Nishikori upsets Miami-Open 2014
View(s):China’s Li-Na holds fort among WTA women as number 1 of 2014 reaching the finals. Kei Nishikori of Japan ranked 18, flexed his muscles amongst the heavyweights in the Sony Miami-Open. It is the first sign of Asian men’s strength in the ATP tour this year. Nishikori beat Spanish favourite David Ferrer and then went to beat Swiss maestro, Roger Federer before his withdrawal.
Something unusual
Kei Nishikori
Both the men’s singles semi-finals could not be staged due to player withdrawals. It must have been an organizers nightmare. First, Thomas Berdych complained of stomach pain in the morning of the match and was medically declared unfit to play. Berdych could not explain how it would have happened. Players generally have a tournament routine of having the same people around, same food, life style, training routine, travel and venues. Even with these precautions Berdych was in pain before the match against Nadal. The match was called off well before the scheduled time. In his previous round Berdych came through a tough match against up and coming Ukrainian Alex Dolgopolov.
Nishikori withdraws
Nishikori the dark-horse of the tournament on the other hand, withdrew from the tournament with a bad groin injury during the warm up for his semi-finals against Djokovic. Professionals in their position cannot afford to worsen injuries. It could lead to a permanent scare posing issues in latter life. The late withdrawal meant that spectators were already in their seats. The organizers substituted the men’s semi-finals with a ‘doubles’ match to satisfy the spectators. Nishikori’s injury could be from the two tough matches he had against Canadian Raonic and Roger Federer in the previous rounds. Both the matches went into three hard fought sets. Nishikori’s game, in more than one way, resembles that of Djokovic. Nishikori was unhappy to withdraw and said that he felt he was playing his best, but the nature of his injury gave him little choice. He is a great mover at the back-court and exhibits well calculated moves to the net. Also takes his opponent into high paced long rallies till they are worn out in every rally. These gave him the monumental wins.
Djokovic again
With these developments Nadal and Djokovic had a free passage into the finals. Djokovic’s game was in place in the finals. Nadal could not shake it anyway. The final rally of the match said the whole story well. Djokovic as a ‘front-runner’ exhibited the same mastery of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer at their best, in dominating the match. Djokovic has an extra bit which has become ‘his brand’ in today’s Tennis. That is his ability to ‘scramble’ very effectively and return the most difficult shots especially closer to the net. Djokovic registered a convincing win against Nadal in two sets and took 2014 Miami-Open title in USA. Others such as Alex Dolgopolov, Canadian Raonic and England’s Andy Murray also made their presence felt. Doubles title went the famous Bryan brothers of USA.
Serena reappears
Miami-Open is one of the few tournaments which have Men’s and Women’s championships at the same time. This gave multi faceted interest to the media and spectators. In the previous week, surprising all, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta won the Indiana-Wells. The big named women’s absentees of Indiana-Wells were present in the semi finals of the Miami-Open. Serena Williams dominated the singles. She beat Li-Na in a somewhat of a one sided game. Li Na had very close matches against Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki and Russia’s Cibulkova in the previous rounds. These matches probably left too little energy in Li-Na to tackle Serena Williams in the finals. The most impressive game-making came from Cibulkova. She moved well and took position early behind most difficult shots, enabling her to change shot-direction. It is a difficult task to change direction of the shots at high speed. Cibulkove excelled in this area. With such performances Cibulkova will improve her ranking. Currently she is ranked number 2 in 2014.
In an earlier match, American Serena Williams beat Russia’s Maria Sharapova. On all counts Sharapova was only beaten by a better player. It was one of best encounters of Sharapova against Serena Williams. Poland’s Radwanska and Wozniack showed a ‘comeback form’. This is Serena’s second title for the year and a strong turnaround signal. The women’s doubles saw a ‘new old’ face in Martina Hingis pairing with Sabina Lisicky of Germany to win the doubles. Hingis at her peak was considered to be most perfect bio-mechanically in stroke making.
DAVIS-CUP question
Japan is playing Czech Republic in the next round of Davis-Cup. Both countries have omitted their best players – Nishikori and Berdych respectively in their nominations. If Davis-Cup does not have ‘player-respect’, may be it should be played every four years in the future. Something to think about!
–George Paldano, former international player; Accredited Coach of Germany, ITF and USPTR; National, Davis Cup and Federation Cup Coach–gptennis.ceylon@gmail.com-