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NO SPOILERS 🎥

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De Minaur 🎥 Tsonga (Brisbane)

Medvedev 🎥 Raonic (Brisbane)

Djokovic 🎥 Bautista Agut (Doha)

Berdych 🎥 Cecchinato (Doha)

Karlovic 🎥 Darcis (Pune)

RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset

Brisbane 🇦🇺

(ATP 250 - Hard)

Tsonga d De Minaur: 6-4, 7-6(2)

Statement win from Tsonga, who lost plenty of matches like this, against similar opponents, in 2018. Tsonga’s weapons, i.e his forehand and serve, were firing today like the Jo Wilfried of old. But perhaps more importantly, his weakness, i.e his backhand, wasn’t nearly as pronounced as it was for most of his return from injury last year. The Frenchman’s depth and angles today, were impressive for the most part:

The two players traded early breaks of serve at the start of the match, before Tsonga broke through once again to serve for the set for 5*-4. De Minaur’s issue for much of today’s match was his inability to finish (or be aggressive enough) on the balls that Tsonga did drop short. Case in point:

— Tsonga's backhand (1st shot in GIF) was very attackable, De Minaur has to move forward & crush the forehand. Instead he invites the Tsonga winner & ends up broken for 1st set. Defensive forehand technique hurting the young Aussie.

The second set featured some early chances for De Minaur, with three break points with Tsonga serving at 2*-3. But Tsonga saved all three in impressive, aggressive fashion, despite De Minaur turning into the second coming of the Roadrunner for one of the points (GIF in ‘Shots Of The Day’ below). Tsonga kept coming up with huge first serves under pressure (winning 19/23 1st serve points in 2nd set), playing the big points with an experience and level of aggression that De Minaur just isn’t ready for yet. After Tsonga couldn’t convert his own chances to break we headed to a tiebreak. At this point (or from 2-2 in the breaker) Tsonga was unplayable. Crushing his forehand and dominating each rally to finish the match in style. Brilliant signs for the returning Frenchman.

Medvedev d Raonic: 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4

Doha 🇶🇦

(ATP 250 - Hard)

Bautista Agut d Djokovic: 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 ‼️

Very windy conditions threatened to derail the quality of this match, but Djokovic dealt with the desert swirls far better than Bautista Agut (RBA) in the opening set. The world No.1 played cleverly in the conditions, using it to safeguard more powerful shots to the left side of the court (into the wind) and propel weaker shots when playing to the right side (with the wind). Novak broke serve thanks to some of the same gritty durability in long points that we have seen him employ throughout some tough matches this week. However once up a break of serve, Djokovic opened his shoulders and played much more aggressively, cruising to a relatively routine one set lead. Novak served really well, adjusting his ball toss, serve speed and contact point to minimise the effect of the wind (see below). This adaptation paid dividends, with Djokovic winning 80% of his 2nd serve points compared to RBA’s 43%.

— Today vs earlier rounds: lower speed to ensure more serves landing in, and contact point further forward to make sure there was more downward momentum (less topspin & less racquet head speed) at point of contact.

Onto the second set and RBA created two early break points on Djokovic’s serve at 1*-2. But the Spaniard made two unforced errors in a row to let Novak off the hook, and was then broken himself a few games later. At this point a Djokovic win looked rather inevitable, but RBA showed some serious heart to break back almost immediately for 4-4. The Spaniard had suddenly found some range when hitting to the right side of the court with the wind, pushing Djokovic all over the place with heavy, deep forehands. That forehand had gone up 5kph over the course of the previous 20 minutes, and the extra pace/intensity was making a difference. Djokovic was then forced to save a set point, with an ace, while serving at 4*-5, before facing more SP pressure a few games later. The first was saved by another Djokovic ace, and the second after RBA narrowly missed a drop shot when in control of the point. Novak had to come up with an absurdly good half-volley to get himself out of the game, and we headed to a tiebreaker. RBA continued to pressure, creating a first set point on his own serve at 6*-5. But Djokovic responded impressively once again to get back to 6-6. Finally however, RBA broke through, after Novak could only find the net while serving down set point (6*-7). Another three setter for Djokovic (three in a row).

RBA started the third set on fire, breaking Djokovic immediately with some more heavy forehands. Novak looked to be rushing, and slightly frustrated that he hadn’t been able to finish the match in straights. By this point Djokovic was really struggling to find the consistency and free points on serve, that had been so impressive in the 1st set (was at just 5/10 1st serve points won after 7 games in 3rd set). RBA had found another gear altogether, running through his service games with relative ease (against an increasingly tired Djokovic) to notch an extremely impressive win. RBA becomes the first player to defeat Novak, from a set and a break down, since Berdych in 2013 (Rome).

Berdych d Cecchinato: 7-6(6), 6-3

Pune 🇮🇳

(ATP 250 - Hard)

Anderson d Simon : 6-3, 7-6(3)

Karlovic d Darcis: 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3

Hopman Cup 🇦🇺

(Exhibition - Hard)

🇪🇸 Ferrer d Pouille 🇫🇷: 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(2)

🇫🇷 Cornet/Pouille d Osuigwe/Ferrer 🇪🇸: 4-2 4-2

Spain win 2-1.

🇩🇪 A.Zverev d Ebden 🇦🇺: 6-4 6-3

🇦🇺 Barty/Ebden d Kerber/Zverev 🇩🇪: 4-0 4-3(1)

Germany win 2-1.

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Tsonga’s ‘weaker’ side (vs De Minaur).

— Reason No. 5678765 why it’s great to have Tsonga back, and playing great tennis again (vs De Minaur).

— De Minaur speed is hard to fathom at times. Gunning for the mantle of fastest ever ATP player. Him and Monfils are both superhuman.

— Tales of players making their lives easier vs the Big 3 by following sufficiently big groundstrokes shots into the net: Bautista Agut edition (vs Djokovic).

— Nice illustration of the wind blowing left to right, look how much the ball path bends on this RBA winner (vs Djokovic).

— Effortless, returning brilliance from Novak.

— Really nice touch from Djokovic.

— Outrageously good defence and pass from RBA.

— Both players coming up with superhuman shotmaking at this point of the match. Sublime half-volley again from Novak.

— Always fun to watch players in IDGAF mode. Djokovic, at this point, had had enough of grinding rallies and just started slapping forehands.

— RBA’s forehand was a sledgehammer for the entire 3rd set. Huge.

INTERVIEW & PRESS BEST BITS 🎤

Zverev on tomorrow’s match vs Federer:

“I played Roger 8 times, he won 4, I won 4, it‘s always a very tight match, that is what I also expect tomorrow, it‘s totally serious here, we want to win.” Source

Djokovic after losing to Bautista Agut:

“This is what I was looking forward to, to get from this tournament, as many matches as possible, to get ready for the Australian Open, so I'm very pleased. Obviously, I'm not pleased that I lost the match today, but I lost to a better player in the end.” Source

“Bautista deserved to come back. I had the match in control at 4-3 and I failed, I lost focus at important moments and I ended up paying. In third set, Roberto played very well and I have to congratulate him.” Source

Bautista Agut after the win:

“I will remember this match for [the rest] of my life. I can’t be more happy than I am right now.” (On Court Interview)

ORDER OF PLAY - SATURDAY ⏰

Match to watch = 🔥

BRISBANE - Semi-Finals

— (@ 3pm Local, 5am UK, 11pm CT) —

🇯🇵 Nishikori vs Chardy 🇫🇷 (H2H: 6-2) (Hard H2H: 4-0)

Prediction: Nishikori in 2

— NB 7pm Local, 9am UK, 3am CT —

🇫🇷 Tsonga vs Medvedev 🇷🇺 (H2H: 1-0) (Hard H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Medvedev in 3

DOHA - Final 🏆

— (Centre Court @ 6pm Local, 3pm UK, 9am CT) —

🇪🇸 Bautista Agut vs Berdych 🇨🇿 (H2H: 2-4) (Hard H2H: 2-1) 🔥

Prediction: Berdych in 3

PUNE - Final 🏆

— (Centre Court @ 5pm Local, 12:30pm UK, 6:30am CT) —

🇿🇦 Anderson vs Karlovic 🇭🇷 (H2H: 3-1) (Hard H2H: 1-1) 🔥

Prediction: Anderson in 2

HOPMAN CUP

— (Centre Court @ 4pm Perth, 8am UK, 2am CT) —

🇩🇪 A. Zverev vs Federer 🇨🇭(H2H: 3-3) (Hard H2H: 2-1)

Prediction: — Federer in 3

🇩🇪 Kerber/A. Zverev vs Bencic/Federer🇨🇭

Prediction: Bencic/Federer

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

📊 Djokovic’s loss today was his first one since Berdych, Rome 2013, in which he lost from a set and a break up. Source

The force on the outside of RBA's right foot and leg... His leg is nearly straight & the outside of his heel is taking on absurd amounts of force/pressure. His low centre of gravity becomes so important when the joints are having to deal with this kind of impact. A good reminder of how brutal modern tennis is on the body. Which other sports have movements like this on, what is essentially, concrete?

— Who else called it?

📊The Anderson vs Karlovic final in Pune will be (I’m 99% sure on this but correct me in the comments if I’m wrong) the tallest ATP final ever: Anderson @ 6 ft 8, Karlovic @ 6 ft 10.

NEW BALLS PLEASE 👀

Goffin and Herbert, who won today’s Doha doubles title, have made it their mission to take the piss out of their buddy Lucas Pouille. Pouille is known for pouting more than a 12 year old who just discovered the bunny ears face filter on Instagram.

— Solid racquet smash from Novak. The fact he left graphite/paint marks all over the court, and had to towel them off, was also pretty impressive. 7/10:

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GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you tomorrow for the Semi-Finals of Brisbane, Pune, the Finals of Doha & more Hopman Cup.

Banner Image Source: ATP Twitter