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NO SPOILERS 🎥

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Medvedev 🎥 Kyrgios (Short highlights)

RESULTS 🎾

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

Featured Matches

Kyrgios d Medvedev: 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Kyrgios broke Medvedev’s serve (at 1*-2) thanks to a series of bizarre shot choices from both guys. A mixture of a Kyrgios front-tweener, and a couple of put-away Medvedev volleys that he hit back to Kyrgios contributed to the break:

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Kyrgios was doing a great job of slow-ball, junking into Medvedev’s backhand. And it was working, with Medvedev’s flat groundstrokes preferring opponents’ pace to counterpunch off. Nick looked serene on serve, with Medvedev struggling to get anything of note back in court. The two players come from very different schools of returning on this surface:

— Kyrgios’s way was working, with Medvedev winning just 9% of 2nd serve return points after 1 set, compared to Kygrios’s 53%.

Set one was over in a flash and Medvedev was going to have to make some adjustments to compete in this contest. Medvedev, despite also lacking his usual consistency, was having most of his trouble on return. Because of the Russian’s deep return position, Kyrgios was also having plenty of luck serve and volleying.

The Russian responded well however, finding much more consistency and waiting for his moment. That moment arrived with Kyrgios serving at at 3*-4, with the Aussie self-destructing by way of throwing in an underarm serve at 30-30 (which Medvedev made with ease), and then faking an underarm serve on break point (also losing that point). One set all.

The 3rd set started like a copy of the 1st, with Medvedev’s backhand offering up some tame errors in the face of slow balls from Kyrgios, succumbing to an early break. The junk-balling continued, continuing to work, with Medvedev really struggling to do anything in the face of either Kyrgios’s languid groundstrokes, or huge serving. Nick served out the rest of the match with ease (finishing with 4 straight aces) and Medvedev left with a racquet bag significantly lighter than the one he had walked out on court with.

TL;DR: Aside from set 2, Kyrgios played this match tactically perfectly. On return he junkballed Medvedev off the court, targeting the Russian’s backhands with low-pace, low-bounce groundies. And on serve, Nick landed bombs today, giving Medvedev little chance from whichever return position the Russian chose. Indeed the only time Medvedev was actually in the match was when Kyrgios mixed in underarm serves, surrendering serving advantage and going down the break in the 2nd set (and yet that shot will get most of the attention despite it being Nick’s biggest weakness today). Circus of a match, but very entertaining.

— Low speeds for Kyrgios.

Berrettini d A.Zverev: 7-5, 7-5 ‼️

This was a nasty opening matchup for Zverev (and the wind didn’t help). Berrettini (currently in the form of his life and a very potent clay-courter) started well, mixing in some great touch early on and looking full of flair. Zverev on the other hand dumped in a double fault when down BP, surrendering the early break. But the German responded well, breaking back for 2*-3, thanks to some good defence, and seemed to settle into the match somewhat. At 5-5, Zverev manufactured a 0-40 hole on Berrettini’s serve (& created two more BP’s at AD), but the Italian did brilliantly (and rode his luck) to save all 5 BP’s. Suddenly it was Berrettini’s turn to create BP’s on his opponents serve, with Zverev trying to stay in the set. And on his turn to face the music, Zverev couldn’t fight off the BP’s as Berrettini had done a game earlier, with the German missing a forehand long, off a great Berrettini return, to lose the opening set.

The 2nd set featured Zverev grabbing the early break but then losing the lead rather swiftly two games later. The German was forced to save two match point serving at 4*-5, managing to paint the baseline with a backhand to stay alive. But in the face of a confident Berrettini, Zverev couldn’t stem the tide, succumbing to the next match point he faced on serve at 5*-6.

TL;DR: Zverev’s struggles continue, with his forehand, 2nd serve and slice backhand all looking errant and particularly low on confidence as both sets approached their business ends. Berrettini used his own slice to good effect, getting all sorts of short balls from Zverev’s reply. The German also specifically seems to be struggling in the first few shots of each point. As soon as he’s settled in the rally, he looks focused and stable. But in the first few shots after the serve especially, he simply looks a little lost shot-selection wise (case in point, the decisive match point:) GIF

— This actually isn’t particularly good data (the sample size is small Given Zverev only played 5 total matches in Madrid & Rome). But in this case, what it’s trying to imply is probably true to an extent. (PrimeVideo)

Also:

Goffin d Wawrinka: 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 ‼️

Huge win, in terms of both confidence and level, for Goffin. Wawrinka faded alarmingly in the 2nd and 3rd sets, but Goffin looked so much better than the majority of his 2019 season so far, particularly on the forehand side. Stan was a shadow of his usual self on the bigger points (losing 6/10 BP’s).

Struff d Dimitrov: 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3

Dimitrov was up 3-1* in the final set and had a break point for a double break, but lost 14 of the last 18 points. Struff was really good in the closing stages, peppering the Dimtrov backhand and rushing the net to great effect (20+ Dimitrov BH UE’s). Grigor can’t get a break.

Schwartzman d Nishioka : 6-1, 6-4

J.Sousa d Tiafoe: 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(4) 🤯

Sousa saved 4 match points and came from 1-4 down in the third set breaker. A 3 hour slugfest. Sousa earns the right to get routined by Federer tomorrow.

Fritz d Pella: 6-3, 6-4 ‼️

Big win for Fritz, who just keeps impressing on the clay. Pella didn’t quite reach the heights we’ve seen from him for much of the clay season so far, but Fritz’s all out offence was really impressive today nonetheless. Pella spent much of the match chasing Fritz’s bigger and better offence, and really got nowhere near the Americans serve (Fritz faced ,and saved, just 1 BP // Pella faced 9, saving 7).

Khachanov d Bautista Agut : 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 (Khach one win away from the 1/4 finals…👀)

Albot d Paire : 6-3, 6-2

Chardy d Gasquet: 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Chardy Plays Nadal on Wednesday.

Basilashvili d Djere: 7-5, 6-4

Plays winner of Nadal vs Chardy.

Coric d Norrie: 6-2, 6-2 💥

— Still to finish:

Cecchinato vs Kohlschreiber postponed until tomorrow due to rain. Court 2 NB 4pm.

5 SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

GIFs

INTERVIEW/PRESSER BEST BITS🎤

Kyrgios post-win:

“I don't need to play much tennis to play good. I believe in myself every time I go out there. Doesn't matter how many matches I play. If I serve well, If I play my game, usually I come out on top.”

“I was trying to throw him off his game because I knew he loves rhythm.”

Federer after hearing that Rome had doubled ticket prices for the session when his match was planned:

(Context) Angelo Binaghi: “We have doubled the price of tickets for Wednesday, the day Federer will play. We want to reward fans who had bought tickets before they knew Federer would play.”

Federer: “I heard some fans clearly were not happy about it. That’s obviously disappointing to hear… They made it in a way like they rewarded the fans who bought tickets earlier? Which is sort of strange, but okay. I just really hope it doesn't take away the fact I'm really happy to be here.”

Goffin after beating Wawrinka:

“He started to miss a lot and I felt it, so I started to play much better towards the end and I used the drop shot really well.”

Zverev post-loss:

“First of all, I don't touch the racket for a few days. I don't feel like playing tennis right now.” Source

“I've walked on the pitch and I was completely dead. (..) You can't actually go on the pitch like that. I had to do other things here.” Source

“With wind, I'm one of the worst players in the top 10 ever.” Source

Zverev dissatisfied with his “unprofessional” team setup:

(Context: if you’re wondering what he means by “unprofessional”, this may help:)

— Gasquet pleased with his post-injury level despite the loss today. @ericsalliot

ORDER OF PLAY FOR WEDNESDAY 📅

CENTRALE

— 11am Local, 10am UK, 4am CT—

🇨🇭 Federer vs J.Sousa 🇵🇹 (H2H: 1-0) (1st Clay Meeting)

Prediction: Federer in 2

🇪🇸 Nadal vs Chardy 🇫🇷 (H2H: 2-0) (Clay H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Nadal in 2

— NB 7:30pm Local, 6:30pm UK, 12:30pm CT —

🇷🇸 Djokovic vs Shapovalov 🇨🇦 (H2H: 1-0) (1st Clay Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Djokovic in 2

GRANDSTAND

— NB 12:30pm Local, 11:30am UK, 5:30am CT—

🇦🇹 Thiem vs Verdasco 🇪🇸 (H2H: 0-3) (Clay H2H: 0-1) 🔥

Prediction: Thiem in 3

🇮🇹 Fognini vs Albot 🇲🇩 (H2H: 1-1) (1st Clay Meeting)

Prediction: Fognini in 2

🇦🇷 Del Potro vs Goffin 🇧🇪 (H2H: 1-3) (Clay H2H: 0-1)

Prediction: Goffin in 3

PIETRANGELI

— NB 2:30pm Local, 1:30pm UK, 7:30am CT—

🇯🇵 Nishikori vs Fritz 🇺🇸 (H2H: 2-0) (Clay H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Nishikori in 3

🇬🇷Tsitsipas vs Sinner 🇮🇹 (H2H: 3-0) (Clay H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Tsitsipas in 2

BEST OF OTHER COURTS

— NB 2:15pm Local, 1:15pm UK, 7:15am CT—

🇭🇷 Cilic vs Struff 🇩🇪 - Court 1

Followed by…

🇦🇺 Kyrgios vs Ruud 🇳🇴 - Court 1

Full Schedule

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

— Nothing surprising here. Evans and Lapentti were the two favourites going in.

— Jannik Sinner (just 17 years old) is having a very big year (plays Tsitsipas tomorrow after beating Johnson in Rd 1).

Kyrgios mid-match: “You have bad hands and no talent, but let’s just make a nice slow court for you.”

Mark Petchey (commentating): “And that's where he's wrong about clay court tennis, it does benefit you if you have good hands. It's not a surface that doesn't encourage flair.”

(Funnily enough I think Nick plays some of his best and most entertaining tennis on clay courts, simply because he can’t rely as much on his serve.)

— With Zverev’s loss, Thiem has guaranteed himself either the 3rd or 4th seed for Roland Garros. Federer will secure the 3rd seed with one win here in Rome.

GIF

— Goffin a few cm’s away from being Halep’ed…

NEW BALLS PLEASE 👀

In case you missed this yesterday:

Tiafoe lost a game in practice vs Kyrgios, giving Nick the chance to blast a ball at Tiafoe: Video🎥

And Kyrgios gave Medvedev the chance to do the same to him, mid-match today:

GIF

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— *Salt eating intensifies*

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— With sound 🎥

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GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

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

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See you (paid subs) tomorrow for Wednesday action in Rome!