Nishikori vs. Nadal Prediction

Nishikori is in the Top 10 Melbourne, Miami, Barcelona and Madrid prove Kei Nishikori belongs in the top 10.  His talent and recent consistency have Nishikori taking advantage of a year of upheaval in the tennis pecking order.  Michael Chang’s influence as coach has to be lauded as well.  Nishikori could become King of Spain…

Nishikori vs. Ferrer Should Be Something

Ferrer is Focused David Ferrer did not exactly back up his upset of Rafael Nadal in Monte Carlo.  He lost to Wawrinka and then lost early in Barcelona.  Nevertheless, Ferrer is one of the top clay court players of the past decade.  He is fit and fights for everything.  His wins in Madrid have him…

Nadal vs. Bautista Agut will give us some Data

Nadal vs. Spain in 2014 Rafael Nadal’s clay court losses to David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro along with his near miss vs. Pablo Andujar have raised some questions.  Spaniards had generally wilted in front of Nadal, but in 2014 they have pushed back against their numero uno.  Roberto Bautista Agut has had a bit of…

Madrid Masters 2014: May 5 ATP Predictions

Predicted Winners in BOLD First Round Albert Ramos vs. Nicolas Mahut – Surfaces don’t matter as much as they once did, but Mahut’s game is not overly tailored to clay courts.  Ramos should advance. Fernando Verdasco vs. Andreas Seppi – Hot sauce is hard to predict, but in the early rounds in his home country,…

The Value of Andy Roddick as a Talking Head

In 1990, Jimmy Connors was hired by NBC to comment on the French Open and Wimbledon.  Connors floated the idea of commenting on NBA games as NBC had broadcast rights with the NBA at that time.  This never happened, and Connors had his magical 1991 US Open run.  It would have been good for tennis…