VIKTOR TROICKI’S COMEBACK STARTS WITH WINNING SYDNEY AS A QUALIFIER & PAES HAS HIS FIRST WIN OF 2015

MEN ‘s TENNIS NEWS THE WARM UP TOURNEYS ARE OVER. ITS AUZZIE OPEN TIME. A LOOK AHEAD.

 

 

* Vesely wins first-ever title

* Troicki wins first-ever final between two qualifiers

* Paes, Nestor add to their title records

 

Auckland RESULTS :

 

Singles – Final: (Q) J Vesely def. A Mannarino 6-3 6-2

In this era when there are so many hot prospects to talk about — Kyrgios, Thiem, Coric — Jiri Vesely has tended to be forgotten. Maybe it’s time that changed. At age 21, he was playing in his first-ever final — yet he dominated his much older opponent, showing no hint of nerves. His serve was very strong; he led the tournament in aces, and opponent Adrian Mannarino admitted, “When you get broken by someone who’s serving like this, you feel like it’s slipping away.” Mannarino perhaps shouldn’t feel too bad — after all, he reached his first final, and he’ll be hitting a career high of probably #36. The amazing thing is, that puts him barely ahead of the fast-rising Vesely, who appears to be up to #39. That puts him one spot ahead of Thiem, about a dozen ahead of Kyrgios; as of now, it looks as if Vesely is the highest-ranked of the young guns. And, probably, the happiest: “It feels amazing to be… [one] of the ATP champions. It’s not something that everyone… achieve[s], so I’m very grateful for that. It’s a great start for me…. I can really see that it’s possible to play with the best guys and I think that’s something very important for me for the future.”

 

Doubles – Final: (4) Klaasen/Paes def. Inglot/Mergea 7-6(7-1) 6-4

In his post-match comments, Leander Paes talked about how far along he was in his career. Well he might: he won his first title in 1997, the year Jiri Vesely turned four. That’s nineteen straight years with at least one title. Truly Paes is off to a great start this year; he now has one title and one final, meaning that he and Raven Klaasen currently lead the doubles Race. It makes you wonder if he’ll ever need to quit.

 

Sydney : TROICKI IS BACK !

 

Singles – Final: (Q) V Troicki def. (Q) M Kukushkin 6-2 6-3

This is reported to be the first final in ATP history between two qualifiers. And it gives us two qualifiers winning titles in one day! Of course, Viktor Troicki is a lot more experienced than Jiri Vesely. But not all those experiences have been happy. This time, after taking his second career title, the feelings were good: “There are a lot of emotions actually. It’s been a tough road, a lot of work, and it paid off with a nice title. If I look back to where I was five, six months ago, it’s amazing to have a title already. So it’s a really nice moment for me and for all my team. It’s very emotional.” Nor does he think it will affect his Australian Open preprations: “I feel very, very fit. I didn’t have any problems. I had eight matches here and luckily I haven’t had problems. I feel very fresh again. I feel I can go again good on Monday. Definitely I was working hard and that’s paying off. I have inside myself trust in my body, and I feel I can do a lot of things.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And he won’t have to go through qualifying again any time soon. He came here with his ranking at #92. This won’t quite make him Top Fifty, but he’s now only about two dozen points away.

Mikhail Kukushkin couldn’t win his first title in five years, and he expressed some disappointment, but he too is done worrying about qualifying. He’s right on the fringe of the Top Fifty.

 

Doubles – Final: (3) Bopanna/Nestor def. (2) Rojer/Tecau 6-4 7-6(7-5) .

Did we say there was a big contrast between the ages of the winners at Auckland? Consider this: Daniel Nestor won his first doubles title before Jiri Vesely reached his first birthday. He’s won at least one title every year for twenty-two years. At age 42, he’s still Top Five! Truly the Nestor of the ATP tour — if he is still playing this well, you wonder if he’ll ever live to see his name in the Hall of Fame. After all, you have to retire to get into the Hall, and why should he retire? And he expects things to get even better with Rohan Bopanna after this: “We played a few tournaments at the end of last year to prepare for this year as well as we could. Things didn’t go as well, but I think right now we’re clicking. I enjoy playing with Rohan; he’s a big hitter, he serves great and he’s one of those guys that’s really intimidating to play against. So I’d rather be on the same side as him!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MEN’s LOOK FORWARD :

 

This might be the week when we find out if 2014 was a fluke.

 

In 2014, of course, we saw only two of the four Slams taken by players from the “Big Four.” Will that repeat? So far, the omens haven’t been great for the top players. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal both went out too early in Doha, and Andy Murray didn’t really make much noise in Hopman Cup. Only Roger Federer managed to win a title in the warmup weeks.

 

We also find ourselves without one of last year’s Slam winners; Marin Cilic isn’t even able to compete. He was one of two seeds to pull out before the draw was made; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the other. And now comes word that Alexandr Dolgopolov may not be able to play; he hurt himself at Kooyong. At least defending champion Stan Wawrinka is healthy and was able to defend his title at Chennai last week.

 

Novak Djokovic is the #1 seed, of course, and the draw was quite kind to him — a qualifier, then a player ranked below the Top Fifty, then #31 seed Fernando Verdasco, who will perhaps be somewhat tired after Kooyong. Then would come #13 seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who has been sick, or #19 John Isner, who said he was too tired to play Auckland, or maybe Dominic Thiem. By the looks of things, the first real threat to Djokovic would be in the quarterfinal, when he is drawn to face #8 Milos Raonic — or #12 Feliciano Lopez or #17 Gael Monfils or #25 Julien Benneteau. Juan Martin del Potro and Jerzy Janowicz are also in that part of the draw. After that, Djokovic would face #4 Stan Wawrinka or #5 Kei Nishikori (who is #4 in safe points). Other seeds in that part of the draw include #9 David Ferrer (unlikely to threaten Djokovic), #16 Fabio Fognini (slumping), #18 Gilles Simon (very fragile lately), #21 Dolgopolov (injured), #27 Pablo Cuevas, and #30 Santiago Giraldo (who seem unlikely to threaten the top guys). After that comes #2 Roger Federer.

 

If, of course, Federer makes it through his draw. He wasn’t nearly as lucky as Djokovic. For starters, Nadal is in his half, and we know how little that agrees with Federer (although this is obviously a better-than-average time for Federer to face his rival). But Federer’s draw is tough from the start: First Yen-Hsun Lu, who is among the better unseeded players. Then Juan Monaco or Simone Bolelli, who is on the best run of his career. Then #29 Jeremy Chardy — or Borna Coric, or Andreas Seppi, or Denis Istomin; that’s a really tough section. After that, Federer is supposed to face #15 Tommy Robredo — although Robredo has been hurt, so #23 Ivo Karlovic or Nick Kyrgios might be a better bet (if Kyrgios isn’t hurting too much). Then it really starts getting tough, because Federer in the quarterfinal is supposed to face either #6 Andy Murray or #10 Grigor Dimitrov. Then either #3 Nadal or #7 Tomas Berdych or #11 Ernests Gulbis. And then Djokovic.

 

#3 seed Nadal so far this year has looked rather ragged — in a press conference, he said straight-out “I would be lying if I say I feel that I am ready to win” — which makes it rather bad news that he has to start against Mikhail Youzhny. His second round isn’t bad, but then comes #30 seed Lukas Rosol — yes, the same Lukas Rosol who beat Nadal at Wimbledon 2012. Then #14 Kevin Anderson or #24 Richard Gasquet, then #7 Berdych or #11 Gulbis.

 

#4 Wawrinka’s draw is clearly easier; the first seed in his way is #27 Pablo Cuevas. Then slumping #16 Fognini or injured #21 Dolgopolov; Sam Querrey, the top unseeded player, or Vasek Pospisil may be better bets. Then comes #5 Kei Nishikori, the player who is trying to take his #4 ranking, or #9 David Ferrer. Then, of course Novak Djokovic — although Wawrinka was able to handle that contest last year.

 

Our list of early round matches we most want to see looks like this:

 

First Round:

Carreno Busta versus Muller. Mixed skills versus raw serving; youth versus experience.

Thiem versus #13 Bautista Agut. Two players who had breakthroughs last year.

Del Potro versus Janowicz. Talk about firepower!

Querrey versus Pospisil. A lot of talent and a lot of inconsistency….

Almagro versus #5 Nishikori. It’s worth remember that Nicolas Almagro, before all his injuries, spent time in the Top Ten.

Vesely versus Troicki. Last week’s two champions will open against each other!

Youzhny versus #3 Nadal. So which one is more messed up?

#29 Chardy versus Coric. Another chance for Borna Coric to show what he can do.

Seppi versus Istomin. Two pretty good players hoping to get to a meeting with Chardy.

Lu versus #2 Federer. Roger Federer ought to be able to handle this, but it’s a tougher start than his fans were probably hoping for.

 

Second Round:

Del Potro or Janowicz versus #17 Monfils. Monfils has been hurting, but talk about tools if everyone is on!

#25 Benneteau versus Hewitt. Lots and lots of experience here, with the Frenchman having the better recent results but Hewitt being the Australian.

#21 Dolgopolov versus Querrey or Pospisil. This will probably come down to how bad Dolgopolov’s injury is.

#30 Giraldo versus Johnson. Steven Johnson has been playing well lately and didn’t miss seeding by much.

Vesely or Troicki vs. #26 Mayer. It’s arguable that the challengers here are better than the seed.

#22 Kohlschreiber versus Tomic. Philipp Kohlschreiber seems to have trouble playing in Australia; Bernard Tomic of course loves it.

#20 Goffin versus Baghdatis. Marcos Baghdatis got his game back together last year; can he hold it together this year?

#15 Robredo vs. Kukushkin. Robredo is hurting. Kukushkin is another of the guys who just posted a great result.

Kyrgios versus Karlovic. How injured is Kyrgios, and has he ever seen anything like the Karlovic serve?

#29 Chardy or Coric versus Seppi or Istomin. One of the few places in the draw where all four players are reasonable candidates to make the third round.

 

The Rankings

 

This is a funny week, rankings-wise. (You’ll hear us tell that tale many, many more times this year!) Because of calendar shift, not only is the Australian Open coming off, but also the points from the week after. Relatively speaking, the week after isn’t a big deal in terms of points — just Davis Cup, and early round Davis Cup at that — but it makes things a little strange.

 

We’re just going to ignore that in this preview; it won’t make much difference. Even though Stan Wawrinka has Davis Cup champion’s points, e.g., he has far more to defend from the Australian Open title. The finalist was Rafael Nadal; Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer made the semifinals. Grigor Dimitrov, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, and Andy Murray were quarterfinalists. Out in the fourth round were Kevin Anderson, Roberto Bautista Agut, Fabio Fognini, Florian Mayer (who still isn’t back), Kei Nishikori, Stephane Robert (who only made the draw as a Lucky Loser because Philipp Kohlschreiber pulled out; he isn’t in the main draw either), Tommy Robredo, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (also missing). Milos Raonic lost in the third round; Marin Cilic fell in the second, so at least his absence won’t cost him much.

 

But the fact that the #3 and #4 players both have so much to defend makes it quite certain that the top two will not change. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be #1 and #2 in some order. The question is, can Federer pass Djokovic?

 

It won’t happen. Djokovic goes in with almost a 2000 point lead. Federer can’t hope to catch up even with a title. But if he does win the title, he’ll have a pretty good chance later this spring. Otherwise, Djokovic will surely be safe at least until Miami.

 

At #3, things start to get interesting. Rafael Nadal is still #3 in safe points, and he’s 540 points ahead of Kei Nishikori, but Nishikori at least has a shot at him.

 

Nishikori’s odds of rising to #4 look considerably better than his chances for #3. He’s #4 in safe points, more than 350 points ahead of Milos Raonic, who is #5. Andy Murray is another 170 points behind that. Marin Cilic is #7 in safe points, but since he isn’t playing, he’s likely to end up lower. Tomas Berdych is #8 in safe points, and David Ferrer #9; they’re just barely within reach of Nadal. In practice, Berdych and Ferrer are probably competing to be no better than #5.

 

And then there is Wawrinka, a mere #10, and less than a hundred points ahead of Grigor Dimitrov. So they’re going to be fighting it out for the last Top Ten spot. It’s almost certain that one or the other of them will get it; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, #12 in safe points, isn’t playing, and #13 Ernests Gulbis is 875 points behind Dimitrov. #14 Feliciano Lopez is about 370 points behind that. Truly, looking at the rankings, it’s as if there are a bunch of ranking tiers: Djokovic and Federer in the top tier, then a tier with Nadal and Nishikori, then one with Raonic, Murray, Cilic, Berdych, and Ferrer, then one with Wawrinka and Dimitrov, then one with Tsonga and Gulbis, and then everyone else, from Lopez on down, bunched fairly close together.

 

The amazing effect of that is that we may not have a single new player in the Top Ten. Possibly not in the Top Fifteen, either. Two current Top Twenty players — Gilles Simon and Fabio Fognini — are below the Top Twenty in safe points, with John Isner and David Goffin the leading candidates to replace them, but the gaps are small enough that we really can’t predict what will happen. Similarly, we have the same Top Thirty in safe points that we had going in. We may end up with some very short rankings updates during the Open!

 

Content Via Bob Larson tennis news

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of January 17, 1015

 

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….11405

2..(2) Federer…………9875

3..(3) Nadal…………..6585

4..(4) Wawrinka………..5370

5..(5) Nishikori……….5025

6..(6) Murray………….4675

7..(7) Berdych…………4660

8..(8) Raonic………….4575

9..(9) Cilic…………..4150

10.(10) Ferrer………….4145

11.(11) Dimitrov………..3645

12.(12) Tsonga………….2740

13.(13) Gulbis………….2455

14.(14) Lopez…………..2130

15.(16) Anderson………..2125

16.(15) Bautista Agut……2110

17.(17) Robredo…………2015

18.(18) Fognini…………1790

19.(19) Monfils…………1770

20.(20) Simon…………..1730

21.(21) Isner…………..1685

22.(22) Goffin………….1669

23.(23) Dolgopolov………1455

24.(24) Kohlschreiber……1415

25.(27) Benneteau……….1390

26.(28) Mayer…………..1389

27.(25) Karlovic………..1365

28.(26) Gasquet…………1350

29.(29) Cuevas………….1227

30.(30) Rosol…………..1210

Topics: Atp, Auckland, Daniel Nestor, Jiri Vesely, Leander Paes, Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic, Raven Klaasen, Roger Federer, Sydney, Tennis, Viktor Troicki

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