Is an encore of the thrilling Indian Wells final between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro in the cards for the Miami Open? Given Federer’s consistently outstanding form, Del Potro’s relative home-court advantage in Miami, and the state of the rest of the tour, it is without question a possibility.
If the Argentine is fatigued, however, there could be an opening in the bottom half of the draw for the likes of Kei Nishikori, Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, Borna Coric, and Hyeon Chung. Just as they were in Indian Wells, Del Potro, Djokovic, and Nishikori all find themselves in the same section of the draw. The world No. 6, who saved three champion points to beat Federer and capture his first-ever Masters 1000 title last weekend, could face Nishikori in the third round and Djokovic in the last 16.
Federer should have an easier road at the top of the bracket. The 36-year-old Swiss opens with Thanasi Kokkinakis on Saturday before potentially running into Fernando Verdasco in the last 32 and either Kevin Anderson or Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinals.
Miami Open
Where: Key Biscayne, Fla.
Surface: Hard
Points: 1000
Prize money: $7,972,535
Top seed: Roger Federer
Defending champion: Roger Federer
Hot: Roger Federer, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kevin Anderson, Roberto Bautista Agut, Fabio Fognini, Diego Schwartzman, Andrey Rublev, Borna Coric, Alex De Minaur, Frances Tiafoe, Daniil Medvedev
Cold: Alexander Zverev, Jack Sock, Novak Djokovic, Pablo Carreno Busta, John Isner, Kei Nishikori, Jeremy Chardy
Quarterfinal predictions: Roger Federer over Kevin Anderson, Borna Coric over Fabio Fognini, Grigor Dimitrov over Kei Nishikori, and Hyeon Chung over Andrey Rublev
Semifinals: Federer over Coric and Dimitrov over Chung
Final: Federer over Dimitrov
[polldaddy poll=9963844]
who ya got?
A bit late to call these predictions after first two rounds lol.
And Chung won’t make semis.
Federer with another bye to the title.
#PospisilSyndrome
Delpo did what Rafa and Nole used to do to consistently beat Federer. Just keep the ball consistently deep especially to the backhand. Only a handful of players can do that with any regularity.
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Men’s tennis is an absolute joke.
I second that notion… Thank god that Del Po is healthy, as he seems to be the only one right now who legitimately challenges Federer right now. Cilic is capable, but never actually does. I’m the most disappointed with the second tier players, the other top-10 guys. I’m not going to pretend that Federer isn’t playing a brand of tennis that the younger guys largely don’t know how to deal with, but at the same time I just feel like at least a few of these guys should be able to knock off a 37 year… The lack of discipline, fight, and desire to win shown by guys like Zverev, Thiem, Berdych, Dimitrov, etc. just boggles my mind. Most of these guys are so bad that they can’t even get far enough to even FACE Federer.
Zverev especially… I don’t understand what the hell happened to him. Sure he was inconsistent last year, and still hasn’t done squat in the majors, but he at least showed last year that he is capable of beating big-name players in big finals. But since his Montreal title last summer, he has just completely fallen off… And I’m worried that this is becoming a trend with the younger guys, like they just don’t seem to have that drive and discipline that the great young players had in previous generations.
Hopefully those guys will see how close Coric came to beating Fed, and it could help them go into future matches with a little more belief. I just don’t believe it, though, and I won’t believe it until I see it!
And I fear that we are going to have the exact same thing during the clay season, except with Rafa instead of Fed. It will probably be Rafa just running through everyone with nobody to challenge him, except for maybe Thiem taking a set off him or something. Anyone who ever had any kind of success against Rafa in clay, however small that success may have been, are all injured or too old. And they probably wouldn’t have challenged him anyway haha.
So yes, I agree that men’s tennis is just garbage right now. We literally only have ONE single compelling rivalry/matchup at the top of the men’s game- Federer-Del Potro. And one single compelling match-up just isn’t enough to keep it interesting. And in the clay season, it will likely just be Rafa-Thiem. (I am doubtful that Del Po will be able to be as effective on clay as he used to be pre-surgery).
Women’s game is where it’s at right now, even without Serena. And it’s not like the women’s game is at an all-time high or anything remotely close to it, it’s just that the men’s is so shitty that women’s game has to be better.
Zverev match had over a hundred unforced errors which was ridiculous given how short and loopy he was hitting.
I’d be surprised if Rafa is healthy enough to come close to what he did last year (which was in no small part enabled by the lack of competition). But he was in much better shape last year than this year.
Absolute garbage at the moment. Unless you enjoy professional wrestling and the Harlem globetrotters.
Maybe Herbert WILL win.
Rickys’ winner is OUT!