Robin Haase is Slaying #NEXTGEN Stars

Robin Haase has been playing some incredible tennis lately. However, Shapo did beat him this year in Rome, although it was a tough match. Denis won 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.

I am going to the Davis Cup tie here in Toronto next month, and am looking forward to seeing Robin play. (It’s Canada against the Netherlands.) At least as long as he doesn’t beat the Canadian guys!

! am a big fan of Khachanov, so it’s great to see him doing well. Not only is he a good tennis player, but in interviews he come across as an intelligent, charming guy. He is finishing a university degree and reads serious books, a big plus as far as I am concerned.

Yeah Khachanov is very likeable and definitely a dark horse, though he needs things to break his way in the draw. He will no doubt wallop any American he faces in NY.

Wouldn’t be surprised if K goes farther than any of the NextGen. Could be time to call them the NotYetGen

Wow Scoop even more impressive that Medvedev has a Gulbis-like background. His desire is boundless.

Kyrgios tanked the second set quite obviously today. Said to his team during the match: “You’ll never see a bigger tank than the next 3 games.”

Also this gem: “I’m so fucking bored right now.”

This clown’s act has grown so stale.

After the rain Kerber finds available energy and beats Pav in 3 and gets Keys for her reward. Angie felt she played a couple of matches there and she’s tired and Maddie isn’t, so it’s back to the practice courts I would think. But Pav beat Angie three times in 2017 and now she’s lost to her twice in 2018 so we’ve moved on nicely.

Then Kyrgios gf Tomljanovic (on or off ? I never know) takes Simona to 3 and the match is poised with Simona leading just (‘Darren where are you ?’). I mean, losing a set to Tomljanovic ?

Woz retires. Her body’s giving up. Hate to say it but Sloane could have a good chance here – why do I dislike her game so much ? I suppose it’s because she forces opponents to play her way and it’s a way I can’t stand.

Honestly, Nick should be disciplined for those comments if they were audible, as I assume they were. Disrepute ? I’d say so. His stupid haircut gets on my nerves. But why should Nick care about his behaviour when he gets: ‘your game is amazing, your skills….’

Is Federer playing Cinci ? He’s invisible.

The vote on the proposed changes to the Davis Cup takes place today. or, rather a vote to establish the “World Cup of Tennis,” because these “reforms” are so drastic that the Davis Cup will no longer exist. The LTA has just said they will not support the proposal, so I hope that also influences other federations who have not announced their decision.

But at least we will know today.

Hartt- I imagine most tennis followers are completely confused about all this. There’s a revamped Davis Cup, an ATP team competition and the Laver Cup all in there somewhere. Are they all going to be played in one year ? And what’s happening to the WTF if the new ‘Davis Cup’ is played in November ?

There’s such a thing as Too Much Tennis.

I’ll be sorry to see Hopman Cup go. But it’s not a cash cow and no ranking points so byeee…

Tennis isn’t really a team game, so apart from Davis Cup and Fed Cup (hands off please) I can’t see the point of this stuff except pure greed – there will be enormous financial inducements on offer I imagine.

If anyone in tennis wants to see an object lesson in how not to run an international sport they could just glance at cricket, which is on the verge of dying through conflicting interests and too many grasping hands in the moneybags – equalling chaotic scheduling, exhausted players and declining public interest.

Scoop – there’ve always been pirates around tennis. Nick is just another pirate. You can only hope he’s not constructing a plank along which to walk when opponents get sick of his antics.

I’m not a purist and I often wish the women’s game could produce some independent spirits. Maybe not swearing quite so much but really, who cares ?

Darren Cahill just can’t keep his mouth shut – to see the amount of space he gets and the kowtowing of the WTA you’d think Simona had won Wimbledon, instead of the person who did.

Catherine, I will be sorry to see Hopman Cup go as well. It always seems to have a nice atmosphere, and I enjoy mixed doubles. Hopman Cup is one of the few chances to see that. Tsitsipas and Sakkari will represent Greece, and Ferrer will get to play it just before he retires (with Muguruza). So this will be the last opportunity for players to compete in that tourney.

As far as team events go, I did enjoy the Laver Cup. The players took it seriously and gave their best effort. The format wasn’t too onerous for the players, just a couple days and fairly quick matches. And I like the way they choose a host city that doesn’t normally get a big ATP event, or Slam, so those fans can get to see some top players.

Yeah it is true that Kyrgios’ clown act is drawing new spectators to the sport. Scoop is right that he is playing the sport on his terms and we cannot fault him for doing things the way he wants to. Kids idolize him too because he hits these “cool” shots.

Scoop is correct. The guy wants to waste his talent so why should we care?

Davis Cup died many years ago when Roger refused to play and Rafa and Novak and other stars followed suit. Only Murray seemed to keep showing up to beat the US. This may be Roger’s greatest achievement in contributing to the end of a competition that had correctly gone stale.

Money played a big role, maybe not in “under the table,” but of course that is always a possibility. Apparently the federations from South America and Africa voted in favour of the changes because they saw it as a way to get more $. I hope they actually receive the funding they expect, and aren’t disappointed on that front.

I agree with Catherine. I think the new event will disappear in a few years. It won’t be able to compete with the new ATP team event for players. The World Cup of Tennis finals will end in late Nov. 2019 and the ATP team event will begin the end of Dec. 2019.

And it will need to generate enormous revenues to pay back the investment of $3 billion over 25 years.

Scoop, I don’t think the ITF cared one bit about what the players thought. As far as I know, they never consulted the players. This was all about that huge pot of $, and the federations expecting to get more funding.

Any time you have top players whine about an event, it needs to change. Nobody complains about having to go to Wimbledon or the Australian Open, right?

Davis Cup has been trashed by players for year. Sampras hated it, Agassi threw a fit when they hosted a tie in Milwaukee rather than in Las Vegas, Fed – like his idol Sampras – hated it. Nadal helped Spain fall out of the world group by not playing.

As someone who attended the US-Australia match in DC many years ago, it was hardly a great spectacle. The Slams have much more cache. I support this new event wholeheartedly.

The stature of the event depends on whether the top players play or not. This remains to be seen.

I assume federations who voted for the event will want their players to be represented, like the U.S. The USTA was instrumental in these changes and I think they are correct; Davis Cup has no value to millennials who barely watch tennis anyway.

This is a direct response to Laver Cup and the success it generated and Fed wants to have it every year. Laver Cup was only a success because of who played. Fed knew what he was doing and it was a masterstroke by him to create an event, name it for Laver and create new history of the game. I believe this is Fed’s greatest accomplishment since he will create a tennis event that is historic in tennis. The Davis Cup had to step aside in the face of the great Fed’s genius.

I see the French players complaining but they weren’t in the Laver Cup.

Perhaps the Davis Cup has lost popularity in the US, which is a shame. But it is very popular in many countries, including Canada. We get excellent TV and media coverage. And not just the ties that Canada is in, but the finals as well. Just when it looked like Canada could field an excellent team over the next few years, the competition basically disappears. I can’t get overly excited about Canada possibly winning The World Cup of Tennis.

Milos and Shapo got moved to Court 10, and the camera angles were terrible. It was an entertaining match despite that, with Milos winning in SS – 7-6, 6-4. There was NO WAY he was going to lose to a kid.

I think it’s great too to get a world-renowned soccer player like Gerald Pique to invest so much in tennis for the future. Tennis needs to appeal to younger generations and an athlete of Pique’s status only adds to the appeal of the new event. He clearly appealed to many of the smaller federations with his star factor. I really am excited for this new event.

Could be a procession for Simona in Cincinnati. Stephens out and Kerber goes in long match v Keys – Angie’s serve lets her down. She can go to NY now and get some shopping in and try not to flashback 2017.

The ITF is beyond belief. A big reason they gave for having the World Cup of Tennis was that four weeks of Davis Cup tennis (which was actually four weeks only for the two teams in the final) was way too much to expect from players. But now there are plans to fill the two vacant weeks with other events? But aren’t the players way too overwhelmed to play those weeks?

It is just incredibly sad. As one player said, they’ve taken the soul out of Davis Cup. The people who don’t care about DC won’t feel any real attachment to The World Cup of Tennis, but those of us who loved it have lost something.

The one area where I think they should be increasing the $, the Challengers, continues to be underfunded. It seems crazy to me that so many good tennis players can’t break even, much less make a respectable living. But I won’t hold my breath for the ITF to do anything about that.

Judy Murray found an antidote to the Davis Cup decision in salted caramel profiteroles and clotted cream. I drowned my sorrows in something more pedestrian – butterscotch ripple ice cream. We will get over our disappointment and move on, but 118 years of tennis tradition will be over.