The Next Big Thing?

As of 20^th March, 2017 he is the only teenager in the top 100 of the ATP rankings(come the 20^th April and we may very well see a Top 100, with no teenagers as that is the day Alexander Zverev. Jr turns 20)

He has excellent court coverage and seems to be able to chase anything down.  A solid backhand, powerful forehand, excellent volleying techniques (this can get better as his brother Mischa is a serve and volley player) all this as a teenager, picture him at 25 once he has spent a few years on tour and gains experience to help him use his talent well. He is being touted as a future World Number 1 and upon observation those people can’t be called foolish as this kid is something special. Has Germany’s search for the next Boris Becker ended? Nope, Boris won Wimbledon as a 17 year old.

In 2014 he announced himself at the German International Open (his second ATP tour level tournament) where he reached the semi-finals and lost to the top seed David Ferrer.

In 2015 he qualified for a Grand Slam  and won his 1^st Grand Slam match (Federer and Djokovic weren’t able to do this) and at the U.S. Open he lost to Philipp Kolschreiber in 5 sets.

He broke into the top 100 and in the following year he established himself as a top 50 player. At Indian Wells he came close to beating Rafael Nadal and had a 5-2 lead in the final set. This was when he was 18. In the grass court season he beat Roger Federer at Halle. He beat the U.S. Open Champion Wawrinka in the final at St. Petersburg after launching a comeback in the final set from 0-3 down.

This year he beat Roger Federer in the Hopman Cup (even though it was an exhibition tournament and Federer was just on his comeback, a win against Federer anywhere can serve as a confidence booster) In the Australian Open he was leading 2 sets to 1 against eventual runner up Rafael Nadal but lost as he got broken physically by Nadal in the final set. Throughout the game he was matching Nadal in groundstrokes.

The moment the ATP NextGen Tournament (similar to the ATP World Tour Finals but this tournament will feature the World’s top ranked players born on or after 1^st Jan 1996) was announced everyone saw this as a tournament built for Alexander Zverev to win (Borna Coric who beat Zverev in their junior Grand Slam days may have something to say about this but he hasn’t gotten the World Ranking that Zverev has)

The issue he has to sort out is his form in Grand Slams where his best finish is  the 3^rd round. A 3^rd round loss has only 90 ranking points. If he could possibly reach the quarters like previous next big things like Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios did, he could rise further up the rankings and avoid the big names in the early rounds of tournaments. However he hasn’t yet gotten any attitude problems like the aforementioned duo and this is his third year in the top 100 and his results seem to be improving. He just beat Stan Wawrinka again at the Miami Open losing just 3 of the last 15 games.

He has shown the ATP Tour that he is here to stay but can he win a Slam? Can he end the dominance of the Big 4? Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Kei Nishikori have all tried and come short. Marin Cilic, Stan Wawrinka and Juan Martin Del Potro have managed to win a slam in the era of the Big 4 but they haven’t been able to be consistent. He can end the dominance as when he is in his prime i.e. 24 years, Djokovic and Murray will be 34, Nadal will be 35 and Federer 40.They should be done as age will and ideally should catch up with them.

Is he the first from the generation that can take over from The Big 4? Time will tell.

His next game as against Nick Kyrgios in the quarter finals at Miami.

Australian Grand Prix 2017

Mercedes had dominated the sport for 3 years in a row, and though Ferrari showed promise in pre-season testing, few were willing to bet against the Silver Arrows. Would Ferrari be able to take this form into the opening race in Melbourne or would Lewis Hamilton just run through the calendar, completely unchallenged?

Qualifying saw Mercedes start the race in 1^st and 3^rd and Ferrari in 2^nd and 4^th. Four time World Champion Sebastian Vettel was lucky as Albert Park being a street circuit, didn’t have a lot of dust off the racing line and despite starting on the dirty side of the track, he manged to fend off a challenge from Mercedes new boy Valteri Bottas. Following that he successfully managed to keep within 1 second (within DRS zone) of Lewis Hamilton. The 2 broke away from the field and then Ferrari pulled off the undercut and Vettel pitted early, came out with fresher tyres and made up the gap by lapping faster than Lewis did on his older set of tyres and managed to squeak out ahead of Lewis once the 3 time champion pitted. The added bonus for Sebastian Vettel was the presence of 19 year old Max Verstappen’s Reb Bull in between his scarlet Ferrari and the Mercedes.

Sebastian Vettel took the chequered flag and Ferrari won their first Grand Prix since Singapore, 2015. The other natural racer Sebastian Vettel, had finally gotten a car with which he could compete. No Nico Rosberg (2016 World Champion who retired in the offseason), no problem.

Strategy had beaten Mercedes. Really? Strategy? Well, Vettel needed to be fast enough to execute the strategy. Also the winning margin was 9.9 seconds(he was fast enough)

The race saw homeboy Daniel Ricciardo start from the pit lane and enter the race 2 laps later for what would be an extended practice session, as getting back on the lead lap would take a miracle(in other words, a safety car period where lapped cars are allowed to overtake). 25 laps later, he ended up parked in the gravel.

The Pirelli Tyres seemed much more durable and we actually saw lap times drop as we neared the chequered flag. This encouraged the drivers to actually push the car and give it their all. In 2016 Pirelli had been told to deliberately provide faster degrading tyres so as to make racing more interesting, and that move was a disaster as the end of races saw drivers cruise along with no real intent as they were afraid of a puncture or a tyre blow-out ruining their entire race. Weird right? 2017 seems better, make races more exciting by allowing the racers to race.

The overtake of the day saw Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, both go past double world Champion Fernando Alonso in a stunning 3 abreast move down the start-finish straight.

Does Ferrari finally at long last have a car that can challenge for the title, or was it just a flash in the pan? Will Mercedes, the established empire of Formula 1 strike back? Find out on 9^th April in Shanghai, China.

Roger Federer vs Del Potro

Miami 2016: Roger Federer is scheduled to play Juan Martin Del Potro but pulls out due to an illness.

 A year on, the 2 are in red hot form and fans at Crandon Park will be treated to a marquee matchup in the 3^rd round itself.

Federer, the Australian Open and Indian Wells Champion, will go up against Juan Martin Del Potro who is on red hot form this year and has only been beaten by Novak Djokovic (both matches were 3 setters) and Milos Raonic.

In anticipation of this clash (their first since the ATP World Tour Finals in 2013) let’s look back at two of the legendary battles between these two.

U.S. Open Final 2009

Del Potro beat Roger Federer 3-6 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(4) 6-2

The match was their 3^rd meeting in a Grand Slam that year. Roger Federer had comprehensively destroyed Del Potro at the Australian Open and once again dispatched of the same opponent en route his one and only win at Roland Garros.

Federer won the first set at Flushing Meadows and was leading in the second set before he uncharacteristically lost his cool over Del Potro being allowed to challenge a call after 10 seconds. He ended up losing the 2^nd set in a tie break but recovered to win the 3^rd.

What came next was an exhibition of brutal hitting from the Tower of Tandil who won the next 2 sets and ensured Federer was not holding 3 consecutive Grand Slams on 3 different surfaces for the first time.

London Olympics 2012

Roger Federer beat Del Potro 3-6 7-6(5) 19-17

Federer was aiming to complete the Wimbledon and Olympic double which he said he would do when it was announced that The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet club would be the host for the Tennis event of the Olympics. He reached the semis (the same stage he had lost at in 2000 and went on to lose the Bronze Medal match as well) He didn’t want to be a part of the bronze match again. Roger Federer lost the first set 3-6. He launched a comeback from 1 set down and took the 2^nd 7-6. The third set shattered records and lasted 2 hours and 43 minutes. The match of 4 hours 26 minutes was half an hour longer than the previous Olympic Singles match and broke the record for the longest 3 setter in the Open Era. Federer won the decider 19-17 and advanced to the Olympic Final (the effort drained him out and he lost the final convincingly but at least with the win, he was assured of a medal)

Honourable mentions:

Federer beat Del Potro 3-6 7-6(2) 2-6 6-1 6-4 at the French Open 2009

Federer had to come back from 2 sets to one down to win the match and enter his fourth consecutive French Open Final.

Del Potro beat Federer 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(4) at Basel in 2012

Their last 7 matches have all gone to a decider and expect nothing different.