Who will be the next first-time major title winner?

I don’t think there will be a new Slam winner until 2015 and maybe Aus 2016( oz seems to pop in a surprise every once in a while).
Nobody outside the top 4, and I mean Djoko, Nadal, Murray and Delpo, can put together a 7 match run, with 2 and maybe 3 huge upsets coming in the quarters, semi ‘s and Finals. Too much to ask for someone seeded 9 or higher to put together that kind of run, unless the draw opens up bigtime, and other than Wimby 2013, that rarely happens.
At this point no one jumps out that could make that run,Fed and Raonic at Wimbledon, the only maybe’s

If you plays the way he did against Murray the other night–and I didn’t even see if he won the match, but I imagine he did–he’s going to be very hard to beat. Murray has such a creampuff second delivery sometimes. It’s a great testament to his retrieval ability that he can get away with that kind of a second-rate second serve.

Tsonga hit one ace out wide on the deuce court against Murray that Andy swung at and missed by about five feet. It was awesome. And he displayed an uncanny ability to serve and volley. If Tsonga can speed through his service games and play Pete Sampras-like tennis where he knows he can just crack second serve returns and go for it on his return games because he’s holding very comfortable, he’ll give Nadal and Djoko a run for the title. Murray has no shot of winning the Aussie O the way he looked.

On the mens: Jerzy Janowicz. He has the mix of power and skills needed, the fire when focused, and was 2 matches away from doing it already at Wimbledon.

On the women’s: Bojana Jovanovski. She’s doing better now that she toned down the aggression a bit. Instead of trying to smash every ball she’s been mixing it up a bit.

No wonder Thiem did not play US Open Qualis – he did not enter directly and he did not want to fly to NY for nothing.

DY tends to under-prepare. Why he is so streaky.
Harrison says he is on every ball last year was a fluke and that he sees himself top ten. He says doubt was why he was in the 100s.
(Good luck !)

Will say this: Brisbane qualifying rounds weren’t impossible and Harrison succeeded where the other U.S. players didn’t. Got to beat who’s across the net to advance.

– Klahn lost in 2nd rd qualifier
– Rhyne Williams lost 2nd rd “”
– Odesnik lost 1st rd “”
– Kuznetsov lost 3rd rd “”

Querrey beat Tursunov in main draw. Good start.

Look out for Kokkinakis. He and Kyrgios seem to have a plan to join Tomic as team Australia. Ebden is playing good ball also.

As for Doha, score was 6-4, 6-4 on the Thiem-DY match. That’s better than a 4/1 result but still a let-down for DY and another kudo for Thiem.

That’s more like it. I wish Harry well. He has talent there’s not doubt about that. I’d prefer he say something like, “I’m going to use my big serve and return to step into the court and take no prisoners.”

And yes, I see that Thiem only won 4 and 4.

Dan was pretty positive there. If Harrison does step in and take the ball on the rise like dan and scoop recommend top fifty can happen.

Loss: 6-7, 6-7 to hard serving Sam Groth. Harrison needs to win that match.

Thiem loses to a German gowolczyk . 0-6 in 2nd set. Maybe the tour really is anti young players.

You want to get back in the Top 50 and you lose to Groth. Groth who’s wife was a better player than he is and is ranked No. 175? Are you kidding me. It’s early, but it’s getting late for Harry. You know, I’m reading Rick Macci’s book–talk about a guy who loves tennis and what a tan!–and he said about Roddick, who he coached as a junior, if he only stepped into the court he would’ve won more slams.

Harry’s got to stop playing this loopy defensive style of play and learn how to shorten points. The guy is not the second coming of Hewitt, and he plays like a junior still.

Courts playing faster? Groth serve is massive. Harrison did say win lose draw he would play for keeps and stay focused. Crowd might have been pro Groth in Brisbane . agree on the Harrison game – the attitude is always a+ and the game doesn’t match the attitude yet. Could though.

No, I thought Groth would be off the tour by now, but he is what he is so far, a career Challenger player and Harry has lost to a lot of those of late. Do I have to say the name Daniel de la Munoz?

Maybe the young players just aren’t as good as they need to be. Groth had been making later challenger rounds last year as a gatekeeper – if a player beat him they had a good shot at semis or finals of challengers. His serve is big. But I got to agree with dan because the rest of the groth game is not the same. If you get the serve back it is like 2001 karlovic just keep the ball in play and wait.

Young players might not be improving enough. Players need to hit their best combos well and then add to their shots – a better backhand or serve or service return etc and of course do the new stuff in matches and win with it.

Germans doing good in Doha: Gojowczyk and D. Brown. Gojowczyk beat Thiem and his countryman Kohlschreiber. Brown doing well also.

So far this year’s story is: better technique and strategy wins.

For what it’s worth, here’s what Klahn said in September to Chris Hayes from “Tennis Nerds”. I have yet to see any other U.S. player honestly admit the issues in their games and how they are working on them. Usually it’s “I lost confidence” or “I just need to play my game” but rarely “Yeah I am working on my forehand, sharpening it up so I can stick it on the back line”. Who knows what Klahn will do when push comes to shove, but the below is good stuff.

“My biggest focus when I started out last year was improving my serve and backhand, and I feel that although there is still plenty of work to be done in both areas, they have come a long way.”

“This off-season, my biggest focus will be improving my strength and conditioning, as well as cleaning up my backhand and returns. This off-season will be crucial for me to establish my base for the upcoming year, and I am looking forward to tackling those challenges.”

“I try to stay away from such specific ranking goals, but it would be a great accomplishment to gain direct acceptance for my first grand slam. In order to do that, however, I need to really focus on improving my consistency from point to point. If I take care of the little details, the rest will take care of itself.”

D Brown is without a doubt the most entertaining player to watch on tour bar none. In fact, there’s no one even in his league entertainment-wise. When he beat Hewitt at Wimby last year it was incredible tennis. For Brown to beat Ivo that’s quite a feather in his cap.

When he beat Q-ball at Newport a few years back, it was like Sam was this white dull color and Dustin was this phosphorescent orange color. His game is just so much more fun to watch than a Querrey’s.

Thanks Scoop for the 411 on Jerzy. I’d forgotten about his shoulder surgery. Hope it’s minor as you suggest. A lot of players are never the same after shoulder surgery so it’s worrisome.

Gulbis is another potential slam winner. He won Del Ray and St Petersburg in 2013 and when he gets hot can beat anyone. He lost to Nadal 5-7, 4-6 today at the Quatar open but it was a very winnable match. He kept blowing his first serve which cost him many points.