cinch Championships...ATP 500...London, Great Britain

[don_budge]

Andy Murray defeats Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-2 which is news. Just how big remains to be seen. He plays Matteo Berrettini next. Andy is sorely missed to balance the draw sheet. Daniel Evans another English bloke looking to make an impression on the home crowd. Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov the second seed playing Feliciano Lopez in the second round.

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/london/311/draws

[glacierguy]

Thanks for starting this one don_budge.

Wanted to give shout out to Jack Draper for beating Sinner 7-6, 7-6 in first round - his first ATP main draw win. Sinner looked unsure of his footing on grass, but Draper was worth the win.

[don_budge]

Thanks for starting this one don_budge.

Wanted to give shout out to Jack Draper for beating Sinner 7-6, 7-6 in first round - his first ATP main draw win. Sinner looked unsure of his footing on grass, but Draper was worth the win.

Thanks for bringing Jack Draper to our attention. A nineteen year old beats another nineteen year old phenom. That's impressive! Then he takes down the explosive Alexander Bublik by the identical score...7-6, 7-6. Six foot three inches tall and left handed. I definitely want to scout him in the next round against Cameron Norrie. A big match for the young fellow and let's see how he reacts to the situation.

[stroke]

I am going to try and watch young Draper tomorrow. Today I saw Herbert, Ugo, take out Alex, no surprise to me. 2 more non surprises, Berrettini routining Murray, and Bash looking very good, as he can sometimes.

[stotty]

Murray bombs out to Berrettini as expected but Murray will be disappointed. I watched FAA beat Roger in Halle. I think players are probably losing their fear of Roger. FAA was low key in his celebration...almost as if he felt it should be expected he beat an old codger of 39 years old.

No Rafa at Wimbledon and Roger struggling to hit any kind of form. It could be a very wide open contest at SW19 this year.

[don_budge]

Murray bombs out to Berrettini as expected but Murray will be disappointed. I watched FAA beat Roger in Halle. I think players are probably losing their fear of Roger. FAA was low key in his celebration...almost as if he felt it should be expected he beat an old codger of 39 years old.

No Rafa at Wimbledon and Roger struggling to hit any kind of form. It could be a very wide open contest at SW19 this year.

I didn't think Andy Murray looked so bad, stotty. Berrettini throws a lot of heat at you but Andy has game. Even if he isn't 100 percent, he is cagey. It was difficult to assess just where he is at in his recovery or if he will ever be a factor again. What a shame his career was curtailed like it was. Even though Sir Andy isn't the most likeable or the most charismatic, you need guys like him. He was always a factor in any given tournament and pretty darn competitive. He threw some underpin at Berrettini's forehand that pretty much neutralised it on a shot by shot basis. He just couldn't sustain it. Whether it is his impaired mobility or match form it was hard to tell. Murray is clever.

Roger, on the other hand, doesn't look to be so optimistic. But then again this could always be a ploy. We see how Novak can play it and Nadal hasn't necessarily given the public the straight scoop on his status at any given time. He withdrew from Wimbledon citing to extend his longevity. Personally the sooner he is gone the better. It will be interesting to see how Roger performs at Wimbledon. It wasn't as if he was concerned with the tournament in Halle. He showed some pretty good stuff in his first round and even the first set against Auger-Aliassime. The possibility exists that he is playing a "Djokovic". The "Djokovic" should find its way into the tennis lexicon being defined to some fashion of deceiving your opponent into looking as if your performance level is drastically declined and then resurrecting your game mid-match into a stellar performance. Could Roger be giving us the "Djokovic" limp leg?

[stotty]

A somewhat dodgy day over here in the UK. I live around 40 miles, as the crow flies, from Queens Club and the weather doesn't look like improving anytime soon. Good the Brits are doing rather well which is a welcome change. They tend to have half a clue on grass which puts them in good stead when playing 95% of the tour. It's a shame Norrie and Draper are going to knock each other out. I fancy Dan Evans' chances against Berrettini. He's outgunned in the mph department but knows a thing or two about slicing and dicing on grass.

Not sure what is happening with Murray mentally. He's gone all sentimental and tends to cry a lot. He backs any outlier's cause as if it's a duty to defend those he feels are marginalised. He even employed a female coach once, which was an inexplicable move that produced no results whatsoever as far as I can remember.

As to Roger...well who knows. Novak has done his bit knocking Rafa's block off a the FO. That was never a job for Roger. Roger's job now is to get in some kind of form. He needs an exquisite draw at SW19 and to be able to play super efficient tennis with no prolonged matches. Tim Henman thinks Roger still has some unfinished business at SW19. I think Tim is right but it could be too late in the day for Roger to execute any such plan.

Strange Rafa withdrew. What a clot. It's all about slams now so why would he skip one just because he feels a little weary from the FO. He has two weeks to recover and would play a couple of hapless beginners in rounds one and two.

[don_budge]

Yeah...match of the day Daniel Evans vs. Matteo Berrettini. Berrettini is a fish out of water with his extreme grip on the forehand and Evans will be looking to exploit that. Evan must really enjoy these "David and Goliath" matches. He seems to upend the big lugs a good percentage of the time. This is a very interesting match up to watch and see if Evans' game is suitable to the grass. Of course it is. More suitable that 95% of the players on the tour on the conservative side. An excellent preview of his chances at Wimbledon.

[stroke]

I have always liked Berrettini's game but have kind of felt clay was his best surface. I am beginning to think it might be grass, as his serve, which is very good, is much more of a factor. His forehand is always going to be a top 5 forehand and a big weapon. He certainly has a serviceable slice backhand and good hand skills for the grass. His forehand grip to me is not that extreme, not even as extreme as Novak or certainly not Khachanov. He seems to have no problem getting the ball up and down on low balls. He could definitely be in the pack that is in the conversation after Novak at Wimbledon to me.

[stotty]

I missed Evans v Berrettini but was surprised it was two straight. I thought he might to better. Berrettini is most certainly a clay courter playing on grass, as most are, but his forehand and serve seem to adapt pretty well to grass. I am not convinced he can make a deep run at Wimbledon but then I view most players that way as anyone can go out to anyone. On any other other surface I can make reasonable picks as to how far they might go in the draw, but at SW19 anyone can end up anywhere or nowhere. Reducing the grass court season to a month of low ranking events (excluding Wimbledon) was a terrible mistake. It should be a 3 month swing...minimum.

[stroke]

Matteo is looking strong on grass. To me, even though at first blush, particularly the very heavy forehand, seems so clay, his size is not ideal for a future FO champion. His forehand, which to me looks like a carbon copy of Fognini's, which I love, is monster. At 6'5 and probably a strong 205 pounds plus, it is just a more lethal Fognini forehand. His serve is huge. I love his grip structure and motion. His movement, which as such a big guy, is never going to be beautiful on clay, is fine on grass. He is a contender.