Miami

Draw is out.

Projected Q/F:
Wawrinka v Goffin
Federer v Thiem
Raonic v Rafa
Nishikori v Cilic

Del Potro draws Fed in R3. Kyrgios in Goffin quarter (so potential Stan QF). Alex Zverev could play Stan in R4. Dimitrov in Rafa's quarter.

Kyle Edmund plays a qualifier then Mischa Zverev. Dan Evans plays a qualifier then Verdasco. Good draws for them.

Is nick playing?

Del po getting awkward draws. First Djoko, now Fed.

Looks very open without the top two, should again be a chance for someone from outside the top 10 to make a semi or even a final.

Bad day for Britons at Miami on Wednesday with all of them crashing out. Real pity as they pretty well all had winnable matches.
Shame that Tommy Haas could not come through after a long battle. Still, he's got his singing career to fall back on (see the Backhand Boy Band).

Tommy H is busy in his new role as Tournament Director for Indian Wells (first big task being to hand the 2017 trophy to his old mate Fed !)

By all accounts, major tennis events involve a LOT of organisational/admin stuff these days - even if they only come round once a year.

Dimi among the seeds to fall at Miami. Very poor result for him. Cilic also crashed out. Konta scraped through, but a number of women's seeds are out, including IW victor Vesnina.

What's going on here with Federer .......

He's paying a guy called Tiafoe ...... I had to look him up ....ranked 101 and aged just 19. Has played a career total of 19 tour level matches on the main circuit, winning just 3. Yet has just pushed Fed into a first set breaker.

Either young Tiafoe is playing lights-out stuff (don't have coverage myself currently) or Federer is well out of sorts. And maybe Tiafoe is heading for great things .....?!

That's the kid I saw play a bit in iw

He's actually quite good

Ok. Had never even heard of him myself to be honest.

But of course perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. I have so often commented over the years here on 606 how easy it is to forget that there is a wealth of talent out there, and that you can't even get anywhere near the top 100 without being a seriously good tennis player. Plus, the Challengers is such a good preparation for the main Tour with its 'toughness' and intense competition.

Even into his 36th year, the Fed remains a huge scalp for any wannabe new kid on the block (not to mention many not-so-young, established names too ....!)

Job done in straights - but seems like Tiafoe acquitted himself very well nonetheless.

Stats show there was not a single break point in the first set of the Fed match. The youngster actually broke the Rog serve at the start of the second before saving three BPs in the fourth game after Fed had recovered the break. But Fed came thru 6-3 for the win.
Some may have noticed David Ferrer's fall from grace. Beaten in straight sets today and languishing around the mid-30s in the rankings. Had a great career, though.

I know exactly what you mean re Ferrer's 'fall from grace' - although perhaps another description might be something like inevitable and fairly gradual slip down the ranks as age & time finally began to take its toll. That was a helluva lot of running round over the years to get all those balls back ! So much of his game depended on maintaining Duracell-like energy & durability levels (other battery brands are available)

A great career as you say - and such a modest, likeable guy to boot !

So I've now learnt just a little bit about Frances Tiafoe ....... the guy who played Federer in Miami R2 earlier today.

tennis.com carried a short piece about him, and how excited he was to be facing up to Fed.

The closing paragraph has some gushing words :

"I mean, he’s my idol, everyone’s idol. People still on tour in the locker room stare at him. He’s an absolute legend. We hope he never retires because he’s such a good ambassador for the sport."


Full article
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2017/03/frances-tiafoe-raves-idol-roger-federer-second-round-miami/65000/

I think that David Ferrer has maximised his ability, a bit like Tim Henman before him.  Tim Henman was a fast court player, whereas David Ferrer is a clay court player.  As a shortie Ferrer has had difficulties on the faster courts against the powerful giants but has performed well.  He turns 35 at the end of next week.  A slight injury, a slight loss of motivation all these things can have a massive impact now given his age.  He has been dropping down the rankings relatively quickly but I think he is trying his best, and is up against father time.

Nice words about Ferrer - a guy who been an exemplary professional and very popular to boot.
We're going to get the Rog-JMDP match as anticipated. Should be good. Won't mind too much if del Po wins as he could then go quite deep in Miami and get his ranking higher so he can stay away from the big boys until much later in tournaments.

sirfredperry wrote:Nice words about Ferrer - a guy who been an exemplary professional and very popular to boot.
   We're going to get the Rog-JMDP match as anticipated. Should be good. Won't mind too much if del Po wins as he could then go quite deep in Miami and get his ranking higher so he can stay away from the big boys until much later in tournaments.

Yes, it's a much overdue match-up !

They will always be jointly remembered for a) USO 2009 and b) the longest-ever contest (I believe ...?) in Olympics tennis history - such as it is !

My hunch is that Federer will blow hot & cold this season - not just from one tourney to the next, but from day to day, match to match.

No surprise at all if Delpo comes through.

Raonic has had to pull out of Miami. Very sad for him, but he does seem injury prone. Difficult to remember a season when he's been able to play all the way through. By my reckoning, this means Fed will climb at least one more place in the rankings regardless of what happens from now on.

Nadal broken thrice-in-a-row vs Kohlschreiber. and a bagel.

Somehow pulled it out

Anyone see the deal on that match?

temporary21 wrote:Somehow pulled it out

Anyone see the deal on that match?

Nick Lester showed a graphic where Nadal played close to the baseline in the first set. Once he fell back to about 4 meters, he pulled out the next two sets.

Bagels are suffered very rarely by Rafa.

This was his first since AO 2015 (Berdych match)

Fed handed him one at the WTF in 2011.

Then have to go back to 2008 for Rafa's previous - by Youzhny, who was responsible for a 6-0 6-1 beat-down.

Thought that Murray had twice bagelled Rafa. Rotterdam 2009 and Tokyo 2011 (both finals).

Ok, wasn't aware.

If you're right (and I have no reason at all to doubt) then I am obviously wrong !!

Ben Rothenberg‏ @BenRothenberg · 14h14 hours ago


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Bagels eaten, for comparison:

Nadal - 14
Murray - 13
Djokovic - 9 (won 6 of the matches)
Serena - 8
Federer - 4 (3 were in 1999)

That tells you how hard it is to break rogers serve 3 times. That one non 1999 was Rafa at rg 08 if I remember

temporary21 wrote:That tells you how hard it is to break rogers serve 3 times. That one non 1999 was Rafa at rg 08 if I remember

Yes, that 08 loss was a real thrashing. Rafa no doubt was getting his own back for a GS final bagel set v Rog at Wimbledon in 06. Many will also recall Rog going around an hour without winning a single game against Murray in the Olympic Gold Medal match at Wimbledon in 2012, although I think he managed to avoid a bagel.

I remember a fair few 6-1s where he just held his service at the end

Doubt many people bageled Pete much either until his later years

A cruise so far for roger
Some of these guys are gonna have to start thinking about how they return his serve. It's just too easy for him to hold, and he's not throwing down ace after ace either
It's what nole does so well

He may be approaching 36.

Yet still nobody likes seeing his name against theirs on a draw-sheet........

Expected Delpo to give him much more trouble.

Rog felt del Po was not necessarily at his best and perhaps could have done more on the BPs. I know there were some who felt JMDP would win this one, or at least make it hard for Fed, who now has a good chance to go deep in Miami.

Think it's about time Kyrgios finally made a statement - but for the right reasons, not the wrong ones ! Miami offers him the perfect chance to do so.

He has all the necessary weapons ; and if he focuses on the job in hand, then he really is a good bet for a first Masters trophy here.

temporary21 wrote:A cruise so far for roger
Some of these guys are gonna have to start thinking about how they return his serve. It's just too easy for him to hold, and he's not throwing down ace after ace either
It's what nole does so well

If Murray stuggles, then i dont see what the rest does. And we've no idea how the latest Novak would cope, especially in faster conditions

We know he doesn't send down aces repeatedly - or certainly not Karlovic-style. Never has done, so no change there.

The Federer trademark has always been about placement, pinpoint accuracy, and variation of delivery.

lags72 wrote:Think it's about time Kyrgios finally made a statement - but for the right reasons, not the wrong ones ! Miami offers him the perfect chance to do so.

He has all the necessary weapons ; and if he focuses on the job in hand, then he really is a good bet for a first Masters trophy here.

Kyrgios seems to be taking his tennis more seriously in the last few weeks. I've been quite impressed with his attitude. I think he will get to the semi final this week.

Tell you what for the first time he looks and acts like a star
Still the odd grumble but this is a definite improvement

Well, I think few would disagree with the fact that Kyrgios could always play. It's just his attitude that needed improvement. Don't think he's ever gonna be a complete angel on court, but I for one would like to see him doing well.

Mahut nadal is on. For those who would like some old gen v new gen

They're both pretty old in tennis-age surely ....? Neither of them will see 21 again.

Or are you talking playing styles ?

styles

Interesting to see Federer on the front foot against Del Potro, perhaps having a more aggressive backhand was helping here. In the past, Del Potro was one of the few players who, in a match up with Fed, was the aggressor, with Federer more the defender and retriever. Federer often won some of those matches (e.g. French Open 2009) due to his high quality defence but it was quite a change in this matchup to see him attacking equally or more than Del Potro.

Del Potro's forehand did not appear to be on song, or was at least inconsistent, and there is a question mark about him winning a slam now if he can't improve either improve either his backhand or forehand. Of course, sending missile after missile on the forehand can't be good for the wrist.

Bautista-Agut put in a strong performance ...... was only edged out in two tight TB's.

But this was his sixth match v Federer, across all surfaces, and he has yet to win a single set.

I bet a good few players are wishing Fed would move asap to the Seniors Tour (if it's still called that ....?)

Meanwhile young Zverev takes out top seed Stan in three, coming from behind to win the last two comfortably.

Bautista-Agut played very well and served for the first set at 5-4 vs Federer. Trifle unlucky for him.

Federer's FH/BH was all over the place. Berdych can cause even more problems for Federer.

Well Berdych is certainly capable of causing problems for Federer ; but he will have to do better than his last six meetings with him - all of which he has lost, whilst managing to take just one set.

In fact Berdych hasn't beaten Federer since 2013. Maybe he can step up this time...... we shall see.

Just watched some highlights of the Fed-Bau/Agut match and B-A played very well. The bad news for Berdych is that Fed has got his bit-of-a-struggle match out of the way and will probably play a lot better now.
The Zverev-Kyrgios match looks a cracker and could go either way. It should be a Rafa-Nishi semi in the bottom half of the draw. Suppose we might be looking at another Rog-Rafa final, although some way to go yet.

Despite the notable absences, the event has produced a high-quality line up for the quarters. And whoever eventually takes the crown will have come through some challenging tests, and can count himself a deserving Miami champ.

Johanna Konta through to the semi-finals after beating Halep in three sets.

No name Bertie wrote:Johanna Konta through to the semi-finals after beating Halep in three sets.

This win probably proved the wisdom of Konta not playing some of the tournaments earlier when she feared she wasn't fully fit. Halep, on the other hand, has been battling injury of late and probably ran out of steam in the final set.

Nishikori gone in straight sets.

Nadal Socks it in straight sets.