2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters...ATP 1000...Monte Carlo, Monaco

[don_budge]

Here is the draw sheet, so read it and weep. No Roger Federer. His time in the spotlight is waning and his remaining time is his farewell tour. It is a time of great sadness for tennis as all links to the game that formerly was are null and void. This ship is rudderless and what is more it is a ship of fools. There is no captain at the helm. If only we could resurrect Harry Hopman. To right the ship. It is listing and preparing for the big dive. Davey Jones locker. No matter...the band plays on. Just as it did for the movie titled appropriately about the sinking of the Titanic. Down it went nevertheless. Unless...someone shows up to save the day.

It is well that Novak Djokovic shows up for this and even better that the future "GOAT" as some have already have him pegged will meet him in the second round. This is if Jannik Sinner reaches the second. It is a tad early to crown Jannik Sinner the heir apparent. He is going to have to clear a couple of hurdles first. In fact, he is going to have to clear many, many hurdles and there is really no point in loading him with any more pressure than there already is. Teach him to live in the moment and to play in the moment. Time will come and what will be, will come what may. I am looking forwards to these two facing off. Both of them as boring as the day is long on Midsummer Night in Sweden. Land of the midnight sun.

Daniel Evans in the house as well. He decided to play some serve and volley and net attack in the clay court tourney last week and he lived by the sword and died by the sword. God bless him. It was actually a courageous performance just as it was against Roger Federer a couple of weeks ago. He extended Federer to the point where it was only going through the motions the next day as his ancient body could not answer the bell. Tired as hell. I know the feeling. But Daniel doesn't disappoint. I really like this guy. He has got some nerve. Some ridicule him for some past transgressions but what the hell, I say he who is without sin cast the first stone. He has learned some tough lessons and life and he at least has scored one rocking looking babe. At the very least. This guy is a winner...no matter what the results of any given match. He is actually playing tennis.

Rafael Nadal in the house with a whole new look. Seeded number three. I hardly recognise him. It is a good look for him and I don't expect it will make a whole lot of difference. Depending on his mood it will be a matter of who shows up. This is just practice for the umpteen time winner of the French Open and this is all he is looking at. He wants to bag another French. It might just be a bit tougher for him if he goes in as the number three seed though. Calculating into the future...the unknown. One never knows what the future holds. It would be very interesting to see him play Daniil Medvedev in the semis here but "Mr. Pencil" is still an unknown in the world of clay court tennis.

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/cu...arlo/410/draws

[don_budge]

Match of the Day...for stroke. Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. Bernard Tomic.

[stroke]

Match of the Day...for stroke. Pierre-Hugues Herbert vs. Bernard Tomic.

Ha, oddsmakers seriously had Tomic at a 1% chance of winning that match. Not sure I have ever seen such odds. I would be curious how Bernard even got into qualies with his ranking. Then Bernard goes out there and wins it in 2 sets. A bet of $100 on Bernard would have returned $10,000.

Seriously though, match of the day has to be young Alcaraz vs Munar.

[don_budge]

Ha, oddsmakers seriously had Tomic at a 1% chance of winning that match. Not sure I have ever seen such odds. I would be curious how Bernard even got into qualies with his ranking. Then Bernard goes out there and wins it in 2 sets. A bet of $100 on Bernard would have returned $10,000.

Seriously though, match of the day has to be young Alcaraz vs Munar.

That was definitely match of the day in Madrid. Those odds were unheard of. I would have bet a hundred if I would have known that. Are you sure of the odds? How could that possibly be? That would be asking for some shady action I would think. Herbert could have a "friend" put a bunch down and made a killing. Something fishy smelling. No surprise Tomic was involved.

[stroke]

Db, I am not certain those were the "universal" odds on the Tomic match, but they were the odds on the outlet that I checked. Alcarez lost his match just as Sinner did in the finals of his last tournament. Too many errors off their biggest shot, their forehand. Both have massive forehands with extreme flip/racquet lag, but they both seem to have a difficult time decision wise of tuning it down some when it is not working. They both love the video game like OMG did you see that type winners off that wing. Karatsev in that club also. They certainly don't subscribe to the Nadal notion of wearing your opponent down with body blows, and treating errors as an abomination.

[stroke]

A lot of good matches to tee up this tournament tomorrow. Masters 1000, it is definitely on from the jump. I have always felt these 1000's are pretty close difficultly wise to win as the Majors.

[don_budge]

2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo Match of the Day...Lorenzo Musseti vs. Aslan Karatsov

A lot of good matches to tee up this tournament tomorrow. Masters 1000, it is definitely on from the jump. I have always felt these 1000's are pretty close difficultly wise to win as the Majors.

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/monte-carlo/410/draws

The draw sheet always tells a story and in the early rounds it is providing a preview of the things to come. This gives all of the amateur prognosticators the opportunity to speculate on things to come. How about that? Early rounds are just that. Simply a bit of foreplay. But at the 2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo there is one match that is of particular interest for a couple of reasons. Maybe even three. The match of the day belongs to Lorenzo Musetti and Aslan Karatsev. Two reasons that this match is interesting is simply because of the participants. The third reason is they are playing for the right to play Stefanos Tsitsipas. You can see how the drama might be worth a peek.

I was looking at the upper top eight participants for some interest but I am not too certain it will materialise. We have a possible second round encounter with the current GOAT of the day versus the GOAT of tomorrow. Of course I don't believe that either is a GOAT at all. But there has been some loose talk. Then in the bottom four of this section we have a possible match in the second round with Daniel Evans and Hubert Hurkacz. Evans is one of my favourite tour players at the time being because he alone has the balls to play all court tennis. Hubert Hurkacz is of interest only because he was a finalist in the last ATP 1000 event in Miami against Jannik Sinner. There are a number of semi interesting permutations here.

The rest of the draw you can have. Just more of the same old...same old. Let's get this party started.

[stroke]

Karatsev definitely match of the day. He can boss just about like no other when in full flight. I do not like Evans chances vs Hurcacz, should they both get there. Hurcacz has a great serve and is really solid in all phases on the game. A very dangerous player.

[stroke]

Looks like a rainy forecast along with no fans. As Beniot Paire might say, well nevermind. Obviously, the 2 favorites Rafael and Novak. A lot of possible contenders, Stef, Rublev, Berrettini, Sinner, maybe even Karatsev, Ruud, and FAA.

[arturohernandez]

Looks like a rainy forecast along with no fans. As Beniot Paire might say, well nevermind. Obviously, the 2 favorites Rafael and Novak. A lot of possible contenders, Stef, Rublev, Berrettini, Sinner, maybe even Karatsev, Ruud, and FAA.

Is Shapo in a permanent sophomore slump? I was hoping he would be the next one to pop out. Youzhny is teaching him to slice and play more measured tennis.

He always stays close but cannot quite get over the top. My feeling is that his defense is not as good as the very top players. His offense is great but defense wins championships. Just ask Jordan whose bulls won championships while scoring just enough at the end of a game.

Like Djokovic who just neutralizes and defends until others miss. Or Rafa that tracks everything down on clay.

[stroke]

Denis not in the draw. Don't know why. Clay does not seem to be his best surface. I would have liked to have seen Sébastien Korda in this draw. Denis still plays at only one speed. The best clay court players employ the good hands touch game to utilize the whole court. I have said before, the clay court swing is my favorite. It takes such physicality and mental patience to win on clay. Such a test.

[stroke]

Karatsev brought his video game "did you see that" shot making to take out Musetti in 2 sets. He is basicly playing his hard court game on the clay. Shock and awe tennis. His forehand averaged 57 RPS, which is very high. And that is combined obviously with very high mph's. He could beat anyone if he is on it seems. Musetti completely bullied out there. And Karatsev does not give up ground. Not much chance at all for anyone to use the drop shot on him. He also really attacks the return of serve. Musetti, who is a great mover, several times could not even make an attempt at retrieving some of the shots coming at him.

[don_budge]

2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo Match of the Day...Lorenzo Musseti vs. Aslan Karatsov

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/monte-carlo/410/draws

The draw sheet always tells a story and in the early rounds it is providing a preview of the things to come. This gives all of the amateur prognosticators the opportunity to speculate on things to come. How about that? Early rounds are just that. Simply a bit of foreplay. But at the 2021 Rolex Monte-Carlo there is one match that is of particular interest for a couple of reasons. Maybe even three. The match of the day belongs to Lorenzo Musetti and Aslan Karatsev. Two reasons that this match is interesting is simply because of the participants. The third reason is they are playing for the right to play Stefanos Tsitsipas. You can see how the drama might be worth a peek.

I was looking at the upper top eight participants for some interest but I am not too certain it will materialise. We have a possible second round encounter with the current GOAT of the day versus the GOAT of tomorrow. Of course I don't believe that either is a GOAT at all. But there has been some loose talk. Then in the bottom four of this section we have a possible match in the second round with Daniel Evans and Hubert Hurkacz. Evans is one of my favourite tour players at the time being because he alone has the balls to play all court tennis. Hubert Hurkacz is of interest only because he was a finalist in the last ATP 1000 event in Miami against Jannik Sinner. There are a number of semi interesting permutations here.

The rest of the draw you can have. Just more of the same old...same old. Let's get this party started.

Aslan Karatsev applied the hammer to young Lorenzo Musetti to earn a shot a Stefanos Tsitsipas, which might just turn into a very, very interesting confrontation. The young Italian showed some real moxie though and didn't take it laying down. He went down swinging. I didn't get the impression that he was so overwhelmed by the weight of Karatsev's ground strokes like I have seen others...but he was nevertheless. Karatsev landing some real haymakers. When he was missing, he was missing really big. By big, I mean he was hammering it.

Aslan Karatsev vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas will be the match of the day no matter what day they play it on. If Jannik Sinner plays Novak Djokovic...that will have to take a back seat. If Karatsev shows up to play it will be some real slam, bam, thank you ma'am tennis.

[stroke]

I think it will come down to Karatsev's error count management. It is on his racquet, even vs Stef to me, and that is saying something. Match of the day no doubt, but Novak vs Sinner not far behind.

[don_budge]

Match of the day no doubt, but Novak vs Sinner not far behind.

Even if Sinner and Djokovic was on the same day, and they are not, they would take a distant backseat. Very, very distant. If that match materialises it will be a snooze fest of epic proportions between the two most boring "GOAT's" ever. Coming soon...Aslan Karatsev vs. Stefanos Tsitsipas!!! I think for a second round tennis match this one escapes my designation of foreplay. This could be the main course. The real deal. You can almost feel it. Should it live up to the possibilities.