A*** – Daniil Medvedev – What can you say after that? An astonishing performance. He didn’t just beat Djokovic, he dismantled him. Would you beat against him dominating the hard court events in the years to come? You’d be brave if you did.

A* – Botic Van De Zandschulp – A first ever Major quarter final at the age of 25 was rich rewards for an excellent fortnight which included stand out wins over Casper Ruud and Diego Schwartzman. Nearly doubling his career earnings after picking up a cheque for $467,000 would have been nice, but I suspect the move to 63 in the rankings from 117 will be the icing on the cake.

A* – Oscar Otte – His career continues to improve as the weeks and months go by. For a man who has never even reached a QF at a 250 event, to make the R16 and pocket a cheque that represents 34% of his career earnings would have been nice; the fact he did it whilst saving match points in the first two rounds of qualifying makes it extra sweet. Shame he was injured whilst playing Berrettini but it was a hell of a run for the 28 year old.

A* – Carlos Alcaraz – Phenomenal talent. Just 18 years of old and he has shown his versatility on both clay and hard courts already. He took a medical time-out after the fourth set against Tsitsipas and whilst he got through that match, it’s now clear he wasn’t fit to play Felix; which was a shame as it would have been a very intriguing match. However he’s going to spend the next 15 years at the top of the men’s game, so enjoy it.

A* – Jenson Brooksby – After a very successful season he broke out into mainstream consciousness with his performances in New York. To take a set against Djokovic 6-1 in your first match with the world no. 1 was jaw dropping to watch. He fought valiantly and made like difficult for him after that too. You’ll always have long term questions over his technique and whether players will figure it out, but for now he has a very bright-looking future.

A – Lloyd Harris – An excellent week for the South African. I said on Twitter I’ve been very surprised by his run of form of late, but it’s clear it’s no fluke. He’s turning in results and performances regularly and it’ll be interesting to see how he progresses. A QF is a great result and the only disappointment was his failure to put pressure on Zverev by taking that first set, which he should have.

A – Matteo Berrettini – A season in which he’s been knocked out of three Majors by Djokovic (gave Tsitsipas a walkover in the other), twice in the quarter-finals and then a loss in the final at Wimbledon. Whilst he managed to take a set in all three matches, the bottom line is that the match up is terrible for him. A player continuing to trend in the right direction.

A – Peter Gojowczyk – Until this event Peter had never gone past round 2 in New York. To just qualify was an achievement in itself for the 32 year old, but to then beat Humbert, Lajovic and Laaksonen was superb. He eventually succumbed to Carlos Alcaraz but it was a tournament to remember for the German.

A – Alex Molcan – Qualified for his first ever MD, saving two match points in the process in the final round of qualifying and then beat highly thought of youngster Brandon Nakashima in order to make the third round. Somewhat surprising as he’s mostly focused on the dirt of late, but this young lefty is going to make his way onto the main tour soon, of that I have no doubt.

B – Novak Djokovic – Is a B harsh? I don’t think so. I even flirted with a C grade, but a win over an inform Zverev means he didn’t deserve that. Ultimately Novak came into this tournament with the sole intention of winning it and for whatever reason, he just didn’t perform in the final. He’ll be bitterly, bitterly disappointed.

B – Alexander Zverev – I’m not commenting on the off the court stuff, so if you’re expecting anything from me on that you’re out of luck. Another good fortnight on the court and in someone respects there’s no shame in losing to the man who is chasing a calendar year Grand Slam, but I thought that was a missed opportunity. On too many occasions he made errors to hand Novak a way back into the match just when you thought he was in control. He’ll win a few Majors, but this one got away from him.

B – Frances Tiafoe – He’s getting better and he’s one of my favourite people in the sport as I love his infectious attitude. However he had a chance to back up a superb win over Rublev and fell short once again. I said he was the sort of player that’s a threat on any given day to nearly everyone, but absolutely no threat to win a tournament of this magnitude as he lacks the consistency to do it match after match and I’ll stand by that.

B – Andreas Seppi – 5 set Seppi was another of this tournaments delights. To see the evergreen Italian veteran make it to the third round was a joy. The fact he knocked off two very good players in Fucsovics and Hurkacz was even more impressive. Possibly will be disappointed he couldn’t take out Otte, but it’s a pleasure seeing him take to the court whenever he does.

C – Jannik Sinner – Possibly harsh as he made the fourth round and losing to Zverev is hardly an embarrassment, but the way he collapsed multiple times against Monfils and struggled against Svajda was uninspiring. Nothing to get overly excited about in this event, but maybe the expectations are slightly unrealistic at this stage. Certainly his post-match presser was one of acknowledging he’s a work in progress and he spoke in a way that gave me great encouragement moving forwards.

C- – Brandon Nakashima – A good round one win in straight sets against Isner followed by a poor loss to Alex Molcan having been up 2-1 in sets. He’s had an impressive summer with back to back finals in Los Cabos and Atlanta, but I expected more from him here in New York.

D – Stefanos Tsitsipas – Stefanos shouldn’t be losing to Carlos Alcaraz when he’s just taken the fourth set 6-0. It just shouldn’t happen. Another hard court Major that leave me convinced his best hope (and maybe only) of a Major title is Roland Garros. The return of serve was a disaster.

D – Miomir Kecmanovic – A loss from two sets up to hand Arthur Rinderknech his first ever win at this level is just a stinker. Having showed a decent amount of promise not too long ago, he’s now stalling.

D – Ugo Humbert – Ugo came into the event as the 23rd seed but was bounced out by Gojowczyk in a very winnable first round. He should, in theory, find the hard court Majors to his liking as he’s very capable on this surface but he’s yet to make it past round 2 in either Australia or the US. After a win in Halle and a R16 in Wimbledon, grass may prove to be his best bet moving forwards.

D – Casper Ruud – Came into this event as the 8th seed, however he’s far from being a top 10 player on this surface. Thiem has shown that you can make the transition from clay to hard, so it’s not implausible that he will, but you wouldn’t be disappointed if you’re unranked and you get drawn against Casper in a hard court major.

D – Fabio Fognini – Split with his coach after bowing out in the first round. Fabio shouldn’t be losing to Pospisil from two sets up, especially not after taking a 4-1 lead in the fifth. Another whose attitude to the sport I’m growing tired of.

F – Pierre-Hugues Herbert – Losing to the veteran Adrian Mannarino isn’t a terrible result, but having been 2 sets and a break up it goes down as a bad, bad loss. Herbert has been bounced out of all four Majors in the first round and his ranking is sliding backwards. Worrying times for Frenchman.

F – Benoit Paire – I am just flat out bored of him now. The rankings farce has helped him immeasurably. Sadly it’s left the fans witnessing a man who is taking the piss out of the sport.

F – Nick Kyrgios – Fans of Nick are beginning to seem like the Japanese soldiers who refused to surrender after WWII. They’ll swear blind he’s as talented as anyone on tour no matter how far his game sinks in to completely irrelevancy. His last QF in a Major will be 7 years ago once the Australian Open comes round again. I think that says it all.

This won’t be an overly interesting or coherent blog, I’m sure, but I’ve had a bit of a think about how the two intertwine and wanted to put my thoughts down.

Twitter is mostly toxic. It’s almost designed to be that way. The idea that nuanced discussion can occur in 280 characters is nonsense. Sharing ideas and concepts in 280 characters is hard enough; to then expect that they can then be respectfully challenged, which requires someone to put together a rational well thought out riposte (again in 280 characters), is wishful thinking.

Instead for most Twitter is about winning. Are you arguing with someone you disagree with? Well you then have 280 characters to both pull apart their argument whilst making your disdain for them perfectly clear. After that you hit the Tweet button and sit back and wait for the inevitable response before you set about trying to win again. Ridiculous isn’t it?

Yet it’s worked on me. I’ve engaged with people I shouldn’t, instigated when I shouldn’t and ultimately reacted/got involved in situations that I shouldn’t. And for what? There’s no prize at the end of it, no material benefit, no emotional benefit; just a black hole of despair when you realise the futility of it all.

That’s currently where I’m at with it; as someone who now looks at how I’ve used Twitter at times and just realised how pointless it’s all been. I honestly wish I could be the type that posts memes and is more carefree and less interested in engaging, but that’s never been my style. So what now?

Well I want to see how I feel about the app if I go back to using it for what I had intended to. To stay up-to-date with the tennis world, to read/write interesting articles, potentially meet other fans at events (when the world eventually reopens!) and occasionally share insights of matches I’m watching and stats I find interesting. I’m going to move on from the nonsense I got sucked into. It’s not healthy.

2020 was a clusterfuck for nearly everyone. Personally it hit me particularly hard as I live alone and have struggled during the 8 billion lockdowns we’ve had, but that’s no real excuse for letting myself get sucked into the toxic nonsense in the manner I have. When times have been difficult I should have asked for help, instead I allowed myself to get wound up and then used a stupid app to unleash some wrath. How childish.

The strange thing is that I’ve actually taken huge steps in my personal life and I’m proud of what I’ve done, but I’ve used online too often as my outlet to vent and it’s unhealthy – to say the least.

I will end by saying Twitter isn’t completely awful. As a place to access information, particularly in the tennis world, it’s a fabulous place and I’ve met numerous amazing people with far more knowledge and intelligence than I and it’s helped me a great deal. But I’ve allowed the downsides to outweighs the positives. No more.

I’m writing a quick blog to give a run down of the career of Stefanos’ brother, Petros, as I find the numbers interesting. I’ll add a disclaimer that I may be a tournament or so out as I did it relatively quickly, but you’ll get the picture.

I have Petros having played a total of 68 tournaments (excluding Davis Cup) in his career. Of those he has received 43 wild cards. The breakdown is as follows:

Futures Q: 11 Wild cards. He has qualified once from these.

Futures main draws: 27 wild cards. One quarter final and four second rounds for a total of 6 wins.

4 Challenger Q wild cards: qualified once but took only one win to do so

ATP Q: 1 – lost in his only match

Of his direct acceptance appearances:

Futures Qualifying: 23 – I have him qualifying four times total and winning three first round matches

Futures Main Draw: 2 – he won a first round match in one of these.

Are wild cards in Futures qualifying or a main draw a massive deal? Not really, but it’s striking that for someone who has been given so many chances on the back of his surname he still only has a career high of 1050 in the world.

I’d be intrigued to know if anyone else has ever had wild cards at a ratio of nearly 2:1 in their favour!

To my knowledge the men weren’t asked about equal pay at the recent Majors. It’s usually a standard set-up question at a Major from a journalist in the hopes of getting a whiff of disagreement from the male player in question. They are then usually quoted out of context and attacked relentlessly on social media; whilst simultaneously being tarred and feathered as a disgusting misogynist.

We’ve seen this playbook many times. Once it starts female professionals past and present will wade in to shame the player in question and it will snowball from there. It’s ok when this does happen, because it’s all in the name of equality and fairness – or so we’re told.

This attitude extended to the recent discussions that took place surrounding the merger of the two tours that was being allegedly discussed. Jo Konta, for example, came out swinging by insisting that the two tours merge as equals. I don’t have the energy to discuss the intricacies of that in this particular blog entry, other than to say I don’t see where anyone could credibly argue the two tours are equal when you actually bother to look at things like the revenues they generate. However there’s little room for nuance or a discussion of the cold hard facts on this topic, but I digress.

Ultimately the point I’m making with these examples is that the women are perfectly capable of finding their voices on certain issues, yet remain strangely silent on others. What is an example I’m referring to? Well the tennis calendar for the rest of this year would be one.

Once Covid hit the calendars were decimated. It was understandable and not the fault of any individual or organisation. But once it became clear that it was possible to stage events if you worked hard enough to put them on, the difference between the ATP and the WTA as organisations became abundantly clear.

The ATP have created a calendar that looks like this:

That’s 8 events, 4 of which are new.

Meanwhile the WTA have just TWO events scheduled in Ostrava (a new event) and Linz. Just two. means this week alone the ATP are offering more playing opportunities in a single week than the WTA are for the multiple weeks left in the season.

Where’s the outrage? Where’s the comments from players past and present condemning the failures of the WTA? Where’s the inquisition being held to try to understand how this could possibly be happening?

The bottom line is that these events are crucial to the players ranked 50 and below on the WTA tour. As I’ve written about before (https://mytennisadventures.home.blog/2019/09/12/121/) there’s certainly an inequality in the number of playing opportunities available as you slide further down the ladder and this will only be exacerbated by the failures of the WTA to create tour level events for their players for the rest of this season.

Already we’re seeing entry lists for ITF events that are incredibly strong. It’s great for those events, but less so for the players who would usually be playing them but are being squeezed out because of the lack of main tour events being held. Who is speaking up for those players?

I won’t even begin to get into the issue of the WTA selling its soul to China, suffice to say they’re not finding out the consequences of putting all your eggs in one basket.

The issue of unions

I’ve many reservations about the newly formed PTPA, but some of the men are at least attempting to get organised and to open up the debate on how the sport moves forward.

There was criticism for them at the decision not to include the women, but I found it understandable. So long as the tours aren’t merged the men have their own battles to fight with the ATP and having women in the PTPA doesn’t impact those discussions in any way.

In the mean time, what is stopping the women from uniting and looking to form their own collective group that holds the WTA to task and demands far more than they’re currently receiving? Nothing so far as I can see and yet I’m unaware of anything happening on that front.

Whether people want to admit it or not, I get the strong sense that the elite men are leading the way in the battle for change whilst the elite women are seemingly hoping to just follow and benefit from it. If you can show me evidence to suggest otherwise, I’d be delighted to see it.

Ultimately in this sport, as in life, you look to those with the voice and the platform to effect change to do just that. What’s clear is that for those ladies further down the rankings there is very few women at the elite level who are seemingly willing to do that for them.

I think they deserve far better than that.

Jeffrey John Wolf – aka JJ Wolf

Age: 20 – December 21st 1998

Height: 1.83m/6ft

Current Ranking: 190 (career high 189 on the 18/11/2019)

Junior Career High Ranking: 18

Professional titles: 1 Futures, 2 Challengers

Titles in 2019: 2 Challengers

JJ peaked as a Junior at 18 in the world with his biggest moment being winning the Grade 1 Coffee Bowl (great tournament name!). He’d reach the third round at the junior US Open but like many young Americans he choose to go to college and stayed in his hometown State and became a Buckeye at Ohio State University in January 2017.

He picked up a Futures title in October 2017 but it would be in the summer of 2018 when he entered qualifying at some Challengers that he would have his first wins at CH level, including a big win over Dan Evans in Lexington.

His hometown tournament at Ohio State would then roll around in January of 2019 and after reaching the R16 he bulldozed his way into the final losing only 7 games in 6 sets, including a double bagel over Peliwo.

The final itself would be against a former Buckeye teammate, Mikael Torpegaard, and was a titanic battle in which Mikael was arguably the better player for a set and a half before JJ took over to win 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 to win his first CH title.

Whilst having these successes at the professional level he had also worked himself into the number one singles ranking in College tennis and after being knocked out of the NCAA tournament the decision to go pro was taken not long after in July of this year.

The second half of the season saw him again making a final indoors at Ohio State, this time losing to Peter Polansky. He would then play a few events on outdoors hard courts and suffer a few early exits so that by the time he entered his final tournament in Champaign-Urbana he was ranked 255 and outside Australian Open qualifying.

However by the time that week was over he’d proven once again how dominant he can be indoors by winning the title and moving to a career high of 189 and guaranteeing himself a spot in Australia for qualifying. For someone who was effectively a part-time player compared to others on tour it was a phenomenal achievement.

To put it into context he played 12 tournaments this year whilst Mats Moraing, who is one place ahead of him, played 26.

Game style

JJ isn’t particularly tall in tennis terms at 6ft, but he has an incredibly attacking and exciting game to watch. From a physical standpoint he has tree trunks for legs and it’s presumably partly this that allows him to exceed 130mph for his first serve.

Often when serving on the AD side he will (and when in trouble) hit a serve down the T that slides away from the opponent. It’s a great serve that’s hard to return because he does have the ability to hit big out wide so you have to be aware of both options.

In lots of ways his service return tells you all you need to know about his style. He is extremely aggressive on the return and looks to immediately get on the from foot from it.

His game is then built around his forehand and it’s a massive shot and he will run around his backhand at the earliest opportunity in order to hit it. That said the backhand isn’t bad at all, it’s definitely not anywhere near as dangerous as his forehand, but if he’s feeling the shot then he’s more than capable of hitting winners with it so if both wings are firing he’s difficult to face.

I also like the fact he will try to come to the next to finish points off. It’s something he’s clearly working on and has improved as the season has gone on.

Things to note?

My main concern with his game would be his desire to run around his backhand as often as he does. I think it’s something that on slower outdoor hard courts can get him into trouble as it’s harder to hit through the surface and if you get it slightly wrong you’re more vulnerable due to your court position when playing the shot.

I mentioned his return of serve in an above paragraph and it’s a shot that amazes and frustrates in equal measure. If he brings up a break point with a return winner it’s then hard to criticise him too much for going for it on the next point, but I think on slower surfaces I’d like to see him mix it up with blocked returns on big points also.

It’s also worth noting that his main successes have all come indoors too so there’s plenty of question marks on the other surfaces, but ultimately he’s achieved a great deal with limited professional experience and his game style is such that it’ll be fun to watch how he progresses.

Rudolf Molleker

Age: 19 – October 26th 2000

Height: 1.85m/6ft 1 inches

Current Ranking: 165 (career high 146 on the 29/07/2019)

Junior Career High Ranking: 10

Professional titles: 1 Challenger

Titles in 2019: 0

To have reached 145 in the world at the age of 18 (at the time) whilst simultaneously only ever having won one title is not something you see too often. But in a lot of ways that defines the somewhat strange nature of Rudolf’s career up until now in which he’s become the very definition of inconsistent.

As a result I find Rudolf is simultaneously the most intriguing player but also the most difficult for me to discuss and accurately dissect.

Career Trajectory

As a junior Rudolf reached number 10 in the world and won a few Grade 1 events in Germany. Whilst reaching a ranking of no. 10 would hardly be considered a failure, the R16 at the Australian Open in Jan 2018 would be as far as he’d go in the Junior Majors as he focused more on the pro tour.

Throughout his junior career he was regularly playing Futures events and a few days shy of his 16th birthday in October 2016 he’d reach his first semi-final. He would continue to play Futures with very limited success before being given a wild card into the qualifying draw of the ATP 500 at Hamburg in July of 2017.

Quite astonishingly at this event he proceeded to beat first Casper Ruud and then Leo Mayer in three set matches in order to qualify, before losing 3&4 to Khachanov. There was no real sign that was coming, indeed in his 10 previous Futures events that year he was yet to get past the QF.

I highlight that because it’s symptomatic of Rudolf’s patchy form. It’s even more apparent when you fast forward to the Heilbronn Challenger in 2018, when Rudolf as a 17 year old kid takes down the tournament, winning all his matches from the round of 16 onwards in 3 sets and of those 4 matches he was a set down 3 times. It was a brilliant achievement and yet came from someone who went into that tournament at 0-2 at that level.

At the start of 2019 he lost his first match in a Challenger, before qualifying for his first Major at the AO, losing to Schwartmann in 4 sets. He then lost his next 7 in a row. By now I’m hoping you’re seeing the patchy form too! He had a surprisingly consistent clay season that was topped off by qualifying at Roland Garros and then losing to Tommy Robredo in the final of the Poznan Challenger.

Inexplicably he and his team somehow managed to forget to sign in for Wimbledon qualifying and that was almost a sign of what was to come. Despite having reunited with his coach at Hamburg, where he again beat the then defending champion Leo Mayer, his season tailed off badly. Indeed after that Poznan final he wouldn’t win two consecutive matches in 12 events and he finished the season at 165.

Gamestyle

I went into depth on Rudolf’s career thus far because it matches his playing style brilliantly in my opinion. You have no idea what you’ll be getting, but when his game is working it’s an absolute joy to watch.

Yesterday I described Ruusuvuori as an aggressive baseliner, well Rudolf is a step up from that. He has lovely power on both wings that allow him to hit numerous winners (I particularly like his forehand down the line) and he’s not afraid to try and come forward to finish the rallies at the net. This game style is backed up by a lovely first serve. In truth he has all the tools you would want to see from someone at 19.

However there’s a big but. It’s clear when you watch Rudolf that he’s incredibly quick to get down on himself. This manifests itself with stupid unforced errors as he looks to bash his way out of trouble. There’s a level of maturity required on the court that he hasn’t yet reached in my opinion and until he does he’ll continue to experience long periods where he’s not winning consistently.

Compare him to someone like Jannik Sinner who has a really aggressive game but has a maturity way beyond his years. You don’t see Sinner getting down on himself and I think that’s a vital quality when you’re someone who is aggressive and will have periods where you’re making errors in matches.

I would add that whilst Rudolf’s best results have come on clay I see him as someone who will have a really good game for all the different surfaces, if he puts it together.

Next Year

Showing consistency and emotional maturity will be the key. If he does I really think he’ll be close to the top 100.

Emil Ruusuvuori

Age: 20 – April 2nd 1999

Height: 1.88m/6ft 2 inches

Current Ranking: 124 (career high)

Junior Career High Ranking: 4

Professional titles: 6 Future level titles, 4 at the Challenger level

Titles in 2019: 2 Futures, 4 Challengers

Emil was a top level junior who peaked at number 4. His defining achievement as a junior was winning the ITF Junior Masters, effectively the junior equivalent of the World Tour Finals, by beating China’s Yibing Wu in Chengdu in a third set tie-break.

That event took place in October 2017 and in November of that year Ruusuvuori would proceed to win a Futures event (indoor hard) in his homeland of Finland as a wild card entry. The future looked extremely bright.

However 2018 wasn’t an overly impressive year for a top junior like Emil. He won three $15k events (2 outdoors, 1 indoor) but made no impression at the Challenger level. His ranking rose to 368 from 665 but it wasn’t necessarily clear when he might make the next jump.

Indeed by mid-June of 2019, despite two $25k titles, he found himself at 410 in the world and had yet to reach a Challenger QF. Boy did that change and quickly.

In the next 5 months Emil would pick up no less than FOUR Challenger titles (2 outdoors, 2 indoors) and reach a clay court final, as well as starring for Finland by picking up two Davis Cup wins, including a brilliant win over an admittedly unwell Dominic Thiem.

Worth noting:

It may seem strange to urge a note of caution for a player on a run like Emil, but I think you have to acknowledge the level of opposition he’s faced. In his 21 victories that lead to his four titles the highest ranked opponent he faced and beat was Yannick Maden at 121 in the world. To give that some context Mikael Ymer won the Orleans Challenger this year and in one week 4 of his 5 wins were against opponents more highly ranked than anyone Emil has beaten.

I say that not to disparage his wonderful run, but to make it clear he’s still got plenty to prove.

Game style:

I should note that rather frustratingly I don’t have the level of data I would like (this will be an issue across the series of players I will cover) to confirm things like service speed, so it’s very much anecdotal.

I’d describe Emil as an aggressive baseliner who looks to dictate in the rallies. I would say that he does at times look like his feet are stuck in glue, as he seems quite hesitant to move forward unless his opponent hits a shot well short. In today’s game being able to finish at the next is an incredible valuable skill and that’s something that could be improved.

He has a pretty powerful first serve that’s capable of winning free points and also setting up for him to win rallies early. I’ve found it’s more effective when he’s going down the T. The second serve isn’t bad but I’d like to see how it measures up again better opponents.

His forehand is his main weapon and it’s a shot I like. He is capable of hitting it flat and dominating with it. It contrasts with his backhand, because whilst not weak, it is fairly ineffective. He hits the vast majority of backhands crosscourt and against better players I worry he may get pinned back in that corner as he doesn’t hit enough shots down the line to change the angle.

Aims for next year

Emil is yet to play a single ATP main tour level event so you have to be realistic. Ending the year in the top 100 would be a great achievement in my opinion.

From a purely technical viewpoint I’ll also be watching out for the evolution of his backhand.

I’ll include a video below of his Helsinki triumph for you to watch:

Decided to put together a list of things I’d like to see occur, in no particular order.

Don’t take it too seriously.

Coverage of every match

How can you make it a requirement of a Challenger in Vietnam to show all four courts on a livestream but some tour level events can get away with not having every court available to be viewed?

I’m not asking for full TV production either. A simple fixed camera will suffice. Anything is better than nothing. It’s 2020 soon, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Players to get there own towels:

Somebody for the love of God tell me how this is not a thing? I watched a couple of matches during the Dallas Challenger this year in which players were visibly ill due to a virus that was going round; as a result ball kids were having to handle towels that became virus filled rags. It needs to stop.

E-Sports

Admittedly I have no interest in computer games but that’s irrelevant as millions of others do. If there’s a good tennis game out there that gets played online then find a way to integrate the live tennis experience with the online world by bringing players to Masters events to battle it out over the course of the season and then have a grand final. Stream the action and use it as an alternative way to try and get a younger crowd interested.

A New Men’s Major Winner

So many are poised and ready. Time to step up fellas.

Auto Twitter Ban

For whom you ask? Any clown who has their favourite players name as their @. There’s an undoubted correlation between them doing that and then displaying an IQ that isn’t yet in the double digits.

The Laver Cup

Ignoring my feelings on it, why can’t it be hosted on a weekend when there’s not proper tennis being played? It’s utterly disrespectful to tournament organisers to host it during a week in which they’re desperately hoping to attract the best players possible.

Gamblers – Stop Abusing Players

There’s a subtle difference between criticism and outright abuse. Actually, it’s not subtle and you should know the bloody difference. Grow up.

Carrying on from the above: “Tipsters” who sell packages

This is actually directed at recreational gamblers:

There is sufficient free content out there that you shouldn’t be paying someone for tips. Gambling should be fun and if you’re working a job then please don’t see it as a legitimate option for additional funds; especially if you lack the confidence in your own picks to the extent that you’ll consider paying someone else for theirs.

From a personal standpoint I have a moral issue with encouraging people to gamble (through a paid service) which is why I limit discussion on it as best I can and I don’t reply to DMs asking for tips.

More Data and Analytics

Don’t worry people, you won’t have to undergo a Maths exam to continue watching the sport. The simple truth is the coverage is infinitely better when data is used because it can help explain why a player is performing better over a given period of time or in a specific match. Educating those who are watching should be a primary objective of the coverage.

I’ll offer a quick example. Thiem has markedly improved on hard court surfaces, especially the slightly faster surfaces towards the end of the year, but why? Well he seems to be hitting the ball with less spin and flatter as a consequence, but instead of me giving that as a theory it can be proven: (cc: @d_modlinski – he’s a must-follow on Twitter)

Less Ben Rothenberg

Because it just makes sense.

The Podcast Crowdfunds

As I’ve said on Twitter it’s that time of year where people want you to help them with donations so you can pay for them to travel the world watching events. Is it too much to ask they show proof of where the funds are going?

Especially if they’re asking for £50,000.

The ITF, the ATP/WTA & anyone else involved to fix the Davis/Fed Cup & ATP Cup nonsense

I’ll sun up the chances with this picture:

 

On a personal note:

I’ve never really bothered writing before as it doesn’t come naturally to me, so I’d like to say thanks to all those who have read anything I’ve written these year and for the kind words I’ve received now and again about some of the blogs I’ve written. Not too sure if I’ll continue so wanted to say a quick thanks.

Enjoy the rest of your year and I’ll see you on Twitter in time for the new season.

 

 

Inevitably as soon as Ash Barty had finished posing for photos with a trophy that crowned off a quite remarkable year for the extremely likable Aussie, the focus shifted to the size of the cheque that she’d received. In case you aren’t aware, she pocketed a cool $4.42m, a sum that dwarfs any to have been previously awarded in a professional tennis tournament, male or female.

Almost immediately the WTA cheerleaders that masquerade as journalists hailed this as a crowing moment for women’s tennis and women’s sport. It’s a grandiose claim and deserves scrutiny, but unsurprisingly the makers of said comments don’t want to expand on their thoughts. Probably because they don’t hold up.

What makes me say this? Well let’s travel back in time. Not decades, or even years, but to January of this year, in which Serena pleaded with her male counterparts to back her desire for equal pay at all events. At this point it’s worth clarifying that equal pay does exist at the Majors and at the top level combined events; however for the majority of the tennis season men and women are in different cities all over the world competing in the smaller, less prestigious tournaments and that’s where the disparity exists and presumably what Serena was referring too.

It must be noted it was a strange request from Serena at the time and rather illogical. The ATP and the WTA operate as separate businesses that sign their own TV deals; sponsorships, media agreements, they operate in different countries and cities and on and on it goes. It’s simply not possible under the current tennis structure, which she surely knows.

But Serena had an argument, to some degree; she was just asking the wrong people. The question should be directed at the WTA management as to why the women’s game is lagging behind. The numbers below make it clear just how bad the problem is:

Of the 55 tournaments the WTA tour offer, 32 are WTA International events (the lowest level offered). Of those, 30 have prize pools at the $250,000 mark.

In contrast the men’s game has 39 out of 62 of its events at its lowest level (ATP 250), however these prize pools have a significantly higher starting point at $589,680.

Consequently a male who wins an ATP 250 earns a minimum of $90,990 and the runner up earns $49,205. A female WTA International winner earns $43,000. You can begin to see the difference.

Knowing all this, how much should we now be celebrating the fact that Barty picked up a cheque more than 100x the value of a standard WTA International win? The cheque itself represented a massive increase of the previous years winner, Elina Svitolina, who took home $2,360,000.

Is this something we should be celebrating? Possibly. But what long term effects and benefits it has, if any, are up for debate. What the tournament did offer was a chance for the WTA to brag about securing the deal and getting one over the men. So there’s that I guess?

Ultimately for me I go back to this idea of it being, “what a moment for women’s tennis” as one WTA employee put it. Explain to us all what changes this will bring, what benefits will occur and how it’ll change the sport. Because as I sit here I just see a tournament making the richest even richer and I cannot fathom how it means more money finds its way further down the ladder to the players who desperately need it. I would be delighted to be pray, but I think these sensationalist comments will prove to be just that.

Finally I feel it’s worth mentioning that I’ve written previously about the inequality in tennis at the lower levels between the tours and given what I’ve written so far it’s worth just making people aware that as of next year the ATP have increased the travel grant they’ll be giving to players ranked 151-400 to $4,000 and doubles players will get $2,000. Whilst the ITF are generally responsible for tournaments that most female players in the 151-400 bracket will play, it’s just another example of how much better the ATP does for its players (there’s still more to do) when compared to the WTA/ITF.

What about the tournament itself? 

In a lot of ways the size of the prize won by Barty has helped to mask a tournament that was nothing short of a disaster. Injuries can happen at any time, but when you combine players who are tired at the end of a long season and a painfully slow hard court you’re asking for trouble.

The venue wasn’t able to sell out and the atmosphere was dead. The WTA in their infinite wisdom turned down bids from Manchester and Prague, two places that would have sold out every session, in order to chase the money in a market that has never really taken to tennis. The consequence is that you had elite female tennis players playing in an environment and atmosphere which did not give them the stage or platform their talents deserve.

Luckily the WTA have committed themselves to spending the next 9 years trying to address that in Shenzhen. I wish them luck, because it’ll be one hell of a battle to achieve that.

 

In conclusion, well done to Ash Barty, but let’s not get carried away by the size of her winnings. It distract from the very real issues the WTA faces both in Shenzhen and the tour as a whole.

 

Hero of the Year Award:

Marco Trungelliti

Stood up to match-fixers and for that he’ll always be a hero to me.

Can’t think of anyone else who has done that and suffered in the way he did, despite having done the right thing. I hope he has a massive 2020, fully deserves it.

Biggest Villain of the Year Award:

David Haggerty

Imagine if you created a new tour (sort of, anyway), that was roundly condemned by everyone involved, to the point that it was then scrapped; whilst also being responsible for drastic to changes to both the Davis and Fed Cups that were universally hated. You’d be waiting for that letter that lets you know your services are no longer required, I suspect.

However in the world of tennis that level of incompetence is rewarded with another term in office as President of the ITF.

Clown of the Year Award:

Nick Kyrgios

The debate over whether he is good for the game or not is silly. Of course he’s good for the game, but he’s also someone who steps over the line way too often. I like controversy and differing personalities, but things like spitting at umpires is disgusting and has to be condemned. I hope 2020 is a chance to focus on the good things he does both on and off court.

Breakthrough of The Year Award:

Jannik Sinner

He’s gone from 870th last November to 78th and he’s only just turned 18. He is also really, really fun to watch.

Gingers all over the world are rejoicing.

Comeback of The Year Award

Andy Murray

Was tempted to give it to Tara Moore after winning from 0-6, 0-5* 30-40 to wind up the Murray fans, but I don’t want the abuse.

The transition from losing to Matteo Viola in a Challenger in Mallorca in August to winning in Antwerp is a truly astonishing story.

The Feelgood Story of The Year

Filip Polasek

Plenty of candidates but I’m going with the Slovak doubles specialist. His return to the sport after nearly 5 years out is in itself an achievement, but to go on and win a Masters event and qualify for London with Ivan Dodig after only becoming a pairing in the late May is an astonishing achievement.

The Bermuda Triangle Award – this is for the man who goes missing when it matters most.

Nick Kyrgios

People will think I’m targeting Nick, but I’m not. He’s got weapons and the ability to make life incredibly difficult for the top guys but the stats below say it all. I hope the break from tennis focuses him on trying to do his best next year. The sport would be better off if he did because he’s a big draw for the sport.

Two ATP 500 titles, 0 second weeks at the Majors and peaked at the Masters by reaching round two twice.

Most Entertaining Player Award:

Alexander Bublik

Some people would probably suggest Kyrgios, which is fair enough. However for me personally a Bublik match is a rollercoaster of tricks, inexplicably unnecessary shots, regular second serve 132mph aces and most importantly his matches will make you laugh and smile. You won’t turn off one of his matches without being entertained. Make sure you tune in.

World’s Most Pointless Comeback

Amir Weintraub

Before coming back this year his last match was at the Australian Open in 2017. I’ll let the results speak for themselves.

The Gamesmanship Champion Award

Stefanos Tsitsipas

His ability to just repeatedly invent excuses to break an opponents rhythm when they’re up break points is absurd. Not sure how much longer he can keep using the shoe lace excuse though. Hopefully he switches it up for 2020.

The I’m Not Crying, You Are Award:

Laslo Djere

I’m a softy really and the thought of his speech after his win in Rio chokes me up even now.

 

The I’m Not Sure What Award Title He Deserves But He’s Getting One Anyway Award:

Noah Rubin

He cares. He wants the sport to improve, adapt and thrive. Behind the Racquet is a brilliant creation and the Coffee Cast With Cation and Rubin is essential listening for any tennis fan. I hope more people get behind Noah and his projects, it’s coming from a good place.

Best Commentator(s):

I’m going to give this to two people: Mark Petchey and Mike Cation. Thoroughly enjoy listening to both. Can somebody finally give Mike a permanent tour level gig? It’s long overdue. Retire McEnroe whilst you’re at it, please.

Worst Broadcaster Award:

Amazon Prime

Slightly unfair in some respects as it’s pretty much Amazon only in the UK for tennis fans, but they have a long way to go. The delay behind the live action is unacceptable and they’ve had too many occasions where the service has stopped working. Given it’s one of the world’s largest and richest companies I expected more from them.

Least Appreciated Aspect of Tennis Award:

The quality of tennis at the ATP Challenger level! All the matches are free to watch at http://www.livestream.com/atp – I only wish more people tuned in.

Worst Blogger/Journalist/Content Creator: 

Ben Rothenberg

It’s a lazy selection because it’s the easy one. But it’s also the correct one.

I can’t be bothered to list everything he’s done, life’s too short. Ultimately I think he’s an absolute cancer on our sport and I don’t say that lightly.

Best Blogger/Journalist/Content Creator:

I couldn’t actually narrow it down so I’ll give you a short list of some people you should be following and supporting on Twitter. They all care and love the sport and I’d love for more people to read and share their articles and watch their content to help the sport grow:

@tennisblogger1, @lwosdamiankust, @alextheodorid1s, @themagician5GS

In fairness anyone I follow is great and you should be too.

 

 

On that happier note I’ll end it there. If you happen to be offended by any of my selections please feel free to keep it to yourself because I don’t care.

If you have better suggestions and don’t take things too seriously then let me know as I’d love to hear your thoughts.