Miami Open, Florida, USA, ATP Masters 2017

[mightyjeditribble]

I'm not sure about the match-up, but psychologically surely Kyrgios is the more dangerous opponent. He made his first masters SF here last year, so he's been at this stage before and will be eager to make the next move. Given his tendency to turn up for the big matches anyway (IW QF notwithstanding ), he would surely give Fed a good match. Coming a day after a potentially difficult QF against Berdych, it will be a tough test.

Zverev, no matter how good is game is, has never before been in an MS or GS quarterfinal, let alone a semi. So imagine him beating Kyrgios, making his first ever semifinal on the big stage, and then facing the greatest player of all time ... he'd have to be superhuman not to get nervous. And Fed (assuming he's playing sufficiently well) would surely know this and exploit it by trying to boss him around from the beginning, not letting him settle.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

I think you guys are being a bit unrealistic. He IS 35 years old. He's not going to have it everyday. Just a fact.

Absolutely true - Serena also throws in an off day now and again, it's normal at this age.

If that's all it was, it's lucky that it came against RBA ... let's hope he'll be fit and focussed against Berdych. Roger had some tough losses against him - though not, I notice, since 2013, i.e. none since he picked up the new racquet in January 2014.

Actually, he's only lost one set against him since then, and that was the Dubai 2014 final.

 

[mrzz]

You're pretty hard to please. Maybe they should play on ice and rally, like, never.

What they should is to be able to keep the ball in the court when they are not hitting like a little girl (that was the exact expression that came to my mind). I´ll give you that I was in an extremely bad mood after a bad night at the club my self (loss to a guy I should beat 6x0, no exaggeration), but still... worst match I saw from Goffin by far. Had he made half of the easy misses he had on big points, he would have won comfortably.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I'm not sure about the match-up, but psychologically surely Kyrgios is the more dangerous opponent. He made his first masters SF here last year, so he's been at this stage before and will be eager to make the next move. Given his tendency to turn up for the big matches anyway (IW QF notwithstanding ), he would surely give Fed a good match. Coming a day after a potentially difficult QF against Berdych, it will be a tough test.

Zverev, no matter how good is game is, has never before been in an MS or GS quarterfinal, let alone a semi. So imagine him beating Kyrgios, making his first ever semifinal on the big stage, and then facing the greatest player of all time ... he'd have to be superhuman not to get nervous. And Fed (assuming he's playing sufficiently well) would surely know this and exploit it by trying to boss him around from the beginning, not letting him settle.

Zverev
First ever semifinal on the big stage and then facing the greatest player of all time


This is a very excellent post and really what really most of enanmored with Rafa especially at an early age. When a player is young and fearless, it can produce some spectacular at times tennis, a swashbuckler. Man, I miss ole Rafa.

 

[the AntiPusher]

Fed takes it to a TB and starts off with a minibreak. He needs to do better on his 1st serve percentage though if he wants to avoid drama in the tb.

Stan crashes out against Zverev.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Tignor

Stan vs Sasha

Winner: Stan

Stan was doomed before he ever stepped on the court.:nono

 

[britbox]

And I have tickets for the day session!!!!

See if you can get a few photos Shawn and we'll stick them in the Media section. A picture of you smoking a cuban in the umpires chair would be good.

 

[Federberg]

Watching Kyrgios x Goffin, Kyrgios just won the first set tie break. Now I was finally able to identify what always me bothered me about Kyrgios game. It was obvious, but it took a match against a solid player to see it. His ground strokes are terrible. From both wings. Sometimes he (closes his eyes and) fires a winner, but his rally shots are simple terrible. He is a big server with athleticism, and will to go for different shots. It ends up in something different from the average, but there are a lot of holes in his game.

Actually I think his groundstrokes are deceptive. One thing he does well is that he changes pace a lot. In a way it's almost Murray-like.

 

[mrzz]

^Argh, I wrote like a drunk man on that post you just quoted. Bad mood exposes your difficulties. Just corrected it if anyone has trouble understanding that rant.

Yep, a lot of pace and direction changes. But I need to see another match of the guy, yesterday I had the impression that half of it is completely random.

 

[britbox]

Actually I think his groundstrokes are deceptive. One thing he does well is that he changes pace a lot. In a way it's almost Murray-like.

His movement and positioning are also pretty good. He does have that pretty terrible forehand bunt shot sometimes when defending though...

 

[Federberg]

His movement and positioning are also pretty good. He does have that pretty terrible forehand bunt shot sometimes when defending though...

Yup. Same thing with some of those backhands. They almost seem to be dump shots sometimes, but interestingly even Novak wasn't able to do much with them which tells me that he has natural court sense. Even so, unquestionably he'll smooth it all up in the coming years

 

[the AntiPusher]

The KOD picks Rafa over Sock....

 

[Haelfix]

Expect some upsets. The court conditions are very tricky and it's hard to get a rhythm. Everything is glacially slow and most free points come off errors. Big servers and cautious net rushers actually paradoxically do well here bc they can get some free points.

 

[DarthFed]

In regards to Kyrgios it sometimes looks like he isn't trying in rallies or is simply attempting to lure the opponents to sleep. Especially on his backhand side he sometimes doesn't move his feet at all and just bunts it back. The thing that's amazing is even on those shots he gets just enough pace and just enough depth that it's not a very attackable ball, at least for most players (Djokovic and Goffin weren't able to make him pay too often). And then out of nowhere he can rip a winner off a neutral ball, the kid has easy power and great athleticism to go with the monster serve. He can be scary good if he keeps his head on straight. I wouldn't mind Zverev winning the QF but I think Kyrgios will take it again.

 

[Carol]

The big problem with Kyrgios is that he is not too stable and rarely is able to play well more than two or three matches

 

[DarthFed]

The big problem with Kyrgios is that he is not too stable and rarely is able to play well more than two or three matches

I don't disagree but he seems to have turned a corner so far this year. He had bad luck in Indian Wells and had to withdraw but he has a good chance to get to at least the semis here. I think Roger would've beaten him in IW but if that's the semi here it is going to be a heck of a match.

 

[Obsi]

Yes, but he's won a lot in the past twelve months and is a challenge for anyone. I thought Dominic played less than his usual in his loss to Borna the other day, but Coric was stellar all match long. He took it to Thiem and deserved the victory. I was seated right behind the baseline and you could feel the energy from Borna, whereas Dominic seemed flat from the get go.

Is this your argument for proposition that Coric is a future No. 1?

 

[shawnbm]

^ No

 

[Carol]

There is something very clear, watching the matches in the Stadium you can see much better the game of each one than through the TV.

 

[shawnbm]

Are you in the stadium now Carol?

 

[shawnbm]

I agree and I'm in the stadium now watching Konta and Simona