2019 INDIAN WELLS: Djokovic(1),Osaka(1),Halep(2),Bertens(7),Cilic(10) All Lose!

Major upsets in the Desert today! Both World #1's lost. Novak Djokovic lost 6-4 6-4 to Philip Kohlschreiber while Naomi Osaka lost 6-3 6-1 to Belinda Bencic. Other seeds who lost included World #2 Simona Halep, World #10 Marin Cilic, World #7 Kiki Bertens among others.

Winners included Venus Williams  and Garbine Muguruza (reaching the quarterfinals).

TENNIS TUESDAY: Croatia Wins (Last?) Davis Cup, Beats France 3-1; Venus Settles; Radwanska Retires; Kerber Picks Schuettler, Halep Picks No One!

CROATIA DEFEATS FRANCE 3-1 TO WIN 2018 DAVIS CUP FINAL
The 2018 Davis Cup was won by Croatia, somewhat surprisingly defeating France 3-1, who was the defending champion (beating Belgium last year). There was extra attention on this year's Davis Cup because tennis is being roiled by the changes to the format of the Davis Cup and the creation of two(!) new team competitions: the Laver Cup (an exhibition competition that happens a few weekends after the conclusion of the US Open primarily associated with Roger Federer and based on a Europe versus The World concept) and now the ATP and Tennis Australia have announced the ATP Cup which is scheduled to start in January 2020 before the Australian Open. The ATP Cup will be a 24-team competition of 6 groups of 4 played in 3 Australian cities over 10 days.
Marin Cilic was the tie's hero, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday in straight sets and followed that up with a straight sets win over Lucas Pouille on the final day to win Croatia's 3rd point after Borna Coric easly dismissed Jeremy Chardy in straight sets on the first day. It's not clear why France's other stars (Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet or Gilles Simon) did not participate in the Davis Cup Final this year. The one bright spot for France was their win in the doubles as Pierre-Hughes Hebert and Nicolas Mahut won their match.

AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA RETIRES FROM TENNIS AT AGE 29
The Polish tennis superstar Aggie Radwanska announced her retirement from the sport at the age of 29, ranked World #75. However, between 2008 and 2016 she was ranked in the Top 15 (rising as high as World #2) and won the WTA Fan Favorite award 6 years in a row. In 2012 she won the middle set against Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final but lost the match.

VENUS SETTLES WRONGFUL DEATH LAWSUIT WHERE SHE HAD NO FAULT
Venus Williams announced that she had settled a lawsuit filed by the estate of a man who had died in a car accident in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida where Williams was an unwilling and faultless participant. The settlement terms were not disclosed.

KERBER PICKS NEW COACH RAINER SCHUETTLER, HALEP PICKS NO-ONE
The end-of-season coaching merry-go-round continues with World #1 Simona Halep deciding not pick a replacement coach for Darren Cahill who said that he has decided to reduce his travel commitments in 2019 to spend more time with his family. Despite winning Wimbledon with Wim Fisette this year, Angelique Kerber has dismissed him and hired with former ATP Top 10 player Rainer Schuettler as her new coach.

2018 US OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG) [3] vs. Novak Djokovic (SRB) [6]

Here are my predictions for the men's final at the US Open for 2018. Last year I correctly predicted that Rafael Nadal would defeat Kevin Anderson in the 2017 men's final.  This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 1 of 2 men's semifinals and 1 of 2 women's semifinals. I also predicted the result of the women's final between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Juan Martín Del Potro (ARG) [3] d. Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] 7-6(3) 6-2 RET. Even though I didn't predict that this would happen, I'm not really surprised that Del Potro left with the win. Nadal was looking increasingly fragile, having had to battle through multiple epics just to reach the semifinals. It turns out that he had spent almost 15 hours on court before this match, including the fifth set tiebreak win against Dominic Thiem most people are calling the best of the tournament. So the fact that his body let him down and he realized that after losing the first two sets that he did not have enough in the tank to come back and win this match, especially with a persistent pain in his knee which was hampering his movement so he retired, for the second time this year in an important grand slam match (first was against Cilic in the 2018 Australian Open quarterfinals).

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [6] d. Kei Nishikori (JPN) [21] 6-3 6-4 6-2.  This was an unsurprising result, especially given the fact that Nishikori has only won two matches against Djokovic despite having played against him 16 times and that Nishikori was coming off a huge 5-set 4-hour win versus Marin Cilic the round before. Even so, Djokovic showed that he has basically returned to his world-beating level of tennis which had him dominating the tour for the 2 years prior to his 2016 departure from the sport.

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

This is not the final anyone expected when the draw was announced. (Many predicted a Nadal-Djokovic final.) Djokovic is coming off his surprising title run at the 2018 Wimbledon (his 13th career major) while Del Potro is at his career-high ranking of World #3. The 6-foot-6 Argentine has won the title in New York before, coming back from a 2-1 set deficit against the great Roger Federer in 2009 to snatch the title, one round after demolishing Rafael Nadal. Djokovic is playing in his 8th major final in New York, but has a surprisingly weak 2-5 record, having lost to Federer (2007), Nadal (2011, 2013), Andy Murray (2012) and Stan Wawrinka (2016). Del Potro is 1-0 in major finals, while Djokovic is playing in his 23rd major final (13-9), which is 3rd all time, behind Federer's 20-10 record and Nadal's 17-7.

Head-to-head, Djokovic has a dominant 14-4 record over Del Potro but the two have not played in 2018 where Del Potro has been resurgent. Also, Del Potro is a big match player, having beaten Djokovic both times they have met in the Olympics (2012 in London and 2016 in Rio) with the Argentine ending up with a medal both times. It's amazing Del Potro is even playing tennis, since he has had four(4!) surgeries since winning the 2009 US Open. To come back to be competing for a major title again after he was thisclose to retiring from tennis in 2015 is incredible. For Djokovic, if he wins his 14th major he will be back in the conversation about the Greatest of all time, by matching Pete Sampras haul, and getting within striking distance of Nadal's 17 and Federer's 20.

MadProfessah's prediction: Del Potro.

2018 US OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the US Open for 2018. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, correctly predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 1 of 2 women's semifinals.  This year I have correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 1 of 2 women's semifinals. 

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) [3].  This is  a reprise of the 2017 US Open semifinal, which was handily won by Nadal in four sets that included a bagel. However, this year has been a resurgent one for the 2009 champion: he's at career high ranking of World #3 and (finally) one his first ATP Master series title (on American outdoor hardcourts) at Indian Wells.  Additionally, Nadal has had some surprisingly tough matches en route to the semifinals this year, including two 4-set wins against low-ranked players like Karen Khachanov and Nikoloz Basilashvili. And no one expected that his meeting with Dominc Thiem (not exactly known as a hardcourt powerhouse) would become the epic 5th set tiebreak match it did. Del Potro has beaten Nadal 5 times in 16 meetings and while Nadal has battled to get to this point, del Potro has only dropped one set (a first set tiebreaker to John Isner) to date at this year's Open. With all that being said, it's hard to see del Potro achieving the upset here against the #1 player in the world. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [6] vs. Kei Nishikori (JPN) [21].  This is a reprise of the 2014 US Open semifinal which was one of the two times Nishikori has beaten the 13-time major champion in their 16 meetings. Of course major semifinals are incredibly important matches. Nishikori is playing in his 3rd, all of which have happened in New York. I believe that he will win a set and possibly two sets, against Djokokovic but I have a hard time envisioning him winning three sets today. Nishikori had a great result in the quarterfinal outlasting Marin Cilic in five sets, getting revenge for losing the 2014 US Open final to the same opponent, despite being up an early break and losing it late in the deciding fifth set. In fact, Nishikori has a hall-of-fame record in deciding sets on the ATP tour including an astonishing 18-6 record in 5th sets. So if the match gets that far I would give him the edge, but I don't think the match will get that far. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

2018 US OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the US Open for 2018. Last year I correctly predicted 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals.  I will also predict the women's quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs Dominic Thiem (AUT) [9] Kevin Anderson (RSA) 5].  This is  a reprise of the 2018 French Open final, which was handily won by Nadal. Surprisingly, even though the two have played 10 times before, this is their first meeting on a hard court and Thiem has a surprising 3 wins. Although Thiem is widely considered the second-best clay court player in the world and a clear resident of the Top 10 he has almost no pedigree on hard courts. Nadal is the defending US Open champion and has won 4 hard court majors in his career. I actually think that Thime would have a better chance of winning this match if it was on clay, which means he has almost no chance at all. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) [3] vs John Isner (USA) [11].  Del Potro is up to a career high of #3 playing someone who is also playing the best tennis of their life. Both Isner and Del Potro have won their first masters 1000 tournaments this year (Isner won Miami, Del Potro won Indian Wells) but tennis results usually come down to match ups. In this one, Delpo has a significant 7-4 head-to-head edge against Isner, who is playing in the 3rd(!) quarterfinal of his career (2nd in New York City).I am pretty sure Delpo's best exceeds Isner's best by a good deal. That all being said, If Isner hits his spots on his serve, there's not much you can do except hope that he misses or you get lucky in the inevitable tiebreaker. Most observers were astonished that Isner was able to get past Milos Raonic in 5 sets with zero tiebreak sets. in the round before while Del Potro dismissed a still-improving Borna Coric in straight sets. Those results may be indicative of the result in this match. Mad Professah's pick: Del Potro.

Marin Cilic (CRO) [7] vs Kei Nishikori (JPN) [21].  This is a reprise of the 2014 US Open final which was won by Cilic. These two have a closer rivalry than one would expect, with Cilic leading their head-to-head 8-6 with a slight 2-1 edge in their meetings in New York. The reason why I give Cilic the edge in this match is that he has begun to show that he is a big-match player. He has reached two major finals in the last two years (2017 Wimbledon final and 2018 Australian Open final), and even though he lost both of these to Federer, just reaching these finals show how much Cilic's game has improved. While Cilic's level has been rising Nishikori has been stuck in neutral, off the tour either due to injury, surgery or rehab. I don't doubt that Kei is hungry for success, but I think Marin is even hungrier. Mad Professah's pick: Cilic.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] John Millman (AUS) vs Novak Djokovic (SRB) [6].  The match up between Djokovic and Federer in this last quarterfinal was salivated over once the draw was revealed before the tournament began. But John Millman, the 29-year-old Aussie journeyman playing in his first-ever 4th round of a major took advantage of a  37-year-old Federer who played some truly awful tennis to lose a match in a major before the quarterfinal stage for only the fifth time in the last fifteen years. At one point in the second set Federer's service percentage was 10% (2 out of 20) and for the match it was barely above 50%. It's not exactly sure what was wrong, bur even if he had somehow managed to win against Millman (which he did not deserve to) there's no doubt that Djokovic would have destroyed him in this round. Djokovic didn't look convincing in his win over Jaoa Sousa to reach the quarterfinal but I'm confident that he will find a way to get past a player who just had his very first win against a Top 10 player in his career (Federer on Arthur Ashe court at night!) to reach another major semifinal. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

2018 WIMBLEDON: Upsets Galore! Muguruza,Cilic,Wozniacki, Sharapova,Azarenka All Lose!

Whoa! Through the first two rounds of play the women's draw has been decimated by an exodus of seeds.

• #2 Wozniacki - OUT 2R 
• #3 Muguruza - OUT 2R 
• #4 Stephens - OUT 1R 
• #5 Svitolina - OUT 1R 
• #6 Garcia - OUT 1R 
• #8 Kvitova - OUT 1R

The loss of the defending champion Garbine Muguruza before the weekend is pretty shocking, but the real surprise was Kvitova's departure because she has been the most successful player on the WTA tour all year and grass is where she usually plays her best tennis. (She was the odds favorite and my choice to make the final.)  Others have noted that since her 2014 win, the 2-time Wimbledon champ's results have become rather pedestrian at the All-England Lawn and Tennis Club. But it is quite unusual to lose so many major champions in the first round. 5-time major champ Maria Sharapova lost in the first round despite having match points while up a set and a break, eventually succumbing to Russian Vitalia Diatchenko. 2-time major champion Victoria Azarenka did not come close to upsetting Karolina Pliskova, the #7 seed, and lost in straight sets.

The carnage among the has not been limited to the women's draw, with the shocking departure of last year's Wimbledon finalist and the Queen's Club champion Marin Cilic. Many people expected that Cilic would make the final again, and possibly upset 8-time Wimbledon champ Roger Federer in the semifinals.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Coric Outplays Federer In Halle; Kvitova Wins 5th Title of 2018; Cilic Outlasts Nole On Grass; ATP #1 Flips Again; France Picks Amelie

FEDERER LOSES TO CORIC IN SEARCH OF 10TH HALLE TITLE (IN 12TH FINAL)
After saving 2 match points against an inspired Benoit Paire 2 rounds before, Roger Federer's luck finally ran out when a determined 21-year-old Borna Coric outplayed the world's best grass-court player 7-6(6) 3-6 6-2 to win his first grass-court title and notch his first win over the G.O.A.T. It was Federer's 12th final in Halle and he was seeking his 10th title there, but now he is 9-3, having lost to Corci (2018), Lleyton Hewitt (2010) and Tommy Haas (2012).

FEDERER SWAPS RANKING PLACES WITH NADAL (AGAIN)
Federer's failure to defend his 2017 Halle title means that he ends up with, 8,220 ranking points, 50 less than Rafael Nadal, so the two will swap places at the top of the ATP rankings again. his has happened several times this year already. However, unlike last year, this time as the defending champion Federer has 2000 points to defend at Wimbledon while Nadal has almost none (180) so it is likely Federer wil not be able to regain #1 until the end of the summer hard court season.

CILIC OUTLASTS DJOKOVIC TO WIN SECOND QUEEN'S CLUB TITLE
Novak Djokovic is showing vastly improved form and demonstrated this by reaching the final (and earning championship point!) against 2017 Wimbledon and 2017 Queens Club finalist Marin Cilic. Despite boasting a 14-1 record against Cilic, Djokovic lost the match by being broken (for teh first time in the tournament!) i the 3rd set and his Croat opponent was able to serve out the win 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3. Cilic clearly deserves to be near the pinnacle of the men's game, having reached two major finals in the last year. Even though Djokovic is improving, this loss shows h's not back to 100% and for the first time in over a decade, he goes an entire 12 month period without winning an ATP tour title.

KVITOVA SHOWS SHE IS IN NEAR PEAK FORM WITH FIFTH 2018 WTA TITLE
The 2014 and 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is demonstrating her return to form with another grass court title, this time in Birmingham over her friend Magdalena Rybarikova 4-6 6-2 6-1. Kvitova leads the tour with 5 titles in 2018.

AMELIE MAURESMO NAMED CAPTAIN OF FRANCE'S DAVIS CUP TEAM
In other good news, 2-time major champion and former World #1 Amelie Mauresmo has been named the first female captain of France's Davis Cup team. Interestingly, Julien Benneteau will take over coaching France's Fed Cup team. Both appointments go into effect for the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

2018 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the 2018 French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 1 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals, and 2 of 2 men's semifinals. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) [5].  For the second round in a row the World #1 will be facing off against a player from Argentina. As I predicted before the quarterfinals, diminutive Diego Schwartzman was able to end Nadal's streak of 37 consecutive sets won at Roland Garros that extends back to 2015. In fact for a full set and a half, "Little Diego" outplayed the King of Clay on his home turf of Court Philippe Chatrier. Del Potro continued his dominance of Marin Cilic, extending his head-to-head record to 11 and 2. The decidedly not diminutive Argentine is in his first semifinal at Roland Garros since 2009 as a result and will face Nadal. Interestingly, although the two have played 14 times, Del Potro has a healthy 5 wins. Unfortunately, none of these wins have come on clay (oddly, the two have only met twice on that surface including one straight sets win for Nadal way back in 2007 at Roland Garros). The two have also met a fair number of times in major tournaments (four) and Nadal leads that head-to-head 3-1. In fact, the two met at this stage of the 2017 U.S. Open and Nadal prevailed relatively easily on his way to winning his 16th major title. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Marco Cecchinato (ITA) Novak Djokovic (SRB) [20] vs Dominic Thiem (AUT) [7].  In one of the greatest upsets in Grand Slam history, an unheralded and unseeded Italian who had never won a Grand Slam match prior to the beginning of this tournament outplayed and outlasted the 12-time major champion to win in four sets. This result was not due to bad play by Djokovic, it was more of a result of great play by Cecchinato. He is the first Italian male player to reach a major semifinal since 1978. (Of course two Italian female players have won majors in the last decade: Flavia Pennetta won the US Open in 2016 and Fancesca Schiavone won the French Open in 2010.) However now Cecchinato will play the world's second best clay court player in Dominic Thiem, who dispatched an ailing Sascha Zverev in his quarterfinal and is seeking to reach his first major final, at the place where most people think he is most likely to be successful. This will be the Roland-Garros final that we have been expecting for awhile, although it must be said that this is Thiem's third consecutive appearance in the semifinals at Roland-Garros and he is yet to win a set. I'm confident that will change on Friday and Thiem will finally realize his potential to compete for the Coupe des Mousquetaires. Mad Professah's pick: Thiem.

2018 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Quarterfinals Preview (and Predictions)

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the 2018 French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year I have also predicted the women's quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [1] vs Diego Schwarztman (ARG) [11].  Schwartzman showed his mettle in the previous round coming back from being hammered  in the first two sets against Kevin Anderson to win in 5 sets. Can the diminutive Schwartzman put an end to Nadal's streak of sets won at Roland Garros? Possibly, yes. Can the Argentine win the match? No. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Marin Cilic (CRO) [3] vs. Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) [5]. Amazing that the one country that has two men in the quarterfinals is not Spain, France or Italy but Argentina! Del Potro is playing excellent tennis, and was very sharp in his straight set dismissal of John Isner in the round before, but Cilic is an even sterner challenge due to his better movement. However, for some reason the head-to-head between these two Big Boys is skewed way in favor of the Argentine. The two have played twelve times and Cilic has only won twice, with 7 consecutive losses sets including all three of their career meetings on clay. Cilic will be motivated to win this match, but his enthusiasm may be dampened realizing that he gets Nadal as a reward. I think this will probably be a tough 4 or 5 set match, which just gives the winner even longer odds against Nadal in the semifinals. Mad Professah's pick: Del Potro.

David Goffin (BEL) [8] Marco Cecchinato (ITA) vs. Novak Djokovic (SRB) [20].  It looks like Djokovic may actually be getting his groove back, even though he is still not back to his colossal form of 2016 (and may never return to that form again). He is a 12-time major champion playing against a first-time major quarterfinalist who has won a handful of Grand Slam matches. Cecchinato did well to take out the very good clay court player David Goffin in the round before. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Dominic Thiem (AUT) [7] vs. Sascha Zverev (GER) [2].  This is the popcorn match of this round. Thiem is widely considered the heir apparent to Nadal on clay and Zverev is the breakout star of the Next Generation cohort, having won 3 ATP Masters Shields before his 21st birthday (by contrast, Del Potro just won his first ATP Master Shield in Indian Wells this year) and has earned his #2 seeding. However, Zverev has played three consecutive 5-set matches to reach his very first major quarterfinal, while Thiem has reached the semifinals of Roland Garros for two consecutive years and is the only player to beat Nadal on clay this year. But that win in Madrid was followed by a relatively straightforward loss to Zverev, so this is not an easy match to call. However, it's hard to see how Zverev has enough to go the full distance with Thiem. However since they both know that isn't it possible Zverev could come out and blast Thiem off the court like he did in Spain? Possibly, but that's awfully hard to do on a clay court. Mad Professah's pick: Thiem.

2018 AUS OPEN: Federer Wins 20th(!) Major Title, Record 6th #AusOpen

As I predicted, Roger Federer won his record 20th major singles title, defeating Marin Cilic 6-2 6-7(5) 6-3 3-6 6-1 in the Australian Open final. Federer becomes the first man to reach 20 major singles title, following Margaret Court (24), Serena Williams (23) and Steffi Graf (22). His win also means he is in a tie with Novak Djokovic and Roy Emerson for the most Australian Open titles (6). He has won 20 major titles while playing in 30 major finals (both are records). 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Open Era tennis and 200 major tournaments have been played, so Federer has appeared in 15% of those finals and won 10% of them. That's an insane number. The last 5 major championships have now been won by either Federer or Rafael Nadal and it is better than even money that Nadal will win his 11th French Open title this year to make it 6 in a row.

Federer is still at #2 on the list of singles titles won with 96, just 13 behind the top position of 109 held by Jimmy Connors. Can he win 13 more titles before he retires? I wouldn't put it past him!

MEN'S FINAL REVIEW

Despite the fact that the men's final started at 3:30am I set my alarm and woke up to watch the match live. The match began as well as it possible could have for Roger Federer as he went up a double-break hold (4-0) and eventually won the first set in 24 minutes. However, the second set was much closer as Cilic started making fewer errors and more winners. Federer's serve was a key factor to him staying in the match to weather the periods in which he was being outplayed by Cilic, and he ended up hitting more aces than his 6-foot-6" opponent. In the tiebreak Federer earned a minibreak first but immediately lost it when Cilic hit a service return winner to even the breaker at 3-all. Then Cicil earned a minibreak and closed out the set with an easy overhead smash. In the third set Federer got an early break and maintained his serve to nurse the lead to 6-3 and a 2-1 set lead. Then he got another early break in the 4th set and at 3-1 it seemed the match would be over soon. For some reason he completely lost the rhythm on his serve (his first serve percentage in the 4th set ended up being 36%!) and ended up losing 5 consecutive games to lose the 4th set 3-6. The fifth set started well, as Federer went up 40-15 in his first service game but then had to save another 3 breakpoints to hold serve. As often happens, Cilic found himself in trouble on his serve after failing to win breakpoints the game before and went do 3-0 in the final set. They both held and then while serving down 1-4 Cilic made multiple backhand errors and got broken to go down 5-1. Federer easily held serve, hitting a kick second serve on championship that just kissed the sideline leading to a return error by Cilic. Aftr a challenge confirmed the serve was n, the match was over!

2018 AUS OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] vs. Marin Cilic (CRO) [6]

Here are my predictions for the 2018 Australian Open men's final. Last year I correctly predicted Roger Federer would beat Rafael Nadal in the men's final and also correctly predicted  1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. This year I predicted correctly 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 2 men''s semifinals, 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I incorrectly predicted the results of the women's final this year.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Marin Cilic (CRO) [6] d. Kyle Edmund (GBR) 6-2 7-6(4) 6-2.  This match continued to showcase Cilic's improved movement and the deadly weapons he possesses when his confidence is high and he goes for his shots. His first serve is extremely dangerous regularly getting into the 130 mph range and his backhand and forehand are hit deep and hard. Edmund can probably outmatch him for power on the forehand side (but not accuracy) and something was ailing the young Brit which made him unable to move his feet fast enough to be able to hit more forehands to make this a competitive match. Without his best weapon, the result was never really in doubt.

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] d. Hyeon Chung (KOR) 6-1 5-2 RET.  This match was even more impacted by injury than the first semifinal. Sadly, Chung, who had been battling blisters for the last week or so, could not even complete the second set as the pain became too great and he retired before he could fall down 2-0 down in sets to Roger Federer. Clearly his movement was becoming more hampered by his injury and I don't fault his decision to stop, but I do think he could have waited one more game "just for appearances."

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Although this is technically a reprise of the 2017 Wimbledon final, no one expects a repeat of the quality of that match, which was hampered by Cilic's lack of movement (again, due to blisters--good socks are very important in tennis, people!!). After all, on his way to winning the 2014 US Open Cilic basically destroyed Federer in straight sets in the semifinals so he most definitely can win this match. However, in 9 meetings that is the only match he has won, and there's no question both players are playing better tennis now than they were then. Most commentators expect a 5-set match but I think Federer will be able to get it done in four sets. Happily, I don't think physical stamina will play a big role in the outcome of the match, but even if it does I would still give the edge to Federer.

The two have both won majors before, so Cilic is hoping to become the 5th multiple slam winner (and youngest member of that group, at age 29) in the era of the Great Trivalry in Men's Tennis (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic) who have won an astonishing 47 major titles among them. Regardless of the result, the Croat will become the World #3, his highest ranking to date and is showing his all-court game by reaching the final of 3 of the four majors. Because Federer winning here would just repeat last year's result Nadal will still be #1 but the lead has been reduced, but Federer has a fair amount of points to defend in the Spring North American hard court season, having won both Indian Wells and Miami last year as well. But really the key point of this match is whether Federer can win his 20th major title in his 30th major final appearance at age 36. I believe he can, and amazingly, may even go further this year. If he does win his 20th, will that make him more likely to retire earlier than he planned?

 Mad Professah's pick: Federer.

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.

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.

2017 US OPEN: Nadal Wins 16th Major

As I expected, Rafael Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3 6-4 6-4 to win the 2017 U.S. Open, claiming his 16th major title and 3rd in New York. He improved to 16-7 in major finals and reached the finals of 3 of the four majors in 2017, thus cementing his hold on the World #1 ranking for the year. Only Gilles Muller was able to beat him before the final round of a major this year, and that took an extraordinary 28-game final set. Roger Federer  and Nadal split the majors this year, with Federer winning the Australia Open (d. Nadal) and Wimbledon (d. Marin Cilic), and Nadal winning the French (d. Stan Wawrinka) and the U.S. Open. The other members of the big four, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray failed to reach a major final in 2017 and have basically ceded the rest of the season to their older rivals.

Nadal's win means that just like this point last year, Nadal, 31, and Federer, 36, are again 3 major titles apart, but instead of being at 17 and 14 they have both separated themselves from the previous greats of the sport (Pete Sampras at 14) and now they are at 19 and 16 with the very real possibility they will both reach the once-inconceivable number of 20 singles slams each. Who will be the G.OA.T.?

2017 WIMBLEDON: Federer Wins Record 8th Wimbledon (19th Major!)

As I predicted, Roger Federer defeated Marin Cilic in the Wimbledon Gentlemen's Singles championship match. Federer  at age 35 won the match  6-3 6-1 6-4 to claim his 19th grand slam title and record-setting 8th Wimbledon title. Even more incredibly, Federer became the oldest Wimbledon champion in the modern era and the second man (after Bjorn Borg did it  1976) to win the title without dropping a set.

Federer has now won 2 majors in 2017 (2017 Australian Open and 2017 Wimbledon) and has an astonishing record of 31-2 for the year and added 5 ATP tour titles (Melbourne, Indian Wells, Miami, Halle, London)  to bring his career haul to 93 titles.
He is 9-0 against fellow Top 10 players and will rise to #3 in the ATP rankings on Monday. He is #2 in the year-long race to the year-end tour championships in London, a mere 500 points behind Rafael Nadal and has zero points to defend for the rest of the year, which means if he really wants it, he could very likely end the year at World #1. If he does so, he would become the oldest player to reach #1, eclipsing Andre Agassi who was 33 when he was #1, and he would tie Pete Sampras' record of six year-end #1's.

2017 WIMBLEDON: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Here are my predictions for the men's final at the Wimbledon Championships for 2017. Last year I correctly predicted Andy Murray would defeat Milos Raonic in the men's final.  This year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 this year's women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I also incorrectly predicted that Venus Williams would beat Garbine Muguruza in the women's final this year.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Marin Cilic (CRO) [7] d. Sam Querrey (USA) [24] 6-7(8) 6-4 7-6(3) 7-5. Sam Querrey was playing in his very first major semifinal after defeating the World #1 and defending champion Andy Murray in the round before. Unfortunately, in this important match he had to face someone in Marin Cilic whom he had never beaten before (in four meetings). Although Cilic ended up losing that first set tiebreaker because his backhand started to going off, he was able to get an early service break in the second set. The third set was key and when Cilic was able to win it fairly easy in a tiebreak you thought that might signal quick end to the match. However, Querrey broke early in the 4th set and a fifth set seemed imminent until out of nowhere Cilic broke back to level the set at 4-all and eventually broke Querrey to reach his first Wimbledon final.

Roger Federer (SUI) [3] d. Tomas Berdych (CZE) [11] 7-6(4) 7-6(4) 6-4. This scores does not quite reflect how ultimately competitive this match was. Federer was up a break in the first set and was expected to maintain the lead and run away with the first when Berdych surprisingly broke back and it was only through very good luck and opportunistic aggression that Federer won the first set tiebreak. In the second set, Berdych was actually the better player but again somehow Federer was able to sneak out the second set in a tiebreaker. Then with a 2-0 set lead Federer was able to up his aggression and earn a break which he could use to ensure success in the 3rd and final set.

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

I have no doubt that Marin Cilic will indeed win Wimbledon someday. The question is, will that day be Sunday July 16 2017? It is very possible. He has impeccable grass bonafides. Cilic had 4th set match points against Federer last year in the quarterfinals but lost that set and then the match in the fifth set. He is playing excellent grass court tennis and has reached the quarterfinals or better for four years in a row here at Wimbledon and had very deep runs in both grass court warm-up tournaments he played in. However, Federer is clearly the most accomplished grass court player of all time. he has the most grasscourt victories of any active player and he has planned his entire year (by missing the entire clay court season) to maximize his chances at winning Wimbledon. He has reached the final by not dropping a set, although he has played 5 tiebreaks and won all of them. I suspect there will be at least one tiebreak against Cilic and hopefully Federer's luck will hold or else things could get complicated. However, I do think that if it does get deep into a 5th set Federer will prevail (even though overall Federer does not have a great 5-set record, primarily because he  usually wins his grand slam matches easily enough so that he doesn't have a lot of experience playing them). But Federer's 2009 win over Andy Roddick and his 2017 win over Rafael Nadal are evidence that Federer can do well in tight situations. I didn't like how irritated Federer got when he got so much resistance and excellent play from Berdych. I suspect he will be mentally and physically prepared for Cilic to do well and does not expect this match to be easy. If you had told Federer that he would be able to reach the Wimbledon final without having to face any of the other members of the Big Four he would take that bet in a second. Although lots of people expect Federer to win this match to win his 8th Wimbledon title and 19th major, it must be noted that he has lost the last two Wimbledon finals he played, in 2015 and 2014 (both to Novak Djokovic). However, there's a reason why Federer has a 6-1 head-to-head lead over Cilic, but it must be noted that they have only played once since Cilic won his major title at the 2014 US Open which included a blistering straight sets win over Federer in the semifinals. That being said, I believe Federer will find a way to prevail.  PREDICTION: Federer.