With back-to-back wins: Naomi Osaka rises once again
On the clay or grass, Naomi Osaka can under perform. But on hard courts, when she is very focus and positive, the Japanese/American can be driven. On Sunday, Osaka beat the No. 1 Ash Barty in three sets in Beijing. The Aussie Barty likely will stay at No. 1 at the end of the year […]
Young American men: Can they get close to the top?
We are still waiting to see if the young U.S. men can reach into the top 10 at some point. How about in the top 15, instead? The older American, John Isner, is still there, ranked No. 16 in the Race to London. Can he reach the top 8 towards the end of the year […]
Sloane Stephens is hard to read
Last year, it really appeared that Sloane Stephens would win another Grand Slam, plus win more huge tournaments and eventually become No. 1. But this year, she went backward, and her conviction went away. Now she is ranked No. 14, and she does have a shot to play at the WTA Finals at the end […]
US Open final: Nadal vs. Medvedev, can the ‘older’ Rafa win it?
There are times when Rafa Nadal isn’t crushing the ball, and the Spaniard has said that he was a little nervous, or mentally somewhere else. Most times, though, he pushes himself until he finds the solution. Nadal has won 18 Grand Slams, and on Sunday at the US Open, he will be favored against the […]
Will Rafa Nadal win the US Open again?
It is possible that Rafa Nadal will win the US Open and then he will have 19 Grand Slam victories, just one behind Roger Federer. If it occurs, then many people will say Nadal is the best player ever. But not quite, yet. On Wednesday night, Nadal beat Diego Schwartzman in three tough sets, and […]
Medvedev is on a roll
Every week, now, the Russian Daniil Medvedev is rising very quickly. Last week, he won Shanghai, beating everyone, including No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev. Not only is he very powerful, and pretty steady, but he can change his direction when he has to. He is very tall, he is fast, he can smack […]
Injuried: Nadal, Kyrgios and Halep
Here we are in the fall, and a lot of people are taking a break. It is the injury factor. In the past 10 days, many good players have retired or pulled out. I could name 10 people who are hurt — which is a lot — but I will just name a couple people, […]
Laver Cup event: Will the top players come back in 2020?
It will be a very interesting to see in the Laver Cup survive. Oh yes, this weekend, there is a ton of terrific players, but that doesn’t mean that next year, right after the US Open, they will play another time. Many of them want to rest after the summer, when they had to play […]
Will Rafa Nadal win 20 Grand Slams or more?
A few days ago, I wrote that during the fall lots of people will debate whether Rafa Nadal will end up being the best player, ever. That is true. There are a lot of people who really like him, especially in Spain. Nadal is a terrific player, a very intense person on court, he competes […]
Former No. 1 Kim Clijsters will unretired, again
The 2019 US Open is over, it is done, until 2020, when Flushing Meadows opens up again. Let’s start with the women, those who went deep, and those were the good players who lost, and who were very disappointed. But first, the three-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters announced that she will return, on court, […]