2012 Miami Open…ATP 1000…Miami, Florida

[don_budge]

It has been a while since there has been a real tennis tournament. By definition that means when a real tennis player is playing. Forgive me…hmmm…if I am under the impression that these are not real tennis players playing in these tournament since Roger Federer went under the knife. Or supposedly so. Who knows…maybe he is recycling his products. Nobody is about suspicion at this point.

But meanwhile…back at the ranch…the boys have been plugging along. There have been many tennis tournaments since January's Australian Open where we last caught a glimpse of Roger. Expectations aren't very high this time around for the Swiss Maestro. But there are some rather interesting questions surrounding his injury…how did it happen…what was the treatment and ensuing rehabilitation. What is the mindset?

It's a big production at this point…much as can be said for the American political process. The tennis tour is on life support. No matter how you try to spin it…it's boring and it lacks any kind of appeal whatsoever. All backcourt play…all of the time. Some of the morons and idiots are clinging to the idea that this is entertaining…few are calling it what it really is. Although from time to time you get tidbits of proof from even the commentators…such as Leif Shiras and Peter Fleming who were calling the match of Novak Djokovic and Fafa Nadal. Fleming asked at one point…"who are these impostors?"

[klacr]

Guess I'm going to see some real tennis this week.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

The Draw…2016 Miami Open…ATP 1000…Key Biscayne, Florida

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/miami/403/draws

Possible match with Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round. Interesting possibility…but Del Potro must get by his fellow Argentine first.

[gzhpcu]

Federer has a bye first round, then probably comes up against Del Potro.

[don_budge]

The Beauty of the Ignore List...

Federer has a bye first round, then probably comes up against Del Potro.

Redundancy.

[stroke]

I am going to be there on Monday and Tuesday next week. I particularly like Tuesday, when they play the entire mens round of 16. That leaves a lot of great matches on the non stadium courts.

[gzhpcu]

Yeah, I prefer the non-stadium courts too, you are a lot closer to the players.

[klacr]

Will be there on Thursday, March 24th. All day. Should be fun. Early rounds so I can see vast majority of players practice, plus matches. Got some great seats as well on stadium. Look for me on TV. I'll be the guy mimicking a serve and volley combination.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

2016 becomes a tournament without Roger Federer

Roger Federer has defaulted to Juan Del Potro because of a stomach ailment. The tournament becomes one of those other kind of tournament…the one without Roger.

[klacr]

Berdych was supposed to play at 11am on Grandstand court. I was polite, jovial and flirtatious with one of the gate monitors so she could let me in extra early so that I could race to grandstand to get great seats. I got great seats, first row, behind baseline...then Berdych's opponent Rajeev Ram withdrew due to stomach bug. I was bummed. This day was too good to be true...and it was.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

A Shame...

Guess I'm going to see some real tennis this week.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Guess again.

[don_budge]

2016 Miami Open…ATP 1000…Miami, Florida…early rounds

The most interesting development surrounds Roger Federer. Interestingly enough he is not even participating in the tournament any longer. His second round would be opponent Juan Martin Del Potro loses to fellow Argentine Horatio Zeballos…6-4, 6-4. Zeballos hardly a household name. Thirty-two years old, ranked #58 in the world. Hardly earth shattering news.

So this event has had the air go out of the balloon. Did you hear that sucking noise? It was Roger throwing up in the bathroom and the tournament going down the toilet.

Now I know it isn't as bad as all that. It's only a personal point of view. But there are others that probably feel the same as I do…as lobndropshot once opined about me as if to reluctantly acknowledge that there are. Like people are reluctant to admit that there are people that would actually vote for Donald Trump. Even though obviously there are millions…and even more millions that the criminal media won't admit to. So sorry lobndropshot…sensitive ears aside.

Is Miami also an event where the women are playing? Sorry…but this I don't know as I am typing. I don't even care either…I don't watch too many of their matches. Come to think of it I don't watch too many of the men's matches either. Unless Roger is playing. Ironically…Ray Moore was absolutely correct. Down on your knees. Everybody!

I did watch Dennis Isotamm defeat Bornfree Coric the other day. I should say that I watched bits and pieces of the match. Coric is one of the pretender contenders for the next throne in tennis. What are they calling these guys…the Next Generation? How about…Hope and Change? Sound familiar…a familiar ring? In this case we can see the whole situation is going downhill…and fast. This was one serious snooze fest. What was the most interesting aspect of the match? Perhaps in the way that the commentatoes tried to actually fool us into thinking that anything of interest was actually happening.

It was all point construction. Point construction is the new euphemism for tactics. Since there are really very little tactical decisions actually being made they have decided upon the word point construction to indicate that there is actually something going on in the players brain. This basically means Player A and Player B hit hard down the middle until one or the other decide to hit to one side or the other and try to move their opponent around until the court is opened up sufficiently enough and then the relevant player hits into the open court.

I'm certain there are some interesting matches coming up…in both the male and female draws. Wouldn't it be interesting if both played in the same draw? We could pit a female and a male in each of the first round slots and call it "The Battle of the Sexes II". Named after the hilarious publicity stunt between Billie Jean King and a washed up Bobby Riggs so many years ago. You know the one…the one where Billie Jean put it all on the line and won one for the feminist movement.

[gzhpcu]

Thiem is looking good. It was funny to see him looking like a youngster beating the big muscular Sam Groth... Go Thiem!

[klacr]

good match. Groth brings it on the serve. Lots of serve and volley from the big man.
While I was waiting for the Berdych-Ram match that never happened, they moved the Cilic-Lajovic match over to Grandstand. Very impressive from Cilic but I noticed his serve was a bit telegraphed from his toss, at least I was reading it. But he served hard and hit his spots so opponent still had his hands full. and Lajovic with a nice looking one-handed backhand. Worth checking out.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Nadal concedes...

Nadal withdraws early in the third set. Miami is not having much luck. First Federer, then Ram, and now Nadal. What a shame. Must be a tournament organisers nightmare when you lose your most appealing players.

Apparently it's very hot and humid and the players are finding it trying.

I once played a bloke in a tournament in Portugal on a windless day with the temperature hovering around 38 degrees centigrade. I won by default 14-13 in the third. My opponent felt sick then got horrendous cramp and had to concede. The muscles in one of his thighs were moving involuntarily and he was in agony. I wasn't too concerned as I didn't like the bloke much. I felt close to death myself. I don't know how these pro's play five sets in Australia when it's 40 degrees. They must be bloody fit.