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1 young player has caught my eye this week in Atlanta, Emil Ruusuvuori. He has now beaten Sinner and Cam Norrie and he definitely earned the win vs both, just simply out playing them. He moves very well, very efficiently, and takes the ball early off both sides, really dictating play very well.
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Emil Ruusuvuori caught my eye too. Peripherally speaking...out of the corner of my eye. Down in Miami earlier in the year. He bagged Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Micheal Emir before losing to Jannik Sinner. I didn't watch him in Atlanta yet but I can imagine he must have made some movement developmentally speaking since late March of this year when I posted these below. Good catch...good wins over Sinner and Norrie. He got a bit of revenge on Sinner from the Miami Open and Norrie beat our favourite bad boy Nick Kyrgios earlier in the tournament. He has a better than even shot at his next opponent. What are the odds stroke? If he get through that match he is in the finals of an ATP tournament...a huge milestone.Originally posted by stroke View Post
Wow...Taylor Fritz through in three tie-breaks against the serve bot Olpelka. Next up...another serve bot Isner. Can he take out both serve bots back to back? This kind of tennis could only happen in the modern game. A sad state of affairs. The best scenario would be Fritz vs. Ruusuvuori in the finals. On the other hand an All-American final might appeal to some who think that American tennis is on the decline. Please alert jimlosaltos...somebody!
Originally posted by don_budge View Post
And They're Off...Jockeying for Position at the 2021 Miami Open (round of 32)
The draw sheet is such an interesting story. What a story it can tell. The first round at the 2021 Miami Open essentially another qualifying round to get into the main draw. The main draw of 64. How can you call it the main draw when all of the seeds get byes? Thirty-two seeds and thirty-two byes. Whatever. The second round is the foreplay. Its just a warm up to get the tournament moving. Get the juices flowing. Although Alexander Zverev didn't find it that way as he exited the Hard Rock Stadium to a young and rather unknown Finnish player named Emil Ruusuvuori. Another tough spell. Oh well. There were a couple of surprises maybe in that second round. Nothing to rock the house. Anything can happen once the ball is in play. As long as both players feel they are in it and not playing for second place. That is one good thing about the absence of the "Big Whatever". It is all up for grabs...consider Ruusuvuori. Take Sebastian Korda for instance. The win over "Fabulous" Fognini gives this young man a shot at the title...a shot at Aslan Karatsev.
So I think that as far as a match of the day it will have to share the billing between Karatsev vs. Korda and Emil Ruusuvuori vs. Micheal Ymer. It goes without saying regards the former. Karatsev is such a curiosity now. He seems to have materialised out of nowhere giving a mysterious, ethereal quality about him. The heavy groundstroke are hit with a thud and are like concrete bricks on the opponents racquet. His opponent yesterday had the audacity to come out of the corner swinging and got himself up a quick break in the match before Karatsev started landing with the heavy artillery. Still Aslan looked to be just a tad vulnerable in the beginning. A sign of form...getting used to the conditions. Plus opponents are going to start to treat him differently. They will be on their toes and aiming at that bullseye between his shoulder blades. He has earned a new profound respect but responsibility comes with that now. He is a marked man. To a player of Sebastian Korda's stature he becomes just a bit of a psychological puzzle. Korda is hungry coming off his biggest bagging in his career and he is brimming with a confidence that just might spell some trouble for the newbie Ruskie. Karatsev had better come out thumping and not missing. A good opportunity to see what Korda is made of. Karatsev as well. Getting to know you...they have never played before.
Everybody in the draw is jockeying for position now. From the top seeds in Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas down to the lowly to mid stream others. We are not into the meat of the tournament. Players are still trying to get their teeth into it. Starting to chomp at their bits somewhat. But in Mikael Ymer and Emil Ruusuvuori we have a rather interesting spectacle. Mikael has been slowly climbing his way up the food chain. He beat Nikoloz Basilashvili yesterday in a tough and hot three setter. He has had some looks at the big time players and he doesn't give off that he is necessarily afraid of what they have to offer. These two players are from neighbouring and competitive countries. A Scandinavian clash. Ymer has earned a bit more cash and more points at this point but Emil has bagged himself a big deer. One that has that deer in the headlights look ever since he broke into the top echelon. This is the problem for Zverev. He is a bit shy of being the target. You cannot be shy at that point in the career. You have to be aggressive. You gotta be like that...I remember once telling Nicki from Serbia that on the forum some years ago. You gotta be like that.
Mikael Ymer is the younger of two brothers in Sweden here who have emerged from the blasé Tennis Federation here. He doesn't have the look of going anywhere fast. His hair and clothes are a dead giveaway. The hairstyle is some sort of street version of gangsta. He has thrown in blue and purple dyes to boot. Not a good look Ymer. He'd be a handsome sort in a nice clip and traditional white clothes. But you probably cannot say that these days. They are listening. Judging. But if you want to be taken seriously, you have to look the part. My dear old tennis coach instilled that in me. I always dressed for success. Emil and Mikael get a top billing here in the jockeying phase of the tournament. The winner gets a look at the winner of Jannik Sinner and Karen Khachanov. Should Sinner emerge the winner then the section of the draw escalates in drama.
Just a couple of ideas. Food for thought. Musing to myself. It's hard to really care. Without Roger.
Originally posted by don_budge View Post
https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/cu...iami/403/draws
One more honourable mention for the second round escapades...Alexander Zverev vs. Emil Ruusuvuori. Emil is a product of Finland, who happens to be a neighbour to Sweden for you geographically challenged Americans and otherwise. He hails from Helsinki. I traveled to Helsinki a few years ago to fetch a wolf. A wolf named York. Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin a month after I was there. I like to say that I was scouting the joint for the boys. They had a rather historic meeting and neither of them threatened to annihilate the other, which was something to note historically speaking. They were making nice as the press tried their utter best to agitate them to say something terrible about each other. Ironically this is one of the reasons that I more or less got behind the Trumpster. It was a handful of policy objectives. Better relations with the Russians was high on my list. Donald Trump said one of the most politically brilliant things I have ever heard come out of the mouth of a politician, even though he was really new to the game. The press was trying to pin the blame on Putin for the poor relationship between America and Russia. President Donald Trump said that, "there was plenty of blame to go around on both sides". I will never forget that he said that. Like I said...brilliant politically speaking. When was the last time you heard a politician say something brilliant? Did you see Joe Biden yesterday? Don't get me started. Hard to believe he is the President when he is performing on a one level on a scale of one to ten. Can you say slo-mo? Bad optics.
In eleven of the sixteen matches being played in the top half of the draw the opponents are facing each other for the first time. Getting to know you...getting to know all about you.
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I'll be honest DB, did not remember your earlier spotting here ha. I too hope Emil and Fritz make in through to the final. Fritz showed great mental strength and disposition getting past Opelka in 3 tiebreaker, no breaks the entire match. Fritz fought for a break the entire match, no doubt he was much closer to a break than Opelka ever was, but it did not ever come. I did watch Norrie take down Nick, and very routinely. Norrie is in supreme shape and a real pro. Nick had absolutely no answers and is not in shape to hard hat grind with Norrie. That was what made Emil so impressive vs Norrie. Norrie was moving great and certainly engaged but he was simply overwhelmed by Emil's ball striking off both sides AND court positioning, almost hugging the baseline a la Agassi and Fed. I have long liked Fritz. I see no reason why he cannot get in at least top 10. Heck, if Fritz and Emil make the final, I may drive into Atlanta and watch it.Last edited by stroke; 07-31-2021, 05:10 AM.Comment
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