Miami

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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.

Fognini is so mercurial. Brilliant one day, pretty hopeless the next. So it's difficult to predict his semi with Rafa, but the Italian surely won't create another upset.
Also it's not easy to forecast the winner of the Zverev-Kyrgios clash. In the women's draw, Konta faces Venus. Could go either way.

Impressive result for Rafa. Didn't see any of it, but I gave Sock a good chance and he has been dealt with comfortably.

Nishikori was clearly injured against Fognini. He could barely hit his forehand. Was running around it to hit backhands and approaching the net a lot trying to shorten the points.

Nishi does seem to suffer from injuries. Unusual for a little guy. Think merely of David Duracell-bunny Ferrer, who has been rarely out of action, while it's the big guys like Raonic who seem to succumb the most.
Last year, for long periods the Big Four were reduced to the Big Two but the two - Andy and Djoko - still swept up the majority of the big points, with only Stan the Man and, to some extent, Raonic getting much of a look in.
Same seems to be happening this year. The Big Two, now, are Rog and Rafa, with none of the rest being able to take advantage of the absence/early exits of Murray and Novak.
May be we'll see over the next couple of days a new winner of a 1,000-pointer. But I doubt whether anyone's holding their breath.

Kyrgios may win this week....I have a feeling he might.

He'll lose to Zverev now I've posted this.

Feds a set up

A decider
Real credit to Berd. He really stood up there

Berdych played well, Federer was terrible - lucky to scrape through.

Interesting head to head Federer-Berdych

Starts with surprise win of young Berdych at 2004 Athens Olympics.

Then, unsurprisingly a long sequence of Federer wins to 2009.

Then a period of a few years when it was very even, with wins for Berdych including Wimbledon and US Open.

But now 7 wins in a row for Roger.

Zverev tried to do a fairly fancy shot and Kyrgios did an even fancier one. First game of the second set on about the fourth point. Worth a look later on the highlights.

EDIT: Point at 1-2 40-30 third set is also a fun one.

This one from Federer also interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgtYq1HKLLw

Just noticed with the withdrawals, some players may have achieved a career high seeding at this event (for masters 1000 and above)

Warwinka 1
Nishikori 2
Raonic 3
Thiem 6

Kyrgios through in three sets.

Hi Laverfan, I thought Kyrgios was the better player, he might have won it in straights, were it not for a single shot that just clipped the top of the tape in the tight second set tiebreak.

Kyrgios seemed more the aggressor, and Zverev seemd to be more determined not to lose the match, he was just rallying without aggression and waiting for Kyrgios to make the move. Zverev was also mentally not fully focused, some racket breaking and whining. I think in a match against a peer of similar ability and age there is a little more intensity.

Zverev did play some good stuff at the end of the tiebreak (lobs especially to win the TB) and in the early part of the third set.

Federer and Nadal move into fourth and fifth in the world following Miami. Nadal needs to go further in the tournament than Federer if he is to finish in the fourth position after Miami.

Must be only a matter of time before Alexander Zverev and Kyrgios win slams - probably in 2018 or 2019.

Been watching some Fed-Berd highlights and, as Rog said in his post-match interview, Tomas played super-aggressive.
Interesting how much Fed thinks the conditions change between day and night at Miami. Seems he prefers the night matches and, of course, his semi will be a night affair.
With every match Fed wins it lessens the chances of his playing much during the clay-court season and also lessens the NEED to play much.
Can Kyrgios win tonight ? He's certainly got the talent to do so, although there've been reports that he may have been hampered by a leg problem towards the end of his Zverev match.

Kyrgios told Zverev to challenge a line call, which proved to be in. Seems like a bit of respect between the two.

If Kyrgios isn't injured then I think he'll beat Fed and win the whole thing. Of course Fed will get more serves back than pretty much anyone else (bar perhaps Murray).

Liked this tweet too...
DavidLaw‏ @DavidLawTennis · 8h8 hours ago


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Kyrgios gets time violation. Does a little impersonation of Rafa adjusting hair etc and says 'I'm not doing all this, I'm bouncing the ball'

Rafa has sped up and so far no TV warning this tournament and IW. Kygrios is such a bad ass, that each time he has a TV warning he has to mention Rafa. Not very respectful of him towards Rafa.

Fedal are extraordinary.  Both way beyond their respective peaks, yet they have still dominated the three most prestigious tournaments thus far this year.  Looking forward, and barring injury relapse, one would expect Nadal to do well on the clay, and Federer on the grass - possibly also the Autumn hard court swing.

As impressive as Djoko and Murray are, and I'm sure that they aren't done, they don't have anything like the same star power.

I would not be at all surprised if Fed runs out of road this tournament - it may be a v. good chance for Nadal to plug that Miami sized hole on his sideboard.

Belovedluckyboy wrote:Rafa has sped up and so far no TV warning this tournament and IW. Kygrios is such a bad ass, that each time he has a TV warning he has to mention Rafa. Not very respectful of him towards Rafa.  

He always talks very respectfully about all of the top players (except Stan) - he said Djokovic was the "most complete" player he had ever played. He also said Federer was his "favourite" player. He has also spoken recently about wishing he could play every point with the same intensity that Rafa does. He just doesn't show them the respect on court, which probably helps him win to be fair.

barrystar wrote:Fedal are extraordinary.  Both way beyond their respective peaks, yet they have still dominated the three most prestigious tournaments thus far this year.  Looking forward, and barring injury relapse, one would expect Nadal to do well on the clay, and Federer on the grass - possibly also the Autumn hard court swing.

As impressive as Djoko and Murray are, and I'm sure that they aren't done, they don't have anything like the same star power.

I would not be at all surprised if Fed runs out of road this tournament - it may be a v. good chance for Nadal to plug that Miami sized hole on his sideboard.

Yes I think Fed is starting to look tired. Think Rafa is heavy favourite considering he has the "easy" semi-final on paper.

Fognini has beaten Rafa three times and there are not many players who've done that. So he's not without hope. But Rafa is clearly firm favourite.

What ARE the odds of a nick fog final I wonder

temporary21 wrote:What ARE the odds of a nick fog final I wonder

11/1

Surprised to see that Johanna Konta beat Venus Williams in two sets to reach the Miami final.

It astonishes me how more people do not question the longevity of both Nadal and Federer and whether some of this could be chemically enhanced.

The reason other top players lose form or get injured is because they may be athletes doing things naturally and therefore deserve more praise.

This crowd need to shut up. They've affected points for both players now

I know what you're saying. After lance armstrong I don't believe in much anymore in general
Given how well loved they both are (or hated) it's not a can of worms worth opening for me

What a see-saw TB! Federer wins it after a crucial DF from Kyrgios.

Mochyn du wrote:It astonishes me how more people do not question the longevity of both Nadal and Federer and whether some of this could be chemically enhanced.

Despite a six-month layoff for Federer, that is an interesting question. But not something which can be civilly discussed on fora.

Given how much roger is sweating I mean he's drenched, and how he could be flagging a bit nicks gotta think he's still in this,

temporary21 wrote:This crowd need to shut up. They've affected points for both players now

Agree and I think that Kyrgios, in between the first and second point of the tiebreak, was well within his rights to tell the crowd to shut up. When people are being d1cks we should call them on it. But, it wasn't a wise thing to do in the context of trying to win the match, which is the main objective. He then seemed distracted, blazed a first serve well long, hit a weak second serve and dumped his next shot into the next, and was then muttering to himself or the crowd after the point.

Senior players, wiser heads, keep their heads down and pretend that they are not affected, don't give the trolls anything to feed on if you like. Because engaging with the crowd in any negative way generally works out badly, as Djokovic learned once at the US Open, and he learned his lesson very well.

Maybe if you are a major crowd favourite or playing in your own country you can get away with it. But for most others, it's not advised.

I do wonder if Kyrgios has a certain in your face, abrasive personality type like Hewitt, Connors or perhaps even Murray. People like that can actually sometimes feed off aggro and arguments and do positive things with it. Murray at any rate chuntered his way to victory in the US Open in 2012. So I could be wrong.

Without reference to any specific player, and I admit I don't know much about this particular aspect of the subject, it isn't clear to me why longevity is a possible indicator of drug use.

If I was a drug user and was making mega bucks, I would consider retiring early (say 29) rather than keep playing and risking my entire legacy just to add a few extra millions and trophies. Still, there are many examples in sport where people didn't see it this way, and kept going, and got caught.

I get it. Nicks playing the heel here. You don't call out during a point though. The crowd seem to wanna directly influence the match, which is wrong

It's been an increasing habit of crowds.

I dunno
I had the same feeling when Rafa, one of my favourites, swept the us hc season after being injured at wimby. It didnt feel right in my gut somehow
He seems to have more energy and core strength than he did 10 years ago. He's outlasting guys 5 years younger too
It's perfectly possible it's just the 6 months of conditioning and resting
A weary body

Hopefully that's all it is am I'm just being paranoid after all the other revelations everywhere else

A healthy skepticism is quite sensible.

Well my skepticism aside

What a match this has been
Whoever wins now is gonna be shattered

Good quality match this, some good shots, good stats, and some serious excitement with both tiebreaks going to 11-9. Probably would have bene a hit harsh on Krygios to have lost in straights sets after all the effort he put in there, and especially after having set point on his own serve in the first tiebreak as well as serving for the first set at 5-4.

temporary21 wrote:Well my skepticism aside

What a match this has been
Whoever wins now is gonna be shattered

Well, maybe. If it's Federer he's got age against him, the longer match, Rafa played earlier. That's 3 things in Rafa's favour if he Federer wins, and 2 things in Rafa's favour if Krygios wins.

But Miami is that rare thing, a rest day between semi and final in a best of 3 tournie, so 2 days between 3-set matches. That's not too bad.

Rafa will get about 46 hours between matches. The winner here can expect something more like 39.

The more racquet-throwing from Kyrgios, the more boos from the crowd. He needs to calm down, if he wants to win this.

The crowd yet again
These lot are scum. Seriously ruining a great one on one

Terrible way to lose a match, a la Berdych.

FedAl final.

Interesting that 2006 Miami final vs Ljubicic was 3 TB sets to Federer.

They're gonna have to start ejecting large sections of the crowd

We can't keep having the crowd putting the player they don't like off when it matters

As a Federer fan, Roger was very lucky to emerge victorious in this match against Kyrgios. The Aussie's serve was near unreturnable for long periods of the match. The behaviour of the crowd on line calls was absolutely dreadful, ruining an otherwise great spectacle as has been remarked a few posts above.

Nick lost his last two service points through crowd interference roger didn't get the chance to win them

Bunch of bloody yankees, leaves a sour taste to a fantastic match

That was an excellent match I thought.  I quite like Kyrgios (I mean his tennis rather than the persona though) and I am hoping he will get his act together because talent-wise I think he is some distance above all of the other youngsters.  In the years to come, he will quite likely be my favorite DHBH on tour.

In spite of the loss, I thought he looked quite good.  Not only his game, but he also kept his focus throughout (as he did against Zverev).

On the flip side, I have noticed that he now takes an awful lot of time between points while before he used to be super quick.  I hope this will not be permanent because I do find it quite annoying when I am watching the match.

temporary21 wrote:They're gonna have to start ejecting large sections of the crowd

We can't keep having the crowd putting the player they don't like off when it matters

How do you decide who to eject? . You will have to eject all spectators.

temporary21 wrote:Nick lost his last two service points through crowd interference roger didn't get the chance to win them

I would not go that far.  Roger won them fair and square.  Also, Nick has himself to blame to some extent.  If he does not want unruly crowds, he should not be unruly himself.

So, Kyrgios played well, and he came quite close, but in the end, here we are at the end of the spring hard court season, and between the AO, IW, and Miami, not a single player managed to beat either Roger or Rafa.

In some ways, it is a bit disappointing.

summerblues wrote: I quite like Kyrgios (I mean his tennis rather than the persona though) and I am hoping he will get his act together because talent-wise I think he is some distance above all of the other youngsters.  In the years to come, he will quite likely be my favorite DHBH on tour.

In spite of the loss, I thought he looked quite good.  Not only his game, but he also kept his focus throughout (as he did against Zverev).

On the flip side, I have noticed that he now takes an awful lot of time between points while before he used to be super quick.  I hope this will not be permanent because I do find it quite annoying when I am watching the match.

Tomic was similar when coming up, as was Raonic. If this generation lacks discipline, they will pay a high price. FedAl have much better heads on their shoulders.

There's no excuse for calling out during a point
That's basic respect quite frankly. Us criowds keep doing this in a number of matches, it's nothing to do with nick

No idea what you do. They might have to restart points if the umpire spots a clear crowd call

temporary21 wrote:There's no excuse for calling out during a point
That's basic respect quite frankly. Us criowds keep doing this in a number of matches, it's nothing to do with nick

No idea what you do. They might have to restart points if the umpire spots a clear crowd call

Lahayani did ask the crowd on several occasions. Players know what to expect, so follow the basics, continue playing or challenge. Federer stopped one of the points and challenged, and was willing to lose the point, if incorrect, but ended up winning the point.