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Nadal wins Toronto, beating Tsitsipas

August 13, 2018 by Leave a Comment

FROM TORONTO — Rafa Nadal keeps on battling, pushing himself, and he is always fighting. In the final here, he took down Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2, 7-6(4). He has won 33 ATP Master Series, the most ever, eclipsing two of the other great competitors, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

We all know that he is very quick, and that he is very strong. For the most part, he is pretty efficient with his first serve and his second serve. Ten years ago, he didn’t like coming into the net. But now, he can move forward and put it away, with his forehand and backhand. He bends down low and scoops it up. He can slice, or flatten it out.
Just like Federer and Djokovic, Nadal has improved over the past two years. They keep working and improving, even though they are in the 30s.

The No. 1 can be dominant when he is locked in.

Five years ago, Nadal won 10 tournaments. He won Canada (over Milos Raonic), Cincy (over Federer in the quarters and John Isner in the final) and the US Open (over Djokovic). That was the best year, ever.

Today, not only did he defeat Tsitsipas , but he edged Marin Cilic 2-6 6-4 6-4 in the semis. It was very close, and during the first set, he thought that he had to change a few things in the second set, or he would be out of the tournament. But he began to serve pretty big and he moved it to the left, to the right and down the middle. His forehand was falling deep and bounced up pretty high. He mixed his backhand, and when he had a chance, when the tall Cilic had some second serves, he returned it deep.

Really, Cilic could have won the match and yes, he has won one Grand Slam at the 2014 US Open. Too often, he loses control. In the last game, Nadal cracked the ball, and Cilic made a couple pretty easy errors. Goodbye.

Later in the day on Sunday, Nadal announced he won’t play Cincinnati.

Here is what he said in his post-match press conference, as he was weighing his options: “For me personally it’s not the moment to think about that. For me just having this trophy with me means a lot. It’s a very important moment for me. I can’t answer the question (of whether to withdraw from Cincinnati). I need to come back to speak with my team, to speak with the people who are close to me and really make a decision about what is going on in the next week and the next couple of weeks.

“There is a tighter (schedule) too because we have the Davis Cup semifinals after the US Open. So, we need to think about the things that we can do or the things that about we can’t do, no? So, it’s all about the decisions. I only want to play. I want to be everywhere. I love this sport. I don’t like to miss events. But at some point, if I don’t stop for myself, my body stop me. So that’s the experience that I have.”

Tsitsipas’ makes his mark
Sure, the young players are coming up — gradually — but it could take them another year to win a Grand Slam.  

Tsitsipas is now 20 years old. He almost came from nowhere, but now the Greek is very close to reach the top 10 in the next months. His first serve is huge, he can slap his forehand and spin it way back in the court. His return is so-so, but hopefully he will learn to concentrate. When he happens to get into the net, he hesitates, but within a second, he composes himself and puts it away.

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Tsitsipas reaches the Toronto final, upsets Anderson

August 12, 2018 by Leave a Comment

FROM TORONTO – Here’s your introduction to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has now reached the ATP 1000 Finals in Toronto. Maybe tennis fans knew that eventually he would would take his place at the top 20, but almost out of nowhere, he ha emerged.
In the last six days, he beat the No. 8 Dominic Thiem, former No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the defending titlist Alex Zverev and now, the No. 6, Kevin Anderson.

One year ago, he was ranked No. 168. On Sunday, he will be ranked No. 15 in the ATP Rankings and, if he wins the title, on Monday, he will be ranked No. 12.

“I couldn’t achieve anything better in one tournament, beating all those high-ranked players, playing amazing tennis,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m pretty sure the crowd didn’t expect that. I personally didn’t expect that.”

On Sunday, it will be happy birthday for Tsitsipas, who will turn 20 years old. He may be tired, or maybe not, but still, he will battle during the final because he is very happy that thousands of fans will come out and find out who exactly who is.
Still, there are many questions. Can he crush his first serve? Can we wallop his forehand? Can he put heavy spin in his one-hand backhand? Does he hustle? Does he think? He is pretty young, but he is showing real signs of understanding the game.

He was facing Anderson. In the third-set tiebreak, he held three match points. At 5-4, he ripped his forehand down the line for a winner. At 6-4, match point, he double faulted. Ugh. At 6-5, his forehand went long. At 6-6, he missed another forehand. He shook his head. Anderson was a point away at 7-6. But, Tsitsipas, as Anderson said, “Came up with an unbelievable backhand crosscourt winner.” Tsitsipas aced him, and in his last point, at 8-7, Anderson folded it, when he made an error. See ya.

Tsitsipas won 6-7 6-4 7-6 (7). A very happy man.

“I was very impressed with the way he played, some of the bigger points of the match. Because I felt like I quite a few opportunities,” Anderson said. “I mean, even in the third, a couple of times I was at deuce. The one game he was up 40-love, I played three really good points to get it back to deuce to sort of get a sniff in the game, and he ends up hitting two aces. So those are the kind of points that he played very well.

“I think the biggest thing I was impressed with was definitely his mental. He played pretty solid throughout the match. So today he definitely deserved to win.”

Tsitsipas is finally aggressive now but still keeping cosistent. Last year, he could get angry and lose it. However, even after he double faults, or pushing it into the net, he moves on and continues to see where he is and what he has to do. He is doing than now, here in Toronto.

“I’m never losing it. I’m always there. It doesn’t matter what the score. I’m always going to attack. I’m always going to go to the ball, maybe even approach after my shot. And I feel like my forehand is on fire at this moment,” Tsitsipas said. “Hopefully it can remain like this tomorrow because it will be super important for me, the win tomorrow.”

He will face Rafa Nadal, who took down Karen Khachanov, in the final.

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Zverev is maturing, Tsitsipas stuns Djokovic

August 9, 2018 by Leave a Comment

FROM TORONTO – Will it be normal, week after week, day after day, to be able to perform well on the courts? I doubt it, but perhaps Alexander (Sasha) Zverev believes in it. He is pretty good, he is alright in the top 3. He plays freely — still — but now many people are gunning for him. He knows that.

“It’s normal. I think all the top guys feel more pressure because everybody is looking for them,” Zverev said. “Everybody is more excited to play them. You saw the reaction that Stefanos [Tsitsipas] had after he beat Novak [Djokovic]. He’s not going to have that reaction beating any other player. So it’s normal. That comes with it. And I think it’s important to learn how to deal with it. I’m doing quite okay with it. After I got to the top 5, I stayed there, and hopefully I will stay there for many more years to come. But, of course, there’s a period where you go through where it changes.

“It will change for Stefanos. I think everybody will have to go through that. Right now they’re still playing freely. Right now, they’re still the youngest guys on tour. Right now, they don’t have any pressure. It’s going to be interesting to see when they start feeling that they’re the hunted and they’re the ones that everybody is looking out for, how it will affect them.”

Zverev looked pretty sufficient in besting Danill Medvedev 6-3 6-2. He is super strong, he can be patient at times and early on, he can crack his forehands and backhands. Yes, during the Slams, he stops thinking, and he overhits it. But, during through a number of marathon matches at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, he hung in there. He didn’t go far enough, but at least he continued to try.

But that was during in the Grand Slams. Right now, Zverev is in Toronto, an ATP 1000. Without a doubt, he has a legitimate change to win the title, even with No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the mix. Tsitsipas will face Zverev on Friday.

There are times when player are totally clicked in, and the 19-year-old Tsitsipas never backed off. He lost the second set to Novak Djokovic and he did not fold. Tsitsipas won 6-3 6-7(5) 6-3, with some gigantic serves.

Believe it to not, the 2018 Wimbledon champion Djokovic was unable to break him. On hardcourts, that is surprising. But the Serbian knows that Tsitsipas and other young players get better and better all the time.

“[Tsitsipas ] won against [Dominic] Thiem yesterday. He was feeling well,” Djokovic said. “I think he was serving 18 aces, last match, and then also in the first match a lot of aces. So he was just serving big. He was serving all corners. So I didn’t really read his serve that well… He’s definitely one of the leaders of NextGen without a doubt, especially this season. He’s had some terrific results and terrific wins. He’s showing a lot of commitment, a lot of discipline. He’s putting in the hours in the gym, on the tennis court, and it’s paying off. He’s very talented. He was the best junior in the world. If he keeps on going this way, he’s got a good future.”

Djokovic will play Cincy next week. While he so-so in Toronto, he should be one of the favorite with Roger Federer, who says he will play there, as well Andy Murray. Will Djokovic eventually be become No. 1 this year? He isn’t sure, but he wants it.

“Grand Slams are probably the most important tournaments for me, for many players,” he said. “But at the same time, I really want to do well in these kind of tournaments. These are the biggest events we have in ATP Tour. I’ve won 30 Master Series events so far in my career. And that stat, shows how committed I am to play well in these tournaments.

So I really want to do well. So, I mean, losing in this kind of tournament, it’s not something I don’t care about. It really frustrates me. But I have to accept it, deal with it, and move on.”

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Pliskova grabs big clay win in Stuttgart

April 30, 2018 by Leave a Comment


Finally, Karolina Pliskova won a tournament, a big tournament, beating CoCo Vandeweghe 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the final at Stuttgart.

Over the past few years, the Czech has been pretty close to win a major, but she hasn’t, and now, she feels like that she is back. 
But with Pliskova, you never, ever know. She is a gigantic hitter, she can smash her forehand and her backhand, and at the net, she can put it away, down low or high up in the sky. Obviously, she is tall, and she will never be super fast, but even last year, she became quicker and more intelligent. Pliskova rarely gets tired, too, because she practices a heck of a lot. Mentally, when she isn’t playing well, she can get very frustrated, and she loses her control. 

But the No. 6 has matured, so during the rest of the season, she will have a chance to win a major. Maybe at Wimbledon, certainly at the US Open, but actually win Roland Garros? That would be pretty surprising. Yes, she won Stuttgart last week, but it is indoors. She’ll be unprotected and in the elements in the three huge events coming up — Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros. That is harder, as it can be very windy, breezy, hot, cold — you name it. Perhaps Pliskova will prevail, but she has to prove it, as she hasn’t won a Grand Slam yet.

At Barcelona, Rafa Nadal crushed Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-2 6-1 in the final. I here that the 19-year-old Tsitsipas is rising, but he has a long way to go.

As many people have said, what to say about Nadal, who is dominating on the clay court. He has won 46 matches in a row, and not only that, but he doesn’t even drop sets. It is somewhat surprising, not because he is better than anyone on the dirt, because even three weeks ago, he was still injured. As Nadal has said, that he should have not started on court in January, at a couple of events, because he wasn’t ready to run and swing. Nadal has always wanted to smash the ball, from the time he was young, but now, he is in the early 30s, and over the past five years, he has had to pull out because his body was totally wrecked. 

Nadal has to be more patient, and diligent, which means that when he goes to Madrid, if he starts to hurt, he should just walk away. Or, if he wins the title in Spain — again — maybe the Spaniard will not play in Rome. In 2013, he won Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and RG. That was his best season, so far.But that was five years ago. Right now, yes, he has improved his backhand and he pushes forward, but still, his body is wearing down.

We all know that when he arrives at Roland Garros (which he has won 10 times, which is mind blowing, he could get hurt again. And then what? Nadal is a huge favorite, anytime, anywhere on clay, but if he twists his knees, or his back, then he might not be able to raise the trophy one more time in Paris. 

Funny quote from the young Greek about facing the legendary Nadal: “I’ve watched him millions of times on TV, but it’s tougher to face him in reality.”

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