Screenshot and odds taken from Bet365. My picks in offensive pink. So what to say about today’s matches? There are definitely, like in most Masters, a couple of exciting ones early on. Fognini vs Dolgopolov is definitely a real crowd-pleaser. Both have been playing well lately, but Fognini has had some mystical results which speaks of injury. But with Fognini you never know, sometimes he simply doesn’t show up. Dolgopolov has been making decent use of his talent in 2014, but he’s still a typical yo-yo player who sometimes goes for brilliance instead of points. Still, he’s my upset pick …
It’s simple math. Two tournaments = two winners and in Barcelona and Bucharest we, not surprisingly (if you count on Nadal’s loss to Almagro of course!), had two young guys knocking on the top 10 door, Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishkori. Nishikori jumps up to 12th place now and Dimitrov to the 13th. Well-deserved for the future in tennis and two talented and hard-working guys. Check out the rankings on the ATP World Tour website. Winner quotes: Dimitrov: “It feels good to have won. I lifted my game, not having been happy with my previous matches in the tournament. I …
After a tough Davis Cup weekend where Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic and France emerged as winners and semi-finalists, we’re ready for perhaps the most exciting “season” in tennis – the red dirt. There’s something magical about the spring and clay court tennis. Add that together with classic tennis grounds like Monte Carlo, Rome and Roland Garros, and you have the best feeling in tennis. Looking ahead, we have the usual list of title contenders, well, it’s actually a very short list consisting of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Yes, it’s hard to see how anyone else would be able to …
It might sound like a weird headline to you, but there were quite a few upsets in Rome Masters today. Since it’s popular to use lists I will rank them here: Drumrolll……. Upset 1: Andy “Muzza” Murray lost to Granola Bar (Granollers) after being down 6-4 4-1, getting treatment and making it back to a tie-break, winning the tie-break and then quitting the match. Apparently he has some hip problems. Not a good warm-up for Roland Garros for the Scot who hasn’t had a good clay court season. Upset 2: Stan the Man Wavrinka didn’t show up against Dolgopolov. Don’t know what …
I don’t want to be a grouch, but the above is not really the most exciting line-up for the Madrid Open Quarterfinals. The absence of Djokovic and Federer stand out as glaring holes and personally I would have liked Haas and Dimitrov to beautify the draw with their all-court games and one-handed backhands. But enough whining. We still have some great matches to look forward to. My pick for the Madrid Open Semi-finals: Nadal, Nishikori, Murray, and Tsonga. Some thoughts on the separate matches: Nadal vs Ferrer. Ferru is a runner, a terrier, but how is he going to beat …
I can’t say I’m very surprised with how Australian Open has turned out so far. All the top players are still in the draw and no really major upsets have taken place. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray are all ready for the quarters and so let’s look at the opposition: Federer vs Del Potro – Del Potro looked back to grand slam winner form against Kohlschreiber and if he can keep that up he will be dangerous for Federer who has had problems getting past the QF stage of Grand Slams of late. On the other hand, Federer looked absolutely …
Today is the first official day of the 2011 grass court season and it’s not a bad one. The two main warm up events for Wimbledon are as usual Queens and Halle. The big question is of course which stars will come to play after a long and testing French Open, Federer (Halle), Nadal (Queens) especially. But even if they don’t participate we should be in for quite a treat. The first day action offers: Nieminen vs Lu – Â Lu had an amazing Wimbledon last year, but we haven’t seen much good from either player of late. I would say …
First a sad message: Mr Juan Martin Del Potro, why do you get injured now when we need you the most to stir up Roland Garros and make it even more exciting? We will miss you and your fly-swatting shots… Yesterday I only bet on one match, the one between Monfils and Nishikori and then both got injured. Bad luck for me and even more bad luck for them. Many good matches on the menu today. Serve and volley battle between Lopez and Llodra. Croat clash between Karlovic and Cilic. Serving contest between Querrey and Anderson. Big hitting hate-match between …
