ATP/WTA Masters 1000 Madrid

[Drummond]

Another joint 1000 event, kicks off tonight.

Men’s:





Top half once again far stronger than the bottom half. You’ve got Alcaraz, Rune and Rublev, 2 title winners and a runner-up last week, all in the top half, as well as Ruud however his form is so bad he hardly seems a threat. Other noticeables:

• Sebastian Korda finally returns after 3 months out. Bye first round then likely Schwartzman.
• Kubler faces Lajovic first up. Kokkinakis vs Munar, Popyrin vs Halys, O’Connell vs Krajinovic.
• Some likely 2R matches: Murray vs Medvedev, Thiem vs Tsitsipas, Rublev vs Wawrinka.
• No Djokovic, Nadal or Sinner hurts the tournament a lot. Can’t see anyone stopping Alcaraz, he’s just on another level to all remaining challengers.

 

[Drummond]

Women’s:





Swiatek returns to Madrid after having to withdraw last year. She was dominant in Stuttgart last week and looks a class above the field. Two of her biggest rivals in Krejcikova and Rybakina are in her quarter, so that could be interesting. On clay though I just can’t see who can beat her. Certainly not Raducanu who she’ll probably obliterate in the second round. Other noticeables:

• 15 y/o winner of consecutive ITF 60k titles Mirra Andreeva has received a WC and will make her 1000 debut. Faces Leylah Fernandez.
• Fellow 15 y/o Brenda Fruhvirtova also received a WC and plays Kalinskaya.
• After her near death experience in Miami, apparently Andreescu is fit to play, hardly seems possible. Not sure if she’ll be a late withdrawal though.
• Potapova could face doubles partner Kudermetova 3R.
• Annett Kontaveit returns after a long absence through injury. Plays Muchova first up, great match.
• Defending champion Ons Jabeur has had to withdraw following her injury against Swiatek in Stuttgart. Massive disappointment after recently finding form and fitness.
  

 

[BobbyMorri]

I really hope Ons gets right for a proper tilt at Roland Garros.

 

[Drummond]

Kenin was thumped last night. So disappointing. Didn’t even last an hour on court. Do we think she’ll ever win a slam again, or even come close? She’s fallen away so badly.

Good win for Fruhvirtova. Has Ostapenko next, got to think she’ll absolutely punish that serve.

Great performance by Bouchard to qualify, two comfortable wins. Plays fellow qualifier Yastremska tonight, that’ll be entertaining.

Kontaveit was decent on return, lost comfortably but it was closer than the scoreline suggests. She’ll build on that. It’s nice to have her back.

Young talent time on stadium 3 tonight, starts with Mirra Andreeva followed by Brenda Fruhvirtova.

Svitolina/Sasnovich should be a good contest too.

As for the men, disappointed Fils lost final qualifying last night in 3 sets. Cressy/Wawrinka tonight, Popyrin and Kokkinakis also on court.

 

[BobbyMorri]

I thought Kenin was getting better when she was in Hobart.

 

[Drummond]

I thought Kenin was getting better when she was in Hobart.

Me too. And then she challenged Rybakina at Indian Wells. She’s so patchy, never know what she’ll produce.

Meanwhile in the early action Andreeva is up 3-0 in 7 minutes against Fernandez. Wow. The hitting and defending is super impressive.

 

[Drummond]

Wow. Mirra Andreeva beats Fernandez 6-3, 6-4. Incredibly impressive. She has such a strong game already! Big groundstrokes, powerful serve (180kph!), moves really well, reads the game well. You hate to make big calls early so I won’t take her name over to that other thread already lol but can’t speak highly enough of what she just produced. She didn’t put a foot wrong. Stood up in the big moments, produced stellar tennis on break points. Fernandez was making a late charge from 5-1 to 5-4 and then she served it out to love. Outstanding. 13 wins in a row across ITF/WTA.

 

[Drummond]

Good company. Bellis could’ve been very good but injuries crippled her.

Brenda Fruhvirtova on now, let’s see what she’s got after that stunning display.

 

[Drummond]

LukeParkerno1 your thoughts on Anisimova? Just feel like she needs some time away from the game. Another 1R exit, loses a stack of points, and her ranking continues to plummet.

Good comeback win for Osorio who’s been out for a few months and has seen her ranking completely fall away. Faces Kostyuk next, I think she can win that on the clay.

Popyrin loses after taking the first set. Jeremy Chardy lost, I wasn’t even aware he was playing. He’s been out for ages.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

LukeParkerno1 your thoughts on Anisimova? Just feel like she needs some time away from the game. Another 1R exit, loses a stack of points, and her ranking continues to plummet.

Good comeback win for Osorio who’s been out for a few months and has seen her ranking completely fall away. Faces Kostyuk next, I think she can win that on the clay.

Popyrin loses after taking the first set. Jeremy Chardy lost, I wasn’t even aware he was playing. He’s been out for ages.

Look I’m going to try and say this nicely as I’ve met Anismova and she’s the most down to earth girl ever.

I just wonder whether she actually really cares about tennis anymore. There was that incident in the US where she just walked off the court and forfeited because she wouldn’t come back. Now it was weird and at the time for fans a bit of a meme. However was there more to that? Has she lost the will to fight on the court because as soon as that happens you shouldn’t be on court.

I actually tipped Rus on TF said if you are taking Anismova as favourite you are bonkers.

Now what should she do? Not sure she seems to have tried the ho on a holiday thing so what else is there? Does she just say look I’m retiring for a year and then I’ll see how I am next year? Honestly only she can answer this because it all goes back to whether she wants to play the sport and right now I don’t think she does. Looks miserable on court.

 

[Drummond]

Look I’m going to try and say this nicely as I’ve met Anismova and she’s the most down to earth girl ever.

I just wonder whether she actually really cares about tennis anymore. There was that incident in the US where she just walked off the court and forfeited because she wouldn’t come back. Now it was weird and at the time for fans a bit of a meme. However was there more to that? Has she lost the will to fight on the court because as soon as that happens you shouldn’t be on court.

I actually tipped Rus on TF said if you are taking Anismova as favourite you are bonkers.

Now what should she do? Not sure she seems to have tried the ho on a holiday thing so what else is there? Does she just say look I’m retiring for a year and then I’ll see how I am next year? Honestly only she can answer this because it all goes back to whether she wants to play the sport and right now I don’t think she does. Looks miserable on court.

Yep I agree with all of this. I mean it might not be the most accurate portrayal but her social media is always filled with yachts, dinners, music festivals, barely any tennis ever. It shows her priorities IMO. I look at Cirstea and all I ever see is training, weights room etc. And look at her year. I think she’s lost all desire and all passion to improve and to compete. She wants to be good, check out the reaction to losing a point today, wouldn’t happen if it meant nothing, but the motivation and hunger to be her best has disappeared. She needs time away, needs to reset and see if the hunger returns.

Tough, tough loss for Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva. Loses 7-6 in the third after having a MP in the TB. She produced some brilliant tennis though and I think I’ve finally seen her potential. She can generate power and can really fight. She was out of the match but clawed her way back. Saved 3 MP in the TB with some aggressive tennis but just some stupid errors put her behind in the first place. Work on consistency, upping the serve and she might be decent.

She’s only 17. Sometimes I forget how young these girls are and how much time they have to improve. Some girls don’t peak until late 20’s; there’s tons of girls on tour reaching their best results later in their careers. I think she might be a slow burner. Just hope she keeps plugging away, making little adjustments to her game, so we can see her reach her potential.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Drummond Cirstea is the perfect example. Rybakina has the middle ground these top players want with their Insta for mine and yeah okay people will say it’s only Insta but jeez it usually translates on the court

 

[Drummond]

Day 3 highlights:

• Mirra Andreeva vs Haddad Maia. Not expecting lightning to strike twice but just want to see more of the talent.
• Kostyuk vs Osorio. So good to see the fist pumping extraordinaire Osorio back, hoping she can cause an upset.
• Ostapenko vs L.Fruhvirtova.
• Edmund vs Thiem. Can Thiem continue his somewhat decent recent form?
• Kubler vs Lajovic. Tough opener for both, but given he’s coming off a title you’d expect Lajovic to be too strong.
• Cirstea vs Sabalenka. Can Cirstea continue her great season?

 

[matt_897]

The Aussies have been scheduled terribly, I watched some of Popryin but he was his standard average self.

 

[Drummond]

The Aussies have been scheduled terribly, I watched some of Popryin but he was his standard average self.

Yeah Kubler and O’Connell not at very friendly times.

Andreeva wow, once again just so impressed. Twice down a break and twice responds. Her defence is amazing, she can hit winners from both wings, strong serve, and is smart on court. Noskova is talented but doesn’t have the movement, Linda F has the service yips and slightly underpowerd, Brenda has the leaky FH, Mirra looks to tick most if not all boxes.

Not expecting her to win this, but still very encouraging signs again.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Drummond are you watching it? She’s up a set va BHM plus a break

 

[Drummond]

Drummond are you watching it? She’s up a set va BHM plus a break

Sure am, its unbelievable how she’s playing. I mean down 6-3 in the TB and she reels off 5 straight clutch points. Players can get lucky and get on hot streaks but I look for tennis smarts. If you’ve got tennis smarts and weapons, then you’re going to be very good. She has that combination. You can tell she’s a quick thinker, sees how the point is unfolding, knows what shot to hit. Plus she’s got a great serve and a great technique on her ground strokes. I watched a bit of her recent ITF run, but this is even better.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Sure am, its unbelievable how she’s playing. I mean down 6-3 in the TB and she reels off 5 straight clutch points. Players can get lucky and get on hot streaks but I look for tennis smarts. If you’ve got tennis smarts and weapons, then you’re going to be very good. She has that combination. You can tell she’s a quick thinker, sees how the point is unfolding, knows what shot to hit. Plus she’s got a great serve and a great technique on her ground strokes. I watched a bit of her recent ITF run, but this is even better.

I just like unlike many young girls she’s very calm in tight positions could have lost her cool in the set after blowing break points

 

[LukeParkerno1]

What a win Drummond

 

[Drummond]

What a win Drummond

I thought yesterday was good, this was even better! Unbelievably impressive, can’t even believe it! The composure, the class, the clutchness under pressure, wow. She has barely made an error in 2 matches whilst playing positive, aggressive tennis. She hits with controlled aggression. I love watching smart players with high tennis IQ. She is that.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

I thought yesterday was good, this was even better! Unbelievably impressive, can’t even believe it! The composure, the class, the clutchness under pressure, wow. She has barely made an error in 2 matches whilst playing positive, aggressive tennis. She hits with controlled aggression. I love watching smart players with high tennis IQ. She is that.

I thought Brenda was probably the most likely long term but Andreeva has something you can’t teach and that’s genuine shot making.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

Watching Kostuk haha

Boy she hates this opponent Drummond

 

[Drummond]

Watching Kostuk haha

Boy she hates this opponent Drummond

The fist pumping would drive me nuts too, but I like Osorio so I’m going for her lol

Ostapenko/Fruity just started.

 

[LukeParkerno1]

The fist pumping would drive me nuts too, but I like Osorio so I’m going for her lol

Ostapenko/Fruity just started.

Yeah expect Penko to win but not without a few issues it’s Penko after all

 

[Drummond]

Osorio does it! Entertaining match, but Kostyuk’s tennis smarts are non existent. Some of her shot choices are just mind blowing. Still, happy with the result, love seeing Osorio up and about!