2018 Player Line-Up
2018 Main Draw Player Acceptance List: 4 Wild Cards remain to be given:
Krueger, Mitchell
Laaksonen, Henri
Lopez Perez, Enrique
Mmoh, Michael
Opelka, Reilly
Paul, Tommy
Polansky, Peter
Polmans, Marc
Rola, Blaz
Santillan, Akira
Young, Donald
Bagnis, Facundo
Bellucci, Thomaz
Clezar, Guilherme
Daniel, Taro
Harrison, Christian
Kavcic, Blaz
Kecmanovic, Miomir
King, Evan
Koepfer, Dominik
Kozlov, Stefan
Arnaboldi, Andrea
Sarasota Open Main Draw Wild Cards
Sebastian Korda
Tyler Zink
Chazz · April 12, 2018 at 5:10 pm
Tommy Paul is alive!
Scoop Malinowski · April 12, 2018 at 5:29 pm
Paul is 162 in the world. Hasn’t played since beating Satral in Dallas Challenger then lost to Kudla 76 64 in R16. Before that he lost in Newport to Christian Garin 64 63. So he’s been out for two months. Another MIA guy Bernard Tomic lost in Lille France Challenger to Antoine Hoang 26 62 46 in late March and hasn’t played since. Tomic is 186 in the world.
Hartt · April 12, 2018 at 6:56 pm
Tomic was given a WC for Istanbul, originally he was entered in the qualies. Last year he made the QF where he lost to Raonic.
Scoop Malinowski · April 12, 2018 at 7:27 pm
Hopefully Tomic is working harder than he’s ever worked before. Really would like to see Tomic come back guns blazing and achieve his career best results and ranking. Always liked his game since first seeing him at US Open juniors at 15 or 14.
Dan Markowitz · April 13, 2018 at 2:52 am
Tomic has no chance of returning to top 100 in my opinion. I remember talking to John Peers about Tomic a few years ago at Indian Wells and he said it was uncanny how Tomic would start moving for the ball even before the ball was hit. He had that good a sense of where the ball would be hit. But I don’t think Tomic really wants to be out there doing the “hard yards.” I mean at least with a DY, he loses in Houston and he’s right back out there in a Challenger.
There isn’t a single player in this draw who’d you say is on the rise. Even Opelka and Mmoh have been underwhelming of late.
You got to hand it to Harry and coach Russell today. Harry blew a 40-5 lead on serve to notch the third set at 4-4 and you could tell he wanted to smash his racquet against Fritz, but he didn’t. I think Russell has outlawed such behavior and Harry as much as he still has the slow burn and basically can’t win back to back matches of late, is trying as best he can to stay solid.
Chazz · April 13, 2018 at 8:32 am
I thought that was a really big win for Fritz because his game is not cut out for clay at all. His lateral movement isn’t the greatest and his serve is somewhat neutralized on clay. His match with Sock should be epic.
Tiafoe was disappointing. He should have at least taken a set from Johnson but he was unable to consistently hit to Johnson’s backhand that he runs around. He just wasn’t hitting his spots and Johnson’s forehand controlled the points.
Scoop Malinowski · April 13, 2018 at 8:32 am
Tomic has unnatural anticipation. Boxers have that too. Emanuel Steward was awed by how Vitali Klitschko could sense a punch coming at him and start moving his body before it started to come and then counter back with his counter fire. Similar quality. Sixth sense and telepathy are very real and also in sports like tennis and boxing and probably others. Harrison just can’t smash a racquet against a fellow American teen though he surely resisted the strong urge to. It’s a really painful loss to lose to a youngster, probably the most painful in tennis because it’s a blunt reminder that you’re on your way down and out of the sport because when these young kids with far less experience beat a smart veteran like Harrison, or Opelka beating Sock, it’s devastating mentally. But it’s part of tennis and Harrison will be extra inspired by this loss which is a brutal warning: Better get more serious or these kids will run you out of the sport. I remember Jason Stoltenberg told me for Facing Hewitt that one of the reasons he decided to retire at a youngish age was that he knew he couldn’t beat Hewitt.
catherine · April 13, 2018 at 8:43 am
Anticipation – I think it’s just parts of the brain working faster in some people – they pick up cues more quickly and give themselves more time to respond. You see that in cricket, great batsmen. Of course you need a bit more than just anticipation, as Tomic’s career has shown.
Scoop Malinowski · April 13, 2018 at 9:42 am
Tomic has won over 160 ATP matches and got to 17 in the world, he’s won three singles titles, he’s beaten Ferrer, Nishikori, Karlovic, so he can do damage on the ATP Tour.
catherine · April 13, 2018 at 10:06 am
Which goes to show there’s more to tennis than superoior anticipation skills 🙂
catherine · April 13, 2018 at 10:14 am
It would be interesting to know if Tomic’s anticipation level has declined with the rest of his game because obviously more than a few elements have got lost along the way.
Tomic’s decline from the standard he reached a few years ago is one of the mysteries of contemporary tennis.
Scoop Malinowski · April 13, 2018 at 10:37 am
Catherine, there are at least two Bernard Tomics. There is the one who tries his hardest and his a true competitor. Then there is the one who tanks and or goes through the motions. Oh wait, there is another: the clown who jokes with chair umpire during the match, as he did vs Steve Johnson at Citi Open a couple of years ago during a service game that featured at least ten deuces if not more. Tomic was joking and asking the umpire if he knew the record for most deuces in a game or most break points saved in one game. Tomic made it look like a clown exo – at the same time Johnson was a bulldog trying his hardest to win every point.
catherine · April 13, 2018 at 12:00 pm
Unrelated – but why did anyone think that an outdoor tournament in Lugano in early April was a good idea ?
Chazz · April 13, 2018 at 12:13 pm
As Catherine alluded to previously, this site is acting quirky with refreshing pages/posts.
Hartt · April 13, 2018 at 12:30 pm
It is even raining a lot this week in Morocco, with many matches being postponed. Mother Nature is having her way.
Scoop Malinowski · April 13, 2018 at 1:10 pm
Well fear not, the weather will be perfect next week for the Sarasota Open. Hoping Tomic and Kokkinakis will get the two remaining WCs. A friend saw Kokkinakis in town last week at a restaurant.
Hartt · April 13, 2018 at 3:00 pm
The Monte Carlo draw is out. Everyone is excited that Novak could meet Rafa, but Djokovic will have to get through Coric and Thiem first, so Novak fans should curb their enthusiasm.
Felix received a WC, and will play Mischa Zverev in 1R. I think it is a mistake to give young players a lot of wildcards, and this is starting to happen with Felix. I can only hope for the best. I usually root for Mischa, but of course when it comes to FAA, it is no contest.
Scoop Malinowski · April 14, 2018 at 6:45 pm
Hartt, Jose Higueras once said he did not want any wildcards and never would. He said getting a wildcard means you are not good enough and you are not working hard enough. Hopefully these freebie handout wildcards will not give Felix a false sense of security and sense of entitlement.