2018 Fever-Tree Championships...ATP 500...London, Great Britain

[don_budge]

Ordinarily I don't consider it a tennis tournament if Roger Federer is not in the house since he is really the only tennis player on the tour who is playing real tennis. Any derivative of classic tennis would do. But let's make an exception here for the following reasons.

Number one...Andy Murray returns.

Number two...Andy Murray plays Nick "Curious George" Kyrgios in the first round. Andy owns him 5-0 head to head.

Number three...Both Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic continue to attempt to comeback to former levels in this venue. This is realistically not a valid reason but it adds to the amusement level. Or should I say entertainment level?

Number four...Let's leave it at three. I cannot think of another valid reason but one might develop as the tournament drags on.

[klacr]

The field at this Queen's club tournament is stacked. They should have a Masters 1000 on grass.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Kyrgios shows no emotion after win over Murray. Just goes to his seat and sits down. No winner’s round. Leaves quietly.

[don_budge]

The Stacked Draw at the Queen's Club...London, England

The field at this Queen's club tournament is stacked. They should have a Masters 1000 on grass.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Stacked? I know what you mean. On the other hand it is stacked with the old "has beens" that are trying to find their way back to a competitive level that they used to know.

Then again the young hopeful Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov seems to be tormented a bit by the crush of expectation fever after some good results last year. He has virtually stalled and found some rough going ala Alexander Zverev. Denis is quite a bit younger and he looks it. Very immature in his approach to the game. He looks disorganised in his tactics...rather thoughtless. Even his appearance and some of the gestures that he makes give his immaturity away. It will be interesting to see how he resolves these issues going forwards.

Stan "Stanimal" Wawrinka resembles more of a pussy cat than the hunting beast he was somewhat he took leave of the tour. It has been some time now since he had anything close to his form. He has really had a difficult time finding his game. The once feared backhand has become more of a defensive slice nowadays. He has a big test next in Sam Querry...although I not certain of Sam's form as of late. Where has he been?

Feliciano Lopez up against another "veteran" Milos Raonic trying to find his way back. Milos lost in the finals to Roger Federer so he must be making some inroads. It's taking him a while too and you have to wonder how much time does he have left. This big lug with the equally big serve has been playing the grinding game with the youngsters and the toll on his body might be too big of a price to pay in the end. If only he had played a one-handed backhand and served and volleyed at every opportunity, just think of the miles and how more even the terrain may have been for him. Those high pockets hip and oversized calf muscles...I don't know. How did he ever get hooked on trying to grind it out in the backcourt? Feliciano on the other hand appears to be timeless and guess what? The way he plays the game is easier on his body not to mention more efficient in the long run. Nice win over David Goffin yesterday.

The meat of the tournament left the stadium yesterday. It was the Andy Murray of old. He looked pretty darned good after such a long layoff. Still complaining and gesturing to his box. Still grimacing and clutching but thank goodness he never clutched at his hip that I could tell. Actually it is a bit hard to tell just where he is with his game because he was up against none other than Nick "Curious George" Kyrgios. If only his name would have been George. But Kyrgios was clutching everything himself. His back, his hip, his knee. Was there any part of his body he didn't clutch. Then there were the mental issues. He kept looking over the Lleyton Hewitt and whining "it hurts". I could write a book about Kyrgios every time. He's a fascinating character and mainly becuase Roger Federer makes him so. This guy is another animal when he plays Roger. Just like he was another animal when he played Andy Murray yesterday. Not nearly as effective. He is hitting on all eight against Federer but he has the "too cool for school" look about him too much during his match with Murray. He managed to win and it will be interesting to see how he fares with his antithesis...Kyle Edmund. Kyle is no nonsense and hard nosed. Pugnacious. This might be a great match if Nick shows up to play.

Francis Tiafoe. Yawn. I don't what to make of this character. He too looks to be caught up looking in the mirror at his own reflection. Mesmerized by the little bit of success he had a couple of months ago down in Florida. Julien Benneteau sent your boy packing. Doubting Tomas. God have mercy on the man who doubts what he is sure of.

Finally...NOVAK DJOKOVIC! Yawn. The guy is as boring as watching paint dry. His come back has been a study in futility so far. Not reaching anywhere close to what he once was. He might but he himself is talking about the mental part of the game. His priorities seemed to have changed even before the injury. Grigor Dimitrov and Novak set to duel in the round of 16. That's just great...and early exit for one of them. Novak has a chance here if he can get past Grigor to get some matches under his belt. He needs to get deep in a tournament so he can find his head again.

I love this stuff. Even without Roger in the draw it is interesting. So many guys trying to find themselves. With all of the money at stake it is probably hard to get it all under perspective.

[don_budge]

Kyrgios shows no emotion after win over Murray. Just goes to his seat and sits down. No winner’s round. Leaves quietly.

He had such an interesting reaction to his loss against Roger in the finals too. I almost like this guy because he defies convention. He defies logic. Even gravity. If he could just tighten up a couple of the nuts in his head he might just be watchable. He might just get to the finals of something...somewhere. Strange match against Andy Murray. You never could get a handle on whether or not Nick actually wanted to win. I guess his hand was forced once he got to the third set tie-break. Strange match...strange guy. Strange haircut.

[hockeyscout]

The Stacked Draw at the Queen's Club...London, England

Then again the young hopeful Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov seems to be tormented a bit by the crush of expectation fever after some good results last year. He has virtually stalled and found some rough going ala Alexander Zverev. Denis is quite a bit younger and he looks it. Very immature in his approach to the game. He looks disorganised in his tactics...rather thoughtless. Even his appearance and some of the gestures that he makes give his immaturity away. It will be interesting to see how he resolves these issues going forwards.

Talented boy playing against men. They all know his rhythm and tendencies now. He's a bit to weak to play at higher pace and getting to positions where he will dictate pace, control, rhythm, aggression and raw power - five big elements. Its to bad he did not skip the Junior game altogether and just focus on man's tennis since he was 11 or 12. Its what we're doing - worse thing you can do with a player is play them against their own peers in tennis. The sport is about developing weapons, and the earlier you start exposing a kids real weaknesses the better. In Junior's you can run, hide, you flaws but, against the experienced men they'll slice, dice and throw you through the ringer. He's learning the hard way now. If they stay patient, take their losses and play a shitload of practice matches of two good top 1000 men players versus the kid (Shapovalov) for a year or two he has the tools to be a top five player. Doubles vs single ... it works great. I hope it works for us and we will see in three years. One should never be in a position to win in practice, ever. Great practice humbles you. Champions are willing to endure it. Positive match outcomes are a result.

[stroke]

He had such an interesting reaction to his loss against Roger in the finals too. I almost like this guy because he defies convention. He defies logic. Even gravity. If he could just tighten up a couple of the nuts in his head he might just be watchable. He might just get to the finals of something...somewhere. Strange match against Andy Murray. You never could get a handle on whether or not Nick actually wanted to win. I guess his hand was forced once he got to the third set tie-break. Strange match...strange guy. Strange haircut.

Nick is so hard to pull for to me. He may be the biggest underachiever ever in tennis thus far in his career. All that talent, serve, forehand, backhand, movement, and touch. All that and a massive serve. His serve is very close to the Raonic level and he does everything thing else way better(except maybe volleying). If he had the Fed/Nadal mentality and attitude, his trophy case would look way different already. You never see Fed and Nadal just let games/sets go and decide to just turn it on when they feel like it.

[hockeyscout]

Nick needs to understand he is a bad tennis player ... on the bad days where he's hurt, tired, fatigued he can't utilize his skill-sets. Tennis, whatever, life, business is all about finding a way to win, no matter what circumstances are randomly occurring that day. Things change day in and day out, and winners that are good players adapt very quickly.

I'd make Nick watch Navy Seals Hell Week.

The best thing you can do with a good tennis player is put them against two players - and make the two players play on a single lines court, and Nick on a double court ... you find out all you need to know about your athlete after about 15 minutes of that hell.

And, your player learns a lot about things like consistency, practice habits and extending out their abilities to a whole new level. No matter how good you are, you ain't beating two guys but you learn to hang in when the going gets tough and when you go back to one player tennis is a walk in the park!

[don_budge]

2018 Fever-Tree Championships...ATP 500...London, Great Britain

The field at this Queen's club tournament is stacked. They should have a Masters 1000 on grass.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Kyrgios shows no emotion after win over Murray. Just goes to his seat and sits down. No winner’s round. Leaves quietly.

For a tournament that did not have Roger Federer in the draw it was a pretty damn good tournament. Particularly in the top half of the draw. Look at that top half.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scor...ndon/311/draws

That is what you call a stack. In the bottom half you essentially had Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov and they got that match out of the way in the second round. After that it was Djokovic's half to lose. He wasn't about to do that. What a gift. Just what "The Joke" needed. A final he could practically walk to blindfolded. Ok...it wasn't quite that easy.

But just look at the top half of the draw. If you look up "stacked draw" in the dictionary you are likely to find this copy of the 2018 Fever-Tree Championships in the top half.

First round matches...Marin Cilic vs. Fernando Verdasco, Gilles Muller vs. Denis Shapovalov, David Goffin vs. Feliciano Lopez and the best of all Andy Murray vs. Nick "Curious George" Kyrgios.

Second round matches...Cilic vs. Muller, "The Former Stanimal" Wawrinka vs. Sam Querry, Feliciano vs. Raonic and Kyrgios vs. Kyle Edmund.

In today's terms that is a pretty decent tournament as Kyle pointed out. But in the bottom half it was pretty brutal on the eyes if you are any kind of tennis aficionado.

There were a bunch of great stories in this tournament. A bunch of veterans trying to find their form in the run-up to Wimbledon. Wawrinka still looks a bit rusty but he had a decent match with Sam Querry so it is rather apparent he is starting to find the length of the court once again. We lost Milos Raonic once more to injury...this time it is a shoulder. Hope it isn't serious. Shoulders are touchy subjects to guys that make their living serving big bombs. Then there is Andy Murray. I'm glad I already covered him in a previous post so I don't have to go through trying to write something interesting about Sir Drab.

Even though he lost in the semi-finals to Marin Cilic 7-6, 7-6...it was Nick Kyrgios who made the most noise at the tournament. He made a lot of noise by not making much noise. Oh those lovely sounds of silence. "Curious George" was acting very curious all week and part of this was his rather entertaining demeanour. He didn't have much anger in him...just the "too cool for school" attitude written all over him. He was just too school all week. Never let much get the better of him. Apparently he doesn't like to sign autographs and I cannot say that I blame him. Autographs are a funny thing...why would anybody want one? Maybe it will be a learning experience for the little boy that didn't get one. Teach him that human beings do not transfer anything meaningful in such a transaction. The transaction is a voluntary one. It is not mandatory. Therefore Nick, for whatever reason of his own, chooses not to partake in such meaningless activity. Some people like to sign their names. Some are probably surprised that there are people out there that actually want them to scribble their names on a piece of paper for them. Signed paraphernalia? Don't own any myself and I wouldn't go to the end of my driveway to get Roger Federer's autograph on some over priced Nike piece of wear or equipment. Is that too harsh? Man up. It is a tough world out there. Some people don't have anything to eat. Be happy with what you have.

Nick was in cruise control and nothing came close to ruffling his feathers. Nothing came close to messing up that strange do he is sporting. Do you think he gels? I wonder if he is endorsing a gel product. The match with Andy Murray was so interesting. Kyrgios played him like a violin. Then it was on to the next Brit. Kyle Edmund. This was a darned good match-up in it's own right. Kyle is the antithesis of Nick. Kyle is a plugger and just starts competing at the coin toss. He's like a British Bull Dog. Grrrr...once that ball is in play. Krygios on the other just could be bothered to even attempt to break the Brit's serve and serenely made his way to the tie-breaks in sets number one and number two. He played for the tie-break and then he puts on the after burners. Sometimes they fire and sometimes they don't. It seems that they do more often than not otherwise why would he do it? It must get a bit nutty for Lleyton Hewitt to be holding the reins of this loose canon. Hewitt was a bit of a tight wrap. Scrappy and combative. Played just as hard on return games as he did to hold his serve. Kyrgios plays with the ultimate arrogance. He knows he is going to win his serve. You can't touch this he acts towards his opponents. All the way to Marin Cilic in the semifinals. Kyrgios played the same game against Feliciano Lopez. Two more tie-breaks.

What to make of this guy? Good guy? Hardly...unless you think Tony Montano was a good guy. Bad guy? It's easy to point your fingers at people and say "that's the bad guy" as Tony Montano said down in that swanky Miami bistro. But Nick is Nick. stroke seems to have a really good handle on the guy. He doesn't waste words and he doesn't pull punches.

Nick is so hard to pull for to me. He may be the biggest underachiever ever in tennis thus far in his career. All that talent, serve, forehand, backhand, movement, and touch. All that and a massive serve. His serve is very close to the Raonic level and he does everything thing else way better(except maybe volleying). If he had the Fed/Nadal mentality and attitude, his trophy case would look way different already. You never see Fed and Nadal just let games/sets go and decide to just turn it on when they feel like it.

Phil sees the enigma in Kyrgios. I loved the reaction against Federer when he lost in Stuttgart. It was pure Nick.

Kyrgios shows no emotion after win over Murray. Just goes to his seat and sits down. No winner’s round. Leaves quietly.

hockeyscout has his ideas too. If you could turn this guy into a Seal he would be scary. But it isn't in the DNA. Probably not going to happen. I don't think James Dean was a dream Seal either. Another Rebel without a real good cause. Just too cool for school. stroke again.

Nick needs to understand he is a bad tennis player ... on the bad days where he's hurt, tired, fatigued he can't utilize his skill-sets. Tennis, whatever, life, business is all about finding a way to win, no matter what circumstances are randomly occurring that day. Things change day in and day out, and winners that are good players adapt very quickly.

I'd make Nick watch Navy Seals Hell Week.

The best thing you can do with a good tennis player is put them against two players - and make the two players play on a single lines court, and Nick on a double court ... you find out all you need to know about your athlete after about 15 minutes of that hell.

And, your player learns a lot about things like consistency, practice habits and extending out their abilities to a whole new level. No matter how good you are, you ain't beating two guys but you learn to hang in when the going gets tough and when you go back to one player tennis is a walk in the park!

In the end it was Cilic over Djokovic. Yawn. Cilic is chasing Djokovic 2-14 in the career head to head. The Road to Wimbledon...as hockeyscout once referred to it.

David Lynch...on winning.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywo...ts-in-history/

[gzhpcu]

Kyrios is a character. I find him entertaining. So what if he is eccentric und unpredictable. He is talented. Remember McEnroe, Connors, etc? Not exactly choirboys either.

[klacr]

Kyrios is a character. I find him entertaining. So what if he is eccentric und unpredictable. He is talented. Remember McEnroe, Connors, etc? Not exactly choirboys either.

But you also get the feeling that Connors and McEnroe loved tennis and had deep respect for the traditions. Kyrgios has none of that. He finds tennis boring and is unhappy. Just got fined $18,000 for his actions last week at Queen's Club.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stroke]

I have always liked Cilic. He has had the top 10 game for years. It has appeared the mental lack of self confidence has been his biggest detriment to a run to the very top. It may have it all lining up for him now. Fed and Nadal aging in their own way, Novak with his own issues. Cilic has a window, and I sure would like to see it. He is such a professional.