Today was the first day of the main draw and the crowds were not as large as previous year, then the beer virus will do that. Of course there were some drunk bogans around, but it wouldn't be an Aussie sporting event without them.
Today there weren't as many matches on the card that interested me, but at this stage, there are always matches to watch. It's a question of interest and what courts aren't too full.
Martinez vs. Delbonis
Pedro Martinez who was previously coached by the great man Daniel Gimeno Traver who has now moved on to Bautista Agut. DGT did a great job with Martinez getting him to be more aggressive on the forehand, establishing himself in the top 100. Now, Gerry Granollers is working with him. Delbonis is predominately a clay courter, though he has had his moments on this surface.
Martinez started slowly through nerves as he was expected to win this easily. Delbonis was serving well initially and using his forehand to open up the court, going up a break. Martinez breaks back and gets it to a tiebreaker.
In the buster there was an incident where the ballkid collapsed on Martinez's set point. Both players stopped play, waiting with the ballkid to receive treatment before contnuing. Martinez takes the breaker 17-15.
Martinez had a mental letdown, which Delbonis took advantage of and was able to take the 2nd set. During the set there was a medical timeout for Martinez, relating to a foot issue.
The match is at one set all, yet there was never really a feeling that Martinez was in trouble. Delbonis was having footfaultitis, providing too many opportunities to Martinez which he took to take a 2 sets to 1 lead.
In the 4th set Martinez was hitting some excellent groundstrokes, showing his superior hardcourt ability to take the match. He has a big chance against Garin in the next round.
Bublik vs. Escobedo
When in doubt about to watch, there is never a bad time to watch the unpredictable Bublik.
I got there during the 2nd set tiebreaker. Escobedo takes the 1st set. Bublik, he will never change, he had some great strokes and hilarious misses. He's difficult because of his unpredictabiity.
Once Bublik levelled at 1 set all, that was vital for the match. The Russian was able to relax, start playing more consistently, hitting big serves, with the drop shots. Bublik did a great drop shot and lob combination, which is one of the best things in the sport.
After taking a 2 sets 1 lead. Bublik steps it up and Escobedo can't live with the heat. One of the enjoyable things about Bublik besides not knowing what you will get is the running commentary he provided. Normally it's in Russian and English, but this time mostly English and joking with the fans after hitting a huge winner.
Bublik closes out the match without too many issues. He's definitely one cat who doesn't like the heat, thankfully today was not too hot.
Observations
The nice Lopez aka Marc Lopez Tarres is loving life as a father. He's joined the Rafa Nadal Academy as a coach, which is good for him as he has an extra mouth to feed, we all need job security in addition Nadal respects him as an individual. Glad he has landed on his feet.
Roberto Bautista Agut was hitting with DGT today. Gimeno Traver hasn't played much, but he still hits a mean forehand. It's interesting watching them coach.
Marinko Matosevic is back on tour, he is working with Chris O'Connell. It's a definite contrast of characters there. O'Connell is one of the best people on tour, will be interesting to see what Matosevic can offer. He has always danced to his own tune, he's a vegan, living in Bali.
Ending the report on a positive note the Mailman John Millman gets his first win of the year over Feliciano "Pretty Boy" Lopez in 4 sets. Millman struggled mentally with Covid last year and the harsh restrictions of entry into Australia until recently. The Aussies and the South Americans are the ones who are away from home the longest time, but the South Americans could get home. Millman hasn't had a break or a pre season, but he delivered a win which is good for the sport.
3 comments:
Excellent stuff as per usual. Bublik is a strange cat but definitely fun to watch.
Thank you Nils, finally we get to read about some real tennis news. I'm looking forward to reading more
Great read as always! Thanks for that!
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