US Open Daily Preview: The Men’s Semifinals - UBITENNIS
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US Open Daily Preview: The Men’s Semifinals

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3 weeks ago

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Carlos Alcaraz after winning his quarterfinal on Wednesday night (twitter.com/usopen)

The men’s singles semifinals are set for Friday, as is the men’s doubles championship match.

 

The men’s semifinals feature three US Open champions, and a 20-year-old American making his Major semifinal debut.  The last two winners of this event will face off, as 2022 champ Carlos Alcaraz plays 2021 champ Daniil Medvedev.  And three-time champion Novak Djokovic takes on assertive newcomer Ben Shelton.

And in the men’s doubles championship match, it’s Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden (6) vs. Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury (3).  This is a second Major final in men’s doubles for 43-year-old Bopanna, who was a runner-up at this same event 13 years ago.  Ebden teamed with Max Purcell to win the gentlemen’s doubles title last year at Wimbledon.  Ram and Salisbury are two-time defending champions, and if they win, they would become the first men’s doubles team to three-peat at this tournament in 109 years.

Ben Shelton vs. Novak Djokovic (2) – Not Before 3:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium

“I know that they want to get a scalp, they want to win… but it ain’t happening, still.”

That’s what Djokovic said two months ago on Centre Court after his quarterfinal victory at Wimbledon, regarding the younger generation of players trying to take his spot atop the sport.  Novak thrives on fighting them off, and has made a career out of beating the belief out of them.  But will the powerful and confident Shelton benefit from never having played Djokovic, and never having lost to him?

On Tuesday night, Ben displayed just how strong his self-belief is, and just how uncompromising he’s willing be in the critical moments of big matches.  After splitting the first two sets with fellow American Frances Tiafoe, Shelton grabbed the lead in the third-set tiebreak, before double faulting his lead away, going for two overly-aggressive second serves.  Yet when facing set point, he still pummeled a forehand return right into the corner of the court at 105 mph.  Ben claimed that tiebreak, seemingly breaking Frances’s spirit, and easily took the fourth set and the match.  That’s the kind of power and mentality can threaten Djokovic, and Shelton’s lack of scare tissue from previous losses to the all-time great is an advantage he has over many other of Novak’s recent victims in the latter stages of Majors. 

Novak is the only male player to reach every Slam semifinal this season, and he’s 3-0 thus far, with victories over Tommy Paul, Alcaraz, and Jannik Sinner.  He’s is 35-11 lifetime in Major semis, and astoundingly has claimed 21 of his last 22, and his last 11 in a row dating back to the 2019 French Open. 

Within the past decade, Djokovic has only lost two Major semifinals, and those two losses came under extreme weather conditions: an incredibly hot and humid day nine years ago in New York when he lost to Kei Nishikori, and an extremely windy day four years ago in Paris when he lost to Dominic Thiem.  And with the recent heat in New York forecasted to subside on Friday, Novak is a considerable favorite to achieve his 36th Major final, extending his Open Era record in men’s singles.  It wlll be incredibly difficult for Shelton to maintain a high-enough level to oust Djokovic and his exhausting all-court abilities.

Carlos Alcaraz (1) vs. Daniil Medvedev (3) – Not Before 7:00pm on Arthur Ashe Stadium

This should be an incredibly compelling contest between the two winningest ATP players of 2023.  Alcaraz is 58-6, with six titles, including his second Major at Wimbledon.  Medvedev is 54-11, with five titles. 

For Daniil, this is a second Major semifinal of the year, and his seventh overall.  He is 4-2 in this round, though is his last Slam semi two months ago at Wimbledon, he lost to Alcaraz in straight sets.  All of Medvedev’s previous wins at this stage of a Slam have occurred on hard courts.

Alcaraz has now advanced to the semifinals in his last four Major appearances, and he is 2-1 in this round.  He’s dropped only one set so far this fortnight, to Dan Evans in the third round.  Medvedev has dropped two sets, both to Australians (O’Connell, de Minaur).

Carlitos leads their head-to-head 2-1, and has taken their last two encounters.  That includes the aforementioned Wimbledon semifinal from this past July, as well as the final of Indian Wells six months ago, though it’s worth noting Daniil was completely drained for that contest after winning 19 consecutive matches in the span of five weeks.  Medvedev’s victory came two years ago at Wimbledon, but that was before Alcaraz rose to the top of the sport.

Medvedev definitely peaked between February and May of this season, and hasn’t won a title or reached a final since.  He arrived in New York with little form, going just 3-2 on North American hard courts.  However, he has steadily increased his level at this tournament has progressed, and has spoken openly regarding how pleased he is with the way the US Open courts are playing this year.  And he’ll be relieved to find cooler temperatures for this semifinal than his sweltering quarterfinal on Wednesday.

It’s important to remember this is the first time Carlitos has defended a Major title in his young career.  And no man has defended this title in 15 years, when Roger Federer won his fifth in a row back in 2008.  Plus, Alcaraz has been sporting tape on his upper left leg this week, so he is nursing an injury to at least some degree.

After the epic Wimbledon final in July, and the equally-epic Cincinnati final in August, the tennis world has been hyper-focused on the potential of a Djokovic/Alcaraz rubber match in New York.  But I don’t see that happening.  As dynamic as Carlitos’ game is, Daniil defends on this surface better than anyone not named Djokovic, and can draw more errors out of Alcaraz than any player the Spaniard has faced to this stage.  And in a match that will likely extend to four or five grueling sets, the extent of Carlitos’ injury will be revealed.

Friday’s full Order of Play is here.

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Roger Federer Targets Djokovic And Alcaraz For Laver Cup 2024 After Team World Thrashes Europe

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4 days ago

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25/09/2023

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Image via https://twitter.com/LaverCup/

Roger Federer says he would love to see the two highest-ranked players on the men’s Tour play in the next Laver Cup after this year’s tie ended in a crushing defeat for Europe. 

 

Team World, which is captained by John McEnroe, dominated the clash in Vancouver after surging to a 10-2 lead heading into the final day of competition. On Sunday they were required to win only one match to claim the overall title which they did in the opening doubles match. Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe ousted the European duo of Andrey Rublev and Hubert hurkacz 7-6(4), 7-6(5). 

“I am proud of these guys. We brought together a great group of some youth and experience, guys that have been here before. Everybody played well,” McEnroe said of his team’s 13-2 victory.
“It was an awesome week. We kicked some ass.”
“Winning is a whole lot better than losing. We struggled the first couple of years, and now we have tasted winning and it feels good.”

In contrast, Europe didn’t have much joy at the event with their only victory being from Casper Ruud who defeated Tommy Paul on the second day of the tie. Since the start of the competition in 2017, Europe won four consecutive titles but 2023 is the second year in a row that they have been defeated. 

Hoping that this losing streak will come to an end next year when the event is held in Berlin, Federer says he wishes Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz will play. Djokovic has played in the Laver Cup twice before but Alcaraz is yet to make his debut.

“They destroyed Team Europe. Team World played fantastic, they really brought the energy. Everybody brought a point, they were stronger in the doubles. In the singles too, they were moving fast, they were ready to go. They thoroughly deserved victory,” said Federer.
“I would like to see Novak again, Alcaraz and Novak on the same team. Sascha Zverev would be great for the German market. Someone like [Holger] Rune, that really hurt Team Europe. Rune and [Stefanos] Tsitsipas pulling out. [Daniil] Medvedev would be great. I like watching [Andrey] Rublev, and maybe someone will come through,” he added.

Federer is a co-founder of the Laver Cup with his management company Team 8 partnering up with Tennis Australia and Jorge Paulo Lemann to create the event. In 2019 the team competition was awarded ATP Tour status with a spot on the official calendar and access to marketing facilities under an agreement. However, ranking points are not awarded to players. 

Due to the nature of the format, only one match was played on Sunday with fans not getting the chance of watching any singles. Something two-time French Open champion Ruud admits is a problem. 

“Two of the times that I have played was maybe in a way a little bit unfortunate with only one deciding doubles (match) on Sunday,” Ruud commented.
“The crowd didn’t get to see a singles (match) after or whatever. That’s not in my hands to decide what the format looks like.’
“But last year in London was great in many ways because you had so many great players and it came down to almost the last match. When I watched on TV the first series, it was so exciting because Roger played a couple of times, the final match of the Sunday and clutched it for Team Europe. It’s been a couple of years without playing that last singles match. But it’s a great initiative. Me, as a golf fan, watching the Ryder Cup all my life in my childhood, it’s great for tennis to have this event.”

The 2024 Laver Cup will be held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin between September 20-22. 

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India’s Sumit Nagal Receives Sponsorship Boost After Revelling Financial Struggles

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1 week ago

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21/09/2023

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Image via https://twitter.com/nagalsumit/

A leading food and drink company has pledged to support India’s highest-ranked men’s player who was unable to train at his usual facility in Germany earlier this year due to a lack of money. 

 

Earlier this week world No.159 Sumit Nagal made a public plea for financial support to help him continue his career as a tennis player. In recent years he has been based at the Nansel Tennis Academy in Germany but was unable to train there during the first three months of the 2023 season due to a lack of funds. During this period he relied on his friends, including former player Somdev Devvarman, to help maintain his fitness. 

“If I look at my bank balance, I have what I had at the beginning of the year. It is 900 euros. I did get a bit of help. Mr Prashant Sutar is helping me with MAHA Tennis Foundation and I also get monthly (salary) from IOCL but I don’t have any big sponsor,” Nagal told the Press Trust of India.
“I am investing whatever I am making. The yearly cost where I travel with one coach is costing me around Rs 8 million to Rs 10 million (90,000-113,000 euros) and that is just with one travelling coach (no physio). Whatever I have made I have already invested,” he added.

Nagal, who is 26 years old, has reached the semi-finals of better at five tournaments on the lower-level Challenger Tour so far this season. His only Grand Slam result was at the US Open where he lost in the first round of qualifying to Taro Daniel. It was at the US Open where he took a set off Roger Federer before losing in 2019. 

Despite being the only player from his country to be ranked in the top 400, Nagal is currently not part of the Target Olympics Podium Scheme. An initiative set up by the Indian government to provide support to their top athletes.

After learning about Nagal’s ongoing struggles on the Tour, a leading company has decided to support the tennis player by signing a three-year deal with him. Gatorade specializes in sports drinks and is manufactured by PepsiCo. Under the deal, Nagal will receive support with his recovery and nutrition from experts at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute (GSSI).  

“I am deeply moved and grateful to join hands with Gatorade. This association comes to me at a pivotal time, and I am thankful my hard work and passion is getting recognized and appreciated. With Gatorade by my side, I am sure I will reach new heights and give it my all both on and off the court,” the Indo-Asian News Service quoted Nagal as saying on Thursday. 

Speaking about the new partnership, Ankit Agarwal from PepsiCo India has hailed the collaboration. Agarwal is the company’s Associate Director of Energy & Hydration. 

“Sumit is a role model for the new-gen athletes of India with his career being a true example of hard work and sweat that makes talent shine,” he said.
“As a brand that is dedicated to supporting athletes in removing barriers to sporting success, we are delighted to welcome Sumit to the Gatorade squad.”

Nagal has been ranked as high as No.122 in the world. So far in his career, he has won four Challenger titles with two of those occurring this year in Italy and Finland. 

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(VIDEO): Malaga Line-Up Set As Davis Cup Most Unpredictable Tournament In History

UbiTennis founder Ubaldo Scanagatta explains why any of the eight teams in Malaga could win November’s Davis Cup Finals

Published

1 week ago

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19/09/2023

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(@DavisCup - Twitter)

The Davis Cup quarter-final line-up is set after an incredible Group Stage over Bologna, Split, Manchester and Valencia.

 

Now eight teams remain including Novak Djokovic’s Serbia, Great Britain and Australia.

However surprise teams such as the Netherlands, Finland and the Czech Republic will also appear in the quarter-finals.

Ten-time champions Great Britain will face Serbia with the winners taking on the winner of the quarter-final between Italy and the Netherlands.

In the other half of the draw Canada will be heavy favourites against Finland while the Czech Republic face Australia.

The final eight tournament will take place in Malaga and will take place between the 21st and the 26th of November.

However this year’s Davis Cup could be the most unpredictable version in the tournament’s history with there being no Spain or USA.

It really could be anyone’ tournament with Tennis’ most prestigious team competition up for grabs in November.

In this video UbiTennis founder Ubaldo Scanagatta explains why this year’s Davis Cup finals could be the most unpredictable edition of all-time and why any of the teams could win the title.

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