2017 Brisbane International Suncorp...ATP 250...Brisbane, Australia

[don_budge]

Joining the action in progress...we find ourselves looking to fill the final quarterfinal spot in the draw.(see link below). This spot is for the honor of facing Milos "HighPockets" Raonic. None other than another of the MIA making a comeback "Big Four" of the recent past...Fafa Nadal. His opponent is Misha Zverev who is making a comeback of his own.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/score...bane/339/draws

See the quarterfinal below the Raonic quarter...Dominic Thiem versus Grigor Dimitrov. Stan Wawrinka at the bottom of the draw...several nice one handed backhands to start the New Year off.

[klacr]

Only two matches in, but Dimitrov looks 20 times better than he did last year. Moving well and striking the ball beautifully. He's playing focused and purposeful tennis. He is looking like and sounding like he has every intent of getting into top 10.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Only two matches in, but Dimitrov looks 20 times better than he did last year. Moving well and striking the ball beautifully. He's playing focused and purposeful tennis. He is looking like and sounding like he has every intent of getting into top 10.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Keen observations. I just watched Grigor Dimitrov, the Bulgarian Playboy, close out Dominic Thiem from 3-2 in the third set. He looked to make a nice routine job of it as he broke Thiem to take the match 6-3 in the third. Next up for him is the winner of Milos Raonic and Fafa Nadal. Fafa has a new hair transplant going on. It cost him 10,000 dollars. The price of vanity.

Nadal looked pretty darned sharp against "the other" Zverev. Mischa had a chance in Nadal's first service game with two break points but Nadal quickly erased those and just mowed Mischa down. Zverev tried a lot of serve and volley but his volleys had a tough time penetrating the sand paper, velcro like courts. He couldn't get the ball to lay down and they were sitting up for Nadal to take a big rodeo swipe at...the results were 6-1, 6-1. The commentators may just be catching on to the whole fiasco about the courts...they discussed the "likeness" of the surfaces all around. The slow grass, the fast clay, the fucked up soulless hard courts.

At least two one handed backhands in the semifinals. Everything looks just a bit better when Roger is around...playing the bongos or whatever. Just his mere presence in the game adds something.

[don_budge]

A little farther south...what am I saying? A lot farther south it was Rafael Nadal sporting a new hair transplant and Milos "Highpockets" Raonic slugging it out in the quarterfinals. I'll bet Nadal hates being the fifth seed and having to play the top seed in the quarters. But that is how it shook down. Raonic prevailing in the third set, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. A dull match. A forgettable match. I watched it some six or seven hours ago and to be honest...I cannot remember anything worth writing about...except the new "do". Raonic is about as interesting as watching paint dry. My buddy from Hawaii..."The Ugly American" I called him when we were traveling around Europe a couple of summers ago...called me and asked if I thought that the difference with Raonic now is his fitness. Just bringing up Raonic almost instantly induced a lethargism that was completely inexplicable. Hearing his name I didn't care about anything.

Even Nadal couldn't get a rise out of me. He looked like the Nadal of old...well, except for the new do. I mean he still looks as if he is going bald but they said that it takes some time to get the new rug to grow. Nadal just didn't look to be so invincible. He won the first set but then he seemed to sort of calm down and he wasn't the "freak of nature" that tennis_chiro used to call him. He still has the same ticks. You have to hand it to him. Persistent.

Milos versus Grigor Dimitrov and Kei Nishikori versus Stan Wawrinka. Two nice one handed backhands. Let's see who shows up to play. Let's see who shows up to watch. I watched a lot of tennis today. I watched as much of the old "Big Four" as I could. It wasn't all that interesting as a matter of fact. The tennis is really pathetically boring if you ask me. Endless baseline duels on a soulless acrylic tennis court. It's mind numbing. Except for one player and you know who that is...The Living Proof. Once again...he rescued tennis today. His match was interesting from start to finish. Even when his teammate was playing the bongos and to see his reaction. He's watchable. Refreshing. He breathes life into the game but otherwise it is going to be on life support without him. Thank you Lord for Roger Federer.

[klacr]

Only two matches in, but Dimitrov looks 20 times better than he did last year. Moving well and striking the ball beautifully. He's playing focused and purposeful tennis. He is looking like and sounding like he has every intent of getting into top 10.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Dimitrov looking like his offseason was spent putting in hard yards on the practice court and gym. Great victory today over Nishikori. Dimitrov was a better player for majority of match. Great title for him to start his 2017.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Grigor Dimitrov...We Won't Get Fooled Again

Dimitrov looking like his offseason was spent putting in hard yards on the practice court and gym. Great victory today over Nishikori. Dimitrov was a better player for majority of match. Great title for him to start his 2017.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/forum/tennisplayer/2513-grigor-dimitrov

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/forum/tennisplayer/2509-atp-stockholm-open/page3

It was a big victory over Nishikori...great is overstating the case I am afraid. Kei Nishikori is currently the #5 player in the world and this is an indication of just how watered down the talent pool is. I am not overstating the case here either.

It was an interesting discussion we had on Grigor Dimitrov back in 2013. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago. But are we to believe that he has accomplished something of notice here or has he only just maintained the form he had then. I don't see anything notably different in him. His serves were coming in around 180 kph it seemed. Not so overwhelmingly different. He still has the hitch in his backswing.

Dimitrov has steadily been climbing since August when he has slipped to #40 in the rankings. At this point he is #15. I am issuing a warning here...the game of tennis may just be in serious trouble. Coupled with the other final being played yesterday the game has been reduced to a monotonous and one dimensional drone and I seriously wonder what is left in terms of appeal for both the spectator and the ability to recruit players to such a boring game. Once Roger Federer is gone...it's over. These guys don't have it. They don't have what it takes to sustain it.

I noticed that once Roger made an appearance on the scene again all of a sudden it get interesting again. I found myself watching matches that otherwise I wouldn't have been watching. I watched Richard Gasquet and Jack Sock at the Hopman Cup just to see how Gasquet looked so I could further gage Roger's form. Know what I mean?

Same with Dimitrov and Nishikori. Normally I don't think that I would have watched this match but for some reason I am looking for a reason to believe in the future of the game. This match didn't give me what I was looking for. Instead it only reinforces what I have suspected for a long time. The game is in trouble. Don't get me wrong...I can admire the athleticism and the skills required to play the game at this level but I can also discern that in between the gushing and constant attempts by the commentators to exaggerate the performance level there is a chasm of mediocrity in the play and even the game itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XLMo524tPs

Still...it's interesting to look back on our comments from a few years ago when we were discussing Grigor Dimitrov. One would have thought that he would have been consistently building on his ranking and his reputation but as it stands now he may still be trying to get back to the level he was at three years ago. Thoughts?

[stotty]

I lost all hope in Dimitrov some time ago. Aside from a good win here and there I don't think we will see too much from him. I don't think he has the testicles for winning slams, but I could be wrong and am always willing to stand corrected.

As things stand at the moment it is very hard to win a slam if you are not Djokovic or Murray. On top of this any potential upstart would have also to get past a rejuvenated Federer, or Nadal, who is still a handful. And then you also have Wawrinka and Del Potro in the mix. Personally I think this would be all too much for Dimitrov and others like him.

My wife insists Dimitrov is pretty to watch, though...

Stotty

[klacr]

I lost all hope in Nishikori years ago. He's always pulling up lame and cannot seem to piece enough physical stamina to go on a multi-tourney or grand slam run. The physicality just wears him down against big boys to back it up next round. Even in Brisbane final he was hinting at an injury and was asked in post match press conference. I just can't get behind him.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton