This is a forum where users can follow various tournaments that have Indian participation or are held in India. GrandSlams and Davis Cup should also be discussed here.
Towards the second half of last year too, Tiafoe had a lot of first and second round losses. All of them were of course were against top 100 or top 50 level player. Lets see if Prajnesh is ready to challenge him here.
arjun2761 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:00 am
Of course, Yuki was also in multiple slam draws directly last year but was not fit to play to his abilities. Hopefully, Prajnesh makes the main draw in the latter slams directly this year and stays fit through the year.
Yes, Yuki played all 4 slams in 2018 but was fully fit only for Australian open, I think.
Prajnesh is very close to making the French open 2019 main draw cut off already. The cut off date for that is 15th April and Prajnesh has just 7 points to defend before that. He is only 50 points away from top 100 and he has already earned 35 points this week. Needs only some 20-25 points from somewhere in next 3 months to be in top 100 by French open cut off and confirm direct entry.
Hey he can seal it right here with a win over Tiafoe.
He has 140 points to defend though in late April/May which he will need to defend by that to make main draw for Wimbledon.
So glad he made it through!! Tiafoe is extremely fast and Prajnesh has to mix it up. Staying at the baseline won’t quite do. Helpfully he gets it done!!
arjun2761 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:00 am
Of course, Yuki was also in multiple slam draws directly last year but was not fit to play to his abilities.
Ah, yes. Brainfade! I guess my brain must have discounted his entries. Thanks for the correction.
PKBasu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:27 am
Two years ago, Prajnesh was ranked in the 320s, not high enough to even play the Australian Open qualifying rounds! In February 2017, he played and beat Watanuki (then ranked near 700) in the Kyoto Challenger qualifying rounds. He won 2 Futures in India (making 3 consecutive finals) in March 2017, and 1 in China (making 2 finals) in June 2017, marking the start of his serious run in the pro ranks.
But by the time last year's AO came around, he was still ranked only 247, and lost in 3 sets to Tobias Kamke in Q1. Then, of course, on a chilly day in Tianjin, he rose to the occasion to deliver a spectacular victory over reigning US Open junior champ Wu Yibing in the deciding rubber of the Davis Cup tie. A couple of weeks later, he beat Mohamed Safwat in the final of the US$150K Anning Challenger in Kunming. Then, of course, he had that heartbreak in Paris: losing a close Q3 to Elias Ymer, Prajnesh swiftly left to play an Italian Challenger -- only to discover (upon landing, via frantic email messages from VReddy and me, among others!) that he was in line for a Lucky Loser slot in the FO main draw. Unfazed by that disappointment, Prajnesh qualified into the Stuttgart ATP on grass and stunned #25 Denis Shapovalov in the first round on the grass of Stuttgart.
A couple of injuries set him back thereafter, but he was again tearing up the Challenger circuit in the final months of 2018, winning the US$150K Challenger in Bangalore to crown his marvellous 2018.
So here he is at last: a proper tennis pro, playing the main draw of a Slam. We couldn't be happier for you, Prajnesh!!
Great summary, thanks PKB!!
This ought to go into a newspaper article - VReddy perhaps into your tennis newsletter?
gbelday wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 1:31 pm
So glad he made it through!! Tiafoe is extremely fast and Prajnesh has to mix it up. Staying at the baseline won’t quite do. Helpfully he gets it done!!
This will be a tough challenge for the Gunner. I have been watching Tiafoe's game for some time. Consistency will work well against him, but the challenge is to run down his vicious forehands, and crazy backhands, and keep the rallies going long enough where he starts to make unforced errors. Like gbelday says he is extremely fast and hits well on the run with good accuracy into the corners. Giving him a lot of pace all the time will backfire - the guy loves pace. His serve is not much to speak of. The key would be to stretch out the rallies and get him into error territory. Inducing the error has to be a combination of consistency and mixing up with speed and low slices like Federer does with his vicious slice.
Beating him will be an error game for the Gunner - not an aces or winners game.
Attacking the net may be an option but it has to be done carefully - he has good angled passing shots and good lobs. He has a great return of serve that throws you on the backfoot from the get go - this sets him up to finish the rallies against the serve and he is able to break easily even against some of the best servers in the game. The Gunner has to mix up speed and spin on the serve and try to force some errors here with a high percentage of first serves, and be prepared for an aggressive return. Pace alone on the serves can seriously backfire. He does especially well against serve/volleyers - guys like Anderson and Isner (like I said he returns serve well). I noticed that Gunner was surprised by some hard returns from his previous opponents - better readiness is going to be required here.
Breaking his serve is relatively easier (relatively is a loaded word here) but on the other hand Tiafoe has the capacity to break serve quite easily also.
PKBasu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 6:07 am
NRI Astra Sharma (AUS, 230) has also qualified into the main draw. She created quite a stir by beating Vera Zvonareva (former world #2) in Q1, but has now safely made it through to the main draw. Her parents are Indians from Singapore who migrated to Perth when she was young. She is 23.
I couldnt get to watch her play - were you able to PKB? This is actually a great breakthrough for her - to get to the first round from 230 ranking!!
PKBasu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:01 am
Tough draw for Prajnesh, with 5th seeded Kevin Anderson looming in R2. His R1 opponent, 21 year old Frances Tiafoe won the Delray Beach ATP title last year and is at about his career-high ranking. He had a dismal time in the Hopman Cup, losing to Norrie, Tsitsipas and Federer, and then lost to Millman in R1 of the ATP Sydney tournament. At the ATP NextGen tournament, he won his first match against Hurkacz, but then lost his next 2 matches.
So the promising Tiafoe (ranked 38, and the great hope of US tennis) is on a 6-match losing streak. Prajnesh needs to take advantage of his low morale at the start of the match, and not let his opponent get a look-in thereafter. Go Gunners!
Hopefully the low morale side will prevail over the counterbalancing side of determination to break out of it!!
Rajiv wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 7:01 am
Yesterday as I drew a list of preferred opponents for PG and Tiafoe's name was in that list.
So now GS R2 calling.......
Yes Rajiv, you mentioned ... This will be a tough match as Prajnesh is playing his first five-setter against Tiafoe.
Thanks Professor for detailing about Tiafoe's game.
Some interesting points as well as matter of concerns considering his higher ranked opponent:
Piecing it from two different articles:
Prajnesh, who is experimenting with a new, more power-based style this year, was not completely happy with his performance and said there are still areas he wants to work on.
..he admitted that he had to go back to his natural style of hitting with a lot of spin to get past Watanuki
Clearly he will need to find the balance on which style to adopt at different moments. As Prof said, the opponent has a vicious forehand and likes pace..
PKBasu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:01 am
So the promising Tiafoe (ranked 38, and the great hope of US tennis) is on a 6-match losing streak. Prajnesh needs to take advantage of his low morale at the start of the match, and not let his opponent get a look-in thereafter. Go Gunners!
Wouldn't call Tiafoe a great hope for US tennis. Comes from a very humble background and obviously didn't receive the coaching or support the great white hopes of American tennis like Fritz, Harrison did.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran first round match against Tiafoe is scheduled for Monday January 14, 2nd match on Court 15 after a Women’s Singles Match.
Daytime matches start at 11 AM Melbourne local time - so we can expect the Gunner’s match to start maybe between 12:00 - 1 PM local Melbourne time.
PKBasu wrote: ↑Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:01 am
So the promising Tiafoe (ranked 38, and the great hope of US tennis) is on a 6-match losing streak. Prajnesh needs to take advantage of his low morale at the start of the match, and not let his opponent get a look-in thereafter. Go Gunners!
Wouldn't call Tiafoe a great hope for US tennis. Comes from a very humble background and obviously didn't receive the coaching or support the great white hopes of American tennis like Fritz, Harrison did.
He does come from an humble background but he was fully sponsored by the JTCC training center in Baltimore. His dad was part of the construction crew that built JTCC. Tiafoe was under some very good coaches at JTCC since he was a kid..
Frances Tiafoe was born in Maryland, which makes him just as American as Barack Obama or Donald Trump (whose grandpa was an immigrant from Germany). Tiafoe’s parents were immigrants from Sierra Leone, and his dad was head of maintenance at the USTA Regional Tennis Centre in Maryland, where he was born and had his early tennis training. He is every bit as American as the “white hopes” of US tennis, and more talented than the likes of the Harrison brothers. He won the Orange Bowl at 15, making him the youngest-ever winner of the tournament. Apart from racism, there is no basis to dispute him being “the great hope of US tennis”, as I called him.
Sin Hombre wrote: ↑Sat Jan 12, 2019 5:36 am
Wouldn't call Tiafoe a great hope for US tennis. Comes from a very humble background and obviously didn't receive the coaching or support the great white hopes of American tennis like Fritz, Harrison did.
He does come from an humble background but he was fully sponsored by the JTCC training center in Baltimore. His dad was part of the construction crew that built JTCC. Tiafoe was under some very good coaches at JTCC since he was a kid..
Frances only received formal coaching since he was 8, and mostly learned the game hitting balls against the backboard before. His somewhat awkward technique is a result of that. He started getting sponsorships and media attention from around 12.
