tennis gut

US Open Men’s Preview 2017 21 Aug 2017 The top ten is in disarray.  Djokovic, Wawrinka, and Nishikori have pulled the plug on the rest of the tennis year.  Murray and Cilic have been injured and haven’t played since Wimbledon.  Both Raonic and Federer pulled out of the Cincinnati 1000 with injuries, just two weeks before the US Open.  That means the top ten ‘healthy list’ for the USO is only Nadal, Alexander Zverev, and Dominic Thiem.  Talk about a golden opportunity. Of course Federer, Murray, and Cilic might still play, but there will be questions about their ability to last through two weeks of best-of-5-set matches.  If any of them are healthy they will be definite threats for the title, especially Federer who hasn’t lost a slam match this year. Nadal has looked distinctly pedestrian since his spectacular run at the French Open.  He’s lost to Nick Kyrgios, 20-something-ranked Gilles Muller, and 18-year old wildcard Denis Shapova...

US Open Women’s Preview 2017 21 Aug 2017 In this non-Serena window it may be tempting to think that ANYone can win a slam.  However, there are only about eight women who are garnering most of the wins and ranking points this year.  Looking at the year-to-date rankings there is an 800 point gap between #10 and #11 in the race points – a difference of about 40%.  That’s huge.  There is also a 500 point gap between #8 and #9. So it is at the top 8 for the year that I look for the most eligible contenders for the upcoming US Open.  The cast consists of (in YTD race order) Muguruza, Halep, Svitolina, KaPliskova, Wozniacki, VWilliams, Konta, and Ostapenko.  These women have been the most consistent, and often the most flashy, players of 2017 so far. Notably absent from this list are perennial top-tenners Sharapova, Azarenka, Kvitova, Kerber, Kuznetsova, and ARadwanska.  Aside from Radwanska, all are multiple slam winners.  They are all...