The Grandstand’s Ricky Dimon and Joey Hanf of The Tennis Nerds preview and pick the best men’s singles matchups on Day 4 of the Australian Open. This is the fourth of 13 installments of expert picks during the season’s first Grand Slam.
Yen-Hsun Lu vs. (22) Grigor Dimitrov
Ricky: Don’t look now, but Yen-Hsun Lu is one of the hottest players on tour. Chinese Taipei’s top player boasts a 6-1 record this season and he was the best man–by a decent margin–from start to finish in Auckland (John Isner struggled all week but served his way out of trouble against Lu to win a competitive final). Lu, who destroyed countryman Jimmy Wang on Tuesday, should benefit in hot conditions against Dimitrov. The Bulgarian’s fitness has always been a question mark, as is his ability to play five-setters. Lu 6-4, 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2.
Joey: This one should be fun to watch. It pits Grigor’s new “no-nonsense” approach with coach Roger Rasheed against one of the most in-form players on tour, Rendy Lu. The key factor for Lu is to get in as many backhand-to-backhand rallies as possible, in which he has the advantage. Everywhere else Dimitrov holds the edge, and in the end I think the Bulgarian’s big serve will win him a lot of free points in big moments. Dimitrov 7-6(4), 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
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Marin Cilic vs. (18) Gilles Simon
Ricky: Simon transformed Melbourne into Sparta on Tuesday evening. The Frenchman arrived at the Australian Open on crutches, but–after being expected to withdraw from the event–he turned in an absolute warrior performance against Daniel Brands. Incredibly, he saved seven match points before prevailing 16-14 in the fifth. Cilic also needed five sets, but he arguably has even more momentum after storming back from two sets down against Marcel Granollers. Simon should not be doubted after what he did in round one…but I’m going to doubt him anyway. Cilic 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Joey: I didn’t think Simon would be playing his first-round match against Daniel Brands, let alone winning it 16-14 in the fifth. Cilic came back from two sets to love down to beat Granollers. This one has five sets written all over it–if Simon can manage his ankle injury. Cilic has been playing more aggressively to start 2014 and his serve should be the difference in this one, which could take a very long time. Cilic 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.
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(27) Benoit Paire vs. Nick Kyrgios
Ricky: The future may be now for the 18-year-old Kyrgios. He has a huge game and a great draw Down Under. The Australian already capitalized once by dismissing Benjamin Becker and although Paire is way more talented than Becker, the Frenchman rarely maximizes his talent. Kyrgios is going to want this one more, and what is sure to be a raucous crowd will be quick to jump on any unnecessary antics by Paire. Kyrgios 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(5).
Joey: The crowd will be rocking in this one. The young Kyrgios has some serious game. A big serve and monstrous groundstrokes make him extremely dangerous. Paire might be the most up-and-down player I’ve ever seen; if nothing else, he’s exciting to watch. Expect Paire to drop-shot the teenager without end. The only thing that concerns me about Kyrgios is a shoulder injury he is nursing. But in front of his home crowd, the adrenaline should minimize that pain. Kyrgios 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-2.
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(24) Andreas Seppi vs. Donald Young
Ricky: Speaking of warriors saving match point, Seppi surprised the home crowd by holding off an in-form Lleyton Hewitt on Tuesday afternoon. The Italian survived 7-5 in the fifth after thwarting a match point with an ace at 4-5 in the decider. That effort may take just a little bit out of Seppi, but he rarely has trouble staying on the tennis court all day long. He is content to play long point after long point and should have too much consistency for an erratic Young. Seppi 5-7, 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.
Joey: After taking out Hewitt in a five-set marathon, you might think Seppi will have some sort of letdown in this one. However, he is playing the much-denounced Young, so anything could happen. Young has been playing well on the Challenger circuit for the last seven months and he’s started 2014 well, taking a set off David Ferrer in Auckland. The lefty forehand could give Seppi some trouble, but Young doesn’t have anywhere near the composure and confidence of the Italian. Seppi 6-4, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.
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Kyrgios has given it his all… done his best to win the match and the hearts of the crowd… cramps are nasty !
Paire wins ! I got this one right too….
#CongratsToMe
hard to believe
(i mean that Paire won, not that u got it right)
i wasn’t at all bothered by Delpo. I would have loved Rafa to show him the door here. The fact that he beat him in the fall, means nothing. The ease with which he beat Rafa tells me that Rafa wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
As for his win at the USO in 2009, well that was Rafa’s Anus Horribilis. Everyone beat him when he came back from his injury time out because of physical and emotional reasons. Rafa cried when he won MC in 2010 after not winning a title for 11 months! That wasn’t Rafa in all his glory.
@nadline January 16, 2014 at 2:52 pm
“i wasn’t at all bothered by Delpo.”
That is what I said at the beginning of the tournament. I wish I had the time to fish out my exact comment to that effect. I said these temperatures would marinate Delpo so that by the time he meets Rafa he will be there for the taking. Looks like he decided to skip the marination stage and go straight to be cooked!
When are people going to call Delpo for what he really is, a one Slam wonder until proven otherwise? Set aside his Slam win, the only other time I have seen Delpo flatter to deceive at a Slam was at Wimby 2013 during his match against Novak! But then again, maybe it’s because he was playing Novak………….
And of course Delpo will be amongst the pundits’ favourites at Wimby 2014, USO 2014………….
Sigh……………
i dunno. this may have been the last straw with Delpo.
I still remember the video of Rafa walking down the corridor to his dressing room after being defeated by Delpo at the US Open that year. Rafa had the abdominal tear. It was only a few seconds of film but he was in obvious agony, bent over and holding his side as he walked. It’s hard to believe he even made it through the match.
Link?
Ricky, I’ll see if I can find one on Youtube. It’s been a couple of years since I saw the clip and it was very brief.
Can’t find the clip and it’s been too long ago to remember if Youtube is even where I saw it. Here’s the October 2013 interview Rafa did, though, where he described the injury.
Everyone knows why Rafa lost to Delpo at the 2009 USO. He couldn’t even serve because of the abdominal tear. The haters used that to insist that Delpo could and would beat Rafa all the time.. Rafa proved them wrong by beating Delpo up until last year in Shanghai.
No way do I think Delpo is a one slam wonder. His career was derailed by the wrist injury and being out for a year. He’s done quite well to get back up to #5, which is where he was when he had the wrist injury. But it took him two years to do it. It’s been a long journey. But Delpo should not be written off. I am not about to do it. I will give him the respect he deserves. So does Rafa!
Just came back to check the results for the night session and gosh.. shocked to see Delpo losing to Agut. I know Delpo’s record here hasnt been good, but I expected him to make the qtrs this time. Can someone tell me what’s actually his problem here in Oz?
@ abhirf says:
January 16, 2014 at 2:56 pm
He hasn’t read Nole’s book.
@abhirf, Delpo’s problem in Oz? He is just not that good.
RITB may be onto something here, folks………
You reckon, Ricky? Now I just need to work on convincing you that …….rafaisthebest.
The problem is, Delpo is overrated. How many times has he made a slam final/? Once. The same number of times he’s made a slam final, and the same number of times he’s made a slam SF. i don’t think he’s made the Qtrs. many more times.
Why, Oh why is he favoured against a 13 times GS champion, who has made ALMOST every slam SF he’s played in?
he also would not have even reached the final of the Grand Slam he won if Nadal had been able to play real tennis in the semis
^^Now you’ve got your thinking cap on Ricky!
Who said?
The guy is the King of the 500 (or is it 250s, can’t be bothered to check) events for goodness’ sakes. People need to now treat that lone Delpo Slam as a fluke (don’t think it would do him any harm to be told thus, might fire him up who knows) and ask themselves why he hasn’t bagged a Masters 1000s yet. So, Delpo’s supposed to snag all these Slams without bothering with Masters’ events?
I tell you what, I see that joker, Jerzy, winning a Masters 1000 before Delpo does.
Ricky went 0-4 on his picks.
#PickGael
#bagel
Delpo hasn’t even got a Masters’ title. Rafa’s got 26!!!!!!!
Delpo is overrated because of his one major combined with his relative success rate vs Rafa compared to other players.
#Catch28
Delpo has jumped the shark.
#Fonzie
Even his record against Rafa is a measly 4-9 and they’ve only met 3 times on clay. It’s probably a combo of the fact that one of those 4 wins was at the US Open and then the most recent Shanghai win, coupled with the fact that Delpo is the type of player who is known to trouble Rafa (tall, big serve, big flat forehand, etc). And yes, his winning percentage against Rafa is better than his record against Novak (3-11) or his record against Roger (5-15).
4-9 percentage wise with a dozen or more matches played is second only to Nole.
Ooops. Misworded that. Thanks for the correction, Hawkeye.
#badmath
Ok, so the draw opens up nicely for Rafa as I predicted.
Really rated BA, such a neat player, gr8 shots, nice touch, good ROS
And like nadline, I enjoy seeing giants fall….
Well if its the heat that causes him the problem, then probably he should hire Nole as his trainer. Maybe that could do wonders for him 😉
you guys are being overly critical of Delpo ! I don’t think anybody was saying he was ‘favored’ against Nadal . All that was being said was that Del Potro was going to pose a ‘serious threat’ to nadal. What’s wrong with saying that? Aside from Nole,Murray ,who else is more dangerous than del potro??
Another thing about Del Potro is his mentality against the top guys. He is NOT afraid …he can compete with them on big stages ANYWHERE in the world..
Yes he has not won a masters 1000 but does not mean he can’t be considered a legitimate slam contender.
vamosrafa,
Did I ever tell you that you’re my hero? Please don’t be embarrassed! I just love that you are the voice of reason and fairness..
I just got on here to read the news! Delpo was knocked out by that guy Bautista-Agut! Now I have to hope to see the match on replay today on the tennis channel.
So now Rafa’s draw has opened up for him. That’s why I said that we shouldn’t get too freaked out about so-called conspiracies. I said a few times that we have seen in the past that tough draws can open up because the opponent doesn’t get there.
I appreciate your great comments about Delpo.
ahaha flattering comments NNY 🙂 many many thanks ! really glad to know you consider my viewpoints well-reasoned and logical , because I believe you are perhaps the nicest/fairest/ most insightful rafa fan I have come across ! Keep up the great work 🙂
and I totally agree with you! the way draws play out are what matters most ! so point in crying about draws before the tournament begins
Personally, It’s not Delpo I am critical of, how can I? He gave his best, so happens it was not good enough on the day! Something which has not surprised me one bit.
My beef is with the pundits who had him as a favorite to win the Slam, some of them even had him ahead of Fed in this regard!
All I am saying to these pundits is: it’s time to let go of the Delpo infatuation, they need to be realistic and peg him at his true level in Slams. what’s wrong with saying that?
The problem is pundits nowadays are framing their picks through the prism of, “who can stop Rafa?” instead of doing an honest appraisal and asking what Delpo has done lately in Slams. When was the last time Delpo beat Rafa in a Slam? What is Delpo’s record in Melbourne? What has been his record in adverse weather conditions? These are questions which of asked honestly would not have assigned such a high weight Delpo’s chances imho.
As I said, come Wimby, Delpo’s name will be up there in the favorites convo, it’s a personal choice, not necessary based on empirical evidence.
As far as the relevance of Masters 1000s wins, of course there is no recorded empirical evidence to say without a Masters you cannot win a Slam but tell me this: how many active Slam holders are out there who do not have Masters shields? This has to count for something, if not that maybe Delpo needs to “lower” his ambitions, focus on Masters shields and graduate to Slams. But you know what, it takes a certain level of humility to do that. Rafa did that by playing Vina del Mar on his comeback and built up slowly and look what happened. Would it hurt Delpo to adopt such an attitude?
Of course he’s a genuine Slam contender! So is Baby Fed, Tsonga, Raonic, etc, etc. The pundits did not just have Delpo as a Slam contender, they had him as a firm favorite to win the Slam and yes, to upset the #1 player in the world.
Okay, if some pundits are having as a favourite to win Oz and other slams, ,I would not agree with them as Nadal.djo are in another league …Muzz is recovering and Fed is is in a bad shape…so yea it’s not quite reasonable to have him as a favourite alongside rafa/nole ….however, I do not think many pundits have done that! del po is usually considered a genuine threat to the big 3… but because of fed’s struggles and muzz’s poor record on clay, it is not a bad idea to have delpo as the man who can challenge rafa on clay apart from nole ! at USO, it is delpo’s stellar run in 2009 and strong performances on fast hard courts over the years that make him a worthy contender..
Baby fed, RAONIC? I cannot put these players in Delpo’s category ! they are talented youngsters but slam contenders? naa I don’t think so… Tsonga is a different player though but Delpo has a far better mentality than Tsonga so I would definitely pick Delpo over him..but yea Tsonga can be considered a slam contender…
‘The pundits did not just have Delpo as a Slam contender, they had him as a firm favorite to win the Slam and yes, to upset the #1 player in the world.’
Who are these pundits who have delpo as a ‘firm favourite’ to win the slam and upset rafa on his way?! They must be out of their mind to have delpo as a strong favourite…
The betting markets too have delpo far below in the list…
WE should also keep in mind that delpo’s progress has been severely halted with injuries and it was only since last year that he has started playing well on a consistent basis !
For me its simple. Rafa and Nole are in the top league …veryyy closely followed by Murray (though Murray is at the top on grass right now)… then we have genuine contenders…FOR NOW, delpo and fed spring to mind.
Delpo has 4 wins over Rafa. Three of them were in 2009, when Rafa was not himself and the other one was in Shanghai last year. vamosrafa, Ricky did say Delpo was a roadblock in Rafa’s Qtrs.
Yea he’s not afraid of the top 4, but he is not a dead cert against them either.
Whaaaaaaaaaa?
What pundits picket Delpo???
Of course Delpo is a legitimate slam contender, he’s actually won a slam but that is not to say that the top 4 should run scared of him. The one thing I was happy about when Andy won his first slam was that justice had been done, because it seemed unfair to me that Delpo had won a slam and Andy hadn’t, when Any is consistently better than Delpo.
He does not have many important titles to his name but his performances over the years on big stages prove his worth. Apart from his USO 2009 run, I remember Del Potro for beating djokovic ,Murray back to back in IW last year and being 6-4 3-1 up against rafa when everyone thought he would be totally spent in the final against rafa…
I remember Del Potro for pushing nole to his absolute limit in wimbledon SF last year and the shanghai final ! I also remember his battles against the best grass court player of this generation in the Olympic games 2012 when DElpo was defeated 19-17 in the 3rd set ! And yes, his dismissal of djokovic in the bronze medal match was also a BIG STAGE.
I still remember how awfully hard Del Potro made rafa work in the 2011 Davis Cup final on CLAY. Rafa was brushed aside 6-1 in the opening set and it was only vintage rafa that earned him the win.
Going back , I also remember Del Potro almost defeating Federer in RG 2009 semi which lasted 5 sets !
On grass against rafa, his battle in the 4th rnd of wimb 2011 was a VERY closely contested 4 setter ! rafa took 3 sets to break his I think !
On indoors, he has beaten federer multiple times ! he also denied federer a position in the semis of WTF 2009 by beating fed the RR stage..fed was no.1 at that time…
I can quote other examples too….point is that you don’t always have to be on the winning end to prove your worth….delpo has shown he can compete really hard against the king of clay, the king of hard courts and some of the best ever on hard courts !
lastly, all players mention his name right after the big 4 when asked about the main slam contenders…rafa does that very often ! you think they also overrate him? lol…
DelPo is not a part of the big 3/big 4 and there are reasons for that…true..but he is the undisputed challenger to the big 4 on ANY surface !
Hence, it was absolutely fine to consider him as a genuine threat to Rafa and for all slams of the year.
Another great post! There’s nothing left for me to say, because you defended Delpo with facts and evidence of how tough he can be.
What I would also like to say, is that this is a player who lost a year after undergoing wrist surgery. Thankfully, they were able to fix it and allow him to come back and continue playing. It took him another year to get back up in the rankings. Who knows what might have happened if he didn’t have to be out for so long with a serious injury.
I don’t consider Delpo to be the typical giant who only has the big serve and then a big forehand. He is a multi-dimensional big guy who can beat players off both wings. He’s not just a powerful forehand. He also has a formidable backhand. He is a very good mover for a big guy. He can move into the net to hit great volleys. The guy’s got nice touch.
I do think he is capable of winning another slam. He has pushed the top guys at different times in slams and masters tournaments. He’s a legitimate threat.
this post covered exactly what my post missed ! you have articulated my thoughts NNY !
1. Del Potro overcame his knee injury to once again be in a position to challenge the top league. His momentum received a severe blow when his slam winning year was followed by a major injury.
2.It’s a sin in my view to call del po a ‘typical giant’. He is much much more than that…all the qualities mentioned by NNY above support the claim …i would like to add delpo’s fighting capabilities ! RG 2009 battle with Fed, Olympics 2012 battle with Fed, Davis cup 2011 battle with rafa, Wimbledon 2013 SF with nole and some others… He has the fighting spirit needed to compete with the best.
* king of grass courts
emailed you
vamosrafa,
You were the one who really made the case for Delpo. I just chimed in with some additional thoughts. I don’t like to see him disrespected. He is immensely talented. The problem is that it appears to be some kind of capital offense to praise another player.
That is really a shame, because I see nothing wrong with praising other players. It does not diminish Rafa in any way, In fact, I think he would agree with what has been said about Delpo. We know that Rafa is confident enough to be able to respect his opponents and give them their due.
well said..and you are very right about Rafa probably agreeing with all this…judging from his interviews and pressers, it is obvious rafa has the utmost respect for Del Potro and he is wary of the threat he poses to him and the other to guys…
vamosrafa, who exactly is the king of h/c? Do you mean he who has only won ONE USO title and didn’t win any of the American h/c matches last year? What makes someone a King?
I read on vb that Rafa was doubled over with stomach pain after his match. I remember wondering why we didn’t see an on court post match interview with him. But apparently despite the discomfort, Rafa did do an interview.
I don’t know if it’s because of the heat or what.. At least he has a day to get better. I hope he’s okay.
🙁