Australian Open 2018

[stotty]

Nadal is looking good so far over Cilic. His court positioning is way better than last year. He's not standing too far back to return and he is taking on second serves inside the baseline. That's a good sign. He is clearly more aggressive so far than last season.

Cilic's only chance here is to take the racket out of Nadal's hands.

[stroke]

Oddsmakers have Fed a bigger favorite(both are big favorites) over Tomas than Nadal over Cilic.

[stroke]

Sandgren and Chung both exhibit an ability that Kyrgios could learn from. In a word...hustle. Kyrgios refuses to look like he is trying to hard. He Is trying to hard to look cool. He said that he wanted Will Smith to think he was the coolest person in the world. What an idiot.

So true and on point. I don't think he will ever get it.

[don_budge]

Mad Dogs and Englishmen...

Kyle Edmund is slowly and very surely eating his way up the food chain. His takedown of Grigor Dimitrov in the quarterfinals of the U. S. Open further cements what appears to be a changing of the guard. Hyeon Chung and Kyle Edmund, two of the lesser Next Generation stars, have eclipsed Alexander Zverev and Dominic Them. At least in this tournament. That's a good thing.

The young man handles himself exemplary on the court and did a nice job in the interview and didn't allow Jim Courier to make himself look foolish. Courier is like the court jester.

Edmund isn't afraid of anybody either. He sticks his nose in there like a hard nosed boxer...even though he was wearing pink. He played Nadal one time last year and took him to three sets on clay. It wouldn't surprise me to see this kid give Nadal a run for the money. I wish him the best of luck. Nothing would please me more than to watch Kyle eliminate the worst thing to ever happen to tennis.

[stotty]

Stotty,
Berdych is looking rock solid. Playing like his 2010 Wimbledon self when he clobbered Fed, or his 2012 US Open self when he took out Fed as well.
Fed has not been tested and Berdych is playing the game that can take racquet out of Fed's hands.

It gets to the high 90's, low 100's here in Florida but the Humidity is unfathomable . Much worse than anywhere you have ever been. That's what destroys people. Suffocates them. The hotter and more humid the better for me, I don't mind it at all. Bring it on!

I have a few businesses on the side that generate comfortable income (not related to tennis) that I currently operate and although I love the sport, the teaching and grinding thing gets old fast. I have numerous outside interests so I enjoy being multi-dimensional. Tennis is simply a convenient bridge to connect with clients to grow other businesses, revenue streams and knowledge.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Great reply. Thank you so much.

You are wise to pop your fingers in other pies. You will be glad you did as you get older.

I did experience humidity once, in Chicago. It was terrible....knackering. The coldest I have ever been was also in Chicago. You know when you eat too much ice cream in one mouthful and it shoots a pain right up to your head? I had that same pain in Chicago just walking down the street. I have never seen so many fat people move so fast as in Chicago. Getting out of their cars into shopping malls was a comical sight. God, it was really, really cold...and windy.

I hope Tomas can give Roger a good game. It's dull watching Roger win so easily all the time against weak opposition. I know that Roger is so good...but it's also because the opposition is at times so bad.

[klacr]

Amazing....and what's the hottest you coach in? A good friend of mine who coaches in Australia has to cancel lessons because it gets too hot.

I have coached in temperatures of minus 7 centigrade before today, which is pretty cold and the bounce gets very low.

Are you planning a lifetime in coaching or will you branch off at some point?

Tomas seems to be playing well. I just hope he can give Roger a hard fought game. Roger has had a ridiculous draw and has hardly broken into a sweat so far. He needs a test.

Stotty,
Berdych is looking rock solid. Playing like his 2010 Wimbledon self when he clobbered Fed, or his 2012 US Open self when he took out Fed as well.
Fed has not been tested and Berdych is playing the game that can take racquet out of Fed's hands.

It gets to the high 90's, low 100's here in Florida but the Humidity is unfathomable . Much worse than anywhere you have ever been. That's what destroys people. Suffocates them. The hotter and more humid the better for me, I don't mind it at all. Bring it on!

I have a few businesses on the side that generate comfortable income (not related to tennis) that I currently operate and although I love the sport, the teaching and grinding thing gets old fast. I have numerous outside interests so I enjoy being multi-dimensional. Tennis is simply a convenient bridge to connect with clients to grow other businesses, revenue streams and knowledge.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

I do not operate in temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit period!
Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Amazing....and what's the hottest you coach in? A good friend of mine who coaches in Australia has to cancel lessons because it gets too hot.

I have coached in temperatures of minus 7 centigrade before today, which is pretty cold and the bounce gets very low.

Are you planning a lifetime in coaching or will you branch off at some point?

Tomas seems to be playing well. I just hope he can give Roger a hard fought game. Roger has had a ridiculous draw and has hardly broken into a sweat so far. He needs a test.

[don_budge]

It looks like Djokovic may be on the ropes...going down. Chung 3-0 in the second. Djokovic is tweaking with his arm and flexing his fingers. Arm trouble? Sandgren and Thiem on serve in the fifth going toe to toe. Thiem saved the match for himself at this point with two unbelievable down the line backhands in the tie-break. One of them was on match point for Sandgren.

[don_budge]

Boy oh Boy...

Two tie-breaks end simultaneously. Sandgren loses his to Thiem...two sets all. Into the fifth. Chung wins his against Djokovic. I almost feel it was more imperative that Djokovic win the first set than Chung. Chung now has the luxury of facing a long battle against the older and more questionably fit Djokovic. Very interesting.

Sandgren is in unknown territory. A fifth set being deep in the draw of a Grand Slam. Let's see how he handles the pressure.

[don_budge]

The Book is Bill Tilden...

In Chung's win over Zverev he neatly attacked the forehand to open up the backhand. This is perhaps technically attacking the other player's strength typically. Against the two hand backhand this is particularly effective as the marginal limit in reach on the backhand is exposed by opening up the court. Chung has done this a couple of times against Djokovic and it looks rather clever. Now he will serve for the set at 5-4. A big moment for the young man.

Djokovic looks just a bit shaky on his feet. It is questionable if he is actually match tough and can withstand the pressure over five sets. As tennis_chiro noted a major strength of Chung is movement and he looks to have tree trunks for legs. This gives him the appearance of being considerable shorter than he actually is. It will be a war of attrition if Chung can take out the legs of the older and perhaps less well conditioned Djokovic. Does the two handed backhand eventually become a liability when movement becomes less with age?

[don_budge]

Sandgren and Chung both exhibit an ability that Kyrgios could learn from. In a word...hustle. Kyrgios refuses to look like he is trying to hard. He Is trying to hard to look cool. He said that he wanted Will Smith to think he was the coolest person in the world. What an idiot.

[don_budge]

Tennis from Tennessee up two sets to one against Dominic Thiem. More later.

Tennys from Tennessee...stupid spell check.

[don_budge]

Tennys Anyone?

The last of the Americans...the last of the Mohicans. Tennys anyone? As in Tennys Sandgren. I don't know that I have heard anything about this guy...certainly not all that much. But here he is in the round of sixteen facing thew wonder kind named Dominic Thiem. Best of luck to you Mr. Tennys. Dominic Thiem is another of these young wonder kids...the Next Generation that was over hyped too soon. The extra hype plays havoc on your psyche. Somehow it gives you a sense of entitlement which is the kiss of death on the professional tennis tour. The opponent senses it and it gives him that motivational edge which can get him over the top in a tight duel. Ask Alexander Zverev about this psychic phenomena. Does he understand what has happened to him and does he have the answer to get over it? Existential questions. Before it was a question of when young Zverev was going to win his first Grand Slam. To me the question is always "will he win a Grand Slam"?

In this regard Tennys has a little bit of a motivational advantage and he should feel as if he has nothing to lose. This is an occasion for him to play the match of his life. Get loose and stay loose. A good tactical plan in the bag is absolutely necessary. Go out and play with an idea in mind. How best to elicit errors from "Next Generation" Dominic Thiem. Put pressure on him is absolutely essential so that he might start to feel the expectations of those premature accolades. Thiem seems to be a bit more resistant to the problem than Zverev. Zverev seems fragile mentally to me. The smashing of racquets is a giveaway. There is no call for this type of behaviour from a true champion. Very few can afford this type of lapse of concentration.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/...lian-open-2018

While a win for Tennys may not make American tennis great again (MATGA) it certainly won't hurt. I was impressed with Tennys' down the line backhand. This will be a great starting point in his tactical approach against Thiem. In given situations he should elect to go down the line to press the issue instead of the safer cross court into the strength of the Thiem backhand.

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

Tennis from Tennessee up two sets to one against Dominic Thiem. More later.

[tennis_chiro]

Just loving watching Hsieh giving Kerber a lesson in all court tactics, exposing the one-dimensional nature of Kerber's game. She may not be able to finish this, but, boy, is she fun to watch

don

[doctorhl]

"The Jerk" Unraveling?

At 3-3 in the second set Nick Kyrgios tried a worthless "tweener" at 15 all on his serve. Dimitrov smashed the little bunny into next week for a 15-30 advantage on the Kyrgios serve. I started to notice little signs in this service game that Nick might be throwing in the towel. These are the situations where Kyrgios is weak mentally. In five set matches you have to go with the ebb and flow. He doesn't have the patience.

There is no good reason under the sun that a man of Nick Kygios's size and strength needs two hands on the backhand. Whoever developed this player lost a big opportunity to change his destiny by continuing with two hands when he was strong enough to swing with one hand. In this case the two handed paradigm limits the potential of the player as it does so much in the modern game. Advantage Roger Federer.

Totally agree on the lack of patience and the shortcomings of the two hander. Nick(like Dustin Brown), has so much talent, that he gets overloaded with possibilities of shot selection and makes incredibly poor decisions. Federer is another talent that has a number of choices at any one moment, but seems to know when it is appropriate to select a lower percentage shot.