Miami Open, Miami, FL, 2025 - ATP 1000

[MargaretMcAleer]

Tomas Machac has withdrawn due to illness, Jakub Mensik advances to the QFs by walkover

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

No play before 4.30pm due to rain

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Still heavy clouds over stadium, no play before 5pm

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Zverev v Fils evening match has been cancelled
Djokovic v Musetti match will be the next match on stadium following the conclusion of Monfils v Korda
Fritz v Walton, De Minaur v Berrettini will all happen at the same time in 3 different courts

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Play has now resumed in the match Monfils v Korda
Korda d Monfils 64 26 64

 

[Moxie]

Molto valiente, Matteo! Big fight there in the TB when he was down.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

On his 5th MP Berrettini d De Minaur 63 76(7) to make the QFs for the first time!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Molto valiente, Matteo! Big fight there in the TB when he was down.

Matteo Forza!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Zverev vs Fils is scheduled for tomorrow before noon on the stadium
Followed by Dimitrov vs Cerundolo

 

[El Dude]

Novak looking pretty hard to beat. This is the best he's look all year, maybe since 2023.

 

[mrzz]

Molto valiente, Matteo!

At least is not only me that mix up Italian and Spanish

 

[Fiero425]

Novak looking pretty hard to beat. This is the best he's look all year, maybe since 2023.

Very impressive! Musetti played well enough! Novak was just on his game & by the end was literally toying w/ him! Running down that lob-volley stealing pt. from Lorenzo took me back! I think Nole w/b ready for the clay season if he can get at least 1 more match win under his belt!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Revised playing schedule
Wednesday 26th March,
Round 16 match which was cancelled due to rain on Tuesday,
Not before 3pm on Stadium,
A.Zverev (1) vs A.Fils (17)
Followed by,
QF match,
F.Cerundolo (23) vs G.Dimitrov (14)
Not before 8.30pm
N.Djokovic (4) vs S.Korda (24)

 

[don_fabio]

Very impressive! Musetti played well enough! Novak was just on his game & by the end was literally toying w/ him! Running down that lob-volley stealing pt. from Lorenzo took me back! I think Nole w/b ready for the clay season if he can get at least 1 more match win under his belt!

I think Novak smelled the blood as soon as so many seeded players went down. With that being said, Musetti is a good customer and mostly out there against Novak to get some tennis lessons.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I think Novak smelled the blood as soon as so many seeded players went down. With that being said, Musetti is a good customer and mostly out there against Novak to get some tennis lessons.

Musetti is just like 'fodder' for Novak Novak now leads their H2H 8-1, I watched the first couple of games and then I knew what the end result would be, same old same old

 

[mrzz]

Musetti is just like 'fodder' for Novak Novak now leads their H2H 8-1, I watched the first couple of games and then I knew what the end result would be, same old same old

I normally don't call any player who got to the top 20 range a disappointment, but that is exactly how I feel about Musetti. He is still have time, though.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I normally don't call any player who got to the top 20 range a disappointment, but that is exactly how I feel about Musetti. He is still have time, though.

Lorenzo is his own worst enemy at times, he has the shots etc, sad to say his head lets him down time and time again, bodering on Head Case material

 

[El Dude]

I normally don't call any player who got to the top 20 range a disappointment, but that is exactly how I feel about Musetti. He is still have time, though.

I hear you and have said as much, though I think expectation is a big factor. I think you and I would be disappointed if Fonseca turned into Richard Gasquet. Gasquet was a fine player with a career probably better than all but 100 other players in all of the Open Era (or something like that; he's #96 in GOAT points per Ultimate Tennis Statistics), but even he is perceived as somewhat of a disappointment based on early expectations. Grigor Dimitrov is another one; he had a really good year in 2017 and is one of the few remaining "Lost Gen" players who remains relevant, but his career turned out to be far less than the early Baby Federer appellation.

Gasquet and Dimitrov are basically contemporary versions of players like Cliff Richey and Wotjek Fibak. The only people that know Richey and Fibak are stat nerds like myself or old guys like @Fiero425. Meaning, they'll be mostly forgotten shortly after they retire.

I think part of what makes Musetti a bit disappointing is that he plays beautifully - you want to see him on court in big matches because he's nice to watch. In a way, he's a bit of a baby Grigor and maybe could end up with a similar career.

Back to Fonseca, I don't even think Alcaraz was as hyped before his breakout in early 2022 as Fonseca has been since the Next Gen Finals...and it is probably largely because he won that, which allowed more folks to see his game. Even aside from what I hope, I think his worst case outcome is something like a less head-casey Tsitsipas: a top 10 guy who dips into the top 5 and wins big titles, even a Slam or two. But even that will be disappointing, because he looks like he could become a great. Right now, at 18 years old, he's probably top 20 in terms of the level he's playing at (he's #19 in the live race rankings and #14 in Elo). A player who is top 20 at age 18 should at least be top 5 and, I think, has a real shot at greatness.

This is also why I just don't see Tien in the same category. Tien has gone up in my estimation, but now I see his upside as being maybe something like Danill Medvedev - which is still pretty damn good. To me Tien is better paired with Mensik, in terms of wondering who will be better.

Tennis is a sport that is centered on all-time greats. While I have often used 6 Slams as a quick-and-easy cut-off for true greatness, I do include Andy Murray in that category. For me an all-time great is more than just a Slam win total - it is a player who was arguably the best player on tour, at least for a time, and consistently one of the best for more than a year or two (this is where I would put Andy over, say, Jim Courier). Why I consider Andy an ATG kind of comes down to the fact that, for a time, we talked about a Big Four. Even if we always knew that--aside from 2016--it was a Big Three or Big Three + One, Andy was remarkable in that he at least made us think about whether or not he belonged with probably the three greatest players of the Open Era.

Edit to add: my point being, Fonseca looks like he could be that type of player, and as unfair as it is to say this about an 18 year old who has played just about a dozen ATP events, it is going to be disappointing if he doesn't at least come close to that.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I hear you and have said as much, though I think expectation is a big factor. I think you and I would be disappointed if Fonseca turned into Richard Gasquet. Gasquet was a fine player with a career probably better than all but 100 other players in all of the Open Era (or something like that; he's #96 in GOAT points per Ultimate Tennis Statistics), but even he is perceived as somewhat of a disappointment based on early expectations. Grigor Dimitrov is another one; he had a really good year in 2017 and is one of the few remaining "Lost Gen" players who remains relevant, but his career turned out to be far less than the early Baby Federer appellation.

Gasquet and Dimitrov are basically contemporary versions of players like Cliff Richey and Wotjek Fibak. The only people that know Richey and Fibak are stat nerds like myself or old guys like @Fiero425. Meaning, they'll be mostly forgotten shortly after they retire.

I think part of what makes Musetti a bit disappointing is that he plays beautifully - you want to see him on court in big matches because he's nice to watch. In a way, he's a bit of a baby Grigor and maybe could end up with a similar career.

Back to Fonseca, I don't even think Alcaraz was as hyped before his breakout in early 2022 as Fonseca has been since the Next Gen Finals...and it is probably largely because he won that, which allowed more folks to see his game. Even aside from what I hope, I think his worst case outcome is something like a less head-casey Tsitsipas: a top 10 guy who dips into the top 5 and wins big titles, even a Slam or two. But even that will be disappointing, because he looks like he could become a great. Right now, at 18 years old, he's probably top 20 in terms of the level he's playing at (he's #19 in the live race rankings and #14 in Elo). A player who is top 20 at age 18 should at least be top 5 and, I think, has a real shot at greatness.

This is also why I just don't see Tien in the same category. Tien has gone up in my estimation, but now I see his upside as being maybe something like Danill Medvedev - which is still pretty damn good. To me Tien is better paired with Mensik, in terms of wondering who will be better.

Tennis is a sport that is centered on all-time greats. While I have often used 6 Slams as a quick-and-easy cut-off for true greatness, I do include Andy Murray in that category. For me an all-time great is more than just a Slam win total - it is a player who was arguably the best player on tour, at least for a time, and consistently one of the best for more than a year or two (this is where I would put Andy over, say, Jim Courier). Why I consider Andy an ATG kind of comes down to the fact that, for a time, we talked about a Big Four. Even if we always knew that--aside from 2016--it was a Big Three or Big Three + One, Andy was remarkable in that he at least made us think about whether or not he belonged with probably the three greatest players of the Open Era.

Mensik has a great serve, though he has to develop his all court game, he still has time of course, at this stage I slightly lean towards Tien, though early days
Fonseca has more upside in his game than Tien and Mensik, again too early to say how his career path will lead to.

 

[El Dude]

Mensik has a great serve, though he has to develop his all court game, he still has time of course, at this stage I slightly lean towards Tien, though early days
Fonseca has more upside in his game than Tien and Mensik, again too early to say how his career path will lead to.

They'll be an interesting study in contrasts. I think some feel that way about Tien vs. Fonseca, but I don't think it is a fair comparison, while Mensik and Tien are likely to be closer in terms of overall results.