2018 BNP Paribas Open...ATP 1000...Indian Wells, United States

[don_budge]

Finally...the draw.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/indian-wells/404/draws

There is a lot of empty spaces in the draw in more ways than one. First of all there appear to be 96 contestants on a draw sheet that can accommodate 128 players. So I ask the obvious question...why? Answer...who cares? Answering a question with a question...what does that make me? Jewish? Something I heard a while back. Maybe it was Seinfield.

But at any rate there is one player there that concerns me and that is of course Roger Federer. Hopefully he is marching his way to the red clay of Roland Garros. But missing in the draw to take up more empty spacer are Fafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to name just a few. Novak Djokovic is making another comeback but luckily Hyeon Chung is nowhere to be seen from his vantage point. Instead it is another Asian player of consequence Kei Nishikori. Nishikori is also struggling to come back from an injury.

Well a lot of the talk could be about injuries but I am not having any of it. I could start addressing the draw and the would of's and could of's but let's wait a couple of rounds to see how things shape up...or shake down. Depending upon your point of view. But just to sneak a peak at Roger's draw it reads like a list of the usual suspects for him. All kinds of things and players that may have been. But alas...things being what they are all things being equal...Roger should be able to navigate his way through to the quarters on the hard courts of Indian Wells.

This is going to be fun. With Rafael Nadal missing it changes a lot of things. The draw looks rather funny. A jumble of names. Names we are used to seeing spaced apart are now being lumped together giving full meaning to the luck of the draw. Like I said...best to see what develops. In the other quarters...quarters other than Roger's.

[stotty]

Finally...the draw.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/score...ells/404/draws

There is a lot of empty spaces in the draw in more ways than one. First of all there appear to be 96 contestants on a draw sheet that can accommodate 128 players. So I ask the obvious question...why? Answer...who cares? Answering a question with a question...what does that make me? Jewish? Something I heard a while back. Maybe it was Seinfield.

But at any rate there is one player there that concerns me and that is of course Roger Federer. Hopefully he is marching his way to the red clay of Roland Garros. But missing in the draw to take up more empty spacer are Fafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to name just a few. Novak Djokovic is making another comeback but luckily Hyeon Chung is nowhere to be seen from his vantage point. Instead it is another Asian player of consequence Kei Nishikori. Nishikori is also struggling to come back from an injury.

Well a lot of the talk could be about injuries but I am not having any of it. I could start addressing the draw and the would of's and could of's but let's wait a couple of rounds to see how things shape up...or shake down. Depending upon your point of view. But just to sneak a peak at Roger's draw it reads like a list of the usual suspects for him. All kinds of things and players that may have been. But alas...things being what they are all things being equal...Roger should be able to navigate his way through to the quarters on the hard courts of Indian Wells.

This is going to be fun. With Rafael Nadal missing it changes a lot of things. The draw looks rather funny. A jumble of names. Names we are used to seeing spaced apart are now being lumped together giving full meaning to the luck of the draw. Like I said...best to see what develops. In the other quarters...quarters other than Roger's.

It's a good half of the draw for Roger. No one he hasn't taken care of a zillion times. Although, strangely, Thiem leads Roger 2-1 in their head to heads.

Djokovic looks to be in the thick of it somewhat in his part of the draw.

Many of the key players are still missing from the tour, which dilutes the tournament somewhat. But you never know. After watching that bizarre Goffin match, which Roger somehow lost from a seemingly unassailable position of dominance, I take comfort in the knowledge that anything might happen and a spanner can always get in the works.

I pray that Djokovic gets back to his best so that I might have a decent game to watch when he and Roger play again. Roger against anyone is no good for Stotty. I want Roger stretched to the max and a game worth watching.

[stroke]

Roger is a massive favorite to win the tournament at nearly even money 6/5 followed by Novak at 7, Del Po 16, Grigor 18, Nick 21.

[don_budge]

Roger is a massive favorite to win the tournament at nearly even money 6/5 followed by Novak at 7, Del Po 16, Grigor 18, Nick 21.

He's going to have to play his ass off before it is over that is for sure. I like the way he walks his way though the process one round at a time. He never gets ahead of himself.

Nick "The Jerk" Kyrgios is such an interesting case...head case. It is hard to imagine him making to the semifinals even where we would be treated to hopefully a match between him and Federer. He just can't seem to get his head around the game. It's almost as if he does it on purpose. Djokovic is going to be a compelling watch as well. He misfired down in Australia so one might imagine that he learned something from the experience. But that being said he is short of match play for the past how many months. His game isn't that complicated so it is conceivable that he could find the groove and the rhythm to get the job done. Del Potro has been putting in the work and he is surely looking for a big match to win. Dimitrov? Anybodies guess.

[klacr]

Just happy we have a great tournament like Indian Wells. Followed by Miami. Three great weeks of tennis action. Federer is the favorite as he should be. Word on street is his practice sessions have not been ideal and he seems perturbed by something. I still expect him to be heads and shoulders above the rest of the field come game time.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Francis Tiafoe...

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/...yer-march-2018

I'm wondering about Francis Tiafoe. The ATP is trying like hell to hype anything that moves and experiencing any level of success these days. It often has an adverse effect on young and less experienced players as they must cross the bridge from expectation to actual doing. Consistently.

Alexander Zverev has been having a whale of a time trying to get his feet back on the ground after his head was inflated with illusions of grandeur. I think Dominic Thiem has to but perhaps at a lesser extent. You cannot read what they are writing about you and just as importantly you cannot get hoodwinked into saying too much about hour hopes and dreams. Best to keep them a secret and to yourself. Don't talk about your accomplishments or revelations either. Sports writers are jinx. Always have been and always will be. My father was a professional baseball player and he never talks a bad word about anyone...but he made it known that he had very little use of this sort of character.

Tiafoe plays tonight against Ernesto Escobedo...I will try to catch it.

[don_budge]

Francis Tiafoe...

http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/...yer-march-2018

I'm wondering about Francis Tiafoe. The ATP is trying like hell to hype anything that moves and experiencing any level of success these days. It often has an adverse effect on young and less experienced players as they must cross the bridge from expectation to actual doing. Consistently.

Tiafoe plays tonight against Ernesto Escobedo...I will try to catch it.

Interesting how Francis Tiafoe got a big boost in his ranking a couple of weeks ago by winning in Delray but unable to capitalize on his new status against the number 117 ranked player in the world...Ernesto Escobedo. I watched the match for a set or so before getting...get this...bored with it. It's frightening what the future holds for professional tennis. Maybe a really hot looking female star will emerge.

Francis now wears a big target on his back saying to the rest of the tour...take me out. The thing about his game is that it is just the same old, same old. There aren't any new wrinkles and nor can we ever expect to see any. Just more of the same. You see...you see see...the foundation from which his game is built is limiting. There are only so many things you can do with it. Or nothing at all. You work on your conditioning and try to out maul the next guy. You practice pounding the serve and dream of winning all of your service games without have to deal with a pesky return of serve. But there is nothing about his game that cannot be derailed with a little thought and a combination of him not being at peak performance.

One of the biggest test for a tennis player is when they come to the plate without their A game. Actually this is most of the time from what I remember. You learn how to coax everything out of yourself learning to rely on alternatives or deviations. Subtle things...subtle changes in tactics. You see a chink in the armour and you start to slice low and angled at the opponents weakness forcing him to hit a shot he doesn't want to play. But in the modern game it is just hammer...hammer...hammer. Only Federer takes the air out of the opponents game by changing the pace of the game.

Jury is still out on Francis. In fact I think they have rendered a decision. Depending upon the day.

[don_budge]

Five Matches of Interest...#1 Roger Federer vs. Anybody

#1...Tonight Anybody happens to be one of the few players in the world to have a winning record against the current number one player in the world and the number one seed at Indian Wells this week. Federico Delbonis beat Roger a couple of years ago in a stunning upset in Hamburg, Germany on clay 7-6, 7-6. In this way it is a perfect match for Roger to set his teeth into the tournament early...he has the revenge motive to motivate him. It wouldn't surprise me to see this match springboard him into the next couple of rounds.

#2...Dusan Lajovic vs. Hyeon Chung I hate to tell you but that is one uninspiring name. Chung. Ugh. But with his semifinal default to Federer at the Australian he has been catapulted directly in the crosshairs of the ATP hype machine. Actually it wasn't his default but his win over a less than 100% Djokovic that has gotten Hyeon the premature and often deadly expectation disease. He's a target now and his opponent is a compatriot of Novak's who is looking for a big fish to fry. Well he has him in Chung.

#3...Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Dominic Thiem- These two met earlier in the year in Qatar with Thiem taking a straight set victory over the young Greek. I was watching Stefanos at Dubai last week and he caught my eye. A nineteen year old with a nice look about him. A bit of style even. The nice one hand backhand and an inkling of an idea to get to the net. Dominic will be a stern test for the kid today but one I think that he is cherishing. He wants to mix it up with the big boys and it will be interesting to see how his backhand holds up to Thiem's. I bypassed Denis Shapovalov's match against Pablo Cuevas for this one and that is another match with a couple of beautiful one hand backhands.

#4...Grigor Dimitrov vs. Fernando Verdasco- Verdasco looked fantastic down in South America until he ran into little Diago Schwartzman in the finals. He was playing really aggressively from the baseline and just demolished a couple of good clay court players. Dimitrov is up career head to head 2 to 1 against the lefty Spaniard but this is an excellent start for the tournament for Baby Fed. It's back to Baby Fed after that shellacking Roger gave him in Rotterdam a couple of weeks ago. That really left Grigpr's head spinning and he immediately went into the tank in the first round of his next tournament in Dubai. Let's see if he has recovered. Another one hand backhand. Starting to see a pattern here.

#5...Taylor Fritz vs. Andre Rublev- Taylor fought through against one of these huge big serving lugs in Reilly Opelka and Andre is an up and comer that I have been keeping an eye on since I saw him at the French Open Juniors a couple of years ago. Andre with a big forehand and seemingly an equally big chip on his shoulder against a guy who has the look but I am starting to wonder about his game. There is something peculiar about the forehand and it has everything to do with how he sets up to the stroke. Or should I say how he doesn't set up. A couple of young guns looking to make a name for themselves.

[stotty]

Well Cuevas versus Shapovalov was disappointing from Shapovalov's point of view. How different from his performance against Tsonga.

He lacked composure against Cuevas. He was frenetic, manic and lacked time. He could learn a lot from watching Novak and Roger who are very calm and centred when they play big matches...calm and centred both between point and during them. It's an essential skill.

Shapovalov is still so young and his potential is decent. I hope he develops the way we all hope he might. He still has a way to go.

[don_budge]

The Sixth of Five...Shapovalov vs. Cuevas

Five Matches of Interest...#1 Roger Federer vs. Anybody

#3...Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Dominic Thiem- These two met earlier in the year in Qatar with Thiem taking a straight set victory over the young Greek. I was watching Stefanos at Dubai last week and he caught my eye. A nineteen year old with a nice look about him. A bit of style even. The nice one hand backhand and an inkling of an idea to get to the net. Dominic will be a stern test for the kid today but one I think that he is cherishing. He wants to mix it up with the big boys and it will be interesting to see how his backhand holds up to Thiem's. I bypassed Denis Shapovalov's match against Pablo Cuevas for this one and that is another match with a couple of beautiful one hand backhands.

Well Cuevas versus Shapovalov was disappointing from Shapovalov's point of view. How different from his performance against Tsonga.

He lacked composure against Cuevas. He was frenetic, manic and lacked time. He could learn a lot from watching Novak and Roger who are very calm and centred when they play big matches...calm and centred both between point and during them. It's an essential skill.

Shapovalov is still so young and his potential is decent. I hope he develops the way we all hope he might. He still has a way to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztm5Pa2eoKU

I had a sneaking suspicion about this one Stotty...my good man. I sense a lack of organization in the tactical mind of Shapovalov and I think that Pablo Cuevas sort of exploited this. I bet it was somewhat disappointing for young Denis to take it on the chin in the second round against a journeyman clay courter such as Pablo but the truth is he is still wet behind the ears...tactically speaking. But what a couple of beautiful drive backhands...how nice was that to see.

For quite a few years I took a sabbatical from the game of tennis to pursue the game of golf. I resurfaced to take this job of teaching tennis at this little club in Sweden. The first year the club rewarded me with a little weekend trip down to Båstad to see this tournament and the three players that made an impression on me were Robin Söderling, Fabio Fognini and Pablo Cuevas. I believe that Cuevas played Söderling and lost in three sets but his tactics against the bigger and stronger Swede were impressive. The most vivid memory was that kick serve to the backhand and he used it with great success to the Shapovalov forehand in the ad court. The big kick takes the down the line out of play as a very low percentage shot and Pablo begins to dictate from the return forwards.

Cuevas' backhand is such a beauty and I actually take it over Shapovalov at this point. Cuevas has the good sense to play the percentages and keeps the ball in play where Shapovalov is lashing at balls on practically every swing. He's got to learn to jab...parry. Too much shock and awe.

An early exit for the highly hyped Shapovalov. They should be a bit careful with this kid's head. Maybe they should send him to sherpa school. Send him to the Apache reservation for survival training. The hype really makes it tough for a guy to get his head around the perspective. Life and tennis.

[don_budge]

Five Matches of Interest...#1 Roger Federer vs. Anybody

#1...Tonight Anybody happens to be one of the few players in the world to have a winning record against the current number one player in the world and the number one seed at Indian Wells this week. Federico Delbonis beat Roger a couple of years ago in a stunning upset in Hamburg, Germany on clay 7-6, 7-6. In this way it is a perfect match for Roger to set his teeth into the tournament early...he has the revenge motive to motivate him. It wouldn't surprise me to see this match springboard him into the next couple of rounds.

#2...Dusan Lajovic vs. Hyeon Chung I hate to tell you but that is one uninspiring name. Chung. Ugh. But with his semifinal default to Federer at the Australian he has been catapulted directly in the crosshairs of the ATP hype machine. Actually it wasn't his default but his win over a less than 100% Djokovic that has gotten Hyeon the premature and often deadly expectation disease. He's a target now and his opponent is a compatriot of Novak's who is looking for a big fish to fry. Well he has him in Chung.

#3...Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Dominic Thiem- These two met earlier in the year in Qatar with Thiem taking a straight set victory over the young Greek. I was watching Stefanos at Dubai last week and he caught my eye. A nineteen year old with a nice look about him. A bit of style even. The nice one hand backhand and an inkling of an idea to get to the net. Dominic will be a stern test for the kid today but one I think that he is cherishing. He wants to mix it up with the big boys and it will be interesting to see how his backhand holds up to Thiem's. I bypassed Denis Shapovalov's match against Pablo Cuevas for this one and that is another match with a couple of beautiful one hand backhands.

#4...Grigor Dimitrov vs. Fernando Verdasco- Verdasco looked fantastic down in South America until he ran into little Diago Schwartzman in the finals. He was playing really aggressively from the baseline and just demolished a couple of good clay court players. Dimitrov is up career head to head 2 to 1 against the lefty Spaniard but this is an excellent start for the tournament for Baby Fed. It's back to Baby Fed after that shellacking Roger gave him in Rotterdam a couple of weeks ago. That really left Grigpr's head spinning and he immediately went into the tank in the first round of his next tournament in Dubai. Let's see if he has recovered. Another one hand backhand. Starting to see a pattern here.

#5...Taylor Fritz vs. Andre Rublev- Taylor fought through against one of these huge big serving lugs in Reilly Opelka and Andre is an up and comer that I have been keeping an eye on since I saw him at the French Open Juniors a couple of years ago. Andre with a big forehand and seemingly an equally big chip on his shoulder against a guy who has the look but I am starting to wonder about his game. There is something peculiar about the forehand and it has everything to do with how he sets up to the stroke. Or should I say how he doesn't set up. A couple of young guns looking to make a name for themselves.

The thing about having Roger Federer in a tournament is that it gets interesting. It gets more interesting with him in the background every step of the way for perspective. It gives us something to measure everything else by. To calibrate.

#1...I got up by accident. It started at 4 AM here in Europe so there it was...Federer serving for the first set at 5-3 and 15-40. He didn't lose another point in the game. The acid test of great serving...down 15-40 or love-40 and the ability to square it up. Julie Heldman said the same of Richard Gonzales. Federer serves out the set on somewhat shaky ground and they quit in the second when it started to rain. A great test for Federer to start his march in the tournament. He will play it one match at a time and not get ahead of himself. He will have to finish this match before he can start plotting for the next round.

#2...Chung lost the first and then responded strong to advance. Keep a close eye on this young man. I am looking into the psyche. You are watching the serve. Next up is Tomas Berdych who is going to be a real test. He has beaten Chung twice before. Let's see why as we try to catch this next match.

#3...I think that Stefanos Tsitsipas has sort of slipped in under the radar. I watched Thiem manhandle the kid the first set but lo and behold the kid bounced back and took it right to Thiem. He didn't have the muscle to finish him but he is a kid. Growing rather fast I think. A great match for the kid too. He knows he can play with the big boys and he is looking for big game. I would dearly love to tweak that service motion. It has the makings but it needs some fine tuning. His tactical game needs to mature as well but he looks more organised than Shapovalov with maybe less explosive weapons. I like the look. Pablo Cuevas next for Dominic Thiem. Two one hand backhands again. This is going to be interesting...more interesting as Federer is in the draw. Both of these guys make excellent use of the kick serve out in the ad court. Cuevas takes a couple of steps to his left to make it more of an angle.

#4...Goodbye Bulgarian Playboy and Fernando Verdasco is playing some really aggressive ball the past few weeks. Diego Schwartzman has brought him down to earth twice but here he took down the "Baby Fed". It's back to Baby Fed again ever since the ass kicking in Rotterdam. Federer made him wish his mommy never had him. He was poised to make a match of it but Federer was having none of it. Dimitrov's psyche is now damaged. His feelings are hurt. He has lost twice in a row in the first match of a tournament. It's a precipitous fall from the perch. Once again it is about expectations. How do you keep them low when everyone is telling you how great you are? It's a trick of the tail. A mind game...solitaire. Funny game. Fernando is going up against the winner of my #5.

#5...Speaking of #5 I am glad to see Fritz make it through Dostoyevsky's boy Andre Rublev. You can envision this kid in a couple of Fyodor's novels. I don't know...he has that look. But speaking of having the look Fritz was wearing a headband. A bandana no less. Thank you for not wearing a stupid baseball cap turned backwards. There is no room for that look in my book. God forbid a player reach the finals wearing a stupid baseball cap backwards. A pet peeve I suppose. The trouble of being a classicist. Now it the winners of #4 and #5...Fritz versus Verdasco. More later.

I wonder if I should go for five in the bottom half. Those five were darn good picks. Boy...Federer makes it so interesting. Inspiring no less. Thank God for the Living Proof.

[don_budge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmx--WjeN7o

[stroke]

Cuevas is tough, very professional player. One of the top 3 or 4 clay courters in the world.

[stotty]

The Sixth of Five...Shapovalov vs. Cuevas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztm5Pa2eoKU

For quite a few years I took a sabbatical from the game of tennis to pursue the game of golf. I resurfaced to take this job of teaching tennis at this little club in Sweden. The first year the club rewarded me with a little weekend trip down to Båstad to see this tournament and the three players that made an impression on me were Robin Söderling, Fabio Fognini and Pablo Cuevas. I believe that Cuevas played Söderling and lost in three sets but his tactics against the bigger and stronger Swede were impressive. The most vivid memory was that kick serve to the backhand and he used it with great success to the Shapovalov forehand in the ad court. The big kick takes the down the line out of play as a very low percentage shot and Pablo begins to dictate from the return forwards.

Cuevas' backhand is such a beauty and I actually take it over Shapovalov at this point. Cuevas has the good sense to play the percentages and keeps the ball in play where Shapovalov is lashing at balls on practically every swing. He's got to learn to jab...parry. Too much shock and awe.

Cuevas does play the percentage game very well, most Spaniards do. Shapovalov had no answers to it other than to belt his backhand harder. I couldn't discern any tactics going on at all. He seemed stumped and got desperate in the second set, going for shots which weren't really on. He reminds of Thiem in that regard.

Still, Denis is young, plenty of time yet.

[don_budge]

Five Matches of Interest...The Bottom Half of the Draw

I have to be honest here...I don't think there are five real interesting matches as I scan the bottom half. But there is one...one interesting match. Why is that I ask myself? Self...I answer to myself...it is because Roger Federer is in the top half. Ok...let's proceed and make it snappy.

#1...There really is only one truly compelling match in the bottom half and I had to scroll down to the second quarter of the bottom half to get to it. Guess who? It's Milos Raonic and Felix Auger-Aliassime and I admit that I had to once again peek to get the spelling right. I never claimed to be an expert speller...plus you never want to get the reputation of being an idiot that can spell. But this is a compelling match for a number of different reasons. Number one is Milos himself. Milos won this tournament didn't he? No...I guess he didn't. But Milos has been stuck in a bit of a quagmire as of late. He keeps getting injured. This has been the story of his career for the past couple of years and I am going to predict that the prognosis doesn't get any better. He is playing the wrong game. Come on...with that serve? He should be headed pell mell to the net at every opportunity. I'm glad nobody likes his two hand backhand because I don't think he should be playing two handed anyways. But instead this big lug is a retriever just like the rest of the guys on tour. But he should be headed to the net. Forwards is the way to go for Milos. As for young Felix "The Cat"...I just want to see how he reacts to playing his fellow countryman whom he has grown up watching. But you can throw that all out the window as young Felix is just plain hungry and the big lug is now standing in his way...of the next round. No love lost...well it is tennis. Don't you know that love means nothing.

#2...So this is really stretching because for some reason I don't find this matchup nearly as compelling. I can't find any reason to think that the Novak Djokovic versus Taro Daniel match has any kind of attraction on its own merit. But let's just say that checking out the status of Djokovic's confidence recovery program qualifies it as interesting. And well it should. Novak has only played two matches in how many months? Last we saw of him he was biting his nails fretting over whether to toss in the towel against Hyeon Chung in his match at the Australian Open. He hung in there and toughed it out. He finished to his credit but he was obviously less than one hundred percent. So what fraction is he of his former self now? That's why this match gets the nod as the #2.

#3, #4, #5...Come on guys. I need help here. You know how I harp on the presence of Roger Federer to qualify a tournament as a real tournament. Well even in the bottom half of this draw I find myself not focused on the possibilities because at this point in the play it doesn't effect Roger. Maybe in a couple of rounds.