Hello steemians,
No grand slams this month but nevertheless March is a really important month in the world of tennis with what we can call, the two small slams: Indian Wells and Miami. This article has the aim to bring you a synthetic view, a kind of summary about these tournaments by mentioning players who show great things during these editions of 2018 and then I will share with you my opinion on what is going to happen in the coming months for them.
Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Martin Del Potro, the real king of comebacks, has succeeded to reach his best level once more by winning consecutively Acapulco and Indian Wells. He has played great tennis during March, winning 15 streak matches, only losing against John Isner in the semi-finals of Miami, he is for sure the man of the moment in the tennis world.
He is physically in a really good shape, his forehand has always been his big weapon and it is just incredible that he can hit winners from everywhere on the court with this shot. But the good news is also that he begins again to hit more backhands, he uses less the slice effect than the previous years. But of course, he has not totally recovered the quality of this shot which enables him to win the US Open in 2009, namely the pace and power, due to a few operations on his left wrist, he had lost confidence with that shot and he feared the pain but it seems to work better and better.
What can we expect from him for the clay season and the rest of the season? We know he is more efficient and impressive on hard courts but he can do some damages on clay as well. He won 4 out of his 22 titles on this surface and he reached the semi-finals at the French Open in 2009. I think that if he can play a complete season without big injuries, and with the absence of some of the best players, he could reach and beat his highest ranking by ending in the top 3 in 2018.
John Isner
If we had the possibility before Miami to mention players of the draw that were highly unlikely to win the tournament, a lot of people probably would have pronounced the name of John Isner. But tennis has always been astonishing. He had not an easy draw but he successfully beat Vesely, Youznhy, but mainly Cilic, the second seed in the fourth round, Chung, the rising star in quarters and Del Potro in semis to reach the final.
In the final, he faced another rising star, Alexander Zverev, the best and most consistent one of his generation for the moment and he won 6/7 6/4 6/3 in two hours and a half to win his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the age of 32 (almost 33)! Furthermore, he comes back in the top 10 and has reached his best ranking (9).
He is the proof once more that the players reach the top in tennis at an older age than before, and the careers last longer. For the clay season, I would not bet a lot of dollars on him because we all know that it is not his surface but nevertheless, we never know. At the top of his form, he could still surprise us a few times.
The Next Gen
I will keep in mind from this month of tennis three names of the NextGen.
The first one is undoubtedly Alexander Zverev. He is no longer a surprise because we expect now a lot of big results from him but still, he has been quite impressive during this little American tour, especially in Miami where he was very close to winning his third ATP Masters 1000 at only 21. He is also a candidate for the top 3 or even at the top 1 at the end of the season. We will also follow him during Grand Slams, and especially for the US Open because I think he has some chances to win his first Grand Slam there.
The second one is for me Borna Coric. I am glad that he plays at a very good level again by reaching the semi-finals in Indian Wells and the quarter-finals in Miami, where he only lost again Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev. He is a talented player that can stay permanently in the top 20.
The last one I will speak about is Heyong Chung. He is for me the discovery of the year since his beautiful path at the Australian Open in January. He reached the quarters at Indian Wells and Miami, which is far from being insignificant. We will keep an eye or two on him during the rest of the season for sure. I am almost sure he could enter the top 10 for the first time this year.
Milos Raonic
It is a good thing to see him at a very good level again after an early finish of the previous season due to repeated injuries and a catastrophic beginning in 2018. He made semi-finals at Indian Wells and quarter-finals at Miami. Even if it is not my favourite player and not the most charismatic one, he deserves to reach his best level and he could do some damages on clay even if we expect a lot more from him on grass.
There are of course other players that have played really good tennis during these 2 small slams like Joao Sousa, Roger Federer, Kevin Anderson, Pablo Carreno Busta, Thanasi Kokkinakis and many more but I choose to focus on these 6 players today.
See you soon for more tennis! Just keep calm and play tennis! ;)