Jack Sock Vows: I will be back and better than ever

Massu better yes. Appreciated Canas ability to stick with players and grind that out. Thiem seems to have developed an interest in doing this. Mostly he does it AND hits bigger.

Hartt – in Britain most newspapers had specialist tennis reporters but the number of papers shrank and the few now remaining can’t afford to have a journalist just covering one sport. So the tennis people usually only cover the GSs or events in Britain, unless they get freebies, a practice which is frowned upon. I imagine it’s much the same in other countries.

Simon Briggs eg also does cricket and sometimes football.

There aren’t any reporters for the daily newspapers in Canada who specialize in tennis, but there are a couple who know enough about the sport to write the occasional article or feature. That is a big improvement right there.

Andrew, Sinner also has a decent net game, which is rare for such a young player. I know things, such as injuries, can derail a youngster, but I think there is a real chance he will be a superstar.

Scoop – you can’t expect middle-of-the road publications to do the kind of story you like or the reporters will very likely find themselves stripped of their credentials and rocked not just out of the boat but out of their jobs 🙂

That’s just the way it is. It’s the nature of the sport to favour repetition and to be protective. Too much money at stake.

Catherine, thanks for the link. The basic problem of the ATP board remains, an equal number of reps for the players and the tourneys. As long as that is the case, whoever has to cast the deciding vote in ties will be on the hot seat.

I can’t imagine it will be easy even to find a CEO who is acceptable to both sides.

Tennis.life has a report on Bianca. This explains why Bianca has been in Europe.

“After her withdrawal from the WTA Tour Finals because of a knee injury, US Open champion Bianca Andreescu is in Europe consulting some specialists. “She had some tests, and she’s currently in Europe to meet specialists and get different opinions. She’ll see someone on Monday, and then we’ll review it,” coach Sylvain Bruneau during a conference call to talk about receiving a major coaching award in Canada. “There isn’t unanimous opinion on the next steps. However, what we do know is that it’s not anything ultra-serious. But there will be some small decisions to be made. “

Re Bianca, maybe not the variety of specialists they are talking to.

Haha Harold yeah, I send a bunch in to Wertheim. His mailbag is a great feature for tennis. I got one in when Seles was a guest blogger, I was excited!!!

Nadal definitely living rent free in Medvedev’s head!

In the spirit of Harold always suggesting we make too much of Challenger wins here at T-P, The Koz with his win over The Kudla will now skyrocket within six months into the Top 20. Go Koz. He’s got to win the Champaign Challenger first.

Yeah, good win, but Kudla has not been same player. For instance, he lost last week to Roy Smith who rarely wins Challenger matches. The Koz is making inroads, but still no. 437.

Catherine, they showed Ajla at Berrettini’s match, but the last photo I saw of Kiki was with the Fed Cup team in Paris. Benneteau, after breaking his leg while celebrating, is sitting down.

Also, Dominic may not be feeling well. Someone posted that he was coughing a lot during his practice session. The last thing he needs is to be ill again.

Did anyone watch JJ Wolfe play today, the guy looks like a running back or linebacker from Ohio State ( where he went) he’s slowly moving up the rankings and looks much improved from US Open qualifying, wouldn’t be surprised if he has a Steve Johnson run up.

Thiem..tsk tsk. Berretini played well. And first Italian to get a match win at ATP finals. Nice way to cap the year.

Federer, had to play unbelievably well to best Djokovic. Was a bit like a Davis Cup atmosphere for Federer, on a very fast court. No need to cry for Djokovic, that level of play was very hard to pull off even for Federer.

What was impressive and why this is not likely to be seen too often is that Federer needed to gamble where Djokovic would move. If you want to hit behind a player usually they commit and that allows you to place the ball behind you. Given the speed of play Federer’s ability to do this even as Djokovic hadn’t quite committed was special stuff.

Hard to execute. And good for Federer much as he did in Wimbledon final to commit to his shots. Kept his head down?

Every year the ATP Finals put the WTA effort in the shade – and this year is no exception. Hidden away in China, tired and wrecked players, deadly slow courts, grossly inflated prizemoney (so they have something to boast about)- I could go on. Particularly the slow courts – they are killing the women’s game. Lots of complaints about them but the WTA takes no notice because their coffers are overflowing with Chinese largesse – and how long will that continue ?

It’s embarrassing.

Now Cocomania is winding up again. Please.

catherine, we see the divergence from the men and women’s game at a young age. The slow courts and silly Chinese money really amplify and expose it though.

When boys and girls are trained together at a young age, its amazing how they play pretty much the same. The girls try attacking the net, angles, various spins. Both boys and girls want to play an exciting and versatile game.

But for various reasons the girls feel pressure to win early, win a lot, travel a lot, be the ‘it’ girl in juniors. They stop developing their games and get stagnant. The head of girl’s player development for the USTA told us in not uncertain terms. “girls are what they are by age 14, where the boys keep adding to their games”.

Its pretty darn boring to go to even a top level girl’s junior tournament and see 15 courts of girl’s all playing the same style, back up, never go to the net, only topspin, hit to the middle 2/3rds of the court, rarely change ball direction, mediocre serves and returns, yawn.

It transfers to the pros since the pool is pretty much only the top juniors. Add in slow courts, super tacky Chinese events, everyone posting bikini photos to instagram thinking they are a super model…and it makes for a pretty ridiculous scene.

And yeah, Cocomania is returning soon enough. Sorry, but she is just another boring style player to me, she just happens to be able to do it a few years younger than others since she was physically mature by age 12.5. But she does not have one shot that jumps out and says, “wow”. But I guess the WTA needs it to manufacture excitement.