Mar/17
4
Sam Querrey is officially now “The Samimal”
71 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
When you beat two top ten players in the same week and then top it off by beating the NEXT GEN superstar-in-waiting who just trounced Novak Djokovic 76 75 it’s officially time to be given a fresh new nickname/alter-ego: I now pronounce that after these big wins – and the future big wins Q Ball will surely score – Sam Querrey is to be referred to as The Samimal 🙂
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« Previous 1 2Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 11:07 am
Hartt; I believe this is the first you have mentioned that you are a Berdych supporter 🙂 Perhaps it is a quirk that Berdych’s fans are very quiet about their allegiance and fondness of T Berd 🙂 I like Berdych but he is one of those very good players like Ljubicic Nalbandian Cilic Raonic who play nice tennis but they don’t have charismatic personalities on court that inspire fans to really help drive them with that extra push to victory – Working the fans into their favor is an art that just about all top players can do and Berdych has not mastered this –
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 12:08 pm
Berdych has a clean as a whistle game. He finds a way to lose in most of his biggest matches.
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 12:11 pm
Berd’s had a lot of big wins in GSs too but before the finals – Berd would have won three majors if he was born fifteen or twenty years earlier –
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 12:16 pm
Escobedo is 100% public parks! Awesome. Another reason to like him. I like his game, needs to work on explosiveness and movement to the backhand wing. That will free up that side and give him defensive options.
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 12:17 pm
Indian Wells will give a clear idea of the field. Us men have to show up here and Miami. They have to tear up the field.Lloyd Carroll needs to call them all journeymen now so they do well!
Hartt · March 6, 2017 at 12:19 pm
Yes, Berdy is on my list of top 7 faves. It goes, mainly in order: Raonic, Federer, Murray, Nishikori, Thiem, Berdych and Goffin. Then there is another list of 7 which includes guys like Kohlschreiber, Sock and PCB. If Sock and PCB continue to play well they may get promoted to the top list. Plus 2 different lists of youngsters. It is my way of having some fun with tennis.
And I have a new thing. Traditionally I have Lindt chocolates to celebrate a Fed win, but expanded it to shortbread when Andy won Dubai. Only a few players qualify or I will gain too much weight! But Milos, Kohli and Shapovalov (when he gets his first Challenger title) will warrant an appropriate treat. On the Your Call thread on Tennis.com someone even posted wonderful photos of possible treats. Now I REALLY want those guys to win.
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 1:30 pm
Which us men’s player will step up next? Despite all the optimism I have to throw some cold water here. Unfortunately the fields are stronger than ever and a lot of players ate looking to get other players back. Nadal will want to win this. Federer will want to win. Djokovic will want to route the field to prove he’s ok and losing Boris Becker was no big deal and that his twelve word press conference is the norm from here on out.
In other words a lot of people enter the field with something to prove. It’s very possible they show zero mercy to opponents as the top ten get their revenge on the rest of the field.
Chazz · March 6, 2017 at 1:58 pm
From what I have seen of the Americans, Fritz isn’t ready for prime time yet until he becomes more aggressive. I saw his Delray match against DY and he lost because he was too passive in the deciding set. He has a really good looking game though. Tiafoe might be more ready than him at this point. Harrison and QBall(!) are ready to do more damage. I don’t expect Isner to go very deep in many tournaments anymore. Sock is ready to take the next step. Johnson is playing well too. Overall, I would have to give the edge to Murray at Indian Wells, he is just so consistent right now. If not an American, I would like Federer, Nishikori or Dmitrov to take it.
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 3:53 pm
Until young us players hire physios physical fitness staff they won’t see the top fifty again. That’s what Thiem did.
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 4:50 pm
Basically, young guys aren’t vets. After Sampras won his first slam at the 1990 us open and was riding high on the confidence, he ran into players putting a big x on his back! Like most players or even Kerber he couldn’t summon much of his best tennis a year after his breakout. He even said more or less he was relieved he lost to courier at the 1991 us open.
And Sampras is one of the best players to ever pick up a racquet.
Guys like dy as Scoop said SHOULD beat Fritz and come back and take advantage of how green the young players are.
We downplay it but the veteran mentality is gold. That’s why we are in awe whenever a young player breaks into the winners circle, even if we are harsh on 25 year old Milos Raonic, who is in his third great year in a row.
The veteran mentality is hard won. They relish winning!!!
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 6:20 pm
Andrew: USTA needs to hire Lloyd Carroll to work his magic at post match press conferences – I guarantee if Lloyd Carroll calls DY a “journeyman” DY would be top ten within a year 🙂 Lloyd Carroll could be the secret weapon of US Tennis if the USTA thought outside the box 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 6:23 pm
It’s now official: Hartt has come out as a T Berd fan 🙂 Those Lindt chocolates are incredibly good – dead even with Hershey Kisses in my opinion 🙂 Hartt you may have to join a fitness gym if Fed keeps up the incredible level of play 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 6:28 pm
I think Sock is head and shoulders above the rest of the US players and there is nobody who can unseat him however Fritz has shown he could be the guy to knock off Sock as he extended Sock to five sets last year at both the Aus Open and US Open – I would expect that Fritz will close that narrow margin this year or next year – Physically Fritz is still a colt and not quite a full grown fully matured thoroughbred yet – Opelka is another guy to watch out for – Also Tiafoe and Kozlov could break out at any time too with a big win – I mean every single one of the young Americans is on that cusp and could be the leader – Was kind of surprised that Donaldson and Rubin were bypassed for IW wildcards – Presume they will be in qualies –
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 6:30 pm
Andrew: All the USTA players work with that guy Rocket marshall for fitness and the outsiders like Sock and Johnson do their fitness on their own – I don’t think fitness issues are any kind of problem for the US players who are all supremely fit right now –
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 6:34 pm
Andrew: It’s really simple – veteran players have heaps more experience and they have won heaps of more matches therefore veterans KNOW of many different subtle sneaky intricate clever ways to win a match – the younger players have not won nearly as many matches at the ATP level and so they are at a disadvantage – When the younger players like Fritz show that he can consistently and steadily beat veterans in his rookie year like he did last year it shows that Fritz is a very special player – I witnessed several of his wins over veteran ATP players and have no doubt at all that Fritz is going to be a great player – Hopefully his early marriage and child will not present any kind of distraction to his tennis career – One thing that I wonder about is would Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi and Roger Federer have achieved the same great success that they did if they were married with a baby at age 19?
Hartt · March 6, 2017 at 7:59 pm
Scoop, if both Fed and Andy continue to win titles I will have to hit the stationary bike. However, Milos has withdrwn from IW, so there is no chance of celebrating a Raonic title soon. He is defending finalist points, so this is very bad news.
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 8:10 pm
Scoop, to me the big deal with the us men is we have an older group of us men being pushed to their finest and most courageous playing ever out of fear of losing their seats to the young us players. These guys like Sock and Querrey are caged beasts! Pushed into the corner they have responded with an undeniable streak of strong play since Fritz made the Memphis final.
Basically all the us men need is a bunch of younger players gunning for their rankings and Davis cup spots and headlines and Lloyd Carroll telling them all that they are washed up journeymen!
Scoop, Lloyd Carroll is the most influential person for usa men’s tennis in years. Which was more effective, Pat McEnroe telling everyone to wait their turn or Lloyd Carroll telling Fish he was a journeyman?
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 8:14 pm
In other words Fritz and Tiafoe don’t need people praising them. They need Lloyd Carroll telling then they are journeymen and hyping up the us juniors and talking about how the us juniors will soon overtake them and to watch their backs!
As for the young guys ive said it before, best thing is that there are so many coming up at the same time. As soon as one of then breaks through for real another one will want to pass their ranking. And this will repeat. Riddick alone at the top led to him getting worse, then Blake passed him and it was all oh heck no! Oh no sir!
Roddick needed Blake. And then Fish needed Isner. When it comes to us men’s tennis they need another us men’s player going after them.
Check it out! Never fails.
Andrew Miller · March 6, 2017 at 8:19 pm
I think there was even a piece out there on the sad story of Harry before he trusted in his team and completed his miraculous comeback. How he was a cautionary tale.
Harry’s response to some seriously depressing press?
Top fifty ranking. Obviously praising players is a terrible idea.
For parents they can’t be critical like Lloyd Carroll. But there is no substitute for bad press. It wakes players up.
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 10:24 pm
Whoa I guess that injury in Delray vs Delpo was real – hope it’s not serious – nobody wants to see Raonic go on injury hiatus now when he’s so so close to winning a big title –
Scoop Malinowski · March 6, 2017 at 10:29 pm
Andrew: What Lloyd Carroll stands for is exactly what the USTA needs – overflowing young talents with too much praise is a career killer – I was discussing this at Delray with an insider – the USTA tendency to choose certain talented teens and turn them into “golden prospects” goes to those kids heads and they think they are future Grand Slam winners – They get their Nike gear and they get complacent meanwhile all the other juniors are hunting them down – Johnson Sock and Isner all resisted USTA as juniors in part because of this reason – So yes the Lloyd Carroll approach of tough love is what young talents need – All the NEXT GEN US players need to be taken into a room and let Lloyd Carroll tear them up verbally –