2018 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships...ATP 500...Eubai, U.A.E.

[don_budge]

The bad news...no Roger Federer. He had a wild card that was held in his name until 5 PM Friday but he took a pass. He had some points to gain but he elected to not. Maybe staying at number one is not on his agenda. Being there was good enough. No Novak Djokovic either. I wonder how the elbow is coming along.

But we have "fake" Roger Federer in "Baby Fed" or rather just plain Grigor Dimitrov. I wonder if Grigor may not have been better off holding on to the "Baby Fed" moniker. I can understand his wanting to get out from under the massive shadow but on the other hand it would have given him some really decent shade. What an ass kicking Grigor took last week in the Netherlands. It was so one sided that Grigor looked as if he wished his mother never had him in the award ceremony. Roger sensed it to...he made some nice conciliatory remarks. Go home...have a drink. You'll feel better in the morning. Something like that. I'm extrapolating.

It's a nothing draw. No Federer...no interest. But don't be so hasty don_budge let's wait and see what develops. Last week turned out to be mildly interesting. Maybe even more since we had John and klacr on the scene. Not to mention gsheiner. Good stuff. Last week's winner in France Karen Khachanov is unseeded and scheduled to meet the man he defeated in the finals in the second round...Lucas Pouille. I watched some of their match as it went down the stretch. Very little imagination in the play...I would say.

[don_budge]

Here's the draw...take a gander and let's get ready to rumble!

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/dubai/495/draws

[don_budge]

But we have "fake" Roger Federer in "Baby Fed" or rather just plain Grigor Dimitrov. I wonder if Grigor may not have been better off holding on to the "Baby Fed" moniker. I can understand his wanting to get out from under the massive shadow but on the other hand it would have given him some really decent shade. What an ass kicking Grigor took last week in the Netherlands. It was so one sided that Grigor looked as if he wished his mother never had him in the award ceremony. Roger sensed it to...he made some nice conciliatory remarks. Go home...have a drink. You'll feel better in the morning. Something like that. I'm extrapolating.

Grigor took a quick powder in this tournament after having his ass and the rest of it handed to him courtesy of the real thing. The original. I think that Grigor did quite well fashioning his game after Roger Federer's. There isn't anything wrong with that. In fact, he has been hugely successful with it. So why not run with it?

Malek Jaziri demonstrated why the clone cannot hold a candle to the original. He beat the number one seed Grigor Dimitrov in the first round despite his being ranked #117 in the world. klacr likes to say...that's why they play them out. It's true...anything can happen. But consider the fact that Grigor is now ranked #4 in the world. Every time he steps up to the plate now his opponent is really gunning for him. A win over the number four player in the world is a huge scalp. After dispatching the Bulgarian Playboy back to the practice courts Malek took down another pretty big fish in Robin Hasse.

The next opponent for Jaziri is one that really caught my eye. Stefanos Tsitsipas. Stefanos has a nice look about him. No backwards baseball hat for him...he goes with the bandana. He looks like a tennis player. A pretty nice overall game with a really good looking one handed backhand. It appears that he wants to go forwards to the net at times too. There is something missing in the serve. Some 25 percent or so. It isn't a bad motion per se but there is potential in it as well. You know what potential is...room for improvement. He's got some nice big plays in him on the groundstrokes and the serve at times. Perhaps one could imagine him getting with a great coach and ironing out some of the wrinkles and installing some classic tactics in his hard drive. As with some of the one handed backhands as of late...Stefanos could use some slice in order that he can adapt to his opponents on a one by one basis. He is coached by Apostles Tsitsipas and he is from Athens, Greece. Here is another Next Generation player to keep the eyes on.

Filip Kranjinovic lost to the up and coming Lucas Pouille who will be appearing in his second straight final in two weeks. I like Kranjinovic's forehand as he looks to try and get that front foot down in a slightly closed or semi-open stance. In other words his default position isn't on the wrong foot. Filip is another player that I could see with a one handed backhand and ready to move forwards but the vast majority of two handed backhand players have more or less stated before the coin toss that they will limit their appearances at the net in any given match to be less than ten. Only when they have to. Filip looks pretty capable at the net but it is obvious that this option number whatever...way down the list from plugging away at the baseline.

The tournament sorely missed Roger Federer. He is playing his cards carefully and one at a time. Holding his hand close to his chest. But don't look now...it's Indian Wells beginning on the 8th of March. Very soon we are going to see a real tennis tournament. One in which Roger Federer is playing. But who else is going to be there? Nadal pulled out of Acapulco and Djokovic is nowhere to be seen. Wawrinka has given notice he is not going to attend. Roger not giving anything away. Playing it one at a time.

[klacr]

Nadal now has pulled out of Indian Wells and Miami.
Clearly getting ready for a full recovery to make another assault on the clay court season.

Lucas Pouille, Malek Jaziri, Filip Krajinovic? I know more about these guys than most tennis fans...but seriously, who?
ATP needs to invest a large amount of money on cloning or at the very least, something to completely halt the aging process for Federer. Future looks bleak.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Nadal now has pulled out of Indian Wells and Miami.
Clearly getting ready for a full recovery to make another assault on the clay court season.

Lucas Pouille, Malek Jaziri, Filip Krajinovic? I know more about these guys than most tennis fans...but seriously, who?
ATP needs to invest a large amount of money on cloning or at the very least, something to completely halt the aging process for Federer. Future looks bleak.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Don't forget Roberto Bautista-Agut. He defeats Lucas Pouille for the title in Dubai...6-3, 6-4. I think Pouille just ran out of gas. This was his second final in two weeks and there is a special price for playing well. You are under the gun until the end. No doubt Pouille will be jetting off to the other side of the world for the Indian Wells tournament site and one has to wonder if he hasn't shot his load. Filip Krajinovic took Lucas to 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 in the semi's and Pouille went three sets with Yuichi Sugita and Karen Khachanov in the previous two rounds.

Plenty of match play for the Frenchman. Now if he can just get a little rest. But he will be trying to adjust to a totally different timezone going to California. Going west is always the tough adjustment for me...I wake up in the middle of the night every time for weeks. But going east it no problem at all. The players in Acapulco have been in the same timezone now for at least a week so they will have that advantage. The early losers in Dubai such as Grigor Dimitrov will have a head start getting to Indian Wells a few nights early to work on their sleeping.

My take away from this tournament was a kid by the name of Stefano Tsitsipas. Nice one hand backhand...good physique and a nice forehand to go with it. Needs a bit of seasoning on the service motion to iron out a couple of kinks...just to smooth it out. Silky smooth it out. Throw in a slice backhand and a couple of chapters of tactics. He's nineteen, wears a bandana and he has the look of a tennis player. Coached by his dad apparently...maybe it is time for some outside influence. He lost to Dimitrov's conqueror in three sets.

Off to Indian Wells.