2021 Mutua Madrid Open...ATP 1000...Madrid, Spain

[don_budge]

Yeah...you get the picture. The draw sheet. Every picture tells a story. I've watched a lot of these preliminaries. Being a student of the game I have to be informed. Yesterday I had four matches at a time up on my TV screen. Studying. Who's Next? "Who's Next"...one of the greatest rock albums of all time. Boy...they sure don't make 'em like they used to. Listen...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhdllX-u89E&list=PL085FFD0FB0D1DC25

Carlos Alcaraz. I saw him do some things that if you project a couple of years down the road...he becomes a vision. Alexei Popyrin played big against a possible fatigued Jan-Leonard Struff. Can he take it to Jannik Sinner? Sinner getting the lion's share of the publicity. The hype. The dreaded expectations. Millman vs. Evans...this is going to be an excellent match. Nishikori vs. Zverev...who care's let alone who's next. Dominic Thiem answered one of my questions. Andrey Rublev challenged by a somewhat interesting Tommy Paul...an American of all things. All gone...all Americans. Then the match of the day...Diego Schwartzman and Aslan Karatsev. Karatsev winner in a serious spanking at the Aussie Open. Aslan gaining in confidence. The best match yesterday of many that I saw or glanced at...Alexander Bublik took down Denis "I can beat anyone" Shapovalov in a tussle of loose canons. The difference between the two is Bublik has the sense to tone it down when he must to win. Denis doesn't have a clue. The bandanna look is a step in the right direction. Next...lose the bounce between the legs. Always change a losing game.

Caspar Ruud just routinely took down the latest and greatest Felix Auger-Aliassime. Felix never got his teeth in the match and Ruud dominated from the opening bell. Ruud has an interesting match next in Yoshihito Nishioka...a Nishikori lite. He played exceptionally well against Kranjinovic. A bit of a surprise. Ah...Benoit Paire. They didn't give you a chance. "They" being stroke. Overwhelms Basilashvili who most likely shot his wad the week before. Paire to play Stefanos Tsitsipas, he with the less that perfect service motion. Will it matter against Paire? There is a line of demarcation. Not necessarily. In a match of quick points...is the serve the deciding factor? Ah Matteo...doing exactly what I expected him to do. Don't you love it when that happens? I even saw some of Pierre-Hughes Herbert lose to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. How's that for a couple of names? I thought that Pierre-Hugues was going to eek it out. Fokina wouldn't take no for an answer. Lastly...Daniil Medvedev back in the house after a match against Covid-19. The scamdemic. Who's Next? Listen to the album Dummy! The Who...GOAT? Who cares?

Nadal was just brutal to Carlos Alcaraz today, 6-1, 6-2. In the future, we'll probably look back at this first meeting together, particularly since it's on red clay.

Very clever to include "Who's Next" in my previous post...don't you think so? The draw sheet! Look at the draw sheet! The first two rounds running true to form. Mere foreplay and separating the chaff from the wheat. But what a great rock album. Nobody here remembers "The Who". Who? They think you are referring to the World Health Organisation. You know. That fake organisation that pretends to be concerned with all of our collective health. No...the real who's next is in the draw sheet. All of this jockeying for position. Now it begins. The serious stuff and serious as a heart attack it is. There is of course Rafael Nadal and let me just take a moment to take a couple of vicious swipes at this idiot. I don't say that lightly. I watched him yesterday in the runway before he was to take the court with young Carlos Alcaraz. This uncouth you know what was jumping up and down right in front of the young man. Then he starts his sprinting and his hopping up and down. There is absolutely nothing redeemable in this sick individual. He did everything he needed to do to intimidate this nice young fellow on his eighteenth birthday. Then on the court it is the usual antics and obsessive/compulsive behaviour that is designed to nauseate the opponent. There is no coincidence here. The most unsportsmanlike player ever. In your face...and some of you just lap it up. Good for you!

What I got yesterday was a good look at young Carlos Alcaraz whom I introduced to the forum some years ago. Who's next? Is it Carlos? After his performance yesterday it is totally inconclusive but there is one thing that glared at me and it just so happens to go along with some of the discussion here lately. You know the one...about less than perfect service motions. Somebody save this kid before it is too late. He has two totally separate hesitations in his motion that are going to play havoc with his rhythm and tempo for his entire career. Yesterday it was glaring as he was a total victim to the Nadal psy-op. Nadal had him so psyched out he couldn't hit a routine serve, forehand or backhand. Never mind volleys. It never occurred to him to get to the net. Another one dimensional prodigy. No plan B. Just hard and harder. We'll see. The jury is still out obviously. He is going to improve and he is going to climb the rankings just as Jannik Sinner did. Some were predicting such greatness for Sinner. "The Greatest of All Time" was even mentioned. I'm a bit more reserved. Reluctant even. Skeptical. I'm a skeptic. Wait and see. "Who's Next" anyone? Such a great rock album. But the GOAT? "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Three names jump out at me. Don't get me wrong. This is personal. I am biased. My bias is one of interest. Players of interest are Daniel Evans, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Dominic Thiem and Aslan Karatsev. Alexei Popyrin and all the rest come in a distant second. Bublik, Berrettini and Rublev. Caspar Ruud. All of them. Supporting characters. The round of sixteen. Things are heating up. Separation...degrees of separation. Developing along the story line. Match of the day? Keeping an eye on Aslan Karatsev. His runaway takedown after a slow start against Diego Schwartzman was really, really impressive. At the end, Diego was run around like a yoyo on a string. Aslan delivering haymakers on both sides from the forehand and backhand. He just pounded the Argentine into submission and that is exactly what it was. Daniel Evans is clever. Very, very clever. Now he has Alexander Zverev in his sights. Tsitsipas wants to make it a game that is not solely dependent upon his serve. Reason why is that the serve is inconsistent at times. He will get away with it against Ruud and Paire. A long list of names.

The quarters are looming. Many pretenders on the sidelines now. Eight more to come today. Packing their bags. Personally, I would love to see a rematch of Berrettini and Karatsev.

[don_budge]

Not match of the day. In fact my bad, no Nadal match has really been match of the day on clay the last 16 years, unless you enjoy watching the Harlem Globetrotters play the Washington Generals and are unsure of the outcome. Match of the day tomorrow, Tsitsipas vs Ruud.

Unless you enjoy watching somebody picking their shorts out of their ass on every single point. Sadly...that is just the beginning of the nausea. In between he hits great forehands. Yawn. Puke.

[glacierguy]

What I got yesterday was a good look at young Carlos Alcaraz whom I introduced to the forum some years ago. Who's next? Is it Carlos? After his performance yesterday it is totally inconclusive but there is one thing that glared at me and it just so happens to go along with some of the discussion here lately. You know the one...about less than perfect service motions. Somebody save this kid before it is too late. He has two totally separate hesitations in his motion that are going to play havoc with his rhythm and tempo for his entire career.

I like to watch the players serving during the warm up - you get a good look at their action, closer than normal wide shot. Was watching Alcaraz warm up yesterday, close-up shot, first serve, he tosses the ball, "Whoa!" I thought,"what's with the hesitation?". Later with the wide shot you can see his too-high toss. Always surprising to see these "quirks" (trying not to be too unkind) in the pros.

[don_budge]

I like to watch the players serving during the warm up - you get a good look at their action, closer than normal wide shot. Was watching Alcaraz warm up yesterday, close-up shot, first serve, he tosses the ball, "Whoa!" I thought,"what's with the hesitation?". Later with the wide shot you can see his too-high toss. Always surprising to see these "quirks" (trying not to be too unkind) in the pros.

Good observation glacierguy. I doubt anybody else gave it a second thought. The service motion is first and foremost a function of aiming. The entire motion must be designed and engineered by the player and coach as such. It is always the same. Setup...backswing...get in position (trophy position). Toss the ball on the track so as to get in the way of the racquet. There is a track for all of the moving parts and the sequence is not negotiable. Carlos has all of his parts going in all kinds of different directions. Once in a match with El Primadonna...he was nervous as hell. He probably had a hard time feeling his hands and all of a sudden everything goes kaflooey. No surprise to me. His serve became derailed. He couldn't hold it on track because of his nerves for one thing and the other it is poorly designed for what it is supposed to do in the first place.

I am not working with multiple kids and the serve has so many moving parts that there are chances for things to go wrong everywhere.

Still, the basic finish out somehow is the part that I see go wrong a lot. And teaching it is not too complicated.

Okay, so what am I missing here? Help please!

The serve is certainly a lot of moving parts. But the other thing is that the server is holding on the ball and has his fate in his own hands. The only time this happens in a tennis match. I compare the motion to an upside down golf swing. Instead of teeing the ball on the ground we get to tee it up in the air. If you've ever watched a professional golf tournament you would have noticed that every single golfer swings the golf club in a very similar fashion. There may be some individual flairs or ticks but all in all fundamentally there isn't a lot of room for any funny business. The same is true in the service motion. If you truly want it to be the weapon that it potentially can be, you must design the motion and execute it without any friction.

There is no player on the tour who compares to Roger Federer in this regard. His affinity of being able to win his service game in under or in approximately a minute is unparalleled. He has the ability to deliver the ball to any point in the service box with the combination of spin, speed and placement to win games at love or at fifteen.

[stroke]

Ruud takes the 1st set in a tiebreaker vs Stef. Smallest of margains between what may be the #3 and #4 contenders at FO. Both have top 5 clay court forehands. Stef's is superb, Ruud's appears even more dangerous. Ruud's rpm's the highest I have seen this tournament. The only 2 forehands I see on clay more lethal is Nadal and maybe Berrettini.

[don_budge]

Everything I was hoping for down in flames. Tsitsipatti Kid. Daniel Evans. Aslan Karetsov. Daniil Medvedev. Gone...gone...gone. C'est la vie. Such is life. The draw has a new look for an ATP 1000. The worm has turned. Only Nadal remaining. The old guard...is old. Come to think of it, I'm a bit tired. I think I overdosed on this tennis. Nothing went as I hoped for. I don't have any horses left in this race.

[glacierguy]

Tsitsipas vs Ruud - Tsitsipas serving at 6-7, 3-3, 15-30 - double fault. Loses serve & match.

[glacierguy]

FWIW I quite like the serve action of Garin, playing Berrettini today, pared down to basics, solid and effective.

[don_budge]

Tsitsipas vs Ruud - Tsitsipas serving at 6-7, 3-3, 15-30 - double fault. Loses serve & match.

Case in point. Excellent observation. One point lost in the tie-breaker as well. One very, very important point. At 3-3, 15-30 in the second set...a winning first serve is a must. The seventh game being the most crucial game according to Tilden. If the motion is perfect it gets better with pressure. The server can take liberties with the moment. If there is "friction", it is going to let you down when you need it most.

This is one of the things that made Roger Federer so good since he switched his equipment...he became a better server as well. I know that given the chance...I could iron out his motion for him. Setup, backswing, transition from backswing to forwards...he is there. A frictionless, devastating first and second serve. You see...that is the other thing about a frictionless service motion...it allows you to swing harder at the second serve because you know that it is mathematically impossible that you will miss. The perfect motion frees your mind of doubt. Doubt being the kiss of death in a service motion.

[stroke]

Stef to me played a good match. His winners to errors was not bad at all. He was not as tidy as Ruud, who put up classic Nadal type numbers winners and errors. And that Ruud forehand was the best shot on the court, even though to me Stef has a top 5 clay court forehand.

[stroke]

Thiem gets past Isner. It was a tough mental match vs Isner, the best serve in tennis. But Thiem is definitely mentally strong. He is just not as good as Nadal.

[stroke]

Nadal vs Zverev coming up. Not an ideal match up for Alex.

[stroke]

Alex wins 1st set 6-4. Nadal only had 2 winners and 7 ue's. The commentators are making a big deal of lack of Nadal winners, particularly off the forehand, but to me, it was because the very good depth Alex maintained on his groundstrokes. Nadals forehand obviously causes way more damage when he can hit it pretty regularly from inside the baseline. That was definitely not going on in 1st set.

[stroke]

Alex plays the best match I have seen him play for probably the biggest win of his career. He hit through the wall Nadal. 28 winners, 25 ue's for Alex. He took it to him, a la Soderling style.

[stroke]

Ruud looking so solid. He has moved into the top 4 FO conversation to me. His winners to errors is such a winning formula. Bublic at the handshake said to Ruud, "great play, great topspin by the way". Bublik is a very likeable character.