2019 MIAMI: Barty and Federer Win Titles (over Pliskova and Isner)!

As I predicted, Roger Federer and Ash Barty won their respective finals at the 2019 Miami Open. Barty outplayed Karolina Pliskova, continuing 2019's odd streak of every tournament being won by a new player, and breaking into the WTA Top 10 in the process. Federer denied John Isner a chance to repeat as Miami Open champion, becoming the first player on tour to win two titles in 2019, his 100th and 101st of his career. Jimmy Connors record of 109 career titles is starting look more and more doable!

Federer won 6-1 6-4, the first two sets in the tournament where Isner had been unable to win at least 6 games (Isner won 9 of his 10 sets in tiebreaks!). Federer broke Isner in the very first game of the match and although Isner was able to hold his next service game he ended up losing the first set in 24 minutes, with three breaks. At the end of the second set Isner had intense foot pain and could merely move as he gingerly served in the 10th game, refusing to retire. This was Federer's 50th Masters final and he is now 28-22, just behind Novak Djokovic (33) and Rafael Nadal (32) on the all-time leaderboard.

Barty beat Pliskova 7-6(1) 6-3 despite going down 1-3 in the opening set. The diminutive Aussie has an all-court game and deploys slice and topspin backhands. Surprisingly, Barty out-aced the WTA's top server, but this was mostly because Pliskova appeared to stop mounting an offense in the second set and was concentrating on holding her own serve instead of breaking Barty's.

2019 MIAMI: Federer-Isner, Barty-Pliskova Finals Set

The finals of the 2019 Miami Open are set. In the women's draw, World #5 Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic will face World #11 Ash Barty of Australia for their biggest title. The two have a 2-2 head-to-head and both have played well in Miami to reach this spot. Barty beat Petra Kvitova in her draw while Pliskova beat World #2 Simona Halep. With a win Pliskova will rise to World #2 and Barty will enter the Top 10 regardless of the outcome. I saw their last match, which was in the 4th round of the 2018 US Open, won by Pliskova in two tight straight sets. Madprofessah's pick: Barty.

In the men's draw, John Isner is the defending champion and has surprisingly made it back to the final, for only the 5th time in a Masters Series 1000 event (1-3 record). He will be playing Roger Federer who is playing in his fiftieth(!) Masters final (27-22 record) and second consecutive final. He lost to Dominc Thiem in a tough 3-set match two weeks ago. He has a 5-2 head-to-head advantage against Isner, but the last time they played the big man won a 3rd set tiebreak in the Paris Indoors. That being said I think Federer will figure out a way to claim his 101st career title. MadProfessah's pick: Federer.

2019 MIAMI OPEN: Osaka, Zverev, Kerber, Thiem Lose; Venus, Federer Move On, Serena Withdraws

Serena Williams had a tough 3-set match in her first match at the Miami Open and then withdrew with a right knee injury before withdrawing from her second match. She joined numerous other high profile entrants in the tournament who left early, including World #1 Naomi Osaka (who lost to the incredibly frustrating Hsieh Su-Wei), Angelique Kerber (who lost to 2019 Indian Wells champion Bianca Andreescu for the second time in 6 days!), Elina Svitolina, Garbine Muguruza and defending champion Sloane Stephens also have been bounced from the tournament.

On the men's side Roger Federer had a scare in his first match but survived in three sets against  Radu Albot, while Indian Wells champ Dominic Thiem was not so lucky and was defeated by Hubert Hurcazc in straight sets. Similarly, Sasha Zverev continues his underwhelming season after ending 2018 on a high by losing to soon-to-be-retired David Ferrer after reaching the final in Miami last year. 2018 Miami Open champion John Isner's title defense is off to a solid start by winning his first match in straight sets.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Stephens, Isner Win Big Titles In Miami; Rafa Returns To #1; Federer Skips Clay (Again); Nole-Agassi Split;

 SLOANE STEPHENS WINS MIAMI OPEN OVER JELENA OSTAPENKO
2017 U.S. Open champ Sloane Stephens beat 2017 French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko 7-6(5) 6-1 to win the second biggest title of her career. Interestingly, this result improves to 5-0 in career finals, which is a very strong indication of the 25-year-old's mental toughness. The win also catapults her up to a career-high ranking; she is at World #9 this week.

JOHN ISNER WINS HIS FIRST ATP MASTERS 1000 TITLE IN MIAMI OVER SASCHA ZVEREV
John Isner played some of the best tennis of his career in Miami to reach his 4th ATP Masters 1000 final. He defeated Juan Martin Del Potro in the semifinal 6-1 7-6(2), snapping the Argentine's 15-match winning streak. His serve was never broken in either match and in fact, by the time he beat Sascha Zverev in the final, Isner had not had his service broken in 46 consecutive service games. Like Stephens, this win catapults Isner to a career-high ranking of #9. Isner now has the best results of any player over the last 12 months: 2018 Miami title, 2017 Rome semifinal, 2017 Paris semifinal and 2017 Cincinnati semifinal.

RAFA RETURNS TO #1 JUST AS CLAY SEASON BEGINS
Thanks to Roger Federer's shock 3-set loss to Thanasi Kokkinakis in the 2nd round of the Miami Open, Rafael Nadal is the new #1 player on the ATP Tour.

FEDERER CONFIRMS HE WILL SKIP ENTIRE CLAY SEASON (AGAIN)
Like he did in 2017, 20-time major champion Roger Federer has decided to skip the 2018 clay court season, including the French Open, resting his 37-year-old body in order to maximize his chances of winning another major championship, either in London or New York City.

DJOKOVIC AND AGASSI ANNOUNCE END TO COACHING RELATIONSHIP
After he lost early at Indian Wells (to Taro Daniels) and Miami (to Benoit Paire) tongues have been wagging about what is ailing 12-time major champion Novak Djokovic as he attempts to regain his position at the top of men's tennis. The news that the coach-player relationship with Andre Agassi has come to an end will definitely not stop the whispers. However, I for one think Djokovic still has a good chance of winning more majors in the future.

2018 MIAMI OPEN: Ostapenko-Stephens and Zverev-Isner Finals Predictions

The second big (non-major) event of the year is coming to and end: the Miami open. Last year Roger Federer and Johanna Konta won the tournaments. This year we will have new champions as both of these players lost relatively early, Federer to a resurgent Thanasi Kokkinakis and Konta fell to Venus Williams.

WOMEN'S FINAL

This year the women's final is between two reigning major champions : 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and 2017 US Open champ Sloane Stephens, in their first ever meeting on tour. Stephens s playing her best tennis since winning her first major title and will reach the Top 10 for the first time after beating 3-time Miami Open champion Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. Ostapenko has backed up her shock win of her first major at the age of 20 with play that has kept her in the Top 10 even if she doesn't defend her title in Paris. Stephens has shown that her defense can outlast big hitters and she's not afraid of going for the lines herself when it matters.

MadProfessah's prediction: Stephens.

MEN'S FINAL

On the men's side, Juan Martin del Potro has been by far the hottest player on the ATP tour. He beat defending champion Roger Federer in the Indian Wells final (in a 3rd set tiebreak after saving 3 match points!) and there was talk that he might achieve a rare "Sunshine Double" by winning Miami. But, amazingly, his 15-match winning streak was stopped by none other than John Isner. Isner basically beat del Potro by serving incredibly (which is typical) but he also was aggressive from the back of the court. Isner beat 2018 Australian Open finalist Marin Cilic a few rounds before as well as 2018 Australian Open semifinalist Hyeong Chung on his way to the final. Sascha Zverev finally got past his Next Gen peers Borna Coric in the quarterfinals, Nick Kyrgios in R16 and Daniil Medvedev in the 2nd round. But what probably sparked this good run was his ability to surve a grinding tussle with David Ferrer in the 3rd round. Zverev has already won 2(!) ATP Master and is not yet 21 (in contrast Del Potro won his first ATP Masters shield in Indian Wells this year). Isner has actually done quite well in the Masters, having reached 4 finals at 4 different events. I think this is a very close match (last year the two played in Miami and Zverev won 2 of 3 tie-break sets) and generally in a pick 'em situation I go with the better athlete/mover, which in this case is the 6-foot-6 20-year-old ad not the 6-foot-9 30-year-old.

MadProfessah's prediction: Zverev.

2018 MIAMI OPEN: Halep, Federer, Djokovic, Wozniacki, Serena *ALL* Lose Early!

World #1's Roger Federer and Simona Halep lost back-to-back matches at the 2018 Miami Open on Saturday. Halep lost to Aggie Radwanska in 3 sets while Federer lost to Thanasi Kokkinakis of Australia. Kokkinakis is currently ranked #175 in the world but has been as high as #69 and is widely considered one of the more talented Australian youngsters. Federer's loss was more significant because it means that Rafael Nadal will regain the #1 ranking when the tournament is over since Federer was not able to defend his 2017 title here.

However, the loss of the top seeds was just the latest upsets in a string of (somewhat) surprising defeats at this year's Miami Open. First 8-time champion Serena Williams was easily dismissed by 2018 Indian Wells champ Naomi Osaka in the first round, Novak Djokovic's 16-match win streak in Miami was snapped by Benoit Paire of France. Additionally, 2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki lost a 3-set thriller to Monica Puig.

2017 MIAMI: Federer Wins #Fedal37; 3rd Miami Title; Starts Year 19-1

As I predicted (and joyously watched on live television) Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-4 in the finals of the 2017 Miami Open, winning his 91st career match, 3rd Miami Open title and 3rd "Sunshine double" (2005, 2006 and 2017). Nadal is now 0-5 in Miami Open finals.

He improved his head-to-head record against Nadal to 14W-23L, and has won the last four consecutive matches (and 5 consecutive sets) he has played against Nadal, with most of these sets coming down to 1-break advantages, like the two in today's final.

This is a dream start to the season for Federer, who has only lost won match in a 3rd set tiebreak t(o Evgeny Donskoy!) despite playing four tournaments and 20 matches. However, he confirmed on court today that he will take more than a month off the tour, skipping the entire clay court season (except for Roland Garros). His 3 tournament wins this year have him currently rising to World #4 in the rankings and he is currently #1 in the Year-To-Date points race (World #2 Novak Djokovic is #22 and World #1 Andy Murray is #12).

Federer's absence from the tour will be good news for Nadal, who is also playing quite well in 2017, and just happens to have lost in 3 consecutive big tournament to his arch-nemesis. The big question is what impact the return of Djokovic and Murray have on the clay court season or will the 5th man in the Big Four, Stan Wawrinka sneak into the conversation?

2017 MIAMI: Final is #FedalXXXVII 13 Years After First Federer-Nadal Match

The 37th meeting between 18-time major champion Roger Federer and 14-time major champion Rafael Nadal is happening at the same tournament as their first, 13 years later: the Masters tournament in Miami.

The two also played an epic 5-set final here in 2005, which was won by Federer. Nadal is playing in his 5th final at the Miami Open but has never won the title, while Federer won it in 2005 and 2006.

It's pretty amazing that the two have played 36 times, with Nadal leading 23-13 overall, 9-9 on hard courts but Federer has won their last 3 consecutive meetings. The most important was Federer's amazing come from behind win in the 2017 Australian Open final just 2 months ago. He followed that up with a beatdown of Nadal in straight sets in Indian Wells Round of 16.

In Miami this year both Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray (who have won this tournament 7 times between them) withdrew, leaving the field wide open but few expected this dream final. Nadal has not been seriously challenged, easily dismissing Fabio Fognini in the semifinal and Jack Sock in the quarters. Meanwhile Federer had to save 2 match points in a  final set tiebreaker to get through a slugfest with a resurgent Tomas Berdych in the quarterfinal and then played an epic, extremely high-quality 3 tiebreak sets (each over an hour) with Nick Kyrgios on Friday night. The Kyrgios match is the longest 3-set ATP match Federer has ever played in terms of points played, 7-6(9), 6-7(9), 7-6(5). Amazingly, the two have only played twice, and both matches have featured only tiebreak sets!

So, going into today's final Nadal should have the edge, despite Federer's 18-1 record on the year. If Federer wins he will be able to claim his 3rd "Sunshine" double of winning Indian Wells and Miami, while if Nadal wins he will finally be able to claim the Miami title on his 5th try.

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer in 3 sets.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Youth Breaks Through; Raja Skips US Hardcourt Season

22-Year-Old Dominic Thiem Soaring To World #14 on 13-1 Record in February
Dominic Thiem of Austria has big ears but an even bigger game. He is currently the hottest player on the ATP Tour and has won two of his five career titles in 2016. He has done so by compiling an impressive 13-1 record in the month of February, winning titles in Acapulco and Buenos Aires. He even beat Rafael Nadal on clay on the way to winning in Buenos Aires despite being match point down!

22-Year-Old Sloane Stephens Outlasts 2014 Aussie Open Finalist To Win Acapulco
Sloane Stephens has now won her 3rd consecutive final after outlasting Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the Acapulco hard court tournament. The score was 6-4 4-6 7-6(5) and the match lasted over 3 hours.

Federer Withdraws From Indian Wells, Adds Monte Carlo Masters To Schedule
Roger Federer had previously announced that he was going to skip the Miami Masters as well as almost the entire clay court season. However, after losing in the semifinals of the 2016 Australian open Federer injured his knee and had arthroscopic surgery which has caused him to withdraw from the Indian Wells Masters. So, he has now decided to add the Monte Carlo Masters to his 2016 schedule.

Djokovic's 2016 Unbeaten Streak Ends After Eye Infection Leads To
Novak Djokovic withdrew from his Dubai Duty Free semifinal against Feliciano Lopez down 3-6 with a bizarre injury: an eye infection caused him to forfeit the match. The World #1 is now 14-1 and will have to wait a few more weeks to take his place at the top of the list of all-time best win-loss percentages on the ATP tour.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer Releases 2016 Schedule, Murray Keeps Mauresmo, Kvitova Engaged!

FEDERER'S 2016 SCHEDULE LIMITS CLAY AND BOOSTS GRASS, SKIPS 4 MASTERS
Roger Federer has released his tentative 2016 ATP tour schedule and the 34-year-old has decided to only play one clay court tournament (Roland Garros) and will increase the amount of grass tournaments he plays, adding Stuttgart to his schedule the week before his traditional Wimbledon warm-up in Halle. (This is especially exciting news for me, because I am planning to visit Germany this summer and if I could also see Federer play on grass that would be an incredible experience!) Because of the length of his career and age Federer is deciding to skip a surprising FOUR of the 9 Master's Series tournaments: Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Canada (Toronto/Montreal).

COACHING MUSICAL CHAIRS CONTINUE: MURRAY, KEYS, HALEP, FEDERER
The musical chairs among coaches of the major tennis players continues. This week's announcement was that Andy Murray is going back to having Amelie Mauresmo as his main coach, ending his professional relationship with Jonas Bkorkman. A few weeks ago Federer announced Stefan Edberg would not coach him in 2016, instead that role would be taken by Ivan Ljubicic. Previously it was announced that Jesse Levine would be coaching Madison Keys (instead of Lindsay Davenport) and that Darren Cahill had been named Simona Halep's official coach.

PETRA KVITOVA ANNOUNCES ENGAGEMENT TO RADEK (NOT WHO YOU THINK)
2-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova surprised many tennis players by announcing via Twitter that the 25-year-old was now engaged to be married to 27-year-old Czech hockey player Radek Meidel.

DJOKOVIC AND SERENA WIN 2015 ITF CHAMPION TITLES
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) announced that Novak Djokovic has won the title for the 5th time and Serena Williams has won the title for the 6th time. They both won 3 major titles in 2015. Serena won the first three, while Djokovic lost in the finals of the French Open. The ITF is the official governing body of international tennis and is the group that sanctions the Grand Slam tournaments and manages international team competitions like Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup. The ITF champion almost always is the person who wins the most singles majors that year.

SURPRISE AT 2015 IPTL WHERE DEFENDING CHAMPS INDIAN ACES LOSE FINAL SINGAPORE SLAMMERS
The Indian Aces were the most dominant team in the off-season exhibition competition called the International Premiere Tennis League (IPTL) for the second year but this time they lost the championship match against the Singapore Slammers. The Aces had stars like Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna while the Slammers had Belinda Bencic and Stan Wawrinka. Major champions like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Marin Cilic all competed this year.

2015 MIAMI: Finals Are Serena vs Suarez Navarro and Djokovic-Murray XXVI

The tournament in Miami (it's really in Key Biscayne) has been a staple on the men's and women's yours for decades. This year it's called the Miami Open and despite the absence of Roger Federer and the early exit of Maria Sharapova there is still a lot of interest (and ranking points) at stake in who takes the title, which is down to just four people. The defending champions are Serena Williams (d. Li Na) and Novak Djokovic (d. Rafael Nadal).

This year Serena is in the final again, going for her record 8th title here, which she considers her hometown tournament. She has already reached a career landmark of 700 tour wins and would join the very short list of women who have won a WTA title 8 times (Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf). Facing her in the final is the talented Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro, who is 0-4 head-to-head against Serena and has only won one (clay court) title. She beat Serena's sister in the quarterfinals and although she is entering the Top 10 on Monday, if she won she would become the first player not previously ranked World #1 to beat both Williams sisters and then win the tournament. Serena is also on a 20-match winning streak and showed her fitness in a tough 3-set win against World #3 (and 2015 Indian Wells champion) Simona Halep on Thursday (the same person whom she did not take the court against two weeks ago in the semifinals of Indiana Wells). Suarez Navarro would have to pull off one of the most stunning upsets of the year to beat Serena today. MadProfessah prediction: Serena (in 2 sets).

On the men's side,  Djokovic is going for the difficult Indian Wells-Miami double, which he has done before (in 2011 and 2014). If he wins again he would become the first player in history to accomplish this feat three times. Djokovic is playing Andy Murray, in their 26th career meeting which has been dominated by the Serbian 17-8, including their last six meetings. Murray can beat Djokovic, and has done so in the biggest matches of his life (2013 Wimbledon final and 2012 U.S. Open final). Murray considers the court his homeecourt because he spends a lot of his time training here in Crandon Park so he should be confident that this is  where he can turn around his current setbacks against Djokovic. That being said, Murray is getting married to his longtime fiancee next week and his mental focus may not at its peak. MadProfessah's prediction: Djokovic (in 3 sets).

2014 ROME: Djokovic-Nadal XLI Goes to Nole For 4th Win In A Row Over Rafa

Novak Djokovic continued his recent dominance over Rafael Nadal, improving his record in finals to 12-9 and narrowing their head-to-head to 19-22, by defeating the King of Clay in the 2014 Rome Open 4-6 6-3 6-3 in a little over 2 hours. The win was Djokovic's 4th in a row (2014 Miami Masters final, 2013 ATP World Tour championships final and 2013 Beijing Open final) over the World #1. The two rivals now have the record for the most matches played against each other on the men's tour. It was Djokovic's 44th tour title and 19th ATP Masters Series shield, 2 behind Roger Federer and Nadal's record 26. In fact, Djokovic has won 5 of the last 6 ATP Masters tournaments.

More importantly it was the 4th time Djokovic has beaten Nadal on clay (in 17 meetings on the surface) and could be a harbinger of what could happen in the Roland Garros final 3 weeks from today. I hope so!!!

2014 KEY BISCAYNE: Nole Wins Djokovic-Nadal XL, 43rd ATP Title

As I predicted on Friday, World #2 Novak Djokovic denied World #1 Rafael Nadal his chance to finally win the Miami Masters, by besting him 6-3 6-3 in a match that was never close after Djokovic survived his first (and only) breakpoint in the first game. This was the record 40th meeting between the 6-time major champion and 13-time major champion, with Nadal now leading the head-to-head 22-18 but with Djokovic having won their last three meetings and he is ahead 11-9 in finals and 14-7 on hard courts. The Djokovic-Nadal rivalry is starting to outclass (and outlast) the more celebrated Federer-Nadal rivalry since Nadal is dominating that one 23-10.


Djokovic won Indian Wells two weeks ago (by coming back from behind to nip Roger Federer in a  3rd set tiebreak) and becomes the second man to win the Indian Wells-Key Biscayne double twice in his career, following in the footsteps of  Federer who accomplished the task in 2005 and 2006. Djokovic has now done it in 2011 and 2014. In fact,  Djokovic is on  20-match winning streak at ATP Masters events, having won his last four Masters events: Shanghai 2013, Paris 2013, Indian Wells 2014 and Key Biscayne 2014. (He also won the Year-Ending World Tour Finals in 2013 and 2012 as well.) He has now won 43 ATP tour titles (out of 64 finals) and is now in 3rd place on the all-time list with 18 Masters shields, behind Federer (21) and Nadal (26). He has won Miami 4 times while Nadal has lost in the final 4 times.

The 4000-point lead Nadal had over World #2 Djokovic is going to be less than 1200 points starting on Monday and Nadal will have more points than Djokovic to defend for the rest of the year. The previous times someone one the Indian Wells-Miami double, that player ended the year at World #1.

Incredibly, either Nadal or Djokovic is now the reigning champion in all 9 of the top tier ATP Masters shield events, with Djokovic holding 5 crowns (Indian Wells, Miami, Shanghai, Paris and Monte Carlo) and Nadal 4 crowns (Madrid, Rome, Cincinnati and Canada).

Now the action switches to clay court tennis. I strongly believe this will be the year that Djokovic will finally complete the career slam by winning Roland Garros, whether he has to play Nadal or not!