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

[stroke]

Berenttini wins pretty routinely vs Fabio. The Berenttini serve is such a weapon, and his forehand, the only better forehand on clay I can think of is Nadal. Matteo's biggest issue is the extreme(by pro men standards) different threat level between his forehand and backhand. And tennis where it is today, the ol Courier Moya Brugera runaround days are gone. Another accolade for Nadal, 15 years ago, he ran around to hit forehands all day. Now, he picks his spots for it very selectively.

[stroke]

Kei wins 2 and 2 after losing 1st set tiebreaker vs Khachanov. Kei plays Zverev next round. To me, Kei is the favorite in that one.

[stroke]

Ruud routines FAA. Ruud way too solid for FAA. The Ruud forehand produced about 60 more rpm's in both sets. Rudd has one of the very heaviest forehands on the tour.

[don_budge]

Also...Hurkacz vs. Millman to see who draws Daniel Evans next.

[don_budge]

The two Italians might pan out...but I doubt it. "Fabulous" is about to take a dive...I think. Perhaps just a tad more interesting in the foreplay phase of the draw: Shapovalov vs. Bublik (two knuckleheads loaded with talent), Nikoloz Basilashvilli vs. Benoit Paire (for the right to play "The Tsitsippati Kid") or even Dominic Thiem vs. anybody. Aliasimme vs. Ruud may sound interesting on paper but in reality a snooze fest. Looking for Pierre-Hugues Herbert to advance in order to see a Daniil Medvedev rematch. All foreplay nonetheless. Merely preliminaries. Nadal lurking...always lurking.

[stroke]

Match of the day tomorrow, Fognini vs Berrettini. Next best match, FAA vs Ruud. Lot of good matches tomorrow obviously. Tournament gets going pretty good. It happens real fast in these 1000's.

[stroke]

The pugnacious one gets through Chardy in a very tough 3 setter. Both players played very well.

[stroke]

Grigor goes out in 3 sets in a typically tough Master's 1000 1st round match up with Lloyd Harris. Lloyd's above average looking gf seemed pleased.

[stroke]

TennisTV is back to putting up the player spin rates at the end of matches this week.

[stroke]

Karatsev looked very comfortable taking out #32 seed Ugo Humbert in 1st round match.

[don_budge]

First of all...watch for heavy Covid-19 restrictions. Second of all...no Roger Federer. The number one seed is none other than a forum favourite whom I hope to be humiliated at some point. He sure deserves it. His time is coming. I can't wait. The only redemption at this point is he has to chase down his own towel while maintaining his nonsensical, boring set of ticks. He digs deep into those shorts in his behind between every single point. Bouncing the ball upwards of forty times on a single point due to a let serve. He can win all he wants in this lifetime but I find him repulsive. Not that anyone else should. This guy is a jerk with all of his fastidious habits that make absolute nonsense of the game. Some can turn a blind eye to it...like they do to Joe Biden. It's hard to understand. Or maybe it isn't. Human nature being what it is.

As usual it is all foreplay early on. Some interesting characters here and there. More than you can say for either of the ATP 250 events going on at the moment. Both dead in the water. Jannik Sinner, Daniel Evans and even Dominic Thiem. Andrey Rublev rounding out the contenders in the top half with Señor A**holiness. Aslan Karatsev in the house looking to take a few more names down in this tournament. I would love to see a rematch of Karatsev and Tsitsy Tsitsipas. The Tsitsipatti Kid. He with the flawed service motion that will cost him more Grand Slams than he will win eventually. He may win one. He may win several. But if he had a human wrecking ball of a serve like he is potentially capable of he would be a much more complete player. Players of his style need that kind of serve...whereas Karatsev might not need it as much. As much as Nadal doesn't need it either.

A couple of interesting "losers" to watch are Denis Shapovalov and Alexander Zverev...a couple of wannabes who get spooked by their own shadows. Denis and Alexander both down in flames in tournaments that they should have had at least a shot at winning but both down to lower echelon players ranked way below them. Dominic Thiem resumes play after MIA for some time now. I even asked this week...where is he?

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/cu...rid/1536/draws

You get the picture. You can see the draw sheet. Anything of interest? That might just be in the eye of the beholder.