A WEEK TO REMEMBER FROM DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA BY RICHARD EVANS

Written by: Staff on 22nd February 2016

A WEEK TO REMEMBER FROM DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA BY RICHARD EVANS |

“This week I won more than a tournament.” – Del Potro. I love the quote from him, it’s not always about winning. Welcome back Delpo – Photo by @tennisfc via Instagram.

Spread out across the globe from Marseille to Delray Beach and all the way down to Rio, the sixth week of the year on the ATP tour was always going to offer some interesting tennis played out by sparkling seas but what we got was exceptional – a week to remember.

Before a racket was swung, one would have pinpointed the return to action after an eleven month lay off of Juan Martin del Potro at Delray as the story to follow. But as the week unfolded, the popular and ever gracious Argentine found himself sharing the spotlight with story lines that were springing up everywhere – stories that could prove to be benchmarks as the season unfolds.

Del Potro was certainly one of them but so was the demise of the old guard in Rio with Rafael Nadal going down in a semi-final dog fight to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay; David Ferrer losing 6-3, 6-2 to Dominic Thiem of Austria and John Isner falling 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 to the little known Argentine Guido Pella who made it all the way to final by defeating Thiem. The rain delayed final produced some incredible clay court tennis that Cuevas finally clinched 6-4, 6-7, 6-4. Cuevas, at 30, deserved his first ATP ‘500’ but the aggressive left handed Pella, soon to be 26, has risen 100 ranking spots in the past two years and now finds himself inside the top 50. He looks good enough to go higher.

But nothing could compare with the phenomenal achievement of Nick Kyrgios in Marseille who not only won his first ATP title but did so without dropping a set; without dropping serve and by hammering such tour stalwarts as Richard Gasquet, Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic into submission with the kind of flair we knew he had but wasn’t sure he could produce with any consistency.

Now we know. Kyrgios has arrived. Not just because he won a title – we knew that would happen – but because he did so in a manner that answered so many questions about his temperament and behavior. In between the aces and the flashing off forehands that left his opponents gasping, there were no histrionics, no flare ups, no ill-mannered disputes with officials. Nor, when he won match point against an admiring Cilic, was there any great show of emotion. A clenched fist as he turned to his corner; the hint of a smile and a shake of the hand.

He was even erudite and almost charming in his acceptance speech, asking for time to learn some French but finishing with the line, “But I can say, J’adore fromage.”

By that time the demanding Marseille crowd, who expect a lot of their sporting heroes as their soccer team know only too well, were adoring Nick and will make sure he gets all the cheese he wants when he returns to defend his title next year.

With this performance, Kyrgios appears to have opened a new chapter in his career. Can he now turn it into a volume of achievement, offering the same level of concentrated commitment week after week? Or will the pressure of being expected to deliver on larger stages cause his fragile temper to fray again? If the 20-year-old Australian with all that Greek and Malaysian blood in his genes can replicate the performances he produced in Marseille, then the top ten beckons and it will arrive in a rush. The reason is simple. Kyrgios is as talented as any player we have seen since Roger Federer started to make his mark. For originality of stroke play, I cannot think of anyone to match him since John McEnroe if one discounts Dustin Brown who is not of the same caliber.

Congrats to @k1ngkyrg1os on winning his first #ATP title in Marseille! #tennis #Kyrgios – Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram.

So the next few months are going to be riveting when it comes to watching the Kyrgios saga unfold. And, to twist the words of a song, it all happened in old Marseille.

And so to del Potro. It was good. As he was the first to admit, there is still work to do but, after winning three matches before losing to Sam Querrey in the semi-final, he said, “I won more than a tournament. I learned many positive things.”

All the focus, of course, was on the backhand. His career, which had begun in such startling fashion when he upset Federer from two sets to one down to win the US Open in 2009, had been brought to a virtual halt because of ligament damage in his left wrist. There had been two surgeries and a false start at Miami last year but now the object was to get through some matches without pain and he did so.

He had a gentle start against the American Denis Kudla, winning 6-1, 6-4 and then overcame the awkward southpaw game of John Patrick Smith 6-4, 6-4, after the Australian had beaten defending champion Ivo Karlovic in the first round.

Jeremy Chardy was expected to offer a sterner challenge but the Frenchman never got his big forehand working properly and del Potro went through to the semi-final 6-2, 6-3. By then, the Argentine had played sixteen sets of tennis at Delray Beach, a tournament he won in 2011, and had won them all.

With the way he had been serving and hitting his mighty forehand, there was reason to believe he could keep the run going against Querrey but it soon became clear that, physically, he had run out of gas. Even after his second match, he had admitted that his body was “100% hurting” and the unfamiliar effort required to play four matches in five days had, inevitably, taken its toll.

But there was much to be satisfied about. Del Potro had shown that he could produce a very consistent and deeply hit one handed slice and the two hander slowly grew in confidence as the week progressed. It was clear he wasn’t dropping the wrist as of old to generate the top spin that had made the shot so dangerous but he will be back on the practice court in the next two weeks preparing for his next big test in the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

It says much about the man that the locker room was as happy to see him back as were the media and the tournament staff. Long may the comeback continue and, remember, it happened in old Delray.

And to round off a week of improbables, Delray Beach ended up with Querrey winning his first title since 2012 by beating Indiana’s (no, not India’s) Rajeev Ram who had upset Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-3 in the semis with some wonderfully struck forehands.

So no one who was expected to win, won and a lot of people exceeded expectations by a considerable distance. Good week of tennis which sets things up nicely for the big ones at Indian Wells and Miami.

Delray Beach Open

Delray Beach, U.S.A.

RESULTS – SUNDAY, 21 FEBRUARY 2016

Singles – Final

S. Querrey (USA) d R. Ram (USA) 64 76(6)

Doubles – Final

O. Marach (AUT) / F. Martin (FRA) d [1] B. Bryan (USA) / M. Bryan (USA) 36 76(7) 13-11 saved 6 m.p.

QUERREY ENDS TITLE DROUGHT; MARACH/MARTIN WIN DOUBLES TITLE

• Sam Querrey won his first ATP World Tour title since Los Angeles 2012 by defeating Rajeev Ram.

• Querrey improved to 8-7 in tour-level finals after losing in Houston (l. to Sock) and Nottingham (l. to Istomin) last year.

• 11 of Querrey’s 15 finals have come on American soil.

• Querrey notched his fourth victory over Ram in five FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings.

• Ram downed No. 2 seed Bernard Tomic and No. 4 seed Grigor Dimitrov en route to his first ATP World Tour final on hard court.

• Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin saved six match points to see off top seeds and defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan.

• The Austrian/French duo improved to 11-3 since joining forces at the start of 2016

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Querrey: “We were both a little nervous today, it wasn’t the cleanest match. I just battled through and happened to hit one great shot in the second set, and it was on match point.

“Sometimes it feels better to win when you don’t play your best, because you know you have another gear. I had two finals last year, both close losses, so it feels good to be in the winner’s circle.”

Ram: “I played well on match point, I thought. He just came up with a great shot. People don’t give [Querrey] credit for how well he moves.

“It’s hard when you play someone you know so well in a final. I would’ve loved to hold my serve every time and win 6-4, 6-4, but that’s not how it works. What I was more disappointed about was not keeping the momentum I had in both sets. I thought I played well in the tie-break, but he hit the outside of the line three times.”

Marach: “It was a big honour to play against [the Bryans] in the final.

“Fabrice and I have a great relationship. We only started playing together recently but I hope we continue and win some more tournaments this year.”

Martin: “We always thought we had nothing to lose. We knew we were going to make it a good match. We gave it everything we had, and we got a bit lucky in the end.”

M. Bryan: “It hurts. We’ll probably have a sleepless night, thinking about what we could have done differently, but that’s doubles. It’s a fine line.

“Davis Cup will be big. Then we’ll head down to Indian Wells and Miami, and hopefully kick off the year with a win over there.”

@samquerrey claims his 8th #ATP title with a 6-4 7-6(6) win over Rajeev #Ram at the @delraybeachopen! #tennis #delraybeachopen #dbo #Querrey – Photo by @atpworldtour via Instagram.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Atp World Tour, David Ferrer, Delray Beach Open, Dominic Thiem, Indian Wells, Juan Martin Del Potro, Marin Cilic, Marseille, Miami tennis, Nick Kyrgios, Pablo Cuevas, Rafa Nadal, Richard Evans, Richard Gasquet, Sam Querrey, Sports, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych