Scoop is at MIAMI OPEN

I saw a little of the Barty-Bouchard match, and I thought, you couldn’t have two young women looking completely more counter opposite. I mean Bouchard is as sleek as a model while Barty is as pudgy as a waitress at an all-night diner. But Barty prevailed. I think Bouchard might be too skinny. She used to have more weight to her shot.

How about Donaldson beating Edmund? Pretty impressive. Edmund must be tired of playing American players after losing to QBall in Acapulco.

Looking forward to being down in Miami starting on Saturday.

Scoop, it sounds like you were super busy yesterday. Looking forward to your next report.

The iguana incident was fun, it certainly provided a change from a regular tennis match. I loved the way Tommy Haas took a selfie with it. Although I thought they should have let the iguana stay and watch the match, but guess it did not have a ticket.

Your description of Nishioka was especially interesting. I thought his ceiling would be top 50, but it sounds like the youngster could go much farther than that.

A good day for youngsters in general, with wins by Donaldson, Fritz, Escobedo and Vesely (who is just slightly older than a youngster). Mmoh lost to Mahut. I was glad Escobedo won, especially after Evans would not stop complaining to the chair ump, I have no idea what he was going on about.

Was sad to see Haas out. Wonder how much longer he will have a protected ranking.

Haas looks amazing for his age, I have seen him practice and I bet he stretches more than any player before and after practice, it doesn’t seem like he has lost any flexibility. Fritz looked dominant from what I saw, but he really needs Sampras in his corner, he could make his points much shorter if he followed some big strikes to the net. Commentators said he may not play much of the clay court season opting to gain fitness instead. (Maybe he should play the us challenger clay court tournaments and work in his transition game)

Haas is so close. The game is there so is the fitness. Just needs more matches and the wins will come. Escobedo looks a bit facially like Spadea. He said Roddicks us open win was his inspiration and he also shared interesting stories about some of his challenger tales. Mature smart kid with bright future. Im a big fan now big believer. Nishioka was down set and break. Tomic did not show up today at 9 am practice court. Kerber was not in good mood yesterday at practice court my source told me. Just interviewed Renee Stubbs on Facing Steffi. Im veryvery pumped now for this book. She said shes still close with Steffi and that her home shows no hints at all of her career. And Andre was right she does not watch a ton of tennis.

I posted photos of Escobedo Nishioka Thiem Haas vs Jiri on my facebook page. Worth a look see.

Lu vs Ruud 32. Ruud up 40 love then multi dueces. Lu gets annoyed by call argues it for at least three minutes. Ruud starts tapping balls off backwall. Guess what? From that duece Lu wins eight straigt pts for 52 then 62. Lesson… veteran stalling tactics do work.

Bouchard was so serious. Not to talk about her off court activities, but they seem to come at a price. It’s hard not to be a monk in this sport and expect big time results. It’s confusing because she’s buff and worked with team addidas, and now she’s exiting early on a weekly basis. I don’t see any adjustments to get game so can’t blame it on not playing her game.

Confusing. Unless it’s not that complicated. She may be more committed to her off court exploits than to cracking the code on the tour. I appreciate her take on things, but maybe she’s just better at public relations than the sport these days.

Should play doubles!!!!!

Andrew –
I’m not sure players think in exactly the way you are suggesting.I would guess most of them take it year by year and a lot would depend on their personal circumstances.
Some women don’t seem to mind scrabbling around in the qualifying etc even after winning a GS title (Schiavone eg)but others would probably think twice about that.
Also,it’s not easy to come back after a break – and very few players would take a break without good reason. Not at the higher level. The caravan moves on.

The problem for Kerber I think – if she has a mediocre or bad year, does she try to get it back next year, or does she retire ? But no one wants to exit after a string of losses – difficult decisions. Men don’t have those complications of course. They can go on until they drop.

Bouchard may have reached the limit of her talent, given her liking for the good life, but she’s still very young and may change.

BTW – there’s no reason to be a monk (nun ?)in the game these days, or even in past days. Not unless you choose to.

As for Bouchard I don’t get it. I’d advocate doubles for her but she seems to be a tour player who advertises her personal life or a version of it. I hate knocking Bouchard especially because I appreciate her work on court and her attitude from 2014.but she doesn’t seem like the girl with the edge that she was. Maybe she doesn’t see herself in another finals. But id think to that shed tell someone to mind their own beeswax.
Just that I don’t see any of the 1.0 in her game. It looks like the same, with a more buff version of heralef, and far less mental toughness. Or, tough on the outside and tough looking but a mental marshmellow.

Nonetheless she’s refreshing and would be a great announcer. Sadly like Sloane Stephens she had moments of greatness and those are hard to detect these days.

Fognini is fast becoming the biggest ass in tennis. Hes leaving a path of aggravating people. Will share later…

Cool story of day. Raonic walking fast out of practice with security. Asian woman follows and yells Raonic. Milos kept walking but raised hishand and reached over shoulder for ball. Not turning around or stopping. Kept walking signed ball and reached held ball up over shoulder for fan to take back. Raonic didnt have to do it. Everyone happy.

Small iguana was under fence on sude of Lu Ruud. Seemed to be looking up at me in front press row. Couldve gone on court just inches away. I tissed oatmeal cookie piece landed a few inches by its head. After a minute he went to eat it. Liked it. Finished every ladt crumb. Ate piece if lettuce too. But couldnt swallow lemon piece. Iguana went to bush but didnt go on court. Lu won easy 6261.

Just saw the Challenger match between Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil in Guadalajara. I thought Vasek, as the more experienced player, would win but Denis took it 6-3, 6-3. In a match dominated by the serve Denis served especially well. But he outplayed Vasek in general, making a few terrific shots and showing some net skills. Vasek said that whatever caused his long slump last season is behind him but, despite his win over Murray, Pospisil is still mired outside the top 100.

To this tennis fan the biggest problem in Canadian tennis right now is not Bouchard who at least is in the top 60 and is still relatively young, but Pospisil. At 26 years old he is about 6 months older than Raonic. Vasek should be in his prime now but he is not getting the results one would hope for.

Another underachiever is Francoise Abanda who is around 193 in the rankings, her highest ranking is 163. She is young but does need to show improvement if she is ever going to crack the top 100.

Re your Milos story, Scoop, just shows what a nice guy he is! 🙂

Pops got a taste of the big time. Hard to not want that again.

Besides notable wins from Tiafoe, who qualified! And Coric, much to my dismay, it seems like vets are holding up well. Great to see Tommy Robredo punch through.

Like that Lucy Safarova triumphed, so too Wozniaki. Who’s woken up nicely since her us open run last year.

So going all blond here,what separates Bouchard from Wozniaki? Must be the veteran thing and perhaps professionalism. Wozniaki isn’t winning big tournaments, but she’s competing well. She has as many adoring fans and as much hunger. Maybe it’s her dad.

Or: How common is it for players to look in the mirror and see Monica Puig? How common is it to get a career result then slump away? Why is it everytime comeback kids like Harrison make an epic run then find themselves barely treading water, especially when the courts favor their game? Why is every player on a roll then blowing it?

Catherine, yes I remember Lynn Seymour. She was from Canada but went to Britain at a very young age, something like 15 I think, and started her professional career soon after. She was a wonderful dancer with fine acting skills. I knew she struggled with her weight but had not known about her love-hate relationship with dance.

I think it is entirely plausible that Graf is not interested any longer in tennis. I experienced that myself. I had my first museum job when I was 17 and gave heart and soul to my career for decades. When I retired I thought I would miss the heritage world terribly. But not only did I not miss it, I had no further ties with it. Other interests, such as photography and poker, took over. And there was more time to rekindle older passions, such as reading and tennis. Funnily enough, it was a Russian poker player talking about Sharapova that got me to explore tennis again.

Hartt –
Yes I understand – when I left tennis publishing I hadn’t a thought about it for years and years and then when I retired from my second job(college teaching) I hadn’t a thought about that either and still haven’t.

I can’t remember what interested me in tennis again- maybe someone suggesting I put some articles together for a book.
I first became interested when lying in bed with a mild case of shingles (yes Andy Murray) and watched every match of Wimbledon 1970. (I played at school but very badly and under duress)

There’s more rain in Miami than there is at Wimbledon 🙂

And Simona on the edge of a 3 set win.

I think slumps are fascinating. How do we square Harrison’s first atp title with three straight early round or earlier losses? This guy was playing some of the best tennis in the world. You go from this crazy absolute high and then all of the sudden, with all well in the world, the next tournament maybe you didn’t lace up the sneakers well, or you missed a practice. Or your coach UPS his rate and asks for cash advances. Or you shoot a commercial and see a sponsor and your practice time goes down. Or all of the sudden an old coach comes back into the picture.
This speaks to Sock, who hasn’t been slumping. Maybe Sock doesn’t trust fame and other stuff. Who knows.

Kohlschreiber won the tough third set TB against Fritz and then showed big-time emotion for him. Even though I like Fritz was rooting for Kohli in this one. Happily surprised when he pulled it off.

Can’t Simona win a match without Cahill coming out and telling her to hit the ball hard ?

I’ll never really believe in her until she can do it without OCC.

Yes I’m glad to see DY power through. That’s the way to do it, you play tough matches. You lose close ones. You learn something. You get closer. You start winning them. And then you keep it up. He’s one of my favorite players when he’s playing well. Getting close to winning a title. I’ve penciled him in for an ATP title this year.

Donaldson should go for the K.O. Any first match against a heavyweight be should play big.