2017 BNP Paribas Open...ATP 1000...Indian Wells, California USA (Trump Land)

[don_budge]

One thing about Evans is that he think he can do it...take scalps. He's a cocky bugger...you know, small guy cocky. Not that I am knocking that. If I guy is undersized he has to make up for it somehow. But it is his sliced backhand that some players seem to find awkward. He can float it, knife it, or angle it...and he mixes all three types up very nicely indeed. With a good draw, he is capable of getting through a good few round.

I see Nishikori proved a step too far for Evans. Shame I missed it. I would have liked to have seen how it played out.

He's sort of blast from the past...isn't he? He so reminds me of the Australian lineage. Even the old American lineage. The backhand is one of the giveaways. The key to his success is not necessarily the slice backhand...which however will always serve him in excellent stead...the key is his drive backhand which he did not have at his disposal in his match against Nishikori. For some reason he looked to be half a step slow and wasn't able to get himself into position to drive it aggressively which I have seen him do in his recent run of impressive wins...and even impressive losses.

Nishikori was getting the quick drop on him time and time again. Interestingly...Nishikori can match Evans in "quickness" whereas the big fellas tend to be more plodding and less agile. It almost looked to me as if Evans had partied the night before...he wasn't totally focused or sharp. Performance is such an interesting phenomena...as I posted earlier Elias Ymer, the highest ranking hapless Swede played a player on back to back days with exactly the opposite results. It's all about preparation. Meticulous preparation. Repeating the same steps that you take when you perform well. It takes a lot of discipline and this might just be what Evans lacks...according to some of his critics.

If I were coaching him, I would work on getting a higher percentage of first serves in...possibly serving up a more aggressive version of his second serve on the first serve. He needs to play the backhand more aggressively than he did against Nishikori too. He's an old school player and one that would benefit if the game were played with wooden or even the old standard sized racquets. Less emphasis on brute speed and more emphasis on the subtleties.

Another blast from the past through...Roger Federer through without hardly breaking a sweat.

[stroke]

I think Fed is in with a pretty good shot here. He is rested, interested, it is 2 out of 3 sets, and he is the best tennis player. The oddsmakers have in just behind Nadal as the #3 favorite. Once again, Nadal is probably his toughest potential ask. Fed's win in AO was certainly one for the ages. I always thought he would get one more major, just did not think it would be there. He still may get one more again at Wimbledon.

[stotty]

I think Fed is in with a pretty good shot here. He is rested, interested, it is 2 out of 3 sets, and he is the best tennis player. The oddsmakers have in just behind Nadal as the #3 favorite. Once again, Nadal is probably his toughest potential ask. Fed's win in AO was certainly one for the ages. I always thought he would get one more major, just did not think it would be there. He still may get one more again at Wimbledon.

Yes I thought Wimbledon too. Down under has long been the property of Djokovic. He's looked almost unbeatable there in the last five years of so. I guess that's why we keep watching....you can never be 100% sure.

He does look sharp Federer, doesn't he? Mind you, he's the best of the lot at dispatching weaker opposition.

[stroke]

One really great match in this tournament has gone somewhat unnoticed, Taylor Fritz really just took it vs the always tough professinal Cilic. Fritz looked to me like a guy who could win a major.

[don_budge]

Fed's win in AO was certainly one for the ages.

Yes...it certainly was.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzRqxxw0mRc

[don_budge]

The Bottom Half...Interesting on Paper

It's very interesting down in the bottom half. Interesting in the sense of the possible outcomes. Sadly...the tennis is not watchable. It's just too damned boring...unless you know who is playing. Then everything just seems to heat up. I guess that is the definition of charisma. When you are in the room...in the house, everything gets just a bit more exciting. That would be Federer...Roger Federer. The Living Proof.

So on paper Taylor "Fritzy" is interesting. Afterall he just got done beating a former U. S. Open Champ. But when it comes down to the nuts and bolts...it's all nuts. I can't stay focused on the Fritz game for more than a couple of games. Once you've seen him serve a game and return a game you are in for more repetitive stuff. Where is the flamboyance I ask you...by "you" I mean can somebody enlighten me? You're sick and tired of this aren't you? Moving down another match we have Jack "Sock it to 'em" Sock versus the "Bulgarian Boy Toy" of Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams otherwise know as "Baby Fed" which Grigor Dimitrov wants to shed but personally I think he should hang on to it as long as he can. You know...try to live up to it. Try to fill the shoes. Why not? It's a huge personal challenge. You have to go with Dimitrov here...fundamental versus the unorthodox.

And so it goes...we reach Lucas Pouille and Donald Young. I first became aware of Pouille a couple of years ago at the Paris Indoors when he played Roger Federer. Another case of Federer making somebody look good? Then he appears in a trainmen video with the man. But Donald Young is coming off a win over Sam Querry (querulously known to someone as a "Frankenstein" simile though I never saw it). Donald Young needs to make something happen or else he will be an asterisk that became a household word for someone unable to make it happen. Gilles Muller and Kei Nishikori? Spare me.

So we get to the heart of the matter and it concerns two frenemies and their supporting cast of Fernando Verdasco and Steve Johnson. Fernando is spoiling to ruin Nadal's day and Johnson cannot make a dent in Federer unless Roger gives him the ok. Does Roger want to play Rafael Nadal at this point. Afterall he clobbered the obsessive/compulsive Spaniard down under in the finals of the Aussie Open (see the video I posted in the proceeding post) where Fafa stupidly challenged an obvious call on match point and then proceeded to hog the microphone in a rambling loser's speech at the awards ceremony...leaving Roger sort of speechless. I don't think he understood what Fafa was trying to accomplish with his histrionics. If Roger has only eyes for Wimbledon he may want to forego another match with Nadal until then. In this way preserving the hurt and confidence crusher. What does he have to win in the event? Losing to Johnson will solve all of that. But on the other hand if Nadal loses to Verdasco it sort of opens things up and he may just choose to go for it. It's hard to get into Federer's head at this point...who would have ever guessed he could have won the Aussie Open without any tournament play for how may zillion months?

Things get further interesting on paper in the next two brackets. On paper Nick "The Jerk" Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev is some kind of shootout. The two youngest players in the top twenty. But you know what...I'm like who cares? Neither one of them has an ounce of charisma. Kyrgios is just plain barfable. There is not other way to put it. Zverev? Just another case of watching paint dry...or grass grow. You can have 'em...both of them. Ok...ok don_budge. Just calm down. There is just one more match to go. Uh oh...it's the slow and plodding Juan "Jolly Green Argentine" Del Potro versus the latest former number one player in the professional game of tennis. How much you want to bet that Del Potro is just licking his lips at this encounter. Djokovic doesn't look as if his head is on right and he has all kinds of spiritual doubts and existential thoughts going on deep inside the Gold Mine. Does my wife still love me? Is she thinking that turnabout is fair play? Who can play tennis with this kind of drama eating at you?

So you see on paper all of this stuff looks sort of intriguing. Or is it just my imagination? Because once the ball is in play it's the same old thing. The racquets are too big. The players may as well have bazookas. Where is the charisma? The subtlety. Well there is still Roger Federer. He is in the house and somehow he makes it all that more intriguing. Enjoy him while you have the chance. I encourage all of my students to watch him while they can. He won't last forever. Nothing lasts forever. Novak is starting to get his head around that one. Sometimes you just have to move on.

It's going to interesting...at least the results will be.

[stotty]

Nadal sinks Verdasco.....

He will be hoping Roger gets through against Johnson. Nadal must be absolutely fuming after losing to Roger down under. He will be wanting to put the record straight at the first opportunity....this week he hopes. The courts seem a little slower than they were down under which should suit Nadal better. Nadal is moving better also from what I have seen, and his forehand seems to be finding the mark again.

I hope Roger gets through...no reason why he shouldn't. It will make for a big match psychologically. Roger either gets to reinforce his work down under, or Nadal gets to right the ship. Let's hope the match comes about...no hiccups, please, Roger. I want to see something interesting.

[stotty]

Djokovic doesn't look as if his head is on right and he has all kinds of spiritual doubts and existential thoughts going on deep inside the Gold Mine. Does my wife still love me? Is she thinking that turnabout is fair play? Who can play tennis with this kind of drama eating at you?

Julius Caesar was once the most powerful man on earth. Cleopatra, however, brought him down, indirectly perhaps, but brought him down she did. Falling in love with an Egyptian queen proved a fatal move. Caesar finished up murdered in cold blood.

And don't get me started on what followed...Mark Antony.

Beautiful women are lethal. Make no mistake about that....absolutely deadly.

[don_budge]

The Battle of the Sexes...

Julius Caesar was once the most powerful man on earth. Cleopatra, however, brought him down, indirectly perhaps, but brought him down she did. Falling in love with an Egyptian queen proved a fatal move. Caesar finished up murdered in cold blood.

And don't get me started on what followed...Mark Antony.

Beautiful women are lethal. Make no mistake about that....absolutely deadly.

They used to say the the battle of the sexes would never be won...there was too much fraternization with the enemy. Nowadays this could change. You know..."the new normal".

[don_budge]

Nadal sinks Verdasco.....

I watched a bit of it. It was a stinker. I'm not sorry. The tennis was shit. Pure and utter boredom. Who was it that said this hard court surface is a "souless surface". That is a very good way of putting it. It sucks the life right out of the game. A purple court no less. It's the color of the "color revolution". George Soros funded. Wasn't it last year that the Ray Moore fiasco was here at Indian Wells? The Serena Fiasco. What a world.

But I digress...as usual. Rafael Nadal versus Fernando Verdasco. On paper it sound interesting. The reality of it was short of that. Let's go down the list.

Malek Jazira proved to be too much for Taylor "Fritzy" Fritz who was fresh off a victory over Marin Cilic who has been somewhat less than his former self as of late. Fritz was unable to sustain the high level to take out the 33 year old, #53 ranked player Jazira. Fritz will have to grow some to ever be considered Grand Slam Champion material. He has time...but does he have the imagination. Another cookie cutter junior player as of now.

American Jack Sock over Grigor Dimitrov. I got it wrong...it was unorthodoxy over fundamentals. That's the way this game goes. It doesn't always hold true. It's about performance. Who came to play today? A close match...Grigor had four match points. Speaking of Americans...another one through. This time it's Donald Young. Good for him and it is one that he should win if he wants to prove he belongs. Next up Kei Nishikori who made short work out of Gilles Muller. That one held true to form.

Nadal and Verdasco? Didn't I already mention that one. Can't remember. It was that forgettable. Trust me. Which brings us to "The Man"...Roger Federer. Federer versus Steve Johnson. 7-6, 7-6 to the good guy. The Swiss Guy. I watched three minutes and twenty-seven seconds of the highlight video and concluded that Federer didn't really want to win that match. He went on the court with his C- game and came away winning two tie-breaks. Time to suit up and play a match he didn't really want to play and it is questionable just how much he wants to win. Shall he struggle to beat Nadal on this "souless surface"...grinding it down to the bone. All that...just to face the winner of Kyrgios and Djokovic? It isn't worth it. The match will be played at one in the morning here in Sweden. Tomorrow is a working day. Only if I wake with "Trump Derangement Syndrome" will I see this one. But good luck Roger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4

I watched the last set of Del Potro and Djokovic. Just as boring as can be. This surface sucks.

[don_budge]

Whatever happened to Vasek Pospisil? Answer: loser to Dusan Lajovic. Couldn't sustain the level after a big win.

[stroke]

Nadal sinks Verdasco.....

He will be hoping Roger gets through against Johnson. Nadal must be absolutely fuming after losing to Roger down under. He will be wanting to put the record straight at the first opportunity....this week he hopes. The courts seem a little slower than they were down under which should suit Nadal better. Nadal is moving better also from what I have seen, and his forehand seems to be finding the mark again.

I hope Roger gets through...no reason why he shouldn't. It will make for a big match psychologically. Roger either gets to reinforce his work down under, or Nadal gets to right the ship. Let's hope the match comes about...no hiccups, please, Roger. I want to see something interesting.

Really looking forward to it for all the reasons you mentioned. It will probably come down to how the Fed taking it early backhand maintains. In the AO, it was at his best it had ever been vs Nadal. Kyrgios took it to Zverev, who looked none too pleased with the outcome. Nick seemed to have a better forehand, serve, movement, and hands. As good as Zverev is, the only part of his game that is as good as an engaged, interested Kyrgios is his backhand.

[klacr]

Whatever happened to Vasek Pospisil? Answer: loser to Dusan Lajovic. Couldn't sustain the level after a big win.

Pospisil did not employ the same commitment to the net as he did against Murray. Lajovic has a lovely one-handed backhand, not only as a drive but also a slice, used it effectively to neutralize Pospisil. With that said, Pospisil still had a match point. You gotta convert.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bottle]

The Bottom Half...Interesting on Paper

But Donald Young is coming off a win over Sam Querry (querulously known to someone as a "Frankenstein" simile though I never saw it).

Yes I say-- querulously-- that Sam Querry has the sankapu eyes of Boris Karloff.

[don_budge]

Pospisil did not employ the same commitment to the net as he did against Murray. Lajovic has a lovely one-handed backhand, not only as a drive but also a slice, used it effectively to neutralize Pospisil. With that said, Pospisil still had a match point. You gotta convert.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Great! Thanks for that heads up. I am not familiar with Lajovic at all although I recognize the name. Dusen. I found some highlights of their second set tiebreak. Pospisil ironically missed a couple of pretty straight forward volleys but finally hit the concluder...a touch angle for a winner on set point. Strange though that Pospisil eliminates the world number one and then is eliminated in the next round and then his eliminator is eliminated in the next round. Where is the consistency? This is why the top players stay on top. They win more of the matches that they are predicted to win. Consistency is one of the hallmarks of great champions.

I'm watching another beautiful stroke on the backhand side right now...Pablo Cuervas from Uruguay.