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Verdasco’s Delray Beach Adventure
7 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
By Scoop Malinowski
Fernando Verdasco is back at the Delray Beach Open trying to revive his tennis career at age 39 and ranked 133 in the world, he’s not about to surrender just yet.
Today Verdasco, granted a wildcard, will meet Radu Albot in what will be the Spaniard’s Delray Beach Open main draw debut.
Verdasco’s last appearance in Delray Beach was twenty years ago. He played qualies here in 2003 as a 19 year old ranked 161 in the world (Jan-Michael Gambill won the title in Delray in 2003 60 76 vs Mardy Fish in the final). Who did Verdasco lose in qualies to? Brazil’s Francisco Costa 62 64.
Verdasco is 4-0 career vs Albot, including wins at 2016 Bucharest 63 61, 2019 AO 61 76 63, 2019 Madrid 62 36 61 and 2022 qualies in Estoril 63 67 63.
With seven career ATP singles titles and a former high ranking of no. 7 in the world, Verdasco isn’t ready to put his Head racquets in the garage just yet. Remember, the talented lefthander is one of the “comeback kings” of the ATP. Verdasco is no. 4 on the ATP active player list of most comebacks from two sets down. Verdasco has engineered seven comeback wins from two sets down, tied for fourth place with Novak Djokovic (1 Murray with 11, 2 Fognini with 10, 3 Cilic with 8).
The road to one last ATP hurrah continues today for Verdasco on stadium court this afternoon.
Here is my Biofile interview with Fernando Verdasco
adidas · Australian Open · Delray Beach Open · Fernando Verdasco · Head tennis · Spain
7 comments
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Cory · February 14, 2023 at 8:37 pm
Verdasco is done. He just can’t beat anyone anymore. At least not Albot, who is always steady and reliable. Say it ain’t so! I like Verdasco and am rooting for one last hurrah but alas…
Also, Sock… put a fork in him. I could beat Sock right now. A “permanent” switch to doubles should be in the cards, as another reader here suggested would be logical. He can’t beat anyone.
Scoop Malinowski · February 15, 2023 at 8:09 am
Cory, looks like Verdasco is finished, he lost to Albot 76 76, a guy he previously owned. That’s another nail in the psyche. But he won’t go down without a fight, he will keep grinding and asking for wildcards. For Sock, this is beyond devastating. To lose to a guy in his first atp main draw match at 33 years old has to be embarrassing and humiliating for an elite player of Sock’s stature. But Sock also has to blame himself, after losing in Dallas to Fritz on Thursday, Sock went to Arizona for the Super Bowl and some golf event. He made the choice of leisure activities over dedicating to career. Surely he didn’t train out there and arrived in Delray from AZ on Monday and got what he deserved, the worst loss of his life. And all this after asking Delray for a wildcard. He disrespected Delray and the wildcard, other players like Sandgren, Svajda, Escobedo, etc surely would have respected that wildcard more and got to Delray early and prepared better than partying at the super bowl.
Cory · February 15, 2023 at 4:26 pm
Wow Scoop, nice find. Agree. Receiving a wildcard to these ATP250s is a gift… he’s had a bad 2022 and had a chance to right the ship. Shame. Maybe he was partying in AZ with the fake Damar Hamlin… did u see him there on 1/28 and just 1 day later on 1/29 had his neck tattoo “removed” and had a fully cured astronaut tattoo on his hand (that wasn’t there a day before)? Something rotten going on in Denmark. Pfizer and the NFL have a lot to lose. Sorry to digress but while you were on the superbowl….
Scoop Malinowski · February 15, 2023 at 7:02 pm
Cory, obviously a counterfeit Hamlin, the whole scam smells of fraud and deception. Fake tattoos. They can pull off anything now. Sock has to go Rocky Rambo and leave the wife home, the ATP tour is a fierce vicious jungle not an endless vacation. Sock has to treat every match like Life and Death. Verdasco is fading fast. I remember he was shaky about six years ago at US Open he was playing his buddy F Lopez and F Lopez said to his box during the match, “He’s the worst player in the draw.” He said it in Spanish and the guy next to me translated and told me what he said. So Verdasco is lucky to still be hanging on by a thread. F Lo won that day too.
Cory · February 16, 2023 at 8:16 pm
Speaking of Feli, he’s announced his retirement and will play just a handful of events with a wildcard, as his ranking has gotta be 1000+ now.
Also is Denis Istomin done? He can’t string together wins… had a miserable 2022 on the Challengers. Now like 35 years old. Hasn’t played since november?
Scoop Malinowski · February 16, 2023 at 9:05 pm
Cory. I think Istomin, Cuevas, Lopez, Young, Harrison, Sock, Gulbis, Nishikori, Verdasco, are all done but they don’t realize it yet. Too many tough strong young guns coming up fast.
Scoop Malinowski · February 17, 2023 at 8:23 am
Mike Tyson attended Delay Beach Weds night, saw the Pecotic vs Sock match with daughter and Venus Williams. Tyson prefers tennis over boxing now, you rarely see him at any boxing matches in recent years. Boxing has been ruined by endless ducking and dodging by many of the bigger name fighters to protect their fraudulent records. The whole sport is a disaster now. Tennis is much more interesting.