ATP Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one that saw a number of shocking upsets, and some truly surprising champions being crowned.

Lets start the recap with Rafa Nadal’s first clay court tournament of the season. Rafa could never win another match again, and still go down as the greatest clay court player of all time, but he really struggled to find his form on the red stuff last week.

The top ranked Spaniard took on one of his best friends on tour in Juan Monaco in the first round. While Rafa was able to come through in a 6-4 6-4 victory against a decent opponent, the inconsistency was a major issue throughout the match. The same story unfolded in the next round against a much less accomplished Paolo Lorenzi. Nadal narrowing got through a first set before eventually pulling away in the second set, but again consistency was a major issue.

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Nadal’s inconsistencies finally came back to bite him in a shocking semi final loss to Dominic Thiem. Rafa was only broken 3 times in the tough 3 setter, but he seemed to fade in the deciding tie break, falling down 6-1 before reeling off 3 straight point only to lose 7-4. The clay has always been Rafa’s bread and butter, but he is coming off a very disappointing clay season last year that saw him bounced in the quarters of the French. This was supposed to be a tournament for Rafa to get his feet wet and cruise to a title, but it certainly didn’t end up that way.

Dominic Thiem used his fitness to his advantage this weekend. He managed to recover from his nearly 3 hour win over Rafa in time to win the title over Nico Almagro in another third set tiebreaker the very next day. The win kept Thiem in the 19th spot in this weeks rankings, but the victory will surely give him the confidence needed to continue excelling this clay court season.

Thiem deserves a boat load of credit for what he accomplished this weekend, but the biggest winner was without a doubt Martin Klizan. Klizan was tested both mentally and physically having to go the distance in 4 of his 5 matches in Rotterdam. He barely got through his first round opponent Tommy Robredo before smoking Marcos Baghdatis in the second round. Then he started pulling the upsets with a 3 set win over Bautista Agut, as well as Nicholas Mahut, before eventually coming back from a set down to upset Gael Monfils for the title. The victory propelled Klizan 16 spots to 27th in the latest rankings.

This weekend also saw a young American steal the show in Memphis. 18 year old Taylor Fritz came out of nowhere shocking second seeded Stevey Johnson before taking out a couple of veterans to reach his first ATP final. Fritz proved to be ready for the moment by giving, now 5 time champion at this event, Kei Nishikori everything he could handle in a 6-4 6-4 loss. Fritz’s ranking is now all the way up to 102nd in the world, and looks to be one of America’s next big time players.

Next: Juan Martin Del Potro Set To Return at Delray Beach

This tennis season is finally starting to heat up! Some of the main stories lines to follow this week are if Rafa can bounce back with a much needed tournament win in Brazil, how Juan Martin Del Porto looks in his comeback at Delray Beach, and if anyone is able to upset some of the big boys playing in France this week. Last weekend was a fascinating one to watch, and I expect nothing less from this week!

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