We should be seeing a kyrgios v/s roger soon and that battle should be legendary …. in the meanwhile check out this write up on the big four http://www.138mph.com/decoding-the-big-three-murray/

March 28th, 2017 at 2:10 am

https://twitter.com/queenstennis/status/846628675403595776
Did we get a thread for Rafa’s milestone? 1000 matches. We should get one, no?

March 28th, 2017 at 4:53 am

Where the hell did you get that picture?

March 28th, 2017 at 8:01 am

Enjoy!!!

https://thefield.scroll.in/832919/from-clay-courter-to-career-slam-a-statistical-breakdown-of-rafael-nadals-1000-atp-matches

March 28th, 2017 at 8:46 am

This too is beginning to look like Roger’s tournament now. Here’s an interesting take on Tuesday’s matches http://www.138mph.com/miami-open-tuesday-revealed/

March 28th, 2017 at 9:10 am

Aced out, you are getting to be a bore pursuing your one point agenda of promoting your blog.

March 28th, 2017 at 10:39 am

@lakie,

I was going to write the same thing. And if you looked at the so called ‘decoding’ of the big 4. It’s very shallow, partially educated and even somewhat prejudiced ‘decode’. At best, all the posts at TX from Aced out seem to be for promoting this shallow blog.
Anyone, who says Nole and Murray don’t have any weapons is like, ‘saying Karlovic’s back hand is a great weapon (on the opposite extreme obviously). Of course I am guaging this in terms ridiculousness + ignorance, you know. And it’s preposterous (No offence to Dr. Evo here).
If return of serve is not an weapon, how the hell did Novak beat Rafa in 8 finals in a row (I may be wrong on this number here) in 2011?. I am guessing Aced Out didn’t watch any of those games. Plus, Novak’s BH is a better weapon than anybody else’s on the tour (may be a couple guys are up there with him, e.g., Nishikori). It’s definitely up there among the best 2-handed BH in tennis (it’s not just now but all time, show me 5 guys who have (or had) considerably better 2 handed BH than Novak’s).
And, if Novak didn’t have that return of his, I seriously doubt he would be where he is right now. And that’s pure talent(of course hard work is always necessary to hon your talent). Becasue, most of the time when watching these guys serve, we spectators see the ball after it’s returned to the server. It’s obviously the fastest stroke among all the shots that exist in tennis. And being able to put the return where you want more often (with pace too) than everyone else in history is not an weapon?

Murray is somewhat of a mixbag. Both of his BH and FH could be serious weapons had he have a brain that developed an aggressive playing style in his early days. Now it’s too late. I seriously doubt he will develop a naturally aggressive mindset ever in his career (he will always have to be reminded to be aggressive stroke after stroke stroke). On the other hand, if you look at Roger he’s had the most aggressive mindset, may be because he was exposed more to the earlier styles of play (S and V) when he was young, who knows. Novak and Rafa, even though they are great defenders, always have an offensive mindset which I see coming naturally to both of them. Both guys will try to finish (or at least gain upper hand) the point every chance they get whereas for Murray you can’t say the same.
More often than not he is likely to continue the normal rally even when he gets a change to gain an upper hand. Now, I must say he is getting better, way better than he was in his early days, on being more aggressive. However, as I said earlier, he’s going to have to keep reminding himself to be that way point in point out. This puts an intangible pressure on him that other players don’t feel.
And this defensive brain is curbing (and I think will always do so) Murray’s ability to use those potentially great weapons he possesses.

March 28th, 2017 at 12:14 pm

Agree rognadfan,

Djoko’s return is unique. Inalways see hos macthes woth a clsoer eye to try “learn” hos execution, alos for his BH.

The only names I can think of that has similar BH’s are nalbandoan, Davydenko and Agassi. Nalbandian for his insane angles. Davy and Agassi as they took everyhting on the rise and could place it anywhere they wanted.

Also return is a weapon, see why Federer is so good this year. His retunr, primary shot. Yesterday agaisnt DelPo i saw some highlights and he was smackinng it to DelPo’s feet, plus the ocasional BH return winners, which is a signature in every match he plays now.

March 28th, 2017 at 1:04 pm

Kei and Fognini in one QF defined.

Sock winning easy to msot likelly play Nadal.

So Nadal road will be Mahut today, Sock and than winner of Kei and Fognini in semis before finals agaisnt, Fed, Wawa, Kyrgios, Zeverev.

Battle for #4 ranking still on. If Nadal also wins today, Raonic will drop to 7 (he already is behind Fed and Kei with this kei win), So Fed, Kei and Nadal will finish #4, #5 and #6 after Miami entering clay, we just don´t know in which order.

March 28th, 2017 at 1:32 pm

Sneaky Nishikiori is becoming the master of the medical time out!!
😡😡😡😡😡😡😡

March 28th, 2017 at 1:43 pm

Daniel,
I wondered how the early exit from Raonic would hurt his rankings. Nishikori has had over 40 errors in his last 2 matches and called for a MTO. But, someone on twitter said he likes trainers!
So maybe it’s nothing.

WAIT who is safe at #3?

March 28th, 2017 at 2:28 pm

J.S.

Wawa is safe at #3. Right now with current points Fed is #4, Kei #5, Nadal #7 and Raonic #6.

If Nadal wins today he passes Raonic and secure #6. And who ever goes deeper in Miami ends #4.

If Fed loses early and Nadal and Kei advances they will play semis to see who enters clay as #4. If Fed keeps winning he has a good chance of finishing #4. Unless he lsoes in finals to Kei or Nadal.

March 28th, 2017 at 3:45 pm

Tuned in just to see a few points, as I was surprised to see Mahut holding steady with Nadal given that his first-serve percentage is relatively low for the match (~ 40%). With a slow court, you’d think Nadal would be on top of that, but Nadal is still dropping his forehand short in the court, which is giving Mahut plenty of time to crack it and come in.

On serve 3-4 with Rafa serving!

March 28th, 2017 at 3:49 pm

TY DANIEL!!!

COME ON RAFA…..GEEEZ! He needs to play better!

March 28th, 2017 at 3:49 pm

Nice analysis Rognafan. Murray has the least offensive instinct of the Big 4. Didn’t Federer himself after he was beaten by a young Murray that the latter’s style of play was too defensive to be a truly effective player? And many thought Roger was too arrogant to say that after he was just beaten. Well, Roger was just voicing his opinion and he was right. I think Murray has more natural talent than Nadal and Djokovic but way behind them in terms of aggression. That’s his bete noire.

March 28th, 2017 at 4:21 pm

YAY RAFA WON!
Being a Nadal fan is hard on the hips….no cookies tonight for me, but almost!!! WOOHOOO my baby won!!!

March 28th, 2017 at 5:05 pm

Flashy start from fed

March 28th, 2017 at 5:23 pm

3 Bps came and went.

not that shiit on BPs again.

March 28th, 2017 at 5:24 pm

Serving impeccably though :)

March 28th, 2017 at 5:31 pm

Game not flowing to Federer today…

March 28th, 2017 at 5:42 pm

Great post rognadfan! Good analysis.

March 28th, 2017 at 5:44 pm

I am watching Zverev/Wawrinka match – What happened to Fed?
Shame they scheduled these matches at the same time….WTH were they thinking???

March 28th, 2017 at 5:45 pm

Fed’s game dropped considerably.
Batista agut serving for the set

March 28th, 2017 at 5:46 pm

just fuk that. fuk it.

how on earth does he get broken? karma for not taking his chances.

March 28th, 2017 at 5:46 pm

he should have broken at least once in the first 3 service ganes of agut.

March 28th, 2017 at 5:47 pm

That’s more like it fed.. Be the aggressor

March 28th, 2017 at 5:48 pm

0-30
comon

March 28th, 2017 at 5:48 pm

0-40

March 28th, 2017 at 5:49 pm

He will be fine fedexpress.
Back to business.
5-5

March 28th, 2017 at 5:49 pm

Break back.

Federer need to be broken to get his A++ game again. Like an awaken.

March 28th, 2017 at 5:51 pm

what a response. federer better not lose this set in the TB

March 28th, 2017 at 5:51 pm

6-5.. Back to lead

March 28th, 2017 at 5:51 pm

JS
How is Stan playing ?
That match sounds such a cracker on paper.

March 28th, 2017 at 5:52 pm

Amazing point by Bautista agut

March 28th, 2017 at 5:53 pm

Tie breaker

March 28th, 2017 at 5:58 pm

oh federer. that should have been SP.

tie break it is. if fed loses it he has to play catch up in the 2nd.

fed missed a trick here.

better he wins the TB

March 28th, 2017 at 5:58 pm

This is fed’s worst performance since the Australian open ( He played better against donskoy overall) Spraying Unforced Errors all over the court, slow and sloppy footwork.
Hope he is fine physically.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:01 pm

Great shot to end the set. Hope he raise up his level.
Meanwhile, RBA is playing a great match.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:06 pm

disagree jatin, he looked shoit vs donskey. he hadnt had a clear mind there. was hitting and serving to donskeys FH like a mad men though he know donskey will have a big smack on it. and the choking vs donskey was from another planet. as i said doesnt fit into his current brilliant start to the season such a match. maybe that loss was a blessing in disguise.

here he has a clear game plan.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:11 pm

Only one mani-pedi per match.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:14 pm

JATIN – It’s close although Wawrinka took the first set. You never know with Wawrinka and Zverev is so composed being so young.

HAHA FED EXPRESS – Fed won 1st set….sending you a cookie or two!

March 28th, 2017 at 6:18 pm

Yeah, but it seems like playing 2 matches in a row (without any gap) is taking a toll on his body physically and RBA is so solid from baseline as well.

Nice break to start the 2nd set.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:23 pm

wtf was that fed

March 28th, 2017 at 6:25 pm

Zverev down 0-1 (6-4 1st set) but up 3-1 in 2nd set….Crazy good stuff with the break! Maybe will go 3?

March 28th, 2017 at 6:25 pm

JS
It seems like Zverev is leading the 2nd set. Should go to the decider.

Bautista breks back. 1-1

March 28th, 2017 at 6:27 pm

I take that back…..LOL
Zverev up 4-1 in 2nd set – Awesome Tennis!

March 28th, 2017 at 6:28 pm

WOW Fed was broken too?

TY JATIN!! Bautista is playing his heart out, wowzers!

This game of Wawrinka/Zverev should be on stadium court = worthy!!!!!

March 28th, 2017 at 6:31 pm

jatin u were right. he is shittier than vs donskey. agut basically on one foot and he cant make it pay

March 28th, 2017 at 6:31 pm

that bp conversion rate drives me nuts

March 28th, 2017 at 6:36 pm

JS
Yeah, zverev has a commanding lead now. Who knows maybe he will win this match.

Fed express
Bautista is playing even better than 1st set now. Fed can’t let this match go longer because Bautista can GRIND you out the longer the match goes. His game is so similar to Ferrer.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:38 pm

Amazing rally by fed… COmon comon

March 28th, 2017 at 6:41 pm

SOLID hold by fed.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:42 pm

Bautista playing super solid

March 28th, 2017 at 6:46 pm

Unforced error count is increasing for fed. 27 already

March 28th, 2017 at 6:48 pm

if feds gets broken he has a big problem.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:51 pm

Zverev has won the last 9 of 11 games vs Wawrinka. YIKES!! He is on fire!

March 28th, 2017 at 6:53 pm

Brilliance from fed.. Amazing skills

March 28th, 2017 at 6:53 pm

stan virtually out. double break down.

hope fed doesnt follow him.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:54 pm

Seems like stan won’t be able to celebrate his birthday happily( he turns 31 today)

Fed is down 4-5.
Serving to stay in this set

March 28th, 2017 at 6:55 pm

WHAT A POINT …. MAGIC FROM FED

March 28th, 2017 at 6:57 pm

lol. applause.

March 28th, 2017 at 6:57 pm

Good … good .. good
5-5

March 28th, 2017 at 6:57 pm

Fed is clearly frustrated out there

March 28th, 2017 at 7:01 pm

Down 5-6.. Serving to stay in the set

March 28th, 2017 at 7:01 pm

fed struggeling. worst time to get broken here.

March 28th, 2017 at 7:02 pm

3-1 in the TB

but i feel agut isnt going away

March 28th, 2017 at 7:07 pm

Great tie breaker by fed to end the match. What a performace by bautista agut, gave his all. RESPECT.
Next match against berdych shouldn’t be so physical though. Hope for the best.

March 28th, 2017 at 7:13 pm

Federer wins

March 28th, 2017 at 7:15 pm

Glad Fed has a day off tomorrow. That was closer than I thought.

Wawa lost, seems Zverev or Kyrgios will be in semis at least. Great result by ome of them.

March 28th, 2017 at 7:15 pm

FED is champion and know how to win, I am not a FED fan and knew he was okay :)

What happened to Wawrinka? I was so happy to see something besides the NIKE Green/Black/highliter yellow and green – DAMN

March 28th, 2017 at 7:17 pm

Congrats FED EXPRESS!!!

March 28th, 2017 at 7:19 pm

congratz jatin and fedfans

tough one against berdych awaits. last time he won he saved MPs vs fed in dubai 2013

and last time they played in miami 2010 berdych also won by saving MP.

March 28th, 2017 at 7:19 pm

Only got to see the end of the second-set TB, but seemed like a tricky match, I guess Bautista Agut was really playing well. Glad it was straight sets, helps save energy for the next round (plus he has a day off).

Berdych and then one of the young guns, either Zverev or Kyrgios, will be tough but should still be winnable. Go Roger!

March 28th, 2017 at 7:20 pm

thanks J.S.

congratz to you too

March 28th, 2017 at 7:20 pm

What happens in rankings with Wawrinka out???
I think that means Rafa and Roger fighting for 4th? yes or no?

March 28th, 2017 at 7:21 pm

Bautista was playing really well. Fed is fortunate that he took it in 2.
Bird doesn’t move nearly as well, but his serve can be deadly, sets up the rest of his game.
Go Fed!
—
The Stanimal/Z match was unreal. Z just literally blew him off the court in the 3rd. Hard to do against Stanimal.

March 28th, 2017 at 7:28 pm

Wish I’d seen the Zverev match.

Bautista played well, and Fed was a bit off. Piles of balls in the net. Haven’t seen the stats, but seemed like lots of errors. If he’d played that way against DelPotro he’d be out.

But he’s through, and has his ‘bad day’ out of the way. Another QF! Awesome!

March 28th, 2017 at 8:20 pm

Hello all just returned!

Arrived around 1 and watched Venus practice for a bit. Then went to the lacoste store and bought a super cute orange shirt and pair of sporty flip flops. Lacoste is one of the sponsors of the Miami Open and the merchandise is just beautiful although quite expensive. Almost worth being a volunteer or ballkid just to get some of the free clothes!

Was there with my husband who is not interested in womens tennis so we went to the grandstand to watch Berdych/Mannarino. Came to the conclusion that Mannarino is a very annoying player not just due to his game style but moves around on the return and other shots clearly with the intent to annoy. In the end Berdych is just too solid for that and didn’t get distracted.

COnditons were HOT HOT HOT. We then went to watch the Nadal match. Sat next to Mahuts box who was clearly vocal in their support. Here and there Rafa played some good points, and perhaps he was honing it in but overall not incredibly impressed with his level this match. I think Sock is in with a real shot tomorrow night to be honest. At 5-4 in the first set I went out for a break however as sitting there was just too hot. Watched him finish the match and as a Rafa fan, he will have to kick it up several gears to go far here. Again, perhaps he will find his form later on, I sure hope.

Then I went to the grandstand. Watched the first set of Wawrinka Zverev. Figured Wawrinka was cured of his curse on the grandstand as the past two years I have watched him play like garbage and lose to Mannarino and Kuznetsov. Clearly I was wrong. But I went back to watch Federer.

Actually felt Federer made more errors but Bautista played amazing, hitting hard flat shots. Federer attacked the net more and made some volleys that were truly sensational. I was not there for the first set however as I was watching Wawrinka.

So I left and my husband stil there so I will get his take on the night matches. Not going day tomorrow, giving my tickets to some kids but I am going tomorrow night for Venus/Kerber Sock/Nadal

March 28th, 2017 at 8:53 pm

@Kim…Wow!!Great report for today’s schedule!!Enjoyed very much to read it kim!Thank u for your continuos delivery..it’s AWESOME!!

March 28th, 2017 at 9:56 pm

Fed was on ropes today. With that flat forehands of Batista Agut and improved BH(?, I feel like his BH was way better than I remember last year), he gave all kinds of trouble to Fed. But again the awesome returns to the feet of Agut at crucial times gave him upper hand in the tiebreaks.

March 28th, 2017 at 10:38 pm

This is relevant today, the great Ben Hogan once said;
“3 ways to beat somebody……
-U Out work em
-U Out think em
-And U intimate them”.

This is Fed nowadays.
Go Maestro!

March 28th, 2017 at 11:06 pm

Hahaha! skeezer, if you become intimate with somebody, you may lose the drive to beat him. LOL, unintentionally funny typo error.

March 28th, 2017 at 11:18 pm

@Markus.
Lol good one. I meant intimidate of course.

March 29th, 2017 at 12:05 am

Thanks for a great report Kimberly. Always so good to get on the spot account. Imagine playing tennis in that heat. Yikes.
Lol skeeze, have you been borrowing Daniel’s phone?….;)

March 29th, 2017 at 1:26 am

Rognadfan:
Read your analysis and mostly agree. I often wonder how Andy’s game would’ve developed if he hadn’t gone to Spain during his formative years.

March 29th, 2017 at 1:34 am

@rognadfal
I never thought of murray game in that perspective. Come to think of it, it makes sense.

March 29th, 2017 at 2:27 am

And Andy is a fantastic volleyer so could easily come forwards more often.
So bloody frustrating as a fan!

March 29th, 2017 at 2:35 am

Stan was 32 years young yesterday….he was thinking of his birthday celebration and forgot to play his best tennis.

March 29th, 2017 at 5:47 am

Thank you Kimberly!!
Love hearing from you – GREAT REPORTS!

I agree about Rafa needing to step it up. Hope he does vs. Sock – Fingers Crossed!

March 29th, 2017 at 7:35 am

@Margot,
Thanks. It’s hard to speculate how he would’ve developed had he trained somewhere else. It’s also possible he wouldn’t have been so adept in all the shots that exist in tennis had he not trained in Spain. On the flip side, may be training in Spain made him more defensive.

My knowledge on development of human behavior is grossly limited, but my guess is that his very first real training may have played some role in it. Usually things tend to get implanted strongly to you brain when you are very young and you learn a certain way of doing things at that time.And above all, he became such a great player that it was never considered a weakness until he came face to face with the other 3 all time greats, right?

March 29th, 2017 at 10:09 am

@Anto,

Thanks. That’s my view on why Murray hasn’t been able to get a seat in the league that Roger, Rafa and Novak belong.

If think, if one has to talk to himself, at all times during the entire match, to be aggressive, it definitely takes a chunk of your energy that would otherwise be used in actual shot making.

One example I remember clearly is a usopen match against Novak. I think it was 2014 QF ( I may be wrong, here but similar things have happends in more than one AO finals too). Andy was hitting bombs from his forehand, FH so big that it was like delpo’s crosscourts. He was hitting aggressive shots on the BH too.
But midway through the match, he started having cramps there.
You know, He had to constantly alert his mind to hit aggressive and because it’s not natural to his style, something else had to be given away. And that time it was his leg strengths.

In short, when somebody has to move away from his/her natural inclinations, something else’s gotta give.

I am a fan of Murray. He is a talented guy who’s proficient in every shot in the book but can’t really improve the damn second serve.
I can’t stop imagining what if he had aggressive instinct of Roger Federer.

March 29th, 2017 at 10:32 am

I am begining to think that stanimal needs to be hopeless to play better and actuallly win matches. Everytime he has some sort of radar on him, he simply crumbles.

But then yesterday, it was his Birthday. So may be as J-Kath said, he was thinks about which club to pick for the party and forgot to swing his racket.

March 29th, 2017 at 10:36 am