Tennis Acumen

J. J. Wolf: How Hard Can It Be?

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American J. J. Wolf at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: You love this game, don't you?

J. J. Wolf: Yeah, it's a great game. It can be really difficult sometimes, but it's a good game.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Well, it is hard, you know? Did anybody in your family ever tell you how hard this was going to be?

J. J. Wolf: I grew up knowing how hard it was going to be. It's definitely a good challenge to have. My family has played so many sports. A couple of them have played pro tennis before. But I always thought it was a cool experience to play. With family members playing and coaching in professional sports, I got a lot of advice on how difficult and how much commitment it would take. It has really set in more recently, out with the tour. I’ve been rolling with it. I just never really thought about it too much. Taking that step back and being out for nine months really made me realize how much I have to take care of my body and how much commitment it will take to stay healthy and play this rigorous calendar year. It’s 10 or 11 months out of the year you're playing.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: I talked to Evan King just now. He obviously was not at 100 percent yesterday, and he just gutted it through. I told him it was just agonizing to watch, given that there were times he was sharp, clear eyed and his body did not want to do what his mind told it to do. What's it like to play when you're hurting?

J. J. Wolf: What I've been told is pain is either remembered or anticipated, and suffering is optional. I just try to think of it as not a bad thing all the time, as long as I'm not going to hurt myself worse, you know. Pain is either remembered or anticipated. It's never right in the moment. So, you choose whether you want to suffer with it or not.

Tennis Acumen: I never heard anything like that.

J. J. Wolf: When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. But it really, really annoyed me at first, when I'm hurting out there and they're telling me, you can choose whether to suffer or not. And then, I wrap my mind around it and I say: “All right, let's do it.” It's really tough coming back from those three surgeries. It was not exactly easy going when I was coming back. A lot of pain going on, but you kind of embrace it a little bit.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So no one can really tell you, if you're out on court and hurting, whether you're about to do damage or not, whether you should retire. How do you make those calls? You don't have very many retirements in your career at all, do you?

J. J. Wolf: No, I haven't. I was playing with a double hernia for four or five tournaments last year. A doctor came to me and told me that, after a match when I was in Europe. Then I came back to the U.S. and they said: “We have to do surgery on this. We don't know how you're walking normally.” At this point, I've got great people on my team, so I've got a great trainer and physio and P.T. back home that I'll just trust. I'll tell them what's going on. They'll analyze it. And if they say I need to get scans or anything like that, I'll listen to them. If they think I'm good to go, I pretty much trust them on that. And if it’s hurting, it's hurting, it's whatever.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @jjwolf5

Evan King: How Hard Can it Be?

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Did anyone in your family tell you how hard this was going to be?

Evan King: No, I don't think anyone truly knew. I had good coaches around me ever since juniors, and all through college and afterwards. That prepared me for what I had to expect moving from college to professional play. It is all very different, because as a pro, I am my own manager. I do the flights and travel, stringing my rackets, all that kind of stuff, whereas in college, all that stuff is done for you. You just give somebody a racket and the next day, it's done. You're told to meet at the tennis center. We're going to the airport at this time. It's all done for you. So, as far as all the things outside of tennis, I did not know how difficult that would be. But the level of play was not too much of a jump. Top level college and professional are similar, it's just all the other stuff you have to deal with that you don't have a team around you help with. I think is pretty difficult.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: There seems to be this incredible network around recruiting and grading: ‘star rankings’ for players when they're juniors. Were you aware of all of that as you were being recruited and asked to play at Michigan?

Evan King: Yes, I was aware of it. I wasn't obsessive about it. I trusted my level of play, my reputation as a person and those kinds of things more so than being a five star or a blue chip. Now, they have the Universal Tennis Ranking which coaches go off of and then those things do matter. But it wasn't going into a match thinking: “I'm playing a five star. I really need to get this match, so I can get Michigan to look at me.” I was more worried about my own development and my personal goals, as a junior. I did want to go pro. So, I was I was more thinking about that kind progression, more so than worrying about the immediate results or ratings or rankings. I was thinking more long term, which helped me put less pressure on myself.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

Aleks Vukic: Grinding it Out

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Photo credit: The Australian

Tennis Acumen: Let's go back to the very beginning. When you woke up this morning, I talked to a guy who  played in the NFL. He was a linesman on a Super Bowl team, and I asked him one day: “Hey, Doug, what's the hardest part of playing in the NFL? Is it fourth down and 20 yards to go with the game on the line?” And he told me: “It's summer, getting up every day, doing the same drills over and over. That’s the hard part.” Aleks, how do you deal with that routine and does it become a grind somehow?

 

Aleks Vukic: I think it can, every stage in every tournament, it's different. So this is my last tournament, the very last month of the year, so I'm very well aware that it is my last tournament. It's very easy for me to push through this week. I know it's one last week and I can give it my all. This is my fourth week in a row. I played Vegas to start this swing. Yeah, it's a different mindset to set out for four weeks, and I'm looking at finishing strong the last four weeks. It's just a matter of breaking things up. Sometimes, you need a few weeks off to recharge, not think about your goals so much. Enjoy life. Otherwise, if it becomes very monotonous. Spice it up in a different way. Have a clear perspective on the next few weeks and then recharge and do it again. It never becomes stale, because I’ll have different goals for different weeks, a different mentality for different weeks.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So you're not waking up in January saying: “Oh, my God. Thirty six weeks to go.” You break it down into smaller pieces, focusing on those.

Aleks Vukic: I'll take a break for a week and then I'll focus on the next swing and recharge, because otherwise it's too long and you're not present.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Any advice for younger players coming up?

Aleks Vukic: Guys that want to be pro? Yeah. Go easy on yourself. There's a lot of pressure and there's a lot of work to do, but surround yourself with positive people. Know there's more to life in tennis, and it is a journey, it's not about the end result. And whether you win or not, it's just about getting better each day. Winning will come if you're in the right mindset, that's what I believe. If they can stay in the right mindset and be positive, do the right things, then good things happen, for sure.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

 

Photo of the Day: Fernando Gonzales

Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi, born 29 July 1980, is a former professional tennis player from Chile. During his career he made it to the quarterfinal round of all four Grand Slam tournaments. He played his only major final at the 2007 Australian Open, losing to top-seeded Roger Federer.

 He is the fourth male tennis player in history to have won each Olympic medal (gold in doubles and bronze in singles at Athens 2004, and silver in singles at Beijing 2008).

In 2005, Gonzales had a nice run at the Cincinnati masters event, defeating Novak Djokovic and David Nalbandian on his way to a third-round loss against Nikolai Davydenko.

Photo credit: Karl Corbett, © 2021 Tennis Acumen

Evan King: World Team Tennis

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: And you have played World Team Tennis. Tell me about that. I've never, never talked to a World Team Tennis player.

Evan King: That's a lot of fun. it brings a team aspect back. I will say one of the biggest things about tennis as an individual sport is that rarely when you practice with somebody, do you want the person that you're practicing with to get better. In World Team Tennis I'm practicing with my teammates. If they're playing well, the team does well, we do better. We win more matches, all that kind of stuff. If I'm playing a practice set against other pros out here, I want to beat them. I don't care how their practice goes because I want to do the best I can do. If they're playing well, they can potentially beat me. That's not good, you know what I mean?

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Yes, it's super interesting.

Evan King: So, World Team Tennis is less pressure filled, and it is really a break in the season because, yes, tennis is an individual sport. You want to be number one, individually. At World Team Tennis, you all are coming together, men and women, singles players, doubles players all have a common goal. We all try to help each other out for those two or three weeks to get better. And, I mean, it's fun. There's music, it's a faster pace because they only play up to five and they have no-ad scoring. They play lets. So, they do little things that make it a bit more exciting and more fun. Coming together for a common goal in what's usually an individualistic sport is a pretty special thing. Yeah, I think it's fun.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

Aleks Vukic: A Life Outside of Tennis

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: So, Aleks, when you have free time, how do you entertain yourself or feed yourself? On tour and off? you do a lot of reading, listen to music?

Aleks Vukic: At home in Australia, I'll just go out with mates, have dinner, see a different friend each day. When I'm on tour, it's a bit different. Depends on which one of my mates is out on tour that week. We’ll go and grab dinner. Then, I'll have some alone time towards the end of the day. I enjoy alone time. Surf some stuff on the internet and go to bed and do it again. My life is not entertaining when it comes to that. I really enjoy the simple things.

 

Tennis Acumen: How about music and TV shows?

Aleks Vukic: I like softer EDM (electronic dance music). Hayden James or something like that (Hayden James is an Australian DJ, songwriter and record producer from Sydney, Australia.) I like Aussie artists and more low-key music. I always look forward to Spotify when new music comes out, always try and give it a listen. I love music. I think it's a similar to food where it's like every day feeling something a little different. I listen to like Mumford and Sons some days, and it just depends on the mood.

 

Tennis Acumen: Favorite foods?

Aleks Vukic: When I go back home, my mom makes an unbelievable Spaghetti Bolognese, so I love that dish. I love pastas. I like a good burger as well.

 

Tennis Acumen: Now, if you're sitting at home and friends are coming over, what would you cook? What's your ‘go to’ meal?

Aleks Vukic: I'm not a great cook, so I probably wouldn't cook anything. I would. I probably just order pizza, to be honest, just straight up.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

Photo of the Day: Tennys Sandgren

Just turned 22, American tennis player Tennys Sandgren caught our eye at the 2013 Lexington, Kentucky Challenger event. 

He qualified into the tournament on his birthday, ranked at # 253 in the world. Read our exclusive 2019 interview with Tennys Sandgren here: (LINK)

tennyssandgren

 

Tommy Robredo - 3 Memorable Tournaments

PETE ZIEBRON

A few weeks short of his 40th Birthday, Tommy Robredo will retire from professional tennis in Barcelona this week.

Three events in his career stood out to me as I look back at the Spaniard's career.

Robredo plays Cincinnati 2006 - Photo credit: Karl Corbett

Masters Series Hamburg 2006

Robredo took full advantage of the fact that both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer withdrew from the Masters Series event in Hamburg in 2006.  Nadal defeated Federer in the Rome Final in five hours and five minutes in five sets the day before Hamburg was to begin.  In 2006, first round BYES did not exist for the top eight seeds and concurrently, some events staged a best of five final.

As a result, Robredo, ranked 12th at the time defeated world number sixteen Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-3 6-3 to win his lone Masters Series title.  Prior to the final, Robredo dropped just one set, the opening set in the second round to Florent Serra of France.  He also defeated Mario Ancic in the semis and David Ferrer in the quarterfinals.

Roland Garros 2013

At the French Open in 2013, Tommy Robredo won three consecutive matches after trailing two sets to love!  Following a straight set win in the opening round over Jurgen Zopp of Estonia, Robredo dropped the first two sets in his second match against Igor Sljsling of the Netherlands before storming back and losing just five games to claim a 6-7 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-1 victory.

In the third round, Gael Monfils of France pocketed the first two sets when Robredo steadied his game to win 2-6 6-7 6-2 7-6 6-2 to advance to the round of sixteen.  Here, countryman Nicolas Almagro would again take a two sets to love lead before Tommy Robredo would ultimately prevail 6-7 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Reaching the quarterfinals, Robredo had little left as world number five David Ferrer rolled to the semis with a 6-2 6-1 6-1 victory.

Cincinnati 2013

Later in 2013, I would witness a match that featured extended rally after extended rally on Court 9 , the sunken court in Cincinnati.

As I headed to the Robredo- Stan Wawrinka second round match, an announcement was broadcast in the press box that Marion Bartoli's press conference would be starting soon.  Odd, I thought, Bartoli lost her match earlier today.  Yes, she won Wimbledon a few weeks prior.

The evening match between Robredo and Wawrinka went back and forth and the Swiss saved seven of ten break points against.  The final scoreline was 7-5 3-6 6-3 in favor of Robredo.  

The match was especially memorable for me due to the high caliber of play as well as the magnificent setting of Court 9 (the old Court 3) in Cincinnati.  Those that have been fortunate to watch matches on this court know how truly special it is from a tennis perspective.  Ironically, Marion Bartoli's press conference was to announce that she was retiring form professional tennis immediately.

Tommy Robredo is a Wild Card at the ATP Barcelona 500 this week.  His opponent is a yet to be determined Qualifier.

 

 

 

Aleks Vukic: Getting Started

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament.

Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: All right, we're rolling. Nov. 16, Tennis Acumen in Champaign, Illinois at the 2021 Challenger event. With Aleks Vukic, from Australia. Aleks, one of the things our readers always want to know is how you got started in tennis. Tell me about that. When did you first discover the game?

Aleks Vukic: My brother, is six and a half years older than me, so he was playing and I was just picking up balls. He started when he was 11, so I must have been four and a half. And yeah, that's how I got into it. It was basically because of him. My parents didn't play any sports. He started playing and then I followed suit.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: When did you discover you loved it?

Aleks Vukic: Truly loved it? Probably when I got to college. I always liked it. Once I got to college, I really loved it, and that love grows every year I play. It started off slow because I was playing both tennis and soccer until 13. Only tennis now. 

 

 

Tennis Acumen: And how did you end up at the University of Illinois growing up in Sydney, Australia?

Aleks Vukic: I was in Florida playing a Futures tournament, and I was up against Jared Hiltzik. I played him and Brad Dancer, the coach here (at the University of Illinois) saw me. He said: “If you're interested in playing tennis at college, let us know.” After a few months on the pro tour, I realized I was not ready for it. I made the rounds at a few colleges and decided to come here.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: For a lot of years, I was a professional drummer. My mom was a musician, and when she saw me heading in that direction, she said: “You can do this.” But she told me how hard it was going to be. Did anyone ever tell you how hard it was going to be playing professionally, running your own affairs and all of that? Or did you have to discover that on your own?

Aleks Vukic: They told me it was harder to do a nine to five job. They said: “You would like this more.” And I said: “Fair enough.” I think you do a nine to five or something you don't really like, it's just too much. My parents kept telling me I just wouldn't like it and my parents know me best. So I trusted them.

 

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

 

Tags: aleks.vukic, @aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

 

Evan King: Getting Started

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: How did you get started playing tennis?

Evan King: For me, I was just born at a time when my dad was obsessed with the sport. Yeah, he was super, super into it. I've got an older brother who would take me around and just throw us balls, hit back and forth. I actually started playing a lot at the same club that Donald Young was playing at, as well. My brother's a little bit older than Donald. They grew up playing with each other and I was always around. So, I've been playing pretty much as long as I can remember. My family has videos and pictures of me as a toddler, just running around with a racket.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, it was a natural. When it came to going pro, did you get support from your family?

Evan King: Their big thing was for me to finish college, which I did. So, I graduated University of Michigan and then, after that, they supported me in terms of what I wanted to do. And as long as I had a degree, they thought it was worthwhile. And I had a good enough college career where it merited the ability to go pro.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: And so, they could see it was a reasonable thing to do.

Evan King: Yeah, for sure. So, they definitely had my back on it, which was awesome. And then pretty soon after, I was doing well enough where I was breaking even. I trained a lot at Michigan. I was a volunteer assistant when I wasn't on the road, I was teaching lessons there to pay for a lot of the stuff as well. So yeah, it was it was pretty cool.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

 

Photo of the Day: Juan Martin del Potro

Delray Beach, Florida, Juan Martin del Potro.....

In 2016, following wrist surgery, the popular Argentine returned to tennis after 11 months.

He had surprising success, beating American Dennis Kudla, Aussie John-Patrick Smith and  Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, all in straight sets... . In his first semifinal since 2014, he fell to eventual champion Sam Querrey. Here. he signs an autograph for an appreciative fan.

  

J. J. Wolf: Highlights and Lowlights

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American J. J. Wolf at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Any highlights or lowlights in this disrupted year?

J. J. Wolf: There have been a couple of both. Last year, I'd say one of the highlights was qualifying for the 2020 Cincinnati Masters. Even though it was in New York, it still really meant a lot to me. That and making the third round at the 2020 U.S. Open was pretty cool. This year, coming back from nine months off and a couple of surgeries, getting that fifth challenger title in Vegas meant a lot to me. But, I'm just working on my game a lot, not worrying about results too much.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: You pretty well have to be obsessive to be in this game professionally, right?

J. J. Wolf: Right.

Tennis Acumen: Going back to the beginning, waking up every morning and knowing you just got to do it one more day. How do you manage your hitting time, your sleep time, your meals? what's it like to keep the machine going every day?

J. J. Wolf: It's hard on the on the road, especially because you've got different match times. You don't really know exactly when you're going to play. It could be a morning match, afternoon or night match. And, every place you go is different, with different facilities. You have to figure out what works for you that week and create a routine. I've been trying to do that more. It was very hard during quarantine when you couldn't leave the hotels at tournaments. But now, I can go out and get breakfast and walk around, ease my mind. And not be thinking about tennis all the time. I am trying to take care of my body and not get away from the game too much like last year.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, in terms of diet, how strict are you, J.J.??

J. J. Wolf: I try to be pretty good about it. When I was coming back from the surgeries, I couldn't use my core really to do anything for about six months. So I was really strict with it. After coming back there, I probably let it go a little bit during my off time. But I got it back pretty quickly and got back into shape pretty fast, so I was lucky with that.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @jjwolf5

Evan King: Favorite Places on Tour

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Well, that draws us right into favorite cities on the tour.

Evan King: I think Melbourne. I love Australia. Australia is awesome. So, Melbourne's good because there's no language barrier. Travel is a lot easier. I liked Taiwan as well. I had a really good experience in Taiwan. I thought the food was great. A lot of people came out, and they ran a really good event.

Tennis Acumen: Do you ever get time to really go and sightsee?

Evan King: It all depends on the result of the tournament. That would be an advantage of doing poorly in a tournament. I have more time off to actually see a place. But on a week where I'm winning matches, it's more so hotel and tennis courts. Maybe a couple of meals out, but then you don't actually get to sightsee. So, one of my bigger regrets was I spent two weeks in India in 2017. I didn't get to see anything and I've never been back. I've been to India, but I didn't experience India, I didn't actually get to travel around because the schedules just didn't allow for it. We go to some pretty cool places and very interesting places. Sometimes you do see them, sometimes you don't. If you ask five different players about travel, some people have more of a focus on: “I want to see the world.” Others have more of a focus on tennis, tennis, tennis, which both work, but different people have different philosophies on it.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: I asked Tennys Sandgren the same question. he said Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris is his ‘go to’ place. He finds that just the most stunning place. What would your ‘go to’ place be?

Evan King: Hmm, that's interesting. I don't know if I have an immediate one. I think it's more about people. If I'm traveling with people that I really get along with, regardless of where it is, I'll have a good time, be at peace and enjoy myself. It is more that than specific places.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: OK, that’s more a social point of view. And speaking of airports and hotels and cars, I worked as a rock drummer for a long time. You know, there are a lot of cities I never really saw. I can't say: “I've been there.” We just went to this hall and played four sets. Now the other thing about rock and roll, and this is where people get in trouble. Too much time on your hands. How do you deal with that? I mean, you're not going to get into excess or go off the deep end. But how do you handle the down time and the sheer boredom that can happen to you?

Evan King: You need another passion to fill your days. I'm really randomly into battle rap. There's something about guys creatively messing around with the English language that I really love. So, for me right now, I watch a ton of that. Tennis players, whether it's in juniors or college or pros, we're good at time management, filling time. A lot of it's stretching. I had my match yesterday. Yeah, I probably only played for two hours yesterday, an hour to warm up, so that leaves another 12 hours of being awake. A lot of stretching, lifting weights. Watch a little bit of film. That's something that I'm trying to do more of: just scouting opponents, scouting myself, trying to figure out ways I can be better and work on that. I know some people are taking classes online, I don't have a great answer for you on that for me because I'm not doing much productive outside of this.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Well, if you're working on your game, that's productive and if you have discipline behind you in that, it fills up the time.

Evan King: it's just a lot of recovery, whether it's physical or mental, especially now. At the end of the year, we've all been playing since January. Eleven months in, everything's a little bit achy. Mentally, you're a little bit fried. It's more so staying healthy, staying fresh as possible at this point in time, and for me, it's watching battle rap, that's just what I am into.

 

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

Kudla vs. Wolf & Not Gasquet vs. Verdasco in SF at Arizona Tennis Classic

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

Following his win over Richard Gasquet, Denis Kudla stated on court that "This is the toughest Challenger in the world."  It is.  Four former Top Ten players were in the draw - three played in the Quarterfinals on Friday and all three lost.

On a gorgeous 77F sunny day at the Phoenix Country Club, Denis Kudla opened play on Center Court with a 6-3 6-4 win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.  The American, who was born in Kiev, Ukraine, did not double fault all day, hit seven aces and saved the only break point against en route to victory.

Gasquet played competitive tennis throughout the match, however was distracted midway through the second set when an off-site garbage truck was doing its duty and creating a bit of a disturbance.  Gasquet was serving at 30-0 and on serve in the set when the  clanging of metal took place on and off for three minutes.  The yellow clad Gasquet was clearly agitated, lost the next few points and crushed a ball out of Center Court, costing him a ball abuse warning.  Kudla stood his ground and simply put balls back into play as the errors from Gasquet in this game led to the only break of the second set.  

Kudla protected his serve all day and arrives in the semifinals without dropping a set in the tournament.

Next up, American JJ Wolf matched up with Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.  Like Kudla, Wolf won his first two matches in straight sets.

Fernando Verdasco, 2010   (c) Tennis Acumen

Verdasco dropped the opening service game when a let cord winner by Wolf dropped just over the net.  He glared at his box in disbelief and disgust, however was able to get the break back three games later to square the set at 2-all.  That would be the only break he would manage as Wolf saved the next six the rest of the way.

Several long rallies throughout the match were on display as both players were digging deep.  Wolf created his own break point opportunities and capitalized on a large one as Verdasco served to stay in the opening set.  The Cincinnati native took the set, broke midway through the second set for the lead and concurrently staved off Verdasco's break point opportunities.

Gasquet and Verdasco played 15 times on the ATP Tour with Verdasco holding an 8-7 H2H mark.  It appeared that these former top ten players would meet yet again.  Kudla and Wolf would not be denied on this day and both arrive in the semifinals without dropping a set.

Later in the day, David Goffin, the third former top ten player to take Center Court on Friday, lost to Liam Broady of Great Britain.  Broady will play Daniel Altmaier of Germany, who defeated Radu Albot of Moldova to close out the day session.

Three Alternates and Wild Card JJ Wolf comprise the Arizona Tennis Classic Semifinals.  Four former top ten ATP players have been eliminated.  Denis Kudla is a man of his word.

 

David Goffin Advances to Quarters in Phoenix Challenger.

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

David Goffin at the Cincinnati Masters tournament, 2017 (c) Tennis Acumen

David Goffin closed out the second round at the Arizona Tennis Classic with a 7-6 3-6 6-4 win over American Wild Card Christopher Eubanks at the Phoenix Country Club.  The Belgian did not serve particularly well, hitting 12 double faults, however he was able to save 17 of 21 break points throughout the match.

Goffin is the #8 seed and is one of the few players that also played in the initial Arizona Tennis Classic in 2019, when he was the #1 seed.  Following the match, Goffin said that he was happy to get the win since the Eubanks serve often stretched him out wide as it was well placed in the corners.  Both players hit 10 aces and Goffin did well to block back the serve from the American which topped out in the low 130 mph range on the night.

Eubanks saved 3 of 6 break points and all three came in a game midway through the second set when he fell behind 0-40.  He rode that confidence in saving that particular game to win the middle set.  The former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket is threat on the ATP Tour.  On Wednesday, he defeated veteran Qualifier Gilles Simon 6-4 7-5.  Yesterday he certainly held his own against Goffin.  Both opponents are former Top Ten players.

Next up for Goffin is Liam Broady of Great Britain.  Broady has dropped just 8 games in his two straight set victories and was added to the Main Draw as an Alternate.  Goffin, meanwhile, has been taken to three sets in each of his first two matches in Phoenix.

 

 

Benoit Paire Dazzles Phoenix Crowd En Route to Straight Set Victory

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

Benoit Paire, far right playing cards with Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon as Nicolas Mahut observes.  Pete Ziebron Images

Benoit Paire, the #1 seed in the Arizona Tennis Classic $125K Challenger in Phoenix wasted absolutely no time putting on a show for spectators on Center Court on Wednesday night.  On the third point of the match, the crafty Frenchman hit an approach drop shot that had so much spin, that it then bounced back over Paire's side of the net before Emilio Nava had any chance to make a play on the ball.  That effort gave Paire a 40-0 lead, and he closed out the opening game a point later.

Later in the opening set, Paire hit an approach shot tweener - he lost that point but the crowd was thrilled.  Deep in the opening set and serving at 5-5 deuce, Paire hit another tweener to win the point.  Certainly a rather dangerous time to hit such a shot, however Paire was feeling loose all night.  He won that game, broke Nava to win the first set 7-5 and then won the first four games of the second set.

During this game, while serving at 4-0, Paire was not thrilled with some of the officiating and set his racquet on the baseline and walked halfway up the doubles alley to point to a mark where he felt the ball landed out.  Judging from Paire's hand gesture explanation and protest, the ball was at least three inches out.  Paire would be broken at that game and he then rocketed a ball out of the stadium and on to the adjacent golf course at the Phoenix Country Club.

Benoit Paire would hit a third tweener of the night later in the set and would advance to the second round with a 7-5 6-2 victory.

Earlier in the day, Center Court featured FOUR former top ten ATP players: Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet, David Goffin and Fernando Verdasco!  Keep in mind, this is a $125K Challenger event.  The Arizona Tennis Classic draw is certainly better than many ATP 250 events and nearly as good as some ATP 500 tournaments.  

This is why I fondly refer to the Arizona Tennis Classic as the Phoenix 375. 

In fact, the first match of the evening featured Emil Ruusuvouri of Finland against American Wild Card Brandon Nakashima.  This was a rematch of last year's Atlanta 250 Semifinal, won by the American.  This time, the Finn relied on a steady serve down the middle and consistently broke down the Nakashima backhand en route to a 6-3 6-3 win.

Regarding the former top ten players, all but Simon won their matches to advance to the second round on Thursday.  Paire will play Radu Albot of Moldova, Gasquet will open Thursday's action against Facundo Bagnis of Argentina and Goffin will play American Wild Card Christopher Eubanks who defeated Simon in straight sets on Wednesday.

Indian Wells may have Nick Kyrgios, however the Arizona Tennis Classic features Benoit Paire and his active tweener game.  What will Paire bring to the table today?

Photo of the Day: Novak Djokovic

IN 2013, Novak Djokovic made it to the 3rd round in Cincinnati, and all the way to the finals in the US Open that followed. After that, he went on a 31-match winning streak and took the titles at Beijing, Shanghai, Paris and the year-end finals at London. 

Wander through Tennis Acumen's Photos of the Day, here: (LINK)

Evan King: Playing Hurt - Part 2 of 2

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: We’re talking about aches, pains and injuries, Evan.
You were not 100% physically. You're up 5-1 in the second set tiebreaker and it was painful to watch. Your mind is saying: “I've got this.” and your body is just saying: “Please, no.” You managed to win that set.

Evan King: Yes, now that was funny too, At the beginning of the third set, I was thinking OK, I've got some momentum. That's good. And no, that went away pretty quickly. I set foot on the court. I knew what I had in the tank. Go out there, compete. I saved a match point or two, which was good. I'm excited about that. But then I just did not have enough to get through it. Yeah, I'm still a little bit rattled from the match because obviously when you are a competitor, you go out there, you want to win. I wish I would've won, right?

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So how often are guys playing hurt?

Evan King: Hurt…. Hurt is a strong word. I would not consider myself hurt, less than 100 percent is different than being hurt. You don't play hurt.

Tennis Acumen: Because I've had guys tell me everybody's hurt all the time.

Evan King: I believe that, especially in November. No one's actually 100 percent. Maybe in January. I would hope so. In January, everyone's 100 percent because you have a month off. But in November, no one feels great. You just manage what you can, and you compete to the best of your ability with whatever you have on that day. There was a withdrawal earlier today. In singles he went into the match saying:”I know I have something going on, but I'm going to push it and see what I can get out of it.” And then the injury got aggravated. Maybe it went a little bit worse than he expected. And maybe there are some long-term issues that could happen if he kept playing or something like that. I have a lot of fatigue wear and tear from travel this season and everything, but I'm not hurt. That's a strong, strong word. I would not be in Champaign playing this event if I were hurt.

Tennis Acumen: Yeah, I appreciate the clarification there.

Evan King: Yeah, but it's more just wear and tear and crazy fatigue and yeah, just aches and pains and random things.

Tennis Acumen: It would be better said that everybody is playing ‘hurting’ rather than ‘hurt’.

Evan King: exactly. I would say that for sure.

 

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

Evan King: Playing Hurt - Part 1 of 2

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: You were obviously not 100 percent physically yesterday. How do you push through?

Evan King: If you decide to start a match, you finish the match. I guess that's my code of honor, unless something is actually broken. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. As a professional, maybe I withdrew from one match. As you said, yesterday, I did not have my 100 percent.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: You know, I won't get into details on the injury itself. I'm just looking at the mindset and the spirit behind it. You were down a break early in the second set. Time to change ends, and you went off in the corner of the court and just sat on a stool. What was your thought process or what was going through your head?

Evan King: I was just trying to clear my mind and find some sort of peace because I was also frustrated that I was down a set and a break. Very frustrated. I needed to kind of be to myself. Find some peace. Try to get something out of the match. Whether it's a win, whether it's feeling good, whether it's executing certain things, just simplifying the game in my mind. I was taking it down to just a couple of shots I felt like I could execute extremely well. It was all mental, all regrouping and focusing in and really locking in for that moment.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: To be honest, Evan, it was agonizing watching the match because I could tell your mind wanted to do things and your body was saying: “Please stop. Please let me go.”

Evan King: It's a very frustrating part of tennis in general, but it's also interesting because I do focus on doubles now. My career is based off of doubles. It's making sure I stay ready for that as well. Win or lose on Tuesday, I knew I had to compete on Wednesday. Even working out for both of them is different. You use different skills when you're practicing for doubles and training for doubles rather than singles. There is playing and there is recovering. Played a match two days ago. In the second set, it got pretty physical. (King defeated Ruan Roelofse in a 24-point 2nd set tiebreak.) He was going through it too, though, because you can't say it was just me. I know my opponent was also feeling it physically as well. We all have issues we're going through, so we just try to compete and get through it.

Tennis Acumen: It was impressive, Evan.

Evan King: I appreciate that.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

Photo of the Day: Rafael Nadal

In 2013, Rafael Nadal won the Cincinnati Masters title. On the way to the final, he beat Benjamin Becker and Tomas Berdych in straight sets, also taking down Grigor Dimitrov and Roger Federer in 3-set matches. 

He beat American John Isner, the Marathon Man, 7-6, 7-6, to win the trophy.

Photo: Tennis Acumen, (c) 2013

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Aleks Vukic: Playing Hurt

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Yeah, let me ask one more question. watching Evan King play yesterday, he was obviously not 100 percent.

Aleks Vukic: Mentally or physically?

 

Tennis Acumen: His body. He could not move. He could not get there. He was sharp, clear and he was asking his body to do certain things. And the body was just saying: “No, please stop.”

Aleks Vukic: Yeah, that’s tough when it feels like that.

 

Tennis Acumen: I asked him about that and I told him it was agonizing to watch. I mean, he got down a set, down a break, and instead of going to the bench, he just sat on a little stool in the back corner, on the baseline. I asked what was going through his mind.? He says: “Just trying to find some clarity. I was trying to simplify things.” We made a distinction between playing when you're hurt, which means you're injured and you shouldn't be on court and playing where you're hurting. How do you deal with playing when you're hurting?

Aleks Vukic: It's very tough, because you obviously you feel it. But he had the perfect mindset. That pain will end up going away. If you're hurt, you should stop because it can affect you. But if you're hurting, it's one of those. It's a temporary pain. It's just another obstacle that you have to go through. You see the guys that are doing really well, going deep in the tournament, they are, for sure, hurting mentally. And physically, they're not fresh. They have played more matches. I think it’s just trying to push through, trying to find a way to pump yourself up.

Tennis Acumen: Did you have any training or work with a sports psychologist on that issue?

Aleks Vukic: No, I haven't. But that is something that would definitely interest me. My coach is not here this week, but he's very good with that stuff. We talk about a lot about the mental game rather than the technical part of it, because people say it's 80 percent mental. I do believe it's around 90 to 95 percent, to be honest. Unless you're extremely talented, you need the hard work and need the mental capacity. And that's where you see a lot of guys make a career, just because they're mentally tough. They make a living purely because of that. And that's my goal is to do that as well.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

Evan King: Grinding it Out

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: I want to go back to the point you woke up this morning. Look, just the grind of the tour, the travel, your sleep schedules. How do you manage all of that?

Evan King: it's an interesting balance for sure. Over the year, you're in a ton of different time zones, you're sleeping on at least fifty different beds. So, the mattress is different. The pillows, different. Places with air conditioning, with no air conditioning, with great showers, or terrible showers. all those different variables. I love the fact that my job is to chase a yellow ball around, and I have to remember that is my career and that's my job. And there are a lot of things that I could be doing that I don't want to do. And ultimately, I want to do this. I can't be happy go lucky when I'm out there competing, because I have to win. But it's a great career and I have to remind myself of that constantly. I lost yesterday. I put myself on the line. My best yesterday was not as good as my opponent's best yesterday. And that part does stink. And then you have to look at yourself in the mirror and go back out and practice and get after it again today.

There are variables like cuisine. It is pretty hard to be strict on your diet, because you can play a tournament in Champaign, Illinois, you can play a tournament in Shanghai, China, maybe you won't be able to get the same things. Something's cooked in more oil. Maybe something is cleaner. Maybe the language barrier won't allow you to get exactly what you want. So that is definitely a hurdle on the tour. And then waking up every morning making sure that as a professional, I am accountable for myself. So, I lose yesterday, I have to create a practice schedule, make sure I hit the gym, make sure I sleep at a good time because I play doubles tomorrow, make sure my doubles partner and I are on the same page and all those kinds of things. It means dealing with a lot of things I can’t control, but still, I have to find a rhythm.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, on any given day, you don't know until the end of the day when you're going to play correct? Like 10:00 in the morning or 6:00 in the evening.

Evan King: Tomorrow, I don't know my schedule yet. I know I play doubles tomorrow, but I don't know the time of it, so I can't plan anything that far in advance. And then you have flights to the next tournament, I don't know if my week is going to end on Wednesday or if my week is going to end on Saturday. So, I can't really book a flight to my next destination until this week ends. Let's say I lose on Wednesday. I don't really want to leave on Sunday because I'm ill prepared for the next week. I'm going to a different city with different conditions, maybe different balls, maybe different time zones, all those kinds of things. There is a lot of last second planning, which can get a little bit stressful. I graduated in 2013. This is 2021. So, I have been doing it more or less eight years. I've kind of gotten used to it, but it is still difficult at times. But still, I've seen so much of the world that I've had no business seeing, countries that I didn't even know existed until I stepped foot in.

 

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Photo of the Day: Fabio Fognini

Fabio Fognini, born 24 May 1987,  is an Italian professional tennis player. He has a career-high ranking of world No. 9 achieved on 15 July 2019. Fognini's most successful surface is red clay, upon which he has won eight of his nine ATP singles titles, most notably the 2019 Monte-Carlo Masters.

Together with Simone Bolelli, Fognini won the 2015 Australian Open doubles championship, becoming the first all-Italian men's pair to win a Grand Slam title in the Open era.

Fognini flourished at the 2014 Cincinnati Masters, beating Lleyton Hewitt on the way to a fourth-round loss to Milos Raonic of Canada.

Photo credit: Karl Corbett, © 2021 Tennis Acumen

Evan King: A Life Outside of Tennis

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American Evan King at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Photo credit: Behind the Racket

Tennis Acumen: You're obviously focused on tennis. I mean, you have to be obsessed and half crazy.

Evan King: Yeah. Full crazy

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Other interests? Food, fashion, music, art?

Evan King: I would just go back to the music, the battle rap. That's what I go back to. I would say that would be my hobby when I'm off the court. I'm watching for new battles. I follow a couple of professional battlers. I have been to a couple of events.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Seriously. That's great. There's another passion.

Evan King: Yeah, exactly.

Tennis Acumen: And somebody else has to do the work. That is always good.

Evan King: And I just take it in and enjoy all of what they're putting into the universe. I think when I'm done competing, I want to stay in tennis or in athletics in general. I had a lot of fun in college tennis. I think I do want to be a college coach when I'm done playing.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Given consideration to announcing or broadcasting?

Evan King: Yes and no. I think I could be OK at it. I enjoy the sport. I think I can articulate what I'm trying to say. I think that could be OK. I know a fair amount of the people playing. I think that's a good thing. No, I'm definitely into the sport. I don't think my status as a tennis player would make the transition that easy. You look at Tennis Channel and you look at ESPN, they're all former world number ones, all that kind of energy. Yeah, I need to get my name bigger to really have that be a legitimate option for me. But I think I would have fun with it. Whatever it is, I'll stay in athletics. So that's where my passion is. That's what I enjoy.

Tennis Acumen: So, supporting people that have the same passion, perhaps helping them avoid some of the mistakes you made? Yeah, I understand that.

Evan King: Because through juniors through college, into the professional ranks, you need help to jump the hurdles I wasn't able to.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @EvanKingChicago

J. J. Wolf: A Life outside of Tennis

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American J. J. Wolf at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Passions outside of tennis: what do you do to expand your horizons and get entertainment?

J. J. Wolf: I do a lot of outdoor activities, go for a lot of hikes, a lot of stuff in the water, fly fishing, things like that. Shoot some guns once in a while. I really, really enjoy doing that, just getting on the range and letting loose. Basically, I like to get outside and experience the world.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Now, did you do that growing up?

J. J. Wolf: Yeah, yeah. We’d go camping, that sort of thing. Tent camping. I never had a motor home or anything like that, but I think that could be fun. At some point, there’s a Jeep that I want to get. I've seen these things you can put on the top that unfold into an actual tent on top of your car, which is pretty cool. My girlfriend really loves outdoor activities too, so we'll go for a trip when we can.

Tennis Acumen: Just an aside, Brenda and I got a motorhome seven, eight years ago.

J. J. Wolf: Awesome, you like it?

Tennis Acumen:. Yeah, it's twenty four feet. It's great for two people, and we absolutely love it. We went up to Laver Cup a few weeks back.  We parked our motorhome in Salem, about half an hour north of Boston, right on the harbor. We wake up in the morning looking at the boats going by, the seagulls. We absolutely fell in love with that. And we can follow the tour as well. Some of our trips have been great, like Laver Cup. Camp somewhere nearby, Uber into the tournament, get a hotel for the weekend. If you like the outdoors and you also like the comforts of home, it's a good idea.

J. J. Wolf: Definitely.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: You travel a lot, J.J. How do you manage it, going from the seafood in New England to barbecue in Texas to European or Asian food, how do you manage when the food's not always predictable?

J. J. Wolf: I'm not very picky at all, so I can find food I like just about anywhere. I haven’t played a full year on tour yet with everything that's happened. Once I have played a couple of years, I know I will find the spots I like at different tournaments and go from there.

Tennis Acumen: So at home, people are coming over for dinner. What's your ‘go to’ dish if you're cooking?

J. J. Wolf: Well, that's a tough one. If I'm cooking, there's not a lot of options, to be honest, but I could always throw some steaks on the grill. That's probably what I'd do. Steak and potatoes.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @jjwolf5

2022 Australian Open final expert picks: Medvedev vs. Nadal

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks are back for the Australian Open final on Sunday night, when both Daniil Medvedev and Rafael Nadal are battling for not only the title but also for some serious history. With a victory, Medvedev would become the first player to back up his first slam title by winning the very next major. He would also become world No. 1 for the first time next month. Nadal, of course, would get to No. 21 with a win. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.

(6) Rafael Nadal vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev

Ricky Dimon: Matteo Berrettini? Great matchup for Nadal. Daniil Medvedev? Not a great matchup. It’s easy to see why. Berrettini may serve even bigger and hit his forehand even bigger than Medvedev, but the Italian’s backhand is a major weakness and he doesn’t defend well. What are two absolute must-haves to defeat Nadal? A world-class backhand and elite defensive skills–especially in terms of defending the backhand side. Medvedev has both. In fact, his combination of backhand and defense is better than everyone else’s on tour other than Novak Djokovic.

The second-ranked Russian also has the edge in endurance. That’s not a knock on Nadal; that’s just the nature of things when the Spaniard is 35 and his opponent is 25. Medvedev played for four hours and 42 minutes against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals and then came out two days later and wore down Stefanos Tsitsipas physically even though Tsitsipas was coming off a lightning-quick quarter against Jannik Sinner. In their epic 2019 U.S. Open final, Nadal was closer to his prime and Medvedev was further away from his prime than they are now. Nadal won that one in five. I expect roles to be reversed in this one. Medvedev in 5: 5-7, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-3.

Cheryl Murray:  Nadal is in the final of the Australian Open for the sixth time. Despite his best efforts–some of which have been flat-out Herculean–he has just one title (2009). He is chasing history, of course, The Spaniard is tied at 20 majors apiece with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. That his first real shot at No. 21 should come in Melbourne is delightfully ironic; Oz is his least-successful slam, after all. Oh, and there’s the fact that he just tiptoed back to tennis after a half a year nursing foot pain from a congenital issue. He really has played remarkably well this fortnight. Aggressive serving, crowding the baseline on returns, and making an obvious (and often successful) attempt at shortening points to be kinder to his 35-year-old body…. That is why he has the chance.

Unfortunately for Nadal’s place in the history books, Medvedev is standing in his way as the other best player in the draw. The world No. 2 snagged his first major at the 2021 U.S. Open, handing Djokovic a beatdown as the Serb made a bid for No. 21 and the calendar-year Grand Slam. That he’s well-positioned to do the same to Nadal in Melbourne is no accident. Medvedev hasn’t been at his best some of the time over the past two weeks. A wonky match in the fourth round against Maxime Cressy had the Russian out of sorts…but he has a way of showing up in the big moments. On hard courts, Medvedev’s best is probably better than Nadal’s best. He is deceptively fast and his offense is more lethal than Nadal’s. Still, with this much on the line the Spaniard is going to show up.
Medvedev in 5: 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Pete Ziebron: With his semifinal victory over Tsitsipas, Medvedev certainly answered any stamina-related “questions” following his lengthy quarterfinal against Auger-Aliassime. Even a Medvedev meltdown or other mid-match detour at a major no longer appears to have any significant impact or an ability to flip a match in favor of his opponent. However, the man on the other side of the net this time is Nadal–who perhaps benefitted from the Russian’s antics at the 2019 U.S. Open and beat him in that final.

In his AO semifinal on Friday, Nadal simply outclassed Berrettini for two full sets and then withstood a serving barrage before picking his spot to do damage and secure the break in the fourth–leading to the win less than five minutes later. Even if Nadal is able to duplicate the caliber of his game from the initial two sets in the semi into the final, it will not be enough against Medvedev. The world No. 2 seemingly has all the answers, gets nearly everything back in play, and goes big at the most unexpected of times. Medvedev in 4: 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5.

Aleks Vukic: College tennis to the Pro Tour

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: And making the transition to playing as a pro. What's the same about the game? What's different?

Aleks Vukic: It's SO different. I think it's a lot more mentally tough because in college, you're very comfortable. In college, you have everything you need. You have coaches. You have everything set up and then you show once or twice a week and play a match. On the pro tour, you're alone, you're traveling from place to place. Depends on the place, but it might not be so nice. You have to do that for thirty weeks of the year! Sometimes you go through spells where you don't win a match or just win a few matches in a few months, and you need to bounce back. It's a lot more mentally challenging, and it's not for everyone. But I think if you find ways to love it, it's unreal.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, what was the best thing about the college experience and what are some of your best memories there?

Aleks Vukic: I think it is developing the game, having time to develop the game with the coaches. I mean, this is an unbelievable program, so the coaches really helped me here, but it gives you time. You look at the top 20 guys in college, they're all ranked inside the top 400. You're playing those guys and you're building a game. So, it's a really great experience. You also develop as a person. There's more to life than tennis. You can tell sometimes who's gone to college and who hasn't on the tour.  You can see guys whose whole life is tennis. They think a little differently than the guys that have gone to college and have seen other things..

 

 

Tennis Acumen: And I've heard people say one of the differences is this: coming into the Challengers, you can be playing on Monday afternoon and there's absolutely nobody in the stands, but in college, you do get a lot of fan support, right?

Aleks Vukic: Yeah, you do. Everyone loves playing to the fans. Obviously, it depends on the tournament. Some Challengers, actually, they get quite a good crowd, so it depends on the week. But every week is different.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: How sensitive are you to the crowd when you're in a match? Does the crowd affect you?

Aleks Vukic: A little bit? But I'd rather the crowd be against me, than to have no crowd, to be honest. I would rather have 10,000 people cheering against me than to have zero people in the stands. It just makes for a better atmosphere.

 

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

2022 Australian Open semifinal expert picks: Nadal vs. Berrettini, Medvedev vs. Tsitsipas

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks are back for the Australian Open semifinals on Tuesday, when Rafael Nadal battles Matteo Berrettini and Daniil Medvedev goes up against Stefanos Tsitsipas. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.

(7) Matteo Berrettini vs. (6) Rafael Nadal

Ricky Dimon: The simple question is which Nadal is going to be on display. Will it be the one who was dealing with physical problems during his five-set struggle against Denis Shapovalov on Tuesday? Or is it going to be the one who is 8-0 this season and had been pretty much dominating all of his opponents prior to the quarterfinals? If it’s the latter, I can’t see Berrettini winning this matchup–not on anything other than grass or a lightning fast indoor hard court. There will be too many long rallies in which his vulnerable backhand gets exposed by the Spaniard’s heavy topspin forehand. To be clear, I wouldn’t bet with confidence on either side because of Nadal’s somewhat questionable status. But all things being equal the 20-time major champion should win this one. Nadal in 4: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Cheryl Murray: The outcome of this match will depend heavily on whether Nadal has recovered from his five-set victory over Shapovalov. The Spaniard reported suffering heat stroke during the match and described himself as “physically destroyed” in his post-match presser. If the two days’ rest is sufficient, Nadal has to be considered the favorite in this match for several reasons. First, despite earning a spot in his first Australian Open semifinal Berrettini has been a bit vulnerable this fortnight. Only one of his matches was a routine straight-set win. Next, the slower surface (blue GreenSet) neutralizes some of the free points he usually gets on his first serve. Lastly, except for the issue with heat Nadal has been in impressive form. He has some extra pop on his serve and he has taken a more aggressive position on the baseline than usual. Nadal in 4: 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.

Pete Ziebron: Despite five appearances in the final, the AO is Nadal’s “least” successful major.  Currently he has a prime opportunity to accomplish the double-career Grand Slam with a win this year in Melbourne. After surviving a tougher than expected quarterfinal against Shapovalov, Nadal will not want to put himself in such dangerous scenarios in this match against even better competition. Similarly, Berrettini also blew a two sets to love lead in his quarter against a spirited and loose Gael Monfils before recovering in the fifth. The Italian now must face a man who has won 20 majors rather than someone with two major semifinal appearances to his name. At this stage of a slam, Nadal carries the banner for the Big 3 and will likely display the brand of tennis that the Big 3 absolutely deliver time and time again on the grandest of stages. Nadal gets to the doorstep of 21 as experience–especially at key junctures–wins this match. Nadal in 4: 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-4.

(4) Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev

Ricky: My popcorn is popped for this one. They don’t necessarily hate each other at this point, but they definitely don’t like each other. Last year’s Grand Slam matchups were never going to be good. Tsitsipas was sapped of energy after beating Nadal in five sets in the Aussie Open quarterfinals, after which he got smoked by the Russian in the semis. Medvedev is probably never going to compete with the Greek on clay, and he didn’t in the French Open quarters. This one features a more level playing field. It is true Medvedev is coming off a four-hour and 42-minute thriller against Felix Auger-Aliassime, but the world No. 2 is one of the fittest guys in the business and he has never had any stamina-related issues. He should be fine. Tsitsipas played his best match in ages against Jannik Sinner, but asking for two in a row when he had previously been in a significant slump may be too much–especially against a backboard of an opponent who is going to make him hit tons and tons of tennis balls. Medvedev in 4: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), 6-2.

Cheryl: Of the two semifinals, this is perhaps the more intriguing. Medvedev and Tsitsipas are not…friends. The two men had a highly publicized on-court argument at the Miami Masters in 2018, in which Medvedev accused Tsitsipas of calling him “a bullshit Russian” following a controversy over a strategically timed bathroom break by Tsitsipas. Since then their meetings have ranged from displays of simmering dislike and frosty indifference. The matchup heavily favors Medvedev, who holds a 6-2 record over Tsitsipas, but the Greek got a big win at the French Open last year. Honestly (and surprisingly), it’s Tsitsipas who has been the better player during week two. He dispatched Sinner in easy straight sets in the quarters, while Medvedev had to claw his way back from a two sets to love deficit against Auger-Aliassime. I still like the Russian in Melbourne, but this is not likely to be a straight set repeat of Medvedev’s SF win a year ago. Tsitsipas is going to make him work for it. Medvedev in 5: 5-7, 7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

Pete: This will be the third time Medvedev and Tsitsipas will meet in the last five majors. The last four overall meetings have been split, with the victor winning in straight sets each time. Medvedev once again exhibited how difficult it is to oust him at a major in his resilient win over Auger-Aliassime in the quarters. In each of the five previous rounds he has faced a completely different opponent. Now he is standing two wins from consecutive major titles. Credit Tsitsipas for showing heart and determination in his round of 16 comeback win against Fritz. Despite being outplayed, he found a way to advance. After being able to exhale, he then mowed down Sinner in routine fashion in the quarters with a clean 4-for-4 in break points won. Although this match features world No. 2 and world No. 4, the rank order scale does not do justice to the vast gap in current form between these two. Medvedev, following a long exhale of his own after going the distance and saving a match point, should win this one in an easier manner. Medvedev in 4: 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2022 Australian Open quarterfinal expert picks: Nadal vs. Shapovalov, Berrettini vs. Monfils

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks are back for the Australian Open quarterfinals on Tuesday, when Rafael Nadal faces Denis Shapovalov and Matteo Berrettini meets Gael Monfils. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.

Expert picks are back for the Australian Open quarterfinals on Tuesday, when Rafael Nadal faces Denis Shapovalov and Matteo Berrettini meets Gael Monfils. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.

Denis Shapovalov vs. (6) Rafael Nadal

Ricky: Nadal played Yannick Hanfmann instead of Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round, Adrian Mannarino instead of Hubert Hurkacz or Aslan Karatsev in the fourth round, and now Shapovalov instead of Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinals. If he wins this one, the Spaniard will run into either Matteo Berrettini or Gael Monfils instead of Novak Djokovic in the semis. Are the stars aligning for a 21st major title and a double career Grand Slam? It’s starting to feel that way. Nadal has been very good in his own right in addition to the good fortune. He is now 7-0 this season with a title at the Melbourne 250 and four convincing wins at this Aussie Open. Shapovalov is dangerous, but he probably doesn’t have the consistency to topple Nadal in a best-of-five situation. Make it four in a row for the Spaniard in this head-to-head series. Nadal in 4: 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3.

Cheryl: Honestly, I had fairly low expectations for Nadal at this Australian Open. The 2009 champion had been sidelined with his chronic foot injury for more than six months. He also had a nasty bout of Covid-19 in December, from which he only just recovered right before landing in Melbourne a few weeks ago. Nadal was handed a tough draw and I figured he’d just be too rusty. But here he is, in the quarters — and more importantly he is playing well. His serve looks better than it has in some time, and he’s getting plenty of pop on his forehand. Shapovalov has had a fantastic tournament so far. The Canadian shellacked Zverev and he helped lead his country to the ATP Cup crown. Shapovalov defeated Nadal in their first-ever meeting back in 2017, and he came within a few points of knocking the Spaniard out of the Rome Masters last year. His big-hitting game is the sort that can give Nadal difficulty, and he’s playing especially well in 2022 so far. Nadal should come through, but Shapovalov is going to make him work for it. Nadal in 5: 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Pete: Ironically, it is Nadal now that has commanded front and center attention at the Australian Open as a few key obstacles (Djokovic and Zverev) to his path to a potential 21st major title have been eliminated in the last week.Instead of Zverev as his opponent in the quarterfinals it is Shapovalov, who brushed away the Olympic and 2021 Nitto ATP Finals champion in straight sets. The Canadian will be grateful to have been able to conserve energy in the last round, as he was tested earlier in the tournament — even rallying from a two sets to one deficit in the second round. Nadal has taken a more direct route to the quarters, dropping just one set thus far. The 2009 AO champion has exited Melbourne at the quarterfinal stage seven times, including in three of the last four years. He has his eyes squarely on the prize that has eluded him for more than a decade and will likely power into the semis. Facing Shapovalov rather than Zverev at this stage of the tournament is certainly a break in getting closer to history. Nadal in 3: 7-5, 6-4, 6-3.

(17) Gael Monfils vs. (7) Matteo Berrettini

Ricky: I had Monfils in the semifinals before the tournament started and I’m not about to waffle — not when he has reeled off four consecutive straight-set victories. The Frenchman has always been one of the most talented players in the world. When he is healthy and motivated, he is also one of the best. Monfils is both of those things right now. Berrettin has been tested in all four of his matches, even though he didn’t lose a set to Pablo Carreno Busta on Sunday. The Italian has been good this fortnight, but not great. Their only previous Grand Slam encounter (2019 U.S. Open quarterfinals) went to a fifth-set tiebreaker. I expect something similar…but this time with Monfils winning. Monfils in 5: 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3.

Cheryl Murray: This is one of the more surprising quarterfinals. While Berrettini has been impressively consistent in majors for the past year or so, Monfils has been the exact opposite. The Frenchman could barely manage to win a single match a year ago. In the past week, he has dispatched all four of his opponents in straight sets. With Berrettini’s monster game, I expect that Monfils’ straight-set wins are going to come to an abrupt end. The Italian’s serve hasn’t been quite as effective on these slower hard courts as it is on grass, but it’s still a fierce weapon and will do some damage. The crowd will almost certainly be behind Monfils, who is one of the more popular veteran players on tour. But in the end I expect Berrettini to earn a spot in his first Australian Open semifinal. Berrettini in 4: 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Pete Ziebron: Let us not forget the torrid start to 2020 that Monfils exhibited, going 16-3 with two titles and losses only to Novak Djokovic twice and to Dominic Thiem. The pandemic seemed to impact Monfils to a greater extent than anyone else on the ATP Tour. The Frenchman lost the only four matches he played when he returned in September, then lost his initial three matches in 2021 before finally winning a match in May — a stretch of nearly 15 full months without a victory.  As a result, he is absolutely relishing his success to begin 2022 — already winning a title in Adelaide and recording four straight-set wins in Melbourne. In fact, Monfils dropped just five games in each of his first two matches. This is only the second quarterfinal appearance for Monfils in his 17th visit to the AO.  Berrettini has now earned quarterfinal berths at each of the last four majors. The Italian is 4-0 in tiebreakers in the tournament and certainly received his wakeup call in his third-round encounter with Alcaraz that went the distance. For Monfils, this is a significant increase in talent level across the net compared to his first four matches. Berrettini in 4: 7-6(4), 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

 

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Aleks Vukic: Work Ethic

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Among your fellow Australians, are you close with John Millman?

Aleks Vukic: Not close. But I know him. Yeah.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: My wife and I have met him several times. Well, he is the sweetest guy, the nicest guy. I will tell you a story about John. I live in Cincinnati. So I am always at that tournament, right? But I went down to Lexington in 2017 for the Challenger event. I just fell in love with John. His style, his personality. I came back up to Cincinnati for the Saturday qualities. I look across the stadium and there's Gerry Armstrong and Mohammed Leyani. I said:  “Guys, good to see you this year. I just fell in love with a player, John Millman.” They both said: “Oh, he's the sweetest guy. He's such a class act.” Then, the next spring in Indian Wells, we ran across John. I said: “The last time I saw Gerry Armstrong and Mohammed Leyani, I told them about you, and they both said you are a class act.” And John just looked at me and said: “My parents raised me well.” He's such a humble, authentic guy.

Aleks Vukic: He's just, gritty, a person that might not be the most talented, but he just works and works. And I know he trains so much. So, it is all about the hard work for him.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: You've got friends here. I mean, friends on the tour. What's it like playing against a friend? Is there a different mindset?

Aleks Vukic: No, there's no different mindset in the way you treat each opponent. You just you try to take that part away. You just know the guy personally, it's different. But at the end of the day, when I play someone, I play on their tennis game. So, if you play a friend, it's based on their tennis game. You play to win that match based on that. Of course, it's impossible to just take away who you're playing. But you play the ball, so it's like, you are NOT my mate over there. I'll be playing the shot that he hits at that moment.

 

 

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

Photo of the Day: Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko, born in 1981, is a former Russian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 in November 2006. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the semi-finals on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open, losing to Roger Federer in 3 of those 4 matches. Davydenko retired in 2014.

 

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

Pictured here in Cincinnati, 2005: Davydenko played great tennis, defeating Sebastien Grosjean, Paul-Henri Matthieu and Fernando Gonzales before losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals.

J. J. Wolf: Match Prep

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American J. J. Wolf at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: Now today we have nine singles matches. None of these guys have ever played each other before. There's no head-to-head record for any of these matches.

J. J. Wolf: Really, that's crazy.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, going into a match like that, do you watch matches your opponents have played if you've never seen them before?

J. J. Wolf: More so my coaches will watch and come back and talk to me about it. I don't worry about it too much, but I usually get a little scouting report, maybe from coaches.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: And what would that scouting report sound like? What would that look like?

J. J. Wolf: It’s all about patterns I'm looking for against a certain guy. Nothing really detailed. I keep everything very simple. Most of the stuff has to do with me most of the time anyway.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: What sort of patterns? This is intriguing.

J. J. Wolf: You just look for favorable patterns. It could be different with any player. But a lot of players look at making forehands or shots they're good at. So, it doesn't really matter to me where I'm hitting the ball. I just want to hit it hard.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Even analyzing opponents, you keep it simple.

J. J. Wolf: Give me one or two games and that's what I'll try to do. Just try to do your best every point. That's all you can do. If someone hits a winner on you, they hit a winner on you. It's just the sport. Everybody's good out here. Anyone can beat anyone. Yeah. We've seen all that, then. We've seen all of that.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @jjwolf5

Cincinnati Tennis Fans Express Their Thoughts About Novak Djokovic

 

KARL CORBETT has collected commentary from the Cincinnati tennis community regarding the Novak Djokovic / Australian Open scenario.  Here are the viewpoints:

 

• Nobody should work that hard 
• Follow the rules, dude.
• NoVax, as he will be forever be known now, should have been tossed for lying on his visa application. He claimed a medical exemption and in court said it was because he tested + on 12/16. Trouble is he couldn't have known he was going to get Covid when he applied for his visa in November. And he posted photos of himself at a ceremony for his stamp AFTER he supposedly tested +, with no mask on. Nor was he in quarantine. While the whole mask and quarantine rules seem archaic with Omicron spreading like wildfire, there is no denying that he lied to bypass the vax rules. My guess is he didn't test positive on Dec 16 at all. In short, he's smeared his legacy unnecessarily.  He wasn't popular before this and now the Aussies are going to roast him on a barbie then throw him to the crocs. 
• To me, it's a self inflicted wound. His amazing career on court will always be overshadowed by his questionable actions and demeanor off the court. He's always seemed to have this notion that he's above the rules and just reinforced all the negative opinions anyone already held. Those who are devoted to him won't change their minds though but it certainly doesn't endear him to anyone new. Can you imagine Roger ever doing something so shady? I can't. 
• I'm rooting for Andy Murray in this tournament.
• If I were Novak, now that the courts have released him, I would get on the next plane out of Australia before they cancel his visa a second time or put him in one of the Covid Concentration Camps. And I would also tell the Aussies they can have a good jolly old effing time without him.
• Ok, it sounds like Novak just lied, if it was really important to him to win this tournament, he would have done everything possible to put himself in the best position to do that. And he just didn't do that,  but everyone else did, soooo, they get to compete and he doesn't.  Also, what the heck Novak, why is there always so much controversy around,  get it together, Serbia may revolve around you, but not the entire world 

J. J. Wolf: Friends on the Tour

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American J. J. Wolf at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: J. J., who do you enjoy spending time with on the tour?

J. J. Wolf: I always like being around some of the Ohio State guys , (Mikael) Torpegaard. I'm very close with (Aleks) Kovacevich, some of the Illinois guys that I grew up playing against. OK, Marcus Giron, , Mackey (Mackenzie McDonald) and Reilly Opelka. A lot of the Americans have been really nice. Veterans like (Sam ) Querrey and (John) Isner and Stevie (Johnson) have always been really nice to me. Not so much to hang out with them, but they’ll always say “Hi.” in the locker room.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So is it different playing against a friend?

J. J. Wolf: Some people feel weird about it. I think it's fun. I say, be friends off the court. Once you get on the court, I just worry about myself, so I don't think about it too much.

Tennis Acumen: OK, tell me more about that.

J. J. Wolf: In tennis, you try to control what you can control. So thinking about who you're playing against doesn't really do much for you.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @jjwolf5

ESPN+ is the Home for Australian Open Qualifying

PETE ZIEBRON

Beginning at 6 PM EST, 3 PM PST on Sunday, January 9, ESPN+ will have coverage of the Qualification rounds of the Australian Open.  Twelve courts are listed on the ESPN+ schedule.  The Qualifying rounds will continue through Thursday on the stream.

Next, concurrent to coverage of the Main Draw on ESPN & ESPN2,  ESPN3 will also show matches as well as significantly more on ESPN+.  

In addition, it appears that beginning with the Women's Semifinals, the coverage on ESPN+ will only be in Spanish.  However, the schedule shows that all Men's & Women's Semis as well as both Finals will be shown on ESPN+ in Spanish.

As a newer subscriber to ESPN+, I must say that this is wall to wall coverage of the first major of the year.  In addition to tennis, I also enjoy robust coverage of the NHL as well as High School Basketball, College Basketball and Russia's KHL.  Meanwhile, a comprehensive library of documentaries are available as well as the current Tom Brady feature: Man in the Arena.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the On Demand matches that are available - namely, Australian Open, Wimbeldon and US Open Finals from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.  

Outside of Finals, I also came across the 2001 Wimbeldon match between Pete Sampras and 19 year-old Roger Federer available On Demand.  A bonus regading that match is that Mohamed Lahyani is in the Chair.

Photo of the Day: David Ferrer

David Ferrer, born in April 1982, is a retired Spanish player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain, Ferrer won tournaments at every level (ATP 250, ATP 500, Masters 1000) except at a Grand Slam, and has the seventh highest career prize money earnings of all time among male tennis players. Ferrer also holds the distinction of winning the most matches on the ATP tour without having won a Grand Slam.

 

photo credit: Karl Corbett, (c) Tennis Acumen

 

Pictured here in 2014, he carries his towel in his teeth, as he often did. Ferrer advanced to the Cincinnati final by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mikhil Youzhny, Tommy Robredo and Julian Benneteau before falling to Roger Federer in a 3-set championship match.

J. J. Wolf: Dealing with Crowds

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed American J. J. Wolf at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: So how much does a crowd affect you?

J. J. Wolf: I love the energy of the crowd. It was tough last year with no fans. And this year, sometimes limited fans But, coming from college tournaments, you love the energy, whether it's positive or negative.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: Cincinnati this year, 2021, was the first full attendance tournament, right? We were out there 10 days. Just loving it. That's your home town, and mine. It was good. So the crowd does affect you?

J. J. Wolf: Yeah, for sure. They could definitely pull you through matches.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: If someone were intent on badgering you or distracting you, would that get to you as well?

J. J. Wolf: I always play a little better when people are getting at me like that. You pick that up in college. I'd say I come from a pretty competitive family, so we all have got that a little bit. I had that in other sports growing up much more than in tennis. So, you don't get the worst of it in our sport here.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: People will love to hear this. A lot of fans want to know the person behind the player. If there's one thing you would want people to know about you, what might that be?

J. J. Wolf: About me? I guess I'm a pretty simple guy. I love my friends and family and I love this country, and I pretty much try to do my best every time I can.

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: @jjwolf5

Alexander Zverev Makes Inroads vs. Novak Djokovic in 2021 in 269

PETE ZIEBRON

Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic played five matches in 2021 with the Serb winning three times.  However, it was Zverev that ended the Golden Slam dreams of Djokovic in Tokyo in the Semifinals.  Then at the end of the year, the German once again eliminated the world #1 in the semis at the ATP Finals.

Prior to the Olympics, Djokovic won the previous four meetings and held a 6-2 H2H advantage.  Currently the series stands at 7-4 but Zverev has made progress against Djokovic.  

After dropping the opening set 6-1 in Tokyo, Zverev won twelve of the final sixteen games to advance to the Gold Medal match and ultimately win Gold.  Again they would meet in the semis on a grand stage, this time at the US Open where Djokovic was now attempting to hold all four majors in the same calendar year.  The Serb won in five sets but had little left for the final and lost to Daniil Medvedev.

Next, yet again in the semifinals of the ATP Finals, Zverev prevailed over Djokovic and would then hoist the Finals hardware to conclude a stellar season.

Djokovic was one set away from the Gold Medal match and was rolling.  Still, Zverev played solid tennis despite the lopsided 6-1 scoreline in the opening set.  The German continued to serve big, just as he had in the first set, stayed the course with his game plan, and was rewarded with a tremendous victory.

The two men played a total of eighteen sets in 2021.  Djokovic won ten and the two split the four tiebreakers that were contested.  ONWARD! 

 

 

Aleks Vukic: Favorite Cities on the Tour

In 2021, Tennis Acumen interviewed Australian Aleks Vukic at the Champaign Challenger tournament. Here is a part of that conversation:

Tennis Acumen: You've done some traveling. What are your favorite cities on the tour?

Aleks Vukic: London and New York. New York is just smashing. I love big cities and New York is unbelievable. London, I had a great experience this year. I played Queens at  this tennis center that it's in the suburbs of London. You walk in through the building, and you walk to the other side and this grass court complex just appears out of nowhere. And in the middle of that, I was playing Jason Jung, who's playing here this week. He and I played the qualifiers there at Queens. We were playing on the back courts. It's surrounded by apartments in the middle of the suburbs. OK, and in those apartments, there were two balconies with Aussie flags. Families just sat out watching, cheering me on from their balconies. And that was one of the coolest experiences I've had. And I love London. My brother studied there for a few years, and I love London as a city and it's very similar to Australia, the people.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, what would you go out and do if you had free time: sample the food, go sightseeing?

Aleks Vukic: This year has been different because of Covid. Yeah, but I'd just go experience it. There is so much to do. It's endless, you can do whatever you want. I like the outdoors. And you have live music, restaurants, bars, that kind of stuff. And meeting cool people. It's more about that.

 

 

Tennis Acumen: So, it's more about the people. as opposed to the place.

Aleks Vukic: Yeah, but I also keep my circle pretty, tight as it is. So, I do just like to experience things with them, basically.

 

 

More of this exclusive interview is available at Tennis Acumen. Go to the interviews category, shown on the upper right hand side of the screen.

Tags: aleks.vukic, Vuki_SMASH23

Nitto ATP Finals championship match expert picks: Medvedev vs. Zverev

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks are back for the grand finale in Turin, where the title is coming down to Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions for this showdown between the world No. 2 and world No. 3.

(2) Daniil Medvedev vs. (3) Alexander Zverev

Ricky Dimon (The Grandstand): It’s not quite Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev, but it’s still pretty darn good. Medvedev vs. Alexander Zverev is a great rivalry between two guys who could be the two best players in the world when the Big 3 are gone. Right now, though, a clear edge goes to Medvedev. The only question is: just how bid of an edge? On one hand, the Russian has won a hard-to-believe five in a row in the head-to-head series–including a 6-2, 6-2 beatdown at the Paris Masters. On the other hand, Zverev pushed Medvedev to 8-6 in the third-set tiebreaker during round-robin action on Tuesday. Given how well the German is playing this week (especially against Djokovic in the semifinals), I think he can once again be competitive. Still, Medvedev has been the best player on tour this fall, he is 9-0 in his last nine matches at the Nitto ATP Finals, he had a much easier semifinal on Saturday, and a lightning-fast surface is slightly more advantageous for him than it is for Zverev. This should be a fun one; it should also be another Medvedev win. Medvedev in 3: 7-5, 4-6, 6-3

Cheryl Murray (The Grandstand): Before the tournament started I had Zverev penciled in as the winner. And after his rather impressive performance against Djokovic in the semis, I’m amused to report that I’ve changed my mind. It’s not that Zverev isn’t playing well. His match against Djokovic featured some of the best tennis of the week and he held his nerve admirably after dropping the second set. It’s just that Medvedev has been so much better than everyone else that it’s hard to imagine Zverev stopping him.

Medvedev handed Zverev his only loss this week, actually. The two men were both in the Red Group and met in their second round-robin match; the Russian won in three. Medvedev has won their last five meetings and with the world No. 2 playing as well as he has this week, it’s hard to imagine the streak coming to an end. Medvedev in 3: 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-4.

Pete Ziebron (Tennis Acumen): Dating back to 54 weeks ago, Zverev led the head-to-head with Medvedev 5-1. Since that time, the Russian is 5-0 and therefore the scoreboard now reads 6-5 in his favor. The German stunned Djokovic in the semifinals at the Olympics and also denied the Serb an opportunity to win the ATP Finals for a sixth time in these semifinals. In Turin, the Olympic gold medalist has only fallen to Medvedev–and that was in three sets earlier this week. Medvedev needed to go the distance in each of his round-robin contests before correcting course and sweeping Ruud in his semifinal. The defending champion has dropped just three sets in his last five matches against Zverev and has his eyes squarely set on another win. This would give the world No. 2 the U.S. Open as well as the year-end championship in a season that was entirely dominated by Djokovic heading into New York. Zverev has now twice prevented Djokovic from winning this event for the first time since 2015 (previously in the 2018 final). For Zverev, that fact will be something to build on in 2022; on Sunday, Medvedev makes it six straight in the series. Medvedev in 3: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

 

 

Sakkari vs. Halep & Giorgi vs. Rus in 269

PETE ZIEBRON

Camila Giorgi in action.  Pete Ziebron Images

First time matchups are intriguing, especially when they occur deep in a tournament.  The WTA quarterfinals in both Moscow and Tenerife have four in total and here we will look at two in particular.  The Kremlin Cup features third seed Maria Sakkari of Greece and the number eight seed Simona Halep of Romania.  Sakkari reached the semifinals of both Roland Garros and the US Open this year, while Halep has won both the French and US Open in the last three years.  Halep is a former world number one while Sakkari is currently at her career high of number seven. The Greek is 4-0 against top five WTA players this year, has seven top-ten wins in 2021 as well as eleven versus the top-twenty. However, she has just one career title, won two years ago in Morocco against Brit Jo Konta.  The winner will play either number one seed Aryna Sabalenka or Ekaterina Alexandrova.  

In Spain, Camila Giorgi of Italy is the lone seed left in the draw and will face Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.  Giorgi won the biggest title of her career earlier this year in Montreal, however then proceeded to lose four matches in a row before getting back on track in Tenerife.  Rus is a former Junior Australian Open Champion as well as the #1 Junior in the world.  Despite 27 titles on the ITF Circuit, Rus has yet to win one on the WTA Tour.  The Dutch is currently at her career high of world #61.  The winner will face either Maria Camila Osorio Serrano of Colombia or Saisai Zheng of China.

 

 

Jurij Rodionov: Favorite Places, Favorite Things

On  a hot streak, Austrian Jurij Rodionov sat down with Karl Corbett of Tennis Acumen in February, 2020. At the time, he was burning through opponents on the Challenger Tour, and had  won 14 out of his last 15 matches.

 

Karl: As you travel. Jurij,  what are your favorite places on the tour? Your favorite cities?

Jurij: I'm someone who likes to focus more on the tournament, rather than enjoy sightseeing. So. I would ask the question: “What courts are available?”  or “What facilities can I take advantage of?” Even when I'm in Paris or  New York or London, I'm not really someone who goes to see the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben or walk around Manhattan. I'm just focused on my tennis,  and I like more to spend time on the courts.

 

Karl: That's very interesting.

Jurij: Generally speaking, the bigger the tournament, the more I look forward to playing  it. There's more for the players: better food, better physical therapy, better changing rooms. So, the bigger the tournament is, the more I enjoy it.

 

Karl: You're very focused. You're  very disciplined.

Jurij: Yeah, on a normal day I spend six to eight hours on a tennis court or doing fitness or stretching. So, there is not really a lot of time to do anything else.

 

Karl: What do you enjoy besides tennis, Jurij? Food, fashion, music?

Jurij: I am very focused on tennis, but I have a personal life, too, even if it doesn't seem like it.  I like watching movies, listening to music. I also like to play games video games. Yeah, that's a big hobby. And I also like to spend time with friends.  It’s always important to get out of my bubble sometimes.

 

Karl: Tell us a couple of movies that you like.

Jurij: I love the Lord of the Rings movies.  I am a big Lord of the Rings fan. Definitely. You know, I am one of those fans that knows every quote and every single line.

 

Karl: Some of your favorite music, your favorite bands.

Jurij: I love Linkin Park and the  Red Hot Chili Peppers. I also like some German bands. Well, I'm someone who likes almost every style of music, except maybe hip hop. That's maybe not my style, but except for that, I'm up for everything.

 

 Jurij Rodionov, talks about his 'breakthrough'  tennis, here: (LINK)

John Patrick Smith - Favourite Places on the Tour

John  Patrick Smith, from Australia, attended the University of Tennessee from 2007 through 2011, where he was a four-time All-American and made it to the college No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. Tennis Acumen talked with JP in early 2020. Here's one part of that exclusive interview.

Tennis Acumen: What are some of your favourite cities on the tour, J.P.?

J. P. Smith: Newport, Rhode Island, definitely.

 

Tennis Acumen: Why is that?

J. P. Smith: Newport is just really great ,in the sense that I have played that event every year since I finished college. They have the Tennis Hall of Fame up there in Rhode Island. So, I’ve enjoyed that event. I also love Atlanta. I have won there before, in doubles there. I do enjoy New York, Washington, D.C. I just love the U.S., because there’s a unique sort of swing to every place. Across the globe, as well: Australia, London.

 

Tennis Acumen: Favourite cities back in Australia? What's your hometown?

J. P. Smith: My hometown is Townsville, in Queensland. I love Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, all those lead-up events for the Australian Open.

 

Tennis Acumen: And do you pay attention to the crowds when you are on court? You have a home court advantage in Australia.

J. P. Smith: I have a lot of friends come down watch me during the Australian Open. It’s really fun to have the support. I always have a lot of friends who watch me online, watching the live stream, keeping track, so it’s reallycool.

 

Tennis Acumen: When you're not playing tennis, what do you enjoy: movies, music, food, fashion?

J. P. Smith: Music. I love live concerts. I try to get to a concert, wherever I’m playing. I went to three, just last year. Yeah and just kind of. Right now I'm into a lot of reading, especially when I am on planes. I used to enjoy a couple of TV shows, but it’s hard keeping up with so much stuff, on Netflix and all these other streaming services. Now, I don't even bother unless I get a really good recommendation.

 

Tennis Acumen: And what books are you reading right now?

J. P. Smith: I have been reading Ayn Rand, she has a few good books there. Mainly to do with economics and sort of that sort of stuff.

 

Tennis Acumen: Does that tie in with your college education?

J. P. Smith: A little bit. I chose economics back then. Obviously, I love economics but, I am not sure what I am going to do after tennis, but economics offered a very broad business spectrum so, that's why I chose it.

 

Tennis Acumen: So you haven't really thought too deeply about life after tennis.

J. P. Smith: Not really. To be honest, tennis is kind of a hit and miss sport, in the sense that one week, you can do well, and the next week you don’t do well. You can't really plan ahead for results, and that, I think goes for after tennis, as well .

 

Tennis Acumen: JP, some guys on the tour absolutely love to win more than anything and some guys just hate to lose. Where are you on that spectrum between loving to win and hating to lose?

 

J. P. Smith: I'm somewhere right in the middle there. I’m very thankful to get a chance to play here. It’s my job, you know. I don’t expect to win every day. At the end of the day, you're healthy, you're playing a sport you love for a job, and you have to be very thankful for that.

Tennis Acumen: OK, thank you very much, JP. Appreciate it.

J. P. Smith: No worries, mate. Thank you.

 

Tennis Acumen: Good luck.

Reilly Opelka: Favorite Places on the Tour

At the end of 2018, American tennis player Reilly Opelka was ranked alongside Croatian Ivo Karlovic, age 40. The two tallest players on tour, at 6’ 11”, both with a huge serve. Within weeks, Opelka won the  New York 250 title, and took a firm lead in rankings over Karlovic. It was a changing of the guard.   This is part of a series based on Karl Corbett's exclusive interview with Reilly Opelka.

(photo credit: Karl Corbett,  (c) Tennis Acumen)

Karl: As you have started traveling more and more, what are some of your favorite cities?

Reilly: I have a few. I like New York City a lot. New York's great. Not that I could live there but… I am a huge ‘foodie’, and a lot of the best restaurants in the United States are in New York. I like Miami a lot as well. I live near Miami. I know it well. I am a big fan of Miami. I also like Milan (Italy).

 

Karl: What is it about Milan that you love?

Reilly: Food as well. I'm also big into fashion. So, Milan has a nice mix of food, fashion and art.

I do like all the cities in the States. Chicago? Well, Chicago's great. Especially in the summertime. You can't beat it. But yeah, those are my favorite cities so far.

 

Karl: You’ll be seeing more. Reilly, how has your life changed in the last year?

Reilly: Well, a lot has changed. You know, this time last year, I was ranked #150 and unable to play. I had mono (mononucleosis). So, I was sitting at home on the couch all summer. And now I'm just cracking the top 50, just here this week.

So, what’s changed? I am pretty independent now. I just bought a house in Boca Raton. So, I'm based in Boca. I have my coach there working with me. I also have a coach here, based in Atlanta, but he travels with me: JY, Jean-Yves Aubone. I have my physio team set up so I couldn't be happier with my team, my environment. My whole setup for for my job is perfect.

 

There's more to this interview. Take a look around, end enjoy.....

Vasek Pospisil: Favorite Places on the Tour

Vasek Pospisil is a Canadian tennis player, ranked as high as number 25 in the world in singles. As 2020 begins, Pospisil is starting off strong, with victories over #15 Denis Shapovalov, #9 David Goffin, former #7 Richard Gasquet and #5 Daniil Medvedev. Perhaps it has something to do with the Canadian maple syrup he's been bringing on court with him.

This interview was an exclusive with Karl Corbett of Tennis Acumen, in Knoxville, Tennessee, November 2019.

(photo credit: Karl Corbett,  (c) Tennis Acumen)

Karl: Vasek, you've obviously traveled a lot. What are some of your favorite cities, your favorite places on the tour?

Vasek: I love Rome, everything about it: the food, the history, the people. So, Rome is great. I love Italy in general. I love the countryside. That's probably a top one for me. I mean honestly, what I relate most is Italy on the whole. Rome just happens to be the city that I go to and play. In Italy, all my experiences in Italy have been really great. Going back to when I was playing futures, and smaller events, any time I went to Italy I just really enjoyed my time For one, I love great food, which is not a problem now, necessarily…. but it might be after my career, potentially. (smiles) But second, I just relate to the people. I think they're very open and honest. They're family oriented. They have good values. I like the Italian people, so when I'm there I just have a good time.

 

Karl: That’s brilliant, Are there other cities that really stand out?

Vasek: I love Vancouver. I try not to be too biased, just because I'm from there. Of all the cities that I have traveled to around the world, Vancouver has something special. I feel I could move there, and stay, after my career. My brothers are there. I love the mountains. There's something about the energy of the city. It's a big city with a small city feel and it has a bit everything. Vancouver would be my probably my favorite city to go to. I also have a lot of friends there, as well.

 

Karl: Having friends and family....  that's a pull you feel in Vancouver. And where else can you see snow covered mountains plunging into the ocean? It's a beautiful place.

Vasek: Yes, it is, and it's a great lifestyle.

 

There's more in this series of interviews....  and maybe more maple syrup in Vasek's future.

READ MORE: How does Vasek deal with setbacks and surgery?  (LINK)

Send a link to a friend... follow Vasek at facebook.com/VasekPospisilTennis

#VasekPospisil , @vasek.pospisil

2021 U.S. Open final expert picks: Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks at the U.S. Open are wrapping up with the men’s singles final on Sunday. It’s Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev, with history on the line. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Daniil Medvedev

Ricky Dimon: I can see valid arguments on both sides. Djokovic has not been dominant this fortnight, Medvedev is 14-1 since Wimbledon, and their head-to-head history has been relatively competitive. But I think all of that goes out the door in this situation: not only a major final, but also one in which Djokovic is facing someone other than Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer. And it’s not just any major final; the calendar-year Grand Slam and 21 slam titles are on the line. Nobody has ever been as tough mentally under these kinds of conditions as the 34-year-old Serb. Oh, yeah; he’s not too shabby physically, either. Medvedev is not the kind of player who can hit Djokovic off the court; the Russian is going to have to beat him at his own game. That just isn’t happening in this particular match. It’s too important for Djokovic; it’s an opportunity he probably won’t come close to letting slip away. Djokovic in 4: 7-6(4), 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Cheryl Murray: It’s not that Medvedev can’t beat Djokovic. The world No. 1 holds a 5-3 record over the underdog–hardly an emphatic head-to-head edge. It’s just that Medvedev won’t. History is on the line on Sunday. BIG history. A calendar-year Grand Slam. It’s the kind of moment for which Novak Djokovic is uniquely suited. It’s no accident that the player with probably the most impressive mental toughness of all time is poised to do the unthinkable. He isn’t the greatest server on tour, but he’s probably the best server under pressure. He brings the heat exactly when he needs to. There is also the fact that Djokovic just gave Medvedev a shellacking in the final of the Australian Open. This one is going to be more competitive. Djokovic actually hasn’t played as well as he’s capable over this fortnight. The Russian may even take an early lead, but in a best-of-five match on a hard court, it’s simply impossible to pick against Djokovic. Djokovic in 5: 3-6, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2.

Pete Ziebron: Prior to the start of the U.S. Open, it was being reported that the speed of the courts–particularly Ashe–was faster than anyone could ever recall. This fact “may” be relevant during stretches in this final since it was in Cincinnati two years ago that Medvedev was able to utilize the quick courts there to his advantage to defeat Djokovic and then continue to play exceptional tennis since that time. The speedy courts in New York have been favorable to the Russian, as he has dropped just one set in reaching the final. Djokovic continues to take his time in getting into the flow of his game, as he has inexplicably dropped the opening set in his last four matches. Despite the fact that the last six meetings have been split, it will come down to the ability to focus for more than three hours. Medvedev has had the unfortunate ability to lose his focus (disagreeing with the chair umpire, running into TV cameras on the court, and destroying racquets), which has cost him dearly at times this year. Meanwhile, Djokovic has his eyes firmly on the grandest of prizes that has not been seen on the ATP tour since 1969–the calendar-year Grand Slam. One more win and that monumental accomplishment will be his. Novak Djokovic will not be denied. Djokovic in 5: 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

 

2021 U.S. Open final expert picks: Leylah Fernandez vs. Emma Raducanu

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks are back for a most amazing U.S. Open women’s final matchup: 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez against 18-year-old Emma Raducanu. They are ranked No. 73 and No. 150 in the world, respectively. A three-team panel previews the action and makes its predictions.

(Q) Emma Raducanu vs. Leylah Fernandez

Ricky Dimon: Well, it doesn’t get any crazier than this: Leylah Fernandez vs. Emma Raducanu in the U.S. Open final. This all-teenager showdown between two players ranked outside the top 70 (but clearly with top-5 if not even top-1 potential) is must-watch television for tennis fans. Although the quality of play in Saturday’s championship match will almost certainly live up to the hype, I’m not sure the scoreline will do the same. In nine matches at this tournament (three in qualifying), Raducanu is 18-0 in total sets. The 18-year-old Brit has not even been pushed to a tiebreaker and nobody in the main draw has taken more than four games in any set. She is simply crushing people. Fernandez, on the other hand, is coming off four consecutive three-set thrillers. That isn’t her fault; the 19-year-old Canadian has faced a much tougher draw. But the physical and mental struggle of such matches has to take its toll. With Raducanu in this kind of dominant form, you can’t bet against her. Raducanu in 2: 6-3, 6-3.

Cheryl Murray: This might just be the most surprising final in U.S. Open history. Fernandez is ranked 73rd in the world, while Raducanu is ranked 150th. That would be a shock on its own. No Naomi Osaka, no Ash Barty…no one ranked inside the top 70 in the world. What’s more shocking is how we got here. Leylah Annie Fernandez has put together one of the most impressive upset runs I have ever witnessed. It’s not as though the draw opened up in front of her; SHE did the opening. She beat Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Elina Svitolina, and Aryna Sabalenka to earn her spot in the final. Raducanu actually came up through qualifying, becoming the first qualifier in the history of the sport to reach the women’s semifinals of the US Open. Now, of course, she’s the first qualifier to reach the final. The fact that she dropped ZERO sets along the way is all the more extraordinary. It’s splitting hairs to call one player’s run more impressive than the other’s, but if you pinned me down I’d have to say that Fernandez has been a touch more impressive because Raducanu defeated two seed (No. 11 Belinda Bencic and No. 17 Maria Sakkari) en route to the finals and Fernandez defeated 374 seeds–at least that’s how it felt, anyway. There is the off chance that given the difficulty of her matches compared to Raducanu, Fernandez might be more fatigued. But she didn’t look tired against Sabalenka. I think she has one more win in her. Fernandez in 3: 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

Pete Ziebron: Improbable would be a huge understatement to even attempt to begin to describe the 2021 U.S. Open women’s final matchup between the world No. 73 and a qualifier ranked No. 150. Let’s start with Raducanu: 18 sets won, zero lost; one bagel set and five breadstick sets won. A 7-5 set in the second round of qualifying has been the closest anyone has come to threatening the 18 year-old, who was seeded 31st in the qualifying draw. Next we have Fernandez, 19 years and five days old. She needed to go the distance in each of her last four matches. The opponents she defeated (in order): defending champion Osaka, 2016 U.S. Open champion Kerber, world No. 5 Svitolina, and world No. 2 Sabalenka. The fearlessness that both women have exhibited throughout the tournament has been sensational. Twice Fernandez had to overcome a one-set deficit (against Osaka and Kerber) before prevailing in three. In the final, Fernandez will again drop the opening set but this time she will not have the answers as Raducanu wins 20 consecutive sets to win the match and tournament. Raducanu in 2: 6-4, 6-3.

 

 

2021 U.S. Open semifinal expert picks: Djokovic vs. Zverev, Medvedev vs. Auger-Aliassime

This article originally appeared on The Grandstand.

Expert picks are back for a blockbuster U.S. Open semifinal lineup, which will play out on Friday. Felix Auger-Aliassime is the lone surprise of the quartet, and he will go up against Daniil Medvedev. Novak Djokovic’s bid for the calendar-year Grand Slam continues against Alexander Zverev.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (4) Alexander Zverev

Ricky Dimon: After watching the last two Australian Open finals and more recent Grand Slam finals at the French Open and Olympics, I’m not picking anyone from the younger generation to beat Djokovic at a slam–especially not when it gets down to the business end of the tournament. It’s as simple as that. Yes, the world No. 1 lost to Zverev at the Tokyo Olympics, but that’s not the same as a major–and it’s not a best-of-five situation. Djokovic simply goes into a different gear on this stage, and he is doing it to an even greater extent than usual with the calendar-year Grand Slam on the line. It’s obvious from his previous performances this fortnight that he will give opponents a chance for a while, but he will shut the door when the going gets tough. Zverev, who is on a 16-match winning streak, is playing well enough to test the top seed longer and harder than anyone else. But the German won’t be able to do it for four-plus hours in a slam semi. Djokovic in 4: 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Cheryl Murray: For the first time this tournament, Djokovic is playing someone who has a legitimate chance to beat him. Zverev snagged the gold medal out from under Djokovic at the Tokyo Olympics a couple months ago, a surprise to all and sundry since the Serb was the heavy favorite. So the question here isn’t whether Zverev CAN beat him, but whether he actually WILL. And the answer to that question is…probably not. Zverev doesn’t have service yips anymore and he can legitimately stake a claim as one of the top three in-form players in the world right now, but unfortunately for him both guys ahead of him are still in the tournament (Djokovic and Medvedev). Moreover, Djokovic is perhaps the greatest best-of-five player of all time thanks to his superior conditioning and his ability to lose sets but not losing his focus. Expect Zverev to come out serving big and attempt to keep points relatively short, as it’s a well-known occupational hazard to trade groundstrokes with Djokovic. Still, the Serb knows how to win, and history is on the line. He WANTS that calendar slam, and it’s hard to imagine that Zverev is going to stop him. Djokovic in 5: 4-6, 7-5, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2.

Pete Ziebron: Suddenly, the Djokovic-Zverev rivalry is front and center on the ATP Tour as they will play now for the fifth time in the last 10 months and 10th time overall. Djokovic appeared to have a sixth consecutive win in the series at the Tokyo Olympics but suddenly hit the wall, and the German continued his fine play to win that semifinal and later the gold medal. In fact, Djokovic had won 14 of their last 15 sets until dropping two in a row at the Olympics. A pair of impressive streaks are on the line this time with Djokovic riding a 26-match winning streak at the majors and Zverev winning his last 16 matches overall. While Zverev has been efficient on court, including winning his second-round match in just 74 minutes, Djokovic has had sluggish starts to matches–dropping the opening set in each of his last three encounters. Zverev nearly won the U.S. Open last year and is certainly in form in New York again this time. However, this is the 12th time that Djokovic has reached the semifinals. He is completely dialed in especially at this stage of slams and will refuse to let anything get in the way of the historical accomplishment he is determined to achieve with winning the title. Djokovic in 4: 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4).

 

12) Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev

Ricky Dimon: Is this going to be competitive? Yes. Auger-Aliassime has been in outstanding form throughout the U.S. Open and he is serving well enough to keep any opponent on his heels. The Canadian has struck the fourth-most aces so far at this tournament (85) and is winning 81 percent of his first-serve points. But is an upset going to happen? It’s doubtful. Similar to playing against Djokovic, it is brutally difficult to outlast Medvedev in a best-of-five situation. The second-ranked Russian often plays a Rafael Nadal-like distance behind the baseline and will put ball after ball back in the court. He has dropped just one set this fortnight, to Botic van de Zandschulp in the quarters. Auger-Aliassime can power his way to a set just like van de Zandschulp did, but the 21-year-old doesn’t yet have the consistency to hang with Medvedev in a best-of-five. Medvedev in 4: 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4.

Cheryl Murray: Auger-Aliassime has finally fulfilled the expectations that have surrounded him since he turned pro. The 21-year-old Canadian has been spectacular this fortnight, his form improving a bit each round. He has really hit his stride this summer, as he kicked things off with a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon. That he runs into a brutally efficient Medvedev in the semis probably means his tournament ends on Friday, however. Medvedev has only dropped a single set in New York to inspired newcomer BVZ in the quarters. Other than that, the Russian has been laser-focused. Medvedev had his slam breakthrough at the 2019 U.S. Open, where he lost an epic five-set final to Nadal. The quick courts suit both players’ games, but Medvedev has more experience handling the big moments and he has been in slightly better form than Auger-Aliassime. The world No. 2 may look awkward with his lanky limbs and unconventional playing style, but he’s absolutely deadly on a hard court when he’s playing well–which he is. Medvedev in 4: 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Pete Ziebron: Medvedev is in familiar territory again in New York, having reached at least the semifinals for the third consecutive year. He is looking to reach his third major final in the last eight that have been played. Across the net this time is Auger-Aliassime, who after having difficulty with Russian Evgeny Donskoy in the opening round has steadied his game. With his run to the quarters at Wimbledon, Auger-Aliassime has won nine of his last 10 matches at majors. Medvedev has exceeded the two-hour mark just once in five matches and has only dropped one set in the tournament thus far. Both players have faced just one seed en route to the semifinals. This fact favors the Russian, as Auger-Aliassime will soon realize that the caliber of opposition has been ratcheted up considerably as he takes on the world No. 2. The well-earned place in the semifinals will be a positive going forward for the Canadian, but Medvedev’s firepower will simply be too much on this day. Medvedev in 3: 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

Benoit Paire in 269

PETE ZIEBRON

Benoit Paire, like Nick Kyrgios, plays his best tennis when the stadium is full, energized and enthusiastic.  Without being able to feed off fan support, the result of the match can be disappointing.

Paire squares off against Nikolai Davydenko in Cincinnati, 2013

photo by Karl Corbett   (c) Tennis Acumen

 

This May in Madrid, Paire elaborated: "When you play in front of people, the thing change a lot.....when the people are coming and watch the match, they support me and that's what I like."

Last night in Cincinnati, Paire converted his 4th match point to defeat #6 seed Denis Shapovalov to advance to the 3rd round.  The victory was Paire's first top ten win since 2017.

While waiting for French press to arrive in Cincinnati in 2015, I had the opportunity to conduct a seven minute one-on one interview with Paire.  He was most appreciative and I asked him about the fact that he not only played, but won a Futures event, a Challenger event as well as an ATP tour level event earlier in the year.  The Frenchman smiled and elaborated on the fact that he felt he needed more match play at the time.

When he won the Futures event in Bressuire, France in January of 2015, Paire's ranking was #135.  In February, he won the Bergamo, Italy Challenger to improve to world #121.  A run to the Cherbourg, France Challenger Final as well as winning the Quimper, France Challenger in late February and early March lifted Paire's ranking to #85 but more importantly, he was getting the match play he needed.

Entering the Bastad 250 event in July with a ranking of #62, Paire won the event and reached #42 in the world as a result.  

My favorite Paire memory: crushing a live ball out of Grandstand in Cincinnati when he was Match Point down in 2016.

Camila Giorgi in 269

PETE ZIEBRON

Camila Giorgi defeated Karolina Pliskova for the third time in less than two months to win the biggest title of her career yesterday in Montreal.  Ironically each win has come on a different continent: in Europe (England) at Eastbourne at the end of June, in Asia at the Tokyo Olympics a few weeks ago and in North America at the Montreal Final.

Camila Giorgi, the new Champion of Montreal.  Pete Ziebron Images

The Italian has a go-for-broke game plan which often results in excessive double faults.  That said, it is refreshing to see a WTA player absolutely go for it on a second serve - think of a Fernando Gonzalez style of play.  Following her quarterfinal win in Montreal over Cori Gauff, Giorgi was asked if she were playing the best tennis of her career at the moment.  She replied with:

"I think is the first time I don't have, like, interruption. I have consistent. I play many, many tournaments now in this year without stopping. So I think this is the key.  I didn't have in other years. I think I always had some issue physically or, like, injury or something. So I think now I'm playing my game really."

Following her win in Canada, Giorgi is scheduled to meet Jessica Pegula of the United State in her opening round match in Cincinnati.  This will be their second meeting in four days, as Giorgi defeated the American in the Montreal semifinals on Saturday 6-3 3-6 6-1. In that match, Giorgi hit nine double faults, after not hitting one against Gauff in the quarterfinals. 

Camila Giorgi plays pedal to the metal tennis - Cincinnati, enjoy the rematch on Tuesday!