Delray Updated
John Yandell
Delray Delray. Quite an experience, tennis wise and otherwise.
The players' field took some hits. Kevin Anderson dropped out with an elbow injury. So did Milos Raonic, although there was no stated reason I could find. Then defending champ Francis Tiafoe lost in the first round in three sets to Dan Evans, after crushing him in the first.
On the plus side, the event picked up John Isner. Also Delpo showed up as advertised though is apparently still having some problems with his injured knee.
And this year Nick Kyrgios actually played his first round match and won, tiebreaker in the third. It was crazy watching him. He consistently tried 130mph second serves and made quite a few. He mixed huge forehands with random slice and drop shots on both sides.
Kyrgios played basically the same way in the second round, but this time he lost in three sets to Radu Albot of Moldova, a small Eastern European country bordered by Romania and Ukraine. Albot is 5'9” and 29 years old and, having played successfully on the challenger circuit for years, is now in the top 100.
Krygios hit plenty of 130mph serves—including again on the seconds. He hit some of his supersonic forehands, but generally looked lethargic and like he would rather have been elsewhere. Anywhere elsewhere. He got into it with a fan, dropped an F bomb, got a warning, tried several extreme saber attacks on second serves, none of which worked.
In the first set he had a trainer put a strap on his knee. But regardless of any possible injury the guy just wasn't trying to cover the court.
In fact the thing that really struck me was how little he uses his legs even in his strokes. Minimal coiling on the groundstrokes and also on that serve. But when it comes to fast twitch hands he might be the fastest twitch there is. You gotta wonder what it's like to live inside his mind. One phrase that comes to mind is bipolar.
McDonald Surprise
The biggest unexpected development was the play of Mckenzie McDonald. He's from the Bay Area, and I had a chance to film him a couple of times for his original coach, my friend Rosie Bareis, before he became a college star at UCLA. I'll take 5% of the credit for his improved serve.
First McKenzie beat Taylor Fritz in 3. Fritz has an amazing serve but McDonald served well himself and definitely outplayed him from the baseline. Then in the quarters he had a huge 3 set win over Juan Martin Del Potro. Could he be headed for the top 20? Possible.
Henman
My favorite experience though was watching Tim Henman. As I wrote before, I really wanted to watch Henman volley. And in his singles match against a limping Jan Michael Gambill he did. Exactly once. A gorgeous backhand volley winner on match point off a forehand approach.
Not a single serve and volley point. He basically took Gambill apart from the backcourt. Luckily for me in doubles it was different.
Even though he and Wayne Ferriera lost the match, Tim came in on his serve, as well as on some returns and approaches and he also hit some great volleys in exchanges off Wayne's returns and in Wayne's service games.
Maybe a couple of dozen or more. My assessment is that he is a perfect volley model for anyone on both sides—forehand and backhand. Compact and with perfect use of the body, hitting arms, and legs. Effortless aggression!
But what was really interesting was how good his forehand looked. Eastern grip. Great turn. Backswing on the hitting side. Great extension. No wiper.
His backhand slice was also technically gorgeous. A classic compact slice drive with the racket above the hand in the follow through. Quite different from the so called modern slice hit by Roger Federer and others with a radically downward swing plane.
A Henman style game probably won't work anymore at the top level in pro tennis. But my opinion is that his game is the perfect all court model for club and NTRP tennis. So many avid club and league guys are torturing themselves trying to play like Rafa. Or worse, Krygios.
Meanwhile
Meanwhile the event has stayed tremendously accessible. The event organizers I am sure wish they could sell out. And the crowds are decent, but there were plenty of great seats in the stadium and the two smaller show courts.
Not a trace of the claustrophobia of the Open or Indian Wells. Delray could use some of the diversity though of the Miami event coming up next month. The crowd is definitely older and heavily Caucasian. Ironically that reminds me of the 1980s at Indian Wells.
Finally, true to my promise to myself I also found time to get to the beach—twice even—and swim a few hundred strokes in the Atlantic waves. You can valet park literally across the street from the beach. $10.
The people on the beach span all ages. No loud music. Perfect. A minor highlight was the alligator sand sculpture awaiting the tide.
It's all kinda like South Beach in the 1980s before the horror descended on Ocean Avenue. The equivalent main street in Delray, Atlantic Ave, definitely had traffic over MLK weekend, but no gridlock.
And another prediction came true. Tennisplayer contributor and Florida tennis power broker Kyle Lacroix accompanied me to Salt7.
We went on a Sunday night, it wasn't packed, and as I anticipated Kyle easily consumed a substantial grilled octopus appetizer and a massive bone in ribeye. Me, I had the filet and some duck fat fries. I give it an excellent review.
Down closer to the stadium, I also found Doc's Burgers—a classic spot that has been there for over 65 years. Delicious and fast.
If they forced me to move to Florida—this would be the town I'd pick. It's still somewhat quaint. And with its own local pro tournament. Definitely no plans to move, but I do plan to return again year.
