tennis gut

  There’s been an exodus of top men from the draw in Miami, especially, it seems, slam winners.   Of the eight active players who have won slams, only one is playing Miami, and he is ranked only #45, Marin Cilic.   Without the Big Four (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray), Wawrinka, Del Potro, and Thiem, we get a chance to look into the future.   Opportunity knocks for the Next Gen to prove themselves in Miami, a tournament that features the largest draw of the year outside of the slams.   First Quarter The top seed is world #2 Daniil Medvedev.   Astonishingly, if Medvedev makes the semis he would overtake Djokovic for #1 in the non-adjusted rankings.   But because of the special rankings due to covid, Djokovic’s record-setting tenure atop the official rankings (he’s just passed Federer for top spot in total weeks, at 313) looks to be safe till at least Wimbledon, maybe even the end of the year.   Medvedev has been on a tear since the Pari...

After so much sporadic play in 2020, the Australian Open last month revealed a lot.   Pretty much everyone showed up in Melbourne, including all the major pretenders for the throne. We hadn’t seen some in a while, like Ash Barty and Bianca Andreescu.   And deep runs came from unexpected quarters, like Jessica Pegula and Karolina Muchova.   So what did we learn in Australia, and how will it be different in Miami? Which players gained most from the AO’s lessons?   First Quarter Although she’s still #1 in the rankings, there are growing murmurs that Barty, the #1 seed, does not deserve it, either as yearend #1 for 2020 (Sophia Kenin ran away with the year) or as present #1 since Osaka has won two of the last three slams.   But Barty’s points are legit – she’s won at least 240 points in 13 of her last 16 tournaments dating to her Roland Garros victory in 2019.   That’s remarkable consistency.   She also the defending champion at this event, taking ...