2014 Sony Open...Miami, Florida U.S.A.

[don_budge]

Culmination Point...1984

Or will there be a culmination point?...there has to be...always is.

Sadly...I have bad news for you. But don't shoot me...I am only the messenger. Ok...I am only don_quixote. The culmination point occurred in 1984 when in the mens singles semifinals at the U. S. Open all four contestants used mid-sized racquets for the first time. Actually I am not certain that Ivan Lendl's qualified as mid-sized...but just for the sake of argument we can say so.

This was one boring final of a major tennis tournament. I just got off of the phone with my best friend and major partner in crime in Hawaii. The crime? Thinking outside of the box. This was a scintillating match? Hardly. Mediocre tennis at best. 95% of the play was all backcourt exchanges with racquets the size of snowshoes. Lots of topspin...very little thoughtfulness. Even less subtlety. I kept wondering when Rafael was going to take a toilet break.

Ok...Djokovic has a great backhand and he is able to handle the Nadal crosscourt forehand and do a couple of things with it. He can either drive it crosscourt deep...he can drive it crosscourt angled or he can hit it firmly down the line. Nadal? He has a whopper of a rodeo forehand. This is great tennis?

The announcers go right along with the current dog and pony show and every time someone mistakenly found themselves in the vicinity of the net they were enthusiastically proclaiming...OLD SCHOOL TENNIS!!! Robbie Koenig...this guy is the voice of tennis these days? The partner? Never mind...what's the use. I can just hear lobanddropshot...can we move on don_budge? Yeah we can...why not? Carry on. Where were we?

The 2014 Sony Open in Miami, Florida. If I had been in the vicinity I would have headed for the Keys in search of some Nicaraguan ladies to dance with on the beach. Trot out a couple of Tango steps from the days of johnny_tango...I doubt that I would pay the price of admission to see this tennis if it were down at the corner of my neighborhood...out here in the woods. I wonder how much a ticket cost. It was boring.

But what else is there to do? I went out and looked up at the stars in the sky...a beautiful clear night here in Sweden. It reminds you of "Big Sky" country. I gave a couple of lessons today that were more inspiring than this tennis. To beginner tennis players that have been playing about six months...but you should see them play. I am impressed.

The tournament final was played in somewhat of a vacuous environment. The sucking sound that the two contestants made when they withdrew from the tournament after they had won their quarterfinal matches over Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov sounded like the air going out of a balloon. Perhaps nobody had the good sense to realize that all they had to do was install the two losers into the vacant semifinal slots as lucky losers and they would have had a simile of a real tennis tournament. See what I mean about thinking outside of the box?

Which leads me to a question that I have been wondering about in lieu of anything remotely interesting going on in the tennis universe...Kyle you must have your hands full with all kinds of women in your position as a tennis professional down there in Miami Dade County. That is so funny that somebody actually suggested that you look into the Playboy Forum looking for something soft and nice to fall upon. Maybe one way we could improve this forum is open up the discussion to related events with members of the opposite sex while being gainfully employed as tennis professionals.

Just remember though...I say all of this tongue in cheek. It's just that it all seems a bit boring to me. The dog and pony show. The circus. Yawn. ZZZzzzzzzz.....!!!

[klacr]

Sadly...I have bad news for you. But don't shoot me...I am only the messenger. Ok...I am only don_quixote. The culmination point occurred in 1984 when in the mens singles semifinals at the U. S. Open all four contestants used mid-sized racquets for the first time. Actually I am not certain that Ivan Lendl's qualified as mid-sized...but just for the sake of argument we can say so.

This was one boring final of a major tennis tournament. I just got off of the phone with my best friend and major partner in crime in Hawaii. The crime? Thinking outside of the box. This was a scintillating match? Hardly. Mediocre tennis at best. 95% of the play was all backcourt exchanges with racquets the size of snowshoes. Lots of topspin...very little thoughtfulness. Even less subtlety. I kept wondering when Rafael was going to take a toilet break.

Ok...Djokovic has a great backhand and he is able to handle the Nadal crosscourt forehand and do a couple of things with it. He can either drive it crosscourt deep...he can drive it crosscourt angled or he can hit it firmly down the line. Nadal? He has a whopper of a rodeo forehand. This is great tennis?

The announcers go right along with the current dog and pony show and every time someone mistakenly found themselves in the vicinity of the net they were enthusiastically proclaiming...OLD SCHOOL TENNIS!!! Robbie Koenig...this guy is the voice of tennis these days? The partner? Never mind...what's the use. I can just hear lobanddropshot...can we move on don_budge? Yeah we can...why not? Carry on. Where were we?

The 2014 Sony Open in Miami, Florida. If I had been in the vicinity I would have headed for the Keys in search of some Nicaraguan ladies to dance with on the beach. Trot out a couple of Tango steps from the days of johnny_tango...I doubt that I would pay the price of admission to see this tennis if it were down at the corner of my neighborhood...out here in the woods. I wonder how much a ticket cost. It was boring. But what else is there to do? I went out and looked up at the stars in the sky. I gave a couple of lessons today that were more inspiring than this tennis. To beginner tennis players that have been playing about six months...but you should see them play. I am impressed.

The tournament final was played in somewhat of a vacuous environment. The sucking sound that the two contestants made when they withdrew from the tournament after they had won their quarterfinal matches over Roger Federer and Alexandr Dolgopolov sounded like the air going out of a balloon. Perhaps nobody had the good sense to realize that all they had to do was install the two losers into the vacant semifinal slots as lucky losers and they would have had a simile of a real tennis tournament. See what I mean about thinking outside of the box?

Which leads me to a question that I have been wondering about in lieu of anything remotely interesting going on in the tennis universe...Kyle you must have your hands full with all kinds of women in your position as a tennis professional down there in Miami Dade County. That is so funny that somebody actually suggested that you look into the Playboy Forum looking for something soft and nice to fall upon. Maybe one way we could improve this forum is open up the discussion to related events with members of the opposite sex while being gainfully employed as tennis professionals.

Just remember though...I say all of this tongue in cheek. It's just that it all seems a bit boring to me. The dog and pony show. The circus. Yawn. ZZZzzzzzzz.....!!!

6-3, 6-3 For Novak Djokovic. Total control. Didn't see anything specatular, just great serving from Djokovic and alot of short balls from Rafa.

don_budge, to answer your question, I'm here in Boca Raton (Palm Beach County, which in some cases can be a lot worse than Miami-Dade County. The question you raise is an amusing one and perhaps one that should be discussed off the boards. But yes, I'm sure we all have stories. Great, magnificent stories

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Djokovic

I enjoyed the game. I liked the subtle tactical variance of Djokovic hitting in to the lion's mouth at unexpected times. I liked the ploy of serving down the middle to Nadal's forehand. I like the way Vajda gets his charge to make little variations in each match against Nadal. Nadal hates not being able to fully predict Djokovic.

(Some time ago I saw an aerial view of Nadal playing Djokovic in a hard court match. From that view you could ever so clearly see who gets off first to the ball. Djokovic was reading Nadal like a book and off almost before Nadal was striking the ball. Nadal, while still impressively quick, wasn't reading Djokovic as well. That longer the rally went on, the more Nadal became stretched.)

Nadal didn't play well today. Whether this was purely down to Djokovic keeping him off balance is hard to tell, but I suspect it played a big part.

In the end Djokovic was in complete command. His length was astonishingly good both off returns and in the rallies.

I think Nadal simply has to be more aggressive. He was too conservative and predictable...way too conservative and predictable. He is clearly not favourite on a hard court after today's showing and needs to go for it much more next time around.

[stroke]

I don't ever remember Nadal ever looking so overwhelmed in extended rallies like he was vs Novak today. Nadal's forehand was simply having no effect on Djokovic, whether it was to his backhand or forehand. Djokovic's backhand was so good that it not only took away Nadal's favorite rally pattern, it put Nadal scrambling to stay in points. Djokovic was just too good. It will be very interesting to see how Djokovic does during the clay season.

[don_budge]

Ball/Towel/Water Boys...Ice Towels, Duplicate Towels, Water Bottles

Suddenly towels are at the forefront of tennis equipment. It was either immediately before the match or maybe it was shortly after the match had begun that Novak Djokovic started whining and demanding "ice towels" in anticipation of a heated battle with Rafael Nadal that never really panned out.

For me...it was quite a spectacle for a grown man...to act like such a million dollar baby right in front of the glaring lens of the television camera. Then the ever astute Robbie Koenig jumped in with both feet to address this little snivel of tennis decorum with the hypothetical question as to whose responsibility it was to make certain that the ice towels are handy for players. Is it the tournaments responsibility or the players?

Funny...I don't remember ice towels being a staple in the player's equipment. But if so...why don't they pack them in one of the two overnighters that they are carrying on the court. These guys carry more stuff on the court for a one and a half hour tennis match than I do for a two week golf vacation. What's in those bags anyways? I don't think I have ever seen a player open up the second bag...it's probably just for show. Maybe they have a picnic basket in there...who knows. Some reading material...an extra change of clothes. Camping gear?

The players attitudes towards the ball/towel/water boys is really condescending. Nadal has now made the crucial decision that he needs two towels on the court...one in either corner. I guess this is saving him some crucial steps or time or something that allows him to go through his whole agenda of ticks and twitches. Tug of the shorts out of the butt...then the nose, the hair, the shirt, a sign of the cross disguised as something else. He looks like a third base coach giving out codes for the player on third to steal home. Nadal is serious about his ticks and twitches. He has gone to grabbing his crotch at times as well although this is not a staple in his stable of gestures as of yet.

The players dutifully examine the tennis balls and select the two that they think will give them the advantage over their opponent then they disdainfully roll or slap the ball in the direction of the ball/towel/water boy. I would just love to see the ball/towel/water boys do the same thing. Just sort of disdainfully shove or slap the balls at the players. Return them in the same manner that the players return the balls to them. I was always taught to return a ball to someone on one bounce...no matter who it was. I think they used to call it tennis etiquette. Ball/towel/water boys deserve respect to.

In between games at one point...it was not a changeover game...Novak Djokovic was feeling a little parched so he asked one of the ball/towel/water boys to fetch him some water. Since this is not the standard operating procedure to take fluids in even games...the ball/towel/water boy hesitated and Novak nearly had to snap his fingers to get the poor unsuspecting boy to do his command. He was looking a tad annoyed as he gulped at his fluid and then he sort of disdainfully tossed the water/fluid bottle back at the ball/towel/water boy before he got back to dismantling the obviously annoyed Rafael Nadal. He was having his own issues on the other side of the court...furiously toweling off his forearms trying to get ready to step back in the box to serve the carefully selected tennis balls to the uncooperative Novak Djokovic. He just couldn't seem to get his forearms dry enough...did he mention that in his post match excuses/interview?

[stotty]

Time delays...

The players attitudes towards the ball/towel/water boys is really condescending. Nadal has now made the crucial decision that he needs two towels on the court...one in either corner. I guess this is saving him some crucial steps or time or something that allows him to go through his whole agenda of ticks and twitches. Tug of the shorts out of the butt...then the nose, the hair, the shirt, a sign of the cross disguised as something else. He looks like a third base coach giving out codes for the player on third to steal home. Nadal is serious about his ticks and twitches. He has gone to grabbing his crotch at times as well although this is not a staple in his stable of gestures as of yet.

I'm not sure how this came about...the towel-holding ball boys? When did it creep into the game? A lot of these things (ice packs, ball boys to hold umbrellas) seem to have subliminally crept into the game without us noticing until we finally did notice.

I think a giant stopwatch needs to be seen ticking in the stadium with many of the ATP players. Nadal and Djokovic were averaging nearly thirty seconds between points at one stage...too long...and they're getting away with it.

Another thing to get rid of would be the mandatory banal speeches. Federer was the first to be guilty of this but he was surpassed last night by both Nadal and Djokovic. Neither man meant their speech and it showed.

It would help a lot if the game tidied itself up in these aspects...especially the time delays.