Tennis Prose




Mar/17

16

Federer and Kyrgios Dazzle at BNP Paribas

BNP Paribas OpenRoger Federer has never played better tennis than he did last night in totally destroying an in-form Rafael Nadal 62 63. For the first time in his magical career Federer’s backhand actually beat up the Nadal forehand. Federer was whistling winners all over the court with his backhand – up the line and cross court and even the match point was a jaw-dropping backhand return cross court winner that landed on the baseline/sideline corner. Last night’s masterpiece by Federer might have been his finest performance of all. I wish I was there to ask Rafa after the match if this Roger performance was as “perfect” as the one he witnessed up close from Djokovic last year in Dubai.

Nick Kyrgios has taken the next step and apparently has matured his incredible physical skillset arsenals into a perfect symphony with his mind. For the second week in a row Kyrgios has outclassed a very driven and striving Djokovic who is desperate to regain his A plus game which has been curiously absent for the past year. Kyrgios looks a class above Djokovic now and best of all his mind game is on point. Kyrgios is using positive emotional adrenaline now. He is roaring and fighting like Serena and prime Hewitt while also showing Muhammad Ali like trickery and showmanship with his “hotdog” shots. Kyrgios is making tennis look easy and playful like Ali did with his world-captivating boxing talent.

Yoshihito Nishioka also dazzled us this week with his Marcelo Rios-like magical tennis. Nishioka extended Stan Wawrinka to a third set tiebreaker (having failed to serve out the win twice in the third set). Nishioka has a court sense and extraordinary ball control that very much resembles the game of Rios however he has a better demeanor and the positive qualities of a champion which could propel Nishioka to even greater heights than Rios.

No tags

69 comments

  • Chazz · March 16, 2017 at 10:21 am

    Nishioka sure looks like a he will be a top 10 player in due time. Wawrinka actually stood and applauded as Nishioka walked off after the match.

    How about Sock, another tough 3 set victory. I had not seen Jaziri play before and watching the highlights he is a really solid player, that is a quality win for Jack. I also noticed Jack has moved ahead of Bautista Agut into 17th in the rankings.

  • Hartt · March 16, 2017 at 10:40 am

    So far there has been some amazing tennis at IW. I am beyond excited about Fed’s perfect match. If only he can keep up that level – Krgios will provide a real challenge.

    There were a couple things I noticed about Novak’s play, although Nick was playing so well that I think he was slated for the win. One thing was Novak was putting a lot of serves in the middle of the service box and Nick was feasting on those. And when Novak won rallies he was hitting the ball deep in a spot away from Nick, so Kyrgios at least had to move, instead of being planted and rifling his shots. But too often Novak was simply hitting his shots into Nick’s strike zone.

    So can Fed play his best tennis and solve how to win against Nick? It should be a compelling match!

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2017 at 11:32 am

    Chazz; Did you notice Nishioka tried five serve and volleys at the end of the third set? A five foot seven guy trying serve and volley five times at the finale of the biggest match of his life – Wow – to have the courage and the belief to try that and actually execute it successfully was amazing to see – Nishioka could actually achieve beyond Nishikori as hard as that is to imagine –

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2017 at 11:39 am

    Nick had a big letdown after he beat Djokovic in Acapulco as he lost to Querrey – Could Nick have another letdown after this possibly career best win? Going with Federer who also wants to avenge his previous loss to Kyrgios a couple of years ago on the blue clay – I’m very curious to see if Nick plays Federer with the same ferocious emotional adrenaline that he showed against Djokovic – There was almost a sense that Djokovic and Kyrgios have a severe grudge against each other – Can Nick summon that same ferocious intensity against Roger?

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2017 at 11:40 am

    Hartt: I hope your pantry was empty of chocolate yesterday and so you were not able to properly celebrate Roger’s win vs Rafa which I believe could have been his finest masterpiece of his career – It was the first time in Federer’s career that he has been able to beat Rafa three times in a row –

  • Chazz · March 16, 2017 at 12:07 pm

    That is remarkable about Nishioka serve & volleying in the 3rd set. I missed that.

  • Hartt · March 16, 2017 at 12:39 pm

    Scoop, in theory the treats are only for tourney wins, but a case could be made for that amazing Roger win over Rafa! But you reminded me, should get some Lindt chocolates to be ready in case there is a big win to celebrate in a couple days. 🙂

    My big obsession right now, outside of Fed, is if Shapovalov wins the Drummondville Challenger. Because Denis was born in Israel I have been advised to have rugelach to celebrate his victory. But Felix is playing in the tourney as well and if he wins that will also warrant a treat – something French Canadian I guess!

  • Dan Markowitz · March 16, 2017 at 2:50 pm

    Hartt,

    Did Felix win that last Futures final he was in like last week? Is Shapovalov Jewish? Who would you say has the brighter ATP career ahead of him, who’s the better prospect, Felix or Denis? It seems like Canada is following the American route of having great players all come from the immigrant route, Raonic, Popiscil, and now Denis and Felix; sort of mirrors Agassi, Chang and somewhat Sampras.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2017 at 3:08 pm

    If Shapavolov can survive and get past the horrible controversy of hitting that official with a ball in the face it will speak very highly of his ability to roll with the punches and keep on truckin’ – I think Shapavolov has done quite well since that debacle which is a very good sign for his future – I would guess Shapavolov is a little ahead of Felix right now and it’s very hard to say which one has the bigger upside – One fascinating aspect of pro tennis right now is there is a huge abundance of future stars right now especially in Australia Canada and USA –

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    Nice quote by Larry Ellison: “I like the clarity of sports. In so much of life there are so many shades of gray, and the clarity of sports [is that] you either win or lose. On any given day, one team wins and one loses. One woman wins, one loses. One man wins, one loses. So it is wonderful and brutal to have that clarity and finality.”

  • Hartt · March 16, 2017 at 4:05 pm

    Scoop, yes Felix did win the Futures tourney in Sherbrooke last week and Denis won the Futures in Gatineau the week before. Both times poor Gleb Sakharov was the other finalist. I am surprised he is playing this week in Drummondville, he must be sick of these Canadian youngsters! There were 4 Canuck players in today’s round, but Felix just defeated Peter Polansky in SS. As you can imagine with Polansky, there were lots of baseline rallies, although Felix did manage to come in a few times. Generally he served well, had numerous aces.

    Yes, Denis is Jewish. His parents emigrated from Russia to Israel, Denis was born in Tel Aviv, and the family moved to the Toronto area before his first birthday. Canada is indeed fortunate to have so many kids of immigrants contributing to tennis. Fekix’s father is from Togo, his mother is Quebecoise.

    With 2 young players doing so well it seems if one does not get a title the other one will. Felix now has 2 Futures titles and was RU in 2 others. Denis has 4 Futures titles. He is a little older than Felix, he turns 18 in a month. Felix does not turn 17 until Aug. 8. So, not surprisingly, Denis has a higher ranking – he is now No. 234 and Felix is No. 511, although both will go up when the new rankings come out.

    My gut feeling is that Felix is slightly more talented, but it is hard to know how their careers will unfold. As far as dealing with the incident of hitting the umpire, I imagine Denis is dealing with it as well as can be expected. He seems like he really is a good kid who was devastated by the terrible consequences of his heedless action. So people were probably willing to support him. He and Felix are good pals and Denis stayed with Felix and his family recently. Also, Denis’ mother is a tennis coach so she probably understands the situation more than another parent might.

  • Hartt · March 16, 2017 at 4:30 pm

    Denis will go to the next round in Drummondville because his opponent, French player Quentin Halys, just retired. Halys is on one of my youngsters lists so I was looking forward to seeing him play. He had a medical treatment but I checked out another match then and don’t know what the problem was.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 16, 2017 at 4:44 pm

    De Minaur, Shapavolov, Kecmanovic, Ruud, Felix, Kozlov, Fritz, Paul, Opelka, Tiafoe, Rublev, Tsitsipas…this could be the ATP top 12 in a few years 🙂

  • Hartt · March 16, 2017 at 5:25 pm

    Most of them are on one of my youngsters lists. I will be kept busy keeping up with these guys!

  • Jg · March 16, 2017 at 6:24 pm

    And Federer!

  • Andrew Miller · March 16, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    Irving challenger, crazy draw! One day someone will say yeah I went to the Irving challenger in 2017, the players were shockingly good for a challenger!

    Surprised Pablo Carreno, a poor mans JC Ferrero, is in the Indian Wells semifinals. Who could ever predict this?

  • Andrew Miller · March 16, 2017 at 11:55 pm

    Mladenovic, who beat Halep, has had an outstanding tournament. I like mladenovic a lot.

  • catherine bell · March 17, 2017 at 4:34 am

    IW’s form doesn’t always hold up but I’ve a feeling that there will be changes in WTA rankings by RG , with some familiar names on their way out of the top ten.

    I just really wish I liked the game more.

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 6:32 am

    Andrew, as a PCB fan, I would have predicted he could make the SFs. He has been playing very well over the past few months and will be in the Top 20 as a result of his last win. I must admit, though, there were times during his match v Cuevas, especially that close 3rd set, where I doubted he would win. Carreno Busta will be a fresh face in the SFs, always nice to see.

  • Andrew Miller · March 17, 2017 at 7:40 am

    Mladenovic played great! Two dubs players, Vesnina and Mladenovic in iw semifinals. I like both of them a lot. Mladenovic has been unstoppable since the dust up with her coach for fed cup. Vesnina I have liked for a long time. What do they do that Simona can’t? They have no problem finishing off points at net. Superior strategy these days.
    So again, Halep losing to the hot player Mladenovic playing career best tennis, not surprising and not a bad loss.

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 8:14 am

    The draw at the Irving Challenger was indeed amazing. All those guys who were out early in IW decided to go there, except for poor Sam Groth, who went to Drummondville, Quebec, to be greeted by a snowstorm and bitter cold. Several youngsters are still in the tourney – Khachanov, Rublev and Donaldson.

    Meanwhile, in the Great White North, there are a couple youngsters still in the Drummondville tourney – Auger-Aliassime and Shapovalov. I think Groth is still playing doubles – hope he does well to make up for leaving the sunny warmth of California.

  • scoopmalinowski · March 17, 2017 at 8:19 am

    Mladenovic is the latest player to use doubles success as her springboard to singles glory. Like young Kuznetsova. Kiki is a real alpha female who plays with great fire and passion. One of the best to watch. I will drag Dan out to watch a Kiki singles match in miami.

  • scoopmalinowski · March 17, 2017 at 8:20 am

    Struggling Groth needs the points. Probably figured hed see an easier draw than Dallas Irving.

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 8:37 am

    Unfortunately for Groth it did not work out in the Drummondville singles for him – he lost in R32 to Putz. He is, however, in the SFs for doubles, partnering with Canuck doubles specialist Adil Shamasdin, so he has a shot for winning that title.

    Among the youngsters at Drummondville I forgot to mention Alex de Minaur, who plays Felix today. That could be a very good match.

    Scoop, you were asking about Shapovalov in the wake of the Davis Cup incident. He just got a nice vote of confidence by being named an ambassador for the National Bank’s “On the Ball” program where used tennis balls are donated to schools to reduce noise in the classrooms (the balls are put on the bottoms of chair legs). The other ambassadors are Pospisil and Francoise Abanda.

  • catherine bell · March 17, 2017 at 8:59 am

    Andrew

    Simona is one of the names I could see going out of the top ten (Kerber another amazingly for No 1)) unless she can learn to finish points earlier and use more varied strategies. She can’t hit the Mladenovics etc off the court. And her serve isn’t going to give her free points.

    Taking away a stronger player’s power is a good strategy, it’s been used against Serena now and again,
    mixing up the game, slowing it down, all that stuff – but needs a lot of confidence and I can’t see Simona doing any of that as things stand.
    (I wonder what Cahill’s approach will be ?)
    Although, as you say, not a bad loss to Kiki.

    A move to slightly faster courts may give a better picture. Don’t know about Miami.

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 9:57 am

    Scoop, it’s interesting that Mladenovic is another example of playing doubles helping with singles. Kiki is not afraid of the net, a refreshing change. And yes, please drag Dan out to see her play!

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 17, 2017 at 10:50 am

    Hartt: Kiki was a top junior in singles but it’s been slow progress for her professional singles – I have kept an eye on her and it seemed her fitness is a lot better the last two years and that’s helped – But also the doubles success has also surely helped to fund her singles confidence – I still remember seeing her lose in singles two years in a row at Citi Open in DC two and three years ago and she was crying badly on the practice courts with her mom after losing to Nara one year (smashed two Wilsons which I was able to obtain) and then the following year she lost again in singles and was crying with her mom outside the media tent (can’t recall who that loss was to) – She clearly had aspirations and expectations to be a top player in singles and it’s good to see it finally coming now – I have seen her just take over Fed Cup and Grand Slam doubles matches with her very strong personality and fire – She is a great player to watch especially when it’s a very important match with big stakes on the line her big personality comes out then more so than any old match –

  • catherine bell · March 17, 2017 at 10:51 am

    Doubles ~
    It’s easier to conquer your fear of the net if you have someone else on court with you 🙂

    I don’t know if Kerber played doubles in the past, maybe for Fed Cup, but she doesn’t now and she should because it would help her mental state I’m sure. To have to think about another person might be helpful.

    WTA should make a minimum of doubles play compulsory !

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 10:52 am

    Doubles news: After a very strong field, the teams still standing are doubles guys. J. Murray/Soares will take on Kubot/Melo for a spot in the final. Klassen/Ram already booked their spot with a win over Muller/Querrey.

  • catherine bell · March 17, 2017 at 10:53 am

    Scoop –

    How many times have I seen ‘any old match’ finish some highly ranked player off ?

  • catherine bell · March 17, 2017 at 11:13 am

    Hartt –

    Don’t women play doubles at IW ?

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 11:52 am

    LOL, I was kind of expecting this comment. I did have info on the women but had to abandon tennis commentary for a while to do more practical stuff. 🙁

    Chan/Hingis won over Mattek-Sands/Safarova and will face Hradecka/Siniakova who beat Makarova/Vesnina. There is a piece on the WTA website about Chan and Hingis teaming up. They did not know each other except as competitors but thought they had gelled quickly as a team.

    Vesnina is having a good tourney in singles. She beat Venus and will play in the SF.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 17, 2017 at 12:01 pm

    Hingis/Chan achieve instant success together – Had a sneaking suspicion that Hingis would go down fast this year after the Coco union dissolved – Obviously Hingis has a lot left in the tank – Hope TC shows this final –

  • catherine bell · March 17, 2017 at 12:18 pm

    Hartt –
    I forgive you. TBH I only know about the doubles because the scores come up on the WTA results page 🙂

  • Andrew Miller · March 17, 2017 at 2:46 pm

    Halep, in mirror, sees Giorgi 🙁 as much as I love giorgi when she’s on she too has a rankings range of top ten to top 310. Similar to other streakier than hay players.

  • Chazz · March 17, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    Wow, Kyrgios drops out because of sickness! Federer is into the semis and awaits Sock/Nishikori winner.

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    So we won’t get the excitement of Fed v Nick!

    Hingis seems to have great doubles success with most partners.

  • scoopmalinowski · March 17, 2017 at 6:29 pm

    Any details on what food supposedly gave Kyrgios food poisoning? Was it food eaten on site? Was anyone else afflicted. The knee jerk reaction is it could be a duck.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 17, 2017 at 8:12 pm

    Sock’s backhand pounds Kei and powers into first ATP 1000 SF – Sock pick as winner looking pretty good right now –

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 8:45 pm

    It sounds like Sock was impressive against Kei. Sorry to have missed the match. I am happy if Jack ends up playing Fed for the title but am afraid that is where my rooting for Sock will end.

    I just watched Denis Shapovalov win his Challenger match in Drummondville against Blaz Rola. Denis, at 6′ and 150 lbs. looks like a scrawny kid against his older opponents. Rola is over 8 years older, 4″ taller and about 35 lbs. heavier. What impressed me about Denis, in addition to some very good serving, was his mental toughness. In the first set Rola was serving for the set in a TB but Denis did not waiver and ended up winning the TB. For what ended up being the final game, with Rola serving, Denis sort of skipped from his chair to the baseline. I thought then he is going to get the break here and win the match.

    Felix is on next.

  • Scoop Malinowski · March 17, 2017 at 9:09 pm

    Hartt; Sock looked like the better player and that’s saying a lot because Kei is a consistent top five stalwart – Sock is coming of age now finally and it’s a pleasure to see – Like I said before Sock is a top ten/top five player and he can be even better than that – Next up is Federer in the SF which is going to be a touch challenge as Sock is 0-2 vs RF and he’s lost all four sets they’ve played – It’s looking like Shapovalov and Felix will hit the top 100 or 150 next year –

  • Andrew Miller · March 17, 2017 at 9:45 pm

    Sock’s awful backhand propels him onwards! Well done Sock. Just saw his rally shot miserable backhand and I am proud to say that statements regarding the improvement of his backhand are highly suspect. He has developed some fantastic touch and clutch volleys as well as the ability to hammer the forehand from anywhere.
    Who needs a backhand anyways.
    Jack Sock: No backhand and plenty of game.

  • Andrew Miller · March 17, 2017 at 9:47 pm

    Would love to see Sock win IW. Huge.

  • Hartt · March 17, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    Auger-Aliassime just won over De Minaur 7-5, 6-3. What impressed me about Felix in this match was he was far from his best, making too many UFEs, and still managed to win. De Minaur was playing well in the first set until he got very tight when serving for the set. He was handing Felix that game, giving him a lot of break opportunities and Felix finally got the break, then held to take the first set.

    Felix will jump over 100 spots when the next rankings come out. I agree that both he and Denis have an excellent shot at top 150 next year and maybe even top 100. In fact, Denis could even make top 150 this year.

  • catherine bell · March 18, 2017 at 4:44 am

    Two Russians in the IW women’s final 🙂 And Vesnina had no problem with Mladenovic – why did everyone else ?

    USA can’t be happy with their showing here. Where are all those NBTs ?
    Or do we wait for Miami ?

  • catherine bell · March 18, 2017 at 4:53 am

    Don’t expect to see a full stadium for the women’s final – it’s not the players’fault, they both deserved to get there, but just more evidence that the circuit needs a crowd puller and Serena was the last of those for the time being.
    (Sharpie will draw crowds through morbid curiosity)

  • Hartt · March 18, 2017 at 7:23 am

    IW had a big impact on players’ rankings. In live tennis rankings Sock is now at a career best of 17 and would go to No. 12 if he won the tournament. For those of us who said he would be a top 10 player he is getting closer with each tourney.

    Carreno Busta is also at a career high – No. 19 and would go to 15 if he won the tourney. PCB has said his goal is Top 10 and, if he keeps playing well, he could eventually get there.

    Federer is at No. 7, important because it means a top 8 seeding. If he wins the tourney he would pass Rafa for the 6th spot.

    Of the 4 players remaining in the draw Stan is the only one whose ranking does not change as a result of IW, he remains at No. 3.

  • Chazz · March 18, 2017 at 9:05 am

    Interesting numbers Hartt. For the first time I have ever watched him, I thought Sock’s backhand was not a liability. I’m not going to say it was an asset but it didn’t hurt him. He played a great match; something was off with Kei, lots more unforced errors than usual but Jack might actually just be a bad matchup for Kei with how big Jack’s topspin is. Kei never really looked comfortable in the match.

  • Hartt · March 18, 2017 at 9:18 am

    This is so annoying! One of the few times I can’t be home on a Saturday afternoon and Denis and Felix play each other in the Drummondville SF. In live tennis rankings Denis is at 220 and Felix at 374 – for him a jump of over 110 spots when the new rankings come out. So one or the other will go up a bit more after their match today.

    Tennis.com has a nice piece on Jack Sock and why he is doing so well, including improving the mental aspect of his game.

  • Andrew Miller · March 18, 2017 at 10:09 am

    Kuznetsova and Vesnina are super solid, Kuznetsova borders on spectacular when her game is on. IW should be used to the global game 🙂 Still surprised Kerber is still in the dumps. This isn’t the Kerberizer out there but her alter ego the Kerberized.

1 2

<<

>>

Find it!

Copyright 2010
Tennis-Prose.com
To top