2019 Australian Open...ATP 2000...Melbourne, Australia

[don_budge]

I'm not big on Alex. I don't care for his style and a number of other things about him as a player. The service motion has a lot of friction...you can almost hear it like a fingernail dragging across the blackboard. Do they even still have blackboards?

He calls himself "The Demon". That will come back to haunt him I am most certain. Every man in the course of his life must face off with the Devil or his minions. To associate yourself with them is a big mistake. Perhaps unwittingly. But nevertheless. A huge mistake.

[don_budge]

Slow going thus far. Waiting for that long 5 set high quality match that wakes the tourney up. Berdych has lost just 15 games thus far going into round 3. Looking real good.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Tomas Berdych continues to look good too. He beats a bona fide tough little hombre in "Little" Diego Schwartzman. He took his time doing it this time...he lost 19 games and a set to boot. But no matter...Tomas is our first hope and line of defence against the Spanish Imposter...Rafael Nadal. Sometimes you just don't like a guy. That was Henry Ford II said just after he fired Lee Iacocca at the Ford Motor Company. Rafa about to take the stage to dismantle another little fighter, Alex De Minaur. I'm not big on Alex. I don't care for his style and a number of other things about him as a player. The service motion has a lot of friction...you can almost hear it like a fingernail dragging across the blackboard. Do they even still have blackboards?

Daniil Medvedev has lost a total of 13 games through two rounds and he is the first line of defence against the other one...Novak Djokovic. Daniil conceivably has a legitimate shot of upsetting Novak. Perhaps not from a bookies point of view...but this guy has been playing some serious ball all year long. But first he must get through David Goffin and Djokovic must get by Shapovalov. Denis "The Menace" seems to ironed out a couple of wrinkles. This will be an opportunity of his young life to get his claws into a big fish.

[stotty]

Zverev shows a lot of maturity in a 5 set win over a tough Chardy. Alex was up 2 sets and lost the next 2 sets very closely before winning the 5th, fitness being a big part of it. Good sign for Alex.

It was good to get through that one. But like McEnroe says, a big part of winning grand slams is being efficient, especially in the earlier rounds. Zverev hasn't ticked that box yet.

Djokovic coasted through what was potentially a tricky match against Tsonga. Djokovic plays so well behind his serve. Unlike Zverev, Djokovic is very efficient.

[stroke]

Zverev shows a lot of maturity in a 5 set win over a tough Chardy. Alex was up 2 sets and lost the next 2 sets very closely before winning the 5th, fitness being a big part of it. Good sign for Alex.

[stroke]

Business Insider: Roger Federer has 15 near-perfect qualities but 2 glaring weaknesses, according to a tennis research group.

https://www.businessinsider.com/roger-federer-has-2-glaring-weaknesses-2019-1

Interesting article

[stroke]

Very tough loss for Stan and very big win for Milos. Broken record, but the Raonic serve to me is the best one I have ever seen. Stan won 156 total points in match vs 144 for Milos.

[stotty]

Thiem has just gone two sets down to Popyrin. If only Thiem could volley, this might never have happened.

[don_budge]

Roger defeated former cocaine addict Dan Evans who has never quite regained form since his 12 month ban.

Often referred to as "The Devil's Lady" cocaine is a sign that you have too much money according to the late Robin Williams. Good to see Daniel Evans kick the habit and participating in more health endeavours. There are quite a few top level tennis players who have indulged in the "Bolivian Marching Powder" and none of them will testify that they are better off for it. Daniel sums it up pretty darn well...its a life ruiner.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/27/dan-evans-cocaine-life-ruiner-tennis-ban-return

[stotty]

Nadal sails through to meet Alex De Manaur. I am not giving Manaur much of a chance but he is as strong willed as anyone out there and will make a scrap of it I hope.

Roger defeated former cocaine addict Dan Evans who has never quite regained form since his 12 month ban. I didn't see the affair but judging by don_budge's observations Roger was not as efficient as usual. I was expecting a 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 job and was surprised to see a couple of tie-breaks in the eventual scoreline.

Novak has the toughest draw. From now on he has credible opponents all the way through. No bad thing...keeps him on his toes. I heard talk on the radio from a wishful presenter suggesting challenge rounds should be reinstated. He felt tennis has been so one sided over the last decade and that the top four should be put through to the quarters of a slam and the rest should fight for their places to meet them. It's a bit late in the day now but 8 years ago that might actually have been a valid suggestion.

[don_budge]

Federer Update...Roger Federer vs. Anybody

Roger Federer looking a bit out of whack at times managed his dysfunction with a flourish. I think that one of the keys to living a reasonably tolerable life is to manage one's dysfunction. Let's face it...we all have it. It's not like we try to put it on display but it's there and it rears its ugly head at some of the most inopportune moments. Nick Kyrgios is a case in point. He easily gets frustrated and it just comes bubbling to the surface in the form of excuses not to perform and that is how he acts it out. Federer on the other hand was not in fiddle form but he did the right thing. He didn't advertise that he wasn't feeling up to snuff...he simply put his head down and went to work. It was an excellent example how to beat somebody when you are not at your best. You find a way to win and he is so good he did it pulling away at the end. Such is the difference in the level of his talent and Anybody's.

In this case it was Daniel Evans from Great Britain. I have heard of some swirling controversy that seems to follow this guy but every time that I have seen him play I have liked him and appreciated a couple of things about him. Today...or was it yesterday in Australia...he really suited up and came to play. He took Roger to tie-breakers in the first two sets before Roger steamrolled him in the third. Rollercoastered him...playing frictionless tennis as he glides around the court as if he is on ice skates. Pure inertia. One more thing that makes Daniel Evans a great representative of the game from what I have seen...he wore all white in his match against Roger Federer. This is something that I really like. It speaks of tradition. It speaks of a salute to the old Australian tennis played under the tutelage of the great coach Harry Hopman. It speaks to my stated coaching paradigm that connects the dots from the 1920's to the present day. It speaks to a love of the game which is something that anyone reading these words surely understands.

Tennis is like a woman. She has been a bit fickle through the years. But her beauty is so irresistible...so unbelievably alluring. In all her forms there is something to long for. Like a distant memory of a lover I must have had. Perhaps it was only a dream. Such is the beauty...and love. At times the deception. You can be blinded by it and when it's over it is going to hurt...but deep inside you know it was worth it. After all...what the hell else is there to do?

[bottle]

"Unseemly!" Well, fiddle-dee-dee.

[don_budge]

He shouldn't even have to murmur it let alone shout it across the stadium. Trying your balls off is part of the job and not negotiable if you're looking to win any tournament let alone a grand slam. I still can't warm to the kid.

I watched the Tomic Cilic match and Raonic Kyrgios. Both were good matches but Cilic and Raonic just are so professional and played so solid, both looking like contenders to me. Bernard played about as well as he can, but he is just not able to produce the level of physicality as someone like Cilic, who is in top condition to compete late into the big tournaments. Nick was his usual drama queen self, at one point telling his box that "he is trying his balls off" but evidently in his world, he had a knee issue that was preventing things from going his way, even though he was trying his ball off. I was thinking, it is hard to imagine Cilic or Raonic screaming at their box they are "trying their balls off".

I say...that is a most unseemly thing to say in mixed company. I think if you are going to try and convince the public of your efforts "I'm trying my ass off" might be better or "I'm giving it everything I have" might be better yet. But it is all immaterial now. Another poor performance by Nick "The Jerk" Kyrgios and how quickly his presence here at the Australian Open will be forgotten. The real pity is that this is his home national event and one shouldn't have to say that you are giving it your best as Stotty allude to...it should go with the territory. Nick Kyrgios' "To Cool for School" act is wearing thin and even John McEnroe is coming down hard on him. Milos Raonic apparently didn't quite know what to make of the misbehaviour and just kept his nose to the grindstone to set up an interesting match with the "other" Swiss player, Stanislas Wawrinka.

I thought I remembered stroke wondering if the big serving game might be a little too much for the petulant one's fragile sense of what to compete for. I was thinking that a match like this could conceivably come down to all tie-breakers if both players were playing up to their respective abilities. But Nick chose the easy way out as usual. A first round loser takes home 60,000 dollars or so. A lot of Americans work an entire years to scrape together that much money. But he is an entitled spoiled child. He deserves his check...or so he thinks. He didn't earn it. It happens a lot with him. He might put more effort into a pickup game of basketball than he does his profession. Talent is a terrible thing to waste. He probably isn't a terribly high IQ guy.

There were many players out there in the first round top half of the draw that were trying "their asses" off. And their were many that were able to coast a little by the way of their superior talent. Take Dominic Thiem and Benoit Paire for instance. Dominic won the first two sets but Paire righted the ship and got right back into the match by reeling off sets three and four. The fifth was decided by a single break and 3-3 and Paire saved a number of match points before he succumbed. He gave it his best shot and he didn't have to even say it. It was self evident.

Novak Djokovic is master of his own domain as they played around with this phrase in a Jerry Seinfeld episode that I saw yesterday. But he has some hungry tennis players in his section of the draw that might just be up for giving their best to take the number one seed down. First off is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who has been looking pretty strong and rather fit for a guy that has been absent from the tour for nearly a year. Then Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov may just be able to book a date with the winner of the Djokovic/Tsonga match. Two matches away from the round of sixteen is Daniil Medvedev who is a "Next Generation" potential star who has been playing really solid tennis all of last year. He had the most wins of any player on hard courts in 2018. I think. Correct me if I am wrong. All of these guys will be playing "their asses" off to get to the next round and then the next. I think you can take that to the bank.

The top half of the draw is not nearly as interesting because of one thing only. Roger Federer is in the bottom half. If Roger gets to the final...then the top half takes on a new importance. In don_budge's view of the world of tennis that is. Of course there is tons going on and things will shape up progressively with each round played. For instance some of the side shows are exhibiting signs of intrigue already. You've got Ivo "Too Tall" Karlovic playing "Little" Kei Nishikori in round two. Alexander "ATP Golden Child" Zverev versus Jeremy Chardy who would like nothing better than to knock the chip off of Zverev's shoulder should he get down in the doldrums if he falls behind. Remember when Hyeon Chang was a can't miss prospect after he got to the semifinals against Roger Federer last year only to retire after getting belted by everything Federer could land on him last year at the Aussie Open. He narrowly escaped after losing the first two sets in the first round. Rumor has it that he has developed a blister on his foot. He's being diagnosed as round to round. I shouldn't be too tough on him...but it did strike me strange that he would quit in the semifinals of a Grand Slam. In the Harry Hopman paradigm of coaching you must crawl to the finish line if you must. Just to shake the hand of your opponent after he put you out of your misery.

What about the women? Well as I understand it they are making equal money as the men for playing 60% potentially as much as the men. Not to mention the disparity in the quality. That is how feminism works. It isn't about doing equal work...it's about getting equal pay. While there are some players in the men's draw that I don't recognise...I don't recognise 90% of the women's players. One might argue that I don't know their names of faces because I don't follow women's tennis. And that is precisely my point.

Roger Federer, Stefanos Tsitsipas and the rest of the bottom half kick it off in the middle of the night here in Sweden. Federer should be able to send the qualifier he plays home packing early. Tsitsipas plays a rather experienced veteran in Viktor Troicki who may be a bit more reluctant to go home. It will be a great test for young Stefanos in some really key stages of his development as a player. The match to watch is always Roger Federer versus Anybody. He even makes Nick Kyrgios look like a million bucks. Federer lights up the whole side of the draw because of his presence and the possibilities of all of the "Anybodys" who have a shot at playing him. For instance should Federer get through the qualifier he is scheduled to play tomorrow in Daniel Evans then he plays the winner of "The Amazing" Mr. Monfils or Taylor Fritz. All of a sudden these guys are compelling players. Particularly Gael Monfils. I wonder what his form is like. It seems as if it has been a year since we have heard anything of him. Look at those first round scores against a pretty gritty player in Damir Dzumhur...6-0, 6-4, 6-0.

[bottle]

Big international etiquette school coming soon. Headquarters: T. Hotel Moscow. (T for Toby, Terence, Thomas, Telson?)

[bottle]

o tempora o mores. (Did I cross him? Probably.)

[stroke]

He shouldn't even have to murmur it let alone shout it across the stadium. Trying your balls off is part of the job and not negotiable if you're looking to win any tournament let alone a grand slam. I still can't warm to the kid.

Not warming to the kid is putting him and his antics in the best possible light to me.