2018 Miami Open...ATP 1000...Miami, Florida, USA

[don_budge]

Roger Federer in the house. It's a tournament by definition. Without the Swiss Maestro it always feels as if something is missing. Sex appeal...pizzazz. Call it what you will...it is what keeps you awake and engaged.

Look at Indian Wells. What a marvellous tournament it turned out to be but even so the action was always in Roger's court. It wasn't until the finals that Juan Martin Del Potro showed up on the radar screen. When he did show up it made HIM so much more interesting because he was playing...The Living Proof.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/miami/403/draws

Virtually a carbon copy of Indian Wells. Roger in the top half and Juan Martin, Novak and Marin in the bottom. The bottom half will weed itself out and meanwhile the top half becomes Roger's World. All of the possibilities revolve around Roger's opponents or potential opponents. For instance Borna Coric really garnered a tremendous amount of attention by making it to the semis for a confrontation with Federer. He made the most of it by pushing a less than peak performance Federer to the brink. But now Borna is in Miami and starting from square one...the first round. It will be extremely interesting to see how he performs with the attention that he got in Indian Wells.

Alexander Zverev is the number four seed and the weight he is feeling now is like that of a yoke around his neck. He can't seem to get rid of it. Nick Kyrgios is also present and accounted for and it not always interesting to see which "Nick" shows up. The good one or the bad one. He's a real mixed bag and where does he begin to sort it out. It doesn't appear that he has begun as the same sort of things seems to be following him around like a bad memory.

Del Potro has such a massive forehand doesn't he? Just a real ass kicker. Some of the shots that come off of his racquet sort of surprise the opponent. He looks to have booked an early date with Novak Djokovic...that is, if Novak can hang around in the tournament to get to him. It appears so far in his comeback that he is capable of losing to anyone. Sort of like the anyone that Federer plays only in the mirror. Get it? Maybe not...to obscure. But Novak should get better with matches. He seems to be out of it a bit just from the standpoint of not being match tough. It will take him a number of tournaments to get there. My dear old coach used to use the number five when talking about peaking in performance. Novak has a couple of issues other than just being match tough. I think he has some pain and he is going to have to come to grips with that first before he can have a feeling of confidence or comfort in match play.

Keep an eye on Hyeon Chung. Just because some of the forum guys are excited about him. I'm not so sure. He has some really strong points but there seems to be something missing. It took Roger Federer to exploit whatever it is at Indian Wells so it could be he is a future contender. I just haven't seen it yet.

Seriously are there any Americans out there that are ready to step up to the plate? If there are I haven't seen them yet. But it is going to be a great tournament...just as long as Roger Federer stays alive.

[klacr]

I love the Miami Open. Is it as nice and a bigger spectacle than Indian Wells?Nope. But it is in my same geographic region and I love that South Florida has received an even greater influx of players. Roger books an entire floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel for the two weeks and sets up base camp for him and his family/team. Others stay at the Ritz Carlton on Key Biscayne. This is the final year of the event in Key Biscayne. Bigger and better things lie ahead when the event moves to west to Miami Gardens and a Football stadium parking lot.

Federer and Berdych are in the same half...again. But both have to make it there. I was witness to a great quarterfinal last year between these two. Brought a hot date with me as well.
Berdych had match points and had Fed beat...until he didn't. Fed went on to win the whole thing. I was crushed but stoic enough where my date was impressed with my fortitude. I drowned or should I say Fed my sorrows later that night with an epic 7 course meal at a great restaurant in Miami, and the date paid. . It was still a good day and night.

Will be interesting to see how Del Potro does in Miami. Will he be wiped out from Indian Wells or will he be inspired by the Latin crowd that invades the Miami Open every year. No matter what happens, the waves will still be crashing on the beach, the palm trees will still be swaying in the warm ocean breeze, the sun will be beating down on all fans and players and iguanas.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

You going to watch Kyle?

[klacr]

I will try to make it down there. My schedule is a bit hectic right now with business but one of my juniors was asked to be a hitting partner during the tournament so if need be, in a pinch, I can bum a pass off of him and get in. Plus John is down there so I will need to see him as well.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/miami/403/draws

Seriously are there any Americans out there that are ready to step up to the plate? If there are I haven't seen them yet. But it is going to be a great tournament...just as long as Roger Federer stays alive.

Color Taylor Fritz gone. Couldn't take the heat off of the racquet of Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Who? I don't know. I actually do know and Taylor wants to win these kinds of matches all of the time. He might want to tinker with his preparation...among other things. He isn't ready. Anybody else? Let's wait and see. Nobody is jumping out of the woodwork that's for sure.

First round action at the Miami Open. With Roger Federer in the draw there is always something interesting going on. How is it that this guy can change the whole picture just by showing up. More on Roger later...I was so exhausted from his week at Indian Hills that I haven't the energy to write about his final with Juan Martin Del Potro. It was a doozie too. I real donnybrook. I think that in these first rounds it is interesting to look at the up and comers. Guys like Taylor Fritz that want to start making an impression on the tennis world. They have to get out of the box first and that means winning their first round. Francis Tiafoe for example. A few weeks ago he had quite a showing at Key Biscayne. But then he bowed out early at Indian Wells. Consistency is the hallmark of a tennis player and more specifically a tennis champion. You only have to look at Roger Federer to see a picture of him in the dictionary under the word "consistency". The level of his performance is always near one hundred percent of his ability when he needs it. Otherwise he can tailor it to the level of his opponent. The young guys don't have that luxury...they have to find that gear quickly and lean on it.

So Francis needs to win this first round against Nicolas Kicker to get to Kyle Edmund and then the fun begins. Another match on my radar is Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev. Here are a couple of up and comers and in order to get past the first round they have to get past one another. These kind of matches can be exhausting and then they are faced with a tough second round. In their case it will be young Alexander Zverev. But Alexander is getting older and older. The pressure is mounting and he cannot get his tires to stop spinning. I think that his head is a bit messed up now with so many losses that he believes that he should be winning. But the truth of the matter is he let the cart get before the horse. He started to read his press and the answers that he was giving to questions were just a little too ambitious for him to back up. Now he creates a real problem for himself as he is left to grabbing for excuses or rather reasons as to why he isn't performing up to snuff. Then the conversation is spinning and spinning round and round the head like the wind around a desert canyon. It sounds like a freight train that won't stop. He has to calm himself and get the ship to steady itself. Otherwise he is looking at some really potentially career damaging blows to his psyche. Keeping an eye on you Alexander...don't be nervous.

So we make our way down the draw...twiddle dee, twiddle dum. Aha...it's none other than Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov versus Viktor Troicki. Denis played a tough match against Viktor last year in China...at least he played half a tough match. Viktor sent him all the way home with a bagel in the third set. Now young Denis is looking rather disorganised out on the court these days. His shot selection is pretty immature. No surprise since he is only eighteen years of age. But if you want to be a prodigy...if you want to be like Mozart it is time to start showing it. Grow up young man. Turn that hat around or better yet lose it. Wear a bandana...look the part. Stop that infernal bouncing of the ball between the legs. That looks totally bush league...where is his team. Better yet...where are his parents. This is elementary stuff. Tennis 101. Well have a little patience and let's have a look at his performance here at the Miami Open in the all important for rookies first round. Maybe a hair cut too Denis. How about something like little Dennis in the real "Dennis the Menace". Maybe he would take a little more seriously. You have to keep the ball in play...Denis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACGsQyfMqRg

Speaking of youngsters. A young Swede made into the second round. His name is Mikael Ymer and he is actually the younger brother of Elias Ymer. This came as a bit of a surprise to me as his opponent Jan-Lennard Struff is a seasoned veteran on the tour. Nice work Mikael. Welcome to the second round and meet Milos Raonic. Milos is vulnerable if you can get that serve back in play.

Somehow I think that the second round is less interesting than the first round. But that could have something to do with Roger Federer. It's all about Roger. It's a tournament.

[gzhpcu]

Djokovic loses again in the first round against Paire. Felt sorry for him. Once the predominating force on hard courts, with the best record ever, moving awkwardly and making tons of errors. Do not think he will manage a comeback. Which shows how incredible Federers comeback was. The comeback must involve both physical and mental aspects. Djokovic looked dejected.

[don_budge]

What Goes Up...Must Come Down (Novak Djokovic)

Djokovic loses again in the first round against Paire. Felt sorry for him. Once the predominating force on hard courts, with the best record ever, moving awkwardly and making tons of errors. Do not think he will manage a comeback. Which shows how incredible Federers comeback was. The comeback must involve both physical and mental aspects. Djokovic looked dejected.

"I lost to a better player". So simply put this was a comment made by Novak Djokovic. I haven't read everything he had to say but this is a good start. Djokovic had met Benoit Paire one other time and it was a straight set victory for Djokovic. That is more to his liking. He hasn't lost many times as his star (Meteor) rose so quickly against the competitive tennis landscape but when he did it was tough to swallow. For him and sometimes for those watching. Some might say he was something of a sore loser. Djokovic will tell you that he is not a loser at all.

But it was really encouraging to see that he was humble. That is all he had to say too. It says it all...he played better than I did. Just keep it simple and there is no reason to go much further. Just go back to the practice court and see if that loss burns enough to make you want to work harder. Then you will know the answer to the question. Can I make it back?

I watched a bit of the match. Enough to see that this is not the same Novak Djokovic that I wrote about in "Meteoric Djokovic" back in March of 2011. He was just taking off and I caught in in takeoff mode. After that thread he reached the limits as a star on the circuit and then he came tumbling back to earth as the result of too many miles and some rough terrain. He plays a game of retriever turning his body into a Gumby many times in the course of a match. Did it just all add up to a flame out? Yesterday he had nothing that could hurt Benoit Paire on a consistent basis. Nothing coming off of the racquet of Djokovic could sustain any kind of meaningful pressure on his opponent and he ended up stretched out on the court or just plain looking at a ball whizzing by him.

Remember this thread with worldsbestcoach and narbrug chiming in. I miss the worldsbestcoach more than I miss narbrug. But we probably could use both of them here to spice up this forum a bit.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/forum/tennisplayer/1846-djokovic-meteoric

Paire is a slashing type of player and you have to ask him the question...are you willing to stay out here and dig? Novak could not come up with the question and Paire had all of the answers where there was no question. Going forwards isn't going to be a pleasure cruise for the former "Meteoric Djokovic". He will have to take it one step at at time and in the mean time it is best that he keeps it humble. Just give credit where credit is due. But on the other hand he is going to have to light a fire under his ass and nobody else can do that for him. I hope he can make it back but it looks to me as if it will be a tough road to hoe.

[arturohernandez]

I think two things work against Djokovic.

1) He plays a defensive style built on speed. Even more so than Nadal which is surprising. Speed drops with age. He is also very thin and wiry. Tennis is a fine balance. Too thin and you can move great but have less weight to generate power. Too big and you can hit the heck out of the ball but you cannot move well and eventually get injured trying to do so.

I think Novak had the better of the dilemmas given his career.

2) I don't think he loves tennis the way Rafa and Fed do. I get the sense that he likes slaughtering people. He wants to be the top dog. Ironically, he is kind of fragile in a way mentally. So winning cured his ills.

The body has broken down and now he can no longer dominate.

Now his ills are mounting.

I don't think he will ever rebound from this.

Every year that passes I am more in awe of Fed.

Just a few years ago everyone thought he would be passed by Nadal or Djokovic.

He just hung around and kept at it.

And now he is number 1 again due to the right combinations of numbers 1 and 2 above.

Perhaps 1) the perfect body for tennis and 2) an extreme love for tennis.

[don_budge]

Second Round...2018 Miami Open...Five Matches to Watch

Five matches to watch at the 2018 Miami Open...that is if you have Tennis TV. Which I do. I signed up for the 15 dollar monthly fee in order to watch Roger Federer play at Indian Wells and at this tournament. Obviously I already got my money's worth at Indian Wells as Roger versus Anybody is the match to watch. That is exactly what I watched. I may have watched some other tennis but to tell you the truth...I cannot remember it. It is forgettable unless...Roger is playing.

But today we have the second round in the upper half of the draw playing. There are some interesting matches and mainly because of Federer. It is all about Roger and everyone else is relative to him. For instance there is Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev ready to tee it up very shortly. Zverev is a player that I am watching very closely now because there were many that were picking him to be the next player to become a dominant player on the tour. He is seeded fourth here at this tournament as he was at Indian Wells but all of this notoriety has somehow poisened his ascent up the ladder...up the food chain. Now he is playing a game with his nerves and emotions as he tries to temper his expectations versus the reality of the way things are stacking up against him. Some of what has been said about young Alexander seems to have gotten into his head and he seems rather surprised at how he has inspired the players ranked beneath him to play lights out against him. But this is how it works kid...you got to look 'em in the eye and scare the hell out of them. But you have to do it with your racquet and this is where he is suffering. He is playing the wrong game for a man his size. He is still playing the junior game when he should have evolved into more of an all court player like his brother. If he was playing tennis in the style of his brother then you might have some reason to get excited. But as it stands now he is really struggling.

Francis Tiafoe is also set to go in a couple of minutes also. He goes up against another young guy who plays hard-nosed tennis named Kyle Edmund. Francis won a tournament in Florida a few weeks ago and I am going to get a feel for his pulse after this initial success. It seemed to work against him at Indian Wells as he went out early. Francis has a style of play all his own. His technique is somewhat unorthodox and it will be interesting to see if it can hold up under the pressure of the expectations now.

How about Nick Kyrgios and Dusan Lajovic? Nick pulled out of Indian Wells at the last moment with an elbow injury. He seems to have built in excuses for not performing up to expectations. Expectations again the key operative word. But in Nick's case it is a head case. It is almost as he shoots himself in the foot on purpose in order to keep the expectations down. That being said Nick played Roger Federer to three tie-break sets last year here in what I called the "Match of the Year" in the two out of three venue. It was a scintillating match as both players kept the heat on each other from bell to bell. Nick sort of disappeared after that match. As if to say that was good enough for the year.

I still think that Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov is an interesting player to watch. I have some questions about his maturity...not so much emotionally as one might question Kyrgios, but in his level of tennis acumen. He doesn't play very intelligently all of the time. There is way too much variation of level of performance as in ups and downs. For instance in his first round he was up 5-0 in the second set against Troiki and I left the match to go watch Navy CSI...when I came back they were in a tie-breaker with Troiki narrowly missing out on winning the set. Tons of talent...yet it can be a waste if not utilised wisely. Denis is going to have to wise up.

Finally there is Borna "Gain" Coric against Leonardo Mayer. Borna really got tons of PR last week at Indian Wells and it is going to be very interesting to see how he handles it this week. He played a very exciting match against a very under performing Roger Federer so it may have gotten more mileage than it deserved. So much of this game is about performance and so much about performance is about attitude. Just ask Roger. He seems to have it all down by numbers.

Speaking of Roger he is set to go against Thannasi Kokkinakis. Kokkinakis is a big hitter for sure but you have to keep the ball in play at this level. It will be fascinating to watch Federer this week as usual. My focus is on the effect of last week. He got his feet in the fire and played some tough tennis at a level that was subpar for him. But he scrapped and he dug deep. I wonder if this week he might just be a bit tougher because of his matches last week. If he can play his way into form he has a shot but he is going to take it one step at a time. One of the many things he has learned is to take it one step at a time. He doesn't get ahead of himself and he is always at that point that is directly in front of his nose. He is in the moment.

[arturohernandez]

Interesting mix of future stars against the existing star. I think Zverev's problems cannot be entirely mental. I mean everyone faces pressure coming up. Of course, people are equipped differently to handle this pressure.

But I still subscribe to the fact that tennis is a physical game and that the "mental toughness" starts with the physical. Not just brute force but the ability to do things at the right time and in a way that allows one to create solutions to the problems that others have placed in ones way.

This week there was such a fuss about Fed's 2004 US Open final. If you watch the highlights you can see that Hewitt's whole strategy was to breakdown Feds backhand. In that match, Fed snuffed it out. Was it mental or physical. I say physical first. Fed could defend his backhand and then just wait for the moment to crack the forehand. Since then Fed has overcome the challenge others place in front of him which is basically to try and get him to miss his backhand.

Zverev's problems are physical. He is just too big.

In fact, I often wonder if that might be playing a role in net play.

Z's game is built on out hitting the opponent. I am not really sure that he has an answer for someone who will stay with him and is stronger and older.

Borna Coric is very similar in that respect.

Shapovalov is one that can do other things.

But he is a little volatile in his play.

He needs to learn to use variety better.

He also needs to mature physically as well.

In fact, maybe that was part of the reason Fed took longer to realize his potential.

The one handed backhand requires a little longer to match the 2 hander and physical maturity comes a little later.

Maybe the two hander masks inherent issues by appearing too developed at too young an age.

Ironic but the trend to earlier better play is actually detrimental to long term development at the very elite level.

[stroke]

Kokkinakis had to get a wild card into the qualies and here he is hanging all in with Fed on big stage. Broken record, but men's tennis depth now is something

[stotty]

Djokovic loses again in the first round against Paire. Felt sorry for him. Once the predominating force on hard courts, with the best record ever, moving awkwardly and making tons of errors. Do not think he will manage a comeback. Which shows how incredible Federers comeback was. The comeback must involve both physical and mental aspects. Djokovic looked dejected.

Roger's comeback was a good achievement but not as incredible as is made out. A meniscus tear is a three month lay off at the very most. The outcome of the surgery is nearly always successful. Roger spent at least half of that 6 month layoff training. We all know that now. It's not a secret.

Djokovic has hardly hit a ball for 9 months. Luckily he was at least able to train on maintaining his footwork.The outcome for elbows is far less certain. Tim Henman still has elbow problems today and he's been retired a decade. For some, it never clears up.

Murray's predicament is worse than Roger and Djokovic's put together, and some. No play for a year, and laid up and unable to train on footwork or anything that will contribute to tennis. It's a disaster.

Boris Becker, who resides in London and simply cannot resist a passing microphone no matter how minor the editorial, says Djokovic doesn't have his heart in it. Once Djokovic had won his four majors in succession, Boris says he could't get him out to practice with any kind of intensity. He thinks Djokovic is bluffing about his return. He might be right.

[stroke]

Thomas earned it as far as I am concerned

[gzhpcu]

Roger stated he will skip the sand season, which is a good thing.

[don_budge]

Thomas earned it as far as I am concerned

Roger stated he will skip the sand season, which is a good thing.

It happens to the best of them. Father Time stops for nobody.

I wonder...what I saw the last two tournaments was a lack of match play. Del Potro has become hardened under the strain of playing so many weeks in a row. But Roger has a dilemma. There is only so much he can put his body through at this point in time. His mind and psyche are fragile as well...how many more miles can he put on that engine. There is a tipping point and that point is where it is time to call it quits. The tipping point for a tennis player is where he cannot put in the necessary work to become match tough without putting too much strain on the body. What I saw was rust. It was evident last week yet he fought like a dog. Yesterday he couldn't do even that. The time is coming close where we are looking at the post-Roger Federer era in tennis. This will be a sad day for all and me in particular.

My teaching paradigm is William Tilden is the book. Richard Gonzalez is the model with the Don Budge backhand. Harry Hopman is the coach. Roger Federer is the Living Proof. It's roots are in old school and fundamentals. Wooden racquets. Roger is the only example of tennis that can conceivably trace it's roots back to tennis when tennis was tennis. Remember that song...American Pie. That is an old song too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAsV5-Hv-7U

"And the three men I admire most: The father, son, and the Holy Ghost, they caught the last train for the coast...the day the music died"