2019 ATP YEC: Tsitsipas Wins Biggest Title Of His Young Career

Surprising many, Stefanos Tsitsipas finished his breakout 2019 season by coming from behind to win his first ATP Tour Finals title over Dominic Thiem 6-7(6) 6-2 7-6(4). The 21-year-old Greek player is the youngest player to win the  year-end tour championship since Lleyton Hewitt in 2001 and the seventh player to win it in his tournament debut (Grigor Dimitrov did that in 2017).

Tisitsipas finished the year with wins over every member of the top 10, including the big 3: Nadal, Djokovic and Federer.

2019 ATP YEC: Tsitsipas-Thiem Final

For the fourth consecutive year, the ATP Finals will be won by someone new, i.e. someone who is not a previous champion of the event. This sequence started in 2016 when Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic to become World #1 for the first time, then in 2017 Grigor Dimitrov defeated David Goffin, last year Alexander Zverev beat Djokovic to win the biggest title of his career and tomorrow either 26-year-old Dominic Thiem or 21-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas will win their biggest title. On paper one has to give the edge to Thiem, who has played in two major finals but only won one Masters series shield (defeating Roger Federer in the 2019 Indian Wells final). Plus Thiem leads the head-to-head with Tsitsipas 4-2.

Despite my predictions of a Federer-Thiem final, Tsitsipas was able to blast past Federer in a thrilling 6-4 6-3 win while Thiem dispatched defending champion Zverev 7-5 6-3.

MadProfesah's prediction: Thiem d. Tsitsipas.

2019 US OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [5] vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2]

Here are my predictions for the men's final between  Rafael Nadal and Daniil Medvedev at the 2019 U.S. Open Championships. I also (incorrectly) predicted the women's final between Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu. This year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 1 of 2 men's semifinals,  4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 1 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. Last year I incorrectly predicted Serena Williams would defeat Naomi Osaka.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [5] d. Grigor Dimitrov (BLR) 7-6(5) 6-4 6-3.  Despite having fewer winners, more errors and a winning fewer points in the first set, Medvedev was able to steal it in the tiebreak.  He was able to continue his improbable winning streak by ending Dimitrov's even more improbable run at the U.S. Open. The 6-foot-6 23-year-old Russian played the bigger points better and was rewarded with his very first major final appearance.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] d. Matteo Berrettini (ITA) [24] 7-6(6) 6-4 6-1. Matteo Berrettini  made a lot of fans with his play in the first set of his very first major semifinal. He was up 4-0 and 6-4 in the tiebreak but somehow Nadal was able to win the last four points and the set as the young Italian got tight at the sight of the finishing line. After that, Nadal was able to squeeze out the second set and run away with the 3rd to reach his 5th major final in New York City (3-1 record).

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

These two met in the final of the Rogers Cup just over a month ago and Nadal won easily (6-3 6-0). Although no one expects the final to be that one-sided, Nadal is a clear favorite to grab his 19th major title (in his 27th major final), and become the first man over 30 years old to win 5 majors. He has only lost one set so far (to 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic) and also had a walkover. Medvedev has had a much tougher path to the final; only his first round and semifinal round were straight set victories.  MadProfessah's pick: Nadal.

2019 US OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the 2019 U.S. Open Championships.  I will also predict the men's semifinals. This year I predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and 1 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. Last year I predicted 1 of 2 men's semifinals correctly and 2 of 2 women's semifinals correctly. 

Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [23] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [5] vs Roger Federer (SUI) [3] Grigor Dimitrov (BLR).  After bludgeoning the World #1 in the round before I (like many people) would have thought that the 3-time major champion would be able to eliminate the #5 seed in their quarterfinal, but Medvedev keeps on winning, fueled by the enmity of the New York City crowds. The other quarterfinal was even more shocking, with Dimitrov finally earning his first win over 20-time major champion Roger Federer, whose 38-year-old body let him down against his 28-year-old opponent in the last two sets. So the result is that we have two first-time US Open semifinalists competing to reach their first major final. 23-year-old Medvdev has been the hottest player on tour for the past two months, losing only two matches (in the finals of the Citi Open to Nick Kyrgios and in the Cincinnati Masters to Rafael Nadal). He has risen to World #5 in the rankings. Dimitrov and Medvedev have split their two previous meetings, both of which occurred in 2017. Dimitrov is the better athlete and has had the (much) easier route to the semifinals, including a walkover from Borna Coric in the second round. But 6-foot-6 Medvedev has a huge serve and a big game, so even though he must be tired he may have enough firepower to make his way into his first major final. Dimitrov will certainly be the crowd favorite, and the sentimental one.  Mad Professah's pick: Dimitrov.

Gael Monfils (FRA) [13] Matteo Berretini (ITA) [24] vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2]. Gael Monfils was up a set and a break before the wheels came off and he lost the next two sets but was able to fight off numerous match points to bring the match to a deciding fifth set tiebreak. In which he inexplicably double faulted, not once but twice! These mental errors basically were the deciding factor as he lost the tiebreak 7 points to 5 when his 23-year-old opponent was able to hit a serve on his 5th match point which Monfils could not return into the court. In some sense it won't matter, because the title is now Nadal's to lose, with Federer and Djokovic and Wawrinka being eliminated it is hard to see anyone preventing him from winning his 19th major on Sunday.  Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

2019 US OPEN: Dimitrov Earns First Win Over (Injured) Federer

Wow! Yesterday was a rough day for my predictions of the men's draw at the 2019 US Open. Grigor Dimitrov (currently ranked #78 in the world) defeated Roger Federer for the first time in 8 meetings. Prior to yesterday Federer had won 17 of the 18 sets they played. Dimitrov was able to win 3, after Federer went up 2 sets to 1 he got broken early in the 4th and when he broke back late in the 4th he was unable to capitalize on numerous break chances in the fourth set. Federer's back appears to be hurting him and he went down 4-0 in the 5th set very quickly and ultimately lost the decider 6-2.

2019 US OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2019 U.S. Open Championships.  I have also predicted the women's quarterfinals. Last year I predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly. 

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [23] vs Daniil Medvedev (RUS) [5].  The World #1 and defending champion had made his way through the draw rather uneventfully until he ran into a diesel truck named Stan. The 3-time champion who is on his way back up the charts after  very serious knee surgeries basically bullied Djokovic around the court for two and a half sets until the 16-time major champion retired from the match, citing a shoulder injury. Medvedev is the latest of the #NextGen players to break through, having won his first Masters series shield in Montreal during his red-hot summer.  The two have only played only once before, in 2017 on grass (Wawrinka's worst surface), with Medevedev winning. The Russian has been making it through matches by will (fueled by the vocal opposition of the New York City crowds). This scenario should repeat itself again, but this time he'll be facing someone who can take advantage of it. Mad Professah's pick: Wawrinka.

Roger Federer (SUI) [3] vs Grigor Dimitrov (BLR). Formerly known as "Baby Fed," Dimitrov has had a horrendous year and a half since he reached his career-high ranking of World #3 after winning the ATP's Year-End Championships (over Davis Goffin). His ranking had fallen out of the Top 50 before this tournament, so it is miraculous that he was able to reach his first quarterfinal in New York this year. Hopefully this will turn his season around because he is too talented to not be "in the mix" on tour although at 28 he is part of the Lost Generation that the Big 4 denied tennis' biggest prizes. Unfortunately for Grigor he faces Federer, whom he has played 7 times and only won 1 set in the 18 the two have played. Hopefully he will do better than Goffin did in Federer's previous round, who only managed to win 4 games in a best-of-five match. Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

Matteo Berretini (ITA) [24] vs Gael Monfils (FRA) [13]. This is a first-time meeting between these players. Berretini is one of the breakout players of 2019, having already won two tour titles this year. The 23-year-old is listed at 6-foot-5 and 198 pounds while 32-year-old Monfils is "only" 6-foot-4 and 187 pounds. This is an incredibly important match for both players, as every major quarterfinal is. It's Berretini's first but Monfils' 9th. Oftentimes, the older player suffers in this situation with the knowledge of how rare these opportunities are but it can also happen that the younger player is overwhelmed by the occasion. This is basically a "call-em" match and that situation I go with the better athlete. Mad Professah's pick: Monfils.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] vs Diego Schwartzman (ARG) [20] Alexander Zverev (GER) [6]. Diminutive Diego took out Sascha Zverev in four sets the round before, despite playing on the German's best surface and his worst. He has reached 2 other quarterfinals before, but it probably won't matter. He faces Nadal, whom he has played 7 times and only won 2 sets (not in the same match), losing every time. Nadal is playing in devastating form and unless an injury shows up, should make it to another US Open final. Will Federer be waiting for him there?  Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

2018 US OPEN: Halep(1), Muguruza(12), Kasatkina(11), Dimitrov(8), Murray All Lose early; Serena-Venus XXX Looms

Oh my! The first three days of the 2018 US Open have concluded and with it, most of the first two rounds of play. The tournament started with a bang with World #1 and #1 seed Simona Halep becoming the first top seed to lose first round in the 50 years of the US Open. Halep was my pick to win the whole thing this year, but hard-hitting Estonian Kaia Kanepi knocked her out in straight sets! Other seeded upsets in the early rounds were 2-time major champion Garbine Muguruza, the wily Daria Kasatkina, #9 seed Julia Georges and CoCo Vandeweghe.

On the men's side the wailing was a little quieter with only Top 10 seed to go out was #8 Grigor Dimitrov, who unsurprisingly lost to Stan Wawrinka for the second consecutive first round in a slam. Other male players who lost early are Stefanos Tsitsipas, Kyle Edmund, Jack Sock and Roberto Bautista Agut.

In the first rounds to watch, Caroline Wozniacki got past 2011 champion Sam Stosur and amaria Sharapova ended Patty Schnyder's dream run to a main slam draw at nearly 40 years old. On the men's side the young Canadian Clash between Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime took on a scary turn when 18-year-old Felix was forced to retire due to a racing heartbeat despite splitting the first two sets and competing well in the 3rd.

The marquee event is now going to be the thirtieth matchup between Venus and Serena Williams. I didn't expect this matchup to happen in this tournament and I doubt anyone expected that the two sisters would play 30 matches against each other when they both became professionals well over 20 years ago. Serena leads the head to head 17-12 overall and 9-5 in grand slams. They have only met this early in a major tournament once before, in their first meeting in Australia in 1998. It should be a good match, but I'll pick Serena to get through, even though Venus won their last meeting in Indian Wells earlier this year. They are both playing better than I expected. I didn't really think Venus would get through her first round match with Sveta Kuznetsova or her 2nd round match with Camila Giorgi. as for Serena, after reaching the Wimbledon final her summer hard court prep has been horrific.

Sadly, I don't arrive in New York until tomorrow, so I will only be able to see one of them play on Sunday.

2018 Wimbledon: Venus, Serena, Roger Win; Sloane (4), Svitolina (5), Dimitrov (6) Upset in 1R

The first day of Wimbledon brought few surprises. Defending champion Roger Federer won his match easily. He did manage to create headlines, mainly by his attire. He walked on court wearing an outfit by UNIQLO, not Nike, for the first time in well over 15 years. He still has Nike shoes. Apparently, Federer has agreed to a deal which pays him $30 million every year for the next 10 years (regardless of whether he plays tennis or not!) to serve as their "worldwide brand ambassador."

There were some upsets on the court: Donna Vekic beat 2018 French Open finalist and #4 seed Sloane Stephens in straight sets, and then her boyfriend, Stan Wawrinka beat #6 seed Grigor Dimitrov in four sets. Also, 2018 Halle champion Borna Coric lost a first-round tussle with fellow NextGen star Daniil Medvedev, opening up Federer's draw.

Both Venus and Serena won their first round matches. Venus lost the first set in a tiebreak but then won the last two sets easily. Serena struggled against a good grasscourt player Arantxa Rus but managed to win two tight sets. However she got some good news when the #25 ranked player had the Top 8 seed in her quarter (#5 seed Elina Svitolina) of the draw removed in 3-sets by Tatjana Maria.

Some of the interesting first round matches I mentioned in my 2018 Wimbledon Draw analysis post occurred.

INTERESTING FIRST ROUND MATCHES TO WATCH OUT FOR

• Dimitrov versus Wawrinka (Dimitrov lost in 4 sets)
• Andy Murray versus Benoit Paire (Murray withdrew the day before the tournament started)
• Gael Monfils versus Richard Gasquet (Monfils won relatively easily in straight sets)
• Dominic Thiem versus Marcos Baghdatis
• Jeremy Chardy versus Denis Shapovalov
• Fernando Verdasco versus Frances Tiafoe
• Angie Kerber versus Vera Zvonareva (Kerber won in two tight sets on Day 2)
• Alize Cornet versus Dominika Cibulkova
• Shuai Peng versus Samantha Stosur
• Belina Bencic versus Caroline Garcia
• Svetlana Kuznetsova versus Barbora Strycova (Strycova won in 2 tight sets)

2018 FRENCH OPEN: Early Rounds Complete

The early rounds of the French Open are now complete as the second Grand Slam of the year reaches it's halfway point on Sunday.

WOMEN'S DRAW
There have been some surprising upsets in early rounds with the most notable being defending champion Jelena Ostapenko [5] losing in the very first round (in straight sets 7-5 6-3!) on the very first day of the tournament (which I attended). On the same day (a few hours before) Venus Williams [9] also lost in the 1st round, also in straight sets, 6-4 7-5, Qiang Wang. Other "early" round losers were Petra Kvitova [8] (l. Anna Kontaveit) and Elina Svitolina [4] (l. Victoria Kuzmova).

Serena Williams is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since having a child and getting married (in that order :)) and although she had looked scratchy in her earlier tournaments this year (in Indian Wells and Miami) in Paris she has surprisingly looked quite solid and yesterday defeated Julia Georges [11]  to make it to a 4th round meeting with Maria Sharapova who also looked very sharp in taking out Karolina Pliskova [6]. It will be there 22nd meeting and Serena has won the last 18 times the two have played since 2004.

Simona Halep [1] and Garbine Muguruza [3] have looked the sharpest so far in the tournament but Caro Wozniacki [2], Sloane Stephens [10] and Madison Keys [13] are all dangerous contenders still in the draw.

MEN'S DRAW
The biggest seed on the men's side to fall in the early days of the tournament was Grigor Dimitrov [4] who lost in straight sets to 34-year-old Fernando Verdasco in the 3rd round. The story on the men's side has been the travails of Sascha Zverev [2] to live up to his outstanding ATP tour play and make a move in the majors. After cruising in his 1st round match by losing 4 games against Richar Berankis, Zverev has played three consecutive 5-set matches, and saved a match point in the 3rd round. The German is now in his first major quarterfinal.

Rafael Nadal is going for his 11th French Open title and it doesn't look like anyone will be able to stop him from doing so this year. He was forced into a tiebreak in his very first match with Simone Bolleli but since then the King of Clay has not given up more than 3 games in a set.

The other contenders remaining in the tournament are Dominic Thiem [8], Marin Cilic [4], Juan Martin del Potro [6], David Goffin [9] and John Isner [10].

2018 INDIAN WELLS: Venus-Serena XXIX, Azarenka Loses To Sloane; Nole, Sascha, Grigor, Petra, Garbi All Out Early!

The 2018 Indian Wells, the first ATP Masters series event of the year, is underway. I will be attending  the tournament all day (and night) on Wednesday. Sadly, it is not clear who I will see because there have been a number of upsets early on. World #2 Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Sunshine double and will not return t the tour until the clay begins.

World #3 Grigor Dimitrov lost to a resurgent Fernando Verdasco, World #4 Sascha Zverev lost to Joao Sousa (losing 5 games in a row from up 4-1 in the 3rd!) and Novak Djokovic lost #109 Taro Daniel.  There have also been upsets on the women's side with Petra Kvitova's win streak ended at 14 with a loss to teenager Amanda Anisimova and World #3 Garbine Muguruza lost to American Sachia Vickery. 2-time Indian Wells champion Victoria Azarenka lost to Sloane Stephens in her first comeback match in nearly a year.

However, the marquee comeback was that by Serena Williams of course. With her ranking currently in the 400s having not played a serious match since winning the 2017 Australian Open, giving birth and getting married, Serena managed to win her first two matches at Indian Wells. Her reward is that she will play her sister Venus. This will be the 29th meeting  and Serena leads 17-11. It will be around 7pm tonight. I'll be watching!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer Returns To #1; Kvitova Win Streak Reaches 13 and WTA Top 10; Young-Harrison Racial Controversy

FEDERER RETURNS TO ATP #1; BREAKING EVEN MORE RECORDS
By reaching the semifinals of the Amsterdam indoor tournament (after defending his 2017 Australian Open title last month) Roger Federer is now the #1 player for the first time in 5 years and at age 36 he eclipses Andre Agassi as the oldest player to ever reach the top of the ATP rankings. He sets and breaks multiple records by reaching the pinnacle of men's tennis again, replacing long-time rival Rafael Nadal at #1. He extends his record of most weeks at #1 to at least 303 and 5 years is the largest gap anyone has ever had between losing and regaining the #1 ranking.

FEDERER DEMOLISHES DIMITROV TO WIN 97TH CAREER TITLE
Not satisfied to simply reach the semifinals and return to World #1 at the ABN AMRO Indoors, Federer ended up winning the tournament by defeating Andreas Seppi followed by Grigor Dimitrov to win his 97th career title. His win over World #5 Dimitrov in the final was one of his most one-sided victories in  tour final (6-2 6-2) and is a good measure of his excellent form at the moment. Federer is now looking forward to reaching triple-digits in tour titles and may even be contemplating trying to surpass the all-time record of Jimmy Connnors at 109 before he retires.

KVITOVA WINS 13 MATCHES IN A ROW; INCLUDES BACK-TO-BACK TITLES
Despite having a tough first round loss to Andrea Petkovic (10-8 in the 3rd set!), Petra Kvitova has turned her year into high gear by winning 13 matches in a row (against top competition). The streak has earned her titles at the St. Petersburg and Doha tournaments. In Doha, she beat World #3 Elina Svitolina, World #1 Caroline Wozniacki and World #4 Garbine Muguruza! The win returns the 2-time major champion to the Top 10 on the WTA tour.

DONALD YOUNG ALLEGES RACIST REMARKS PART OF VERBAL DISPUTE DURING MATCH WITH RYAN HARRISON
After losing in straight sets to fellow American Ryan Harrison in a match that clearly features verbal fireworks between the players Donald Young tweeted "I’m shocked and disappointed, Ryan Harrison, to hear you tell me how you really feel about me as a black tennis player." Harrison strongly denied the accusation and an investigation by the ATP has resulted in no corroboration of Young's version of events. However, many people have noted that Harrison has been in several verbal clashes with his opponents in the last year, including  with Dudi Sela a few weeks ago at this year's Australian Open.

2018 AUS OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the 2018 Australian Open. Last year I did not predict the quarterfinals but correctly predicted 1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. This year I predicted correctly 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I have also predicted the women's semifinals.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] Marin Cilic (CRO) [6] vs. Kyle Edmund (GBR) Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [3].  This was a very unlikely semifinal matchup (perhaps even more unlikely than the bizarre Tennys Sandgren-Hyeon Chung quarterfinal in the round before. Nadal had only lost one meeting in the six he had played against the 6-foot-5 Croatian. However, this time when he fell behind 2 sets to one, Cilic continued to play hard-hitting, confident tennis, and eventually forced a fifth deciding set against the World #1. It was clear Nadal was not at his best throughout the 4th set and early in the 5th (down 0-2) he pulled the ripcord and retired from the match, giving up his quest for a 2nd Australian Open title. But in some sense this was the lesser surprise result. Who would have thought that the first British player to reach a major semifinal this year would be Kyle Edmund? And he did so by defeating (primarily by outhitting) the World #3 (and last year's semifinalist) Grigor Dimitrov. Edmund and Cilic have only played once before, fairly recently at last year's Shanghai Masters and Cilic won in two relatively tight sets. Edmund has been playing some of his best tennis early in 2018 and is clearly better than his official World #49 ranking, but is he really ready for his first major final? Cilic is playing for his 3rd major final and I suspect he will get there, just so he can get another chance at denying Federer another major title. Mad Professah's pick: Cilic.


Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs Hyeon Chung (KOR) Novak Djokovic (SRB) [14].  These two have never played each other. Although one would think this would make this result a slam dunk for the 19-time major champion, I seriously doubt it will be. Chung has already out-Djokovic'ed Djokovic and that game is something that has given Federer fits for years. However, I doubt that Chung has yet mastered the intangibles which make Djokovic so dangerous to Federer (winner takes all forehand service return winner down double-match point, anyone?) It's also true that Federer is not playing his best tennis either, but as a 19-time major champion he has figured out many ways to win matches when he is not playing his best and I suspect this will be another exapmle of this.Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

2018 AUS OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview and Predictions

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2018 Australian Open. Last year  I did not predict the quarterfinal rounds. This year I will also predict the women's quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs Marin Cilic (CRO) [6].  This is the only quarterfinal match-up that was predicted to occur at the beginning of the tournament if results followed the seedings. In a tournament with lots of upsets it is significant that this match-up persisted. Nadal is playing excellent tennis and has only lost one set in four matches while Cilic has lost 2, one against Pablo Carreno Busta and another against Vasek Pospisil. The main problem for the hard-serving Croat is that he has played Nadal 6 times before and only won 1 match (and 3 sets out of 14 played) and half these matches occurred after he became a major champion himself. In fact, he has lost their 5 meetings in a row, including their one grand slam meeting, which was in Melbourne in 2011. That being said, Cilic does believe that he can beat Nadal and he has the game that could do it as well. I suspect he will win at least a set, and possibly even two but I don't see how he wins three. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) [3] vs Kyle Edmund (GBR) Jack Sock (USA) [8]. Dimitrov has not been playing his best tennis for most of this tournament, but Melbourne often does bring out his best stuff, as he proved in last year's epic 5-set semifinal against Nadal. This year he had to survive a surprisingly tough early test against young American Mackenzie McDonald in the second round by coming back to win 8-6 in the 5th after losing the 4th set 6-0! I wonder if anyone has ever won a major tournament after suffering a bagel set loss in an earlier round? Fortunately for Grigor, after coming through a much-hyped showdown with Australian "It" boy Nick Kyrgios in 4 tight sets, his game seems to be peaking. He faces Briton Kyle Edmund who is playing in his very first major quarterfinal, which should give the now experienced Top 5 stalwart a key edge in this important match. Can we hope that lightning will strike 2 years in a row and we will have another amazing Dimitrov-Nadal semifinal match? I think we will, and this time I hope for a different result. Mad Professah's pick: Dimitrov.

Tennys Sandgren (USA) Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5] vs Hyeon Chung (KOR) Sascha Zverev (GER) [4].  This is the most unlikely men's major quarterfinal in years. 21-year-old Chung was ranked #58 coming into the tournament and is the first player from South Korea, male or female, to reach a major quarterfinal. His opponent, World #97 Tennys Sandgren is the American male player to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals in over 20 years. They both had very impressive wins to reach this round. Sandgren eliminated Dominic Thiem in 5-sets while Chung was even more impressive by defeating 12-time major champion (6-time Australian Open champ) Novak Djokovic without losing a set. The las time these two played there were 20 ATP ranking points, this time there will be 720 points, which is more than the final of all regular ATP tournaments except at the Masters Series or Majors. One key factor here will be which player will fare better in their first high-stakes showdown. Here I give the edge to Chung because he won the 2017 NextGen championships last year. Mad Professah's pick: Chung.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs Tomas Berdych (CZE) [19] David Goffin (BEL) [7].  This a rematch of last year's 3rd round match when it became clear that Federer's form after a 6-month gap was high enough that he might actually have a shot at winning the tournament. These two have played 25 times on tour and Federer has a commanding 19-6 lead, but that means Berdych has beaten Federer 6 times before so that he should be confident that he can do so again.  Federer has looked fine all tournament long, and despite his draw looking much tougher than Nadal's at the beginning of the tournament, it has not turned out that way. If he gets past Berdych (which should happen), it is very difficult to see him not reaching the final, where perhaps another Fedal final awaits? I can't wait, eihter! Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

2018 AUS OPEN: First Week Complete

Well! The first week of the 2018 Australian Open is complete which means there are 16 players left in the men's and women's draws.

Women's Draw
The first big upset f the tournament happened on Day 1 when 2017 finalist Venus Williams lost to Belinda Bencic in straight sets. Bencic is a former Top 10 player and this was expected to be a bad matchup for Venus. Other upsets were #3 seed Garbine Muguruza losing to Su-Wei Hsieh (who then followed that up by ousting Agnieska Radwanska in the most entertaining match of the tournament).

The remaining Top 10 players in the Round of 16 are Simona Halep [1] (who played the match of the tournament by outlasting American Lauren Davis 6-4 4-6 15-13 in 3 hours 45 minutes), Caroline Wozniacki [2] (who survived a 5-1 deficit in the 3rd set of her 2nd round match against Jana Fett by winning the final six games), Elina Svitolina [4], Karolina Pliskova [6] and Caroline Garcia [8]. However, the most dangerous player in the draw is probably 2016 Australian Open champion Angie Kerber (who demolished 5-time major champion Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-3 to reach the 4th round).

Men's Draw
The top seeds are still in the draw after 3 rounds of play: Rafael Nadal [1], Roger Federer [2], Grigor Dimitrov [3], Dominc Thiem [5], Marin Cilic [6] and Pablo Carreno Busta [10]. The #4 seed Sascha Zverev lost to Korean Hyeon Chung in a battle of #NextGen stars. The only big upset (of sorts) in the men's draw was the defeat of 2014 Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the second round, coming back after knee surgery and 6-months absence from the ATP tour.

R16 Highlights
The upcoming matches which look interesting are Nick Kyrgios versus Dimitrov, Halep versus Naomi Osaka and Madison Keys versus Garcia.

2018 AUS OPEN: Draw Preview and Predictions

The draw for the 2018 Australian Open is out. The defending champions are Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Serena has withdrawn because she is not quite ready after giving birth to her first child about 4 months ago. 

Women's Draw Preview
The women's draw features only two former Australian Open champions: Angelique Kerber (2016) and Maria Sharapova (2008). If the draw goes according to seedings, this would be the women's quarterfinals:

• [1] Simona Halep (ROU)          vs [6] Karolina Pliskova (CZE)
• [3] Garbine Muguruza (ESP)  vs [8] Caroline Garcia (FRA)
• [4] Elina Svitolina (UKR)         vs [5] Venus Williams (USA)
• [2] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) vs [7] Jelena Ostapenko (LAT)

I doubt anyone thinks this will actually happen. Kerber is (again) playing excellent tennis and is on a 9-match winning streak, which allowed her to win the Sydney warm-up tournament. However, I think that other "K" layers will have even bigger breakthroughs this year, including Konta, Kvitova amd Keys. So, I am predicting the following:

• Semifinals: Kvitova versus Keys and Wozniacki versus Svitolina.
• Final: Keys versus Wozniacki.
• Champion: Keys.

Men's Draw Preview
The men's draw features the return of 6-time Aussie Open champion Novak Djokovic, and of course last year's finalists Federer and Nadal resume their rivalry. Of course, Djokovic ends up in Federer's half, along with Dominc Thiem, Sascha Zverev, David Goffin and Juan Martin del Potro. Nadal has an amazingly gentle draw, and even though he has not played a professional match all year and has fueled speculation about his fitness, the current World #1 has a very good shot at winning his second consecutive hard-court major. However, it is long past time for a member of the "new" generation to step up and win a major. Surely this will happen in 2018, but can it happen in Melbourne?

If the draw goes according to seedings, this would be the men's quarterfinals:

• [1] Rafael Nadal (ESP)            vs [6] Marin Cilic (CRO)
• [3] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)     vs [8] Jack Sock (USA)
• [4] Sascha Zverev (GER)        vs [5] Dominic Thiem (AUT) 
• [2] Roger Federer (SUI)          vs [7] David Goffin (BEL)

This is more likely to happen than on the women's side  but still it is relatively unlikely. Instead, I am predicting:

• Semifinals: Nadal vs Dimitrov, Federer vs Zverev
• Final: Dimitrov versus Federer.
• Champion: Federer.

We shall see!

2017 ATP YEC: Dimitrov Beats Goffin To Win Biggest Career Title And End Year At World #3

Grigor Dimitrov has won the 2017 ATP Year-End Championship by defeating David Goffin 7-5 4-6 6-3. Dimitrov defeated Jack Sock in the semifinal 4-6 6-0 6-3 after emerging from his round-robin group containing Goffin, Dominic Thiem, Pablo Carreno Busta (who replaced Rafael Nadal).

Amazingly, Goffin reached the final by handing Roger Federer only his 5th defeat of 2017, upending his prior 0-6 record against the Swiss Maestro by coming back to win 2-6 6-3 6-4 and become only the 6th player in history to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament (and the first player to accomplish this feat without subsequently winning the tournament).

Goffin saved 4 match points i the final set before handing Dimitrov the win by missing a relatively easy drop volley into the net. Dimitrov will end the year rated #3, behind Rafael Nadal at #1 and Roger Federer at #2 (Goffin ends the year at #7). The 26-year-old Bulgarian wins $2.5 million and becomes the first person to win the year-end championship on his debut at the season-ending event since Alex Corretja did it in 1998.

TENNIS TUESDAY: U.S. Win 2017 Fed Cup, Nadal Ends Season, ATP YEC Under Way

U.S.A. WIN 2017 FED CUP, ENDING 17-YEAR DROUGHT BY WINNING CLIFFHANGER OVER BELARUS
The 2017 Federation Cup final was played last weekend and the United States won the tie 3-2 to win their first Fed Cup since 2000. The match was surprisingly close despite the fact that the United States had 2 Top 15 players in 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and CoCo Vandeweghe while Belarus had one player in the Top 100. Stephens' winless streak since winning her major title continues and she lost both matches she played last weekend. The true star of the team was Vandeweghe who won both of her singles match and then paired with Shelby Rogers to win the final tie, which was the doubles match.

ATP YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP PROCEEDS WITH WINS BY FEDERER, ZVEREV, SOCK, DIMITROV AND GOFFIN.
The year-end ATP tour championship has begun and there have been some surprises. Roger Federer has qualified for the semifinal round by defeating Jack Sock and Sascha Zverev. Other players who have won matches in the round-robin stage are Sock, Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov and David Goffin. On Thursday, Sock and Zverev will face off for the remaining semifinal spot. In the other half of the draw, Dimitrov and Goffin will face off for another semifinal berth.

NADAL ENDS SEASON AFTER LOSS TO GOFFIN AT YEC
Rafael Nadal withdrew from the ATP Finals after losing a 3-set match to David Goffin, ending his 2017 season. He has never done well at the year-end championships despite qualifying 13 times, he has withdrawn 5 different times and lost in the final twice. He ends 2017 as the #1 player, with a record of 67W-10L.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Sock Wins Paris Masters, ATP YEC Field Set, Nadal Clinches 2017 #1

SOCK ENDS YEAR WITH AMAZING RUN TO WIN PARIS MASTERS, REACH TOP 10 & QUALIFY FOR YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP
The player of the week was 25-year-old American Jack Sock who ended his 2017 with an amazing run that resulted in him winning the 2017 Paris Masters. That win was incredibly significant, because it qualified him into the ATP Year-End Championship and vaulted him into the ATP Top 10 for the first time. It also means that he is now the highest ranked American player on the ATP Tour, ahead of John Isner (who could have qualified himself if he had won the title instead of losing to qualifier Filip Krajinovic in the semifinals) and 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist Sam Querrey. Sock defeated Krajinovic 5-7 6-4 6-1 in the biggest match of both youngsters' careers.

THE ATP WORLD TOUR YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD SET
The elite eight players who have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals year-end championship in London are (in order) #1 Rafael Nadal, #2 Roger Federer #3 Alexander Zverev #4 Dominic Thiem #5 Marin Cilic #6 Grigor Dimitrov #8 David Goffin #9 Jack Sock. Stan Wawrinka is #7 but he has ended his season with early. Both Andy Murray (#16) and Novak Djokovic (#12) have also ended their seasons early and will end the year out of the Top 10 for the first time in a long long time.

NADAL CLINCHES 2017 WORLD #1 THN WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS MASTERS
After winning Basel, Federer decided not to play the Paris Masters which meant that Nadal only needed to win one match to clinch the 2017 Year-end #1 ranking. The Spaniard did that, and then promptly withdrew from the tournament. Should Federer have played Paris? In retrospect, probably, because it looks Nadal will perhaps not be playing in London either, where he has never done particularly well, having lost in the final a few times. However, all that is past and Nadal is now the ATP's oldest ever World #1 at age 31.

GOERGES WINS ELITE WTA ZHUHAI TROPHY OVER VANDEWEGHE
The WTA basically ended its season last week when Wozniacki beat Venus to win the WTA Tour Year-End Championships in Singapore. This week the year-end championships for the Top 20 players happened in Zhuhai and Julia Goerges of Germany won the biggest title of her career by defeating Coco Vandeweghe in the final.

2017 YEAR-END WTA TOP 10 HAS INTRIGUING NEWCOMERS: COCO AND CARO.
The WTA Tour year-end Top 10 has Caroline Garcia at #8 and Coco Vandeweghe at #10. Simona Halep ended the year at #1 with Garbine Muguruza at #2, Wozniacki at #3, Karolina Pliskova at #4 and Venus at #5. Just outside the top 10 are #11 Kiki Mladenovic, #12 Sveta Kuznetsova, #13 Sloane Stephens and Goerges at #14.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Fed Wins 8th Basel, Woz Wins WTA YEC, Venus Wins 2017 $$ Race, Hingis Retires

WOZNIACKI DEFEATS VENUS TO WIN WTA TOUR YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP
Caroline Wozniacki won her first WTA Tour Finals championship in surprisingly aggressive style, defeating Venus Williams for the first time (in 8 meetings) 6-4 6-4. The win means that Wozniacki will end the year at World #3 and Venus will be at World #5.

FEDERER BEATS DEL POTRO TO WIN 8TH BASEL TITLE, 7TH IN 2017, 95TH OVERALL
Roger Federer won his 8th Basel title (in 13 finals in his hometown) by defeating Juan Martin del Potro 6-7(3) 6-2 6-3. It was Federer's 7th title in 2017 and he is 49-4 for the year. Those 4 losses ave been to Evgeny Donskoy, Tommy Haas, del Potro  and Sascha Zverev (Cincinnati Masters final). With his win he moved to a clear second on the all-time titles won list with 95, one ahead of Ivan Lendl's 94 and behind Jimmy Connors' 109.

VENUS ENDS 2017 #1 IN PRIZE MONEY
Despite not winning any titles in 2017, Venus reached 2 major finals (Australian Open and Wimbledon) as well as the final match of the year-end championship. Because she was the most consistent at the biggest tournaments of the year, she earned $5,468,741 to end the  year on top of the prize money standings for 2017.

FEDERER CEDES YEAR-END #1 TO NADAL BY WITHDRAWING FROM PARIS MASTERS
Immediately after winning Basel, Federer withdrew from the Paris Masters, which means that Nadal just has to win one match there in order to cement his hold on the World #1 ranking through the end of the year, the fourth time he would have done so (2013, 2010, 2008). Federer has ended the year #1 five times (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009). In other ranking news, 20-year-old Sascha Zverev reached the World #4 ranking.

MARTINA HINGIS RETIRES (FOR THE 3RD TIME) FROM PROFESSIONAL TENNIS
Martina Hingis shocked the tennis world by revealing during the WTA Tour  year-end championships  in Singapore that she intended all year for 2017 to be her last year on the WTA Tour. Hingis retired at age 37 with 43 singles and 64 doubles titles and retired while holding the #1 doubles ranking. She had previously retired in 2003 and 2007. For the last few years she has clearly been the best doubles player in the world. She won 5 major singles titles and 13 major doubles title, including the 2017 US Open.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Rafa Returns to #1; Dimitrov and Zverev Win 1st Masters Titles; Halep Misses #1 Again

NADAL REGAINS ATP #1 RANKING
Thanks to Roger Federer's withdrawal from Cincinnati after injuring himself in the final of Montreal Masters against Sascha Zverev, and the absence of Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic from the tour for the entire hard-court season to date has resulted in Rafael Nadal ascending to the top of the ATP rankings for the 4th time in his career.

#NEXTGEN MASTERS: DIMITROV WINS CINCINNATI, ZVEREV WINS MONTREAL
Grigor Dimitrov wins the Cincinnati Masters by defeating Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. Sascha Zverev won his 2nd Masters title of the year by defeating Roger Federer at the Montreal Masters.

HALEP MISSES (ANOTHER) CHANCE TO REACH WORLD #1
Simona Halep faced off against Garbine Muguruza in the Cincinnati tournament with the #1 WTA ranking on the line. This is the second time this summer Halep has been one match win away from the top spot (previously if she had won the French Open final she would have reached the #1 ranking). This time she did not come close to achieving the result, managing to win only one game against Muguruza. Karolina Pliskova continues her reign at the top for the time being.

AZARENKA OUT OF US OPEN DUE TO CUSTODY BATTLE WITH BABY DADDY
Somehow I missed the announcement that new mother Victoria Azarenka had split with Billy McTeague the father of her son, Leo, a few weeks after Wimbledon. But now the issue is front and center because the custody fight over their son is causing Azarenka to withdraw from the 2017 U.S. Open. McTeague is refusing to give permission for Azarenka to leave the state with their son, even though Azarenka said she would pay for McTeague to stay in a New York City hotel to continue joint custody while she competes in this year's tournament. That was deemed unacceptable by her ex, so forcing the tennis star to choose between her son and playing the last major of the year resulted in the withdrawal.