Former NHL player analyzes Serena vs Wang

As much as I like Kenin, I think Barty will win. She can do everything Kenin can do but is a better athlete with a home court advantage.

Harold’s report on R. Harrison, Bouchard welcome. Redlicki, who beat Harrison, was a UCLA doubles champ in the NCAAs, and I know nothing else about the player. He is ranked just inside the 400s.

No matter how great this is for Redlicki, this is another bad result for Mr. Harrison. The guy has the most roller-coaster career of any U.S. prodigy. He needs some help.

A loss by Bouchard to Glatch isn’t a fantastic result either – Glatch never broke the top 100. I remember her as a top U.S. junior player plagued by injuries.

If the U.S. junior powers that be ever get their act together, they’d work on issues such as injuries and umpires for tournaments. They won’t anytime soon!!!

So more players will end up like Glatch, who was a sure thing in a long, long line of sure things on the WTA tour. Glad to see her still playing, her career has been killed many times. It’s good for good players to keep at it. But in the case of Glatch it makes no sense her career was de-railed so many times.

Again, the powers that be won’t work on things like injury prevention any time soon. They prefer young players in casts.

Jon – I get what you’re saying about juniors and their boxes but something I noticed in the Pavs/Kerber match was that Pavlyuchenkova didn’t look over to her box once in the parts of the match I saw – even after prime winning points. She just went on playing. Angie really did the yelling and fist pumping and box glares. Not sure if that helps her.

Did Pavs ever train or live in the US ? Her English is very good.
Sumyk must think he’s died and gone to heaven.

Pavs seems to weave some Medvedev (anticipation, doing a little more with the ball) into her game. Nice WTA website write up. Had no idea Kerber/Pavlyuchenkova had such a fiercy rivalry. They are both good, and Pavs looked especially focused. Apparently something that waxes and wanes with her, she said she had gone “crazy” in the past with her game plans coming unraveled and suggests she has a little more ability to make it through when her game is failing.

For as bad as the WTA site is on the stats and bio side, this article on Pavlyuchenkova and a bunch of other ones have been better than TTonic and TWorld. I am pleased it is decent on occasion, maybe they hire good freelance writers for the slams 🙂

https://www.wtatennis.com/news/1589957/pavlyuchenkova-edges-kerber-in-nailbiter-to-make-australian-open-quarters

Andrew, at least by making the QFs again this year Milos did not drop in the rankings, but remains at No.32. He doesn’t have many points to defend until IW, but he made the SFs last year. He missed the entire clay season, so he does have a chance to pick up some ranking points then.

I do hope he wins a Masters title this year. Somehow it doesn’t seem fair that Dimitrov has managed that, but his contemporaries, Kei and Milos, have not.

Pavs was briefly coached by Kindlmann who now coaches Kerber. I wonder why Pavs let him go, if she did. He lasted 2 months with Mertens. Oh to be a fly on the wall….

Scoreboard check: best US players have slam SF, titles to name. Ergo, Querrey/Isner.

However: young and veteran US men should watch the tape on Sandgren’s Australian runs. Fritz should watch every Sandgren match from the Australian and take notes. Tiafoe should watch every Sandgren match from the Australian and take notes. Harrison, Young, Klahn, struggling qualies players, burned out NCAA vets, Mac Mac, all of them.

I’d encourage the veteran Canadian men to watch him too.

Why? Shows how to gut it out on hard courts, using a game anyone can use.

Didn’t know Pavs/Kerber was so fierce, true rivals. Catherine, I’ll need to watch some of their matches. Sounds as if Kerber wasn’t able to do what she has done so successfully before, almost as if Pavs upgraded her strategic sense and Kerber downgraded hers.

Harrison knows the challengers are tough. He’s spent most of his playing days on the challengers. No shame, just not what he expected in the heart of his career.

It will be endlessly interesting to understand what took place with Harrison’s career, and how he was (I think) the Coco Gauff of his day. I believe he’s not done winning titles, especially in doubles. He may have another ATP title in him if he can get the right sports psychologists and trainers in his camp, and even someone like O’Shannessy that scouts for him.

But where was Sandgren last season? He was ranked No.100 going into the AO. His good result there moved him to No.56 in the live rankings.

The Match Point Canada podcast has an interview with Tennis Canada CEO, Michael Downey. Downey has held that position since 2004, outside of a brief stint at the LTA a few years ago.

He said when he joined Tennis Canada the organization wanted to go in a dramatically new direction. There was a feeling that players, etc., were too easily satisfied, and there should be better results given the resources available. So they brought in Louis Borfiga, who pushed for excellence. Downey said that what they wanted to see now was something he called “humble confidence,” I think he said.

From what people have written here, I wonder if this is the problem with the USTA, that there should be better results given the resources available.

Andrew – I think Pavs has raised her game the last couple of years, playing with more maturity and confidence and Angie, 4 yrs older, has most likely reached the limit of hers as far as strategy and execution goes, although she is looking better than she did this time last year.

Can’t see Pavs winning a slam but this could be a good year for her.

‘The journey continues…’ says Angie. Maybe finally learning to play through the ups and downs.

Opelka has “learned” the Isner height! 🙂

Andrew, from what I’ve read, Dancevic did not take his tennis seriously enough, or work hard enough, when he was in his prime. Then, later in his career it was too late. But he is doing his bit now as Vasek’s coach, and as the Davis Cup captain.

Dancevic was so good! Saw him beat a very young Soderling as a very young man himself in a qualifying round. 17 year old prodigy. Thought I saw the future in Dancevic. Overlooked Soderling!

Andrew, at his best Dancevic was a terrific player. I’ve often referred to the Davis Cup match when Frank was in the zone. It was some of the best tennis I have ever seen, by any player. Unfortunately Frank was not the most consistent competitor during his career.

Catherine, yes it’s interesting that each team will have a top player. Switzerland has a strong team overall, and Gaby, as a doubles specialist, could end up playing a key role for Canada. She has played doubles with both Bianca and Genie.

Felt terrible for Sandgren to blow the 7 match points and lose. What a heartbreaker. The parts of the match I saw he was by far the better player. I think he should have gone for it a couple times on Fed’s second serve on those MPs. As I said, it would have been huge for the United States in the wake of the Kobe Bryant tragedy to see an unheralded underdog like Sandgren beat Fed.

Novak will no doubt crush Fed to pieces now. Looking forward to Sascha v Wawrinka, the German has won both previous meetings

Jeff, I don’t think many in the US would have noticed if Sandgren had beaten Fed or even if he won the tournament in regards to the Kobe stuff.

I could not stand Kobe, never liked him at all, just the stuff he admitted to in Colorado was beyond vile. But his passing and the mourning has taken on a life of its own. Not enough folks in the US care one bit about tennis past Serena for it to even matter. Sandgren, Opelka, Isner do not move the needle for US sports fans even a little bit.

Gauff maybe…for whatever reason there is a big cross over of other sport’s fans being interested. But Sandgren’s run did not really capture much attention at all.

Tennis has low status in U.S. Blame it on ESPN and Tennis Channel! When the rights left name brand channels like ABC, CBS, NBC, viewership went down dramatically.