ATP Masters 1000: MIAMI

luvsports! wrote:Dimi is now 4-1 down vs Monfils. I didn't expect him to win.

Thr H2H makes sense as Dimi does not have weapons to trouble Monf too much.

It was more of a hope he would use the confidence after beating Murray...the score looks close.

Monf has a new Swedish coach who is trying to discipline him.
I watched him the other week playing with a serious face.

It looked weird and unnatural.

At least he is trying...

Shame for him to have such a poor slam record. He deserved at least a few semis or a final.

Djoko Goffin shoudl be good. I was surprised by David's footwork. he will be a bery tricky player for Djoko. Goffin is also 25, same age as Raonic. I think he might do better than Rao in teh near future.

I saw some of Simon -Goffin.

Simon played his standard tennis and won the first set easily with that no-rush-00:40-down-on-his-serve-no-problem-I'll just-make a-bit-more-effort-and-win-the -game kind of style.

Goffin played well, but Simon thought he had the match in the bag (just like against Zverev the other week).

And then....all hell broke loose and Goffin started striking the ball very aggressively, painting the lines, corners, going for his shots like there is no tomorrow.

At first, Simon tried to contain him with counterpunching, but Goffin's shots were too good and too fast.
He made high risk look low risk - that's how good he was.

Simon even tried playing more aggressively and broke back in the second set, but there was no stopping Goffin.

He is playing with great confidence, and what a difference that confidence is making in his case!

Nole will have to work hard just like against Thiem, as I've read he had back issues against Berdych last night.

Goffin's serve will have to be perfect all match, and that will be his main problem.

Miami has been good. 

Lots of young players making later rounds and the good young players at that!

Goffin and Thiem both aggressive and with excellent competing temper.

Kyrgios is still around, too, but I suppose tennis needs a new villain 

though...Kyrgios is a pussycat compared to Nadal...he is all talk, "front", veneer,  stupid haircuts etc...aaaaah...even villains aren't what they used to be...

noleisthebest wrote:
though...Kyrgios is a pussycat compared to Nadal...he is all talk, "front", veneer,  stupid haircuts etc...aaaaah...even villains aren't what they used to be...

Haha, Kyrgios tries hard to be your villain, but he's no natural like Nadal.

Face it NITB, there's no one quite like Nadal, he's not easily replaced. He'd get eyes to the TV, either his fans who desperately want him to win, or his haters who wanted to see him get beat. The fact he Vamos'd and was desperate to win every single point like no other player made the stakes even higher.

DONALD TRUMP wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:
though...Kyrgios is a pussycat compared to Nadal...he is all talk, "front", veneer,  stupid haircuts etc...aaaaah...even villains aren't what they used to be...

Haha, Kyrgios tries hard to be your villain, but he's no natural like Nadal.

Face it NITB, there's no one quite like Nadal, he's not easily replaced. He'd get eyes to the TV, either his fans who desperately want him to win, or his haters who wanted to see him get beat. The fact he Vamos'd and was desperate to win every single point like no other player made the stakes even higher.

You're right!

He is even daring to take Rafa on!

C'mom Nishi. Monfils is going to be too tired v Kyrgios or Raonic.

Nishi shots are really impressive. so close to net and lines...Shame about his serve.

Nishi saves 5MPs......to win in the TB.

From what I saw he desrved it.

Reminds me of the match in Paris between Federer and Monfils were Monfils saved 5 MPs and won....looks like it was pay back time today!

Tenez, who would you say is a better player out of Goffin and Djokovic ?
Will Goffin ever reach Djokovic's level ?

I found the Monfils-Nishi match boring.

Nishi is a Japanese robot, nothing else there. 
Like an 80s getto blaster with all those flashing lights...When his battery goes flat - that's it.

Monf is a lazy clown.

And that's his good edition because at least he has fun like that.

Now with the new coach, he is trying to be serious, and it isn't working. He is sad and boring.

He is definitely not a robot.

All that will remain in my memory from the little I saw of this match is dull CC BH exchanges.

No, thanks.

DONALD TRUMP wrote:Tenez, who would you say is a better player out of Goffin and Djokovic ?
Will Goffin ever reach Djokovic's level ?

I certainly think he can. he might not be as strong mentally though. Simply because he has less margins in his shots.

being the better player is one thing reaching a higher level is another. I think David can reach higher levels than Djoko but will always be less consistent. Same as Stan and Djoko. Stan can reach higher levels of play...but reproducing those consistently is tougher. Djoko has the best compromise...so far.

noleisthebest wrote:I found the Monfils-Nishi match boring.
Nishi is a Japanese robot, nothing else there. 
Like an 80s getto blaster with all those flashing lights...When his battery goes flat - that's it.
Monf is a lazy clown.

And that's his good edition because at least he has fun like that.
Now with the new coach, he is trying to be serious, and it isn't working. He is sad and boring.
He is definitely not a robot.
All that will remain in my memory from the little I saw of this match is dull CC BH exchanges.
No, thanks.

Wow...I did not see that. I saw a gutsy Nishi playing very powerful and accurate shots and a Monfils having to cover lots of ground because of his defensive/gutless approach.

I really like Nishi's game.

should Rao win this evening , he'll get back into the top 10.

Tenez wrote:
Wow...I did not see that. I saw a gutsy Nishi playing very powerful and accurate shots and a Monfils having to cover lots of ground because of his defensive/gutless approach.

I really like Nishi's game.

To be fair, I did only see three points from 2:4 in the third set TB...and that's exactly what they both looked like.

I think Nishi doesn't have a game, but he does have an exquisite ball striking talent and is letting his "game" in the way of it.

How else can we explain his relatively poor serve?

Look at Mannarino's serve - that's talent.

Where does Nishi's talent disappear when ti comes to his serving?

It's a mystery because nobody can strike the ball like him without superb hand to eye coordination i.e. talent.

Tenez wrote:should Rao win this evening , he'll get back into the top 10.

I seriosly think his dual nationality is preventing him from playing better/ flying free.

Montenegrins are upright, proud and even a touch stiff as a nation, Milos trying to be Canadian is tightening him even more - the pressure of paying back what the new country gave to him.

It's all there ready to go regarding tennis, I think. He just needs to relax. Pronto.

Here is their national dance, and you can get the idea of their demenour from this clip.



You can see the clash he's got inside him, can't you?

Two exciting semis today!


I can't see Goffin beat Nole, but am very curious how Nishi will handle Kygios.

It will be a good test of his character and heart and an indication of what we can expect from him.

I think he'll cower into submission, same as he did against Nadal last week.

I just read that Monfils blew 5 match points....

What is the matter with him?

noleisthebest wrote:I just read that Monfils blew 5 match points....

What is the matter with him?

 Monfils' tennis is of that brand. He has many matches won after saving match points. So if a match goes that far.. the scale can tilt in the other half too.

Tenez wrote:

DONALD TRUMP wrote:Tenez, who would you say is a better player out of Goffin and Djokovic ?
Will Goffin ever reach Djokovic's level ?

I certainly think he can. he might not be as strong mentally though. Simply because he has less margins in his shots.

being the better player is one thing reaching a higher level is another. I think David can reach higher levels than Djoko but will always be less consistent. Same as Stan and Djoko. Stan can reach higher levels of play...but reproducing those consistently is tougher. Djoko has the best compromise...so far.

Well summarized. Djokovic usually doesn't have fluctuations in his level, that why he can be so consistent. So on an average, he will be better than the opponent. It would always take some mighty level of performance to beat him, especially in bo5.

Having said that Djoko is a player with quite a bit of ups and down, more than the others if anything....in a match. Can last 3 games or a set...but it hardly ever lasts a whole 2 or 3 sets.

noleisthebest wrote:Two exciting semis today!

I can't see Goffin beat Nole, but am very curious how Nishi will handle Kygios.

Kyrgios has a big game and Nishikori doesn't handle this type of game well. He lost vs. Cilic, Raonic, Wawrinka, Tsonga. A major reason might be his weak hold game. He is under pressure from the start because he's very breakable and those guys pack a punch on their serve.

So he must dominate the baseline exchanges to have any chance. With the power Kyrgios can generate Nishikori will be put on the defensive more often than not and that's not a position he is very comfortable with. If Kyrgios is up to it tonight (his mentality is always questionable and his game can be on/off), I consider him the favourite. Such a pity this is the late match, so I won't watch it. So much more interesting than the predictable Goffin-Djok.

noleisthebest wrote:I just read that Monfils blew 5 match points....

What is the matter with him?

He's gutless and has no bottle - which is why he has never won a slam.

FedererKing wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I just read that Monfils blew 5 match points....

What is the matter with him?

He's gutless and has no bottle - which is why he has never won a slam.

You certainly don't beat about the bush, FK!

I think he is more lazy than gutless.
I can't imagine him ploughing through university books day and night for an exam...very similar to Dolgo, except that Dolgo plays with no pressure or expectations much and really goes for it!

Autumnleaf wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Two exciting semis today!

I can't see Goffin beat Nole, but am very curious how Nishi will handle Kygios.

Kyrgios has a big game and Nishikori doesn't handle this type of game well. He lost vs. Cilic, Raonic, Wawrinka, Tsonga. A major reason might be his weak hold game. He is under pressure from the start because he's very breakable and those guys pack a punch on their serve.

So he must dominate the baseline exchanges to have any chance. With the power Kyrgios can generate Nishikori will be put on the defensive more often than not and that's not a position he is very comfortable with. If Kyrgios is up to it tonight (his mentality is always questionable and his game can be on/off), I consider him the favourite. Such a pity this is the late match, so I won't watch it. So much more interesting than the predictable Goffin-Djok.

Interesting.
I also checked his H2H with Berdych, but he seems to handle him well, 4:1.

Nishi is so talented there is no reason why he shouldn't be able to move any big player around.

I'll pay attention to his returning and how he hits his FH this evening.
From memory his swing is not as clean and compact as it should be for someone of his exceptional ability.

Tenez wrote:Having said that Djoko is a player with quite a bit of ups and down, more than the others if anything....in a match. Can last 3 games or a set...but it hardly ever lasts a whole 2 or 3 sets.

Similar to Murray, just managing energy levels probably.
Dxcept that Murray really sinks fast once he's spent and Nole, like Simon, being light can keep going.

noleisthebest wrote:I also checked his H2H with Berdych, but he seems to handle him well, 4:1.

Berdych is so onedimensional and predictable compared to Kyrgios. For a guy his height he doesn't even have a great serve. Kyrgios otoh is so explosive with impressive touch, his footwork isn't great (yet, I'd think he can improve vastly there), looks almost lazy and he can still hit great shots with remarkable ease. Greatest talent among the youngsters right now imho and accordingly broke top 20 this week, can easily be top 10 by the end of the year.

Gotta admit I'm a fan of his game, although not of his personality.  Then again - his devil may care attitude might just help him facing the big guns.

I loved Kyrgios when he beat Nadal in Wimbledon.

Then came that disaster with Stan.

Then I saw him in Wimbledon 15 (or was that before the Stan-gate?) and got really disappointed not just with the personality but the game as well.

He does  have an easy serve but how does he fare against good returners? 

His ball striking is far from clean.

I think he is is a natural athlete, similar to Monfils.

I also think he is a gutless player. He sticks to the basline  playing bland bashing tennis wheress he could easily finish points off at the net with serving and volleying.

He talks all the time, even during play which is unacceptable.

He could have been a promising number one, but unfortunatley for him, money can't buy him a good brain.

Which returners are good enough? He hasn't played Djokovic yet. He lost vs. Murray last year iirc, but gave a good account of himself and improved a lot since last year, especially on return. Last year he was struggling vs. Gasquet, this year he dismissed him.

Not sure why you think he is gutless. He takes the ball very early, to the point of doing some kind of SABR on return sometimes.  He certainly goes for his shots and gives the audience a spectacle (hotshots). He doesn't use much netplay (have seen him using some), but who does among the most successful modern players? It's not a winning strategy anymore, unless used rarely to add variety and give the opponent another look. More important are sound fundamentals on the groundstrokes. Yes, Kyrgios is also a natural athlete.

Completely agreed wrt attitude. When something is not working for him, he acts like a spoilt child. I have heard there were some problems last year within his family, so hopefully he will grow out of his immaturity. Talent alone isn't enough, he must put in the hard yards to make something off his undeniable talent.

noleisthebest wrote:I loved Kyrgios when he beat Nadal in Wimbledon.

Then came that disaster with Stan.

Then I saw him in Wimbledon 15 (or was that before the Stan-gate?) and got really disappointed not just with the personality but the game as well.

He does  have an easy serve but how does he fare against good returners? 

His ball striking is far from clean.

I think he is is a natural athlete, similar to Monfils.

I also think he is a gutless player. He sticks to the basline  playing bland bashing tennis wheress he could easily finish points off at the net with serving and volleying.

He talks all the time, even during play which is unacceptable.

He could have been a promising number one, but unfortunatley for him, money can't buy him a good brain.

That is one thing about him that is striking and it is his body posture. It is weird to see such a good player so humpbacked. Sampras was alike, but he has a real brain.

Autumnleaf wrote:Which returners are good enough? He hasn't played Djokovic yet. He lost vs. Murray last year iirc, but gave a good account of himself and improved a lot since last year, especially on return. Last year he was struggling vs. Gasquet, this year he dismissed him.

Not sure why you think he is gutless. He takes the ball very early, to the point of doing some kind of SABR on return sometimes.  He certainly goes for his shots and gives the audience a spectacle (hotshots). He doesn't use much netplay (have seen him using some), but who does among the most successful modern players? It's not a winning strategy anymore, unless used rarely to add variety and give the opponent another look. More important are sound fundamentals on the groundstrokes. Yes, Kyrgios is also a natural athlete.

Completely agreed wrt attitude. When something is not working for him, he acts like a spoilt child. I have heard there were some problems last year within his family, so hopefully he will grow out of his immaturity. Talent alone isn't enough, he must put in the hard yards to make something off his undeniable talent.

Fed dealt wity him easily, too (minus that one loss, was it injury?)

I didn't notice Kyrgios taking the ball early. His height  helps with the increasing current high-bouncing topspin ball-striking.

All he does is sometimes step inside the court on second serves.

I don't fall for trick-shots. Most players can pull off those.

It's winning and playing those that counts.

The way I'd describe his talent is: very dirty in need of lot of polish.
The only pure thing about his game for me is his serve.

The rest doesn't stand out. He isn't even in Monfils's league. I haven't seen evidence of his hands yet.

He is a classic young player who's gone through basic groundstriking phase.
He has a long way to go.

paulcz wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I loved Kyrgios when he beat Nadal in Wimbledon.

Then came that disaster with Stan.

Then I saw him in Wimbledon 15 (or was that before the Stan-gate?) and got really disappointed not just with the personality but the game as well.

He does  have an easy serve but how does he fare against good returners? 

His ball striking is far from clean.

I think he is is a natural athlete, similar to Monfils.

I also think he is a gutless player. He sticks to the basline  playing bland bashing tennis wheress he could easily finish points off at the net with serving and volleying.

He talks all the time, even during play which is unacceptable.

He could have been a promising number one, but unfortunatley for him, money can't buy him a good brain.

That is one thing about him that is striking and it is his body posture. It is weird to see such a good player so humpbacked. Sampras was alike, but he has a real brain.

You're right!

There is something ape-like about both...

noleisthebest wrote:Fed dealt wity him easily, too.

He did? Must have missed it when Fed won a match vs. Kyrgios.  In the match I saw he was very troubled by Kyrgios's serve and couldn't convert any of the match points he had on Nick's serve in the 3rd set tiebreak. Honestly, that was an impressive win by Nick, because Fed actually wasn't playing bad.

It's clear you don't like him. But he is the youngest player inside the top 20 since a very long time. Raonic, who has a bigger serve than Kyrgios, was ranked well below 20 at the same age and without impressive wins. So there must be something about him. As you say - it's hard nowadays to post good results as a youngster and yet he does it. How, if there is nothing special about him?

I actually think Kyrgios has a better serve than Raonic.

Yet, it's Raonic who was serving and volleying when he was 20.

Nole's got his work cut out against Goffin today!

Like he is playing a light version of himself. Balls keep coming back fast, deep and accurate.

Goffin is doing to Nole what Nole is doing to Murray: draining him being more energy efficient.

The only difference is Nole doesn't drain as fast as Murray and has a better serve

....and is not scared of moving inside the court. I like that.

What a fantastic set of tennis from both!

Great match and a great win for Nole.

Goffan did the young genereration proud and have Nole probably the toughest and most physical match since AO12.

Really happy for him, he's played so well today from finish to start.

Only a few silly mistakes cost him the match.

It's tough to keep the head cool in Miami heat.

Pleasantly surprised by Goffin who I like quite a lot, especially his great CC backhand. Davydenko like - light and fast. Will make top 10 soon, if he can keep it up.

The match hinged on a few points here or there, Djok supreme confidence got him through, Goffin looked "a little" tight at times, especially after his break in the first set and he played a terrible tiebreak with a series of UFEs, especially 2nd serve return, but also a botched short FH and a comical OH. Djok lucky with the netcord on SP and his passingshot might have been wide. Goffin seemed rather drained at the end, with Djok it's hard to tell because he is acting tired sometimes. For sure intensity dropped overall in the 2nd set.

Djok also rolled his ankle in the 2nd set and got a time violation... He surely knows how to bend rules to his advantage.

noleisthebest wrote:I actually think Kyrgios has a better serve than Raonic.

Yet, it's Raonic who was serving and  volleying when he was 20.

Is S&V a winning strategy in this power baseline era iyo? It wasn't Raonic who made 2 different major QFs as a teen - first player to do so since young Fed was no other than Kyrgios. That's quite a rare achievement in this time and age where the top ten has an average of almost 30.

I don't remember young Raonic using the net so much...he still looks mechanical there, although very competent by now. He said that he used his injury timeout to improve his netgame. From what I remember he was the big serve & FH type back then.

Autumnleaf wrote:Pleasantly surprised by Goffin who I like quite a lot, especially his great CC backhand. Davydenko like - light and fast. Will make top 10 soon, if he can keep it up.

The match hinged on a few points here or there, Djok supreme confidence got him through, Goffin looked "a little" tight at times, especially after his break in the first set and he played a terrible tiebreak with a series of UFEs, especially 2nd serve return, but also a botched short FH and a comical OH. Djok lucky with the netcord on SP and his passingshot might have been wide. Goffin seemed rather drained at the end, with Djok it's hard to tell because he is acting tired sometimes. For sure intensity dropped overall in the 2nd set.

Djok also rolled his ankle in the 2nd set and got a time violation... He surely knows how to bend rules to his advantage.

Unfortunately I could not see it...but yes looks like it was close. and I am pretty sure Goffin was doing most of the attacking. An inch taller and he woudl have most likely won that match with a much better serve. That's actually Djoko's great advantage. He is tall yet moves better than Ferrer.

Tenez wrote:

Autumnleaf wrote:Pleasantly surprised by Goffin who I like quite a lot, especially his great CC backhand. Davydenko like - light and fast. Will make top 10 soon, if he can keep it up.

The match hinged on a few points here or there, Djok supreme confidence got him through, Goffin looked "a little" tight at times, especially after his break in the first set and he played a terrible tiebreak with a series of UFEs, especially 2nd serve return, but also a botched short FH and a comical OH. Djok lucky with the netcord on SP and his passingshot might have been wide. Goffin seemed rather drained at the end, with Djok it's hard to tell because he is acting tired sometimes. For sure intensity dropped overall in the 2nd set.

Djok also rolled his ankle in the 2nd set and got a time violation... He surely knows how to bend rules to his advantage.

Unfortunately I could not see it...but yes looks like it was close. and I am pretty sure Goffin was doing most of the attacking. An inch taller and he woudl have most likely won that match with a much better serve. That's actually Djoko's great advantage. He is tall yet moves better than Ferrer.

Anyhow, Goffin won;t wait for Djoko to decline to play better than him. he already plays better than Djoko 2012 (same age).

Do you think Goffin playing as he is now, would win 3 slams in 2011 ?

DONALD TRUMP wrote:Do you think Goffin playing as he is now, would win 3 slams in 2011 ?

I did not see the match today but "playing as is", I'd say yes. Mentally? probably not.

Look at 2011...it's bloody slow compared to today's game. Watch Nadal and Djoko having crazy long rallies. Also, in 2011, they could not play their marathon games with the 25s rule enforced.

Don't underestimate those extra secs between points, nor the faster rallies. It makes a huge difference in results. Djoko had another close call today....and the more Goffin will play him, the quicker he will get teh better of him .Djoko plays with confidence now....but when the opposition will get clearly better, his mind will melt down, like it happened to your boy!

And your question reminds me a discussion I had on old 606.

I was saying back then that davydenko (then a journey player) was a better player than Kafelnikov. My argument back then, despite seeing it as obvious to me, was that at 28yo Kafel had a close game v 21yo Davydenko and a year later Davydenko creamed Kafel.

Would Davydenko have won as many slams as Kafel had he had turned up in the mid 90s with his 00s game? Of course!

Autumnleaf wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I actually think Kyrgios has a better serve than Raonic.

Yet, it's Raonic who was serving and  volleying when he was 20.

Is S&V a winning strategy in this power baseline era iyo? It wasn't Raonic who made 2 different major QFs as a teen - first player to do so since young Fed was no other than Kyrgios. That's quite a rare achievement in this time and age where the top ten has an average of almost 30.

I don't remember young Raonic using the net so much...he still looks mechanical there, although very competent by now. He said that he used his injury timeout to improve his netgame. From what I remember he was the big serve & FH type back then.

I do.
He was a different player when he started. Longish wavy hair and free flowing attacking, classic American school of tennis.

I watched him win many tournaments during dead American hard court seasons between Wimbledon and Toronto/Montreal.

I even gave him a clap in O2 when he won the Young player of the year award (can't remember which year it was...).

Then came the darkest hour of men's tennis, 2012&13 when Nadal raised physical bar through the roof and sent many young players to the gym to injure their overloaded bodies amd change their game.

Raonic, Dimi all became baseline players. Diminhad a better fitness trainer aka coach - Rasheed who probably managed to keep him injury free, but Raonic was not as lfortunate and is physically more fragile & injury prone.

And that's it.

Kyrgios is lucky he was born 5 years later.

Regarding whether S&V is a good " strategy" atm, of course it is, just ask Federer. If a 34 can SABR...why can't younger players, too?


It "just" requires a good serve and a lot of guts. It is not for the weak hearted.
(Kyrgios is such an egomaniac he couldn't live with being passed at the net.
He'd lose his face...and yet he is so, tough! he is that kind of an idiot... )

And talent and good footwork.

Now you tell me which of these boxes Kyrgios ticks?

Tenez wrote:Unfortunately I could not see it...but yes looks like it was close. and I am pretty sure Goffin was doing most of the attacking. An inch taller and he woudl have most likely won that match with a much better serve. That's actually Djoko's great advantage. He is tall yet moves better than Ferrer.

How did you guess that Goffin did most of the attacking?  He surely had most of the winners. The differences on serve were surprisingly small, Djok hasn't really served great in Miami so far and his return was subpar as well in that match. Goffin had quite a few service winners and only really troubled in one service game apart from the ones where he was actually broken. 

But - yeah, a better serve would certainly have been helpful. Djok had to fend off some BPs which he mostly did admirably. Most difference was in the long rallies (9+) of which Djok won an awful lot more than Goffin. And there were many of those...

Tenez wrote:Look at 2011...it's bloody slow compared to today's game.

I recently came across some numbers, not sure if they are known already.


This is rally FH speed on HCs from 2009/10. It's measured with some kind of software by the author of this site:

http://blog.tennisspeed.com/2011/01/forehand-speed-and-spin-rates-of-atp.html

It doesn't seem to be very different from the speed shown on the screen sometimes during the match by Hawkeye data. I was quite surprised by the spin rate given in this sample. Is the data even correct?

Autumnleaf wrote:

This is rally FH speed on HCs from 2009/10. It's measured with some kind of software by the author of this site:

http://blog.tennisspeed.com/2011/01/forehand-speed-and-spin-rates-of-atp.html

It doesn't seem to be very different from the speed shown on the screen sometimes during the match by Hawkeye data. I was quite surprised by the spin rate given in this sample. Is the data even correct?

Those numbers (average shot speed and spin) only tell one side of the story....Like serve I guess they are measured as the ball leaves the racquet. It doesn;t say how close you are on the baseline dictating the game.  To me they are not really important. What is important is how long lasts a 15 or 20 shot rally.....and there you see a substancial difference, if you work out an average of those. If you have to hit 10 shots in 12s insteaf of 14 seconds, you are effectively covering as much ground and need to execute precisely in nearly 20% less time.

This is how the game went from 2011 to now. In 2007 USO between Blake and Federer it was actually played 20% faster than in 2011...2011/2012 was a very slow period. But back then it was the apogee of the lung busting tennis.

I'm actually not that impressed by Kyrgios game. However I think he will do well cause he wants to and can grate on his opponents.  A la Nadal. I doubt he will ever have the professionalism required to  succeed at the very  top.

I knew he was going to lose last night and a fitter Rao would have beaten him.

Wow very lucky Djoko in that TB. Goffin really lacked composure there.