Prose.com kicks Tennis.com writing butts when it comes to actually getting out in the trenches, going to the Qualis and writing about players like Naomi Broady and Jose Hernandez-Fernandez and Brydan Klein.

    By the way, Klein beat Kraijcek up in Vancouver Challenger last week so you’re right, how Austen gets a wildcard is beyond me. If I can’t spell his name and that goes for Smyczek too, they shouldn’t be in the Main Draw of the Open. And that goes for Harry too even though I can spell his name.

    Who’s joining me for the Ymer-Schwartzman match on Court 14 last match of the day on Monday?! I said who’s joining me?!! This is too good of a match to pass up. It sound like a smear on a bagel, like two Yiddish guys sitting on a park bench and debating who wins. Ymer-Schwartzman because Ymer is my new favorite player and Schwarzman because without Jesse Levine, Noah Rubin, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras still out there, how many Jewish pro players are there left?

    I will be autographing my new book.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2015 at 9:00 pm

    I like the way Zverev does it, I think he is respectful about it, he did not offend the ump or the linesperson he just expressed some doubt about the accuracy of the call — he did it a few times because he thought he got a bum deal each of those times, the crowd didn’t get on him at all which shows he did it the right way because NYC fans will get on a player if they do it the wrong way — very interesting player and demeanor on court from Zverev, I like him a lot —

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2015 at 9:06 pm

    Wow, how the heck did Krajicek get up to 67? Well done, I thought he was around 140 — love those match record stats — having a winning record is what it’s all about, Spadea’s record is disappointing though his overall career is very impressive and respectable —

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 29, 2015 at 9:12 pm

    I will be watching Ymer, that kid REALLY impressed me — saw Krajicek practicing early yesterday evening on court six, his coach was feeding him balls bounced from the coaches side of the net and over the net, to AK’s backhand slice, then he’d feed a normal ball over the net then the first bounce on AK’s side, interesting drill — only one little girl about 8 was watching them practice —

  • Gaurang · August 30, 2015 at 3:14 am

    Krajicek actually is ranked 110 or something. 67 is his doubles rankings. The ATP website picks the doubles one sometimes and its confusing.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 30, 2015 at 8:50 am

    Gaurang, some players sneak up to the 60s and 70sand you don’t know how they did it, Klahn did it a few years ago, he was ranked in the 60s in Delray Beach but lost a tough two setter to Hewitt and basically drifted back down the rankings, haven’t heard anything about him since —

  • Dan Markowitz · August 30, 2015 at 9:51 am

    I can’t believe they play with Wilson balls at the US Open when they played with Penn last week in Cincy. That’s crazy. It’s almost like the NFL allowing the two teams involved in a game supply their own balls, but at least they’re the same ball. I can see the court surface and speed changing from tournament to tournament, but not the ball. That makes no sense.

    Apparently, the Wilson plays slower which is not good for Fed.

  • Harold · August 30, 2015 at 11:16 am

    What happened to the predicted on this site rise of the young Americans during the summer hard court season?

    Harry still getting wild-carded over a promising(American hype)17 year old is wrong.

    They all seemed to be mired in Triple A challengers, or Double A futures,except for the usual win a couple of rounds group, of Isner, Q Ball, SJ,JS, and DY.

    Isner got draw lucky, wont face Kohscreiber in the 3rd round.

  • Andrew Miller · August 30, 2015 at 11:36 am

    Gaurang, my bad – thanks for correcting the record! Krajicek is #115. The ATP site does put up “67” as the singles ranking but you are right, this is an ATP website mistake.

    I’m guessing he got the nod because he was around Fratangelo’s ranking and has had a very good year, built around a few super solid results. With the wildcards, the U.S. has ensured that all top 200 players that are from the U.S. are in the main draw. I assume that decision was made in part because a lot of U.S. players made the draw on their own without the wildcard and probably too because it’s rare you can exempt up to the top 200 ranking.

    For what it’s worth this is a lot better than in the U.K. for Wimbledon, where the LTA gives pretty much everyone a wildcard into the main draw. However, anytime you start comparing the USTA to the LTA, you know we’re going down the wrong road!

    13, Isner
    28, Sock
    38, Querrey
    49, Johnson
    67, Young
    74, Kudla
    87, Ram
    95, Smyczek. Third year in top 100 I think in a row!
    111, Fratangelo. Pretty sure this is a career high.
    115, Krajicek
    133, Harrison. Better than year end of 2014.
    146, Donaldson. Pretty good improvement from last year.

    In terms of Krajicek’s results, decent year.

    Memphis QF, lost to Nishikori but won 5 matches to make it there (3 qualifying matches plus two tournament matches). Had a win over Karlovic which is a good win.

    Miami, made the 2nd round (won three matches to get there) and beat Istomin, another decent win.

    Mexico, wins a challenger.

    Atlanta, makes it through to the first round with a pair of qualifying wins.

    Aptos Challenger, makes the finals and beats Novikov and Fratengelo in the process.

    I’m not saying wow, this guy is amazing. I’m saying only that it’s a good year for him in singles and he’s better than last year and had a few good wins.

    If we look at Ryan Harrison, it’s clear his best work came before Miami. He won a challenger in Australia, qualified and got through the round of 16 in Memphis, got to the semifinals in Mexico’s ATP event, won a round in Indian Wells against Fish and got back to #110 in the rankings, then had a dry spell of few wins and mostly losses until the Illinois challenger where he knocked off Kozlov. A good result considering he remembered the previous result out in California, losing to Kozlov in a match where he didn’t put in his best effort.

    Harrison’s most recent matches are a loss to Tiafoe on Winston-Salem this week in the final round of Qualifying. Tiafoe went on to win a match before losing to Bellucci in the 2nd round.

    Harrison’s most recent claim to fame is taunting Kokkinakis during their qualifying match in Cincinatti, after the Kyrgios-Wawrinka match. That Harrison did that is pretty messed up, taking out his frustration with Kyrgios against Kokkinakis. Just weird.

    Here’s what I’ve noticed with Harrison. The more press he gets the worse he plays. You can tell – he makes the Mexico quarters, is on the verge of the top 100 again for the first time in a while and then boom, all the press and the rankings slide. Then mixing it up with Kokkinakis for what?

    August 15, 2005:
    “clean-cut all-American Harrison started muttering things mocking Kokkinakis (maybe in earshot?) about his “37 tattoos and 23 earrings””

    “Harrison seemed to be taking out all of his dislike for Kyrgios (and there’s a lot) on Kokkinakis, conflating the twoรขโ‚ฌยฆ”

    “He’s 19. If he wants to get into it, I will bury him. Wawrinka should’ve decked Kyrgios, and I should deck that kid.” -Ryan Harrison

    – From Ben Rothenberg, New York Times

    I always hold out hope for Harrison, that he’ll just stay with the game and work on it. He had a lot of improvement and his game didn’t look awful even at the end of the challenger season in 2014. He got back with Doyle. Now he’s picking imaginary fights.

    As for Kokkinakis, seems like among all the Australians he has the best taste and the most class. Weird Harrison would go after Kyrgios, on behalf of Wawrinka, through taking it out on Kokkinakis. Jealousy?

    I guess when these guys compete they compete for everything. Best looking girlfriend. Nicest car. Attention. It’s not just the game. It’s what the game brings. In that I’m sorry for Harrison, hope he finds himself and lands on his feet. Glad to see he played some doubles with his brother, won a round or two in Winston Salem.

  • Andrew Miller · August 30, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Harold – what happened to my predictions? It’s true, I saw around now as a break-out for the U.S. players. Hasn’t happened.

    I think Donald Young has still a few big tournament results and I think he’ll nab a title.

    I think Sock will get a few slam quarters and nab a Masters.

    I think Kudla will get to the top 50 for at least a year.

    And that’s it, everything else is up for grabs. I think the timeline on Kozlov, this kid Paul, Donaldson, Tiafoe – all have nice games with better groundstrokes than I’ve seen since the Agassi era, maybe in a few years we’ll see them win a few rounds in a main draw. That’s not what’s going on today.

    JJenkins! What can I say, he had a good start to the year and ends it with no slam draws. I still support him.

    Still tough to be a U.S. mens tennis fan. It more or less boils down to this: We have Isner, Sock, Querrey and Johnson. They aren’t a threat to win a slam and are all long shots for the slam quarterfinals. However, Johnson’s top 50 ranking is very good – he wasn’t predicted to do this well at all. Sock’s showing some promise and has some good results in him and is the first from “generation next” to get a title. Kudla had a nice run at Wimbledon.

    There you have it. Spotty results with a couple good ones once in a while.

  • Andrew Miller · August 30, 2015 at 11:56 am

    Another way of looking at it: none of them will win anything big until they win something big.

    The U.S. made a mistake with the “lost generation” of throwing them to the wolves without much preparation and of those players, only Donald Young and Querrey are still around (and still good).

    With the current crop of young players like Kudla and Sock, their games are coming along and Sock has a shot at top 20, given he’s 8 spots away it’s not impossible. I think Kudla will get to the top 50. Johnson is in here too in doing better than anyone predicted.

    Some early flame-outs have been Klahn and in some ways Harrison. Klahn rocketed to #67 in not too much time on tour and now he’s in the 200s. Harrison’s career goes well when he’s away from the microphone working on his game, but once he’s hooked up to a mic his game nose-dives. Harrison’s career has also seemed to rise and fall with Pat McEnroe’s leaving the USTA fold – he got a lot of favoritism there and now that’s gone. Maybe with his brother’s career coming back somewhat he’ll focus on just the tennis and leave aside the rest of it.

    As for the future, you hope they look at players like Sock and Johnson and even Donald Young and say keep working on your game, or Fish. Not one player yet has shown the talent of a Sampras or an Agassi, but you never know if they stick with it.

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 30, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    I said top 50 for Johnson years ago when he was well outside top hundred Andrew, always liked him, a great fighter with some weapons and a winning mind — Smyczek is still around he’s main draw but has to play Raonic —

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 30, 2015 at 2:11 pm

    Andrew, it’s almost as if Harrison is trying to generate some news hype and relevance by hunting Kokkinakis, which he’s been unable to do with his own results, Harrison is irrelevant right now, he really desperately needs to beat RRam to jumpstart his career – guess what? He played Ram four years ago in Atlanta – and barely won it 76 in the third (7-5) – so Harrison is no lock to beat Ram who won Newport in July —

  • Dan Markowitz · August 30, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    To say none of these guys has shown Agassi or Sampras potential is absurd. Agassi and Sampras were once in a couple of generations players. Sure, you had players close to that ability in the prior generation with Mac and Connors, but we haven’t seen anything close in the last two generations (Roddick, Blake, Izzie and dare say QBall). I mean Agassi took the tour by storm at 17 and Sampras won the US Open at 19. Besides doing pretty well in Challengers, what have Tiafoe, JD and Kozlov done? Paul might be the best of the bunch or Opelka, but we really won’t know for another year or two what their potential might even be.

    But this generation looks like it might not even be as good as this current one with Izzie, QBall, DY and SteveJo, I mean that’s one Top 10 player, one Top 20 player and two Top 40 players. I don’t know if Tiafoe and the rest will match that.

  • Andrew Miller · August 30, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    On Harrison, at the risk of generating more talk, I’ll just say I agree with Scoop. I think it’s odd to go after another player through another player out of jealousy – to pick a fight with one player about another player that picked on a third player’s girlfriend in an odd event in and of itself.

    What’s it say about the tour? Maybe the tour is a lot more intense – maybe these guys compete over women as much as they do rankings points. I guess that makes it a more interesting tour, sometimes it’s easy to forget that these guys all occupy the same social space.

  • Andrew Miller · August 30, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    Dan, I give Roddick a pass – he seems a lot like Chang in some ways with the slam count. Chang however played a lot more matches and is probably more impressive given that a lot of his losses came in his final years.

    As for this generation of Isner-Querrey-Johnson-Young-Kudla etc, I think they have a shot to put up a few more solid results. Johnson is top 50 and keeps getting better, Young always surprises, Kudla’s coming into his own.

    On generation next, honestly I have no idea if they’ll put up Fish-like results or better. Isner is already there in Fish territory. Tiafoe Kozlov…all bets are off until they aren’t!

  • Gaurang · August 30, 2015 at 4:49 pm

    Agree with all your predictions and comments Andrew, Dan, Scoop.

    Here’s my 2 cents:

    Isner: Always has got a good potential. Got better this year after his new coach Gimelstob and now playing close to his best tennis. He has got back upto to #12 in rankings (had fallen to near 20 for a while), and in the 2015 race rankings he is actually at #9. So if he keeps playing well in the rest of the season, he could end the year in top 10, which is pretty good in this hyper-competitive era.

    Sock: Good potential. At 28 rank now, will break into top 20. He is the next-gen replacement for Isner.

    Querrey: Sometimes he is too nice/pleasant kind of a guy and does not have enough fighting spirit and killer instinct. Sometimes becomes almost casual. He has a top 20 game, but now spent a lot of time in the 30s. Needs to pull up his socks and get back to top 20 where he belongs. One interesting thing, he has a very good record against Isner 5-1 or something (didnt check) — he won against him a few weeks ago.

    Johnson: Top 20 game. Beat Tsonga a few weeks ago, which is a great result and shows that he can hang with the best. He has improved a lot in last year, and I think he may reach top 20 at some point in his career. He is the next-gen replacement for Querrey.

    Young: Dropped back to 60s ranks. Has potential for top 25. However, atleast he should get to top 40 — which is very doable. He reaches there and drops back. But I think he will get back to top 40 within a year.

    Kudla: at #74. Finally showing the potential he has. He will break into top 50 for sure within a year.

    Fratangelo: at #113 or something now. I like his game and have been saying he will get into top 100 for the last 6 months. He will be next-gen replacement for Rajeev Ram, who sticks around 80-120 in rankings.

    Ryan Harrison: He has potential for top 20, but just is not made to be a consistent tennis player with a good mind. I doubt he will break into top 100 again. If he does, I am certain he cannot come into top 50. I am more excited about Kudla and Fratangelo than this guy, and have stopped following him completely. In fact, I am more excited about Christian Harrison, and looks like he will start playing soon recovering from his last injury. If he manages to stay injury free he can go beyond what Ryan acheived.

    Donaldson: heading towards top 50.
    Tiafoe: heading towards top 20. The most potential among the younger american guys.
    Kozlov: Top 50
    Novikov: I liked his game a lot when he played US Open several years ago, but looks he never realized his potential. He is around #200 now, and looks set to be a #80-120 journeyman. Would be pleasantly surprised if he does better. If he really digs deep, I actually believe he can touch top 30, but looks like my expectations were too high for his shoulders, so he has chosen to be a journeyman ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Tommy Paul, Opelka, Mmoh, Noah, Fritz: Dont know much but I have read good things. Some have said Opelka will go the deepest because of his serve?

  • Scoop Malinowski · August 30, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    Gaurang, Opelka is more than a serve, he has the whole game, can be better than Isner, is better than Isner at same stage — Paul is the real deal — Kozlov is presently working on changing his serve motion — in NY hoping for mixed WC —

  • Michael · August 31, 2015 at 11:25 pm

    Johnson played the single worst choke of a game I’ve seen in 7 days. He was serving for the 4th set (to take it to five) and he double faulted three times. Just awful.

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