2021 Miami Open...ATP 1000...Miami, Florida USA

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Grigor vs Cam Norrie is a great example of how tough it is out there. Cam is #56 in world, a pit bull of a player, hard hat all the way. Grigor looks better doing everything, but he just gets outworked, and Cam gets a very good win. Grigor looked to have some kind of physical issue the 2nd set, which is just throwing a player like Cam red meat.

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This match today FAA vs PHH easily the match of the day. PHH to me the best serve and volley player since Rafter, and FAA, a poster child for today's tennis, hyper athletic with a massive forehand.

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FAA gets through, small margains. On a side note, his RPS(revolutions per second) for the match on his forehand was 57. That is the 2nd highest number I have ever seen. Berenttini had a 61 one time. Clearly a huge forehand by FAA.

Stroke, Techno Guru wannabe

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https://photos.app.goo.gl/pbKDcjDnKAwVaT4u9

Very telling stat

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I like Alex, but he will never be part of a new "Big 3".

[don_budge]

This match today FAA vs PHH easily the match of the day. PHH to me the best serve and volley player since Rafter, and FAA, a poster child for today's tennis, hyper athletic with a massive forehand.

In "The Origin of the Species" Charles Darwin wrote to the effect...it isn't the strongest or the smartest that will necessarily survive, it is the one that adapts the best. Case in point the match between Felix Auger-Aliasimme and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Felix adapted to the situation the best. It was his ability to deal with the outdoor and warm conditions. Herbert thrives in perfect conditions, such as the indoor venue where the wind and sun are taken out of play. Pierre-Hugues depends upon his finesse and placement to create the most "power" in his game. Whereas Felix has the ability to just plain "man-up" and dictate with his forehand and athleticism. Interesting match-up. Easily match of the day. I didn't see Francis Tiafoe take down Daniel Evans but I suspect it was a similar scenario. Moving on...

[don_budge]

Moving on...

...all eyes on Aslan Karatsov. Pay particular attention to Sebastion Korda vs. "The Fabulous One" Fabio Fognini and Lorenzo Musseti. Look for things to heat up in the third round after the preliminaries. The foreplay.

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I, not that it matters, have Karatsov as match of the day. Hope he can somehow maintain that form, no easy ask. If he and Fabio both won as you mentioned earlier, we have a definite match of the day on tap.

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Karatsev down 3-4 to Kukuskin with a service break against him. Karatsev still bludgeoning the ball but his UE count is out of control, particularly on the backhand. Another thing I really like about Karatsev. He sure does not run around to hit forehands. He just hits the balls to the side it comes to.

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Karatsev breaks twice to win the set 6-4 bludgeoning his way through it. And I definitely mean bludgeoning.

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Absolutely brutal power display by Karatsev. I would say he has the biggest forehand in tennis, and he backs that up with the biggest backhand in tennis. His opponents have almost a deer in headlights look to the onslaught.

[don_budge]

And They're Off...Jockeying for Position at the 2021 Miami Open (round of 32)

Absolutely brutal power display by Karatsev. I would say he has the biggest forehand in tennis, and he backs that up with the biggest backhand in tennis. His opponents have almost a deer in headlights look to the onslaught.

The draw sheet is such an interesting story. What a story it can tell. The first round at the 2021 Miami Open essentially another qualifying round to get into the main draw. The main draw of 64. How can you call it the main draw when all of the seeds get byes? Thirty-two seeds and thirty-two byes. Whatever. The second round is the foreplay. Its just a warm up to get the tournament moving. Get the juices flowing. Although Alexander Zverev didn't find it that way as he exited the Hard Rock Stadium to a young and rather unknown Finnish player named Emil Ruusuvuori. Another tough spell. Oh well. There were a couple of surprises maybe in that second round. Nothing to rock the house. Anything can happen once the ball is in play. As long as both players feel they are in it and not playing for second place. That is one good thing about the absence of the "Big Whatever". It is all up for grabs...consider Ruusuvuori. Take Sebastian Korda for instance. The win over "Fabulous" Fognini gives this young man a shot at the title...a shot at Aslan Karatsev.

So I think that as far as a match of the day it will have to share the billing between Karatsev vs. Korda and Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Micheal Ymer. It goes without saying regards the former. Karatsev is such a curiosity now. He seems to have materialised out of nowhere giving a mysterious, ethereal quality about him. The heavy groundstroke are hit with a thud and are like concrete bricks on the opponents racquet. His opponent yesterday had the audacity to come out of the corner swinging and got himself up a quick break in the match before Karatsev started landing with the heavy artillery. Still Aslan looked to be just a tad vulnerable in the beginning. A sign of form...getting used to the conditions. Plus opponents are going to start to treat him differently. They will be on their toes and aiming at that bullseye between his shoulder blades. He has earned a new profound respect but responsibility comes with that now. He is a marked man. To a player of Sebastian Korda's stature he becomes just a bit of a psychological puzzle. Korda is hungry coming off his biggest bagging in his career and he is brimming with a confidence that just might spell some trouble for the newbie Ruskie. Karatsev had better come out thumping and not missing. A good opportunity to see what Korda is made of. Karatsev as well. Getting to know you...they have never played before.

Everybody in the draw is jockeying for position now. From the top seeds in Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas down to the lowly to mid stream others. We are not into the meat of the tournament. Players are still trying to get their teeth into it. Starting to chomp at their bits somewhat. But in Mikael Ymer and Emil Ruusuvuori we have a rather interesting spectacle. Mikael has been slowly climbing his way up the food chain. He beat Nikoloz Basilashvili yesterday in a tough and hot three setter. He has had some looks at the big time players and he doesn't give off that he is necessarily afraid of what they have to offer. These two players are from neighbouring and competitive countries. A Scandinavian clash. Ymer has earned a bit more cash and more points at this point but Emil has bagged himself a big deer. One that has that deer in the headlights look ever since he broke into the top echelon. This is the problem for Zverev. He is a bit shy of being the target. You cannot be shy at that point in the career. You have to be aggressive. You gotta be like that...I remember once telling Nicki from Serbia that on the forum some years ago. You gotta be like that.

Mikael Ymer is the younger of two brothers in Sweden here who have emerged from the blasé Tennis Federation here. He doesn't have the look of going anywhere fast. His hair and clothes are a dead giveaway. The hairstyle is some sort of street version of gangsta. He has thrown in blue and purple dyes to boot. Not a good look Ymer. He'd be a handsome sort in a nice clip and traditional white clothes. But you probably cannot say that these days. They are listening. Judging. But if you want to be taken seriously, you have to look the part. My dear old tennis coach instilled that in me. I always dressed for success. Emil and Mikael get a top billing here in the jockeying phase of the tournament. The winner gets a look at the winner of Jannik Sinner and Karen Khachanov. Should Sinner emerge the winner then the section of the draw escalates in drama.

Just a couple of ideas. Food for thought. Musing to myself. It's hard to really care. Without Roger.

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Nice write up as usual db. Coincidentally, I was about to post almost exactly the same thing in a not quite as well written muse. Zverev seems to be a threat to go down from the 1st match of these big tournaments on. He definitely needs to get a handle on that. The Big 3 sez that is NOT how it is done. Fabio may have done himself a favor exiting this tournament when he did. Karatsev was something yesterday. Kukushkin is a formidable player and actually played well. He was up 4-3 in first set and Karatsev was making a lot of bh errors(he seemed to not hit many forehands at all as Kukuskin was doing a good job of avoiding his fh, and Karatsev does not run around much to hit fh's). From that point on in the match though, Karatsev's errors started dropping, and the bombing was on. Karatsev does not jab, every shot is a straight right. Even the return of serve, straight right. If he is not landing, it is not pretty. But when he is landing, well it is pretty much over. I did not ever see the error to winner count in that match yesterday, but I suspect he was in the black. If he is in the black, the opponent is in the blue it seems. One thing I did notice though yesterday, Karatsev can play defense on those rare occasions when he needs to. He is a spended mover with those strong legs, and he made a couple of squash type shots off his fh to stay in points.

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Match of the day, Medvedev vs Popyrin. Popy is only 21 and coming on. Medvedev will have to do it out there. I also like the Fritz vs Cam Norrie match.

[don_budge]

And They're Off...Jockeying for Position at the 2021 Miami Open (round of 32)

So I think that as far as a match of the day it will have to share the billing between Karatsev vs. Korda and Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Micheal Ymer.

http://www.utakmice.net/tenisuzivo/

For some reason this website that streams for free had the Karatsev/Korda match on today. Scratch that...we have to wait till tomorrow for this one. More jockeying for position today.