tennis gut

US Open Men’s Preview – 27 August 2016 To my mind there are six men who could be favoured to win this US Open and another three who have a legitimate chance: Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka, and Gael Monfils.  The traditional favourites, Djokovic, Murray, and Nadal, have shown some legendary form this year, but it is fair to question if Cilic, Del Potro, and Raonic will supersede them. First Quarter Two of my top six contenders are here, Novak Djokovic (seeded 1) and Marin Cilic (7).  Sporting a 51-5 (win-loss) record for the year and with two slams already in the bag, this year would seem to belong to Djokovic, but he’s been less than stellar since completing a slam at the French and becoming the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four slams simultaneously.  He crashed out early at both Wimbledon and the Olympics.  In the meantime former USO champ, Cilic, just thumped Murray in Cincinnati and looks to be back in 2014 form when he took the title. Also...

US Open Women’s Preview – 27 August 2016 Finally, Serena has a legitimate challenger.  Angelique Kerber has been tearing up the tour this year, making two slam finals, winning the Australian and Stuttgart, and making runner-up at Wimbledon, the Olympics, and Cincinnati.  She will carry a 460 point advantage through the tournament that could have her emerging as #1 unless Serena can better her by that amount.  This means Serena has to make at least the semi-finals to hang on to #1 and break the record she shares with Steffi Graf for consecutive weeks at #1.  But can Serena do it?  She bombed out of the Olympics unexpectedly and has claimed only one slam tournament this year.  She’s still the favourite but the outcome is far from certain. First Quarter Serena’s opening against Ekaterina Makarova is far from an easy match.  Makarova has been to the quarter-finals (QF) or better at six slams in her career, including twice at the USOpen.  A...

German Teen Wins Wimbledon!! This far-fetched headline became a reality in 1985 when 17-year old Boris Becker shocked the tennis world.  Now, 19 year-old German, Alexander Zverev, beat Federer on grass last week in Halle.  Could history repeat? Federer had won Halle eight times. The top four hegemony of Djokovic, Murray, Federer, and Nadal have ruled tennis like no other players in the open era, nailing down the top two spots for the last 11 years.  Their rule will not last forever.  But it certainly doesn’t appear that the current top two, Djokovic and Murray are not going away anytime soon; even if they are turning 30 next year. But the knocks on the door from below are getting louder.  The heirs apparent are #28 Zverev, #21 Nick Kyrgios, and #8 Dominic Thiem.  There is no one younger ranked above them, at ages 19, 21 and 22, respectively. Becker was ranked #20 when he won Wimbledon in 1985.  Now he is the coach of Novak Djoko...