Just a quick update about something interesting that has nothing to do with Miami. As you can see Roger invited Dominic Thiem, who I have raved about and called the real ‘baby Fed’ of late, for a practice camp on clay leading up to Monte Carlo. I also posted a video of them practicing at Wimbledon a couple of posts ago so this won’t be the first time. It seems Roger has taken a liking to the kid which is not surprising to me. He is very respectful and hard working like Roger himself. They both have great attitudes toward the game. Thiem is also a player who hits with loads of top spin which makes him a good player to train with on clay for Roger who have historically struggled with Nadal’s huge topspin.

From Thiem’s viewpoint he is skipping the tournament he would have played in Casablanca to train with the GOAT. That shows you he has his priorities right. Even though there is points and prize money available in Casablanca it is clearly better in the long run to go on a training camp with the GOAT. The experience and advice Thiem will get from the training camp is invaluable. Who knows when Roger retires he may even coach Thiem. I wonder how Dimitrov feels about this development. He would probably give up Sharapova to have a one week training camp with the GOAT, which in itself would be the greatest thing he could do for his tennis. But Thiem is showing more promise and like I said his top spin shots makes him a better candidate for the clay.

The three(sportsmanship) musketeers

I am already looking very much forward to see how Roger and Dominic both fare in Monte Carlo, but of course today is the final in Miami. And as expected it will be another Djokoray final. It is not the most exciting match up in the world but I enjoyed the Australian Open final and I’m looking forward to the Miami final too. Djokovic has won their last six meetings so of course he is the favorite, but you can’t underestimate Murray who has beaten Djokovic in two slam finals. But first back to the semis where Djokovic schooled Isner 7-6(3), 6-2. The first set was close as the scoreline suggests but then Djokovic was basically toying with Isner in the second set. Isner was playing at a very high level in the first set but once Djokovic weathered the storm Isner couldn’t keep that level up.

Djokovic is still the best player in the world by quite a margin and should he win the title today against Murray he will have reached another big milestone by winning a record third Indian Wells/Miami double. He is already the best slow hard court player in history as far as I’m concerned but that would really lock it up. This week he has once again shown how unplayable he is on slow hard with the victories over Klizan, Dolgopolov, and Isner. Isner himself defeated a whole generation of top players in Dimitrov, Raonic, and Nishikori, but couldn’t take a set off Djokovic. Murray is a better player than anyone Djokovic faced so far but the level Dolgopolov and Isner showed may be better than anything Murray is capable of.

Anyone in particular?

Novak Djokovic for example. I’m a big fan of his game but I also found out he’s a really nice guy. I remember the first time I saw Djokovic, I was with my coach from the ITF Touring Team, and I just stood in my place, completely star-struck. And she was like ‘you have to get used to this, they are all over the place’.

I was in a queue to get food and Tomas Berdych came to get some pasta and the cook told him he had to go stand in the queue. And I couldn’t believe it, that’s Tomas Berdych and the guy won’t give him food because he’s not in the queue. I didn’t have the best experience with Roger Federer, in the players’ lounge, I asked him for a photo and he told me ‘no, sorry, go away’. I was a bit shocked. Maybe I caught him at a bad time. Djokovic however, was so nice when we took a picture and he asked me if I was playing and he wished me luck.

Hi, folks. I hope everyone has by now recovered from grand slam withdrawal and gotten back to their normal sleeping routines.

I don’t have any tour news for you yet because the current events don’t quite fall under ‘cutting edge men’s tennis’ but I have something else more interesting for you.

// Congrats to Federer on a much deserved seventh title in Cincinnati yesterday. I can easily say I told you so, that Federer had it coming after losing three big finals to Djokovic, or that it was inevitable with the Cincinnati court speed. I mean let’s face it, Federer keeps winning the matches on faster courts over the best of three sets. But I’d rather focus on the fact that Federer surprised Djokovic in my opinion.

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Hi folks. I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. What do you think about the outfit? I’m not particularly impressed simply because of the color. I don’t have a problem with the design. I bet you guys are really starting to miss Roger by now. Just one more week now but check out my new blog The Tennis Analyst if you are missing tennis too much. I have covered Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur and will cover Beijing and Tokyo in the coming week as well. Djokovic and Nadal are back in Beijing and it will be interesting to see how Djokovic responds after another tough loss to Nadal in the US Open final. Can he fight back or has Nadal broken him mentally? I think he may struggle to beat Nadal again at least until the end of the year. We will see. Nadal said today it will be very hard to overtake Djokovic in the rankings which is of course nonsense.

I’m pretty sure Nadal will end the year ranked #1. With Murray out for the rest of the year as well it is hard to see anyone beat him if he keeps playing the way he has of late. Berdych goes back to #5 in the rankings tomorrow which means of course that Roger is back to #6. I would have liked to see Roger play Beijing or Tokyo as well as Stockholm or Paris given how little he has played this year. But of course we don’t know what his situation is. The fact that Murray is out for the rest of the season is definitely helping him. Did Murray not pull out Roger would have been in a battle with Stan and Gasquet to qualify for the Masters Cup and he would probably have been forced to play Beijing or Tokyo. Roger has played so little this year it is almost like he is semi-retired. But it means he doesn’t have many points to defend next year and I’m sure he is just resting up for another big onslaught in 2014.

With Tsonga back Roger may have to add Stockholm or Paris to his schedule if he wants to be sure to qualify for London. I guess he is waiting to see what happens in Shanghai where he has a semi to defend. The fact that he is back to #6 in the rankings means he won’t be seeded in the top 4 in Shanghai and can play Nadal or Djokovic in the quarters. He also has a final to defend in Basel. We will see how things pan out. I’d like to see him add one event just so he can get some more confidence going in the indoor season which has always been a good hunting ground for him. He needs some kind of platform he can launch another big season in 2014 from. It would be nice if he can end the year ranked in the top 5 too. Well that’s a wrap from me. Like I said keep an eye on my other blog(s) in the right sidebar if you’re gonna follow tennis in the next week or have an interest in spirituality.

Let me know your thoughts.

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