2018 Nature Valley International...ATP 250...Eastbourne, Great Britain

[don_budge]

The lead up to Wimbledon. Last stop Eastbourne. The match of the tourney was between old Andy Murray and Britain's New Kid on the Block, what's his name? I forgot...but it is none other than Kyle Edmund. I watched a bit of it. As much as I could possibly stand. Rather boring. Yawn.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/eastbourne/741/draws?matchtype=singles

Marco Cecchinato, he with the beautiful one handed backhand, looks to break through to the semifinals with a win over John Millman. Immediately below them it is a battle of two lefties. I will put my name down for Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov only because he is one handed backhand. Mischa Zverev looks more organised and methodical on the grass. It should be interesting to see how it pans out. If you have the patience to sit through such a thing.

It would be nice to see Kyle Edmund advance to the semifinals to the winner of Zverev/Shapovalov for the British audience.

[klacr]

His name is Kyle. Just sayin...

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

The lead up to Wimbledon. Last stop Eastbourne. The match of the tourney was between old Andy Murray and Britain's New Kid on the Block, what's his name? I forgot...but it is none other than Kyle Edmund. I watched a bit of it. As much as I could possibly stand. Rather boring. Yawn.

https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/scores/current/eastbourne/741/draws?matchtype=singles

Marco Cecchinato, he with the beautiful one handed backhand, looks to break through to the semifinals with a win over John Millman. Immediately below them it is a battle of two lefties. I will put my name down for Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov only because he is one handed backhand. Mischa Zverev looks more organised and methodical on the grass. It should be interesting to see how it pans out. If you have the patience to sit through such a thing.

It would be nice to see Kyle Edmund advance to the semifinals to the winner of Zverev/Shapovalov for the British audience.

Kyle craps out. Kyle Edmund that is. If only he had our Kyle's serve and volley. Too much to hope for.

On the other hand, Mischa Zverev has a tremendous opportunity to boost his confidence here. He has a 2-1 advantage head to head against Kukushkin. I didn't see the match with Shapovalov. It's hard to watch Denis "The Menace". His watchability is way down in my eyes. His appearance is rather sloppy and the behind the back dribble in his pre-serve routine is absolutely meaningless unless attention getting devices are on the rise among tennis players. He is going to have to tighten up some of the screws as it appears he has a couple that are loose. Extremely talented...but apparently needs a rudder.

Zverev on the other hand is extremely well organised on the grass. I hope he contends for this title as I wrote a week or two ago that he was solid but not enough to contend for titles. This ATP 250 would be an excellent feather in his cap going into Wimbledon. It would be somewhat entertaining perhaps to watch Cecchinato and Zverev play for this title.

[gzhpcu]

Mischa Zerev proved serve and volley is not dead. First tournament win at the age of 30. Great tennis. Saw it on the atp app, TennisTv.

[don_budge]

Mischa Zverev was heard to say, "Life begins at thirty".

Mischa Zerev proved serve and volley is not dead. First tournament win at the age of 30. Great tennis. Saw it on the atp app, TennisTv.

It could be true in Mischa's case too. Life could begin at thirty. This notion of serve and volley is not quite dead although it for sure on life support. If not extinct. But it could be very disruptive for the modern player who is not used to real pressure being applied by an opponent moving forwards to the net.

If I were Mischa I would take a page out of the don_budge service practice manual and endeavour to improve that lefty serve of his at all costs. The better that becomes the more effective he will be coming in.

I think it was great to see him come through the ATP 250 field with only dropping one set in the first round. I'm glad I started the thread for this player's breakthrough alone. But I must admit it was my curiousity about Andy Murray's condition that compelled me to start it. Murray did beat another player trying to find his way back in Stan Wawrinka but then he bowed to fellow Brit Kyle Edmund.

Conclusion? The jury is still out on Andy Murray. Mischa Zverev was good enough to come out on top of the field that was before him. That has to be a wonderful feeling at thirty. The challenge going forwards now for Zverev is to hold on that feeling. To create it in future matches. Well done. As Phil said it ain't dead. But surely it is on life support. Let's see what happens now at Wimbledon. Roger Federer will be there. But his performance has been rather shaky in appearance ever since the Australian Open where he was superlative. As he was superlative last year at Wimbledon.

Was it all a psyop? Was he sandbagging somewhat? The revelation that his coach is also the manager of Borna "Born Again" Coric was a real revelation. Conflict of interest? To say the least...potentially. Particularly when considering how the script played out at Indian Wells and then again last week at the Gerry Weber in Germany. Neither time did Roger look like Roger to me and I have watched him quite closely.

Waiting on the draw for Wimbledon. In order to start the thread. That's life on the tennisplayer.net forum.