It’s Christmas, which means it’s time (well, past time!) to ask Santa for some stuff. All tennis related, of course.
Here’s what I want in 2019.
I want the top players in the world to stay healthy for an entire season. Other than Roger Federer inevitably skipping the clay-court swing, I want all of them to play a full 10 months…10 and a half to be exact if they can all compete in the Nitto ATP Finals. That means Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Andy Murray, and Stan Wawrinka. All of ’em. Please don’t get hurt!
I want all eight of the ATP Finals qualifiers to still be healthy enough to actually play the tournament–and play the entire tournament. That means no alternates before the tournament; no alternates during the tournament. This may be our last chance to have Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Del Potro, and Murray (the latter would be overly wishful thinking) at the O2 Arena at the same time.
The O2 Arena…. That brings me to the next one. I want the ATP to announce in March that the year-end championship will stay in London through 2025. London rules.
I want John Isner to win a five-set match in all four different forms: in a 10-point tiebreaker at 6-6 in the fifth set at the Australian Open; in a played-out fifth set at the French Open (8-6 or longer); in a standard tiebreaker at 12-12 in the fifth set at Wimbledon; and in a standard tiebreaker at 6-6 in the fifth set at the U.S. Open.
I want Grigor Dimitrov to stop stinking. He’s good for the game when he’s playing well.
I want the French flair to have one last hurrah. You know…good (and healthy) campaigns for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.
I want Dominic Thiem to win a slam. There may be only two players in history who I have proclaimed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread after the very first time I ever saw them play: Thiem and Ernests Gulbis. My Gulbis guarantee as a future world No. 1 did not exactly work out so well. Thiem, whom I’ve always said will win multiple majors (including one on something other than clay), still has time. But he needs to get going sooner rather than later. Oh, and speaking of Gulbis, I hope he can at least make it back to the top 30.
I want a youngster from North America to have a Stefanos Tsitsipas-like breakthrough (preferably Frances Tiafoe or Felix Auger-Aliassime).
I want Bob Bryan to come back and the Bryan Brothers to go out on top.
I want Nick Kyrgios to want to be good.
I want Mohamed Lahyani to keep making headlines…just not enough to get permanently suspended.
I want Miami to be awesome. Crandon Park was epic, and moving away from Key Biscayne is scary. Will the event still be just as good? I’ll find out in March….
I want the Davis Cup to be awesome. We’ll find out in November….
Lastly, I want to make some better predictions than I did in 2018… That shouldn’t be too hard to do!
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