Miami Open Draw: Federer Returns, Could Face Del Potro In Opener; Djokovic Goes For 3-Peat

Del Potro vs Federer is super intriguing. In the past, Del Potro tends to need several matches before getting competitive against Federer. First few times are one sided, then they become really close, then Delpo gets some wins. And I’d expect history to repeat itself except there’s a big caveat: Federer’s recent surgery. How will it effect him? How will he play? Especially against a power hitter like Del Potro, will he be able to absorb the pace as well as he always has or will there be some trouble?

I hope Delpo delivers in R1.

March 21st, 2016 at 2:47 pm

I don’t actually see Djokovic’s draw as hard. Klizan is very up and down and might not be in form at this point. Thiem just lost badly to Tsonga. The guys that usually give him a hard time are on the other side. Dogopolov, belucci, etc.

March 21st, 2016 at 3:05 pm

Good draw for Novak. I hate to see Fed against DelPo so early.

Certainly, every tournament now is really about who will get to battle Novak, and really, about who will get mauled by Novak. It may seem like a tournament, but you can pencil in Novak on one side, eliminate all the players on that side, and then have a half-tourney with the remaining side of the draw to see who gets the title shot.

If you view the game as “Will Someone Beat Novak”, then you can skip the first week entirely.

On the other hand, if you view the game right now as “Who Gets to Lose to Novak”, then you can skip the finals.

March 21st, 2016 at 4:01 pm

Lol, TV, it’s Novak’s world right now. Doesn’t really help that Miami is actually Novak’s best Masters event overall.

March 21st, 2016 at 4:09 pm

The journeys in these tournies are alot more intersting than the destinations itself, thats JMO though ….

March 21st, 2016 at 4:14 pm

How in the world in the poll within this post Federer has 20 votes to win Miami :-)

Are those Fed KADs completely delusional or perhaps Ben Pronin voted 19 times…?

BTW, I do hope Federer makes semis so that Novak could show him who the boss is (read: comprehensive beatdown is straight sets), but I am sure Roger will be out early since he is using this just to get in the tennis groove after his “injury” that he got by walking in an Australian park with kids. Those Ausie parks are known to be dangerous!

Again, let me reiterate polling results so far, just to show how realistic are Fed’s fanatics:
Novak 54 votes
Rafa 12 votes (half by Giles)
Andy 4 votes (Margot, J-Kath, CDP and ???)
and….. drumroll…
Roger Federer 20 votes!

March 21st, 2016 at 5:50 pm

Travis Bickle,

We call this wishful thinking from Fed supporters.

March 21st, 2016 at 6:03 pm

Travis Bickle

Any time I do one of these votes I don’t want to jinx Andy so I vote for someone else – you spurred me on tonight…PS Fed now has 21. votes now!

March 21st, 2016 at 7:09 pm

Forgot to add the extra vote for Fed. wasn’t mine. By morning he’ll have over 40%.

March 21st, 2016 at 7:11 pm

Tennis Vagabond

It is highly likely that Federer will beat Del Potro who is far from up to scratch yet…

March 21st, 2016 at 7:15 pm

If Delpo can produce the quolity he produced in the first set against Berdych than he is in with a chance, good chance, but he has to beat Pella first.

March 21st, 2016 at 7:57 pm

Hola all! Just came back from a full day watching qualies, practice and we watched Ferrer pick the draw.

We watch Frantangelo and Fritz play their first round qualies.

We watched Tsonga, Theim, Delpo. Simon, Mahut, Murray, Pospicile, DOlgopolov, Chardy, Cilic, Cuevas, Johnson, Rosol, Granollers, Wawrinka all practice.

From the women we saw Bouchard practice with ERrani, Hingis and Mirza, Petkovic, Mugueruza and Stosur, Bascinsky and Safarova, Vinci and Suarez Navarro.

The weather was cool and windy and the court was playing slow.

No sight of the Fed, Nadal or Djoker we are hoping to catch them tomorrow!

March 21st, 2016 at 8:21 pm

sounds like fun kimberly!
look forward to more reports from the grounds. :)

March 21st, 2016 at 8:40 pm

tennis vagabond, lol. but there are always plenty of good matches along the way, which is why i kept watching tennis in 2005-2007 even though you could’ve said all those things you just said about novak about federer then. perhaps with the exception of clay, which rafa ruled from what? 2005/6 – 2013/4 pretty much inclusively?

March 21st, 2016 at 8:54 pm

Yes Jane, absolutely. I’m still watching.

March 21st, 2016 at 9:09 pm

Travis,

Worst than Federer getting this many votes is Nadal getting 34?!?! A guy who never won Miami before in his prime will now win on the verge of turning 30 playing the worst tennis of his life.

Don’t know which one is more baffling at this point, will soon find out! 😜

March 21st, 2016 at 9:31 pm

correction, Nadal has 19

March 21st, 2016 at 9:39 pm

“Four-time champ and 2-time defending winner …”

I am pretty sure Nole won Miami five times.

March 21st, 2016 at 10:28 pm

Wog Boy,

You are correct. If Nole wins Miami this year he will tie the record for 6 Miami titles with Andre Agassi.

March 21st, 2016 at 11:19 pm

Here’s a good article that Nole supporters will like, but Fed supporters probably won’t like.

http://theultimatetennisblog.com/djokovic-raises-level-in-indian-wells-final-for-record-5th-title/

March 21st, 2016 at 11:32 pm

Novak is on Ellen tomorrow! hurrah! :)))

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeHt3A-W4AAilWZ.jpg

March 21st, 2016 at 11:57 pm

Let’s hope Nadal plays his best
Djokovic will win Miami 100% unless he gets injured
Can’t see anyone beating him
As for Nadal … Building some confidence will help him for the clay season … If you’re not playing well on other surfaces it’s quite obvious you won’t play well on your favourite surface either ! Just hope Nadal plays well serves better & crunches that forehand ?
Watched the Indian well match higlights … What hit me was the forehand errors by Nadal . He must limit the errors on his favourite shot to have any chance of making final Miami
Federer will be cold … He hasn’t played for awhile but good luck to everyone except Djokovic he doesn’t need luck he’s got form on his side
Go Nadal 👍

March 22nd, 2016 at 2:42 am

Travis Bickle

Turn it up buddy … GILES is closet Djokovic fan why would that cretin vote for Nadal ?

March 22nd, 2016 at 2:45 am

Nice to see Kimberly again, another Nadal fan, only thing is its a shame, as her posts are so rare these days, which is a shame ….

March 22nd, 2016 at 4:23 am

LOL Said shame twice ….

March 22nd, 2016 at 4:28 am

I enjoy reading RU,ANs blog, likewise MMT and Tennis Vagabond, they are all have their favorites, but are neutral when assessing the game and different players, hate sites like Blue Moonball, TennisGrand ,and Matts site, theres way too much prejudice and bias for and against players ….

March 22nd, 2016 at 4:47 am

I think at the moment Stan is the only player, that has the game to cause Novak problems, although it depends on which Stan shows up, he blows hot and cold way too much ….

March 22nd, 2016 at 5:04 am

Lol some of the commentators sound salty af. Does it really matter who voted for who in a silly tennis-x poll? Djokovic is a shoe-in for this tourney and anyone (who isn’t biased) knows it. Stop being so insecure lol.

March 22nd, 2016 at 6:08 am

Tennisfan. It is funny. What’s even funnier about these polls, the ones that don’t limit the votes per device or IP addresses, is that any overly nutty fan can post hundreds of times 😂

I voted for Nole at least twice now in 2 days. You just vote at will, whenever the spirit moves you…

March 22nd, 2016 at 6:30 am

Sorry to hear you feel that way about Tenngrand, Green Lady. Fair enough. We all have our personal limits. It is weighted to mostly Rafa fans.

Will say that — imo — Ricky Dimon does a much better job of writing match previews and reports than here. Didn’t much like RD when he did TennisTalk – but have changed my mind completely. He also keeps the threads that are for tennis about tennis. And there’s a non-tennis page, ect. for whatever else you want to talk about. If you ask him for something, he’s open to obliging. That’s my Tenngrand promo for the day.

March 22nd, 2016 at 6:55 am

Kimberly got to watch Errani and Bouchard, Hingis and Mirza, ect… I am so jealous – Sounds wonderful!

Need a firsthand report on how the main ones are playing to do my picks, Kimberly.

March 22nd, 2016 at 6:58 am

Green lady

Stanislav Wawrinka is indeed the only player with the weapons to beat Djokovic but he’s too inconsistent most times to mount serious challenge
However he can out hit Djokovic on both sides
His one handed backhand is more lethal plus his forehand is powerful too … Serve is strong also
Wawrinka is the man & Djokovic knows it
The others can’t worry him as much … Mayne Nadal 3 yrs ago could’ve troubled Djokovic but now he’s just too far back
Can’t wait for Monte Carlo clay after this

March 22nd, 2016 at 7:35 am

Wawrinka at majors yes. In best of 3 set matches, most of them aren’t even close. Having said that, the last match they played went the distance in a best of 3 set match. But I think Nole won the final set 6-0

March 22nd, 2016 at 8:30 am

Pauly i said it the other day, and ill say it again, be free to be a fan of whomever you like, personally i dont care, but sorry but id rather not get into it with you anymore, for a Rafa fan i just dont get you, or some of the terms you use when talking about him, it certainly doesnt sound like a fan to me ….

March 22nd, 2016 at 8:32 am

Tough draw for Nadal. It will be difficult for him to repeat his Indian Wells performance.

March 22nd, 2016 at 8:39 am

Jalep i do sometimes read the posts on there, more out of shear curiosity, i cant see the point of a site like that, and i think im hopefully more of a tennis fan as a whole rather than been just a Rafa fan, and Blue Moonball is a Federer biased site, and some of the comments are quite yucky, Tennis Vagabond,MMT,RU-AN, all have their own sites and provide links here, and they all seem neutral, i dont like Matts site, as i cant see the point of a site like that which is so prejudiced against a certain player, and not to mention the language, which is just gutter talk, still each to his or her own, anyway this site takes up enough of my time, i dont think id have time to blog on another anyway ….

March 22nd, 2016 at 8:43 am

Great to hear from you Kimberly! More please.And hugs to your darling boys.
@tennisfan
Let’s have a big shout for lovely P.H. Herbert :) In the doubles at the very least.
Interesting possible match up between Fed and JMDP. Normally I’d back Fed, especially as those who’ve watched JMDP are saying he’s a bit wary of hitting his backhand, but Fed will be rusty at the mo., and perhaps wary of his recent injury.
Do hope Andy comes to play. No excuses please.

March 22nd, 2016 at 9:19 am

I see Smyczek won his 2nd qualie. good.
Qualie Fratangelo is in, too.

Katie Swan is holding her own v Sam Crawford, or…maybe not.
Ostapenko killer Sachia Vickery is going down to Dominguez-Lino.
And The Other Plisky Girl won!

Ah yes and the 1st round WTA has started.
Kasatkina v Bondarenko duel in ON. That’s the match I’d be there watching in Miami.

March 22nd, 2016 at 11:39 am

No problem, Green Lady. We all have our specific tastes when it comes to these blogs.

March 22nd, 2016 at 11:41 am

@Kimberly – enjoy the tournament!

March 22nd, 2016 at 2:00 pm

Thanks Hippy! Kimberly, welcome back and enjoy the tourney. Let us know what you see.

March 22nd, 2016 at 2:14 pm

Taylor Fritz is in. That is a good thing. I can’t wait to see his 1st round match. Hopefully he can pull out a win. That would be awesome.

March 22nd, 2016 at 3:34 pm

Just returned from day 2

Watched the one and only ROGER FEDERER practicing on the stadium with Alexander Dolgopolov. As Federer has not plaued Miami in a long time it was a FULL HOUSE!Really almost a mob scene. He practiced 4-5.

we watched taylor fritz qualify and he appears to be working with Mardy Fish because Fish at all his matches and on the practice courts with him.

Colin got autographs and photos with the following:
WTA
Bouchard, Petkovic, Safavroava, Kerber Bascisnkly, Stosur, Brengle, Vandeweighe, Vinci, Madison Keyes, Johnanna Konta, Wickmeyer, Suarez Navarro, Cibulkova, Hantchukova
ATP
Simon, Estrella Burgos, Tsonga, Chardy, Taylor Fritz, Granollers, Rosol, Fratangelo, Steve Johnson, Cilic, BOTH Bryans, Dolgopolov, Baghdatis, Mahut, Souza, Istomin, Sock, Pospiscle, Baustista-Agut, Alex Zvwerev, Goffin, Verdasco, Bellucci, Isner,

MArdy Fish and Mats Wilander as well!

Radwanska shoulder seems to be bothering her. saw her practicing on stadium and her team member was massaging her shoulder on the breaks. Something to keep an eye on.

Hands down, biggest ball goes to Zverev and Keyes that I saw. Madison really really impressive.

Gasquet was practicing with Lopez, Querrey with Garcia Lopez, Nishikori with Cuevas, Kvitova with Bouchard, Stosur with Safarova.

We watched a little of Giorgi losing on the grandstand.

A great deal of south American fans so look for the Brazilians and argentiains to have a lot of crowd support.

We have not seen or heard of Rafa, Williams, Azarenka or Djoker yet hoping that’s tomorrow!!!!

We will be there tomorrow early to watch matches and practice so will have more to report then.

March 22nd, 2016 at 7:49 pm

Must say Federer seems casual in practice. Nothing the Nadal or Ferrer who I have seen in previous years.

March 22nd, 2016 at 7:50 pm

The 2015 French open watched it last night good long highlights … Djokovic didn’t play bad he was smashed by Wawrinka out hit … Both sides Wawrinka just brutalised Djokovic unbelievable tennis from Stanislav Wawrinka
I’ve never seen anyone with that much brute strength
He must have some strong shoulders & wrists
Djokovic was overpowered by Wawrinka & I think he’s still having nightmares about that game
Should they play again … Wawrinka can win again

Should Wawrinka play Nadal in the French open final
Nadal will beat him … Im sure of it Coz Nadal plays differently to Djokovic on clay lefty
I’m big Wawrinka fan these days … Stanislav has earned lots of respect from the tennis world
Late bloomer but absolute champion

March 23rd, 2016 at 4:31 am

Pauly,
Watch it again, Stan played great but Nole was to tentative, instead of going for it he was waiting for Stan to make mistake, even Becker said that openly. Nole made same mistake as he did in AO match, knowing that Stan is prone to giving up and making mistakes he relied on that experience and Nole was wrong, it didn’t work.

March 23rd, 2016 at 5:18 am

Wog boy

Bullied by Stanislav
Wawrinka can bully anyone at his best
But I don’t care how well he is playing … If Nadal is at his best on clay in Paris Nadal will win
You don’t win 9 French opens without being great
Djokovic was as you say tentative but still he wasn’t playing his worst … The Stanimal was in beast mode
I’d love to see Nadal vs Wawrinka French open final this year

March 23rd, 2016 at 9:51 am

@WG
Don’t feed the trolls (Pauly, Giles).

Here’s Ed Brayton’s quote on trolls that I like:

“If you spend a great deal of your time pretending to be an a@#$%e to get a reaction from people…you aren’t pretending. You are an a@#$%e.”

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:04 am

Thanks Kimberly – delightful news!

A mob scene for Federer and Dolgo 😊

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:09 am

Wonder if Madison Keys can take her good form on the practice court and translate it to winning matches, though. Same worry for Sascha Zverev after the huge loss to Rafa in IW. He was shattered.

Go Taylor Fritz! Disappointed that Francis Tiafoe didn’t get a WC or into qualifying.

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:14 am

did i read that wilander is coaching keys? interesting…

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:19 am

Vami

I’m not a troll
I’m a big tennis fan
Don’t compare me with GILES plz
He’s a fruit cake
I’m a genuine tennis fan

Thanks for your insult

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:22 am

Wog boy

Vami can go eat shit

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:23 am

@Kimberly – you and Colin have been busy!
I’ve watched Fed practice at Indian Wells and the rule is to get to his court at least an hour ahead of time to get a seat, because of the mob scene that you describe.

One year I’ll have to trade my IW trip for Miami.

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:35 am

Aga’s played too much tennis, I’m guessing. And she’s been having trouble with her shoulder off and on since last fall, at least…

She’s scheduled to play Katowice, her home tournament, right after Miami. She needs to go home and rest!

March 23rd, 2016 at 11:46 am