Zverev uses emotional adrenaline to overcome Haase

Alright Tennis-Prose geniuses, of these three matches, which underdogs win a set:

Fed-Rubin

Wawa-SteveJo

Sock–Karachanov?

I go SteveJo winning one and that’s it!

I am amazed that not more is being made of Raonic hitting a SECOND serve at 235 km/h. That is insane! As far as I can tell it sets a new record (over one by Karlovic from a few years ago of 232 km/h).

The stories about the match sometimes mention it in passing, usually along the lines of his fastest second serve at 235 km/h was even faster than his fastest first serve at 229 km/h.

When asked about it Milos said: “I think I was up 40-15. I had some space to go for it a little bit.” Nothing like having confidence in your serve! 🙂

Yes, but for Zverev to almost lose to Robin Haase, the Dutch Donald Young for hype and then underperformance, in the first round is alarming. Last year in the first round of the Open I saw him drop a set and look vulnerable to Daniel Brands, yes a Daniel Brands mention. I wouldn’t be so quick to crown Sasha yet.

Yes, you’re right Khachanov is my new Llodra or Ivanisevic which I probably still misspell and don’t look up. Chris Mayotte when he saw Khachanov play Rubin in a fine Qualis match last summer at the Open, said the Russian’s back swings are too big which is not a good sign for his chances against the heavy-hitting Sock.

As for Zverev’s flaws? He hits shots with spin in situations where he needs to flatten out the ball; playing too conservatively, as it were, which allows opponents to get back into the match.

The good news is, he’s been working on consistent improvement at his tender age, and avoiding the pitfalls that bedevil young players (I am thinking of a certain young A.Agassi during the mid/late 1980s, who alternated good wins against top players with a hefty dose of bad wins against mediocre players, tanking at times when the “mere mortals” had good days and were dialed into his game).

Kyrgios? Depends on what side of the bed he gets up on, and can really blatantly tank (much like a certain M.Rios in that regard) — and tank he did against M.Zverev, no excuses there whatsoever. I was told by this old Australian fellow whom I occasionally have a hit with that it’s sort of a tradition amongst Greeks in Australia to spoil some of their younger sons, and he blamed Kyrgios’ dad for Nick’s careless behavior. Don’t know if that’s true, but if so, it’d explain a lot.

Sock? Professional, but not nearly professional enough. The Mickey Mantle (American baseball) comparisons come to mind. In a team sport, Sock would be a hero. Here? He’s just one of the herd.

For the rest of the young Americans, my pick for big success is Opelka, by far, assuming he can stay healthy and focused. The others are more of a mixed bag, and too early to tell. Tiafoe needs to develop multi-shot anticipation — his loss to Mackenzie McDonald in this past November exposed his one big weakness, which is that he doesn’t anticipate the ball several shots in advance. This is the so-called “secret” by which guys like Federer, and Nalbandian (back when he was thumping Fed, Joker, and Rafa in 2007/08) construct points. Part of me strongly feels that in this regard, Tiafoe isn’t being served well by his coaches, who are too blinded by his considerable athletic ability to realize when he gets outplayed, as opposed to being outshot, or grinded down by retrievers.

Ernesto Escobedo, for me, is the dark horse. Big power (serve/forehand), ok shot anticipation, 1.5 steps slow. IMHO building up shot anticipation would go a LONG way to “curing” slow footwork. Escobedo was outplayed by a certain D.Young late last year, solely by point construction. Young has that, if not anything else, in his game.

I see Sock grabbing at least a set off Khachanov 🙂

Thomas Tung tribute to DY is on the money. I still see DY as the most exciting player state side when he is focused. Rare but a real joy when it happens.

I don’t really see Opelka or any us player for that matter with the anticipation skills or ball skills of their euro counterparts or even their Aussie counterparts with exception of Bernie Tomic whose mediocre forehand is the equivalent of Roddick’s backhand.

I like Escobedo a lot. But he hasn’t yet been tested either here or in the last year. He had a tough time against Edmund at the us open, though by that point he’d already qualified and won a match from his opponent’s retirement. I’m higher on big Tiafoe and thought Donaldson acquitted himself well in outperforming his more famous peers at the us open. But his coaching change seems like a mistake, maybe Taylor Dent wanted more time in the booth.

Now Thomas, I wouldn’t just call Sock “one of the herd” in American tennis. He’s the Big Daddy now, by far the player most Americans think will have the biggest slam success. Izzie has been passed by by Sock and SteveJo I think is seen as a great example of what college tennis and hard work can do for a player, but his game isn’t balanced enough to hit it big.

As for Young, I’ve never been a big fan of his game. He’s a guy who’s backhand has not really improved since when Scoop and I saw him dump shot after shot into the net many years ago in D.C against Hewitt. DY is talented, and maybe it’s just in his genes to be big, but he’s never come close to fulfilling the Johnny Mac hands or swift movement on the court that was once projected of him.

Yes but Donaldson’s forehand looks mighty suspect to me.

Now you know how much I refrain from talking women’s tennis, but this young German playing Kerber right now in the third set is a nice-looking player. Her name is Carina Witthoeft, and she’s about to turn 22 and ranked no. 89 but she has a full game, power shots, strong serve, moves well. She might be a comer.

As for Kerber, this is why I have trouble taking the women’s game serious. She’s the no. 1 player, and yet in this last tie-breaker, she literally double-faulted twice in a row to basically forfeit the set. Those were some of the lamest tightest serves I’ve ever seen of a pro player, and Kerber can go from looking incredibly tentative to unleashing great shots, but the up and down from a player of her level is pretty shocking.

Scoop, you must be very happy with Sock’s win. I hope to see it on tape later. As a Mischa fan am very excited about his win – good fight.

How did Izzie lose that match vs senior Zverev? While I was watching he’d won two tie-breakers and looked to be sailing. That being said, I love watching Mischa Z.

So not Khachanov, Harry or SteveJo could notch a set yesterday. Even Noah Rubin couldn’t get a set. Isn’t it amazing, I’m watching Rubin match and he’s 200 in the world and two coaches are sitting in his box, Robbie Ginepri and another USTA coach. That’s pretty good, especially as there was a big article last year about how Rubin’s father was like $300,000 in debt from paying for Rubin’s tennis.

Vandeweghe with a great racket smash yesterday.

This has been an entertaining tourney so far. Agree that Sock has a real shot against Tsonga. Like Mischa’s chances against Jaziri. They are saying AO is playing quicker this year so that helps Mischa. And Sascha vs. Tiafoe should be fun.

I was doing major rooting for Estrella Burgos over Tomic. I really wanted the guy who put in the hard work to win against the “I don’t need to be fit” guy, but it was not to be. But excellent fight from the senior citizen!

Rubin thus far doing a great impersonation of Brian Vahaly. Sorry to say this but losing in straights to an up in the years just easing his way back into the sport Federer isn’t quite the result I’d wager Rubin was aiming for. Maybe he and Rios should exchange notes. Or he might want to call a character like Davydenko and get the skinny on how small guys can plus up their games to tackle the field of players that is bigger and sometimes better. Get them all to twist their ankles.

Mischa Z has that classic serve and volley game you don’t see anymore, he hits that first volley at the T not for a winner then moves in for the next one, that is a lost art–and probably difficult to pull off against the top players, Isner’s return is weak so it worked well.

Tiafoe gets the upset today, he’s not playing a crafty vet who gives him trouble. He will do better than when Fritz played Zerev Jr. last year. Speaking of Fritz, assuming he hasn’t practiced much he did pretty good getting to two tie breaks, he needs to go home and start training with Sampras then make a comeback at Indian Wells, well after his kid is born.

Some willful misinterpretation on my part, the Zverev brothers-Pliskova sisters heads I win tails you lose bet for a double date based on which team of brothers or sisters advances further in the draw is going great 😉

Hewitt must shake his head when he looks how Tomic and Kyrgios interpret their roll of beeing a “pro”. Both are not fit enough for Grand Slams atm.

Nick K should make some damage on best of 3 tournaments but it is a shame how lazy they are.

@Kerber: Is exact the opposite – u will not see a best “worker” and fighter on the WTA tour. She practices as much as u can do and she really does take care of her body! She is a great example for “working” beats talent. She is WTA Muster and does tell us a lot how u get to a pro.

Scoop, we can’t praise Sock and take out Kyrgios at the knee caps. Sock doesn’t have any of Kyrgios’ results titles or slam QFs. He’s also youngest in top 15 by a mile at two years younger than the Thiem.

Hate his antics and his Murray like ability to punish himself and his box verbally on court I actually think Murray was much worse.

And the Australians seem to come late to slam success. Hewitt won his first slam at 20, his second at 21 and then the game changed. Pat rafter won his first us open at 25. And Kyrgios has the game though not the coaching to go far at a slam.