We have another first time Grand Slam major winner, a girl who was losing to Zidansek at Eddie Herr four years ago. Sonic Sofia Kenin outshined the biggest stars in the WTA with her sensational AO win.
Novak Djokovic took another step to all time greatness with his 17th major and one of his hardest-earned, the five set triumph over Dominic Thiem.
Lleyton Hewitt extended his non-retirement with another Grand Slam appearance, another loss with Jordan Thompson to two Korean wildcards.
Benoit Paire is 7-3 this season. All three of his losses have come in final-set tiebreakers. ATP Cup RR: l. to Kevin Anderson 2-6 7-6(1) 7-6(5); Auckland F: l. to Humbert 7-6(2) 3-6 7-6(5); Australian Open R2: l. to Cilic 6-2 6-7(6) 3-6 6-1 7-6(10-3).
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski just won his first ATP Challenger in Newport Beach. The 24 year old is ranked 181.
Tennys Sandgren needed six years to win his first ATP main tour main draw match (Citi Open vs. Go Soeda 76 63 in 2017). Now he’s reached two major quarterfinals and is ranked 56. His career high best ranking was 41 in January 2019.
35 year old Dustin Brown is still out there. He lost in the second round of qualifying to 36 year old Gabriel Garcia Lopez 63 63 in Montpellier. He’s now 2-6 career vs GGL. Brown is currently ranked 230.
Alexsandr Dolgopolov, remember him? He has not played a match since Rome 2018.
The US top ten women’s rankings don’t look like you’d expect: Kenin 7 – career-high; Serena 9; Keys 12; Riske 18; Anisimova 29; Stephens 35; Collins 50; Gauff 51 – career-high; Brady 52; Davis 62.
Top 10 American men as of 2/3: Isner 18; Fritz 36; Opelka 38; Querrey 40; Sandgren 56; Paul 70 – career-high; Johnson 75; Tiafoe 79; Giron 111; Kudla 113 .
Brown · Djokovic · Kenin · Sandgren
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« Previous 1 2 3 4 … 6 Next »Andrew Miller · February 4, 2020 at 5:37 pm
Scoop…Harrison told you this…
https://www.tennis-prose.com/bios/ryan-harrison-analyzes-his-comeback-surge-in-2016/comment-page-1/
Hartt · February 4, 2020 at 5:37 pm
After losing the first set in a TB, FAA won the next 2 sets handily.
I was glad to see young Ymer continue his good results and win against Sinner. I like Jannik, but thought the hype about him at the end of last season was over the top. He had not accomplished much on the main tour, and it will take him a while to be ready to be successful against regular Tour players.
Andrew Miller · February 4, 2020 at 5:45 pm
Wow. Googling my own TP comments is terrible. I called Brad Stine a bad coach. He’s doing good work with Tommy Paul, helping him clean up his game. Worked with Mardy Fish. Roddick of course.
Sadly in googling I also come across gems like “next generation of U.S. men”. And then Harold’s sentence reminds me: we are at something like the fourth generation of the next generation of U.S. men in the big three era.
Andrew Miller · February 4, 2020 at 5:49 pm
Sinner did well to win Next Gen finals, and put up a nice fight after qualifying at the US Open. Only problem: that’s all past history now!
I thought he might face some head and tail winds as he became direct entry to main draws. He needs more matches, confidence, and wins or close, close losses.
Scoop Malinowski · February 4, 2020 at 6:13 pm
Where will Kyrgios go from his heroic January? NY Open, Delray, will he fade or flourish? Nostradamus has no idea either.
Scoop Malinowski · February 4, 2020 at 7:23 pm
Andrew, I remember doing that interview at IMG in late Nov 16. He was flying high then, really confident, happy, he also gave an excellent Facing Murray evaluation that same day. Surely he has another surge or two left. Let’s hope.
Scoop Malinowski · February 4, 2020 at 7:24 pm
Everybody expected Sinner to fly out of the starting gate. You know what they say about having an x on your back. Everybody is ready to put the whippersnapper in his place.
Scoop Malinowski · February 4, 2020 at 7:25 pm
Stine was also with Courier in his heyday. Great coach. Had some quiet years, was with Opelka in late junior, early pro years. I thought Stine could be a suspect coach too but his results speak otherwise.
Scoop Malinowski · February 4, 2020 at 7:27 pm
Bathanie Mattek Sands tweet today: “Be unapologetically yourself.” Hope she means that for Margaret Court too.
Andrew Miller · February 4, 2020 at 8:02 pm
Coaches are important, even if with Courier wonder, how much did it matter? It still matters, the players need the knowledge and structure. Djokovic isn’t a couch potato after slams – his team probably gives him a few days off before it’s back to training. Without the structure he probably becomes more like Jacob Hlasek, or one of his brothers (same shots but can’t find the court…his brothers were OK).
Andrew Miller · February 4, 2020 at 8:04 pm
Mmoh has been winning lately. He was getting there then slumped. Good to see him doing better too.
Harold · February 4, 2020 at 9:20 pm
Maybe some journalists called Hlasek a ā journeymanā, he had just about the same career as Fish
Jeff · February 4, 2020 at 10:48 pm
Tiafoe struggles past Aleks Vukic in 3 sets, faces Brandon Nakashima next after Nakashima crushed Bernard Tomic.
Further proof that Tiafoe has fallen down the pecking order and is a far cry from the player who reached a Slam QF and beat Del Potro.
As I said, the story to watch in U.S. tennis this year is whether Sandgren can become the top-ranked American. I figure he will play on South American clay next since he has done so well on it.
Your top 6 Americans right now are 1 – Isner 2 – Fritz 3 – Opelka 4 – Querrey 5 – Sandgren 6 – Paul.
Dr. Jeffrey · February 4, 2020 at 10:57 pm
I am surprised that Djokovic is being criticized for touching the umpire’s shoe and also for this plastic straw thing. These are the things people focus on when we are watching perhaps the best player in the history of the sport? Was touching the shoe such an offense? Sometimes I just don’t get it.
Dr. Jeffrey · February 4, 2020 at 11:12 pm
Mourataglou can say whatever he wants about Serena. I believe she is still in love with him and will never get rid of him as a result. I know she is married but that doesn’t mean her heart can’t be divided. She had every chance to get rid of him after the US Open fiasco and only slightly threw him under the bus so Patrick never received the blame he should have for that incident which was really all his fault since we all know he doesn’t really coach Serena anyway.
My theory is Patrick is using this statements to set plans in motion for him to glom onto the success of these other young players in his stable. If Patrick leaves her, I am not sure Serena can handle it from an emotional standpoint and at this late stage of her career. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is paying him more these days to stick around. She needs him now more than he needs her because of her emotional attachment.
catherine · February 5, 2020 at 2:00 am
Jeff – Patrick has married again, to an African woman who resembles a young Serena, so I doubt Serena herself can realitically harbour emotions about him now. Not that it’s any of our business.
More important – Serena, like so many of us, has a problem ageing. She hasn’t passed the career milestone she wants, and her body now most probably won’t allow her to. Something hard to deal with and all the other mishaps and failures on court flow from there.
Scoop Malinowski · February 5, 2020 at 5:23 am
Jeff I didn’t know you are a therapist.
Harold · February 5, 2020 at 10:02 am
Heās not a therapist, he wrote his Thesis on The Survival of Tennis and Instagram, he just plays one on Tennis Proseš
If PM is paying her( which I donāt believe), maybe thereās a clause where he can say anything..
Scoop Malinowski · February 5, 2020 at 10:08 am
Jeff please now refer to yourself here as Dr. Jeffrey š
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 10:09 am
Anyone else think Hlasek = Fish? To me: the Puma racquet separates the two. If you played with Puma, you knew how to play (and if you owned Estusa, you knew how to take a Puma racquet, a can of spray paint, and make a Puma look like an Estusa).
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 10:11 am
I appreciate TP exhausting the most consequential topics of the day, such as the on-going saga of: “Mouratoglou: Mr. Marketing, Macci’s doppelganger in Paris, or a Euro Bolletieri? A trick question”
Scoop Malinowski · February 5, 2020 at 10:16 am
Hlasek is Fish. Both edged into top ten, quietly. Both did similar damage in majors. Both won some ATP titles. Hlasek did win a major though, French Open doubles in 92. Slight edge to Jacob, who also played in a Davis Cup final (Fish was on US Davis Cup team that won but did not play, Blake and Roddick played). Again, slight edge to Hlasek.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 10:17 am
Or: “the Curious Case of Djokovic and an Ump’s Shoe”. Another super hot topic.
Meanwhile: Sofia Kenin’s win fades into obscurity, as she begins to be confused with A. Myskina and I. Majoli (or might as well be).
I listened to a few podcasts yesterday which veered between, “We messed up, but if you look at [Kenin’s] wins, it all makes sense” (Tennis Podcast) to “Yeah I totally called it” (Tennis Magazine Podcast). I appreciate the consistency of thinking here.
They could always just keep it at: “Yeah only the Kenins planned to win a slam, and we under-estimated her ability and champion mindset and thirst for a slam”. You could substitute this statement for Gauff’s win on Osaka, “Only Gauff planned to beat Osaka, and we under-estimated her ability and champion mindset and thirst for these kinds of epic wins”
I appreciate at least on the Tennis Podcast that they fumble over themselves and are apologetic in their inability to deal with the inexplicable. At least they give credit where it’s due.
Scoop Malinowski · February 5, 2020 at 10:18 am
Andrew, Mouratoglou gets more press than several top 50 players. But if Andreescu’s dog could talk, she would get more media than Patrick.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 10:25 am
Liked the Hlasek game. Liked a lot of 1990s styles. Believe it or not, the Williams girls are players from the 1990s, and a lot of the all court tennis from the late 1980s, early 1990s, is coming back.
On that return to late 1980s, early 1990s tennis – Jelena Gencic, who passed away some years back, talked about the re-emergence of all-court tennis including net play – TP re-produced a great transcription from TennisWarehouse of her conversation with Djokovic, that captures it.
Jelena Gencic – such a great tennis mind. If only we had a few Jelena Gencics here in the States.
https://www.tennis-prose.com/articles/scoop/the-djokovic-gencic-union/
Excerpt:
“Jelena: Do you remember what I told what tennis game will be after agassi and samprasā¦we used to train not for what the game was at the time, but for what the game will be.
She also says how S&V is coming back in 5 years and he needs to be ready.
Novak: well in that case i need to work on my servis game, I didnāt know that was the case, if I knew I would be better prepared for whatās coming (meaning s&v tennis)
Novak: Iām mostly behind the baselineā¦
Jelena: But why?
Novak: Well thatās where I amā¦Thatās where I feel comfortable.
Jelena: You need to move forward more.
Novak: I think that the combination of those two styles is the best.
Jelena: Yes, thereās no need to go to the net every timeā¦.Variety is the bestā¦whatās happened to your serve? (looking at the cameras) no need to answer me now, donāt answer nowā¦”
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 10:40 am
Some scores from ATP and WTA events below.
Feliciano Lopez d. Ugo Humbert badly, 6-1 6-4. Now, Feliciano loves these wins, but Humbert needed to do a little better in front of a home crowd. Bad result for Humbert, great result for Lopez. Still winning at an old tennis age.
Mannarino d. Popyrin. Looking like a bad day for next gen guys in France. Popyrin has a big game, but losing 6-0 to Mannarino in the third set, after pulling out the second set in a tiebreak, is a bad job. 6-0 6-7 6-0 Mannarino, who basically smashed Popyrin first set, lost the second set by a hair, then proceeded to smash Popyrin again.
Pops vs Shapovalov today. Unfortunate they had to play each other so soon.
ATP – India
Vesely d. Caruso. Nice to see Vesely still playing.
Berankis d. Stebe – That Stebe name is familiar!
Dallas Challenger
Ah…getting to the money rounds of this challenger.
O’Connell vs Menezes – will be interesting to see if O’Connell, who won the second most (?) tennis matches among the men last year (seriously – O’Connell won a huge number of matches on the challengers, which led to the Australian Open wildcard because he earned it!)
Blanch vs Ofner. Wonder if Blanch can keep up his nice 2020 run so far.
Redlicki vs. Kudla – Redlick keeps winning so this is a good test. Kudla gets out of the basement only to go back to the basement of the challenger circuit.
Klahn vs Quiroz. Klahn’s comeback has been a good one, but Klahn’s backhand is probably as bad as ever.
Koepfer vs. Bangoura. Thought Koepfer was swearing off these challengers for the riches of the ATP tour! Must fit better with his schedule
MacMac vs DY. DY has to win this match to show the Kozlov win wasn’t a fluke. MacMac has to win it to show his career on the tour hasn’t been a fluke. Should be a good match.
Seeing the US challenger results next to the Australia challenger results – it’s as if that says it all. US men’s tennis is similar toe Australia men’s tennis.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 10:45 am
Is Andreescu playing Fed Cup?
Scoop Malinowski · February 5, 2020 at 10:52 am
Maxime Cressy is trying to bring serve and volley back, I saw some of his Dallas match yesterday vs Gomez, serve and volley on every point. But he lost 63 46 63. Nice to see that style of play though. No doubt Jelena Gencic was a major piece of the puzzle of what formed Djokovic into becoming the all time greatest tennis player. She recognized the special talent and potential and knew what to do with it.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 11:02 am
Some Tennis World news from TW. Man, Tennis World is BAD.
– Clijsters hitting with Belgium’s Fed Cup squad, and Mertens says she’s hitting as hard as ever. Apparently making a comeback at Monterrey, and with a wildcard into Indian Wells.
– former coach Bresnik on Thiem – that he’ll be number one, and that Massu works well with Thiem (wonder if he said that given the Muster problems). This quote, I know what he is trying to say, but I think it’s fluff. “The harmony and the pleasant handling by Massu are more important than hard training work in the long time”.
That sounds like total [insert choice of four letter word here]. I hope Thiem thinks about more than “harmony” as he enters a match. Bresnik sounded wrong there. Maybe the translation is off. Tennis World…
– Kyrgios, on how being a better person makes him a better player. Some part of me believes Kyrgios is being honest here and that he cares about tennis now for other reasons. This helped Agassi focus himself, and maybe Kyrgios has more reasons to play tennis than his flourishing instagram account.
“I think if I get better as a human, I think the tennis will just follow, so I guess that showed in the Aussie summer.” […] Speaking about his good form, he assessed, “Hopefully I can keep doing it, I’m just taking it day by day, trying to be positive, just bringing positive vibes.” He further added that he will continue to make donations to bushfire relief efforts for every ace he scores over the next few months.’
– I was almost going to re-post a headline on Halep saying Gauff will be in the running to win a slam, then had to read the article. Halep didn’t remotely say that. Tennis World, so sloppy.
And there you have it. A cliff notes version of terrible reporting from a bad source of tennis information.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 11:06 am
The ghost of Jelena Gencic on Serve Volley and Djokovic here in 2020 – see Djokovic’s quote from his post-Australian Open triumph press conference (now I am invoking Tennis World approach to tennis analysis – seeing things that aren’t there š
“[Thiem] was a better player. Probably one point and one shot separated us tonight. Could have gone a different way. I served and volleyed when I was facing a breakpoint in the fourth and in the fifth. It worked both of the times.
It could have also been differently. Serve and volley is not something I’m accustomed to. I’m not really doing that that often.
I kind of recognized that as an important tactics in those circumstances, and I’m really happy it worked.”
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 11:08 am
Excellent from Cressy for trying. Wish more players would use matches to try things, or at least doubles. Too much on the line, rankings move quickly given how many tournaments take place and the rankings issue that others have brought up regarding challenger-level players and how messed up it is.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 11:14 am
Macci is a media guy too. I think both Mouratoglou, Macci have a lot at stake so they make (maybe) a beeline for the microphone as often as possible. I am still stunned by Mouratoglou’s “honesty” regarding the playing level of Serena Williams, I am very surprised how closely his analysis matches up with what is happening on the court for Serena Williams, and I’m used to Mouratoglou being more like a Euro version of a boxing promoter – who plays it cool but is still talking up the player (and his academy).
Macci does the same thing by hyping up Kenin, saying she’ll win multiple slams etc (kind of irresponsible…very hard to do this, it wasn’t easy to win the Australian Open!)
Or Bresnik, talking up Thiem.
Why are they doing this – is it because they truly believe this? To me…no. But Mouratoglou had NOTHING to gain by being honest about the level of Serena Williams. If you want more players at your academy paying full price, I’m not sure if you highlight that “something’s not working for my [friend, player, who knows]”
Anyways. Just didn’t seem like hype-o-rama this time with Mouratoglou and his very clear honesty regarding a player that is struggling. If his academy revolves around getting more players in the door paying 40K euros a year, don’t know if you say: “yeah my players aren’t doing so well”
Maybe being honest he had nothing to lose. For a self-promoter though, that’s a lot to lose.
catherine · February 5, 2020 at 11:44 am
Andreescu is playing Fed Cup, according to Hartt and another report I read. They are playing in Switzerland.
catherine · February 5, 2020 at 11:49 am
Hold it – last I read (TT) Bianca is still not certain for Fed Cup. She says ‘there’s still a chance.’ Doesn’t sound too hopeful to me.
I’m beginning to wonder if she’ll ever be back. I don’t think we’ve been told the truth about her injury.
Hartt · February 5, 2020 at 11:59 am
Andrew, Bianca is a member of the Fed Cup team, and she has been practicing with the team in Biel. The Fed Cup captain, Heidi El Tabakh, has said that Bianca will play only if she is 100%, and they have a couple days before the tie begins.
Hartt · February 5, 2020 at 12:17 pm
Tennis Canada, as part of a series on the behind the scenes staff for Fed Cup, has a feature on the team manager, Andre Barette. His other job with Tennis Canada is the academic teacher at the National Training Centre.
Barette said one of the challenges of the Fed Cup role is finding restaurants that can cater to all the players, many follow special diets such as vegan.
He also talked about the closeness of the team. āI certainly enjoy the competition,ā he said. āThe girls talk about it all the time and itās not made up, thereās a real team spirit and the girls enjoy it. We feel it as the support group too. Everybody is involved in the camaraderie and that tight unit is fun. For me, thatās what makes it worthwhile.ā
catherine · February 5, 2020 at 12:40 pm
Hartt – I know you’re very loyal to Tennis Canada and I can understand that, but as an outsider I really can’t understand what’s happening with Bianca. As you rightly said, playing in the Fed Cup is a good chance for her to test out her play before she starts entering tournaments – but if she doesn’t play, what then ? Looming over all this is the possibility that she’ll have to have surgery.
She’s been out of tournament play for 4 months and she’ll come back with a huge question mark. Everyone knows she has a weak knee. They’ll use it.
Hartt · February 5, 2020 at 1:04 pm
Catherine, it is hard to know what the real story with Bianca is. She and her coach have been very tight-lipped about her knee injury. Actually, it has been 3 months because she sustained the injury at the end of Oct., but that is still a long time. In the videos of her practices, she seemed to be moving OK, but the last time Bruneau spoke he said she still wasn’t playing points.
All this uncertainty is frustrating for a fan, but I can understand why they are being cautious.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 1:30 pm
Andreescu or Clijsters playing FedCup singles…same probability. Maybe brought in for doubles. No way Andreescu plays singles first match back after months off. No way.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 1:35 pm
Menezes d. O’Connell, 7-6 in third in Dallas. Clearly 2020 isn’t O’Connell’s epic 2019, where he had second or first most match wins among all players on the ATP tour, and given paltry results in 2020 his ranking (top 120) will rise in the wrong direction.
Hartt · February 5, 2020 at 1:59 pm
Andrew, I have no idea what to expect, but if Bianca can’t play singles, Canada is in serious trouble. Leylah Annie Fernandez, at 17, has limited experience, and Genie was back to playing poorly in her recent matches. Gaby Dabrowski is a good doubles player, but not great in singles.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 2:23 pm
Too much pressure for Andreescu. One thing to head into an exhibition and quite another to play full-out for Canada first day back on the job. Maybe she says yes to this, but if I were her agent, I’d do the “I’m here for moral support” thing and watch the team suffer – or, watch them play better than expected. I’m sure her being back helps everyone else, and not a bad idea to have Bouchard show she can be a capable understudy for the top player.
Hartt · February 5, 2020 at 2:40 pm
To give Genie credit, she often plays well at Fed Cup, so there is that.
Hartt · February 5, 2020 at 3:52 pm
I watched the scores of Barrere vs Dimitrov while waiting for the Shapo vs Pospisil match to start. Gregoire defeated Grigor in 3 sets!
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 5:48 pm
Pops d. Shapovalov in France. Vets teaching the new generation. Shapo might not be in a tailspin, but this IS another early exit nonetheless. Pops is always dangerous.
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 6:37 pm
Scoop might like this. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, who is a quarter polish according to the ATP write-up just won the Newport Beach challenger title this past weekend. Mere weeks earlier he wrote a scorching tweet about what he faces on tour. It would have been worthy of Noah Rubin’s BTR blog. But gotta say, this is the way to do it.
Three weeks ago:
January 8, 2020:
“I mean you have to really love the sport to play it at the challenger level. I flew alone 40 hours to New Caledonia, played three matches, on court for 6 hours and got $780. Finished at 9:30pm. Totally alone, walk back to the hotel, the only thing on my phone when I turn it on is stupid bettors who lost money telling me they are going to kill me and my family. All this just to lose $1500 on the week. And to be honest, I love the sport. Iām lucky to be healthy to play with so much horrible shit going on in this world. Itās just so so broken. Goodnight.”
Now:
“āI almost didnāt come to this tournament,ā said Kwiatkowski during the trophy ceremony. āI had a really bad week of training last week and my girlfriend dumped me two weeks ago so to win this is amazing.”
Scoop Malinowski · February 5, 2020 at 7:13 pm
Andrew, I have read some of Kwiatkowski’s grumblings about losing money as a pro player, the debt he said he is in. He is pretty close friends with Rubin, they played doubles together in Tally last year. I’m glad these guys are giving a point of view of the harsh struggles these tennis warriors endure. Hard not to root for them to make it. Sandgren survived it for six years and became a star, who is next?
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 8:12 pm
Insane betting in pro tennis. Between the WTA tour promoting anything but its athletes abilities and the ATP tour doing nothing about the harassment of ATP challenger players by gamblers…
Andrew Miller · February 5, 2020 at 9:18 pm
Interesting Kwiatkowski, Blanch, etc now “eating” lunch of former top 30 players such as Steve Johnson. Suggests that the “next gen” is taking over at many levels. First, they go for the top ten. Then guys like Moutet, Humbert – second level next gens, take on the #10s to #50. Below them, the guys #100 to #200 next gen, or sub 25 years old, go for the higher rankings of the veterans like Johnson etc. This is leading to huge turnover on the tours.
Scoop Malinowski · February 6, 2020 at 6:46 am
Krueger beats Bellucci in Dallas 76 in third, 10-8. What a match.